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Rumi didn't flinch when Celine turned on her, startled by her approached.
Why should she, after all? What did she have to fear from that sickle in her mentor's hand? What did it matter if Celine's perfect reflexes launched the weapon her way? Wasn't that why she was here? In fact, she hoped Celine's hand would get ahead of her eyes and spare Rumi the burden of this final request.
But of course, Celine was too good for that. She saw Rumi and stopped. Forced her to explain herself. How she'd failed at keeping the most important secret of her life. How she'd lost everything.
It was probably better this way. It wouldn't be fair to have Celine kill her without knowing how badly she wanted it. Without reassuring her that it was truly in everyone's best interest. The only way to right past wrongs, protect the Honmoon, and finally grant Rumi the peace she could find nowhere else. It was a kindness, really. Even if it meant asking Celine to throw away all the work she'd put into Rumi over the years. Surely, she would understand. If Rumi asked properly, got down on her knees and begged, surely Celine would do this one last thing for her.
And yet...
"I can't." Celine's voice broke with weakness, because Rumi had made her weak. A demon, given to her in the guise of an innocent child, had manipulated her heart into allowing an abomination to live.
Instead of ending her, Celine took her gently by the shoulders and guided her to her feet.
"When we lost your mother, I swore to protect all that was left of her," she murmured. "But I never thought that would be a child like you."
Her hand came up, as if to caress Rumi's face, but she couldn't bring herself to make contact. She couldn't touch the patterns that had spread there, pulsing a sickly purple.
"Everything I was taught told me you were wrong," she said, "but I made a promise."
A second voice, barely audible and yet overwhelming all the same, began to whisper in Rumi's ear.
That's the only reason you're alive. It was never you. She made a promise to someone she actually loved. She would have killed you.
But Celine kept smiling at her, gentle and maternal. "I did my best to accept you and help you."
Liar.
Somehow, Rumi found herself in agreement.
"Accept me?" she echoed incredulously. "You told me to cover up. To hide."
Maybe Celine had helped her to stay alive all these years, delaying the inevitable. But she had never, ever accepted her, and to insinuate that she had was insulting. No one could accept her. It was okay to admit that. Rumi just didn't want to die surrounded by more lies.
"Yes, until we can fix everything! And we still can!" Celine was almost frantic, trying to convince herself. She removed her jacket and began to fix it around Rumi's shoulders, hiding the patterns as they'd been doing all her life. "We can cover those up and put everything right again. I'll tell Mira and Zoey that it was all a lie. An illusion by Gwi-Ma to break us apart."
"No!" How could she possibly think that was better? That she was doing Rumi a favor by condemning her to a life of inauthenticity and shame? "No more hiding! No more lies!"
Rumi shrugged the jacket off and pushed Celine away. Celine stumbled backward in a manner that was frankly disproportionate to the force that had been applied, extending her arm as if holding off an aggressive animal.
"Rumi, we can still fix this."
Why couldn't she understand that there was nothing to fix?
"Don't you get it?" Rumi demanded. "This is what I am."
She stepped forward, and Celine averted her gaze to the ground.
"Look at me," she pleaded. Celine seemed unable to lift her head. "Why can't you look at me?!"
Celine only squeezed her eyes shut, and while part of Rumi understood, the rest of her was furious. This woman had raised her. This woman had forced her to live and grow up. The least she could do was either admit her mistake or commit to it. Kill her now, or let her be her.
She had no right to force them into this horrible middle ground. If she wanted Rumi alive, why couldn't she make it worthwhile?
"Why couldn't you love me?!"
"I do!"
"ALL OF ME!"
Rumi's voice tore painfully from her throat and sent a devastating ripple across the Honmoon. She felt more than saw little pieces tearing off, creating weak points that would eventually split into openings. Generations of hard work and careful maintenance, destroyed because of her.
Whatever Celine said next, Rumi didn't hear it. Instead, that same voice from before returned to her, louder.
You have no place here.
You were kept alive by guilt. She can't even look at you.
You are a danger to everything you care about.
