Chapter Text
The common area was empty—barren as the dead sea, and darker than it too. The room’s aura wasn’t any better. A thick and heavy depression overwhelmed it. The only other time Zoey remembered such a unanimous death of everything cheerful was during her High School’s mandatory state testing.
She didn’t have any right to complain about it, however, as she alone was responsible for this. Her phone’s light tried its best to give an optimistic shine on the situation, but it was only met with Zoey’s sullen and defeated face. She had been camping out on the couch for the entire night, waiting and dreading for Mira to return, but she never did.
Zoey pulled her shaggy blanket closer, practically cocooning herself within it as she loosely paid attention to whatever her phone had on. It looked to be a documentary about the Galapagos Islands, not too much of a stretch from the National Geographic series about the Great Barrier Reef she originally had on, but as the night continued, she had watched all of its episodes, and her phone just continued on autoplay.
The only change that caught her eye was the notification that popped up just as her phone screen dimmed, five percent left. Zoey pulled her hand out of the blanket’s tight wrapping and grabbed her phone, swiping down to see if she had received any sort of text message or call for Mira or Rumi.
Nada. The only notifications she had were the warning about some of her phone’s functions, like location turning off due to the lower power, and a message from a gacha game she hardly ever opened anymore.
Zoey swiped up to unlock her phone, letting the background hit her eyes and slowly invade the personal spots in her brain that were already beaten half to death this night. Her background was a selfie the three of them took in their golden outfits—or more aptly what bits and pieces of them had survived after the fight.
Mira and Zoey’s were still mostly intact, keeping the jacket and only missing the gold accessories. While Rumi’s, as they both clearly remembered, lost the jacket entirely and only had the zip-up top. Besides that, they were all looking up, smiling—Zoey remembered being so ecstatic that they had to retake the photo about a dozen different times since she couldn’t sit still. Eventually, Mira just gave up and took about twenty photos in the span of five seconds, letting them pick out the best one later.
The longer she stared at the photo, the more the nail in her heart was beaten by the hammer that was her past choices. She had already cried out every tear she could earlier in the night, so everything after that was just dry distraught.
The worst of it was when she tried knocking on Rumi’s door at 7 AM, when she typically woke up, just to hear nothing in response. She tried again for a few minutes, but rather than the silence from Rumi ignoring her, Zoey heard something much worse. The slider that led to the garden outside of Rumi’s room opened and then slammed shut.
When Zoey heard that, she quickly took the long way around, bolting out the kitchen entrance to the outside terrarium and looping back around to Rumi’s portion of it. Rumi wasn’t there. Zoey looked into her room to see if she had gone back to sleep; her bed was (for once) unkept and messy.
Derpy wasn’t anywhere to be found either, which gave Zoey one very obvious answer.
That was a couple of hours ago, it was nearing 11 AM, and she still hadn’t heard anything new. Did she even deserve to see their faces again? Everything that caused this was solely her fault. She knew that—she ALWAYS knew that. Zoey knew this would’ve happened, and the worst part is she played along, letting her dumb desires overpower any rational part of herself.
Zoey only had three days left before she left—and now she was even wondering if she’d be welcomed back when she returned. Would HUNTR/X still exist? It’d have to—they had a duty. But how could they even work together after this? How could they look each other in the eye after this?
Another notification diverted Zoey’s train of thought—an alert from the tracking app they shared. Practically spyware—the Korean equivalent of the app Life360, which her parents forced her to download when she was a teen. Was it invasive? Yeah of course, but knowing their line of work, the girls all agreed to download it for their safety.
Wait…
Zoey clicked on the notification as her phone opened the app, and even with her dimmed screen, her eyes widened at what she saw. Mira was only a mile away—she seemed to be moving, but then her icon stopped. Zoey stared for another minute; her icon still wasn’t moving—she had to of stopped somewhere. Her fingers pinched the screen to zoom out, trying to find the street Mira was on. Yeonnam-ro…Zoey’s finger tapped against her phone as she tried to think of what was near there.
