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For Jinu, music was both his gift, and his curse.
It symbolized his deal with Gwi-Ma. It reminded him of his cold hearted betrayal. It brought back memories of singing his sister to sleep, of lifting his mother’s spirits after another dinner of bare bones broth.
Music had a direct line to his heart, his guilt, his markings.
But it also gave him a direct line to her.
“The scars are part of me, darkness and harmony. My voice without the lies, this is what it sounds like.”
When he told Rumi that she wasn’t a mistake, he meant it wholeheartedly, no ulterior motives to be found. He can’t know for certain, but a soul as bright as hers was only created out of pure love, a human and a demon finding their own peace within each other, for however short of a time they had together. What he did was selfish, deliberate to save his own skin, and the guilt that festered inside of him was what became his downfall.
He’d like to think that regret meant he wasn’t totally lost, but after centuries of torment, what were his own feelings, and what were the poison laced strings Gwi-Ma yanked him around with? Did he truly mourn for his mother and sister, or did the contract simply end when he died, and his price for fame was an eternity of remembering what he could never salvage? What he could never apologize for.
“We listened to the demons, we let them get between us. But none of us are out here on our own.”
Despite his clear malicious intentions, Rumi still gave him a chance. She held his patterned hand, she spoke of setting him free, she encouraged him to listen to the fans who he actively plotted to harm. The fans who praised his lies. His disguise. Even after he betrayed her and exposed her to her friends, she still reached for him. Jinu had given up on himself long ago, but even knowing the truth, Rumi thought he could be more.
Was she delusional? Had she been hoping that uplifting him would make her think better of herself? When she talked about healing what was broken, was he truly included in her vision?
Did she feel for him what he felt for her? The hope he’d shoved so deep down he thought it burned to ashes long, long ago. When she said he could be free, did that mean he was allowed to stay by her side?
“Show me what’s underneath, I’ll find your harmony. Fearless and undefined, this is what it sounds like.”
That fire has consumed him time and time again. When he first arrived he was defiant and angry, unwilling to accept his fate. Even after he realized he was trapped, even after he gave in to the image that Gwi-Ma had turned him into, it still hurt. It wasn’t the type of pain that faded with time, not even the kind that lingered pleasantly or spiked adrenaline. Paralyzing, soul crushing, leaving nothing but the voices and all the misery and agony that he could not even escape after death. He would die before he let that fire consume her.
“Jinu?!”
But he wanted to see her on stage. Like he would have if he had never betrayed her trust.
Teleporting with a human wasn’t usually difficult, but with Gwi-Ma fighting against his every move, it took all of his energy to reunite Rumi and her friends outside of the scope of the flames. The other Saja Boys, more under Gwi-Ma’s command than Jinu had ever seen them, rushed them without hesitation. Perhaps it was selfishness, the vain desire to not have another plan go sideways, but he didn’t want them to fall like this. They were dragged into this mess because of him, the least he could do was give them a chance to get out.
“We cover them!” He snarled, canines growing, eyes flashing hot enough to warm his own sockets. He would end them himself if it came down to it. Had he gone along with Rumi’s plan from the start they would’ve been free hours ago at the Idol Awards. He could have saved them, deserving of freedom or not, and he was he to judge that outcome in the first place?
Miraculously, the others paused, limbs jerking like the puppets Jinu wanted to avoid becoming. Confusion filled their golden eyes as they looked to Jinu, their leader, and then Gwi-Ma, their Idol.
“We cover them,” Mystery uttered, back straightening for the first time in decades. He looked at Zoey, patterns flickering brighter.
“You could've done this sooner!” Abby hissed at him, claws bared as he took a defensive stance beside Mira. Romance mirrored him, looking equally as put out.
“I knew I should’ve ditched you when I got up here. I could be on one of those dating shows with all the other pretty people!”
A melodious laugh hit his ears, and seeing the edge of Rumi’s smile made something inside of him glow.
He turned to Baby, who throughout all of this was more aware than he liked to let on. He tilted his head in contemplation, a clawed finger reaching up to twirl at the beaded string of his hat.
“We either die by sword or flame. And they don’t have hot sauce in the Underworld.”
What if we find a way to escape it?
For Jinu, music was both his gift, and his curse. Always has been, and as far as he was concerned it always would be. It was this voice of his that haunted him, a twisted gift from the demon king that only wanted to serve himself. This voice that he used selfishly, to harm others even when he no longer believed it would truly save him. It was this voice that lured everyone here to their demise, this voice that sent them into a trance as they all sang along to their doom.
But when this voice mixed with hers, suddenly it didn’t feel so cursed.
Jinu and the others fended off the remaining hoards as the girls ran straight for Gwi-Ma, the rising voices of the people, their fans, running right along with them. Not some fast fad, not a song of hatred left in the trash, not an inflated ego trip. It was pure soul, gifted to the girls who always made them smile, who brought them out of the darkness, who protected them from horrors they couldn’t even see.
Rumi never had anything to be ashamed of, and now she never will again. Because the cage that kept her trapped, the one she sealed around herself without truly knowing, was shattered for good. The broken glass reflected all of her beauty, patterns on full display, her triumphant smile. Her pride.
To think, he almost missed this.
“Truth after all this time, our voices all combined. When darkness meets the light, this is what it sounds like.”