Chapter Text
Becoming the administrator of the Fortress had more been a spontaneous decision then one that was really thought through. After beating the living shit out of the previous administrator and finding out that the copious amounts of coupons he had hoarded over the span of his time here had no use in the overworld he just decided that he could just...stay here and make sure life down here wasn't the hell he had lived through. In the end no one had anything against his idea and before he knew it the Hydro Archon marched into his new office with a wide smile and a mountain of documents he had to sign.
“You grew into an honorable man indeed~”, the Archon chirped with her usual loud voice and over the top persona. “I can still remember your trial. The ragged teenager that was covered in the blood of his parents. The trial itself was boring but your story intrigued many people~”
Wriothesley huffed with a smile as he signed the last document and handed it over to Furina. “Just did what I had to do and got what I deserved”, he said with a shrug and he let himself fall back into the chair. “Many would say I deserved a harder sentence then the one I got for murdering two of the most revered people of nobility like that. Some say I deserved no sentence at all and that it was a kind of self defense.”
He could still remember vividly remember how he was brought into court, hands in chains and the blood of his foster parents still soaked into his clothes. It had felt freeing killing them with his bare hands after all they had done but he was also acutely aware of the weight it had taking two lifes. It had been necessary. Someone had to stop them and he didn't particularly mind being that person. But murder was still murder. And he had accepted the sentence the Oratrice had given him without saying a single word.
Now, 20 years later, he still believed that he had needed this time in the fortress to atone for his crimes so he could now look at himself in the mirror without feeling guilty in any way.
“Besides”, he continued with a smirk on his lips. “This became my home. I would have never fit into society up there anyway so it was probably for the best.”
Furina huffed and placed her hands on her hips in an exaggerated pose of outrage. “If you say so”, she said, rolling her eyes. “In my humble opinion you did the right thing back then. These horrible people were a stain on Fontaine's flawless image as the country of justice and you were just the scapegoat for the people to justify the death sentence they would have deserved anyway. And that's exactly why I think you are actually the perfect candidate for this position”
A wide smirk danced over her lips. “You know exactly what it means to let justice serve and how important it is to atone for your crimes. You will, without a doubt, make sure everyone gets what they deserve down here without enforcing unnecessary cruelty like the guy before you.”
She was probably right but the way she said it just felt like she was just happy someone volunteered to take the job before she had to search for someone on her own. Not that Wriothesley minded. As the Archon she must already have a shit ton of work on her shoulders every day and he was relieved that she didn't made this whole process over complicated just to follow the normal protocol.
“But now that the formalities are out of the way I have something else I need to inform you about”
The shift in her tone immediately set Wriothesley's inner alarms off and he perked up as she started to fumble nervously with the bow on her hip.
He had always wondered if the Fortress had been originally build to house those who were exiled by the Oratrice or if it became the prison it was today later. And as Furina led him deep down in the bowels of Meropide he realized once more that this place was full with hidden secrets that were kept here, buried under tons of steel in the depths of Fontaine's waters, to keep them away from the public.
“What is this?”, he asked in awe as they entered the giant room with the massive sluice gate in the middle. It was taking some kind of measurement on the instrument on top of the gate, the needle of the apparatus barely half past the middle point glowing a menacing yellow.
“This will be your most important duty as the warden of this place”, Furina explained with an uncharacteristically serious expression on her face. “Under this gate is the only known entrance to the primordial sea. And it is of utmost importance that it stays shut at all costs!”
He had never heard her voice sound so...helpless before and when he was finally able to pull his gaze away from the gate to her he saw fear in her eyes. “The interface shows you the water level of the primordial sea”, she continued to explain without looking directly at him. “And if you ever notice that the needle starts to move to the right press this button until it stops”
She pulled a very old looking piece of metal out of her vest that turned out to be some kind of remote. A big button was in the center and a smaller version of the display on the gate was right above it.
“What does it do?”, he asked, taking the device and giving it a once over look. It looked ancient.
“I don't-”, Furina began but as he looked up at her she cleared her throat and her usual bravado came back all at once. “That is not important!”, she said with a laugh. “It is a construction I, the great Focalors, created to keep the primordial sea at bay. Similar to the Oratrice my genius goes beyond human understanding and all you have to do is to follow the order of your Archon!”