Mainly just pedestrian walkways and a few places to stop, like cafes…wait. There was one coffee shop Mira liked—she didn’t drink coffee every day, but she liked the artisan stuff you got from a café, not the super sweet stuff, mainly just the matcha drinks. She’d always get one of those matcha lattes while Zoey typically just got a mochi donut—she had sworn off Coffee a loooong time ago due to already being hyper, and adding caffeine on top of that meant a bad time. That and she hated how bitter it typically was. Despite that, she’d always try and dip a bit of her donut into Mira’s drink to try it out—just for her lips to pucker on sheer reaction.
Back on track! Mira had to be there at this moment in time, but there was no way of telling how long she’d stay there. Zoey just wanted one—just one chance. Not to try and defend or justify herself, just to explain. Zoey didn’t know if she could save their relationship at this point…but she wanted to save them, she wanted to save HUNTR/X. Noble enough for Mira to maybe understand—hopefully.
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Was this stalking? Oh yeah, definitely. Did Zoey even plan what she was going to say? Somewhat. In between plunging her face in cold water to make up, reapplying makeup hastily, and staring at her phone to check if Mira had started to move, she had been racking her brain on figuring out what to say. The one ace up her sleeve was being the lyricist of the group. She could whip up words on the fly, and she’d need to, cause even she had no idea how Mira was going to react. Every gut instinct Zoey had told her that Mira wouldn’t fizzle out so quickly, especially considering the issue at hand.
Zoey took one last turn onto Yeonnam, and the first thing that stuck out in her field of view was that bright pink head of hair. Mira was leaning back in her chair, one of her feet gently pushing against the pedestal of the table, while the other was busy putting her mountain of internal strife into form, as its heel bounced up and down against the concrete. She was facing away from Zoey, so she’d have the element of surprise if that counted for anything.
Zoey put her back to the wall, taking what last doubts she still had and shoving them down deep into her gut. She couldn’t let everything fall apart without at least taking action, even if it’s what she deserved.
Showtime. Zoey walked down the open path—adorned with benches and sections of dirt for trees that provided much-needed shade during the summer. She tilted her hat down, making every attempt to hide her face as she stepped forward. She couldn’t find her usual bucket hat, but she found one of Mira’s baseball caps that she must’ve left in her room one night. Zoey was really hoping it wouldn’t strike a sore spot once Mira saw her, but it was all she had at the moment.
Then, once she was within a few steps, the worst parts of Zoey tried to take over. Every fiber of her being was telling her to stop in her tracks, turn around, hold your head down, and accept your fate. But the rational part of Zoey told her that this would only get worse once she left Korea, and by the time she returned, there might not be a HUNTR/X at all. So she’d have to do everything she could to fix it now.
“Hey—um, can I steal a seat?” Zoey used her natural energy to her advantage, quickly taking the seat across from Mira, putting her mini-purse down on the table before she could realize. Right as Mira looked up, Zoey’s eyes met hers, and the sheer silence that followed was probably the quietest she’s ever heard them be. There was a solid four seconds where they both merely stared at each other wide-eyed, hardly believing this was really happening.
Not that it mattered—but while the stare down occurred, Zoey caught a clear glimpse of what Mira had ordered. Her typical Matcha Latte, nothing out of the ordinary there, but she had noticed a small plate of Hotteok in front of Mira. A glistening honey-covered pancake-like treat with some walnuts and pistachio powder adorning it. The stack of them was hardly touched, and merely a corner of the treat had been pecked at, with the rest being left to drown in its honey glaze.
Then, as reality began to speed up for them both, right as Zoey attempted to open her mouth, Mira would interject, shoving her cheek into her knuckle-clenched fist as she spoke, “So…should I ask how you found me, or should I start assuming that you’ve been stalking me? "
Zoey, with about as much grace as a dying bird, would grab her purse, fiddling with its zipper (which chose right now to get stuck along its track multiple times) so she could snatch her phone out of it. She then quickly leaned over to show Mira the app, “I used our tracking app…I’m sorry, but I need to clear up—”
“Clear up?”