Finally, she recognized the voice. Gwi-Ma. A jolt of horror shot through her. She had to get him out of her head, but... he was right, wasn't he?
Your fellow Hunters have abandoned you. Your fans have forgotten you. You have no one.
Everything around Rumi seemed to fade away as he laid out the truth to her. She'd been afraid of lies designed to break her down, but he had no need to break something that was already broken. Gwi-Ma did not lie. He observed the hopeless circumstances of a person's life and offered an alternative. That was all.
No one can accept you. You cannot even accept yourself. But I can.
Of course he could. The discarded and downtrodden were his to shepherd.
I am the only one who will have you as you are. I am the only one who will accept the real you. I will love your ugliness. I will give you a place to belong. I will give you a purpose. I will remove all of those horrible things from your mind. You will never hide or feel pain again.
That didn't sound so bad. More of a kindness than Celine had ever given her. If she was to be a husk left with nothing, she might as well not have to think about it. Besides, she was tired of pretending to be human. She'd done her best at it for so long, and what had it gotten her?
She would be happier as a demon.
She felt a tug somewhere deep within her chest. A call. A command. An invitation. A whistle to a dog that had wandered off. Come to master now, and she would be safe and fed. It was all she really needed, anyway. Somewhere to be. Something to do. Someone to listen to. It didn't matter where, what, or who.
If Gwi-Ma could give her a place to belong, she would go there. At this point, what did she have to lose?
------
Mira felt hollow. Muted. Completely and utterly alone.
You don't deserve a family. You never have.
The voice was harsh, and yet, it made her feel safer somehow. Like there were no illusions to be broken. No trust to be betrayed. She was alone, but she knew where she stood. At least she could find joy elsewhere; in this concert hosted by demons she could hardly remember that she hated.
The rivalry didn't matter anymore. She wanted to hear their music. Wanted to let it lift her spirits. She was excited for it. She held her breath as the Saja Boys appeared, waiting eagerly to hear them.
Until she saw Rumi.
What the fuck?
For a moment, the sight of her jarred Mira back to anger. She really had been working with Jinu, then. It all really had been a lie, and now that her cover was blown, Rumi was free to rejoin her fellow demons, patterns bared for the world to see.
But as the performance began and the demons launched into their choreography, Mira noticed that Rumi didn't move in the same way. As the Saja Boys sang of temptation and worship, Rumi stood silent, more of a prop than a performer.
They circled her hungrily, moved around her like a pretty centerpiece and nothing more. When they did want her to move, they pulled her along, directing her all the way. Why would they need to do that if she was one of them? Didn't she have her own part to play? Shouldn't she be taking center stage with Jinu?
When she finally turned in a way that allowed Mira to see her face clearly, it became evident even from a distance that something was wrong. Her eyes, though glowing an unfamiliar amber, seemed heavy. Distant. While her body responded to cues and directions, nothing in her face showed any recognition of her surroundings.
She looked like everyone else in the audience. Entranced. Sleepwalking. Like Mira had been moments ago.
Why would Gwi-Ma put her under his spell if she had been following his orders anyway?
Because she wasn't, Mira realized with a fresh wave of dismay. She hid the patterns, but the rest of it was true.
And why wouldn't she have hidden them? The second Mira had seen them, she'd assumed the worst. Rejected her. Threatened her. Left her wide open for Gwi-Ma to take advantage.
And now he was taunting them. Her and Zoey both, for the mistake they'd made. He was showing Rumi off like a trophy. Parading her around like she belonged to him.
Did she even know what was happening? Was she terrified right now, or had Gwi-Ma twisted her mind to make her think she wanted this, as he'd done to Mira to get her to come here? Or was she even thinking at all? There was nothing behind her eyes. Just a tired, blank expression as she sank to her knees in front of Jinu in a public act of submission that made Mira feel sick.
"Livin' in your mind now. Too late, 'cause you're mine now..."
His claw gently traced a pattern up her throat to her chin, then began to tilt her head back. He leaned in as if to kiss her.
