As the four of them left the Palais, Y/N immediately looked at Aether. Aether looked back at Y/N and sighed.
"You really want to do this ?" Aether asked, Y/N nodded as Aether could only see the man's resolve in his eyes. "Neuvillette is right, you're insane." Aether said, while extending his right hand. Y/N shook his hands as he felt something sting his palm.
However, he didn't retract his hand, as Aether looked calm and collected, closing his eyes to be focused. Soon after, Y/N felt something going from his palm to his entire arm. He couldn't describe the feeling.
It was burning him, cooling it down, freezing yet warming his arm.
"So that's your Elemental Prowess, interesting." Y/N said as he moved his arm, he smiled as Aether's Elemental Power didn't stop his arm to work properly. "Checking side effects of the medicine ?" Aether asked, chuckling.
"None detected so far." Y/N said, smiling a bit. "So, I don't want to stop your little conversation, but what do we do now ?" Furina asked, looking at the sky. Aether, Y/N and Paimon followed her eyes, only to see that the Moon was rising.
"Do we, like, let you walk somewhere as we keep an eye on you ?" Furina asked again, which Y/N nodded. "I'll walk outside of Fontaine, towards North-West. Follow me but make sure to not be too close." Y/N said, nodding to himself.
"What do we do if that thing's too fast ?" Paimon asked, looking at Y/N. "Simple, report it to Neuvillette instantly as Aether, alone, search for me." Y/N said, looking at Furina as he said the word 'alone'.
"And if it's too strong ?" Paimon followed her question with another one. "Aether can fight it, after all he's the renowned Traveler, isn't he ?" Y/N said while snapping his eyes on the said Traveler.
For Aether, Y/N's eyes seemed to tell an hidden tale. Did Y/N know about Aether's story ?
Did Y/N know about his part in the prophecy ?
"Of course, you can let it to me." Aether said as a way to distract him from his own thought.
"Then, let's go. We can't waste more time." Y/N said as he started to walk away.
Fate.
You cannot escape the fate you were given, █████████.
"Are we sure that it'll work ?" Paimon asked silently as Furina, Aether and herself looked Y/N walking slowly towards the green patches of grass. "I mean, I have nothing against Y/N, but what if he's wrong ?" Paimon followed right after.
"Don't know, might as well take the risk, huh Furina ?" Aether said as he quickly shot his eyes at Furina. "I still can't believe you would accept his idea so easily." Furina said, with a clear annoyance in her voice. "Unlike you, I don't harbor romantic feelings for him. But I still try to make things right." Aether said as he quickly looked at Y/N again, the man spinning on himself.
"H-How ..." Furina trailed off as she looked at Y/N, while clenching the heart's side of her bust. "Your worries are betraying you, Furina. As I said, I will do anything in my power to not let this thing touch him." Aether said, not letting Y/N go with his eyes.
"Thanks, Aether." Furina could only thank him. "And he seemed to know about my history here." Aether simply said as Furina nodded to herself. "I'll tell him after all of this, he deserves to know." She said, looking sure of herself.
"Are you sure ? Are you willing to talk about your 'position' in that prophecy ?" Aether said, his words held little to no harsh implications. He knew that it was a complicated subject for the former Archon.
"Yes, even if I'm afraid of his reaction, hiding the truth is nothing more that betraying the trust he gives to me." Furina said, Aether was mentally surprised by the new resolve from her.
He saw Furina as an useless excuse of an Archon after all.
So he just smiled to himself and told himself that she was evolving.
Then, a huge shadow approached Y/N from behind, Furina and Aether saw that and instantly started to run for him.
As for Y/N, he noticed the thing behind him, and turned around, looking at its bright, yellow dots. Then, a fist rocketed to the right side of his face, Y/N saw that and managed to dodge it, but the fist cut his right cheek just under his right eye.
"Great, another scar." He said as he looked at the thing. Something was clicking in his brain. He swore he recognized the form of the attack, but couldn't find it anywhere, causing him to deal with a headache.
As he grunted, the thing profited of the situation as it launched its right foot at Y/N's left ribs, but this time, he couldn't dodge.
The contact of that thing's kick propelled every bit of air stocked inside Y/N's lungs out as his body flung towards the rocky construction of the aquabus.
"Son of a bitch !" Y/N's could hear Aether's yelling as he attacked the thing. He also saw Furina running towards him, accompanied by Paimon. "Oh my god, are you alright ?!" Furina yelled as she tried to put Y/N's back against the pillar.
"That thing packs a fucking punch." Y/N said as he coughed, droplets of blood could be seen on his hands as he wiped his mouth. Then, he managed to get back on his feet as Furina could only watch him, surprised. "No, Y/N you shouldn't go !" Furina said as Paimon floated ahead of him.
"I know, but I don't care." Y/N said, eying strongly the thing's battle with Aether. Then, he started to run to them as Aether was dodging.
"I will get Neuvillette !" Paimon hurriedly said as she started to float fastly towards the city.
As the thing's focus was on Aether, Y/N surprised it with a good left hook at this face, making it stumble.
"Let me handle it, Y/-" Aether started to yell, but once he saw Y/N's expression, he cut himself off.