It was a show. Obviously. She probably didn't even know what this thing does but if it worked for Archons know how long already he would just do what she said and be done with it. So he just shrugged and stored the device in his jacket. This was a mystery for another day. All he wanted now was to be over with this farce and fall into his bed after such a turbulent day.
“Very well then~”, Furina chirped and patted him on the shoulder. “And don't forget to keep this place a secret! Toodledoo~”
And with that she was gone as fast as she had stormed into his new office this morning leaving a confused Wriothesley behind.
The next time he looked at the remote was almost a week later when he found it in his jacket during his afternoon break. He had never seen a device like this one before and it was hard to imagine how something as small as this was supposed to help with an impending flood of primordial sea water.
Curiosity started to take root in his mind as he fiddled with the edges of the remote. It had been welded shut completely with no visible way to open it up without destroying it. So...how was it powered? Indemnitium was the most logical answer but even that needed some kind of battery or cable access. So was it some kind of energy connected to elemental powers and it came directly from the Archon? Unlikely. The way she reacted Furina herself had no idea what this thing did....
“What are you thinking about?”
He flinched so hard that he almost let the remote fall from his hands.
“Sigewinne!”, he cursed, immediately taking his heavy boots down from his table and sitting upright to meet the head nurse. “Can I do something for you?”
He wasn't long in the position of warden but he knew Sigewinne ever since he had been brought here as a teenager. She had always helped him recover from his wounds when he had ended up in the infirmary after a fist fight and he could always come to her if something was on his mind. She had been elated as she found out that he would become her new boss and even helped him move all his personal stuff into the new room under his office.
Now she was standing in front of his desk, a deep frown on her face and eyes glued to the device in his hands. “Is...that what I think it is?”, she asked carefully to Wriothesley's surprise.
“Oh- Did Furina tell you about it as well?”, he asked placing said device on the table between them. Sigewinne nodded and looked at it with a mixture of disgust and apprehension. “All the previous administrators got it as well”, she said, taking a few steps back as if the device had burnt her. “It does it's job. But I don't agree with it's way of achieving it.”
Wriothesley was just about to ask her to elaborate further when the remote started to beep followed by a tremor that went through the entire fortress. It wasn't the first time this happened. Far from it. During his time as an inmate it happened once every few months or so but now he knew where it was coming from. He grabbed the device and without hesitating he pressed the button. Holding it down until the tremors calmed down and the needle fell back into it's previous position.
“Phew”, he mumbled, still startled from the sudden occurrence. “Where were we?”
But as he looked up Sigewinne was already gone and the only thing he could hear was the door to his office falling shut followed by a deafening silence.
Sigewinne's comment about the remote gave him more questions about it then answers. According to her words she seemed to know what the button was doing. He tried to ask her about it several times but she always apologized and said that she wasn't allowed to elaborate any further. Which in turn made him only more curios. But Sigewinne kept quiet no matter how much Wriothesley poked and begged to her.
That was until a week later another rumble went through the fortress. And then another 7 days later. And another the following week.
“Is this thing broken?”, the warden said annoyed as he entered the infirmary and held up the device. “Did it ever not work before?”
Sigewinne looked more distressed lately then Wriothesley had ever seen her before. Her little rhinophores constantly twitching nervously and a look on her face as if she was always in deep thought. Today was no different. She sat at her desk skimming through a huge and ancient looking book when he came in and when her eyes landed on the device her eyes saddened immediately.
Wriothesley had seen enough.
“Okay. Out with it. What is this thing doing?”, he demanded to know, pulling a second chair next to Sigewinne's and sitting down to be on eye level with her. “Every time you see it you get nervous or sad. Especially since I have to use it so much lately. I see that it distresses you greatly and the least I can do is share the burden with you”
Sigewinne stared at him for a few moments with big eyes, fiddling with the ends of her pink bow. Then she seemed to consider his proposal, fighting herself against whatever rule forbid her to tell anyone before nodding and jumping off her chair. “Okay”, she finally said. Her face now determined. “I will show you. But....promise me that you will never tell a single soul about what you are going to see!”
A smile danced over Wriothesley's lips as he also stood up and patted his head nurse on the head. “My lips are sealed”, he promised, relieved to see that she relaxed a bit. “Just....don't freak out when we get there....you could scare him” And with that she hurried out of the infirmary with a confused looking Wriothesley right behind her.
Him?
Was someone he didn't know working in the Fortress to suppress whatever it was that was causing these tremors? Or was he even the cause? Could a single person even do that?
