Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The girls knew this day would happen eventually. Despite how they acted, demons were not dumb. They were hungry, desperate, and had an immense disregard for their own lives, but they were not dumb unthinking creatures. Demons had occasionally shown an inkling of their intelligence by trying to sneak around during fan events, and the girls had to get creative to deal with them quietly.

But it was only a matter of time before the demons tried to jump them in front of witnesses.

It had been a pretty normal day for them so far. They had gotten up around six am to get ready for the day. No one cooked, Bobby had gotten them all meals that were planned to the exact calorie and nutrients for them to keep in ‘Idol’ shape. They had an interview in the morning, one that would be edited later so unfortunately the interviewers got to ask questions off the cuff. Rumi handled them with grace, and the ones she didn't want to answer Mira got to get snippy over.

The evening was going to be spent in the recording studio, and it was close enough to where the interview had been conducted that Bobby didn't see the need to get them a car. It'd be a short walk anyways, shorter by cutting through some alleyways and, even better, it'd be less public.

“I love our fans but…,” Rumi said, covering her mouth as she let out the mother of all yawns. She had been fighting it the entire time during the interview, but now that she wasn’t being watched by dozens of people, the fact they were up till midnight fighting off demons was catching up to them.

Zoey finished her sentence as Rumi tried to get her mouth closed. “But you wish we could have more breaks?” Rumi turned to look at Zoey, who started yawning herself after Rumi finally stopped.Truthfully, Rumi really wanted to have a break. But, every one they took was delaying making the Honmoon golden. They were getting closer and they could feel it.

Though right now, they definitely couldn’t. Not as Mira leaned on Zoey, the taller girl using her as a crutch to keep walking. Mira caught the yawn from Zoey and Rumi felt her jaw twinge as it threatened to come back to her.

Bobby – the endless fountain of energy that he was – looked up from his phone and started trying to cheer them up, “I know it’s rough girls, but hey, we’re halfway through the-” He suddenly stopped and let out a gasp. The sharp inhale made Rumi look away from Mira and Zoey to turn to him, before following his gaze as a few demons crawled down the walls.

To his credit, Bobby reacted quickly at seeing some weird and ugly people crawling down the walls like they were trying to be Spider-man. “Girls! Run!” He said, grabbing Rumi’s wrist and pulling her towards the exit. As he passed Zoey and Mira he reached up and used his other arm to pull them with him.

If Rumi and the others had been paying attention, they’d have noticed all the people who had been milling about at the entrance to the alley. As it was, instead of going toward an exit, they turned right into another small hoard of demons. The moment he saw the other demons, Bobby put himself between them and the rest of Huntr/x. He held his arms out, as if he could shield the girls from them. “Oh, shit!” he whispered quietly, though it was clearly heard in the silence of the alleyway.

It spoke to how close the girls worked together that when Rumi glanced at the others, she didn’t see any fear or trepidation, but relief. Finally, they had no excuse to not tell Bobby about what they got up to. Zoey was practically bouncing in place as Mira put her hair up into a pony tail. With a free hand Mira patted Bobby on the shoulder. “Don’t worry,” she said, before passing in front of him. “We got this.”

“Wha- no! Girls, those guys look dangerous!”

Zoey ducked under his arm and twirled to face him. “Oh don’t worry!” She said between giggles, “So are we!” She punctuated her statement by pulling her daggers from the Honmoon.

Bobby blinked as Mira summoned her weapon. “What b-bu- what?” He turned toward Rumi as if she’d be any help. Only for his eyes to go even wider as Rumi held her hand out. She closed her fingers and grabbed that space that she could always feel where her weapon stayed just waiting to be used.

She deftly slipped by him before taking her blade and slicing open a demon’s face. Bobby let out a ‘manly’ scream at the violence, as Rumi finished it off. The Honmoon guided her strikes, making her already impressive skills even sharper. Bobby instinctively reached for Rumi, to try and pull her away from the fight so they could run the way that they had all been told to, but he hesitated as her blade swung through the air again as another Demon approached.

“Bobby! Watch out!” Zoey shouted, pulling him to the ground. Rumi heard him gasp as something swung behind her.

Rumi lunged toward the other demon in front of her, skewering it with her blade and whirling about as it disappeared. Behind her were several large demons, looking kind of ogre like, and covered in trash. She wrinkled her nose as she realized they had been hiding in the dumpsters.

Zoey jumped away from Bobby and slapped Rumi’s hand. “Tag in!” The joking comment didn't sit right with Rumi at the moment, considering Bobby was at risk here, but she saved her breath. Instead she darted forward. She drive her sword right through the eye of one of them before turning towards the other. The switch distracted that one enough that Zoey could throw a knife into its temple.

Bobby whimpered as the thing’s body fell to the ground. It disappeared before it completely fell down. Rumi ducked down and pulled Bobby up. “Come on, it's a bad idea to be on the ground in a fight!”

Bobby scrambled to his feet, following the instruction, but his eyes were wide and unfocused. “A fight?” Bobby shouted. He yelped as Mira threw a demon at the wall with enough force he bounced. His eyes snapped to Rumi. “What the- Who are these guys?” He yelled, before ducking down again as Zoey twisted a demon’s outstretched arm and caused it to flip onto the concrete. It gasped in pain before she slammed one of her knives into its chest.

Rumi shrugged. “We’ll explain later. Now's not a good time.” She turned and tried to cut down a demon that was approaching.

Tried, because demons aren't dumb, they can learn. And this one learned it wasn't smart to fight someone with a weapon unarmed.

Rumi’s eyes widened as it held her sword back with a crowbar. She jumped back as it swiped at her with its claws. “Uh… lil’ help here?” Rumi called out. Sure she could probably take him, but it'd be so much easier in a 2v1.

Then a literal gunshot went off. The demon gasped as its side lit up. Rumi would have taken advantage of it losing focus if it weren't for the fact her ears were ringing.

Fortunately for her, the thing eventually fell to the ground. It died so slowly the body actually hit the ground and stilled before it disappeared.

Rumi blinked a couple times before it actually clicked what happened. Her head was still ringing as she turned and looked at Bobby.

Who was holding a glowing blue gun, straight from the Honmoon.

The silence that followed was broken by Mira whispering, “What the fuck?”

Mira’s words jump started everyone. The girls killed the last of the demons before Rumi grabbed Bobby’s hand, keeping him from waving the gun around. “Bobby, we gotta run. Can you call us a car and get us back to the apartment?”

Bobby stared at the gun in his hand. “Uh, yes, yeah. I can do that…” he said, “just… what… where… how do I?”

Zoey slid between Rumi and Bobby, she pointed the gun down at the ground and gently guided his fingers. “First things first, fingers off the trigger. It's only in the movies you keep your finger on it.” She laughed once quickly before grabbing his other fingers. “and just… let go…”

He followed her instructions, and then as the gun fell out of his hands it dissipated into threads. He lifted his hand back up and looked at his palm. “What just-”

“The car, Bobby,” Rumi cut in.

“Right, right!” Bobby said, scrambling to get his hand into his pocket. “I’ll just… one moment!” Bobby let out an extremely nervous chuckle as he hit the call button.

Immediately he changed. He suddenly straightened up. “Hey, Bobby here, get the car and meet us at the recording studio. Something just happened and I want the girls out of here before anything bad happens to them. Double time it.” He hit the end call button and then he immediately slumped. “Wha… girls, I… wait, is this why you guys randomly cancel big shows and stuff?”

***

The girls told Bobby to hold off on any questions until they got back to the apartment. The moment they explained that they didn't want anyone to over hear he accepted it immediately. So it was in silent trepidation that they all sat in, as the car made its way to the apartment.

Also silent, because they all were looking at each other with expressions of sheer panic and confusion. Poor Bobby kept glancing between them as their expressions got more wild.

Bobby had a gun.

Bobby had summoned a gun from the Honmoon with zero training.

Bobby had summoned a gun from the Honmoon with zero training, when it had taken Rumi a year of training to summon hers, Zoey had three years before she got hers, and Mira had needed four before she could finally truly open up to the Honmoon.

They didn't even know if four hunters could exist! The last time they saw Celine summon her weapon was shortly before Mira had summoned hers. But all of them were holding weapons at the same time when Bobby pulled a gun out of literal thin air..

They were practically screaming at each other with chaotic thoughts as Bobby put his head in his hands and looked away from them. Mira got serious for a second and pulled out her phone and mouthed, “Celine?”

Zoey and Rumi glanced at each other for a second before they all subtly shook their heads no. Celine would be the first person they'd go to for any hunter type stuff, but she had always been against telling Bobby. Though that was right out the window, even before he literally pulled a gun from thin air and shot a demon.

“Gahhhh!” Zoey groaned, leaning back. Everyone jumped and looked at her. She winced and then tried to give a disarming smile. “Sorry, jealous.”

Bobby’s face fell as Mira snorted. Rumi couldn't help but laugh too, before the idea of Zoey running around with a gun popped into her head before she shuddered. Demons she could handle, scary movies she could handle, but Zoey and a gun was something she wasn't sure she could handle.

Once they all got into the apartment Bobby started pacing. “Okay, so here's the part where you guys tell me I'm crazy, or that I stayed up too late watching Zoey stream her gaming sessions and dreamt that whole thing, or-”

Rumi moved to guide Bobby to the kitchen island. “Why don't you sit down, Bobby?”

“Oh okay, so we're going the crazy route. That's good. I can get on some kind of medication. That's fine-”

Mira sighed and folded her arms. “Sorry, Bobby, that actually happened,” she cut through bluntly. “That was a demon attack.”

Bobby took a deep breath in. He nodded twice before saying, “Okay… okay….” He stayed silent for a moment. “No! Not okay!” He jumped and started pacing again. “What was that? Demons? They're real? And… and I had a gun! A gun!”

Rumi walked up and guided him back to the island. “Yes, it was real. Uh, where to start?”

Zoey shrugged, and offered, “The beginning?"

Mira snorted as Rumi shot a look at Zoey before realizing that actually was a good idea. “Okay, yeah, so demons exist. There's a force called the Honmoon that keeps them at bay. We, Huntr/x that is, help maintain it and we fight back the demons. Sometimes actually literally like today.”

Bobby stared at Rumi like she was talking gibberish.

“We do that by summoning weapons from the Honmoon. Though, uh… all the weapons I've seen have been more uh…”

“Ancient?” Zoey offered into the silence.

“I was thinking more like ‘quiet’ than that, but yes. That too.”

