Archive of Our Own ^beta

He felt like the pain engraved his very own soul. He felt like along the way, pain became more pleasant than joy, like his heart could only understand suffering, like his only language was suffering as he forgot what love felt like.

Dainsleif was like a walking corpse, half-consumed flesh with a soul that could hold no more, he was a bird with torn off wings, ashes burying silent screams in his aching throat, blood dripping endlessly from wounds that would never heal, red and blue degenerating in a sea of deep violets.

There were no flowers to bloom in this agony, muddy colored puddles around him couldn't be mopped up by anyone for he wore loneliness as an unconfortable armor. There was no one to save him, no one to cry for him, there was nothing but pain and blood gushing from never-ending wounds, as he cultivated his guilt and the fear thousand of years of fighting would not even allow him to preserve little pieces of what was left of what he once loved.

He once dreamed of sunshine, blue skies, rivers, lush greenery the furthest you could look, he dreamed of picnics on the grass with children screaming and laughing around them, he dreamed of birds singing, he dreamed of a future that could be if you wished strong enough... But who even was allowed to dream in this world ? He was not of the people who could reweave the threads of fate, he understood it's dangers, how touching one thread would only bring the end of his foolish dreams... He was never born to be happy, to expect a bright future, to see the light at the arrival of the morning stars, to be anything else but a survivor of a nation that was destroyed before his very own eyes, handling secrets he would never be able to completely share to anyone.

Fate decided to make him a loner. It had robbed him of his only travelling companion, made her his enemy, sweet gazes and warm embraces shredded to pieces in the name of defying the gods. Fear forbade him to act against Celestia, made him a traitor, only good to beg those he once loved to throw away their plans, to not risk their lives, to not make him once again the cursed witness of another end no one but him would know the truth about.

He felt like he could lose no more, that the only piece that made him alive was the sole idea he could become worthy enough to stop the woman who painted him the prettiest skies. He didn't care about hate, about how much she was hurting and could still hurt him, as losing this last remaining piece of his soul would be like losing himself and the hopes he once had.

Dainsleif was a sentimental, eroded by thousand of years of loneliness and suffering, still alive hanging on to memories and a sense of love no one had the grace to offer him since then.

Yet, when it seemed his body could no more bring him to another place. He wondered if someone could even find him and hold his cold body, close his teary eyes, and maybe bury him somewhere, where flowers could bloom.

He knew he couldn't die.

He knew he couldn't die, so why was his body abandoning him, why was he suffocating on his own blood, arms and legs refusing to move, struggling to even move a finger, wet moss under his skin, nothing but the wall of a cave in his sight ?

He heard noises, noises of a heavy four-legged body behind him, the sound of a scaled tail scraping againt the ground. Being as old as he was, he couldn't be fool enough to not recognize the distinct sounds of a lone vishap walking, it's snoot sniffing his once blond hair tainted by dried blood.

Vishaps mostly lost the intellect they once had, but more importantly, they didn't leave here anymore. Most of them were lost underground, burried in the deep, not in Teyvat, where was once their homes. Yet, he was convinced the creature hovering him was one of them, leaving him lost between multiple thoughts... Could he die if a vishap ate him ? Something in him was not that convinced... Was it linked to one of the dragons of Fontaine, to the dragon Rhinedottir once brought back in Fontaine, or the lone Sovereign who resided in the palace of the Hydro nation ?

He could not think about it further, growing weaker and weaker, slowly losing sensations in his body, being only able to see a new small figure above him.

What was now trying to get his attention was a small furry fairy, white and lilac, serpentine eyes catching his starry pupils. The vishaps had shapeshifted, taking an appareance that could only be described as inoffensive, like if it wanted to make him more at ease, give him relief as to what it's intentions where.

“Hear ? Hear Pahsiv ? Hear ? Hear Pahsiv ?” then repeated the small Melusine in a high pitched voice, paws reaching to his aching corpse to move it as so try to bring him back some life.

Fontaine's Melusine were the children of Elynas, yet this one had this peculiar look... It could shapeshift into a vishap... Or maybe it was a vishap shapeshifting into a Melusine... It couldn't talk as well as the others, but it sounded frantic, as if the creature was genuinely worried about him.

A sort of relief washed over him as he thought that, maybe, he could go now. Wasn't it great, if he could die here, with someone at least able to remember him ?

His vision gradually obscured, and his consciousness evaporated with it.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Loneliness shaped what Neuvillette became. The once proud Sovereign, was now nothing but a lone creature, with no fellow dragon to talk to around, and only the knowledge of one old friend, lost in the desert in the south. Before his death, there was no desert, where his old friend now lived. Before his death, his body was one of an enormous and powerful creature, blue scales adorning his longiline figure. Before his death, this world was home to serpents and dragons, all around responded to him as if he himself was nature, part of the true nature of things.

His rebirth brought a different kind of despair to him... His powers were lost, usurped by a god handling his worn out heart as if it was hers, his body was feeble, and there was no one to talk to, as the Usurper and new Mother of Waters, only left him with a clueless cursed human mascarading as herself. Yet, he didn't see it, he seeked answer from a girl who could do nothing but pretend to understand who he was or who she was. Deep in his heart, he long blamed someone he now knew could bring him no answer or apology, as she was as lost and innocent as she after all seemed. He could not understand these Celestia puppets, and he ached for the ones who had to suffer from their absurdities.

His powers back, feeling his heart being once again his, he yet had to discover things didn't get that much better. There was no throne to reclaim with how weak he was against the new Order of this world, no friend to recover, no justice to find back... Apep was in a desert he couldn't go to, and deep shame crippled him as he thought showing himself in a human form would be nothing but shameful. No Sovereign was that fond of humans, and even though he learned to love them, something in him told him his old friend wouldn't approve his feelings. And how could he show himself to her, in the form of creatures she despised, creatures who took a similar face as the Usurper King ?

Knowing how he looked, how he now was in shape closer to the one creature who stole him everything, killed him, desecrated his corpse, sealed it, massacred his kind, condamned the rest to only dwell in the deep, he felt all day long a sort of dread that couldn't heal. His return was a joke, and he didn't belong in this new world.

What was he doing, mascarading as some nation's judge, not knowing for what he even was doing that ? He saw the worst of humans, he saw the despicable things happening around in an unfair society he somewhat now had power over ? But it wasn't his people. It wasn't his world. The Teyvat he knew was somewhere hidden, and he couldn't bring it back... So why acting like he had his own will, since he felt like he had no reason to live but to wait for the day his own King would comeback to take revenge ? He was nothing but an empty shell.

But why did this empty shell feel so deeply ?

He sensed sins accumulating as he did let inequalities rise in Fontaine, as he knew he did let orphans wander without a home to go to, did let fair men like Callas die no matter how unfair he knew it was... Yet he did nothing as he thought it wasn't his fight, only doing the part Foçalor asked him to do, guilt drowning something deep in him he refused to see. He was “fair and unbiased”, the way they wanted him to be. He was a beast, a monster, humans dying from his teeths and claws he no longer had, he was as they said, and that why he was so unfeeling...

Unfeeling...

Unfeeling...

Unfairly unfeeling...

Unfeeling as he brought back the soft creatures emerging from the carcass of a friend he never had the chance to talk too, wanting somewhere to have something that would be his. Something that belonged to what was once his now lost world.

He mourned a dragon he never knew, rain endlessly pouring for Elynas and his orphaned children, as he rocked the small figures of the furry fairies one by one in his arms, otherwise alone in the lone office of the new Palais Mermonia. Who he was, what he was, no one could know, and there were only tiny furry friends to soothe the emptiness within him.

Now, his power was back, and it seemed all he had were still only these meek little furry creatures, fairies born from the corpse of a beast who wanted nothing but to discover the world. He didn't understand it well, how a dragon could dream of dwelling in this world where their kind were since long banished from... He didn't understand how someone could dream of this new world when his long lost home was so much more, as it was the place he belonged to, as it was where his long lost friends were.

Falling back in his too-cold armchair, gaze hugging the silent sky outside, he only straightened up when he felt the panicked squeaks of a Melusine in the water... No, from a creature even more wounded by loneliness, a creature hidden in the confines of Fontaine, a vishap who was as much his protege as Elynas' children and his secret.

Could it be that corruption from the bowels of the world was once again trying to break through to the surface? Yet what the water was saying, what he was hearing from her voice in his heart, had a very different meaning...
Pahsiv had found a beached monster.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

His body shaking with waves of pain resonating in every part of his being, as if chasing a poison that had crept into his heart, Dainsleif had finally opened his eyes.

The view that greeted him was unlike any cave, any sky, any dilapidated rooftop to which he was accustomed. No, what he had before him was an immense dome, a faint night glow filtering through the rectangular glass panes at the top. It was Fontaine architecture at its finest, buildings he knew only from the ley lines, but had never seen with his own eyes.