They don't get to touch her like that, Mira thought fiercely. She and Zoey were the only ones who ever touched her like that. They'd never really put a label on it, too busy with other matters, but they all knew that they loved each other deeply, and touches like that were reserved for one another.
Maybe this would feel like another betrayal, having something sacred and theirs taken into unwelcome hands, if Rumi had any choice in the matter. But as things were, Mira felt only a hot, protective fury rise within her as Rumi stared drunkenly at Jinu's moving lips.
"I will make you free, when you're all a part of me..."
Finally, Mira's body unlocked and the haze in her mind cleared completely. How DARE they touch her like that?
She began to shove her way through the crowd, climbing over seats and through a sea of bodies as fast she could. If she let those monsters lay one more finger on Rumi, she would never forgive herself.
"GET AWAY FROM HER!" a voice rang out, hardly audible above the music, but clear enough to Mira.
Zoey, somewhere off to the side, also making her way to the stage. She'd realized the same thing. Snapped out of her own trance the same way. Though Mira couldn't see her quiet yet, she was emboldened by her presence.
They found each other as they neared one of the elevated walkways connected to the stage, coming together on top of it with their weapons drawn. The Saja Boys had stopped singing, ready for them, but that was to be expected.
What neither of them had expected was for Rumi to finally move without an obvious cue. She got to her feet, her glowing eyes sharper than before but still lacking some essential quality, and summoned her sword.
No...
"Rumi, it's us!" Zoey called desperately as Rumi moved to stand between them and the Saja Boys, who seemed to be hanging back for the moment to see how this panned out.
Rumi bared her teeth, the canines more pronounced than Mira recalled, standing firm. She stared them down in a way Mira had never seen before. Her half-focused gaze didn't match her snarl, and she seemed to be looking between them rather than at either of them. Regardless, she began to stalk forward.
"Please don't do this, Rumi." Mira couldn't bring herself to advance. "We don't want to hurt you."
"You already have." The deep, demonic voice that left Rumi's sweet lips came as such a shock that Mira momentarily lowered her Gok-Do and scarcely had time to raise it again before Rumi surged forward.
Their weapons crashed together with a horrible, deafening clang. The sound, that of two parts of the same whole never meant to be raised against one another, rattled Mira's bones and seemed to slam her aching heart against her ribcage.
"No!" Zoey cried out. She held her Shin-kal at the ready, but it was obvious to any trained eye that she didn't mean to use them. Her grip was too loose. Her expression too pained. "Rumi, stop it!"
Mira grimaced as she pushed back against Rumi, staring directly into her cold, lifeless eyes. "Snap out of it! It's me!"
But their words were falling on deaf ears. Even if Rumi could hear them, she had no power to stop herself. She could only snarl like a wild animal and push harder against the deadlock. Mira watched her face, often so beautiful and gentle, contort in this unfamiliar way and found herself unable to stop a bit of tenderness from entering her mind.
What have they done to you, love?
"It was too good to be true," Rumi said, an air of accusation entering her otherwise neutral tone. Mira was close enough to watch the tears begin to form. "We can't be together because you can't tell my lies from my truths."
Mira's heart shattered as she realized what Rumi was echoing. Their rejection of her. It wasn't what Gwi-Ma or anyone else had done to her. It was what they, the people she should have been able to trust to support her, had done. They had put her here.
"Rumi..." Remorse softened Mira for a moment. Long enough for Rumi to sweep her Gok-Do to the side and knock her to the ground. Reflexes saved her from a sword to the chest, and she kicked Rumi's ankle out from under her to prevent another blow.
She just managed to push Rumi's sword aside as the other woman fell on top of her, nails (were those fucking claws?) digging into her shoulders while Rumi's knees pinned her legs down.
"Please, stop!" Zoey sobbed.
"It's okay, Zoey!" Mira called, because at least neither of them had their weapons. Rumi could bite and scratch all she wanted; Mira could take it. "Focus on the demons!"
But the Saja Boys still hadn't moved. Most of them looked ready, even eager to pounce, but Jinu had extended his arm to hold them back. He smirked, as if waiting for the moment Rumi would kill her own team, but it didn't reach his eyes.
