Chapter Text
Rumi runs off the stage, her hands wrapped around herself as they barely cover the ugly patterns that cover her skin. The music had cut off when her voice shattered the lights. Still, that didn’t stop the song from continuing to play in her mind.
So sweet, so easy on the eyes, but hideous on the inside.
“Rumi?”
The purple-haired girl stopped when she heard that familiar voice that had been taunting her on stage just several moments before. She had been so occupied with her own thoughts that she hadn’t even noticed Zoey and Mira, who were standing right in front of her.
“G-Girls? How are you here? Weren’t you on stage just now?” Rumi whispered shakily, barely able to hear herself over her pounding heart. Did Zoey and Mira come here to stop Rumi from running away? Were they here to do their job as demon hunters?
Both girls don’t respond and Rumi realises that they don’t know what she was talking about. Relief immediately floods through Rumi as she understands what really happened. It must have been demons pretending to be Zoey and Mira on stage just now!
She almost wanted to laugh at herself for believing that the girls would do such a thing to her. Of course they wouldn’t! Even though she was a mistake, they were still friends! And surely… surely they would understand her. They would accept her!
Whole life spreading lies, but you can't hide, baby, nice try.
Rumi couldn’t help but crack a small, tired smile at the girls as she sighed in relief, “That wasn’t you right? Oh, thank goodness. I knew it couldn’t be–”
“Rumi… H-How do you have patterns…?” Zoey interrupted the older girl as her eyes ran over Rumi’s exposed body. The shame that covered her entire upper body and half of her face. Rumi’s smile faltered as she hugged herself tighter, as if that would somehow make all of her patterns go away.
The half-demon shook her head fervently as she tried to explain, “T-This? No… I mean… You weren’t supposed to see this!”
Mira narrowed her eyes as she asked apprehensively, “Rumi, are you a demon?”
“No! I’m not! Please believe me! I was going to tell you about all this after we made the Honmoon golden! Jinu, he was going to–”
“Jinu? You’re working with him?” Mira clenched her fists as she stared into Rumi’s eyes, her own dark purple eyes filled with confusion, betrayal and an emotion Rumi didn’t want to name. An emotion that she had feared seeing from others her entire life.
She could see Zoey take a small step back from her and instinctively reached a hand out to the black-haired rapper, who stiffened in response. A bitter taste filled Rumi’s mouth as her patterns burned.
“No! I was just using him to fix these… things! To fix me!” Rumi gestured to herself, to her disgusting, filthy and ugly patterns that were now glowing bright pink. Gwi-ma’s colour.
Zoey and Mira backed away from her, the patterns’ glow illuminating the fear in their eyes. They were scared of her.
No, this couldn’t be happening! If they fell apart, then the Honmoon would never turn golden! Then Rumi would never be able to get rid of her patterns and live as a normal person... She couldn’t let that happen. She had worked so hard for this! It couldn’t end like this!
Rumi took a step forward and the other two hunters took yet another step back. Her entire body trembled as she spoke, her voice wavering, “No… Don’t leave… Don’t leave me! Didn’t you see the gold? We’re so close! Please… I can still fix it!”
Rumi’s voice was suddenly layered with a demonic echo and the Honmoon rippled pink. Zoey and Mira watched the Honmoon for a few seconds, stunned by the display of power. And when they looked back at Rumi, they were terrified. Terrified of her and what she could do.
Mira summoned her Woldo and raised it at Rumi. Her eyes were filled with conflict but the singer could see one emotion burning brightly in the dancer’s eyes as her gaze flitted to Rumi’s patterns.
Meanwhile, Zoey had summoned two of her Sinkal and held them up with shaky hands. Whether it was because of anxiousness or fear, Rumi didn’t know. Was there even a difference? Because either way, her friends were pointing their weapons at her.
“Please… Don’t do this…” Rumi’s plea was soft and desperate as she begged the other two to put down their weapons. Zoey bit her lip as she replied in a pained voice that crushed Rumi’s soul, “Rumi… How can we do that when we can’t distinguish your lies from your truths anymore?”
Rumi turned to Mira desperately, hoping that the other girl would understand her because of her past experience as the “black sheep” of her family. Mira simply shook her head as she muttered, refusing to meet Rumi’s gaze, “I knew it. I knew it was too good to be true…”
And that sealed it. She had just lost the trust of her two beloved friends; two people that were the closest thing to family that she had.
When your patterns start to show, it makes the hatred wanna grow outta my veins.
The patterns glowed brighter, the pink practically lighting up the entire backstage. Rumi’s vision flickered in her left eye and for a moment, just a moment, she saw her friends covered in blood in front of her.
Her shame was growing stronger and with it, her demonic side was starting to wake up as well. Rumi could feel her hands changing; nails turned into sharp and elongated claws. Her entire body felt like it was on fire and she knew that she could only hold on for so long.
The responsible thing to do would’ve been to walk into Mira’s Woldo and end her miserable existence once and for all. That was what Rumi should’ve done. Demons don’t deserve to live after all. And she, deemed a mistake by both humans and demons, certainly didn’t get such a privilege.
But Rumi was selfish down to her very core. Selfish and a coward. So instead of doing the right thing, she took the easy way out and ran. She ran away from her (former) friends and idols, brushing past startled staff who gawked at her patterns. Their stares made her shame burn even brighter.
She wiped the tear that had managed to escape her left, golden eye. Rumi ran and ran until, somehow, be it by pure coincidence or Fate’s cruel decision, she came face-to-face with Jinu.
Jinu, the demon. Jinu, the leader of SAJA Boys. Jinu, her friend. Jinu, the traitor. Because the only one who could’ve sabotaged the night’s performance was him. The one person who had understood Rumi’s pain and struggles, the one person who she had confided in. And he ended up betraying her.