His mind was racing with all the possibilities while he followed Sigewinne all the way down into the abandoned production zone were they came to a halt in front of the big door mechanism in the central section.
“Stay behind me and let me talk first”, the Melusine said with a serious tone before pulling a little bronze cog out of her little pouch and clicked it into place in a little hidden base right under the giant cog in the middle. The little one snapped into place and the entire thing immediately started to spring into motion. But instead of rotating the outer wall of the room it opened a hidden trap door in the floor next to them, revealing a stone stair leading into darkness.
“Follow me close”, Sigewinne said, pressing a button near the entrance letting a row of very old looking metal lamps spring to life along the narrow stone walls.
The descend took them almost 10 minutes. And the deeper they went the more questions Wriothesley had. What or who had to be locked away so deep underneath Fontaine? Was this mysterious ,he' Sigewinne mentioned that dangerous? And if so why was Sigewinne allowed to visit him alone what he assumed was every time the tremors happened?
He looked down at the device he had still in his hands and wondered once again what it actually did to stop whatever was happening under the fortress.
When they finally reached the bottom they were met with a narrow corridor that simply ended in a heavy iron door with multiple locks. The first thing Wriothesley noticed though was how old the stone walls of the hallway seemed to be. Weathering clearly visible around the iron lamps and the metal door. The rock itself seemed to have gone through several repairs over who knows how many years were it had cracked open or just withered away enough to become unstable.
“Neuvillette! It's me, Sigewinne”
Wriothesley flinched as Sigewinne's loud voice suddenly cut through the silence like a hot knife through butter.
It was awfully quiet for a few moments in which they approached the door slowly. Then something heavy slammed against it from the other side giving Wriothesley almost a heart attack.
Sigewinne sighed and placed a hand on the metal door. Her hand starting to glow as she used her hydro to feel if the other person was right on the other side.
“I brought the new administrator with me”, the Melusine explained with a sad smile. “He is a nice person and I brought him here in hopes to find a way to ease your suffering”
A deep growling sound came from the other side of the door followed by the sound of chains and something heavy being dragged over the floor.
“We will come in now”
Wriothesley....didn't know how to feel about that idea. Whatever was behind that door sounded pretty pissed and if it was kept down here it was probably extremely dangerous. As Sigewinne began the long process of opening all the locks he had to take a deep breath and swallow down the creeping fear that was crawling up his back. It had been a while since he had felt this afraid of something but something primal in the back of his mind sensed that whatever was kept down here like this could end him in mere seconds.
The loud clinking sound of the last lock opening pulled him out of his panic but it came back even stronger when the door opened with a loud screeching sound opening up to a large room that was kept in complete darkness. Other then the hallway and stairs outside this place looked like it wasn't man made but more like a natural cave with it's rough walls and uneven floor. It even had a little pond area in one corner. But Wriothesley's attention was immediately pulled away from this mysterious looking rooms interior and back to the all encompassing darkness in the back of it were a loud growling sound had started to pick up again. And then he saw them. Two piercing lavender eyes with slitted pupils staring directly at him.
He froze on the spot. Unable to move even a single finger as those piercing eyes drilled into him without blinking once. And suddenly the only thing he felt was the overwhelming urge to run away.
“Neuvillette stop! That is very rude!”
Almost immediately the suffocating atmosphere, that had threatened to strangle Wriothesley right here and now, disappeared together with the pair of eyes.
“Are you alright?”
Wriothesley needed a moment to calm his still racing heart before he looked down to a very worried looking Melusine. “Y...Yea....but what was that?”
Sigewinne sighed and looked back towards the darkness. “He never saw a human before”, she explained as if it was the most normal thing in the world. “He is very curious about new things but also extremely afraid of everything. So he let some of his Elemental Power seep into the air around us triggering that response from you so he could get a better look at you without you moving....I apologize”
“I...It's okay”, Wriothesley stuttered as looked back towards the darkness were he could start to make out a silhouette that was cowering in the corner of the cave.
So...he wasn't angry....but scared?
He stored the remote back in one of his pockets before raising his hands in an attempt to show that he was unarmed. He even knelt down on the floor to be more around Sigewinne's height and less imposing. “It's okay. I will not hurt you”, he said carefully like he was talking to an injured animal. Trying to make his voice sound as soft and calming as possible. “I am a good friend of Sigewinne and here to help”
The pair of eyes reappeared in the darkness but this time the pupils were blown wide and the light purple felt way less piercing then before.
