Chapter Text
Chapter One
Since the Idol Awards, Mira often wondered how Rumi had survived her training. There was simply no way that she had always been so talented as to never get hit during sparring.
Had Celine waited until she was that skilled before recruiting?
On more occasions than she could ever even try to recall, let alone count, she and Zoey had been ‘defeated’ during their intensive training.
For them, it didn’t matter beyond some embarrassment. The Honmoon weapons were meant to destroy demons; whenever they touched a human, they passed right through them.
It was a fact that she relied on in the heat of battle during simpler times. Before the Idol Awards, her worldview had been simple: stab anything with patterns. All demons were monsters, and disintegrating them was her doing her duty.
After seeing the same patterns she had been taught to abhor on one of her best friends, on the one she’d had a crush on for as long as she could remember, things had shifted for her.
No longer did patterns automatically mean ‘attack’, but beyond that, Rumi was no longer just her best friend.
Apparently, her feelings had been reciprocated for just as long as Mira had felt them, but she couldn’t risk revealing her secret by entering into a romantic relationship.
Following a promise to never lie again, Mira had been more than willing to accept Rumi’s kiss and everything else that came with officially being together for two months.
Mira had never been so happy in her life, and she had many reasons to believe that the same could be said for her girlfriend.
Rumi had gotten more and more comfortable with who she was, to the point that she had started using her demon abilities during hunts. With the Honmoon sealed, they were not as frequent as they once were, but there were enough stray demons to keep them at least somewhat busy.
Outside of the hunts, Mira loved the recently revealed attributes of her girlfriend’s demon side.
Her fags were both cute and insanely hot depending on the circumstances. Her ability to teleport was very convenient for midnight snacks. Then there were her patterns.
Years of being taught to hate them should have made it impossible to find them attractive, but there was just something about Rumi’s skin flaring multiple, shimmering colours when she was getting worked up that did things to Mira.
It surely had more to do with the fact that it was Rumi’s body she was kissing her way down, rather than a specific thing for demons. Perhaps it was how sexy a confident Rumi was?
During a hunt, it was less an unambiguously good thing.
Sure, her demon abilities came in useful during fights. Who wouldn’t want their teammate to have enhanced strength and speed?
But there was the problem of the instincts and habits that her training had ingrained into her. She certainly didn’t believe it anymore, but her muscles had yet to get the message that anything with patterns did not need to die.
Unfortunately, it was her muscles that controlled the Go-dok. Before, it wasn’t a problem because she had worked under the assumption that it would simply pass through Rumi and Zoey should she mistime or misaim a strike. With the knowledge that this was not true for one of them, especially with that one being her girlfriend, she had become more cautious in battle, always checking over her shoulder to locate where Rumi was in the fray.
A part of her wanted to ask her to cover her patterns while they were hunting the remaining stray demons following the sealing of the Honmoon. She could never actually form those words, though. How could she ask that of her when she was finally breaking through years of shame?
The answer was simple; she just had to be attentive to her surroundings in the heat of battle and keep her blade away from her girlfriend. Rumi had successfully avoided them for so long that it was only fair that it was her and Zoey’s turn to be more careful.
Why shouldn’t Rumi at last get to feel what it’s like to get into the flow of a battle fully without fear of her own teammates accidentally hurting her?
Today was one such occasion in which she had to be fully aware of her surroundings.
The Huntrix trio had tracked a small horde of stray demons to an abandoned warehouse and were attacked on sight, each of them effortlessly summoning their weapons from the Honmoon.
With all of the piles of old stock, they were in relatively tight quarters, so Mira made a real concerted effort to pinpoint the set of patterns that belonged to their ally.
Why did they have to be the exact same colour?!
Rumi was cutting through their assailants at a rapid, superhuman pace, obviously enjoying being able to unleash her full potential.
If Mira were an observer of the battle, she would have found it very much hot, but as a participant, she had to stay focused. She could revel in her girlfriend’s hotness later, preferably in their bed.
In this moment, she was only concerned with the fact that Rumi had successfully made it to the other side of the space, providing ample distance that she wouldn’t have to worry about inadvertent strikes.
It allowed her to at last do what her body so desperately wanted.
Dispatching demons like it was a well-choreographed dance was one of her favourite things about hunting, and she got to melt into the feeling wholeheartedly.
Multiple demons exploded into dust with each flourishing swing,
Her elation was promptly cut short by a demon jumping down from above. It wasn’t that it was a particular threat; it was that Zoey had shouted, “Mira! Behind you!”
This wouldn’t have been a problem before the Idol Awards.
Blindly trusting her friend, she spun her weapon around and stabbed backwards without looking behind her.
The strangled gasp that followed had her turn around; it was not a sound that a disappearing demon should make. Mira’s stomach crashed down as she confirmed that the sound came from a half-demon, one who had grabbed the handle of the Gok-do that Mira was still holding, trying to stay on her feet despite the blade piercing her stomach.
