Chapter Text
Furina feels sick. Fontaine is doomed, all because she let her mask slip one too many times. That’s the only thing Mirror-me ever asked her to do and she can’t even do that right. If she can’t win the trial then they’re all gonna die, and it’s all her fault. Because she couldn’t save the people of Poisson. Because she trusted the traveller and almost let the secret slip. Because she’s so useless that her two closest confidants would sooner work with the people who tried to kill her than to trust her.
So there she stands, staring at the business end of the Champion Duelist’s sword. Her Bodyguard, who swore to protect her, is instead trying to kill her. Her friend, the same friend that bought her cake when she's feeling down, is trying to kill her.
Her Chief Justice, watching what may very well be her execution from above. His gaze, colder than any she’s seen. This is it. There’s no way she can beat Clorinde in a fight. She’ll have no choice but to go through a trial. Her hands raise in a mark of surrender.
But… What if I lose. If I defend myself in trial, even if I win there’ll be a shadow of a doubt in everyone here. And if I lose, we can’t prevent the prophecy. I… can’t beat Clorinde in a fight, but at least the secret will die with me. No other choice…
Furina takes a few steps back, but her arms are once again by her side, but her expression is resolute. She materializes her weapon and takes a relaxed stance. She doesn’t know any actual fighting stances so the best she can do is act nonchalant.
“Very well. I, Focalors, otherwise known as Furina de Fontaine, Regina of All Waters, Kindreds, Peoples and Laws of Fontaine, will accept your duel” Her face doesn’t betray any hint of fear.
Clorinde is the first to let her hesitation show. Her eyes darted to Neuvilette for less than a second, her brows furrowed. Subtle enough that the audience would not notice, but Furina knows her better than the audience does. She’s not prepared for this.
Maybe she’ll hold back
“Are you sure you want to accept the duel?” Neuvilette no longer looks as certain as he was a few seconds ago.
“Yes, I’m certain.” Furina leans on her sword, holding on to her pretense of indifference In reality, she’s simply gone weak in the knees. Not that they know that of course. “The real question is, are you, Champion Duelist?”
Clorinde doesn’t even bother hiding her discomfort. She’s more than willing to die in the name of justice. She’ll have to go all out to even stand a chance against an Archon, but if Furina really is just a normal human, she may end up taking her life with her own sword. She wouldn't be able to live with herself if something were to go wrong.
“What’s the matter? Are you hesitating, champion duelist?” She’s not sure how much longer she can keep up her facade. Whatever happens, she needs it to happen fast.
“Lady Furi-”
“Don’t.” She cuts her off
Clorinde flinches. She’s never heard her lady sound so cold. There’s no backing out now, there’s nothing she can do but stand and fight.
This was never supposed to happen. This challenge was never meant to be accepted, a farce to prevent Lady Furina from denying the trial. She can only hope that whatever happens, Lady Furina will forgive her.
Mirroring her hesitation, Neuvilette cautiously signals the start of the duel. Clorinde surges forward. Lady Furina is still in a relaxed stance. She doesn’t want to hurt her, but losing without putting up a fight would do nothing but harm her lady’s reputation.
Despite being mid-lunge, Clorinde shifts her weight to prepare herself for Lady Furina’s riposte. That counterattack never came though, because Furina never had any intention of parrying the attack.
She’s really not holding back huh…
She can only smile as she waits for her champion duelist’s sword to pierce through her chest.
“STOP!” A voice calls out.
…
The killing blow was struck, but it was not her heart that it made contact with. A deafening clink was heard through the opera, the sound of sword striking steel. The clear signs of a shield's energy appeared before Furina, taking the blow.
Navia? No, she wouldn’t help me. And this shield is much more durable than hers. It almost feels… metallic?
“I believe this has gone far enough.” An old man with a cane walks out of the orchestra, and he does not look amused.
Despite his unimpressive stature, his presence is overwhelming. She’s not much of a fighter so she can't tell how strong he is, but he's feels even scarier than the harbinger who tried to kill her, and all he’s doing is walking!
Flanking him, a young spearbearer. He has a sturdy build, with a heavy, calm air around him. It’s hard to describe, but he feels like the earth itself. An Adeptus maybe? Was he the one who shielded her?
While the old man is staring down Neuvilette, the young man is taking his time to inspect the surroundings. Likely figuring out who would be allies and who enemies if it came down to a fight.
A gray-haired girl with a baseball bat runs out from the other side of the old man. Wait, is she coming this way? Wow, the girl is really tall, almost twice her height.
Oh, nevermind, Furina’s just on her knees cause her legs gave out somewhere during all that. It was really scary, okay? Give her a break.
“Can you stand?” She offers her hand. Furina hesitates. She doesn’t even know who these people are.
And yet, when she was at her lowest, it wasn’t her friends who came to her aid, but these strangers. If the people she once trusted can join hands with her assassin, why shouldn’t she take her hand.
Her fingers, trembling and still weak, lifted from her side and reached out to the girl’s offered hand. It was warm. Comforting.
“Thank you.” She squeaked out.
“Let’s get you out of here okay?” The girl smiles at her carefully, as if afraid that her words would scare Furina away.
“This trial is not yet over.” Neuvilette’s attention shifted away from the two men and fell on the two on the stage.
“Trial!? She would’ve Died.” She clapped back
His jaw clamp shut at the reminder. If they didn’t interfere, Lady Furina would’ve died. What other option did he have? She is clearly hiding something from them. They need to know the missing piece if they are to stand any chance at saving Fontaine.
On the other hand, his instincts as a sovereign are warning him that these new arrivals would not make easy foes. Judging by how they jumped in to try and save someone in trouble, they appear to be good-natured people at least. It would do well to prevent making enemies out of them when their hands are already full with the prophecy. He'll have to leave Furina with them for now.
“Very well, we’ll stop this trial here.” He sighs, knowing full well continuing here would only do more harm than good.
“What!? But we need her to stop the prophecy!”
“Paimon- Shush!”
Lumine isn’t sure what exactly is happening, but she knows that they need to fall back and regroup. Things went too far off the plan to keep pushing. Unfortunately for them, her traveling companion isn’t quite as bright.
“But we need to know what she’s hiding! Who knows when we’ll get the chance to corner her again!” She can’t say she’s wrong either. They really are running out of time to save Fontaine.
The new arrival, however, isn’t too pleased with this revelation.
“Wha- That's why you tried to kill her?! Because of some prophecy?!”
“Stelle, let’s not make this harder than it already is”
“What!? You think we should've just let them kill her?!”
“No, but provoking them certainly won’t help either”
“I think what Dan heng means, Stelle, is that we should first move the girl somewhere she can feel safe.”
“...Fine” Stelle relents “Lets get you out of here.”
Furina feels like a deer caught in headlights. Leaving like this would be the same as admitting that she lost the trial. Would Mirror-me’s plan fail if she left?
A voice breaks her out of her stupor.
“Hey, what do you want to do?” She asked. “If the Prophecy doesn’t happen, what would you choose?”
Furina thinks over her words for a second. She doesn't know what she would do, but one thing has never been clearer to her. “...I don’t want to be here” she mumbled
That’s all Stelle needed to hear.