author's notes:
this was written for NeuviFuri Week 2024 Day 4 - Angst. given the glaring lack of neuvifuri fics on this site, ive decided to post some of my fanfics here for this pairing. hope you enjoy!
Furina loves Fontaine unconditionally.
When Focalors asked her to act as the 'Hydro Archon' for an indefinite amount of time, she accepted because it was the morally right decision. Even though at the time she did not truly understand what 'morals' or 'justice' were. Even if she did not understand, she knew that she could not allow an entire nation to perish, to disappear beneath the waves. Although that sense of 'justice', that sense of 'responsibility' may have been the catalyst for the loneliest opera of all time, as time passed, it was not the sole reason she continued to act.
No, the reason Furina continued to star in that cursed opera was because she fell in love with Fontaine and its people.
She fell in love with how the Great Lake looked at sunset and sunrise, orange light scattering across the water to signal the end of a day and the beginning of the next. She fell in love with the animals and creatures that wandered throughout the land, the blubberbeasts basking in the sun, the crabs scurrying on the shores, the otters swimming through the waters, and of course the melusines with their kindness and their boundless curiosity.
She fell in love with the culture and the arts, the theater and the actors that put so much work into bringing their roles to life, the music that soothed and flitted through the streets of the Court, the researchers who wanted to make life easier for everyone. And the children who deserved a happy childhood. She fell in love with their brilliance, their optimism, their resilience, their joys, their sorrows, and how they always tried to reach for their dreams, despite all the struggles they faced.
That love was what drove her to persevere. That love was what drove her to endure 500 years of loneliness, uncertainty, and despair. She loved Fontaine, the melusines, and her people unconditionally. And if she were to go back in time, she would still choose to do it all again. For their lives she would suffer in silence, for their futures she would sacrifice hers, for their happiness she would drown herself in despair. Because Furina loved Fontaine, because she loved her people -even if that love was not returned.
Neuvillette grew to love humanity.
Even though he was human in form, his heart, his soul, his power, the very essence of his entire being was the furthest thing from what humans were. It is only when the Hydro Archon sends a letter that he begins to shed his indifference. When Furina welcomes him into the Court as the Iudex with a grand performance at the Opera Epiclese, she also invites him and pushes him to get to know his people better.
At first he remains skeptical but, after years of observing them curiosity festers so he tries to understand. After decades of living among them, he learns to empathize with their plights. After centuries of witnessing their lives, he grows to love their determination, their desire for a better life, their greed to survive. How they chase after their goals and bring them into fruition, how they make the most out of the little time they have to live in this world.
It is because he grew to love humanity and all of their flaws that he forgives Fontaine for their sins, turning them into true humans and preventing them from ultimately getting dissolved by the flood. And because he now knows what love feels, he experiences what true grief and mourning means.
Neuvillette was filled with sorrow as he witnessed Focalors sacrifice herself, he mourned her death and lamented the way she said that this was the justice he deserved.
Neuvillette was filled with despair when he found out about Furina's endless solo of solitude. He is brokenhearted when he finds her exhausted and utterly spent on the steps of the Opera Epiclese after the flood. He is devastated when she tells him she wants to leave Palais Mermonia for she could never truly rest within its imposing walls.
Because that means she wants to leave him, that his presence was a stark reminder of her pain. He wanted to stop her, ask her to reconsider, but Furina's slumped figure, quiet voice, and trembling hands as she says this stops him.
What right did he have to deny her of the freedom she more than deserved?
What right did he have to keep her tethered to a life that only plagued her with more suffering?
And so Neuvillette let Furina go, away from the Palais Mermonia. Away from him and their shared residence, away from subtle touches they exchanged, away from the memories they made. Only when she leaves him, does he realize that she takes away a piece of his heart with her.
Only then does he realize that he loves Furina. Irrevocably. Undeniably. Unconditionally.
But Neuvillette can never let her know. Not when the wounds she has are only just beginning to heal. Not when his presence burdens her of all the things she doesn't wish to remember.
Neuvillette would keep his distance, respect her wishes. While she recuperates, he will protect Fontaine and its people, ensure the safety of the country she loved so much that she had sacrificed her divinity and allowed her humanity to suffer 500 years in silence.
It did not matter if his love would never be reciprocated.
It takes months but Furina learns to move forward. She learns how to care for herself, immersing herself in finding new hobbies that she couldn't do before. She learns how to use her vision, learns that she enjoys working in production and being a director. Slowly, surely, she learns how to be just 'Furina'.
Of course playing a role for so long she could never truly separate the 'Hydro Archon Furina' from the 'Human Furina' but, she finds that it does not matter for both of them are inexplicably a part of her. Just like how both 'Furina' and 'Focalors' together are the Hydro Archon.
It's a slow gradual process but she also discovers that the love she had for Fontaine and its people was not so one-sided as she first thought. Although she held no divinity in the 500 years she acted as their Archon, the people still treated her as if she was one. Obviously not everyone was pleased with how she paraded as their god, it was only natural and their anger and even hatred was wholly justified in her eyes.
However, a vast majority of Fontainians still treat her as if she were their idol, a celebrity they needed to keep their polite distance with. She sees it in the way her neighbors greet her whenever she passes by, feels their respect whenever the shopkeepers converse with her, sees it in the smile of the elderly and the reverence in the eyes of the children.
Furina discovers that her love for her people was actually very much reciprocated.
She feels it in the way a concerned Clorinde would drop by a few times a week to check on her, sees it in the patient way Navia teaches her how to make macaroons and has tea parties with her.
Furina sees it in the way Neuvillette's shoulders sag in relief when they reconcile, as if a great burden had been lifted from his shoulders. She feels it in the way he wraps his arms around her and in the way his fingers intertwine with hers, holding onto her as if she were to disappear at any given moment. She hears it in the way he speaks her name, soft, tender, and so gentle, before he presses his lips against hers.
It feels amazing, empowering, reassuring to know that the love she held was returned.
more notes:
this is cross posted on ao3 under the same name and title. i also have a few other fics written there but if you'd like i can probably post it here too (i might actually post the Day 2 one regardless). anyways, i adore neuvifuri and if you want to scream and fangirl with me i have a tumblr and twitter under the same name; @argonautnana
comments and constructive criticism are very much appreciated so please dont be shy! on a completely separate note, i wish this site had more customizable tags but you win some you lose some ig.