His skull badly aching, he remained motionless, his head resting on something soft and comfortable. There was no sound except that of a quill scratching paper, as if he were in the office of a writer, a secretary or a bureaucrat.

Concentrating on the noise, he managed to analyze several things: this person was writing fast, and with certainty. It was someone who knew his job, and who, judging by the probable time of day, tended to be over-zealous.
But how did he suddenly find himself in a room in a wealthy home (?) of an unknown Fontainian ?

The last thing he remembered was being injured in his interminable pursuit of the Abyss Order, collapsing and losing consciousness somewhere in the wilderness. His wound had been severe, he had felt himself slipping away, he had bathed in his own blood, imagining that even the curse of immortality wouldn't save him this time...

He remembered the nasty moss beneath him, the pain, pain that still radiated from him, like a vivid reminder that it had all been real. What had happened ?

Exhaling a pained breath, his chest still compressed by pain, a rattle had then escaped from his throat, disturbing the hitherto near-perfect silence in the room.

The sound soon attracted a first presence, a small, dark-coated Melusine with purplish eyes and serpentine pupils, the creature running to his bedside, her soft paws making no sound as she trod the floor.
Her high-pitched voice had broken the stillness :

“Okay ? Pahsiv ? No ok ? Melusine ? Ok ? Pahsiv ?”. The fairy seemed genuinely worried, leaning over him, not even daring to touch him with her delicate paws, as if she feared breaking him.

Running off again in the opposite direction, the blond could barely follow her out of the corner of his eyes, and then heard a chair move, and the sound of shoe heels echoing on what sounded more like marble than wood.

Soon, his gaze caught a blurred silhouette, a long, slender figure, long white hair neatly gathered by a ribbon at the arch of his back, the figure of someone who had pulled a chair close to him, as if to observe him.

And the face opposite him made something twitch inside him, something that knew perfectly well who was watching him, who stood with them and the little Melusine.

The face in front of him had features both angular and delicate, highlighted by a line of blue eyeliner underlining irises in the colors of the primordial sea, in the colors of the heart beating in the chest of this body that did no justice to the soul that inhabited it.

A deep, elegant voice had escaped his lips :

“How are you feeling ? Can you move ? Would you feel like you could speak ?”

The Dragon Sovereign, this world's original God of Life, considered him with a gaze that seemed so cold, but which the Bough Keeper nevertheless knew to be compassionate, as a God of Life could after all do nothing but cherish living beings. He was a parasitic being on this world, an adulterated existence, the fruit of colonization organized by beings from the cosmos. He was a human, a human from a lost nation, the visual representation of beings who had wrested everything from this noble sovereign.

Yet his cold eyes carried a warmth that was expressed in gestures and words rather than attitude. He was a dragon, and although he had lived for hundreds of years among humans, his means of expression and understanding of feelings remained different. He spoke through nature and his element, since he was, after all, the rightful ruler of the waters. A ruler who could not fully reclaim his own throne, who had recovered only his powers and his stolen heart.

Dainsleif could barely feel his body, and his other limbs ached, but his aching arm had risen into the void, his corrupted arm with its vivid blue veins, as if marking the infernal current running through his veins. He had managed to turn his head ever so slightly, to get a better look at the dragon's face, a better look at the face of the man the people of Fontaine called Monsieur Neuvillette, and his heart clenched in his chest.

Then, without responding, his fingers had grazed the judge's garment, where his draconic heart sat in his human ribcage.

“You must feel so alone...” His voice was hoarse, damaged by fatigue, thirst and too long without speaking.

The dragon seemed taken aback, staring at his face, like if he was searching secret intentions hidden behind his features.

Then, Neuvillette's cold fingers envelopped his own with infinite softness, helping him to lie back, silence envelopping them.

Dainsleif thought the man in front of him was probably shrouded by a mist of mysteries no access to any leylines could reveal to him. He never thought about meeting a Dragon Sovereign, he stayed afar from most political intrigues that weren't about the Abyss Order, and he didn't wish to be in the way of no original ruler of the True Order of this world... Knowing the Hydro Sovereign was back as someone called Neuvillette was more than enough informations, since it wasn't his business. Yet, he was now feeling intrigued by the being in front of him.

Even though the dragon could see what he was, what shape he took, he still chose to treat him with so much delicacy in his movements, that he could feel confusion clouding his mind. Was he so lonely he could accept the existence of a human so near him ?

Pahsiv squeaked once again next to them, eyes going from one person to the other, similarly not understanding what was even happening. And to be fair, the former knight wasn't sure of what he was doing or what was happening either, the touch of the bare skin of the Sovereign still lingering on his hand, the soft embrace permeating his worn out organism. Was this the touch of a God of Life ? It did feel like a divine touch, but at the same time, it felt warm, warm and sincere like if it was also an embrace of some sort.

Something deep in him felt at peace, and his eyes closed again.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Neuvillette had never before seen anyone with such a curse.

The human he had transported after Pahsiv's call for help was in every way of a species similar to the beings under his governance at Fontaine... But half of his badly damaged body was that of a monster, the skin devoured to nothing but charcoal streaked with what might have seemed like roots of primordial energy. He couldn't fully see it, not daring to undress the unknown man, leaving him to the care of the Melusines, but from their words, the evil extended to his body, leaving him wondering.
He'd seen many curses in a lifetime, but the exact evil gnawing at the blond-haired man was both familiar and unfamiliar. Even though he was the Hydro Sovereign, after several hundred years he still hadn't fully recovered the memories, finding himself frustrated by the feeling of somehow guessing something without being able to explain it.

In his memory, what came to mind were humans monstrified by the power of the Abyss, or the curious ailment that still gnawed at one of the Fatui Executors, the director of the House of the Hearth orphanage. She had been born the descendant of a curious dynasty, and flames coursed through her veins, ready to eat her whole if she failed to be careful for even a few moments. He understood that such an evil, if it ever reached her body, would force her to transform into an unknown creature, and that this transformation would be beyond her control. But the man he'd picked up had seen this evil spread so far without changing form. It was as if, for some unknown reason, he'd managed to channel the curse at its peak, having become its master... As if he were a type of human, a type of creature the dragon couldn't understand.

And Neuvillette found himself curious. He'd gotten to know humans, grown attached to them, but he'd never seen one like this. Was his resistance due to the immortality curse that kept his body alive no matter what its true state ? Was it some sort of a human miracle created by his own will ? Or was it the energy coursing through his veins, the cursed blue glow running through half his body ?

Even more curious: his power allowed him neither to fully understand this human's curse of immortality, nor to lift it himself. Was this due to the fact that his memories still hadn't fully returned to him ? Or was it a tragic situation where, whatever happened, the curse could only be lifted by the person who had cast it ?

In his arms, the man had weighed next to nothing, motionless, barely alive as he took him to his private apartments after first aid. His life was not in danger: he was an immortal, after all. His body would take some time to recover, but he would live.
And the dragon had spent hours after work observing his find, with Pahsiv joining him at nightfall to accompany his observations. With no access to human language, he could only understand her through the water inside her, remaining pensive as he listened to her comments. He didn't look like any man who'd ever been near the area, as if he'd risen from the depths, and his attire was unlike that of any people they'd ever met.

Was he from Natlan ? Or was it the outfit of some group living in the Sumeru desert ? This outfit was so dark, he couldn't imagine facing the heat of the sun dressed like this... To be fair, he couldn't imagine facing the heat of the sun at all. Why kind a masochist would go out on a sunny afternoon, roasting alive in a desert almost devoid of life ? It was nonsensical.

But if he didn't come from any of these places, where did he come from, and who was he ? Why did he travel alone ? From what depths exactly had he extricated himself, and who had he faced ?

These questions remained unanswered for longer than expected, since the blond didn't wake up until several days later.

He was then busy with his meticulous accounts of the latest judicious business deals, drawn from his concentrated scribblings by a painful moan and the restless little noises of Pahsiv, who had come to his house every night since her discovery.
The stranger had only been conscious for a few minutes, and the judge hadn't even had time to ask him more questions than about his condition, since he'd fallen unconscious again only after a few cryptic gestures and words. His voice was hoarse, his eyes sad, while his monstrous hand had grazed his garment, where his body was beating. And then, as if he knew who he was, what he was, his only words had been concerned with his solitude, leaving him circumspect.

Never had Neuvillette been so easily read since his meeting with Wriothesley. This man, as astonishing as he was, had suspected that his identity went beyond that of a judge who had mysteriously appeared alongside the new Archon, but had never really uncovered his entire true nature. The guardian of the Fortress had suspected that he wasn't human, but didn't quite get what exactly defined him.

