fidelity || gi

origins: lord barbatos

• liyue, 500 years ago. •

the vast majority of the seven and their godly servants and companions secretly disapproved of celestia.

lord barbatos' reason was their lack of confidence in his divine judgement.

"she is dangerous," they told him, "you know full well of what happens when you grant a mortal powers of this degree."

"i trust her," he would tell them. "she understands. she can control it, and i will help her. her soul is too pure for the imperfections in my blessing."

"no human is this pure." they replied. "you are a fool, lord barbatos. one day we will all pay for your mistake."

lord barbatos pushed their comments aside. he couldn't let her find out, and he couldn't strip her of her power so cruelly. he was the god of freedom, but he had to harness her a little. he couldn't completely disobey celestia, because he feared what they would do to him and his people.

zepar may have once been a mortal, but she was not as stupid as one.

she saw through her close companion's assuring words and anxious looks.

one day, she brought it up while dining with three other archons long after the archon war: morax, barbatos' close friend and 'tea buddy', baal, one of zepar's closest confidants at the time, aside from barbatos himself, of course, and her twin sister and kagemusha, beelzebul.

this quaint little group of companions, morax, baal and barbatos being only members of the seven on as casual terms as this, were the only individuals outside inazuma even aware of beelzebul's existence, at least that barbatos was aware of.

"i don't think celestia is all too fond of me," zepar commented casually when it was mentioned in conversation as she wrapped baal's dark purple hair into a thick, shimmering braid, letting stray strands frame her face. she was the only one aside from her sister who she would allow to do something so intimate.

"why's that?" beelzebul tilted her head curiously, her own hair still long and unweaved, falling gracefully over her shoulders as she sipped from her porcelain tea cup.

"barbatos is a bad liar," she said simply, turning mischievously to her closest friend, who jumped, spilling his own tea on his pure white attire, earning a few chuckles from the occupants of the room.

"they don't trust you," he admitted as zepar used her anemo powers to extract the tea from the fabric, letting it fall back into the cup.

"i wouldn't either," she replied dryly, as her white hair shortened and braided itself, a dark colour creeping into the roots and the end turning a green colour, her own robes transforming into barbatos', a white hood creeping over her head, her chest flattening and her height decreasing a good few inches. "i understand this is a little off-putting to many people."

baal's hair was snatched from zepar's grasp as she turned to take in her appearance, and she let out a hearty laugh. "my, my! that is a wonderful party trick! look, ei! she did it again!"

"i can see, sister! it never gets old!" beelzebul wiped tears of mirth from her eyes as she looked at the two identical individuals before them.

"they look exactly the same!" baal laughed.

"i know! oh, makoto, how ridiculous they look!" beelzebul replied as morax chuckled quietly.