Chapter Text
When people are so sure of one thing happening, they don't bother to plan for another. It's a fault that many humans have but a few lack.
"Are you guys serious? What if she does it??" Neuvillette said, the worry staining his voice which is usually void of emotion.
Clorinde sighs, shaking her head. "Neuvillette, it'll be fine. Either she's human and she knows she'd die from it so she won't do it or she's the archon and she will be fine."
Neuvillette wanted to plead further but be knew his words would fall on deaf ears so he remained quiet, trying to ignore the worry piling up inside of him.
"Instead, I'd like to charge you as a fraud who's never been the archon in the first place." Aether's words rang throughout the opera House, reminding Neuvillette and everyone else that there was no backing out of this. "Charge accepted. Lady Furina, do you plead guilty to the charge?"
Furina stood at her spot, absolutely appalled by the question. She acts cocky to keep up her facade and continue the play that is her life but inside, her heart is racing and she's pleading with whatever gods lie above in the heavens to help her just this once. "I plead not guilty. How can I be guilty?"
The court goes back and forth for a while, Furina being buried more and more into a pit of dread and fear as her arguments are continuously shot down like a helpless bird in the sky during hunting season.
"Since you insist on claiming to be a god, and not a human, then there's a method that you can use right here and now to eliminate all suspicions of you being the latter. Now, I've brought some seawater from Poisson. As many knows, a massive flood struck the area not long ago, taking many lives... Including those of some of my closest friends. So, Miss Furina, would you dare to touch some of this seawater? If we are to believe that you are indeed the real Hydro Archon, touching this seawater would have no effect on you. All it should do is strengthen your case. But if you don't dare to touch it, then we would have basically proved the reverse. Oh, and I must remind you that after the disaster in Poisson, nobody wants to see any more people dissolve. I do hope you'll act prudently and chose the simpler path of admitting guilt." Navia's words make the whole courtroom fall silent as Furina slowly makes her way down to the stage. Her thoughts and heart are racing, tears forming in her eyes bit she doesn't dare to let them fall.
"Surely, they diluted it or something... If they are so insistent on me being human, they would dilute it to make sure I don't get hurt from it... But I'm their Archon... They have to believe me!" Furina's thoughts grow more and more desperate as she stares at the bowl of primordial sea water. In the middle of the silence, Furina shocks the whole audience by diving her hand straight into the water.
In an instant, she realizes her mistake when she feels the searing pain shoot through her body. Unable to hold back, she collapses on the stage and screams in agony, her tears finally falling down as she clutches her hand to her chest. Immediately, Neuvillette and Aether rush down to her but they're too late to do anything because when they get to the stage, Furina is gone and replaced by nothing but a puddle of water.
Seeing the anguish on Neuvillette's face and hearing the immediate storm, Aether quickly gets help to rush everyone out of the opera house, leaving Neuvillette alone.
Neuvillette is horrified, his mind filled with guilt and pain as he stares at the puddle which was once the girl who he saw as his own daughter. Soon, he realizes that Furina's death means that he has regained his full authority as the dragon sovereign of water. His first thought is to use that authority to try and bring back Furina. He tries everything he can with the puddle of water, even recreating the shape of her with it but in the end, nothing works and the puddle is drying up on the stage. Not wanting to have nothing left of her, Neuvillette decides to pick up a small bit of the water with an empty vial that was previously filled with primordial sea water.
With Furina gone, the prophecy kicked off in full swing so Neuvillette quickly had to deal with that to ensure that the entire nation didn't get wiped out. He absolved everyone of their sins, dealt with the big issue of the narwhal and ended up just staying in the opera house, staring at the stage and the bowl of water for who knows how long.
He should've listened to his gut, he shouldn't have let them do that, he should've made them dilute, it even just a bit! Maybe if he wasn't so reckless, Furina wouldn't be dead. But no, he ignored himself and now, the person who he's adored and loved as if she were his own daughter is now dead. She's gone and it's Neuvillette's fault.