But this man, in one look, had seen more than anyone since his reincarnation, as if his mind was able to get through his head and touch his very bare soul.

How come a mere human could see that just through his eyes ?

It just didn't make sense.

Maybe he was wrong... Maybe the comment only came from the fact that he was a grown man who seemed to live with a Melusine and far too many work reports. That was probably it. It could only be that.

So he'd taken a day off to watch for the slightest movement from his unexpected guest. It wasn't that he was looking for confirmation, or something to disprove his speculations, simply that he wanted to understand what creature he was dealing with.

So when, in the early afternoon, the blond had straightened up suddenly, then groaned in pain, the dragon, hitherto busy watching his water flute looked up.

With the sovereign's clear eyes fixed on the painful figure of the unknown immortal, he remained motionless, as if sizing up the creature not far away. Was he supposed to talk to him? As Pahsiv wasn't there, he didn't feel able to take the first step, to approach, or to ask a question. Deep down, he still didn't feel able to converse with a human, he still felt too distant from them, worried about shaking these fragile creatures with something in him that could scare them. And he was afraid of ruffling the blond's feathers, even though the latter seemed far from being a normal human.

Once again, Neuvillette's gaze caught the monstrified arm of the stranger, his skin black as charcoal and his veins bright blue, pensive. Was this the corruption of the abyss? He wasn't quite sure; this blue was familiar in another way. It was as much far than it was near the nebulous origin first considered...

Silent, the stranger offered him his profile, the sight of the mask firmly clinging to his face, long dark eyelashes covering a clear gaze, and a straight nose giving his figure something noble and solemn. There, under the mask, a few blue veins could be seen approaching his eye, the strange magic having crept in there, as if ready one day to devour his irises with their mysterious pupils.

He hadn't looked at him. He simply stared at the window, a piece of garden visible from there, his chapped lips articulating a few words in a deep voice:

“I'm sorry to inconvenience you in this way. It's... I'll be leaving soon, so don't worry about me. I don't really need to eat, drink or receive any kind of care.”

There were a thousand secrets in her tone of voice, in her pupils shaped like a four-pointed star. A four-pointed star... He'd never seen eyes like that before. They weren't serpentine eyes, not those of his kind, and the shape reminded him of nothing other than the figure of the stars in the false sky. Sometimes he missed the real stars, the real constellations, the time when Teyvat had been free and proud with its dragons and other elemental creatures... He longed for the days of the late Heavenly Father, who had disappeared into the bowels of this world or other spaces from which he had never returned.

Yet the creature's uniqueness to Neuvillette made him feel a strange sensation of proximity. He was alone, too. It was strange. Another creature gone astray.

And so it was curiosity that had prompted the dragon to softly ask his question, still seated on his desk, having put down his quill for good:

“Could I just know what you are ? Who are you ? How did you end up in such a situation?”

The blond could remain silent, for the dragon would not force his hand. However, the stranger had seemed to bend to providing an answer to at least some of his questions, articulating, voice still a touch hoarse:

“I... There's someone I want to save. But to do that, I have to stop her and her group. However, it is that I have betrayed her, and that she now hates me as much as I desperately love her. I can't let her sink, let her go, let this world tear her away. So I... took my chances. And that's when the Melusine found me. I'm grateful to you and to it for-

- Her.

- I-I'm sorry.

- Melusine are girls, they are people. Therefore, I wish for everyone to refer to them as “she”. They are civilians of Fontaine as much as humans are.

- You... You do seem to love them.

- They are everything to me.”

He was a devoted father, a devoted mother, their uncle and their aunt all at once, and they were his kins. Dragon's blood flowed in their veins, they were born from the love of a creature that got no chance to try to live his life. There was something in that that made Neuvillette's heart ache, something about the expanse of the tragedy that reminded him his own fate... As he loved too much this world, he fought for it and met his demise, living children behind him who would never grown in the light, nor know the tender gaze of a loved one on them. Therefore, there was no way he would have let the Melusines behind, as they were orphans born from a loving and misunderstood creature.

Melusines were symbol of his own love, his grief, and his loneliness, everything that was defining his identity in this era. Even though he felt like a monster, an other among humans, what deeply pierced his heart was much more about loneliness and living somewhere in a bygone times instead of the present that a factual monstruous identity. Yet, it's not like he felt able to admit it himself, as it was easier to just pretend being an irredimable creature than the real living sensible being he was.

“I... I do think I can empathize.. They are this dragon's children after all... Aren't they the closest things here to the family you've lost..?"

His voice was just a whisper on those last words, while the dragon contemplated them with a mixture of confusion and distrust. Who was this man ? He knew who he was. How could these words come from the mouth of someone who didn't know he was a dragon from a lost era ?

Neuvillette was a discreet man, a secretive man, an aloof man who avoided relationships and had no real friendships. The only exception was Wriothesley, for whom he broke several rules, allowing himself gifts and discussions that sometimes made him want to open his heart no matter what the risks. However, the truth always remained stuck in the back of his throat, because something deep and primal inside him knew despite all the risks he would incur.

There were few people who knew what he was apart from the Traveler, and perhaps Furina, even if he still didn't know exactly how much the former Archon official knew about him. Foçalor had reached out to him knowingly, had sought him out and taken him in, yet knowing what he was, but Furina...

Shaking his head, Neuvillette considered the current situation for several seconds. Pahsiv had found a stranger, a human who had something in him far more special than the others, but in an even different way than the Traveller, Arlecchino, or what might have been Furina... And this human, without even having looked at him, without his having given him his name, knew as if by instinct who he was. Had his secret been shared with this stranger by the Traveller or Foçalor ? Was this man related to either of them ?

"Are you an acquaintance of the old Hydro Archon, Foçalor ?"

A light laugh had escaped the blond-haired man, his shoulders lifting almost painfully before he winced in pain.

"I know the gods. But I'd rather not go near them. It's always best to stay away from the divine and their dangers, as I'm sure you know better than anyone...

- Then... Do you perhaps know a Traveller, a young man with long blond hair who can resonnate with the elements of this world without a Vision, accompanied by a flying toddler with silver hair ?

- I do."

Curious... Would the Traveller and Paimon put so much trust in this person to the point they would tell him about everything they had gone through, sharing even the secret identities of the persons they met ? It was true that the man he had in front of him was no ordinary man, and that he felt like the Traveller was as much of an odd creature in this world as he was... But something in him wasn't convinced his hypothethis was the truth about how things actually were.

"If you were wondering, I don't know who you are because of him. It's been a year since I crossed paths with the Traveller... Since then, the Hydro Archon's throne has fallen, and many other things have happened in this world...

- So how ? Forgive me for asking, but I just don't know how anyone could guess all these things with so few clues ? Is it something like an ability within you that allows you to understand the nature of the power of creatures around ?"

Perhaps he was affiliated with that strange young woman in the depths of the world... She had sensed the Gnosis he carried with him, and the nature of his Sovereign's powers that enabled him to defeat the stellar whale with the Traveller.

"I simply know what's going on in this world... My existence for hundreds of years has been connected to the roots of this world for a reason I cannot share with you. Rest assured, however, that I have no one to share your secrets with. Simply, you must know that the gods know you're alive, just as they know about Apep and her whereabouts..."

The answer was explicit enough for Neuvillette to point out a simple detail: this stranger had a link with the ley lines. He was connected to the Irminsul in an even different way than was the current Goddess of Wisdom. Considering his curse, he remained at the mercy of Celestia and their laws imposed on humans, while playing a special role that made him neither an ordinary human nor a god.

In fact, it even seemed to Neuvillette that the blond was somehow being punished at a stage which, for a dragon, was nothing short of barbaric. His body seemed immortal, and his mind was linked to the ley lines, probably allowing him to know as much as they knew. This kind of solitude could only be tormenting... So how had it come to this ?

"Call me Neuvillette. There's a possibility you know about my real name, however, I would ask you to please understand it's too sensible to be used by anyone. Moreover, for now, as long as I can't be myself, I do prefer being just Neuvillette.

- You real name do not exist in the ley lines, do not fret. And you saved me, why would I have for ambition to appropriate for myself part of your powers ?

- As you are an immortal, I fear I didn't save you from anything... Moreover, you should thank my dear child first, as she found you bathing in your own blood days ago...

- Days ago, uh... How could this immortal body be so feeble...

- I do not understand either what type of malediction was cast upon you. I do feel as if I could know, but my memory as the Hydro Sovereign is still incomplete as for now. I am but a piece of myself, and I do feel sorry not being able to grasp everything I should.

- I often wondered what a Dragon Sovereign would think about many things... What is happening in this world, the gods mascarading as the real owners, the struggles of humans... I thought all of this would be but a mascarade to you, and yet... You saved Fontainians, and you do empathize with humans from outside the Hydro nation... Why would you even be concerned by the fate of people who shouldn't be here in the first time ?”