Bobby started running his hands through his hair. “Okay, but what am I supposed to do with this?” Bobby said, holding out his hand, and the moment he did so the gun appeared again. Zoey stepped further away before running over to the same side of the island as Bobby. He let go and the gun disappeared before it could land on the table and he turned. “I can feel it all the time, it's like it's in my hand even when I'm not holding it!”

The girls all looked at each other, each with various expressions of wonder because that sounded like exactly what they all felt with their own weapons. “And now you're telling me you're fighting demons? I… Girls, what am I supposed to do with a gun?” He wailed.

Mira stepped forward. “You do nothing. If it's an emergency, like your life is on the line, then you can use it but-”

“Use it?” Bobby shouted, pulling at his hair. “Mira, I'm not a fighter! I can't even watch action movies!”

“Exactly,” Rumi said, putting her hands on his shoulders. She pushed his arms down, and kept him from yanking on his hair. “You're not trained for this. So you shouldn't. But you have a weapon, so… you should learn how to use it.”

Bobby’s eyes widened. “How to use it?” He repeated, “oh, God, no. Rumi, the only sport I play is golf! There’s no way I can be like… demon hunting cowboy!”

Rumi thought about trying to explain how the Honmoon would guide him on how to use it. Their training was more about getting their bodies ready to handle the weapon, the Honmoon itself was guiding them. It was probably how he had managed to hit a demon on his first try, but something told Rumi that would be a little much for him right now.

Zoey on the other hand, didn’t have that qualm. “I mean, it's a Glock, it's not like a revolver. It's a lot easier.” Everyone turned to look at her and she shrugged. “What? I grew up in America. I know a few things about guns.” She started bouncing in place. “I can teach ya! It's been a while since I got to go shooting!”

Bobby jolted like someone shocked him, and he whirled around. “Wait, training, you guys do this on a regular basis? How? When do you even have the-” Bobby blinked twice before pointing a finger at Rumi. “Is this why you all have crashed two private jets?”

Rumi pulled her braid forward and started playing with it. “Uh… yup. Yeah, you know how you asked if this is why we’re late to a lot of events and stuff? Well, yup, it's ‘cause we’re fighting demons.”

Bobby’s hand dropped to his side and said nothing for a moment. His mouth started moving and she could see his eyes darting back and forth before he suddenly got more serious. Rumi could practically see him go back into his ‘manager’ mode as he grabbed onto something to give him a sense of normalcy. “You girls need to start taking more hiatuses.”

The girls all jumped. “What? Why?”

Bobby leaned forward putting his elbows on his knees. “You girls are idols. This is a very demanding career. You got up at six am this morning and before this all happened we weren't planning on getting back till eleven pm. That's a grueling day for anyone-”

“Yeah, but we love our fans!” Zoey tried to get in.

Bobby turned toward her and gave her the best disapproving look that she had ever seen. Less than he was disappointed with them, just that he was very worried. Rumi would admit it did bring a smile to her face to be reminded that Bobby cared. “Yeah, but if you three are fighting demons you need to be taking time to rest too. I don't want you girls risking your health more than you have to.” He threw up his hands. “It’s even more than that! When you’re working, we’re planning your meals for you! But they’re assuming that you’re living like idols, not super soldiers!”

Mira raised an eyebrow. “You're not gonna make us stop?”

Bobby raised an eyebrow back at her. “You think I can make you girls do anything? You pay me not the other way around. Besides… that was… terrifying.” He took a breath and set his face into a grim line. “I’d guess this is something you have to do.”

Rumi sighed and looked at the other girls. They were looking kind of hopeful. They did push themselves hard, but…

The alternative was delaying making the Honmoon golden.

Rumi put a hand on her hip and sighed. “We have to keep the idol thing going though, we can take the energy our fans give us and use it to strengthen the Honmoon. We can't just-”

“Rumi, how many times have I told you if you don't schedule maintenance for your body, your body will do it for you?” Bobby said, turning his attention back to her.

Mira laughed and leaned over the island. “Probably only half as much as we have.”

“It was one thing if you got sick and just needed to rest, but if you're out there getting into sword fights in the evenings, then you desperately need more rest than you've been getting.”

Rumi folded her arms. “We’ve been doing well so far.”

“Is that why every time I check the first aid kits in your dressing rooms per the contracts – which that little stipulation makes a whole lot more sense now – they're always missing stuff?” Rumi felt her mouth shut with a click, but then Bobby sighed. “I'm not saying you stop, not at all, but… we need to shift the focus. Not the constant stream of output you girls have been doing, but bigger projects. We won't mess with any of your creative liberties, but I'll hire some more people. We’ll hype up the projects throughout the time. You're the biggest idol group in the world, we can afford a bigger team.”

Rumi hummed. “The Honmoon isn't perfect, we were working on trying to make it golden. Once it does, we’ll be able to take longer breaks.” She glanced at her bandmates, who were frowning. “Like, ya know, focus on a world tour, or stupid stuff like going to the bathhouse.”

Zoey leaned forward. “Rumi! You'd finally go with us to the bathhouse?”

Mira slapped her hands on the table. “You heard her, we gotta-”

“No,” Bobby cut in, “Please, girls, I can't actually make you take breaks, but I am going to lose my mind every time I see one of you getting tired now.”

Rumi chewed her lip before looking up at the others. Their initial joy was beginning to get replaced with worry. Mira frowned and turned toward Zoey. Zoey hummed as she looked between everyone. “Maybe we should try it out? See if we can see if it gets stronger or weaker? Maybe bigger but less often events will have the same effect, and we can rest up more?”

Rumi sighed. “Alright,” she rubbed her arms. “I suppose it'd be good to get some extra down time. Even if it's just for a little while.”

Bobby nodded. “Okay…” he sighed and put his head in his hands. “on second thought, can we argue about it more? Because otherwise I'm remembering that I can feel a gun in my hand.” He held up his hands as if to push back against imaginary walls closing in. “No. No… I can do this. This is why you pay me 3%.”

Mira nodded toward Rumi. “We're gonna need to revisit that. You're on the know now, so we really need to keep ya’ close.” Mira blinked as she realized how threatening that sounded. “I mean-!”

Bobby waved her off. “I know, Mira, trust me. I'm not going anywhere.”

Mira chuckled softly as Rumi nodded in agreement. “Bobby, the least we could do is pay you more.”

“One more percent would be enough to hire four more specialists for make-up, tailoring, what have you. None of us here are exactly hurting for cash.” He chuckled. “‘Sides, it's the least I can do to make it easier on you guys… Well, that and I don't think even 100% would get me to go out fighting demons with.”

Mira snorted. “You sure about that? Cause you look like you're about to go out there to go fighting again.” She pointed down with a nod and everyone looked to see Bobby once again had the gun in his hand.”

He helped and dropped the gun and he scrambled back off his stool. Zoey giggled. “Hey, you're getting better already! Your finger was off the trigger this time!”

Bobby looked up slowly at Zoey. “Girls, I need to get my mind off this.”

Zoey held up her phone, “I got two hundred two second videos of Sea turtles saved?”

Bobby blinked. “Make it three hundred.”

Zoey squealed and ran toward her room and the other girls rolled their eyes good naturedly. Mira laughed and lightly patted Bobby on the shoulder. “Careful, Bobby, you don't know what you just unleashed.”

Bobby turned toward her, the stool let out a long drawn out squeak as he did so. When he finally fully turned around, he said as dry as the desert, “I just found out demons are real, I somehow have a gun, and my bosses moonlight as demon hunting superheroes protecting all of Korea.”

“Actually, it might be the world,” Mira mused. “Hey, Rumi, do you think there are other heroes out there keeping the Honmoon together?”

“Mira,” Bobby started, his voice so high and squeaky that Rumi was worried he’d faint. “Please no more surprises tonight.”

***

Rumi woke up the next morning with her phone ringing. She reached over and silenced it without getting up. Whatever it was and whatever time it was, it was too early. She was already regretting sleeping on the couch instead of her own bed, and she debated the merits of falling asleep on the couch again versus getting up and going to her own bed.

But then a second later it rang again, and this time it was a unique ringtone, specifically the one she had set for Bobby. She jumped up, dislodging Zoey who let out a yelp. Rumi blinked as her mind caught up as she took in her surroundings.

That's right, the demon attack. The gun.

Suddenly Bobby’s phone call seemed a LOT more important. She scrambled to grab her phone as Zoey rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. “Hey Bobby? What's going on?”

“Rumi, I messed up.” Rumi had never heard him sound so distraught. Not even when they told them they were gonna be late to a live new years party event. Thirty minutes before the ball dropped.

Rumi sat as Zoey scrambled closer and put her ear on the other side of the phone. “Bobby. Deep breaths, what's going on?”

“I called a meeting this morning to talk about taking a longer hiatus. I got into a follow up meeting afterwards. I was getting push back on it from Celine…” the two girls looked at each other upon hearing their mentor's name as Bobby continued, “And she kept saying it'd be unacceptable to slow down in any capacity. If we can grow faster now then we should. She wasn't listening to me and I wasn't thinking and then suddenly I realized I had the gun in my hand again.”

Zoey turned toward Rumi. “Did I hear that right?”

Rumi nodded, “Bobby pulled a gun on Celine.”

“I didn't mean to!” Bobby cried out. “It just happened.”

A ring tone went off and the girls turned around to see Mira turning the corner. “Hey, do you girls know why Celine would be calling me?”

Chapter Text

Mira was an expert on reading people. She had to be with her old family that shall not be named. She was done playing their petty games and if she ever heard of them again it’d be far too soon. They tried once, they used their name to trick their way into the company offices trying to get to her. Bobby found out and talked to Mira about it. It was the most worried she had ever been for him, because she knew how much they could get into your head. Bobby chased them out, slapping them with a cease and desist, and yelling at them about how they weren’t her family anymore. That was when the girls found out Bobby could be scary when it came to them. And, that was before he got a gun. (Soon after, she was officially known as Mira of Huntr/x. Bobby had even gotten her legal name changed to that. It made for a great photo with her driver’s license sporting her correct name.)

After her hunter training — mostly due to her connection to Honmoon — she was even better at reading people. So, when she asked her bandmates why Celine would be calling her, she knew this was gonna be good.

Rumi whirled, her eyes kind of wide, but not in the panic of ‘something is wrong’ but in the ‘I cannot believe my eyes’ way. Mira had tried to explain the difference to Zoey one time but she fell flat. She just knew. Zoey made a comment about Mira picking up microexpressions but Mira didn't follow the exposition dump that followed.