Is he trying to give us a chance?
Mira hated to accept his charity after seeing his claws all over Rumi, but given the circumstances, she would take it. She shifted her attention back to Rumi, gripping her wrists to try to keep those claws out of her skin. Rumi stared down at her, tears pouring down her face.
For a split second, her eyes widened as if in recognition, and her face began to relax. Then, her patterns pulsed a deep, bruised purple and seemed to sweep everything away. Her already slitted pupils constricted further, her growls deepening.
"You're still in there," Mira realized with a flash of relief. "Rumi, if you can hear me-"
She cut herself off with a gasp as Rumi suddenly lunged forward, jaws open to fix around her neck. But the bite never came. Instead, Rumi was yanked backward, Zoey's arms locked firmly around her middle as the smaller woman nuzzled into her shoulder. It created just enough space that Mira could sit up, and rather than disentangling herself, she simply leaned in and wrapped herself around Rumi from the front.
"We're so sorry," Zoey murmured into Rumi's exposed skin, her lips gently brushing the patterns. "We never wanted this to happen."
Rumi thrashed and screamed, her patterns glowing harshly, but the other two held her fast.
"We shouldn't have assumed the worst," Mira confessed. "I was so hurt that you lied to us that I didn't think about why you felt like you had to. I'm sorry we didn't hear you out."
Rumi snapped her jaws near Zoey's face, unable to twist properly to actually inflict any harm.
"Please, Rumi." Zoey squeezed her tightly. "Please, give us another chance. We love you so much. We want to hear your side of things."
"Come back to us," Mira pleaded. She pressed a feather-light kiss to Rumi's cheek, just where a jagged pattern began to trace her jawline. At the contact, a few inches of the purple line glowed dimmer, gentler. "We love you, even if you have patterns. Even if you want to show them off. As long as you're still our Rumi... please, come back."
Zoey slowly kissed a line down Rumi's neck and along her shoulder, making sure to get each separate pattern that she could reach. Rumi jerked away, but her growls had faded to soft whimpers.
"We can get through this," Zoey promised. "We love you. We love all of you."
"You can't," Rumi sobbed. Every part of her trembled in their arms. "No one can."
"We can," Mira insisted. "We do."
While Zoey continued to pepper Rumi's neck and shoulder with kisses, Mira leaned in closer to her face. Her beautiful face, lined with pain and fear. Mira kissed her without hesitation; directly on the mouth that had just tried to kill her. The mouth full of sharpened, deadly teeth. Because no matter how different the voice that left it or the teeth inside it, it was still Rumi's, and she loved Rumi to pieces.
When she pulled away, Rumi was different. Still crying, still shaking, but slack and blinking up at her in a daze. Her eyes looked normal again.
"Please tell me that's you," Mira murmured.
Rumi nodded unsteadily. "I'm sorry..."
"It's okay," Zoey said gently. "We're going to talk about everything. Just... stay here, okay?"
It took Mira a moment to realize what she meant. The Saja Boys were bound to close in on them now that Rumi was awake and Jinu had no excuse to hold them back. Mira kissed Rumi's forehead one more time before she stood and summoned her weapon again.
Rumi shook her head and slowly stood with her, Zoey still clinging to her back. "Together."
"Are you up for it?" Mira asked.
Rumi summoned her sword, tears still flowing but looking determined nonetheless.
Mira thought she understood. After everything, Rumi wanted to prove that she really was on their side. If they said no, told her to hang back and rest, she might take it as another rejection.
Zoey smiled, released her, and drew her Shin-kal. "After this, we're going home, making some ramyeon, and listening to everything you have to say. Promise."
Rumi, though it seemed a great effort, managed to grin back. "Thank you."
The three of them drifted naturally into their usual fighting formation. With so much still needing to be said between them, it didn't feel quite as seamless as Mira often knew it to be, but it still felt right. Like strength and belonging. Like coming home. Like no matter how brutal the fight ahead, everything would be fine, because they were all among family.
They launched themselves forward, fearless and synchronized, ready to meet their foes. Together, as they should have been all along.