Neuvillette did wonder too. Humans were aliens to this world, they were the creation of the Usurper King... Yet, he did love them. And he did have empathy for them, and for the man in his room. There were times thousand of years back, when he pretended all he felt was because the Melusines liked humans, and as he loved them so deeply, he couldn't bring himself to hate what they loved. But somewhere along the way... No, since the beginning, there were humans he quickly learnt to love.

He remembered this type of love he felt for Vautrin, who protected Carole the best he could at a times where Melusine weren't accepted as they were. This human gave his trust to creatures that didn't belong in this new society, and carried his sincerity on his sleeve with pride. There were things Neuvillette wished he said to him, yet never did.

There were thousand of things he never did even though he wished differently. He had too many regrets.

“Apep would probably mock me for this... But I do love humans. I do not wish harm on any of your peers.

- My peers...

- Aren't they ?

- They are. And they aren't. How many years do you think I have lived ?

- I have no idea. Your immortality does make your age hard to guess.

- Then, maybe you heard about the fall of Khaenri'ah.”

He did. He resurected because of this event, as Egeria had to sacrifice her own life to protect Sumeru and Fontaine, breaking the seal that trapped him. From what he understood, both gods and the Abyss ended up swallowing this human nation, leaving nothing but ashes and curses behind. He was no stranger to the fact the Hilichurls were nothing but old cursed humans.

“I am from Khaenri'ah. As a royal gard, I failed to protect my nation, failed to stop it's fall, and ended up like this. Or so it seems...”

Living cursed like this for thousand of years... Was his malediction then casted of him by gods ? How come he didn't fully become a monster then ? Only a side of his body seemed metamorphosed, as if something stopped the progression of the curse... It seemed familiar... Oh, it seemed familiar what could be the cause of this half transformed state, but his memory was still locked, unable to tell him why it was this way.

Neuvillette never saw any other people from Khaenri'ah, except the Fourth Fatui Harbinger... Yet, she didn't seem to get what her origins really were, and she didn't look at all like the blond man in front of him. Fire ran in her blood, she was fiery eyes and a shadow of the Crimson Moon... Yet he was much more akin to the image of a morning star which was engraved in his eyes, monstruous for half of his body yet spotless. It seemed he was the child of a different moon, and the dragon knew of no one yet like this.

There were rumours of a Fatui native of Khaenri'ah, yet, he never met him. But this man stayed in Snezhnaya and he could get not confirmation of his identity. So was the man in front of him some sort of the last of his nation ? One of the last to keep a human form and not lose his mind ?

The Sovereign knew how it felt to lose everything when it was your duty to protect what you cherished. Empathy was easy for him, as his experience mirrored that of the stranger.

For 500 years, they both mourned a lost world. They mourned things lost forever, people and places that will never be anymore.

“And what is your name ?

- Dainsleif, but you can also call me Bough Keeper.”

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

It was perhaps the strangest life experience Dainsleif had encountered in 500 years. However, he had almost gotten used to it. He had been conscious for longer and longer in recent days, and had finally been able to walk again, taking small steps around the room to the enthusiastic encouragement of Pahsiv, who still came every evening without fail.

He had come to understand that Pahsiv was a vishap capable of mimicking the appearance of Melusines. However, she shared their candor, her mind never being more than that of a child. She was curious, dedicated, active and determined to do well, like a happy little puppy gravitating towards those she trusted.

That evening, Khaenri'ah's former royal guard had managed to get out, lifting his ankylosed body to the garden, which was overlooked by a small wooden door with rosy stained-glass windows. There, he sat on a small bench to watch the setting sun, shades of orange and pink blending to accompany the star's disappearance.

Solitude and his mission had long distracted him from this spectacle, condemning him to spend his life in eternal night, in the shadows of endless caverns and chasms, never again to raise his eyes to the heavens to admire their beauty. Perhaps it was also that he had lost the taste for looking at something he knew to be false. The sky was never anything but a lie, a prison that sometimes took on elegant allures, a cell where their souls were pinned down to control every destiny. And beyond, there was an infinite unknown, threats we couldn't even imagine, mysteries we couldn't unravel in a single existence.

Yet this sky was beautiful at this moment.

Lending an ear, the blond then heard the small voice of a familiar creature, Pahsiv's silhouette standing out among the floral landscape that was Iudex Neuvillette's personal garden. The little furry fairy, catching sight of him, had perked up her fluffy ears on his head, a joyful exclamation escaping her mouth. Then, trotting up to him, she metamorphosed in the space of a few seconds into a clumsy vishap to rest her enormous snout on his lap with an affectionate growl.

It wasn't the first time she'd done this, and Dainsleif knew better than to fear or be surprised by Pahsiv's behavior. She had grown fond of him, of Neuvillette's words, all to the point where she no longer felt the need to hide her true form in his presence.
She liked to rest next to him in her vishap form, resting her snout or paws on his thighs when he was sitting, or lying down next to him when he was lying down, her huge tail wagging happily.

The trust of creatures who usually prefer to hide had to be cherished. And somehow, the blond felt connected to Pahsiv, connected by an absurd understanding of her fears and loneliness; for like her, it had been a long time since he had mingled with the world. He no longer belonged to it, he only had his mission, and the ambition to then return to die in what was left of Khaenri'ah.

Stroking the vishap's muzzle on his lap, his gaze still riveted to the sky, he sniffed the air of an old song forgotten by all. He was no longer a citizen of Khaenri'ah, he was no longer human, but he wasn't a monster either... He was a shadow, the pawn of something far greater than himself, an executor fighting against something because he had no other place. Until now, Pahsiv had been a solitary creature fighting against the corruption rising to the surface, struggling to ask for help, and never having had much company since she'd awakened here. She had met Neuvillette, and he was the only person she fully trusted, but that was never enough to quench the thirst to belong and have people to bond with.

No one knew Pahsiv's true origins, the reason for her presence... And once again, Dainsleif saw something familiar, so much so that he had partially forgotten things about his own identity and origins, drowned in the waves of time and his gradually eroding memory.
Unnoticed by him, lost in thought, and with Pahsiv wisely standing still beside him, another presence had taken its place on the bench beside him. This person, silent, had made no attempt to break the moment, standing straight and looking up at the sky.
It was only several seconds later that the blond-haired young man's gaze caught sight of Neuvillette and his serpentine eyes riveted on the sunset.

Neuvillette was a curious person, someone with a cold, measured appearance and yet a gentle, empathetic nature. There was something detached about him from the present world that could sometimes mislead as to his intentions and his heart, a need to follow a few rules for fear that expressly deviating from human laws would do him a disservice as a judge, but the truth was otherwise. He was nothing like the terrible Leviathan, the cruel Hydro Dragon he had been described as.
Humans were alien creatures in Teyvat, the creations of the person who had appropriated a world that didn't belong to him, and yet he cared for them as if he had fully accepted their existences, as if from now on these things were also to be protected and cherished. He had freed the Fontainians from their curse, when destroying them might have allowed him to attempt to rebuild his own land.

But what was there to rebuild when almost everyone he'd loved and known was long gone ? Maybe that was what was driving him forward to look at things differently. He still wished to bring retribution to those who had colonized this world at the expense of its creatures, but sought no vengeance against innocent mortals.

Dainsleif feared the deities, the Abyss, and what lay beyond the sky... But he did not fear Neuvillette.

He was the God of Life in this world, but he didn't do things as if he really were. He was a mysterious existence, an elegant, impassive bodyshell to hide a sensitive, lonely heart. He was one of the beating hearts of the world, and yet found himself on its sidelines.

Observing the dragon, the delicate features of his face, his clear eyes highlighted by a line of azure eyeliner, his upright posture, and his gloved hands resting on his thighs covered by luxurious fabrics, Dainsleif found himself caught up much more by this image than that of the sunset before him.

Neuvillette was an handsome man, and he didn't found someone handsome this way since centuries. The last person he admired the beauty of was Lumine. He gazed at her figure from afar for hours sometimes, fascinated by her short button nose, her golden hair and clear starry eyes, her long lashes and her lips, the nobility in her appareance and the melancholy inhabiting her heart. Now, she was but a sad memory, as he continued to fail to bring her back even though the brother she seeked for for centuries finally returned.

“The girl I loved.., started Dainsleif, voice low, Neuvillette nor Pahsiv budging as he talked, Maybe I only love the memories I have of her. She's lost, and I don't know how to save her from the Abyss and Celestia and how to bring her back. Am I pursuing her because she's all I still have, because she's the only reason I don't seek death yet... Do I love her because she was the unknown, the morning star I dreamed of, or because she matched my loneliness when we both lost all we had ?”