Zoey, on the other hand, was much more obvious. She practically threw herself over the back of the couch and pointed at Mira. “Mira! Mira, you gotta answer that!”

Mira put her finger on the button and held it up to her ear. She figured she’d get an answer to why on earth her friends were flipping their shit in a moment.

“Hey–”

“Mira!” Celine cut off. “Did you know Bobby could pull a weapon from the Honmoon?”

Mira blinked. Okay. That was a lot of information in one question and now everything made sense. Mira snorted. “Oh my God. Did Bobby pull out a gun on you?”

Rumi shouted from the couch something about Bobby not meaning to, but it was kinda hard to hear her with Celine raising her voice on the other side of the phone. “You knew? And you girls didn't tell me?”

“Yeah, as of last night,” Mira answered. “We haven't had a chance to tell you.” Which was technically true, if a little bit of a stretch. But, Mira was good at lying by not lying. They weren't the type to let their faults be seen after all. “We got him home and had to calm him down. He took it well enough, I think.”

“Mira, he accidentally pointed a gun at me.”

“Yeah, that seems to be on a hair trigger for him.”

“Mira! Be serious!” Celine said. Mira could tell she was pinching her brow in annoyance at the moment. Not because of her tone or anything, but Mira knew exactly what Celine did when exasperated. “We need to all talk and get on the same page. Bobby was trying to get you girls to slow down and that cannot happen. We need to turn the Honmoon golden as fast as possible.”

Mira made a conscious effort to keep her mouth shut to avoid responding immediately. There was something there that bothered her. It wasn't just Celine, it was Rumi. Both of them had this drive pushing them to make the Honmoon golden. While it was stronger than ever, they hadn't seen a glimpse of gold.

Rumi believed that they were close, but Mira couldn't tell if she was deluding herself or not. All these years later, Rumi was still hard to read.

“We can meet here,” Mira offered, raising her voice so Rumi could hear. She was probably on the phone with Bobby and could relay that information. “We can talk freely here.”

Mira could hear Celine grabbing something on the other side of the phone. “Very well, I'm on my way,” Celine said quickly. Mira was about to tell her to hold on so they could make a plan with Bobby, but the line went dead before she could even get a word out.

Mira sighed and then put her phone down. “Welp, Celine is on her way.” She jumped the last couple of stairs and ran over so she could try and hear Bobby on the phone.

Rumi leaned over the edge of the couch and held her phone out, now on speakerphone. “Okay, Bobby, you should come to the apartment. We should all talk,”

There was silence for a moment, but Mira could see Rumi hadn’t accidentally hung up on Bobby. It only happened once, but everyone never let her forget it. Then Bobby started shouting, “We should all talk? What? Is Celine part of this too? That seems like crucial need-to-know information!”

Mira leaned in. “Hey, you said no more surprises! Do you think you could have handled knowing the Sunlight Sisters were also demon hunters?”

There was silence for a moment, before Bobby sighed. “No… no I could not have.” She heard a thump which might have been Bobby throwing his head back into the car seat, or him running something over. It really could be either or. “‘Cause I can't handle that right now!”

Mira chuckled as Bobby wailed. Rumi shot her a look, but the smirk threatening to appear on her lips gave Mira an idea about what she really thought. Mira leaned in. “So what's this I heard about you pulling a gun on Celine?”

“I didn't mean to!”

***

Celine may have been on her way, but it'd be a couple hours till she got there. So they had time for lunch. Which Mira was thankful for, because this was NOT what they expected. The biggest difference was instead of the small “diet” amount of food they were supposed to get (low calorie but nutrient dense, perfect for maintaining an ‘idol’ figure) this was practically a feast.

And tasted like one.

“Okay,” Mira said, leaning back. “All in favor of backing Bobby when Celine gets here, say aye!”

Zoey raised a hand in the air as she shoveled more food into her mouth. “Aye!”

Rumi rolled her eyes but smiled fondly. “You're just saying that because he changed the meal plan.”

“Yup,” Mira admitted.

The doors opened, and the girls sat up. But instead of Bobby coming through, it was Celine. There was a slight sheen of sweat on her, and her hair was disheveled in a way that stylists had to work for hours to get Mira’s hair to mimic. She turned toward the girls as they registered her.

“You're early,” Rumi said, sitting up. “You even beat Bobby.”

Celine turned to her and nodded. “I ran,” Celine said, as if that explained fucking anything. She was hours out by car, and Bobby had already left when she had called.

Rumi nodded though. “Ah, makes sense.”

Mira really wanted to inform the two of them that no it really didn't. But Zoey beat her to it. “It does?”

Rumi turned to her. “Remember the practice we got on breaking high falls?” Rumi asked, as if jumping off cliffs with no safety net was just like falling on the mat. “It's kind of the reverse of that.”

Zoey suddenly leaned forward. “Wait, wait, you're telling me we can use the Honmoon to be faster than a car?”

“A car is the bare minimum I’d expect from you. The previous Hunters didn’t have things like private jets to get them around, and the demon threat was much worse.” Celine said. She turned to Rumi and folded her arms. “I'm surprised you didn't teach them.”

Rumi gave Celine a dead pan look. “I already have to keep them from getting too far ahead in most fights.”

Celine blinked a few times, then glanced at Zoey. She then purposely looked at Mira, trying to make it seem like she wasn't singling out Zoey. “Understandable.”

“Hey!” Zoey shouted.

Mira took a moment to chime in. “Zoey, remember that time you jumped down the water slide to chase that water demon?”

“Okay, but–”

Rumi interjected as well. “And that time you tried to drop kick that demon on the train?”

“Look, that would have been so–”

Celine got in as well, a fond smile gracing her lips. “Didn't you girls crash the first plane because you ran into the cockpit to kill the demon and missed and hit the controls?”

Mira hummed. “Actually that one was me.”

Celine winced and waved in apology at Zoey. “Ah, unfortunately my memory is beginning to go with my age.”

Rumi rolled her eyes. “You're not that old. Yet.”

Celine reached over and pinched Rumi’s cheek like she was an unruly child and not a fully grown woman. “Hush you.” She placed a hand on Rumi’s shoulder before turning towards Zoey. “Well, the point is, you three seem to have a habit of rushing into a fight. Perhaps focusing on stationary techniques would be a better way to round yourselves?”

Zoey grumbled but nodded. “Man, Bobby gets a gun and I don't get super speed? This isn't fair.” Zoey looked up and glanced around. Mira didn’t need to be an expert at reading people to know that they were all giving her some variation of concerned, or wary, looks. Mira herself was more worried about the chaos Zoey would cause by running around Seoul with a gun, especially at super speed. Zoey folded her arms and sulked. “What? You can’t tell me it’d be a LOT easier to take down demons if I didn’t have to get in close!”

“You already don’t have to get in close,” Rumi commented. “You throw your knives!”

“Yeah but the demons can dodge knives! I’d like to see them dodge bullets!”

The doors opened again and Bobby came rushing through. “Girls! We–” He froze as he saw Celine. He looked between her and the door and he raised his eyebrows in confusion. “... I broke so many traffic laws to get here faster…” He sounded so distressed that Zoey laughed, though she tried to hide it.

Mira chuckled and didn’t bother to hide it. Bobby was a big boy and he understood a bit of teasing now and then. She leaned on her hand. “She ran.”

Bobby looked between Mira and Celine a couple times before his shoulders fell. “Right… superheroes…”

Celine hummed and looked at the food on the table. “I understand you're now… partially inducted to our mission? Is that the reason for the diet change?”

Bobby straightened his back. “Yup.” Mira’s eyes roved over him as she raised an eyebrow. He wasn't just confident, he was challenging. He folded his arms and nodded at the girls. “Yeah, sure they're idols, but they need more calories to be able to fight demons.”

Celine frowned. “While I don't disagree, unfortunately the idol part is important. I don't know if the girls explained it, but the Honmoon is empowered by fans. We–”

“No. They explained that part,” Bobby cut off.

Celine sighed. “Then you should understand we do need to maintain an image.”

Bobby waved it off. “Actually, I put out feelers. I think that's less of a concern than you'd think.”

Celine’s eyes widened before she nodded in acceptance. Zoey, on the other hand, started turning between them. “Uh, how exactly do you put out feelers for... what exactly?”

Celine and Bobby both started to answer before stopping. Celine gestured for Bobby to explain. “Well, we have about fifty fake fan accounts that we ‘leak’ stuff from to get early feedback. We got somewhere around ten-thousand followers for each of them. We had one post this morning, ‘Hear me out: Mira but buff.’” He paused and coughed as his ears went a lil red. “The results were… overwhelmingly positive.”

Mira pulled out her phone at the same time as Zoey. It didn't take long to find the account, considering Bobby gave the exact phrase.

Well, maybe. There were a lot of people saying that.

A lot of people…

Zoey let out a squeak. “Oh my God. ‘She could step on me anytime’?” she read off before looking up at Mira then immediately away.

Mira had to admit, seeing Zoey react like that was a bit of an ego boost. It was hard to get her to act like a nervous school girl. She was usually unflappable… or possibly unaware of the innuendos she was dropping.

Bobby sighed as he nodded. “Yeah, as you can see. People like the idea… and Zoey, please, normally I would just handle it but I’m dealing with a lot right now. Don’t say stuff that might cause a scandal, or if you’re going to, please direct it to Rumi instead.” Celine turned slowly to look at him and she raised an eyebrow at him. He sighed and rubbed his forehead. “There’s a lot of fans asking for it.”

Rumi blinked and looked between them. “Is this one of those things I'm gonna regret looking up later?”

Zoey turned to Rumi with her jaw wide open. “You have the same Internet as all of us. How do you–” Zoey clicked her jaw shut, as her face went completely crimson.

Mira huffed in amusement. Zoey may not have finished her question, but Mira understood an unasked question. Mira and Zoey were the type to spend too many hours on the internet. So they understood some of the… interesting desires that their fans wanted. Rumi on the other hand, gave off such “sheltered” vibes at times that Mira wondered how Zoey was the one who wound up with the innocent persona out of all of them.

Celine cleared her throat. “To get us back on track. Bobby, we can't stop doing idol work. The girls need the Honmoon to be able to fight the demons and to keep them at bay. Every time they get on stage they keep people alive.”

Bobby folded his arms. “That's true. I can acknowledge that. But, can you tell me with absolute certainty that the girls could do the same thing with less effort with more support and more time to do big things.”

