Chapter Text
Furina wasn’t sure she could place exactly when everything went so horribly wrong.
Could it have been when her people held a trial and declared her to be a false Archon? When the Fortress of Meropide drowned after the Primordial Sea was unable to be held back for long enough? When Poisson flooded? Lyney’s trial? When the Traveler and her little floating companion first stepped foot in Fontaine? It could’ve been any moment during the centuries she had been playing her role, really.
No matter when things started to go wrong, they certainly had. Furina sat in her seat, tears streaming down her face in the aftermath of the trial. She had only come to the Opera Epiclese on the request of the Traveler, who had been oddly insistent that there was something Furina needed to be there for. She should’ve known better.
But it was difficult to not trust Lumine.
Maybe it was because Lumine had already been helping out plenty, maybe it was just because Furina wanted to spend more time with her. Either way, she had quickly decided to go along with the blonde outlander’s request. In hindsight, she shouldn’t have gone along with Lumine’s plans. Shouldn’t have let her worm her way into her heart.
Everything felt muffled. Furina felt like her head was underwater. Fitting, considering everything would be beneath the waves soon. She faintly heard a loud sound and what sounded like screaming. Saw a glimpse of something large, sparkly and whale shaped showing up before vanishing again.
Truthfully, Furina stopped paying attention after the verdict was given.
The Oratrice lit up brightly and she heard Lumine shout something before the light grew blindingly bright.
When the blinding light faded, so had all the noise in the opera house. Not even the Oratrice made a sound, and that’s what tipped off Furina that something was off. Even when the Opera Epiclese was empty and silent, the Oratrice Mecanique d’Analyse Cardinale still made noise. Wiping tears from her eyes, she stumbled to her feet and looked out across the now empty opera house. Where was she? What had happened? Why are some of the seats floating? Why is there a giant blade above the stage? Who was that down on the stage?
Wait…
Someone on the stage?
Furina blinked in shock before rushing down to the stage, tripping once or twice and almost falling down the stairs at one point. The closer she got to the stage, the more she recognized the person standing on it. There’s no way she couldn’t recognize her. She had seen that face in the mirror more times than she could count over the past few hundred years.
Focalors, the Hydro Archon. The real Hydro Archon.
As Furina slowed to a stop in front of her, Focalors gave her a small, mournful smile. Furina felt so guilty that it made her feel sick. If she had just been better at playing her role, none of this would have happened. All the pain and suffering related to the prophecy, could it have been prevented if she was just better at playing the role of an Archon?
“Enough of that, now” Focalors spoke softly, reaching out to hold Furina’s face in her hands. “You played your role wonderfully, my dear”
“But… the prophecy…” She tried to blink away the tears forming in her eyes again. She couldn’t have been that good, her trial made that pretty clear. The Archon in front of her pulled her in closer and began to run her fingers through Furina’s hair. She was glad for the comfort, even if she felt that it wasn’t quite right considering the circumstances.
“Things didn’t go as planned, I’ll admit, but that was not from your actions alone. There were many factors outside of your control that led to this outcome” She talked like she was discussing the weather, or the story of a play she had seen, and not the deaths of everyone in Fontaine. Even having played the role of one for many years, Furina still didn’t quite understand the perspective of a god. Maybe she never would. She hoped she never would.
“This meeting wasn’t what I had planned either,” Focalors spoke calmly, continuing to run her fingers through the hair of the girl in her arms. “I originally was going to pull Neuvillette into this place so I could return the power that rightfully belongs to him. If everything went to plan, he’d forgive the sins of the people of Fontaine and things would be fine.”
“Then why bring me here?” Furina moved to look Focalors in the eyes, dislodging the god’s hand from her hair in the process. “Couldn’t he have still saved the rest of Fontaine? What made you bring me here instead?”
The archon sighed softly “More people died than who was meant to. Even if everyone in Fontaine wouldn’t dissolve when they came in contact with Primordial Sea water, it’s still water. They would still drown.”
She slumped forward, resting her head on Focalors’ shoulder. “That’s not really an answer to my question, though.” She felt the god’s hand return to her hair again. “I asked why I was brought here. I assume you still could’ve brought Neuvillette here, even if it wouldn’t have done much.”
Focalors stopped petting her hair for a moment. She briefly worried that she had said something wrong before the god spoke again. “The original plan was that I would use the Indemnitium I had been saving within the Oratrice to shatter the throne of the Hydro Archon, and kill me with it. With there no longer being a Hydro Archon, and no chance of a new one taking the throne, that power would return to the Hydro Dragon Sovereign.”
Furina felt cold. She tried to move backwards to look her in the eyes again, but Focalors just held her tighter. “I said the original plan, Furina.” She huffed “Obviously my plans had to change pretty quickly.”
She ran her fingers through Furina’s hair again. She was starting to think the god was a little obsessed with doing that. “With the power I’ve saved over the past several hundred years, I realized I could do more with it than just providing power to Fontaine and the machine that will bring my execution.”
“I want to give you a second chance.” Focalors removed her hand from Furina’s hair, readjusting her hold to pull her into something of a clumsy waltz. “I should be able to send you back to before the prophecy really kicked off, so you can do things over again and make sure this series of events never happens.”
“A second chance? Sending me back?” Furina stared at her in confusion “What does that even mean?” A shadow briefly crossed over her face and she looked up, spotting the massive blade hovering above the stage that she had seen earlier. Right, that must be what Focalors was going to use for her execution.
“You’ll see.” Focalors spoke calmly as she stopped and held Furina close again. “If it helps any, I’m sorry for this.” She didn’t have the time to question what she meant by that before the blade came down on both of them.
Furina snapped awake, breathing heavily and clutching a plush toy to her chest. Her eyes flicked across the room she was in, still trying to process what had happened. The room looked familiar. The decorations and furniture looked familiar. The plush toy she was holding looked familiar.
This was… her bedroom? Hadn’t she just been in the opera house with Focalors? What was happening? How was she here?
Stumbling out of bed, still holding the toy close to her chest, Furina spotted her calendar hanging on the wall. She blinked in confusion at the date. That was… before the Traveler came to Fontaine. Months before, actually. Had that all been some sort of fucked up nightmare? She’s sure it was. It had to be.
…Right?