Maybe he saw her in Neuvillette for that, as they shared this mysterious image, powers surpassing that of normal being engraved in their bodies, and loneliness. But contrary to Lumine, the dragon was from this world. The dragon belonged there and lost what was his, lost his relatives, lost his nation, lost his old world... Still, feeling attracted to the elegant sight of Neuvillette's appearance, he felt a pang of guilt as he somehow knew it was only because of how he mirrored both Lumine and himself.

“Do you still love her ? suddently wondered out loud the dragon, hand reaching for Pahsiv's head to pat her.

- I do... Yet I don't. I do because if I didn't I would lose my way, but I don't because it's not really love if I only have affection for who she was long ago. Is it love if you can't see someone's heart in the present and think it is what you want to still cherish ? Our ways parted, our hearts changed and...

- You don't have to let go of this love entirely just because it's gone. You can cherish the memories of it. Not loving her the same way anymore doesn't make you wanting to save her less noble. You want to save who she is now, no matter how she considers you. Isn't it enough ?”

- Was it enough though ?

It would be rude to question a Sovereign's assertion out loud, so he chose to stay silent.

“The last man I loved was a human I betrayed. As I arrived in Fontaine after Foçalor first invited me, I brought with me the Melusines, and we were all seen as potential threats to society. I was appinted as the Iudex and used my position so that Melusines could live among humans... Among the person determined to help was a man named Vautrin, who worked with Carole, one of my most beloved daugh.., Neuvillette voice shuddered for a second, Vautrin took care of her as her own family, but he also took care of me as if I was his own friend... When she was framed for a murder and killed herself to prove her innocence, in a fit of rage, Vautrin killed the culprits and I had to judge him. I sent him to jail and I... I never knew before years that he wasn't in fact angry at me. He died, and I never knew he still saw me as someone dear to him while I thought I lost my only human friend and the one I loved... I needed... I only needed to go there to understand it, but it was a man centuries after that had to reveal me the truth...

- Is it really a betrayal if he was never angry at you ?

- I still failed him and Carole. And I never got to share my feelings because humans are weak, and I knew he would go before my new life entered it's first century...

- Do you regret not telling him you loved him ?

- I do.

- I do too. I never told her either.

- But... Did I love him for who he really has, or because he was the first person to welcome me as if I belonged ? Did I love him because he gave me a place in his world as a true Fontainian ? Was I loving a image of him and what he brought me, or him as a person ? If I really loved him, wouldn't I have been, like you, pursuing him to bring him back to the light of day, not letting him die in the Fortress ?

- Is it that important at the end, how we love and for what ? And is it important what we do with this love ? I wonder....”

They both stayed silent, Pahsiv opening her eyes to look at them both one by one. She didn't seem to understand what they were talking about in details, but she gave a little hit with her snout on Dainsleif hand, as if she asked him to pat her too.
It has been a long time since Dainsleif allowed himself to be that open about his own feelings. It was unfamiliar, the way uttering these words plucked all the wrong strings of his heart. Talking about Lumine wasn't even a thing he was doing with people who knew her... Even to her own brother, he never dared saying too much, as he feared the twin of the girl he loved would obviously chose his sister over a mere strange guy fighting abyssal powers.

He wasn't sure the still loved her, or if the love he had for her was even something pure and true... But he found someone who also may have loved for reasons that didn't seem as magic as “I just knew, there were no reasons, I just loved everything about them”... Maybe it was just like this, maybe it was that love was just about finding the best person you could find for what you needed at the moment.

Dainsleif was looking for someone to quell his new-found loneliness and share his trauma at the loss of the world he'd known until then, and Lumine had sought the same things from him. Now he still mourned what he had lost, while she demanded vengeance, forcing their paths to part. He was trapped in the past by his traumas and curses, and he still found himself longing for someone with whom to share the emptiness in his heart.

Neuvillette had been looking for someone to open the door, to welcome him and tell him he belonged in this new world. He had longed for someone to take care of his adopted daughters and himself, someone who would accept his awkwardness and different ways of expressing himself, someone who would treat him not as a monster but as a friend. He had sought someone who would see beyond the figure of the stranger, who would see in him something familiar, just as he had been in this world a kind of nurturing deity nourishing life with his powers and his body before his life was snatched from him and his corpse desecrated.

And what was Neuvillette looking for now ? Dainsleif struggled to know through his words, though he could feel the solitude shared between them, so immense that it enveloped them whole.

All around them, the sun had finally set.

Pahsiv breathed softly despite her large body, eyes closed again, the two men beside her still cuddling her to protect her from any nightmares.

Somewhere, Dainsleif found himself wishing that the moment would last forever, that his curse would allow him to lengthen this day forever. Wouldn't it be better for everyone here - the vishap in the form of a Melusine so as not to attract attention, the Dragon Sovereign torn from his family, and the royal guard whose former kingdom would never return - to stay here forever ? Since the still young night was so sweet to them, the three of them gazing up at the sky seemed an ideal dream. If he never recovered, if time stood still, if the Abyss Order simply disappeared, he could just stay there.

It was probably the desire for simpler things and the thirst for fellowship that finally drove him to want another life. The thing would pass, surely... But if he could make Neuvillette a good friend, if it were possible for the two of them to get along, and simply cut themselves off from the rest... No, deep down, he knew it: unlike him, the dragon loved the world far too much, loved life far too much to cut himself off from it and not watch over it as a gardener would watch over his most beautiful flowers.

Dainsleif still struggled to grasp this aspect of the Sovereign: he loved the humanity created by an impostor, he granted them full innocence, and he cherished everything in that sense. He certainly hated Celestia's deities, but he didn't seem to have the heart to put more energy into wishing harm to anyone else. The blond would have been less magnanimous if his lands had been colonized, his people genocided, his corpse desecrated after he'd been killed, and he'd only been able to return in a bodily envelope in the image of the creatures created by the colonizers. Perhaps he should be hating humans for him, hating what this world was in his name since his heart couldn't allow it...

Truth to be told, the royal guard couldn't bear either to hold so much hate after seeing how it destroyed Lumine. He wanted too, but maybe he was also his own kind a soft-hearted, weak and pleading for love. Pleading for the return of a bygone past where things seemed easier. Before Lumine, he once loved someone else too... He missed it. He missed how simple it was then, when he never wondered about why he loved this person, and just basked in the feeling like a cat on a window sill during a sunny afternoon.

“I miss when love was easy.., whispered Dainsleif.

- I'm still not sure if this love is the same for humans and dragons, but I miss it too...”

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

It came to Neuvillette during a trial in the afternoon.

It wasn't a very interesting case, in fact it was rather pointless. It was a dispute between a woman and her husband, with the plaintiff arguing that not taking her cat to be groomed for over six months was a form of abuse, and the defendant calling for an end to the ridiculous charade.

Neuvillette had learned there that long-haired cats should generally be groomed at least every three months for the good health of their coat and, by extension, their skin. He would never have learned this if the lack of court cases hadn't led him to finally find himself the judge of something so inconsistent... But every life was precious, and putting a cat's health at risk was still a reproachable thing.

Here, however, as he listened earnestly to the proceedings, attentive to the comments of the veterinary assistant who had come for the occasion, he had a sudden thought not for any Melusine, but for Dainsleif. The man he'd taken in for a month now, secretly dwelling in his apartment, looked miserable. He hadn't dared to point it to him for weeks because of his condition, but now he couldn't help but notice. Dirty tangled hair, a smelly scent, worn-out clothes... It couldn't be good for anyone's health, right ?

Humans, like cats, must need a bath from time to time... And even if this human was immortal, the fact that he was wounded was still proof that his body could be damaged.

Neuvillette had hardly ever groomed a human. Or a cat. He had, however, helped groom Melusines, which gave him the impression of knowing more or less what to do.

For the first time distracted from a trial in a long time, he had decided convincingly that the husband was guilty, siding with the wife, the low meow of a big blond cat on stage punctuating the end of the session.

It was decided : tonight, Neuvillette would give Dainsleif a bath.

So, once back in his apartments, he gave a little nod to the other inhabitant, this one reading out loud a storybook to Pahsiv, who was very attentive and had sparkly eyes. Seeing things like this, the Dragon Sovereign wished during an instant it could stay like this for a long time. Pahsiv needed another person to trust, and she seemed to like Dainsleif a lot... She felt at ease with him, more than she ever had with anyone outside of him. He was already sad knowing the man from Khaenri'ah would eventually go, leaving her behind to pursue his own goals.

Not taking the time to chat, he then got to the bathroom, removed his blazer, socks and boots to be only in his shirt and pants, and kneeled next to the bathtub. Frowning, he then gathered his memories of the baths he gave to the Melusines : the water should be never hot nor cold... but a tad bit more hot than cold. Lukewarm water was too cold for a human body, as they had not much resistance against low temperatures.