Celine shook her head. “No. I can't. But I can also confidently say that if we can do more than we should.” Celine turned apologetically to the girls. “I know we already put a lot on you, but the fate of the world is in your hands.”

“Oh great,” Bobby whispered to himself, “It is the world. No pressure.”

Rumi nodded resolutely, but Mira and Zoey shared glances. Zoey was probably more worried about the amount of work burning them out, but Mira was more worried about that push that Celine and Rumi had for the golden Honmoon.

Zoey startled and whirled about. “Wait, I thought this was gonna be us talking about Bobby having a gun and not about us.”

Celine glanced at Bobby. “Well, I certainly would like to have an explanation on that matter.”

Bobby threw his hands up in the air. “You and me both!” he shouted. He started pacing. “Yesterday was just a normal day. We do an interview. The interviewer asks stupid off script questions and Mira yells at him for me–”

“Anytime, Bobby.”

“You’re the best Mira,” Bobby responded immediately, flashing her a smile. It was quick, only a brief moment but it let her know she was appreciated, it let her know she belonged here. As quick as the smile was, he just as quickly went back to nervous pacing. “And we’re on our way to the recording studio. I was preparing to tell the company that ‘no, we let the girls write here' again, and then these creepy guys start crawling down the walls and I try to get us to run, but they're surrounding us. I'm trying to figure out how to save the girls, and then suddenly they reveal that they're superheroes…” he froze mid-sentence and stared off into space. “Oh, that’s why you guys got me to take down that conspiracy thread about you being a super soldier project.”

He shook his head and went back to pacing. “And then Rumi asked for help, and I started freaking out, and then there was a loud noise and then I had this!” He threw his hand out toward the veranda and the gun appeared in his hand again.

“Booger hooker off the trigger!” Zoey shouted. She jabbed at him with her chopsticks. Mira wasn’t sure if Bobby immediately dropping the gun was due to Zoey yelling at him or because he really didn’t like handling it.

Celine turned to Rumi. “You asked for help?”

Rumi shrugged. “It was using a weapon.”

“Ah.” Celine turned back to Bobby but then glanced at the girls.

Mira was the best at reading people, but the Honmoon made it so much easier. The reason why was because emotions carried through the Honmoon. It was the interconnected feelings, hopes, dreams, souls of people given a place to latch onto and exist, and being a hunter was to be in tune with that.

But also, being a hunter meant being able to put things into it.

There was a small pulse through the Honmoon. Mira doubted Zoey or Rumi could feel it, let alone that Celine created it. “So you really don't know how you became a hunter?” Celine asked casually. She sent out another pulse, this time just a small bit stronger.

Bobby shook his head. “No! The closest I ever got to spiritual meditation was sitting on a beach chair in Busan!”

“That's not spiritual.” Celine said, though Mira could hear the lilt of amusement in her voice, and the pulse from her this time had a slight undercurrent of joy with it.

“It is to me!” Bobby said quickly. “But no! A-and I’ve never fired a gun before! I've never even held a gun before!” Bobby rubbed his face. “And then I shot someone and–”

Celine held up a hand. “Wait, you killed a demon seconds after summoning your weapon?”

“Yes?”

Celine turned to Rumi. “Sorry, Rumi. I think your record was stolen.”

Rumi shrugged. She had a grin on her face that Mira usually only saw when she was putting up a wall between her and others, or when she was actively messing with someone. “I can live with Bobby stealing that.”

“I don't want any demon killing records!” Bobby groaned.

Zoey bounced over and patted him on the back. “No worries, Bobby, we can go shooting together, sometime and then it'll be fun!”

Bobby turned toward Zoey. “Zoey, please, I am not a demon hunter…”

“But I need a shooting buddy!”

Celine tilted her head and looked him up down. She placed her fingers against her chin as she thought aloud, “Well, it seems like you are, Bobby. I don't know why or how. But it honestly feels like the Honmoon chose you, and it chose you harder than it chose the girls. The girls had to train to feel the Honmoon, and train more to draw a weapon and well… you haven't had that problem at all.”

Celine let out another pulse. Mira was beginning to wonder why Celine was doing it. Especially because it was apparently still too weak for the others to pick it up.

So Mira sent a pulse back.

Bobby was pacing again. “It's not like I have any idea–” he stopped as the pulse washed by him. He jumped and whirled around to face Mira, “What was that?”

Mira slowly sat up as Zoey and Rumi looked between them. “Ho-ly shiiiiit….” She drew out slowly.

“What? What happened?” Zoey asked.

Celine worked her mouth for a moment. She sent out a pulse again, but Bobby had no reaction. She glanced at Mira who then let out her own pulse. Immediately Bobby jumped again. Bobby looked around wildly. “There it was again! Aren't you guys feeling that?”

Mira stood up slowly. “No, they aren't as good at reading the Honmoon. Celine has been pulsing it for a while, and no one was reacting. I sent out one and you reacted.”

“Mira, I'm begging you, can we please talk like normal people?”

Zoey patted Bobby on the back. “You felt a disturbance in the force.”

“Oh. Okay. So that's another thing I gotta worry about then?”

Celine hummed and circled Bobby. Every other step she let out loud pulses, but Bobby didn't even react at all. She sent a significant look to Rumi and immediately Rumi sent out her own pulse.

Bobby jumped. “Gah! That feels like my phone getting a notification, but inside my skull!” His face paled and he stared off into the void. “Oh no… Am I gonna feel that every time demons attack somewhere?”

Celine shook her head. “No…” she started chuckling. “No. I don't think so. I also think I know what happened.”

Bobby turned toward Celine. “What? Okay. Great! Can someone tell me then!”

Celine folded her hands behind her back. She took several steps away from everyone before asking, “Bobby, how would you feel about a 10% stake in the company?”

Bobby’s eyes bugged out, and even Rumi whirled about. Mira wasn't sure if she actually heard Bobby say, “Wha?” or if she was adding meaning to the weird high pitched squeak he let out.

“Bobby, I was wrong when I said the Honmoon chose you.” Celine began, she nodded at each of the girls in turn. “Just to confirm, Zoey, please let out a happy pulse, instead of the attention grabbing ones we’ve been sending.”

“Okaaaay…” Zoey said, before doing exactly that. Bobby once again jumped but it wasn't nearly as pronounced. He blinked and looked at her, and she laughed, “Wait, he can only feel us?”

“Girls, the Honmoon didn't choose him. The Honmoon realized he was your support and gave him access.”

Rumi slowly turned her head to look at Celine. “Has that… happened before?”

Celine met her gaze with a brilliant smile. “Not that I'm aware of. But, I think it's a sign the Honmoon is getting stronger.”

That brought a giant smile out of Rumi who pumped her fist. Mira watched the way Celine’s eyes followed Rumi's wrist worriedly before immediately turning happy again. That alone would have been interesting in and of itself, but it was also the most open Mira had ever seen the two of them.

“So… what does this mean?” Bobby asked.

Celine turned toward Bobby. “It means a couple things, one, you are absolutely the best manager these girls could ask for.”

“Aw shucks, continue.”

“Two, it means we’re closer to our goal than we’ve ever been. We are close to turning the Honmoon golden!”

Bobby’s smile fell and he grew serious. “Well I guess that brings us back to where we started here.”

Celine nodded. “Indeed. Knowing we’re closer than ever. We cannot afford to slow down. We–”

“Or it means they can!” Bobby folded his arms, and gave Celine a glare or tried to, it was hard to take him seriously when he was shorter than even Zoey by a lot. (Maybe that's why he got a gun instead of something else) “We can focus on doing it safely. The last thing we want is for them to crash before the finish line.”

Celine set her shoulders back and Mira knew there’d be no swaying her. “This is important, Bobby. The entire world is depending on this. Every day the Honmoon isn't golden is a day that people might die.” Celine sighed in disappointment and looked Bobby over, this time with a much less favorable eye than before. “I don't know why this isn't getting through to you.”

Bobby sighed back and rubbed the back of his head. “It is, Celine, trust me. I could barely sleep last night because of how big this is. But, Celine?”

He straightened up and looked Celine right in the eye. “I don't give a shit about the world.”

Celine reared back like she was slapped, which frankly Mira understood. Bobby said that with enough conviction that there was no doubt it was true, but Bobby wasn't done. “I really don't. I care about Huntr/x. I care about Rumi, even though she doesn't let me help ninety percent of the time. I care about Zoey almost half as much as she cares about sea turtles. I care about Mira, even though she scares me.”

Mira snorted as Zoey started bouncing and Rumi's face practically melted with how much it softened. “I scare you?”

“In a good way, like, you're very intimidating. There’s a reason why I have you yell at people overstepping instead of me doing it.”

“Good.”

Bobby looked back at Celine. “My job isn't to save the world. That's their job. My job is to support them.”

Celine didn't move for a moment but then she leaned forward again. “Then you need to support them and help figure out how to make the Honmoon golden faster.”

Bobby groaned and put his head in his hand. “Celine, I don't understand why we’re at an impasse here. Surely you can't agree that we should let the girls risk themselves?”

“They have training–”

“Of course they have training, but I've still seen Zoey trip over nothing ‘cause she was tired.”

Zoey held up a finger. “Just pointing out that might be because I was actually disguising a knife throw to kill a demon.”

Bobby didn't look at her. “The dance studio last week?”

“Objection withdrawn.”

Celine’s lips thinned at the same time as Rumi’s. Mira glanced between the two of them and could practically see them building up the walls again.

She hated it. This was the most open she had ever seen Rumi in a long while. Celine as well. But once again they were building up walls and keeping stuff from them. They were supposed to be a team, but how could they be a team – a family – with these stupid walls in the way?

So Mira took a wrecking ball to them. “I want to see the Honmoon turn golden too,” she started, making both of them turn towards her, “but I get the feeling there's something driving you two that we don't have. Is there something you're keeping from us?”

Celine’s eyes widened, but for a split second she glanced at Rumi, before pointedly fixing her gaze back at Mira.

But Mira caught it.

Mira looked at Rumi and folded her arms. “Rumi?”

Rumi didn’t say anything for a moment. She turned toward Celine for help, but Bobby spoke up. “Girls, if there’s something you two know, you need to share it. We’re in this together. All of us. I know I’m an outsider coming in, but… you all are my family.” Mira’s heart clenched at that, she knew Bobby loved them, but there was so much weight that Mira realized Bobby looked at Huntr/x the same way she did.