He saw the same feeling he had for his sister's search.
Obsession.
Y/N wanted one thing above everything else, he wanted to put that thing down.
Aether, upon understanding that, nodded to himself. "This thing has raw power." Y/N only said as he stared to run towards the thing, still a bit stumbling. Aether followed him right after.
The two friends took each side of the thing as it looked back at them. Once they were close enough, the thing screeched, surprising the two men.
Then, with a unknown speed, the thing's right fist was against Y/N's sternum, making him puke blood and air. With an horrifying speed, Y/N crashed against the pillar next to the one Furina was. The woman could only watch in horror.
At her horror and surprise, the thing just blinked at Furina. She couldn't react at that thing, but then, Furina felt a pain rushing her left leg. Once she looked at her left leg, she saw that it was bent in a bad angle, which made her yell in pain and horror as she fell down.
The thing blinked to Aether, which was furious. He was angrily attacking the thing as it just dodged.
Fatigue began to ran through Aether's body and it knew. The thing shapeshifted his hand for something spiky, when Aether saw the modified limb of the thing, it was too late as it impaled Aether's right side of his belly.
Then, the thing just tossed Aether's body near the woman, as she could only look.
'I knew it, it was a bad idea.' Furina thought. Looking at her left, she saw Aether's lifeless body, at her right, she saw Y/N's lifeless body.
"We're going to die." Furina said with hatched breaths, tears rolling on her cheeks.
"Please, please, help us, Celestia." Furina pleaded as she looked at the floating island, which was seemingly at the center on the Moon.
But her pleads wasn't answered at the thing was slowly walking towards her.
Then, it stopped. Furina could only look at the thing at it puts its two arms against another. It shapeshifted them to look like a cannon. Furina's eyes widened at this thing was planning something more.
"Please, please no, I don't want to die." Furina could only mutter as both of her hands were on her ears. But she could hear the charging sound of the cannon nonetheless.
She repeated her words as a whisper. She tried to tell herself that it was just a nightmare, but the pain given by her broken left leg wasn't letting her think that.
She threw one final look towards the thing as the cannon's mouth was illuminated by a red and golden color. Then, when the cannon fired, she closed her eyes, waiting for it to struck her.
...
...
But it never hit her.
She opened her eyes, only to see her lover's back, holding a hand towards the cannon's beam, stopping it.
"Y/N ?!" She yelled, surprised by his appearance. "What are you do-" Furina's yell stopped as Y/N blinked at the thing, throwing his right fist at its face. The sheer power of the contact made the wind rise.
Then, Y/N high-kicked it at its face, making him stumble back as its feet left a trace on the dirt. Y/N rushed at it and began to throw hits at it, but the thing started to counter those hits.
Furina just watched as she was stunned that Y/N was still alive, and fighting the thing. But when she saw that the thing was still too powerful, she began to close her eyes.
Then, a loud crash was heard, Furina looked at the source of the noise and she saw Y/N, on the ground as the impact made with his body on the pillar made a hole.
The thing looked at Y/N and was seemingly laughing, as incoherent noises was heard.
"I ... see." Y/N's voice was heard by the thing and Furina, making them look at him.
Then, he stood up, bleeding from his scar under his right eye, bleeding from his left eye, from his nose, his mouth.
But suddenly, the blood stopped pouring out, and made their way back to where it belonged.
His eyes, formally E/C, turned red. The same red as his blood which previously was painting his face.
"So ... that's how ... I use this power ..." Y/N said, trailing off as his voice seemed different for Furina. It lacked everything Y/N used to talk with.
It lacked feeling, empathy ...
Humanity.
"Very well." Y/N said, then rushed at the thing with inhumane speed. Taking it by surprise, Y/N threw a right hook at its face.
The sheer power of the hit made the ground rumble as Furina was stunned by that.
Y/N's assault just began as he threw every hit he could.
Left hook, right jab, low kicks, high kicks, uppercuts.
With each strike, the thing started to falter, Y/N's miraculous awakening was killing the beast.
Furina understood that the thing wasn't human. But when she saw Y/N's powerful, fast, deadly strikes. She couldn't help but to think.
'Who ... What is he ?'
The thing fell at Y/N's feet, as he eyed it with a feeling Furina often saw.
Anger.
Y/N started to walk towards Furina as the thing started to get up, again. "Still alive ... ?" Y/N asked to the beast, which only growled. He sighed and turned to the beast, his aura unleashing.
"Just die."
Y/N said as he pierced the thing's heart. Soon after, the thing dissolved into black and red particles.
Y/N started to walk towards Furina, but the latter couldn't help but to feel scared of him.
She knew he wasn't himself, he wasn't the man she loved, and that's what scared her. But she nonetheless started to crawl towards him as she was also relieved that Y/N was alive.
But then their strengths started to go away, making Furina stop in her crawl, making Y/N fell onto his knees.
"Fur...ina." Y/N trailed off as his body just fell on the ground.
"Y/...N." Furina trailed off as her eyes shut down, as well as her consciousness.
12/12/2023 Edit : added some precision for Y/N's features. Corrected some mistakes.