“My name is Wriothesley”, he continued with what he hoped was a warm smile.
Once again he could hear the sound of heavy chains moving and the silhouette in the darkness came a little bit closer.
That was progress. Probably.
“And your name is Neuvillette, correct? That's a nice name~”
The eyes blinked in surprise. He was closer now but still hesitant to move into the light that fell into the room from the corridor.
“I....was also a prisoner before. Just like you”, Wriothesley said slowly like he was talking to a scared child. “I was thrown into prison when I was 15 and grew up here. I know what it feels like to be locked away and fear that you could get beaten up any day now. But that is exactly why I took this position. To make life for all inmates a little bit more bearable. I don't know why you are down here. If you did something that is deserving of such a punishment. But it doesn't matter because you are still an inhabitant of Meropide and so it is in my interest to make your life better as well.”
Shuffling again followed by a low whine that sounded like a scared dog.
He was still hesitant.
“Let me help you”, Wriothesley said with all the sincerity he could muster stretching a welcoming hand towards the creature.
It was silent for a moment. But then the other finally moved forward into the light and Wriothesley was immediately speechless.
The man that slowly walked forward was absolutely gorgeous. Long white hair fell over a lithe body and pooled on the floor around the mans feet. Two long blue....ribbons? flowing down his back and faintly glowing in the dim light they were exposed to now. His skin was delicate and as pale as a ghost, probably from a very long time away from the sun. He was wearing ragged clothes that looked like they would barely hold together and a long, white tail protruded from his lower back, reaching the floor and curling around his ankle as if to find some sort of support.
And then there were the chains. In stark contrast to his fragile looking form heavy metal bindings were wrapped around his hands and throat. Massive chains were connected to both binding him to the far wall giving him just enough range to reach the door. Weird symbols were deeply etched into the dark metal and every time he moved they glowed in a faint blue. Wriothesley could practically feel the Elemental energy radiating from these symbols and he recognized it as the same Elemental Energy he always felt around Furina. The power of an Archon.
He was still hesitant but his big eyes were full with curiosity as he reached out and touched Wriothesley's hand.
The moment their skin touched a lot of things happened all at once. Almost immediately the symbols on the collar and around the others hands started to glow so bright that it was almost blinding followed by a pained shriek from Neuvillette as he pulled his hand away as if he had been burned. He retreaded back into the darkness faster then any human would be possible to and cowered back in the corner. Tail wrapped around him and whimpering like a beaten dog. Confused about what just happened Wriothesley looked over to Sigewinne who looked just as perplexed as he was before a sudden realization hit her and she turned towards him.
“Your vision!”, she said and pulled him out of the room immediately. “I....I forgot this could happen....I-”
“Sigewinne...”
“I should have known I....”
“Sigewinne, what happened?”
His head nurse groaned and closed the door again. Reapplying the locks.
“You may have guessed already that Neuvillette is not...human. And he has a massive amount of Elemental Energy at his disposal.”, she started to explain. “Because of what he is the previous Hydro Archon locked him away down here in fear of him getting out of control and put these shackles on him that drain and react to all Elemental Energy to stop him from using it....When you touched him they reacted to the Cryo Energy coming from your vision and reacted by hurting him....”
So that was what happened....His eyes flickered back to the door and a wave of sympathy washed over him. But there was still one question unanswered. “What does all of this have to do with what is happening in the Fortress?”
Sigewinne hesitated, nervously chewing on her lower lip. “When Neuvillette gets very sad or very angry the collar isn't able to hold back all of the Elemental Power that seeps out of him....And when that happens the Primordial Sea reacts according to his emotions....He has incredible power over the element of hydro. So much so that even locked down here with all these chains suppressing it, it starts raining in Fontaine whenever he is sad....So it's no wonder that the Primordial Sea acts up when he....”
That was when it started to click. Neuvillette's appearance, the power he has over Hydro, why he was imprisoned down here... Sigewinne squeaked as Wriothesley suddenly grabbed her by the shoulders and stared at her with panic in his eyes.
“Do you want to tell me-”, he began with a trembling voice. “That Neuvillette is....the long lost Hydro Dragon Sovereign?!” Sigewinne stared at him for a few moments before she looked away and nodded.
“Yes”, she said with a sadness in her voice that made Wriothesley's heart bleed.
“And he is stuck down here since he was born”