It should have been apparent. So many times Mira or Zoey called Bobby and asked him for help, picking them up from a demon fight, getting them kimbap from the one place across the city that made it just the way that Rumi liked it, and now finding out that there were demons running around the world and Huntr/x was the one thing keeping them back. He did all of that without (much) complaining, and now he was staying trying to advocate for them when they wouldn’t even do it for themselves.

And Mira could see Rumi realize that as well.

The silence following that was almost unbearable. Unfortunately for everyone, Mira was quite good at uncomfortable silences. Mira just raised an eyebrow as Rumi tried to meet her gaze. It took only a few seconds for weakness to show, and she glanced at Celine. Celine subtly shook her head no, and she sent a subtle pulse towards Rumi. Mira couldn't get a feeling for it. It was too directed toward Rumi.

Rumi bit her lip. Hard. Then Mira started noticing the tears in her eyes. Suddenly this silence wasn't worth it. Mira looked away and brushed her hair behind an ear and started clearing the food away. “It's fine if you don't want to tell us, it just… it'd be good to be–”

“I have patterns.” Mira whirled around and looked at Rumi. There was no way she said what she did.

“Rumi! No!” Celine gasped.

Rumi shook her head before wetting her lips. “I have patterns.” She repeated.

Mira stared at her. That didn't make sense. That couldn't be a thing. They were demon hunters after all. Why would one of them work with them? That couldn't be the-

Suddenly movement happened. Celine dove in front of Rumi. The shine of her dual blades pointed at Mira and Zoey. Instinctively, Mira and Zoey summoned their weapons in turn.

It’d have been better if the silence was back. Maybe it was, but Mira couldn’t hear anything but the pounding of her heart in her ears, and the tremor in the Honmoon below.

Mira stared at Celine, her mind running a million miles an hour. Celine was panicking, her grip was shaking and her eyes wide. She looked like a wild animal, terrified and ready to lash out. Mira swallowed the lump in her throat as she tried to steady her breathing. But then she took her eyes off Celine and then she felt sick to her stomach.

Still standing behind Celine was Rumi. Mira’s best friend was the only one who hadn’t moved. But, that didn’t mean she hadn’t reacted to the sudden chaos in her own way. Rumi’s eyes were wide with terror and darting between Mira and Zoey. No, not at Mira and Zoey, at their weapons that were pointed in her direction, with only Celine between them.

Then the gunshot went off.

Various exclamations of “Fuck”, “Ow” or “What the hell?” Came out of everyone's mouths and everyone turned toward Bobby.

“Sorry! sorry! I just… I didn't know what to do! You all looked so freaked out and I–”

Mira took a deep breath and looked back at Celine. She was still eyeing her and Zoey warily, and Mira realized what was going on.

Celine fully expected Mira or Zoey to kill Rumi.

“It’s okay, Bobby… Thank you.” Mira said quietly. Frankly, she wasn’t sure anyone heard her with how their ears were ringing. But she didn’t take her eyes off Celine. “Fuck, Celine,” Mira spat, “Did you think we’d kill Rumi?”

Celine didn't answer for a moment, and Mira saw red. Mira marched towards her only for Zoey to pull her back. Celine's gaze turned toward Zoey before she looked away. “It was… not something I wanted to risk.”

Celine took a breath in through her nose and looked up at the ceiling before letting it out through her mouth. Mira recognized the breathing exercises that Celine had taught Zoey ages ago when Zoey was beginning to feel like everything was too much.

Celine opened her mouth a few times. “Rumi’s mother… She fell in love with a demon. He was… charming I'll admit. He was handsome, and…” Celine sighed. “Well, your mother had a type. Roguish bad boys. The ones who'd just suggest some wild idea out of the blue and would take your hand and make you feel like it would be alright.”

Celine opened her mouth a few times before she sighed and reached into her purse. She rummaged around a bit before pulling out a box of cigarettes.

Bobby’s eyes widened. “You smoke?” He hissed.

Celine laughed, but there was no humor in it. “I retired from singing and… only once a year.” Mira thought about asking when that was, but she didn't.

This felt wrong to her. Her head was still buzzing from the gunshot, but worse than that was the way Rumi looked when they had drawn weapons. That brief moment made her sick to her stomach. This wasn't what she wanted. She wanted answers, but she didn't want them like this. It was like they were pouring out of an open wound and she was watching someone bleed out in front of her eyes.

Celine indicated the veranda with a tilt of her head. “Let's step outside.” She didn't wait for an answer before walking out the door. Rumi hesitated a moment before she started running outside.

Mira caught up with her and grabbed her wrist. Rumi gasped and turned toward her. That terror was there again. Mira tried to swallow the lump in her throat with no success. “Rumi… you need to know this doesn't change anything.” Rumi’s eyes widened, and Mira could see her thinking the worst. “You're our Rumi. Got it? Patterns or no patterns.”

Zoey bolted towards them and slammed into Rumi’s side and latched on like she’d never let go. She buried her face into Rumi’s side and sniffled. “Is this why you'd never go with us to the bath house?”

There was a brief moment as Mira and Rumi processed that, then suddenly they were laughing. “Really Zoey?”

“What?” Zoey whined, her voice muffled by Rumi. “I want to know if we can finally go.” Zoey shuddered and she tightened her grip even further into Rumi. “I really want to go… with all of us.”

Rumi laughed and slipped her hand out of Mira’s grip. She turned to Zoey and wrapped her tenderly in a hug. “Yeah, Zoey, yeah it does.”

Mira stepped forward once and wrapped the two of them up in her own arms, and tried to ignore the way all three of them were shaking.

“Ummm….” Bobby began. “I'm really really really glad everyone is okay now. But… What does Rumi having patterns mean?”

The three girls leaned away from each other, though they didn't stop holding onto each other.

“Oh shit.”

“We never–”

“He was–”

They turned toward Bobby and Rumi cleared her throat. “I am part demon. My mother was one of the Starlight Sisters, and my father was a demon… I… I don't know more than that.” Rumi explained. She turned her head towards the Veranda where Celine was leaning against the guard rail.

“Oh… okay.” Bobby said, in that way that someone did when they really had no clue what was going on but could tell now was not the right time. Bobby obviously knew Rumi's mom was a Sunlight sister, but he didn't quite understand the context of her mother being a hunter when her father was a demon.

To be fair Mira wasn't sure she got it all herself. Seemed like they were all out of their depth today.

He looked up to Celine then back to the girls. “Well, shall we?” He asked with a nod of his head.

Rumi nodded and turned to go outside. She was stopped though. She looked down and saw Zoey and Mira holding onto her wrists again, making it hard to turn. “Girls?”

Zoey smiled brightly. “Nope!” She laughed as she looked at Mira.

Mira shook her head, but made it easier for Rumi by switching hands before lacing her fingers together with Rumi. “Nuh uh. I'm hanging onto you.”

“Yeah,” Zoey said, taking Mira's lead and shifting to hold hands with Runi. “Not letting go until you know we're with you forever!”

Rumi started crying. She nodded rapidly before placing their hands against her eyes. “Can it… can it be longer?”

“Of course, Rumi,” Mira said before looking up at Celine again. Rumi crying and the memory of Celine stepping between them made her tighten her grip. “Now… I wanna find out what the fuck Celine was thinking.”

Chapter Text

Zoey tightened her grip on Rumi’s hand as Mira led them all out onto the balcony. She threaded her other arm around Rumi’s arm and pinned it against her chest, keeping Rumi from running away. There was nowhere for her to run, but Zoey knew Rumi well enough that even if she couldn’t run away physically she still could put up the walls that kept her and Mira from really knowing her.

There was a brief pause after they stepped outside. Zoey could see Mira looking for the best spot for them to sit before she pulled them in the direction of the love seat. They didn’t have anything large enough to sit the three of them comfortably out here. When they approached, Zoey could feel Rumi try to slip her hand out of hers, and she just tightened hers in response.

She was not letting go if she could help it. It might have been too much, but… Rumi believed that Zoey would hurt her.

And that broke Zoey’s heart in two.

So, they all crowded together on the two-seater. It wasn’t comfortable in the slightest, but they made it work. Despite the arm rest digging into her side, she wouldn’t want to be anywhere else right now. Not if it meant Rumi having any doubts about how important she was to Zoey and Mira.

Celine watched them with a slight smile as they crammed themselves in. Once they were all packed in like sardines, she looked away and took a drag off her cigarette. She sighed and said, “Thank you girls…”

“Thanks for what?” Mira snapped. It made Rumi jump, but Zoey leaned harder into her. Rumi glanced down at her and she tried to give her a calming smile. It probably didn’t work; Zoey wasn’t known for being the calm one.

Still though, Rumi relaxed just a bit. She and Zoey turned back toward Celine as Celine slowly straightened herself, though she turned back towards the city. “For being better than us.” Celine took another pull from the cigarette before flicking the butt of it off the edge of the building. Zoey hoped that it didn’t land on anyone. Celine reached into her purse and pulled out another, but she didn’t light it.

Instead, she played with it in her fingers. She was oddly gentle with it; it reminded Zoey of someone playing with a baby rat. Celine paused for a moment to look up at Rumi. She tried to smile, but it fell flat. She looked back down and started talking, “He taught your mother to smoke…” Rumi leaned forward just a little bit as she listened. “That was actually probably the start of… everything.” Zoey watched her jaw clench a few times before she shoved the cigarette into her lips. In a flash she had pulled out a lighter and started smoking another.

“I don’t know how they met,” Celine admitted after letting a slow breath out. Zoey watched the smoke float off into the night sky for a moment before snapping her focus back on Celine. “I probably never will, but there was a night that Mi-yeong came home so late that both me and Jae-in got worried. We were actually gearing up to go find her. We were worried Gwi-ma had sent demons out to attack her. But, just before we were going to sneak out, she came back in. Giddy, and just reeking of cigarettes.”

Zoey felt Rumi swallow next to her with her whole body; they were all squeezing together after all. The two of them could only get closer if they were to literally fuse together. Zoey slipped her arm out from where it was pinning Rumi’s arm between them to instead run her hand up and down her arm to try and sooth her. That made Rumi turn towards her, and they locked eyes for a moment. Zoey wasn’t sure what to make of Rumi’s expression, Rumi was usually the unflappable one. Sure, she joined in on her and Mira’s silliness at times, but Rumi was always so put together.

Right now she was anything but.