Two words from Mira were all it took to make Zoey fall back into her seat, powerless as a newborn chick.
Mira rubbed her forehead for a moment before gesturing to Zoey. Her voice was like embers from a once contemptuous fire that still burned hot but had lost the passion that once fueled its flame. “Zoey, there’s nothing to clear up. You were fucking Rumi! Like—what else is there to say?!”
Zoey took all of her words, accepting the wounds they created, waiting until she stopped to try and re-enter the conversation. “Mira, please—t-there’s more I have to explain, so please just listen—"
“Seriously? Zoey, you can’t just—” Mira shoved a guttural groan into her palm as she ran her hand down her face, “You can’t just explain past that. I dunno’ if cheating is the norm in America, but—” Then, just as Mira heard the words erupting out of her mouth, her onslaught stopped. Mira took a deep breath through her nose, closing her eyes for just a few seconds before reopening them to Zoey. All of the fire—all of the passion that Mira had lost its embers, all of it was now merely smothered ash. The fight had left her body, and a new, defeated tone overtook her voice as she spoke, “You two were all I had.”
The initial glimpse of tears slowly became visible in the corner of Mira’s eyes, and just as Zoey recognized that, Mira did as well. Quickly snuffing them in their tracks with her fist, before she continued, “I get that I’m a lot to handle. I’ve had that beaten into my fucking head by now, but I just…what was I doing wrong?”
What?
Zoey could barely believe the words Mira was saying. What was she doing wrong? Nothing. Zoey could hardly think of a time when Mira had treated her “wrong.” Did…did she really think that? Mira was supposed to be HUNTR/X’s tough outer shell; she always fought for them, no matter the circumstance.
The first time Rumi’s patterns were out and open to the audience in their comeback concert, there was a small handful of fans who were making a ruckus about them. Shaming Rumi for showing them, for “ruining” herself as they said. Mira was the first to offer to “take care of them”, even if it was just a joke; the two of them knew how much Mira meant by her words.
Then, whenever Mira got criticized or hated online, she always took it on the chin. They never got a single emotion from her besides a mere, “Look at this loser lol.” She had experienced much worse from her parents, so what were a few trolls to her?
That only made this hurt so much more. Mira’s outer shell had finally found its weak point, and when the hammer struck, it cracked. Zoey didn’t believe she could piece it back together, but at the very least, she wouldn’t let Mira walk away broken.
“You didn’t do anything wrong.” Zoey’s voice was quiet, but there was strength to it, enough to make Mira look up and back into her eyes. But the more Zoey continued, the longer she couldn’t return the gaze, as every part after this was her punishment. “I-I’m stupid. I had the best girlfriend, a-and I wanted more.”
The small hiccups in Zoey’s voice only worsened as she went on, but she had to make an effort to get this out clearly. So with a few sniffles and stifling tears in their tracks, she went on. “I love you so, so, SO much. But…I kept on lying to m-myself when I started to feel that way about Rumi too. I thought pushing it down was the only way, b-but after so long…”
Zoey shook her head, recounting every night she tossed and turned with that pain, “I couldn’t. I love you two so, SO much—I love us—HUNTR/X. I promise it wasn’t you. It was…me”
Mira wordlessly nodded, but the way her eyes solemnly stared at the center of the table, Zoey knew the situation wasn’t remedied at all. Zoey was worried that Mira thought Rumi had replaced her, when that wasn’t the situation at all. She loved the two intensely in such different ways. Mira held her hand with such a grip that Zoey was worried at times she’d look to her palm and find cuts from Mira’s nails, but she knew if she did, she’d treasure each one. Why? Because it was that same hand that punched away whatever threatened them. While Rumi’s grip was gentler, holding all the admiration in the world for a mere lyricist. Zoey couldn’t believe a goddess like her could ever have eyes for someone who had a mountain of plushies in the corner of her room.
“Do you remember that story you told me the first time I got drunk? The day you found Celine?”
Mira silently nodded.