Adding bubbles to the mix, he then rejoined Pahsiv and Dainsleif, standing straight at the door while staring at them.

“It's bath time,” he said, with the usual impassive expression he always had on his face.

Both the vishap and the human turned to him, seemingly surprised. The first probably didn't understand much what the dragon was talking about, while the human seemed pensive.

“You want to bath Pahsiv ?

- No, you.

- ...Me ?

- Yes.”

Pahsiv squeaked, repeating “bath bath bath” in a high-pitched voice, running around in the room, while Dainsleif stayed silent, dumbfounded. Or it was what Neuvillette thought he understood, since emotions were still hard to grasp for him in the human way. Waters were the vessel of the understanding of feelings for him, so reading someone's emotion on their faces... It wasn't that it was useless, it just was too complicated for him.

“You mean...

- I can bath you. I can bath Melusines, it shouldn't be that different for a human.

- It's not that I doubt of your abilities but...

- But ? I do not understand what you're trying to imply.”

Maybe Dainsleif then chose to give up, because he did put aside the book he was reading, while Pahsiv was still running around, seemingly not very attentive about what they were doing anymore. Somehow, Neuvillette felt grateful: the bath was too small to hold an entire vishap. What's more, he had no doubt that there was a risk of her jumping in like an over-enthusiastic golden retriever, sending sprays of water everywhere ; and while the dragon adored his daughters above all else, the fact remained that he had little patience for housework when he had administrative work to attend to.

Fortunately, Dainsleif also seemed to warm to the idea, but seemed far less enthusiastic than the Melusines would be. No, instead, he had that slightly pathetic look of a wet kitten, clear eyes riveted to the ground and lips pressed into a thin line.

He had, however, joined her in the bathroom, closing the door behind them before gazing up and down at the Sovereign Dragon. At that moment, it had been difficult for Neuvillette to grasp what might have been going through his mind, gazing at the tip of the former soldier's red ears. It seemed he was... embarrassed. And this was a curious detail for the dragon, for whom it seemed that their relationship was an eternal still lake where communication was easy and hearts opened without having to break down any doors.

“I'm touched that you've prepared all this, Monsieur Neuvillette, but... Could you turn around for a moment ? I... I don't like to undress in front of other people.”

So that was it. It was true that humans were often rather prudish, even with familiar people. Dragons' relationship to their bodies was a little different, since after all, their blood was partly shared between them by an ancient magic at the roots of the world that whispered the secret of the return of souls returned to the earth. For his part, Neuvillette suffered the discomfort of a humanoid body envelope, one that would make it difficult for him to show his face to his peers... But here, he hadn't thought first of the possible discomfort.

Turning around, his sensitive ears picked up the rubbing sounds of more or less heavy cloth falling to the ground, prompting him to wonder if he could just inspect the curious costume worn by the former royal guard. He hadn't seen such clothes in Fontaine... But more than that, his mind had been plagued by a question that had been on his mind for a long time : what would the body of a half-monstrified human like Dainsleif look like ? How far did the corruption in his system go ? And could he study it's nature further with the human right in contact with water ?

Then, perceiving the sound of someone entering the water, he turned around without even waiting for permission, sniffing calmly before finally approaching and kneeling beside the tub.
This time, Dainsleif appeared more clearly embarrassed, feeling his way through the water, ears still red, curled up in the tub with his arms around his legs. From here, the dragon could see his back, muscles taut and charcoal skin on one side crossed by the same blue veins as on his arm and legs.

Turning towards him, their faces so close together that they could feel each other's breath against their skin. And although he could clearly perceive the complexity of emotions running through the blond-haired man - embarrassment, curiosity, vulnerability, desire - Neuvillette found himself most drawn to the arabesque on the side of Dainsleif's face usually hidden by his mask. There, blue lines tangled like crazy roots across his neck, jaw and cheek, up to his light eyes, whose color aligned with that of the curious magic. The familiarity of this magic calling to him was as intimidating as it was sublime, an old acquaintance he couldn't remember but which resonated deep in his heart.

Sliding a hand over the tinted cheek of the golden-haired man, he caressed the soft skin that had as if accepted the magic within, Dainsleif's lips parting without a sound coming out. Only the water carried hundreds of feelings, a mysterious surge that made him not even feel the need to speak.

“Make some room, I'm coming too. It'll be easier to rub your back.”

Dainsleif immediately turned around, a half-smile having appeared on the judge's face, as he shed the last of his clothes, removing the ribbon keeping his long hair in place, before in turn making himself a place in the bath. It was a false excuse, to pretend he would take a better care of the human if he joined him... It was simplement that it was easier to say this than to admit he desired a physical and affective proximity he would struggle to share with words.

It was strange : he had talked of very sensitive things with this man, yet, he couldn't tell him how much he suddenly wanted to wrap him in his arms, to feel the warmth of his immortal frail body against his.

Silent, he then started to rub the human's back, eyes trying to photograph the whole expense of his skin so he would not forget every mole and scar, every electric blue vein, or every muscle under his fingers.

The whole scene was silent, as it felt useless to say words, and Neuvillette found love in this tranquility, the fond feelings coming from Dainsleif replacing the embarassement. He liked making him happy, making him vulnerable this way, rinsing his blond hair to wash them with green soap which beared the scent of the trees and the sun. He liked how simple it was, how his own heart swelled with love when the human then asked to rub his back and wash his hair too.

And soon, he realized something more : it felt like home.

All along, being with this stranger felt like home. In one month, he got closer to him as he thought he could ever be, basking in the confortable feelings in his tummy as he enjoyed the soft soft of Dainsleif's skin against his.

Blood disappeared from both of their skin, dirt was drowned in the drain, and he ended up circling the blond man in his arms, nose in the crook of his neck, embracing a nearly healed scar, warm alive skin no matter the malediction.

Oh, in some ways, they were both cursed, alone in this world, but this loneliness made this instant more beautiful than it could ever be. He could have the other loneliest creature in his arms, and somehow, it made them two instead of one.

Under him, Dainsleif shuddered, hot tears streaming down his face in silence. But through the water, Neuvillette knew that he was safe : it was only because loneliness was so heavy, and taking it off your shoulders made you realize that being suddenly two was ô so light, it felt like going away with the wind to never find your way back again...

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

They both knew the time to part was coming as Pahsiv eventually stopped coming -probably having a preference to chose her own terms of departure instead of letting someone go at a time she wouldn't be prepared for-, and Dainsleif's body entirely recovered. The times of bliss were only a spark among unending sufferings, as their paths that shouldn't crossed eventually intersected against the Will of the false sky.

For Neuvillette was alone but free, his fate wasn't trapped in the stars like Dainsleif's. He could go to him, he could trap him during an instant no matter if it wasn't what the gods of Celestia wanted things to be, and create an eternal bond.

Yet, no matter how much he knew how deep was the bond they had created, he couldn't help but feel the anguish of anticipation. What was a month in the life of an immortal creature ? It wasn't even a grain of sand... But to Neuvillette, each grain could become important, something to cherish for eternity as he longed for company, for affection and understanding. There were far too much grains of sand to keep in pretty bottles in his life, but these grains still were few since his rebirth. Loneliness was the new rule of his existence, and everytime he seemed to win something precious, this thing ended up being stolen from him.

Dainsleif would eventually go, because his fate was elsewhere. He was a cursed man, and his way would only lead him to more sufferings in his endless quest to save the golden princess and find a way back to the ruins that were once his home. Neuvillette could understand that : he wanted to go back home too. Take revenge and go back home. But he wanted his home full, he wanted it made anew, with the humans there as he felt like he could take care of them. No ruins would satisfy his hearts yearning for life before everything else.

It was maybe this point that made them different the most : one had still hope for the future and faith in life, and the others just wanted to save someone else for he was convinced his own life was doomed. He was stuck in the claws of a type of guilt that the Dragon Sovereign only partially understood... The type of man who believed he was at fault for everything he lost, and for that desserved the worst kind of punishment. And even though Neuvillette had to live through the guilt of his lack of powers to protect what he once had, he still didn't think about punishing himself... right ?

To Dainsleif, it was that the dragon was in fact punishing himself in some ways, refusing to search for other dragons or find a way to talk to his old friend Apep. The human thought his form couldn't possibly destroy the bond he had with the Dendro Dragon, as after all he was still a complete dragon otherwise. The distance Neuvillette usually kept was explained by his will to hide his true identity, but it was also probably because he felt some ways about not feeling able to perform perfectly in social settings. He always seemed a tad bit clumsy, and if it gave him a somewhat endearing look for many, it seemed the Sovereign saw it as a flaw enough to hide.