Rumi’s eyes were already beginning to water, and she could see how Rumi was practically trying to burn this into her mind. In the past, Rumi had quietly lamented before (in the rare moments when her walls were down) that she wished she knew anything about her mother. Whenever it came up with Celine, the older woman would start telling stories before clamming up. Zoey didn’t know what to do to help her, so she headbutted Rumi’s shoulder to let her know she was there. Rumi squeezed Zoey’s hand, and Zoey smiled slightly, knowing her message got through.

Celine turned to sit down at a chair, but Bobby cleared his throat and looked pointedly at her cigarette. Celine huffed in amusement and chose to lean back against the railing. “It… wasn’t long after that night that Mi-yeong got sick. Or… what we thought was sick at first. It wasn’t until a week later of her throwing up all the time that she came clean. She was pregnant. The company was furious, but they were nothing compared to Jae-in. Jae-in was so furious that I actually wondered if Gwi-ma was getting into her head.”

Bobby started to raise his hand but stopped. The aborted movement got everyone’s attention and he shifted to rub the back of his head. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt, but who’s Gwi-ma?”

“Ah, right,” Celine said. She flicked the second cigarette off the building and Zoey had a brief worry about a bird finding the thing while it was still burning and taking it back to its nest. “Sorry, forgot you wouldn’t know. Gwi-ma is the name of the demon king. He’s the one sending the demons here to collect human souls.”

Bobby’s brow furrowed and he opened his mouth, but then he stopped and shook his head. “Sorry, continue.”

“Am I allowed to sit down now?” Celine joked, but there was an undercurrent there Zoey was very familiar with. Deflecting something she was worried about with humor was something that was more than a habit for Zoey, but seeing the ever confident Celine use that was… scary.

“Yes, since you–”

“No,” Mira cut Bobby off. Everyone looked at her to see she was still glaring at Celine.

Rumi shifted, tapping Mira’s leg with her fingers (still entwined with Mira’s hand). “Mira, please…” Rumi begged. Zoey tried to swallow the lump in her throat that formed at hearing that desperation in her voice. It didn’t help at all.

“Ugh. Fine.”

Celine nodded slowly and quickly made her way to sit down. She paused as she did so, giving Mira one more chance to tell her not to. Mira clicked her tongue, but didn’t say anything. Once Celine settled in, she sighed. “It might have been Gwi-ma for all I know, but… well… I had my suspicions about Jae-in and Mi-yeong. Jae-in’s family gave her up for adoption and… no one took her. No one had wanted her until Mi-yeong had found her.”

Zoey leaned deeper into Rumi, and Rumi pulled her arm out of Zoey’s grip to pull her into a side hug. That… that hit closer than it should have. Zoey had parents, and she tried to love them. But… she got tossed between them after the divorce. When her father went back home to Korea and took her out of America…

Her mom didn’t fight for her.

Celine continued after letting out a shuddering breath, “I don’t know where Mi-yeong ran into her, but I was in the middle of hunter training with our teacher when Mi-yeong dragged Jae-in into the compound and just presented her like she was a grand prize.”

Celine laughed once and wiped at a tear forming in her eye. “Our teacher was furious, but then Mi-yeong turned and asked Jae-in to sing. Jae-in was really embarrassed, but she did so. Mi-yeong took her by the hand and joined in, and the Honmoon shivered.”

“Oh my God…” Zoey whispered. She didn’t intend to, and when everyone looked at her she squeaked. “Sorry, it’s just… being taken in like that and being shown magic? I’d fall in love right there.”

Celine laughed again, but this time it was a bit more bitter. If it weren’t for the fact that the three girls were practically plastered onto each other, it might have been able to cover up the sharp intake of breath from Mira. “Oh yes,” Celine said, running a hand through her hair, “I think that’s exactly what happened.”

The smile dropped from Celine and she folded her hands together. “Jae-in was furious when she found out Mi-yeong was pregnant. More than she should have been. She insisted it was because we were putting aside our mission to hunt demons but I have my doubts. But the next several months, it was just me and Jae-in doing the hunting. I think Gwi-ma knew something was going on, because there were more demons those months than ever before… or Jae-in was spending that much time hunting them down.”

Celine wet her lips and looked over the skyline. She was silent for a moment, but just as Zoey was about to prompt her to continue Celine turned back towards all of them again. “We fought a lot. Me and Jae-in that is. Mi-yeong loved you from the beginning, but Jae-in and the company wanted you… dealt with. Mi-yeong made it clear that was never an option. Which at the time I found strange, as I had assumed you were the product of a one night stand. But… how could I ever tell her otherwise when she looked so happy singing to you? I couldn’t ever escape it. She would…” Celine stopped for a second, and Zoey could see her swallow. When she spoke again, her voice was noticeably quieter and strained. “Do you girls remember me showing you how to sing with the Honmoon? Before showing you how to put your voices into it?”

Zoey nodded and she could feel Rumi do the same. Mira didn’t move but responded verbally. “Of course.”

Celine nodded back and smiled at Rumi. “She did that every night for you. And I could feel her singing to you all over Seoul…” The smile across her face was beautiful, despite the tears that were beginning to form in her eyes. Then it fell and Celine wiped away her tears and pretended that she was alright. “That’s when I met your father for the first time. He introduced himself as Ken Jeong. After a night of demon hunting where I could feel your mother singing, I came in and he was kneeling down with an ear pressed to her belly. He quickly made his way out, saying that if I was back then Jae-in wouldn’t be far behind and well…” Celine shrugged. “We all knew that would be bad. For everyone.”

Celine took a deep breath, in through the nose out through the mouth. Rumi leaned forward, and Zoey could feel the questions about her father building up. Celine continued talking before Rumi could get a word out. “But… the reason why I’m telling you this isn’t about that, it’s why Mira is looking at me like she wants to throw me off the building.”

“I do,” Mira ground out. “Celine, you thought I’d kill Rumi? I’m so pissed that you could even think for a fucking second I’d do that!”

Celine’s gaze snapped toward Mira. “It’s easier than you’d think.”

The girls sucked in breaths and Bobby stepped forward. “Celine, you didn’t–”

Celine shook her head. “Let me explain fully before you make judgements.” Celine straightened up and fixed her gaze onto Mira. Zoey would have been sure that Mira would have thrown herself at her if not for the Honmoon quaking underneath their feet and within their souls. It begged them to stay and to listen. “It was after Rumi was born. You girls remember how I was able to train all of you with your weapons?” Celine reached out and instead of one of her twin swords, she had a shinkal like one of Zoey’s.

It clicked. It hadn’t for the others, but the others didn’t get the same drills that Zoey got for years. How often Celine cautioned her about her knives, and how she demanded Zoey learn close combat to make up for the gap in her weapon.

Zoey must have gasped or something, because Rumi turned toward her. “Zoey?”

Zoey didn’t look at her. The shinkal in Celine’s hand got blurry as she began to cry. “Celine did…”

The shinkal vanished. “Yes.” Celine whispered, making hope vanish as well. “Demons were becoming rampant again, we hadn’t had an opportunity to strengthen Honmoon in close to a year. It was the weakest I had ever seen it before. There were times we couldn’t even feel the Honmoon anymore. The only time it was strengthened was when Mi-yeong sang to you, Rumi. We slaughtered a nest of demons, Mi-yeong had told us where it was. In retrospect, I don’t think she sensed it the way she claimed she had, I think… I think she was told where it was.

“I can’t tell you how many were in there, but… that doesn’t matter. At the end, I saw Ken Jeong, but he didn’t look human. He was completely covered in his patterns. He was standing there, watching us. We were fighting for our lives and this entire time he was there. Watching us, waiting for us. I thought he lied to Mi-yeong and tricked her. I was furious and I threw a knife… and Mi-yeong threw herself in front of it.”

There was silence for a moment and Celine finally broke eye contact with Mira. Zoey swallowed the lump in her throat. Zoey had gotten gun safety lessons drilled into her back in high school, and one of the lessons was to always be aware of what was around your target, both in front and behind. Those lessons were something she took with her into combat with her knives, but they were… passive. Quite often she didn’t need to worry about it because she could feel the Honmoon letting her know it was safe. “What about the Honmoon?” Zoey whispered. “I-It guides us!” Her voice was rising, and she began to stand despite herself, but Rumi pulled her back down.

She needed an explanation. She needed to be sure of herself. She needed to know that this wouldn’t happen to her.

Celine turned toward her, and Zoey knew she wouldn’t like what she was about to hear. “The Honmoon isn’t perfect…” Celine whispered. “It’s not golden.”

“Oh God…” Bobby said, turning away. “This… this is–”

“The story isn’t done.”

“There’s more?” Rumi breathed out. As if the horror in her voice wasn’t enough, the Honmoon below them rippled in pain and sadness. Even Bobby flinched at the feeling as it passed over them. It struck Zoey in the chest, drawing out a gasp. She turned toward Rumi. Poor Rumi, this had to be so much worse for her. Zoey placed her head against Rumi’s shoulder and threw her arms around Rumi and cursed her over-active imagination. She could imagine it happening to her so so easily.

A glimpse of a demon pattern too close to her, a panicked release of her weapon. Instinct, not guidance driving her.

The image of her blade in Rumi’s chest.

“There is,” Celine said, her own voice wavering. “After everything was said and done, I took Rumi in. I refused to let Mi-yeong’s memory go into an orphanage. I refused.” That last word caused the Honmoon to ripple, not out from Celine, but towards her. Reminding her of its strength as it agreed with her, that one of theirs should not be left alone.

Celine opened her mouth to continue, but paused for just a moment. Rumi shuddered, Zoey couldn’t be sure if it was at everything being thrown at her in this one conversation or at just how fiercely the Honmoon reacted, but she tightened her grip on her all the same. Celine waited till Rumi looked back up at her before speaking again, “I informed the company that I was no longer going to be acting as an idol and I would be taking care of you, Rumi. And then… one night you were crying. I got up to check on you, and… you had patterns. Not partial ones like you have now, but full body ones. You looked just like a demon. I panicked. I called Jae-in and told her we had to talk in person.”

Celine opened her mouth but nothing came out. She closed her eyes as tears began to flow. “She came. I went to put on tea. She… sh-she. Oh God… she heard you cry. She went in. I ran. She was over you. She was over you. She… she had her weapon out. She… she brought it–” Celine blubbered for a moment. “I threw a shinkal. I shouted, ‘You’d kill the last piece of Mi-yeong?’”

