Character Profile: Liberta and Lucilla
Finishing another ask, sorry for the long delay, my health tanked again so I had to take a serious break from most things social media. Since they never got separated, Libera and Lucilla are closely attached and cherish each other over anything so I thought it would fit to put them together.
Name: Liberta and Lucilla
Age at the time of the Barred Gate breaking: ??? (0-1 year old when they were sealed in the capsules but that was over two thousand years ago)
Current age: Same as above +15 years
Affiliation: Hypogeans
Appearance: Matching his sister, Liberta's hair is long but usually tied in a braid, he also wears the black and purple colors of his faction, he no longer wears a halo but instead, his now wide-brimmed hat is adorned with small impish horns. Lucilla has a human skin tone, blue eyes, and no Hypogean features as she wasn't given any Hypogean magic. Both Liberta and Lucilla bear many battle scars from their clashes against the Celestials. In addition to her crimson scythe, Lucilla also carries a vicious jagged dagger for close-quarters combat. Liberta uses a powerful magic crystal hanging around his neck to channel his magic, both supporting Lucilla and draining the life force of their enemies.
Personality: The twins' personalities remain very similar. Lucilla is reckless and craves validation and affection. After Eugene's capture, she became more jaded and easily irritated which stems from her worry for her father. Liberta is calm and collected to the point of being cold and callous but he cares deeply about his family and often supports Lucilla through her vulnerable and emotional moments.
Backstory: "Protect each other. Stay together no matter what."
Lucilla glared at the sun as they exited the forest. Liberta walked behind her quietly but she couldn't tell if it was because he was also lost in thought or because he was focused on the mission. Truthfully, she would've loved to turn her scythe on Conrad the moment she heard of what he did but doing so would only make things worse. Or so Liberta told her to stop her. The Celestial they were searching for was a tricky one. Most of them were predictable and Liberta could track them down and set up an ambush. Not this one. This one was chaotic. Usually, Lucilla would be delighted. Finally a challenge! But today... her head was filled with dark thoughts. What would happen to Papa Gavus? And where was Eugene taken?
"Lucilla, halt." Liberta's quiet but urgent voice tore her from her jumbled thoughts. She crouched down low, following his line of sight. In front of them was a hole. It looked like a large burrow to her, not much of interest. But if Liberta said they should be cautious... Lucilla took her dagger from its sheath and cut some of the leaves covering the entrance. It wasn't a burrow. No, rather, it was a cave or a tunnel dug into the ground. Now this looked more like a place a Celestial might hide in. She nodded back at Liberta as they both entered, quietly slipping into the shadows of the rock.
Inside, it was beautiful. Once the light from the entrance faded, the black rock lit up with hundreds of silver-white stars. Lucilla and Liberta stopped and stared in awe. The constellations were so detailed, so well displayed... And so different from the sky they came to know. Liberta especially seemed enamored with them, tracing his fingers over the rock, and muttering the names of the constellations and stars. "Taeda... Soul Star... Horarium... Northern Roamer... Obsiornis... The Rolling Flame..." He began walking further in, pointing now, at the stars that lay ahead of them. "Lyra and The Fairy... Aix and Nu... Roh... Glom... And that there is Cornu and..." He trailed off, his finger pointing at a lone figure far ahead, painting a star into the constellation he was just mentioning. "Star of Chaos."
The girl turned around, her bright blue eyes searching them for a moment before widening in realization of who they were. She had the aura of a Celestial even if she looked to be around their age, pale, and clearly underweight. Her wings were dark enough to blend into the shadows of the cave tunnel but they too carried constellations, these ones unknown to both Lucilla and Liberta. Liberta raised his hand up to his neck, clutching at his crystal. "Get ready, Lucilla. This is her."
That was all Lucilla needed to hear. Dashing forth, Lucilla raised her scythe, slamming it into the ground where the girl stood just a moment ago. The hit sent vibrations through the whole tunnel, causing the stars to shake and blink. Unsettling... Lucilla could feel her feelings coming to a boil. Papa Gavus was who knows where, Eugene was being held captive like a traitor... And she was out here hunting some Celestial who spent her time painting pretty pictures on stone. "Stop running!" When the third hit missed and the Celestial just kept avoiding her, Lucilla was starting to get seriously mad. Just as she was about to charge after the girl deeper into the tunnel, Liberta called out to her from behind. "Lucilla, watch out! She's not alone!" A sudden pull dragged Lucilla behind. The floor looked like stars melting together in a vortex, dragging her closer and closer to a nebula in the center. She struggled but could feel her limbs growing heavy as her energy being sapped out of her. From the corner of her eye, she saw Liberta rushing toward her and forced herself to hold her hand up "Stay back! I'll get out of here on my own!"
A flash of brilliant light came from further down the tunnels and a projectile suddenly hit her square in the chest, knocking her down. The vortex wracked her body and contorted it into the spiral and for a moment, she expected to be crushed in the center of it before she felt the soothing coolness of Liberta healing her. It wasn't enough to offset her injuries entirely but she managed to push herself up to her knees just as the vortex suddenly disappeared. With a pained grin on her face, Lucilla leaned on her scythe as she stood up, pointing her dagger into the darkness where the two Celestials hid, only the faint star glow giving away their location. "No time to play around with you two for too long so die quickly, would you?!" Liberta was by her side now and before long, a magical connection tied her to one of the Celestials, healing her at the cost of their energy. She gripped her weapons tighter, charging in once again. The stars overhead flickered.
She stood in a field, the warm light of dusk greeting her like an old friend. Her body ached but she didn't know why. In front of her, she saw her brother, her fathers... her family. She ran toward them but didn't seem to move at all. If anything, she was only getting farther and farther away. The world was passing her by and when she looked back, all she saw was a wide-open Hypogean maw about to swallow her whole. The ground suddenly felt sticky and like it was dragging her down and when she looked at her hands, she found them covered in blood dripping down. Underneath her, in her reflection in the crimson red, she saw herself but not herself. Her reflection was warped and strange, with mismatched eyes and purple skin, laughing maniacally on a pile of Celestial corpses. Lucilla thrust her hands into her hair, pulling and screaming as she fell to her knees.
When she came to, the sky above was already dark, the foreboding clouds that seemed to cover it most of the time as ominous as ever. Liberta was stroking through her hair, humming a gentle song that made her feel warm and fuzzy inside. Her cheeks were wet from tears. "Liberta..?" She croaked in a quiet hoarse voice. "Did I lose it again..?" Liberta smiled down at her, though he looked weary and she spotted a fresh cut on his cheek. What a failure she was, unable to protect anyone in her family... "Let's go back, Lucilla. We can catch those two another time." Liberta's voice was gentle as he helped her to her feet. This time, he took the lead. Lucilla glanced back one more time. The opening to the tunnel was gone. But in the deep darkness of the forest beyond, she could just barely make out the faint twinkling of stars.