Their last night together started quiet.

Neuvillette came back from his duties to a quiet place, the low voice of Dainsleif nowhere to tell thousand of tales to any purple furry fairy. The man itself wasn't in the room, and he only found him in the garden, standing straight looking at the stars. This time, he didn't seem as dreamy as the other time, he looked at the sky with a not hidden hint of melancholy.

“You could stay, you know ?”

Neuvillette didn't know why he said that suddenly as he felt like he should have kept it inside, but he was convinced he wanted him to stay a little more. If they were both immortals either way, couldn't Dainsleif stay by his side for thousand of years ? Couldn't he stay his little secret, be there as he came back from work, take care of the Melusine with him like if they were his adoptive daughters too ?

“In fact, you could stay forever. Be my little secret. I'll keep you safe, we'll live forever.” he sounded somewhat desesperate, voice cracking -why was he so emotive suddently ?-.

Was he doomed to just disappear ? To go search for this girl, try to save her, and end up his life either pierced by her mighty sword or somewhere in the ruins of Khaenri'ah ? He wished he was powerful enough to reweave the threads of fate, to alter destiny forever and remake the world with everyone. Many people would love him, he would probably get along well with the other Melusines, he could bring him to one of Furina's spectacles, at the Spina di Rosula headquarter sharing tea and cakes with Navia (and Clorinde, as she would probably be more than happy to share a moment with the elegant and flamboyant girl), he would introduce him to Wriothesley... The dragons wouldn't hate him. He would make sure that when the things would eventually go back together, everyone could have their place.

But in front of him Dainsleif shaked his head, eyes closed for a second before looking only at the sky, as if not able to share a look with him. It hurt more than he could tell, clouds slowly gathering in the night sky.

“I can't. You know my fate, part of my past, part of what binds me to all of this... I'm immortal because I'm cursed, this isn't a typical immortality, and it is what is binding me to my fate. This body is half that of a monster now, some sort of magic run through it so I'll never be able to really be a human agin. I'm not... I'm not someone anymore since I failed to save my own nation, since I also failed to save her... I'm nothing but a husk of what I once was. Staying with you here...
- And if you don't save her, then what ?

- Then maybe she could detroy everything and herself. Maybe this world will finally disappear. The power of the Abyss is something even Celestia fears, you should already know that as this power is what your King came back after his first defeat against the Heavens.

- And if dragons can't fight nor handle it, how could you ?

- I should try. It's my duty.

- You just want to kill yourself using someone else's hand.”

The harshness of the words ripped something between them at this instant. Neuvillette knew he hurt him, but he also knew there was nothing that noble or wise in what the blond was doing. Saving the world alone... Couldn't he live it to someone more powerful than him ? If he just accepted to wait with him, Nibelung would return, and this day... This day... But the Hydro Sovereign himself wasn't sure what happened to the Heavenly Father, nor where he could be. Something in him told him he would return one day... But when ?

Somewhere, Neuvillette may have learned from Dainsleif that the situation was far worse than he expected. This world was doomed. He couldn't see it clearly and he mostly focused on his beliefs the Dragon King would bring them a way to fight the Usurpers, but if all he said to him was true...

“If this world is going to end, if there is little chance it will be saved... Don't you want to protect it with me ? With us ?”

As the God of Life, he would protect them, act so their last day will be peaceful, like closing your eyes to sleep. He was full once again now, and if he survived, he could create humans himself, right ? They didn't appear out of thin air, the Usurper had to create them, and he believed he could find a way to do it too.

“I wish humanity could decide for itself... Because I know for sure people would chose to live, started Dainsleif, lowering his head, his lashes darkening his gaze. And if possible, I want to fight for this. I have my own revenge to get and... You may be right : I do want to die. But I still have a revenge to take.

- And I don't want you to die.

- I know, I understand.

- You don't. You can't.”

A God of Life cherished all life before everything else, and the calm stoic demeanors of the judge were only a mere facade for anyone who know how he actually expressed himself. High in the sky, the cloud were already dark, dampened with tears ready to fall, and he just couldn't help it.

He didn't get to share his feelings for a long time, he told him so much secrets, and it felt like he did give him part of his soul. He layed bare under him, and it felt like the blond man wouldn't even give him the same. He was unfair, he was old enough to know that, but he also felt like their connexion was something otherworldy, and that only one of them started to close off as he departure arrived. Why wouldn't he gave him one last time, one last silent dance ?

“Do you love her that much, to the point you would risk to give your life to her ?

- You know that I don't know if it is even love anymore. I'm running after her ghost, she isn't who I loved anymore...”

They already had this discussion, but something petty pushed him to bring it again. He was hurt, and he wanted him to know. He thought he was special, but why was a ghost still more to Dainsleif than him ? A month would never erase her, he knew it well, but he still wished he was 'the one' in the sense their shared loneliness would only become light on their shoulders if they were two to handle it, in the sense he could hold his soul and care for his hurt like no one else could. He was powerful enough to give him things others couldn't, yet he felt like a mere mortal in front of his doomed soulmate.

Soulmate. Oh, if this soul in the past was one of someone he once loved, he was sure he then loved him too. Was Dainsleif always human ? He wanted to believe that they were together millenials ago, that his soul was only picked to put in a human body by the gods, for he wanted him to go back to him everytime.

Rain started to pour, but they both stayed motionless.

“In your next life, I wish for you to return to the samsara and come back to me. I'll wait. I know I'll recognize you. If this life... If this life forbide us to build anything, I'll wait for the next and hope you'll succeed in your own quest.”

The calm voice of the Hydro Sovereign was the only thing next to the sounds of his tears on the ground. Waiting for so long wasn't exactly much in his case, and if this world was meant to be saved, he would live enough to encounter every soul reincarnated. Still, he felt like his insides were ripped apart for he knew how crushing this new lonely era of waiting would be. He was always bad à goodbies, he just loved life so much more than departues and death.

Dainsleif finally turned to him, rain dripping on his face, from his strands of hair weighed down by pearls of tears. He would soon be drenched in his cries, his in the worst ways, as his own gaze was ô so heartbreaking.

The blond man was his shared loneliness, whispered secrets and covert embraces, tenderness among broken souls, like if life was easy for men whose everydays were metaphoricaly scrapped knees and no bandages in loop.

And Dainsleif came to Neuvillette, stroking his cold cheek, his voice like a murmur :

“Hydro Dragon, Hydro Dragon, don't cry...”

The dragon then felt a light feathery kiss on his lips, and as he wanted to kiss back, the cursed man escaped him. Then, he just looked at him with a half sad smile, and what could he do if not pursue him ?

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Both dry and in new clothes, they were nestled in the arms of each other, envelopped by the smell of old books and rain. Neither wanted to talk much, and it felt like only being together like that could aleviate the pain in their chest.

The first to detach himself was Neuvillette, taking advantage of the moment to observe Dainsleif's peaceful face, his half-closed eyes and the few bluish veins on his skin. When he wasn't wearing a mask or a Khaenri'ah costume, he lost the solemn air he otherwise had... And he wore the judge's shirts much better, as they were less heavy on his shoulders than any armor.

The irreducibility of things, perhaps he could accept it in some measure... But letting the blond leave without saying what he wanted to say or doing what he strongly wished to do seemed impossible. They were running out of time, however, and it was that the dragon had already expressed too much for his own abilities in the last few hours.

“What are you thinking about, Monsieur Neuvillette ?”

And he didn't know what to answer without embarrassing himself. He considered telling Dainsleif that he loved him, but he didn't know if it was pure love, so rooted did it seem in their own respective confused feelings. Dainsleif loved this girl, he loved Vautrin, their hearts still lost in the past without having the time to fully accept a new present. Yet, he couldn't think about anything but how much this present was real, confused but vivid, and he wanted to take the instant in his own hand and engrave it in both of their skin.

“Are you afraid for tomorrow ? As you said... If I'm destined to, my soul will return to the cycle, it's only ever one departure in one lifetime.”

It seemed clear, though, that Neuvillette wanted him at least once in the present. Meeting his gaze, he reached out a hand to grab the collar of the other man's shirt, tugging on it gently. How could he have him for himself in this life ?

“How could I have you in this life ?”

The blond's gaze darkened.

“I can't give you my life, because you know it's chained to a certain destiny, and there are things I have to face. But if you wish...”

He swallowed, his monstrified hand brushing against the dragon's, before touching more frankly so that he could help him free a piece of shirt from his collarbones and a piece of his shoulder.

A rush of adrenaline ran down Neuvillette's spine, feeling his cheeks and ears ignite in an instant. With this had come another idea, a pleasant one, like a band-aid in the face of the present truth of things.

“Dainsleif, would you let me... I'd like to...”

His tongue suddenly seemed pasty, he felt clumsier than ever.