“Oh… oh God…” Bobby gasped, covering his mouth. That was it for Celine. She began to sob uncontrollably, wailing into her hands and shaking.

“What is it?” Mira demanded. There was more bite in her words than normal, but that was Mira. When she got uncomfortable, she lashed out.

Bobby turned towards the girls, his eyes wide as saucers. “It was covered up to the public, but people within the industry heard about it. When Mi-yeong died, it was announced. But, a month or so afterward, Jae-in hung herself in her home. There was a note left behind. No one knew what it meant, but… it said, ‘I was going to’...” Zoey felt Rumi stiffen under her arms as Bobby continued, “There were rumors as to what it meant, but people thought she just gave up on writing the note–” Bobby froze suddenly, and his hand fell to his side. He slowly turned toward Celine as his face paled. “Celine… who found her body?”

Celine sat up slightly. And Zoey marveled as she saw Celine pull herself back together. Except that wasn't what she was doing at all, was she? No, she was just putting back up the walls that kept this all contained. “Who do you think, Bobby?”

Bobby stared at her for a moment longer. The sudden turn he made caused everyone to jump, and the door closing as he went back inside made everyone flinch.

The rooftop was silent for a moment. It seemed like no one even dared breathe. Even the city below seemed muffled. After a few moments of stillness, Rumi looked up at Celine. “My father. What happened to him? It sounded like you knew him.”

Celine fussed with her hair for a moment before wiping away the tears on her face. She met Rumi’s gaze and took a breath to center herself, while at the same time Mira reached around Rumi and hugged her. “I didn't see him for another year. It was a few months after your birthday, the anniversary of my mistake. I had… I was inconsolable, and… I was struggling. Struggling to keep you happy, struggling to care for myself. I was in the kitchen, pouring myself a glass of water, and you started crying. I started to drink the water – I still remember how cold the glass felt… but then you stopped. It made me panic and I dropped the glass. I ran into your room and there he was. Rocking you to sleep like he had done it a million times. He looked up at me and asked to wait till you were asleep… I let him. Once you had fallen asleep and were back in your crib, he walked us outside. He pulled out a pack of cigarettes and took two out. He handed one to me and told me it was the kind your mother preferred.”

Celine paused and looked down at the ground. “It was the first time I smoked in my life. The anniversary of your mother's death… of when I ruined everything.”

The door opened and Bobby came out, carrying a case of soju bottles, a set of glasses, and a bottle of whiskey. Zoey felt Mira jolt through Rumi and she leaned forward as Bobby set everything down in the middle. Mira pointed at the bottle of whiskey. “That’s mine! How did you even know where it was?”

Bobby laughed once mirthlessly. “Mira, you girls aren’t as sly as you think you are.” He set out the glasses. He poured the whiskey into the glasses. Zoey wasn’t quite familiar with the terminology; the few times she drank in the states were… a blur… but she thought it was called a finger or something like that. “It’s my job to know things, and if I decide to not to share that you left out a bottle of whiskey after a concert, well, no one else gets to know.”

Bobby turned and gave Celine a glass, and unlike the others, he completely filled it. He set the bottle of whiskey down before he then doled out the bottles of soju.

He saved one for himself. He twisted the cap off his own and drank the whole thing in one go before dropping it in the case before pulling out one more.

Bobby met their gazes. “I cancelled everything this week. None of you are gonna be up for it after tonight.” Someone started to speak – Zoey couldn't even be sure who with the way her head was muddled – but Bobby cut them off before they even started. “Don't even try to deny it. And this is one of those conversations that is better done over alcohol than without.”

Rumi, ever patient and caring of everyone, met his gaze. “Bobby, that's going to make a lot of people angry.”

He shrugged. “Let them be angry.” He sipped from the bottle again. “Besides, that's my job. So let me support you all the way I know how.”

Celine grabbed her glass and drained the whole thing in one go. She set the glass down, and Bobby walked forward and refilled it. “Thank you, Bobby…”

Bobby just nodded before returning to his post by the door. He looked at the girls. “Sorry for interrupting.”

Rumi grabbed hers and then handed it to Zoey, before she herself took Zoey's. “So you smoke…”

“Because of your mother and father, yes,” Celine said, nodding. “We smoked those two cigarettes, then he grabbed the box and handed it to me. He then stepped forward and held his arms out. And… he said… do it.” Celine shuddered for a moment. “The Honmoon shook when he said that; I think any hunter in the world could have felt that one… He asked me to kill him.”

The girls all held their breaths for a moment. Zoey wasn't sure if she could have done it herself. Mira probably could have. She would have avenged Zoey or Rumi. She was strong like that. As for Rumi, Zoey wasn't sure. Not with what she now knew, that one could have patterns and not be evil, because Rumi could never be evil.

(Mira herself thought she would never see anyone again, taking the same route as Jae-in. She had already lost one family. She didn't think she could survive losing a second.)

(Rumi thought about how she'd turn on the world long before this point if she had lost either of the others.)

Celine took a sip from her drink. “I didn't. I pulled out two more and handed him one. I asked him to smoke one more with me, for Jae-in. I think it'd have been easier on him if I had just killed him.” Celine turned and Zoey followed her gaze to the box of cigarettes left on the table. Celine put the box back into her purse, two cigarettes down from earlier today. “We smoked those two in silence for a while longer. When we were done, I told him I didn't think I could see him again.”

Celine didn’t pull her hand out right away. “Just another one of my many mistakes. But… I was hurting so much. I didn’t think I could breathe with him there. I couldn’t even bring myself to sing anymore, not when I’d imagine hearing Mi-yeong or Jae-in joining it. I think having him around would have broken me more than I already was…”

Celine threw her purse onto the table. She hadn’t closed it completely, and the cigarettes slid half way out. She stared at them for a moment before shaking her head. “I didn't see him again for a long while, but I knew he was still around. On the hardest days, when I didn't think I could handle it anymore, you’d be the quietest. I'd walk into your room to check on you, and I'd smell cigarettes. Others, when I couldn't take care of myself, I'd find takeout in the kitchen. Around when you were two years old, I realized the Honmoon was weakening, but I noticed that the demon attacks never increased. I sat in your room for a few days, and eventually I caught him. I asked him about it… and he told me that Gwi-ma was raging at him.”

She swirled her finger around her ear. “Gwi-ma was constantly screaming at him in his head, but Gwi-ma couldn't do anything to him that hadn't already been done. He wasn’t feeding on human souls anymore, he apparently hadn’t since a while before he had met Mi-yeong. he was eating the demons Gwi-ma was trying to send up to our world.

“He asked me to end him again. I told him no. It… became a weekly thing. He'd tell me where the Honmoon was weakest, and he told me of past hunters, of what they had learned that I never did. The secrets that Mi-yeong deciphered of the Honmoon. And every week he’d ask me to kill him, and every week I told him no. It was two years later, and neither of us had changed a bit. We both just got lost in our own heads. I was just focused on taking care of you, and he… he didn’t have hope anymore. We were in a dark place even then…”

Celine finished her glass and Bobby once again came over and refilled it. Celine drained it again and Bobby stared at her for a moment. That was an ungodly amount of alcohol in one sitting. Celine looked up at him and something in her gaze must have convinced him because Bobby refilled her glass again anyways. Celine didn’t drink it though, instead she swirled it about in her glass. “About half a year later, you looked at me and asked, ‘Where’s Dada?’ I smelled the smoke for a moment, but when I looked, he wasn't there.”

Celine finally drained the glass and slumped back into her chair. “That was the last I saw of him.”

Rumi looked down at her fingers. Zoey wasn't sure when she or Mira let go but they were quick to rectify that. Her hands were cold, clammy even. When she spoke, her voice was weak. "So... my father could still be out there? He could have…” She trailed off, but Zoey knew what she was asking, because she often wondered something similar about her parents.

Couldn’t they both have been a larger part of her life?

Celine was quiet for a moment. "I don't know if he's still out there. Gwi-ma might have had his soul torn to shreds for defying him. But... yes. He should have been part of your life. Yet another of my mistakes." Celine’s gaze fell to the cigarettes on the table and she slowly reached out to grab them. Her hand shook as she reached for them. She grabbed one more, slowly, with an intentionality to it that Zoey hadn’t seen from her in a long time. Celine placed it in her lips before grabbing her lighter.

Bobby didn't chastise her for smoking near the rest of Huntr/x this time.

Celine looked down at the cigarette as it burned. “The Honmoon weakened until you debuted, Rumi, but the number of demon attacks didn’t increase nearly as much. It’s… possible… he’s out there. But… I can’t be certain. I’ve tried to find anything but…”

Rumi nodded, almost imperceptibly, but Zoey could feel it as she held Rumi. Zoey rubbed her back, putting down her glass. She hadn’t drank anything yet, though she knew it’d only be a matter of time. Mira leaned forward and placed her glass on the table. It was already empty. “Celine… Why the fuck would you tell us to kill every demon, everything that has patterns…” Mira slipped an arm around Rumi and pulled her into her side, dragging Zoey with Rumi. “When you knew that there were demons who shouldn’t be killed, or when your own fucking daughter had them?”

Celine straightened herself and her grip on the glass tightened. Zoey wondered for a moment if the glass would shatter in her hand. There was a part of her that wished that would happen, because while Mira was the vocal one, Zoey was hurt too. She didn’t know where to put all the emotions in her head. It was all white noise at this point. There was so much going on.

This started out so well, and now they were here…

“It’s easy from where you’re sitting,” Celine practically hissed. “But, Mira, demons eat humans. They steal souls and send them to Gwi-ma.. Ken Jeong may have stopped, but he did eat souls up until he met Mi-yeong. You think I wanted Rumi to be scared? Of course I fucking didn’t! Our faults and fears cannot be seen! It’s not just because it's to keep the fans looking up to us, but it’s also to keep Gwi-Ma out of our heads. We have–”

Mira took a breath to lash out, but then Bobby took a step forward. “Celine… what do you mean by that?”

Celine turned toward him, as did everyone else. Zoey sat up at the look on Bobby’s face, he was normally so open and bubbly that seeing him so stone faced just felt wrong. Celine in comparison had a genuine look of confusion on her face. “Mean by what?” she asked.

“Our faults and fears must never be seen. What does that mean?”

