- please return to me -
"You claim to have found something?" He spoke with urgency, seating himself on the chair faced with the guard, a look of desperation written legibly upon his face. "Please. Any information, I'll take it."
"In... the Beryl Region... we found this ring, and... what looks like part of a vision."
Neuvillette locked eyes with the ring, causing his pupils to dilate slightly as a few memories scribbled their way back into his mind. It was the ring on the finger he had kissed on the night of ball. "That's her ring, I'll confirm that. But.. y/n doesn't have a vision. It can't be hers." He rubbed his temples, false hope decorated his features as he whispered silent prayers to himself. He didn't care what it took - he wanted her back in his arms with him again.
"Allow me to keep hold of the vision parts for now, if you would. I know somebody who can check the evidence for me. Thank you, your work is acknowledged." He forced a polite smile to the guards who bowed and walked away in a hurry.
"Monsieur Neuvillette, the trial of Tartaglia is in 2 days. Do we have any more evidence we need to certify?"
"Oh—"
Oh god. The trial. His mind had been so flurried with blurred ideas of where the one girl who made his emotions spiral out of control could be.
"...I'm afraid it slipped my mind entirely."
"You have a lot on your mind, sir, you should really take a rest. We can postpone the trial if needs be!" The Melusine spoke with tenderness. I guess the Melusines owe the Chief much... since he fought for their right for life in Fontaine. "I can go through with postponing it. However... if I may ask.. why has y/n's disappearance got you so jumbled? People go missing in Fontaine... it's not a rare event."
"I was afraid I'd be asked that question."
"You don't have to answer me, sir! I suppose we are all just worried about you. You haven't taken a bite to eat for the last 2 days. And all that's happened in Fontaine is pure rain. The streets are flooded." She set down a glass of water on his desk, and a plate of fondants, hoping he'd at least eat something. "Besides, maybe she's important to you."
As Neuvillette stood before the Melusine, grappling with the weight of his emotions, he found himself at a loss for words. Deep within the recesses of his mind, a torrent of conflicting feelings raged, threatening to overwhelm his carefully constructed facade of detachment.
"It's... complicated," he began, his voice faltering as he struggled to articulate the turmoil within him. "I... care for her deeply, in a way I can't quite explain. It's more than just caring... I feel empty when I don't see her around on my usual walk. Or if she doesn't stop by..."
"I think I understand this one."
"Please enlighten me. It's driving me wild and it isn't helping that we can't find many traces of her." He let out a deep sigh, faint traces of purple had already formed beneath his eyes.
The Melusine regarded him with a knowing look, her gaze penetrating the walls he had erected around his heart. "Love, Chief. You're in love." she murmured, the word hanging in the air between them like a whispered secret. "It's not a bad thing. It's a good thing."
"I- what?"
Love? Such a complex emotion. Not even some humans are able to feel it. If not even humans can sometimes, then how would a non-human face this?
Neuvillette's breath caught in his throat, the realization washing over him like a wave crashing against the shore. Love, the elusive emotion he had observed in others but never experienced himself, now laid bare before him, its undeniable presence impossible to ignore.
"It's... love..?" he questioned, the words tasting foreign yet undeniably true on his tongue. "I... love her...?"
"I think... I think you do."
"Love. It fuels our resolve when all seems lost. Though I've stayed distant, I can't deny my feelings. I'm standing at a new reality — one where love reigns. Love knows no bounds, and I'll follow its call. This is... what my book says."
"Book?" She tilted her head.
"...human emotion is something to be studied by I w who doesn't come to grips with its characteristics. I think I'm getting better."
In that moment, as the truth spilled forth from his lips, Neuvillette felt a weight lift from his shoulders, replaced by a newfound clarity and purpose. With the Melusine by his side, he vowed to do whatever it took to find y/n and bring her back to safety, guided by the unshakeable feelings he held for her.
"I'm in love with her. I realise it all too much now."
...
Love.
"This is a pretty big deal for you. I'll leave you alone with your thoughts." And with that, the Melusine let the room, gently shutting the door behind her as to not break the Chief from his trance of infatuation. "I'll postpone the trial, too."
He walked around his room, tracing his fingers along the desks, slight formations of dusk gathering on the tips of his fingers. "My heart beats with a rhythm that resonates only for her. In her absence, the world feels hollow, devoid of the light she brings... I wish you'd come back to me, y/n."
"I long to wake up to your presence, to feel your warmth beside me." He sighed, leaning back in his chair and hiding his face in his hands.
"Your laughter filling the room like music. With each passing moment, my desire to be with you grows stronger." He understood now. He always believed one day, somehow and somewhere, someone would unlock the hidden emotion he unwillingly suppressed due to a moral misunderstanding and fear.
"For she is not just a fleeting thought, but the very essence of my being..."
"... I will search every corner of this world until I find you, y/n. For you is my home, my heart, my everything. Please, don't let someone else get to you before I do."
His fingers delicately brushed against the remnants of the vision, the fragments of her essence scattered before him like pieces of a forgotten dream. Each shard held a glimpse of her, a memory etched into the fabric of reality, a haunting reminder of her presence that now seemed so distant. As he traced the outlines of the images, his mind raced with thoughts of her, of the moments they shared, and the promise of a future yet to come. In that quiet moment, amidst the chaos of his thoughts, he found solace in the fragments of her existence, a tether to the hope that she would return to him once more.
He stared at it for a long... long time. Wishing for something to effortlessly click.
...
And it did.
"This... this is no ordinary vision." He abruptly stood up and snapped from his lovesick stance. He ran his finger along the pile of books on his desk, before stopping at the case file he previously worked on.
"Intricate, silver work. In the shape of an eye... with peppered red light... where have I seen this before?"
He flicked before landing at a page of statements, all filed by individual victims.
"No... Ah. Here it is."
"He handed me a small vision-looking thing... it was silver and had red... but it didn't have a regional plaque..."
"The thing he handed me was like... eye shaped and silver. He promised it would bring me power."
"They break fairly easily... and leave particles of red surrounding them..."
...
"Don't tell me this is happening to me."
The revelation struck Neuvillette like a bolt of lightning, illuminating the darkness of uncertainty with a blinding clarity. The vision, once thought to be a mere relic of her disappearance, now took on a sinister significance, its true nature unraveling before his eyes. It was not a mere hallucination, but a deliberate creation, a manifestation of the delusion that had ensnared her in its grip.
As the pieces fell into place, Neuvillette's heart sank with the weight of realization, knowing that the truth was far more sinister than he had dared to imagine. The delusion, its power now laid bare, threatened to consume everything in its path, leaving only chaos and despair in its wake. With each passing moment, the urgency of the situation became more apparent, driving Neuvillette to confront the darkness that lurked within Fontaine's shadows and rescue her from its clutches before it was too late.
...
"I'm going to be sick."
He burst through the door into the room where all the guards sat.
"No time to waste now. This is true urgency. Y/n had been given a delusion. And she used it's misleading ability. We have to get her or else the delusions wrath will."
Many nodded as they ran out of the doors, all preparing to search for her once again.
...
"When I get my hands on you again, Tartaglia... you'll receive a lot worse than just the harshness of a delusion."
I haven't slept in 3 days /srs