Fortunately, the blond seemed to understand, coming closer to kiss him, letting the dragon roll him onto his back after a few chaste, affectionate embraces to get above him.

Beneath him, Dainsleif looked serene, eyes half-open, unbuttoning his shirt without taking his eyes off him. The sight seemed illegal, like something that should be forbidden in law texts, Neuvillette fascinated by the unreal beauty before his eyes, every detail of his companion's skin, every glimmer of magic, the curse marking his flesh and its details, the scars, the moles, something so alive it would be hard to guess seeing an immortal.

This immortality was a curse, for his body suffered and was marked by every mortal wound forever... But the Sovereign found it beautiful, a work of art to cover with kisses, to touch with his hands, gradually drawing sighs from his docile lover.

Soon, their skins were touching, clothes and worldly trivia abandoned at the foot of the bed as they exchanged soft touches and kisses, whimpers and sighs.

"You're so beautiful... I wish... I'd like to etch the stars in your eyes on my own skin to have a part of me yours forever.

- I'd like to have etched you on my own skin as well. To never forget you.

- Why would you forget me ?

- The curse is eroding my memory... And I'd be afraid to...

- I won't let you forget then.”

The dragon then leaned into the hollow of the former royal guard's neck, brushing the skin with kisses, shifting closer to his shoulder, licking the burning skin, the blond holding his breath, his hands gripping his shoulder blades as he plunged his slightly sharp canines into his flesh until he drew droplets of blood.

Imitating him, Dainsleif had straightened up for his turn, sinking his teeth into the Sovereign's skin before making amends with a few kisses along his jaw and ear. He didn't even hurt him, but he seemed intent on soothing the pain, then letting himself fall back on his back, spreading his thighs to let him approach.

Stretching out his arms again to welcome him, the blond let himself be manipulated, then clutching at Neuvillette's shoulder blades and then biceps, trembling and moaning, vulnerable against every soft and lacive touches.

It was almost unrealistic to the dragon, how he could have someone like this, be so close, share so much body heat and yet feel like on the verge of tears for he knew it would be the first and the last time for them. No kiss would stay engraved on his skin, and if he died, no one would know whoever loved this man's flesh.

“Don't be sad, I'm yours, I'm yours..,” whispered Dainsleif, slurring a little as his body bended under a more rough touch.

The Sovereign felt like a baby who had to be soothed, yet he accepted Dainsleif's embrace and rested his face in the crook of his neck. He felt so much sadness yet so much love, and he felt like it was the same for his partner, tears beading from his clear eyes in which lived a lone morning star.

And they made poetry of their love, their loneliness and their melancholy, bodies intertwined, linked as the dragon rocked the half-human to different skies, whispering kisses and promises of a shared future that would never exist in this lifetime.

Hunger and despair stirred something in both of them, their breaths mingling between heated open-mouthed kisses, messy and wet, and Dainsleif found he liked this feeling. He liked being aroused, feeling owned, discovering their shared desires and not being tormented to know if what they were feeling was right.

There was no way they had to think about if what they was going on was right, because it felt right, and the blond-haired man hadn't since years felt this feeling of raw vulnerability without a tint of hurt or humiliation. He was naked and vulnerable, under the body of an immortal creature who could shred him to pieces, and he felt at peace. He felt like he was this dragon's treasure, feeling his hands on his chest, stomach, thighs, his loving touch, his loving gaze on him, cold yet warm for he knew his heart.

Each touch was tender and possessive, soft and rough, and he soon approached his climax, gripping harder Neuvillette's biceps and shoulder blades, half delirious as his body probably tried to swallow up his lover's, reaching his climax thanks to his touch shortly before him.

Both wet and panting, they stayed like this during few seconds, overwhelmed by each of their climaxes. The Sovereign, suddenly like jelly after his own orgasm snuggled against him, circling his body in his arms, maybe himself half delirious as he mumbled about raising their baby Melusine together to then compliment his sex-tinted smell.

And it was this instant maybe that almost made Dainsleif reflect on what he wanted. Because he actually didn't want to pursue the Abyss Order for all of his existence. He wanted more. He wanted something else. He wanted his own kind of normalcy, and if it was to live here with Neuvillette and the Melusines...

Their eyes met, and they both stayed silent, and reached for each other's strands of hair in front of their ears to push it behind in a gesture full of tenderness. In another life, maybe could Dainsleif take care of the dragon, make him happy and not break his heart. He felt like he was somehow cursing him, that he made him somehow fall in love only to break him into pieces... Maybe he tricked him, maybe he tainted his pure elemental soul... Yet, Neuvillette only made his voice heard to murmur him :

“I love you like the moon adores the morning stars.”

And Dainsleif's heart was so full he wanted to cry once again. He wanted to be cherished this way, to live in his arms for as long as he needed too, it felt like finding back a piece of himself he had lost... He could still love. Ö there was nothing he was more sure of than this : he loved Neuvillette, and if it was because they were both lost and lonely, so be it ; it didn't make it less true. It was still raw and beautiful, and it couldn't get more sincere than that.

“If I survive... I'll go back to you... If you want me to be with you, and if there is a home here I can go back too, I'll live for you,” whispered back the blond man.

He was brave enough to try now.

“You'll always have somewhere to go back to here in my arms. I'll wait for you.”

And they would always hold this promise close to their hearts.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

This time, the Twilight Sword woke up at dawn.

The bitterness of saying goodbye after hundreds of years of life was no easier to endure. He seemed to be giving up once again what mattered to him, and he could only fear losing that thing once more.

Dainsleif wasn't used to winning when it was hardly a matter of fighting. He was the sword of a king who could only win, but the end of Khaenri'ah had condemned him to be an eternal loser instead. He'd lost his nation, the people he loved, the admiration he'd had for people who hadn't even deserved him in the end, and the desire to take revenge as well as to save what remained drove him forward. 

So, facing Neuvillette on that cold morning, as a thin trickle of fresh air escaped their lips, he had looked up into his face to formulate a silent wish. Since he was a dragon, an immortal, a deity without a name, couldn't he too survive? If he had his way, if the blood spilled by his peers obtained justice, perhaps he'd finally like to have somewhere to go, somewhere to come home to... 

"Monsieur Neuvillette, I can't thank you enough for your hospitality...

- There's no need, I've gained much more than thanks from these weeks."

Their respective solitudes had indeed found a balm to put on their wounds. More than that, it seemed to Dainsleif that he loved this man. He didn't love him the way he loved Lumine, it was a love that was unique and different, an easy love that was like a sweet certainty that didn't require questioning. And it was fine that way.

"Still, I do feel indepted.

- Having the company of an equal, and not having to hide my secrets is something I haven't had the right to in a very long time."

An equal... The word would have sounded blasphemous had it come out of his mouth to describe his relationship with the Sovereign, but from Neuvillette's lips it was like a revelation. The dragon saw him as an equal, a companion, someone with whom he hadn't had to hide. 

"I'm honored. 

- Don't be. You're my precious comrade, and I'll be waiting for your return. 

- You too must stay alive until then. 

- I'll always be back. I was born in the heart of the world, and as long as it exists, I can only return. And now that my powers have returned, I have only the Usurpers to fear."

The dragon then approached, back straight, gaze so gentle, catching the blond's gloved hands between his own. He remained thoughtful for several seconds, then looked up again and kissed the human's forehead. 

Leaning into Dainsleif's ear, he whispered:

“Let me reveal two of my last gifts before you leave...”

With one hand, he conjured up a seal, revealing intricate interlaced patterns. 

"This is my true name..."

Dainsleif felt a pang of anxiety shake him. Could he really carry this kind of knowledge? It was so much responsibility. Having a dragon's name was like having his life in his hands. He was touched by such confidence, but something inside him made him doubt his own virtue. Couldn't someone one day read his memories and use this knowledge for evil ? 

Neuvillette then laid a hand on Dainsleif's belly, his gentle touch stirring something inside him that he didn't quite recognize. 

"And yesterday, I think I managed to offer you that second thing. I'd like to... I wish maybe... That we could start a family. I hear how blasphemous that sounds... A Dragon Sovereign and a human... But I have no doubts about this choice. You can do what you like with it, but I'll use my power to ease your suffering, and we can have an ordinary life. 

- ...Start... a family...

- A functional family. Without fighting. No useless rules. No secrets...

- I'd like that, yes..."

Dainsleif turned to face the dragon, placing a hand on his belly without feeling anything in particular. Had a night of fooling around been enough to...? But a normal family would be nice. A story without drama, where he wouldn't be alone, with too much furry adopted children, and where he wouldn't be anyone's weapon against any Abyssal power no matter who could be wielding it. 

Yes, one day, he wouldn't be anyone's weapon anymore.