“The way you just…took your chances and ran out of your parents’ house one night because you couldn’t take it anymore. I…I get that a lot more than you know.” Zoey reflexively pushed one of her bangs back, a stim born from anxiety that clutched Mira’s attention. “When Celine paid for my ticket to Korea, I didn’t even have enough in my bank account to buy another if the 'hunting demons' gig didn’t work out. I was willing to throw everything away just for this chance.”
Zoey felt her heart shriveling, recalling every night in her small suburban house. The times she’d plug her cheap wired headphones into her school-provided Chromebook, open up GarageBand, and just spend time messing around with the instruments, trying to make any music arrangement that would drown out the sound coming from the floor below.
Looking back, those pieces would probably give any music theorist a heart attack…but during those days, even the most abhorrent trap beat overlayed with Zoey’s amateur raps being spoken into the same microphone her earbuds came with felt like the world to her. It felt like a choice. This was her choice, what she wanted to do, something that couldn’t be decided in family court.
She wanted to take this choice as far as it could go. She couldn’t name a single famous rapper who went to college, but after essentially being forced to by both of her parents, she caved. The days away in her dorm, where she could ignore her piling classwork, just for the freedom of using the music studio they had on campus—it was everything she wanted. This studio made her High School’s look like a garage set up.
There, time flew by. Hanging out with friends, pursuing her actual interests without being lectured by her parents 24/7 (at least physically, they still called her every night), and finally, just the feeling of being…away. Her grades were…manageable; she didn’t fail more classes than she can count on one hand! But everything changed one night during an event the music club was holding; some fundraising event centered around a freestyle rap battle tournament.
Needless to say, the opportunity Zoey had been waiting for her whole life. In fact, she made it to the finals, where the only real competition she saw the whole tournament had come to face her. After an intense back and forth, Zoey finished her last verse, barely giving her lungs a chance to recover before spitting her heart and soul into the mic.
Then, it happened. A bright blue wave-like field of energy blasted through the room, riding the amplified vocals from the speakers like a current. No one else saw it, but they sure saw the lightbulbs in the ceiling explode afterwards.
She won, obviously, but the real surprise came the next day. Where she was ominously called to the dean’s office, just to find Celine sitting down in a chair, beckoning Zoey to come and join her. The rest? Well, that was HUNTR/X.
“Keeping my feelings for Rumi down reminded me too much of my life back in the states. I love you. More than like, any turtle in the world, but I couldn’t lie to myself anymore. I love us—HUNTR/X”
Zoey’s last few words caused a long line of Dominoes to fall in Mira’s head. Seconds of just digesting her words and letting them settle before she felt comfortable enough to continue. “I don’t know if I totally understand, but I…kinda’ get it.”
Mira cleared her throat; the previous defeated tone had disappeared from her voice, and it was replaced with a genuine one. “I love you, but I also love us. Rumi included—obviously. After spending so much time with her, seeing who she really is and who she wants to be now that Celine’s grip on her throat is gone,” Mira paused for a moment, and a very tone-deaf blush slowly crept onto her cheeks, “She’s hot as hell.”
She…she gets it?
She…gets…it?
SHE.GETS.IT.
Zoey wanted to lunge over and reveal every indecent thought she had ever had, but she didn’t want any of the progress she had made to disappear because of a mistimed outburst. She instead elected to conserve all of her energy that was begging to be unleashed, letting Mira try and navigate her thoughts further.
“I had the obvious thoughts, like how much I loved seeing her finally show some skin to the world. But every time my head went further than that, I chalked it up to me being a perv.”
The tapping of Zoey’s fingernails against the table created a discordant melody as she struggled to contain her energy. Seeing the similarities slowly being revealed, she wasn’t the only one. Her voice carried a new level of volume, one that caused an occasional glance from the people seated behind them as she spoke, “YES! Oh my gosh, every time she wears that white top, I need to stop myself from—” Mira already knew where that sentence was going, so seeing as they were in a public space, she reached over, covering Zoey’s mouth with her hand, creating some inaudible mumbles until Zoey realized she was being silenced.
