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“You’re not good enough,” Mira’s words were sharp and jagged, sneering at Zoey.
“You’re way too much,” Rumi said, each word like a punch to Zoey’s gut. Mira shoved Zoey’s shoulder, knocking her back a step. Rumi elbowed Zoey in the stomach, knocking Zoey to her knees.
“Guys- please- stop,” Zoey said, tears stinging the corners of her eyes. They laughed in response, and Mira bent down so she was eye level with Zoey.
“We don’t need you. We never did, you were always just weighing us down.” With that, Mira and Rumi spun on their heels and walked away, leaving Zoey on her knees sobbing.
//
Zoey jolted awake sweating, looking around frantically with her eyes wide. It was just a dream she thought to herself. It didn’t really feel like it. Zoey tried to fall back asleep, tossing and turning for a few minutes, but she knew she wasn’t falling back asleep. So, Zoey grabbed her stuffed turtle ‘Shelly’ and hobbled out of her room and down the hallway. She stopped when she reached Rumi’s door, taking a deep breath and collecting herself.
She opened the door quietly, and slipped inside without a sound. She crossed the room silently, and crawled into Rumi’s bed, careful not to wake her. Zoey took a moment to analyze how peaceful Rumi looked, how her chest rose and fell in a steady rhythm, and how her patterns pulsed ever so slightly with every breath. Zoey blinked a few times before gathering her courage and gently nudging Rumi’s arm.
“Rumi?” Zoey whispered softly. The purple haired girl stirred slightly, her eyes fluttering open.
“Zoey?” Rumi asked, her eyes filling with concern, “What’s wrong?” Zoey opened her mouth to explain, but the second she thought of her dream, tears formed in the corners of her eyes and her throat tightened painfully. Then her tears started to fall, hot and fast.
“I- I had a dream- a nightmare- couldn’t sleep alone- can I?” She managed to choke out in between sobs. Rumi reacted instantly, sitting up and cradling Zoey in her arms.
“Of course you can sleep here. Why don’t you go grab Mira and I’ll set up the bed?” Zoey nodded in agreement, before slipping out of Rumi’s arms and stumbling off the bed. She walked shakily back down the hallway until she reached Mira’s room. This time she didn’t hesitate as she pushed the door open and walked into the room.
Mira was snoring loudly, and her long legs and arms were sprawled out, taking up as much of her bed as humanly possible.
“Hey, Mir,” Zoey said softly, but the pink haired girl didn’t wake. Mira was a much deeper sleeper than either Zoey or Rumi. Zoey grabbed Mira’s shoulder and gently shook it until Mira opened her eyes.
“Wha-” Mira began to ask, but when she saw the tears streaming down Zoey’s cheeks, she jolted out of bed and pulled Zoey into a tight hug. Zoey stiffened in shock for a moment, before wrapping her arms around the tall girl and hugging her back. Zoey pulled back, and she grabbed Mira’s wrist and led her down the hall towards Rumi’s room.
When they walked inside, they saw Rumi had gathered extra pillows and blankets, and had laid them out on her bed. Rumi tossed back the blankets, an invitation of sorts, and Mira and Zoey didn’t hesitate to climb in. When they were finally all situated (Zoey sandwiched between the two older girls, Mira behind her and Rumi in front), Zoey finally quieted her sniffles and hiccups. Mira slowly started rubbing calm, soothing circles into Zoey’s back, and Rumi began playing with Zoey’s hair, twirling it and massaging it with her fingers.
“I- had a nightmare,” Zoey said softly, and paused for a second to see if either girl would interrupt. Neither girl did, they just kept going with their motions in silence. “We were in some alleyway, a-and you guys were, um, saying things, and um, yeah.”
“What did we say?” Rumi asked softly.
“You, um, you said that I wasn’t good enough, that I was way too much, and that I was um weighing the team down, and that you guys were better off without me. And then you guys pushed me and um walked away,” Zoey heard Mira gasp sharply, and she saw Rumi’s eyes stretched wide.
“It was just a dream,” Rumi murmured quietly.
“We’ll always be here for you Zo,” Mira said softly in Zoey’s ear, “you’re stuck with us.”
“And you’re never too much, you’re perfect. We wouldn’t be who we are without you,” Rumi added. Their words were like bandages wrapping around Zoey’s internal doubts, shutting down her insecurities.
“Thank you guys,” Zoe said, but she never heard their replies, because she fell asleep, peaceful for once.
//
When Zoey awoke, she felt warm and fuzzy. Both emotionally and physically, and she couldn’t help but smile as she recalled the cuddlefest of the night before. When she opened her eyes, instead of seeing Rumi or Mira like she expected, she locked eyes with a big ball of blue fur. The tiger nuzzled into Zoey affectionately, and Zoey quietly chuckled to herself.
“Good morning Derpy,” Zoey whispered quietly. Derpy the tiger, formerly belonging to Jinu, had been hanging out around the HUNTR/X tower, or more specifically Rumi’s room, ever since the battle with Gwi-Ma and the Saja Boys. Zoey loved Derpy and his bird friend Sussy who was always nearby. Speaking of Sussy, Zoey’s eyes scanned the room in search of the Magpie. Sure enough, the top hat wearing bird was perched atop Rumi’s lamp.
Derpy purred and nudged Zoey with his head, his orange eyes peering up at her, begging for some kind of love. How could I say no to that look Zoey thought to herself as she scratched Derpy behind his ears, which earned her a low purr. She stayed lying there in bed, scratching and petting Derpy for about five minutes, before she finally swung her legs over the side of the bed and wandered out the bedroom and towards the kitchen.
The smell of bacon filled Zoey’s nose as she entered the kitchen, and she saw Rumi dancing around the kitchen, cooking breakfast as she went. Meanwhile, Mira sat at the kitchen table with her phone in her hand and there was a smile on her face.
‘Mmmm, that smells good Rumi,” Zoey said as she shuffled towards the table and slid into the seat across from Mira.
“Well well, look who finally decided to wake up,” Mira said as she put her phone down, her smirk never disappearing. Zoey simply yawned in response.
“I assume that based on the hour you slept well?” Rumi asked, momentarily turning away from the eggs she was cooking to look at Zoey.
“Yep! And I woke up this morning to a certain pile of blue fur,” Zoey chirped in reply.
“Oh, sorry about him, I do my best to try to keep him off the bed, but he never really listens. I think he does it to defy me.” Both Zoey and Mira laughed at that, and Rumi soon joined in.
“In all seriousness though, thank you guys both for last night. I- don’t know what I would’ve done without you guys.” Zoey said, lowering her voice a bit.
“Of course Zo,” Rumi said.
“We’ll always be there for you,” Mira murmured, and Rumi nodded along in agreement. Zoey suddenly felt tears in her eyes.
“I love you guys,” Zoey said quietly.
“We love you too,” they said in unison, and right there, in that moment, Zoey wouldn’t have traded it for anything in the whole world.