Rumi marched towards him, glaring at the demon and the fake hunters behind him. They looked exactly like Zoey and Mira. Rumi wished she had seen through the disguise earlier.
“Tell me you didn’t do this!” Rumi shouted angrily at Jinu who wore a resigned expression on his face. He snapped his fingers and the fakes turned back into demons. They immediately scampered away and Rumi couldn’t contain her anger anymore.
She rushed towards him and pushed the man back. He barely budged. She looked up at his marked face and golden eyes that were filled with pity. That only fueled her rage even more because he didn’t have the right to look at her like that.
“You traitor! You liar! I trusted you! Why did you betray me?”
“I’m a demon. You shouldn’t have trusted me. I was only using you to get what I wanted,” Jinu spoke in a monotone voice, as if he had rehearsed this one line a thousand times before. But Rumi knew he was lying, because as much as both of them hated to admit it, they had much more in common than either would like.
Jinu turned away to leave and Rumi immediately grabbed his hand to stop him. She didn’t know why she did it. All she knew was that she didn’t want to be alone.
“No! I know that isn’t true Jinu! What we had was real! I know you’re a good person, you were just trying to help–”
Jinu suddenly pulled his hand away from Rumi’s as he turned around, snapping, “You’re wrong! I’m a horrible person Rumi! I made a deal with Gwi-ma so that I could get myself out of that miserable life and I left my family behind! While they starved, I drank all day and slept on silk sheets with a full belly!”
He looked down at the ground and continued as his patterns glowed brightly, revealing his shame, “Don’t you see? I selfishly abandoned my family! I’m not who you think I am!”
“No, that’s not true! That’s just your demon talking! You have to fight it!” Rumi begged Jinu, who understood her the best. Probably even better than herself. Jinu, who was looking at the ground right now. Jinu, who wasn’t looking at her.
A frustrated sigh left Jinu’s lips as he hissed, “That’s not how this works, Rumi!” His gaze remained fixated on the ground and Rumi clenched her fists, arguing back, “Yes it is!"
The Honmoon rippled pink again and Rumi paused. She hadn’t meant to do that. Jinu scoffed softly to himself and asked quietly, “Listen to yourself. Is it working for you?”
There was no reply from the half-demon and Jinu continued, his voice filled with regret, “You are a demon, just like me. All we get to do is live with our pain. Our misery. That's all we deserve.”
He turned and started to walk away. Rumi didn’t try to stop him this time, simply looking at his back. He still hadn’t looked back at her.
I don't think you're ready for the takedown.
She unconsciously took a step forward, reaching for the already out-of-reach demon.
Break you into pieces in a world of pain, 'cause you're all the same.
Rumi just wanted Jinu to look back. To look at her face, at her patterns. Even if his gaze was filled with hatred and disgust like Zoey and Mira, please just look at her.
Yeah, it's a takedown.
Jinu disappeared and Rumi clutched her chest that was so, so cold even though her patterns felt like they were searing through her flesh. As if they were trying to erase everything that made her human.
A demon with no feelings, don't deserve to live, it's so obvious.
Because if even Jinu couldn’t look at her, then nobody could possibly ever accept Rumi.
She swallowed the bile in her throat and once again, she ran away. That was the only thing she was good at besides hiding, after all. Rumi only knew how to hide her shame and run from her mistakes.
But then that begged the question, what was she supposed to do when she herself was the mistake?
The only option was to hide herself. Hide away from the prying eyes of the world so that none could see the hideous patterns that covered her body. So that none would have to lay sight on the monster that belonged nowhere.
Rumi didn’t want to go back to the village that she had grown up in. Celine was there and she didn’t want her foster mother to see that she had wasted her time raising a worthless thing. Celine’s disappointed look was too much for Rumi to handle.
There was only one place that she could go to right now. One place that nobody would visit for the world had forgotten her name. Rumi knew that even Celline no longer visited that grave for the memories were far too painful for her to bear.
Rumi stopped running and looked down at her patterns, which hadn’t ceased their glow. The pink was so filthy in her eyes. But if it helped her pull this off then… it didn’t matter how much more shame she had to take.
Rumi sighed softly to herself and let herself focus on nothing else except for her own thoughts. Her shameful thoughts.
Nobody can look at you when you’re so disgusting.
A liar and a coward. A mistake that should’ve never existed.
Why did you think that they would accept all of you? Nobody could ever love you.
Death is the only thing that you deserve.
Rumi’s claws dug into her arms as the patterns glowed like a beacon. They hurt so much. But that was what she deserved.
Someone please just save her.
Pink smoke enveloped her and in the blink of an eye, her surroundings changed. Bright city lights were replaced by the dim moonlight. The honking of cars had disappeared and only silence remained. In front of Rumi was a lonely gravestone covered in green moss that had marked it as its home.
Rumi laid down beside her mother’s grave. A thick fog blanketed her mind, numbing those self-deprecating thoughts. Her patterns had dulled and her claws had retracted. Rumi didn’t know why. Maybe her mother’s ghost had decided to give her unfortunate daughter a moment of peace or maybe she was just so exhausted that even her demonic side had decided to rest.
Above her, the sky turned red and she could see the Honmoon ripple once more, before it disappeared altogether. In the back of her mind, Rumi understood that this was a bad thing and that she should go stop whatever was causing this. It was her duty as a hunter.
But Rumi was tired of everything and she didn’t want to get up from the soft grass whose embrace was warmer than Celine’s ever was. She just wanted to sleep and wake up from this nightmare. And if it wasn’t a nightmare, then she didn’t want to wake up at all.
So her eyes drifted shut and the night sky was quickly filled with Gwi-ma’s pink flames that marked the beginning of the end.