“You’re still not off the hook.” Mira cut to the chase, removing her hand from Zoey’s mouth. She saw as the other’s energy dimmed, her eyes and cheek forming a defensive pout, like a puppy’s reaction to being scolded. “I get why you didn’t try to talk to me about it—all the Rumi stuff—but everything I felt after I walked out of your room,” Mira paused right before staring down at her latte. The ice had long since melted, and she could see the foam beginning to sink into the drink’s depths. Her eyes didn’t move as she continued, “I can’t just wipe that shit under the carpet and forget it.”
Zoey silently nodded, her hands subconsciously retreated under the table. They sat with fists closed atop her thighs, as Zoey held her head down. She knew there’d be consequences, and even if she didn’t know if they’d be the same from now on, Zoey just wanted the three of them together again. “Y-Yeah, I messed up really bad. I know even if I say sorry a million bajillion times, it won’t magically fix this, but I still want to make it up to you. Even if you don’t want to be…” Zoey’s mouth couldn’t push out the last couple of words and make her greatest fear a reality. Mira had every right to break up with her after yesterday, and Zoey knew that, but it hurt even worse knowing that she was the one who drove that knife into her own heart. The worst part was that she could feel a few tears beginning to stream down her cheeks. Crying because she cheated on her girlfriend, just how rotten could she be?
“Aw, Babe...” Mira got up from her seat, going up to Zoey and kneeling down so she could look up and gently wipe the other’s tears away with her thumb. “You fucked up pretty badly, but I don’t hate your guts for it. Just…if there’s an issue, please talk to me about it before you decide that letting Rumi top you is the answer.”
Mira’s lack of a filter brought out a chuckle from Zoey, so much so that even while she was laughing, her body couldn’t handle the emotional whiplash, and the tears still kept flowing despite that. After a few seconds, she was able to control herself enough to look down at Mira, nodding with the speed of a jackhammer before saying, “Yeah, I can do that.”
“Oh shoot,” Mira’s eyes widened for a moment before looking back up to Zoey, “How’s Rumi taking it? She looked pretty heartbroken when I left the room.”
That…was another problem Zoey had to fix. The things she hastily said in the moment to try and make everything seem like a mistake to Mira came at the cost of Rumi’s feelings. Rumi, who had already been through so much, had been betrayed by the people closest to her.
Zoey wanted to look away and hide her shame, but she had to own up to it. She shook her head before defeatedly saying, “I don’t think she’s doing too good…I tried knocking on her door all morning, then when I went to check her room, she was gone. Derpy too, she could be anywhere.”
Mira solemnly nodded before standing up, grabbing a crumpled 5,000 Won bill from her pocket, and leaving it on the table, putting an unused fork atop it so it wouldn’t fly away. “We’re gonna’ have to find her…can you check the app?”
“Oh!” Zoey nodded. Despite finding Mira that way, she hadn’t even thought of that. She quickly grabbed her phone from her purse, unlocked it and opened the app. Zoey couldn’t even see Rumi’s picture after she started pinching the screen to zoom out and see the entire city. She only caught a glimpse of it after zooming out to the entire country. She found Rumi’s picture near Sejong, at the national Arboretum. She jumped out from her seat, shoving the phone into Mira’s face, practically hopping as she said, “She’s at the Sejong Arboretum!”
Mira took the phone, staring at it as Zoey’s hands grabbed her shoulder as she leaned over, asking, “That’s pretty far from here…how are we going to get there fast enough without Derpy?”
Mira stared back at the phone trying to think of a plan before one very obvious and bad idea came to mind, “You know…our new plane did arrive at the hangar a couple of days ago.”
“Wait, that’s a great idea!” Zoey said without thinking, but then, approximately one second after, she noticed a glaring flaw. “But we don’t know how to fly a plane…and the crew needs a 24-hour notice at least…”
“Pfft,” Mira dismissively waved her hand as she handed Zoey’s phone back, “We don’t need to, autopilot exists for a reason. Besides, how hard could it be?”