Later, the order of events would all make sense. Zoey had seen the demon jump down from above and called out. Rumi had teleported over to dispatch her surprise attacker, putting herself in a position to be skewered.
Right now, all that mattered was the unadulterated look of betrayal on Rumi’s face, especially with it being mixed with pain. She wasn’t even aware of the demon stragglers around them, not even as Zoey shot out multiple daggers to destroy them,
This left the trio alone, the only sound Rumi’s ragged breathing as she tried to comprehend the injury and who had caused it.
As if aware that the warehouse had been freed of the infestation, Rumi’s knees buckled, and Mira somehow had the wherewithal to let go of the weapon and to not prematurely pull it out. The Gok-do sticking out of her girlfriend was almost enough for her to forget all first aid training, but it was thankfully just almost. It was unnatural, but it might be the only thing stopping her from bleeding out.
“What happened?!” Zoey exclaimed, rushing over to them.
Mira wanted to snap at her that she shouldn’t have gotten her attention and, therefore, alerted Rumi to the danger. Ultimately, she decided that she couldn’t blame Zoey for this. It wasn’t her weapon currently in Rumi’s stomach, after all.
Instead, she dropped down to her knees beside Rumi and cupped her cheek, choking as she struggled to get out, “I’m so sorry, baby…I didn’t…”
Rumi heaved a breath, her words seeming to have to be forced out, her smile concerningly weak, “Maybe we need a signal before teleporting?”
Standing over them with utter distress written across her face, Zoey asked, “You’ll heal, right?”
This lifted Mira’s spirits instantly, no longer worried about a future filled with grief, heightened by all-consuming guilt.
A date night during which Rumi had tried cooking had revealed another demonic attribute that Mira was a huge fan of. After slicing her hand with a knife, it had healed within seconds, not even leaving a scar.
Her eyes already drooping, a stark contrast to the blinding purple of her patterns, Rumi said unconvincingly, “Maybe?”
All relief evaporated and condensed back into crushing despair as Mira demanded, “Maybe? What do you mean, maybe?”
“I’ve never tested it,” Rumi shrugged, resulting in a pronounced wince.
Mira’s anger flared again. How could someone wield a weapon without finding out whether it could kill them? Just like with Zoey, she quickly realised that it wasn’t Rumi she was really angry with.
This was all her own fault.
“Well, you didn’t disappear in a cloud of smoke,” Zoey said nervously, “That’s a good sign, right? We just need to take it out and then the wound will heal, and we can all go home to couch and everything will be fine.”
Her pace picked up with each word that tumbled out of her mouth, and Mira was distantly aware that Zoey was also feeling guilt for her role in this.
It settled for her what needed to happen here. Neither she nor Zoey could live with his ending tragically; neither of them could I’ve with losing Rumi, so the half-demon just had to survive this.
For Mira, that meant leaving the Gok-do in situ, though she had no idea what would come next. Would a doctor be able to help when they can’t even touch he foreign object that was in her stomach?
To Mira, Rumi said, after a few ragged breaths, “I think Zoey’s right, you should take it out.”
Shaking her head vehemently, Mira argued, “What if it doesn’t heal?”
“We have bandages at home, right?” Rumi asked.
“Rumi, that’s…” Mira huffed as Zoey crossed her arms, pure worry and anticipation reflecting off the rapper.
Swallowing thickly to interrupt her, Rumi tried, “It will be fine, I trust you.”
“I really don’t think this is about trust,” Mira pointed out.
“Mira, please?” Rumi’s voice became vulnerable, her words accentuated by the wild flashing of her patterns, “It really hurts.”
Mira blinked at the tears gathering in her eyes, now more acutely aware that this was all her fault.
Rumi was in pain because of her.
It would be a small comfort, and she had probably done it more for her own benefit, but she leaned down to connect their lips in a soft kiss as she raised her hand to grasp the handle.
Rumi kissed her back with weak pressure right up until she dissolved the Gok-do back into the Honmoon. Mira felt the shudder of pain pass through he woman beneath her, and she leaned back, expectantly waiting for the twisting of Rumi’s face to ease as her demon half began the healing process.
A few seconds in, that hadn’t happened, and the pit returned to Mira’s stomach, but it was Zoey who spoke first, “Is it healing?”
“I think so,” Rumi said, her words slurring.
She proved herself wrong immediately as her head lolled to the side, falling unconscious as blood pooled, visible even through her dark shirt.
Mira would hate that she froze, the flashing of the patterns not enough to snap her out of it, but in that moment, she couldn’t do anything but stare helplessly.
Zoey crashed down to frantically apply pressure to the wound, and all Mira could think was that she had killed the most important person in her life.