Celine sighed and looked down at her hands in her lap, the burning cigarette and the alcohol. “The Honmoon is fueled by the connection between us hunters and those who listen to us. It’s…” Her lips thinned into a line for a second before she shook her head. “I hesitate to phrase it this way, but it’s like how the demons can feed off souls. We’re not feeding on the entire soul; it’s what our fans are giving us willingly. The more they idolize us the more we can draw out from them and use it to protect them. We weave these pieces of their freely given souls into the Honmoon and make it stronger. So… we have to appear perfect. We have to be something they aspire to, that they want to be, to get as much–”

“Celine,” Bobby cut off, not at all kindly. “I get that already. But what am I asking is why the fuck you’d–” Bobby stopped and took a breath. He set his drink down on the table near the girls and turned his entire body toward Celine, placing himself like a wall between the girls and Celine. There was a beat of silence before he said over his shoulder, “Mira, I know there’s more you all would want to talk to Celine about, but would you do me a favor and take Rumi and Zoey inside? I want to have a chat with Celine, and I’m sure you girls need to talk to each other as well.”

Zoey thought for sure Mira wouldn’t agree, but then Mira quietly said, “Sure.” Mira stood up first and gently pulled Rumi up, which brought Zoey as well. She looked down at the drinks left on the table, grabbed Zoey’s drink with her free hand, and then pulled them inside.

“Should we leave them alone out there?” Rumi asked quietly.

Mira looked out the window as Bobby started waving his arms about. Mira wasn’t sure what he was saying exactly, but the look on Celine’s face told her that he was getting through, or hitting her weak points. She turned back to Rumi and stopped holding her hand to hug her. “He’ll be fine, he can be scary when he wants to be. I’m more worried about you right now.”

Rumi nodded once, then a second time as her eyes closed, and then the tears started flowing. Mira buckled as Rumi threw her entire weight into her, but between her and Zoey they all kept standing.

Somehow.

Chapter Text

Rumi wasn’t sure how long she had been standing there. Though it was less like standing and more being held up by Mira and Zoey. Slowly she got her feet back under her and tried to extract herself from their arms. She didn't get far, the moment they felt her pulling away they latched on; locking themselves against her like pieces of a puzzle. Mira held her wrist firmly, while Zoey held her hand so tightly that it was slightly painful.

She didn’t fight them. She didn’t want to.

“I… I’m sorry.”

Mira squeezed once and nodded. “You should be,” she said bluntly. Rumi couldn’t help the full body flinch at that, it felt like she had been struck in the chest with a sledgehammer. But even as she tried to pull away, Zoey and Mira pulled her closer instead of letting her go. “But,” Mira continued, her voice growing softer. The softest Rumi had ever heard from her. “I think you’re apologizing for the wrong reason.”

Zoey nodded multiple times quickly. “Yeah, this has been a lot. Like, a lot a lot. It’s okay to be overwhelmed. I know I am…” Zoey chewed on her lip for a second before she slowly reached up and picked at Rumi’s hoodie. “Rumi, can… can you show us?”

Rumi nodded, swallowing the lump in her throat that refused to go away. “Yeah… I can.”

She tried to pull her hands away, but Mira and Zoey didn’t let go. Instead, they reached over and pulled at the hoodie themselves. Rumi could feel the last of her walls coming down as they slowly peeled away her top. They only let go of her hands when they had to shuck the garment off completely, and even then they refused to let go longer than necessary. First Zoey let go, and the moment her hand was free from the sleeve Zoey scrambled to grab her hand again.

Rumi remembered what the girls said to her before they went out onto the veranda. That they’d hang on as long as it took until she knew that they were with her forever.

And, as Mira’s hand slid up Rumi’s arm and slowly started tracing her patterns, Rumi started to believe that.

Mira hummed lowly. Rumi swore it reverberated throughout the room. “You know… I never really looked at the patterns before. They look kinda sick.”

“Sick?” Rumi repeated, looking down at her revealed arms. The purple patterns were still there (as they always were, no matter how much she hoped they wouldn't be when she woke up in the mornings) and looked so much like ugly bruises that she felt disgust creeping up her throat. She instinctively tried to reach for her sweater, but the fact she had one of her hands being held and the other trapped in Mira’s ministrations made that hard to do.

“Yeah, like, they look like a tattoo sleeve.” Mira let go of Rumi's arm suddenly and grabbed the hoodie. She held it in her arms, keeping it close but not quite offering it to Rumi. “They look good on you.”

“You don't… mind?”

“I don’t mind that you have patterns,” Mira said, firmly. “I don't like that you hid this from us. You and Celine were idiots.” Rumi flinched, but Mira didn’t break her gaze. “Rumi… we know demons can shapeshift. Their patterns are how we notice them. If it had been revealed in a demon fight…” Mira shook her head. “I don’t even want to think about it. I don’t. Especially not after…” Mira trailed off, her voice growing tight with emotion.

Rumi nodded. She knew. It had kept her up so many nights, especially after any close calls. It really was only a matter of time. But that was why she needed to turn the Honmoon golden as fast as possible so that–

Mira stepped forward, invading Rumi’s personal space. She threw the sweater over her shoulder and reached up and started running her fingers over the patterns. “Rumi… you two are the only family I have. And you kept this from us. I'm hurt. But more than that, I'm horrified. We… We were gambling every night we went out, more than even just putting our lives on the line. God, Rumi, if… if I had thought you were a demon and then I hurt you?”

Rumi met Mira’s eyes, and looked at the tears forming on Mira's face. Mira was the expert at reading people between all of them, but Rumi didn't need to be an expert to know what that would have driven Mira to.

They just heard what happened to the last hunters after all…

It had to show on Rumi's face, because Mira suddenly broke eye contact. She reached past her, grabbed the whiskey on the table and took a large gulp from it. Mira let out a pained huff and Rumi knew it must have burned as it went down.

Not that she knew personally, because drinking was a thing she didn't let herself indulge in often, and when she did partake it would be with some fruity cocktail that was ‘appropriate’ for an idol. It was risky, relaxing like that. What if she wasn't paying attention and let her patterns show? No, it was just another thing she had to deny herself until they turned the Honmoon golden.

Slowly she reached up and took the glass from Mira. She brought it to her lips and finished the glass. She couldn't help the way her face crinkled as the flavor assaulted her and burned as it went down her throat.

Mira laughed and took the glass away from her. “Damn, Tiger, slow down. I've never…” she trailed off as she looked between the glass and Rumi, as she too realized why she had never seen Rumi drink like that before. She inhaled through her nose and exhaled through her mouth. “I think we're gonna need more. We need to talk a lot tonight I think.”

Mira reached up and touched Rumi on her patterns again, before turning around and making her way back outside. She could hear Bobby not quite shouting at Celine, but close to it. (Not close enough if you asked Mira.) He stopped the moment Mira opened the door. “Sorry Bobby, grabbing my whiskey.” Mira didn't say sorry to Celine. She couldn't. She didn't even want to look at Celine right now. Not with the way Celine looked at her when Rumi told them she had patterns.

Mira grabbed the bottle of whiskey roughly. The bottle clinked against the table, making an echo on the roof as she started making her way out.

Mira could feel Celine looking at her as she moved to the door. She stopped about halfway, as the Honmoon below her rippled from the feelings of every hunter (including Bobby, especially including Bobby. Mira trusted him more than Celine right now) in the building. “Celine…” Mira said, not looking at her. “I understand why you did it. It was a fucking dumb thing to do, but I understand. I don't know if I can forgive you for it right now. You put Rumi at risk by not telling us, and more than that you were just like my family dictating what we were supposed to do because ‘you knew better’.”

Mira rubbed at her eyes, telling herself that she was rubbing away the tears from talking with Rumi and not because she was talking about Celine. “You were supposed to be better than my parents, Celine, and right now I’m not so sure about that. But more than that…” Mira swore as her voice broke. “More than that, I don't know if I'll ever forgive myself for not proving to you and Rumi that I could be trusted.”

Mira took three long strides to get to the door, but just as she placed a hand on the door Celine called out, “Mira!”

Mira hated that she stopped.

“Mira,” Celine repeated. She took a shuddering breath in and then continued. “I’d understand if you hate me forever. Bobby has been quite clear on how I’ve failed you... All of you… but Mira? Don’t ever hate yourself for that. Rumi wanted to tell you from the very beginning. She asked the day she met you. It was my own fears that kept her from telling you.”

Mira stared at the door handle, her hand hanging onto it. The day was warm, but being this high up meant that there was still a chill here. The door handle was freezing. The cold bit into her hand, grounding her. Her mind was spiraling, but the cold in her hand kept her from going too far down in her own head.

Mira looked up. Through the glass door she could see Zoey and Rumi talking to each other, Zoey was holding onto one of Rumi’s hands and the other was pressed against her chest. Mira could also see the reflection of Celine in the door. She looked broken.

Mira jerked the door open and walked in. She was too mad at Celine right now, but even still, she did feel lighter.

Zoey startled as Mira walked in. “Mira!” She sounded like Mira had been gone for weeks. Zoey waved her over. “Mira! Look!” Mira raised an eyebrow as she approached. Zoey reached out and pulled her closer when she was taking too long.

“Zoey what–” The words died on her lips as Zoey ran a thumb over Rumi’s patterns. The purple that Mira had come to associate with demons and evil vanished as Zoey’s fingers brushed over the patterns, and instead the patterns flashed with color. Streaks of gold and yellow ran along the patterns before shifting down into a faint glowing light.

Zoey laughed. There was a little bit of desperation in it, like someone latching onto a lifeline thrown out when it was desperately needed. “I don't know!” she said. “I was telling Rumi that you were right, that they were gorgeous and Rumi was asking if we really believed that. And I told her of course we did! She's our Rumi! We know she's pretty! We’re lucky to get to live with her because the entire world would be so jealous to be close to her. Then her patterns started lighting up!”

Mira tore her gaze away from the lights dancing across Rumi’s body and looked at Rumi's face. It took an effort to not laugh at Rumi's flustered expression; the girl was definitely no longer thinking about what Mira and Zoey would think about her patterns, or how Celine almost got Rumi hurt or…

Mira poured out whiskey and started drinking it. She indicated the couch with a nod of her head. Zoey dragged Rumi over while Mira went and fetched fresh glassware (because fuck going out there again with Celine) and filled them with ice.

Mira sat down next to Rumi, who was in turn being leaned on by Zoey. Zoey had seemed to find a new form of fidgeting by running her fingers along the patterns. Mira looked at Rumi, and just how red her face was. Mira could tell Zoey to back off, but well…

Rumi was a big girl. If she wanted Zoey to stop she could do so herself.

Mira set the glasses down and poured out a measure of whiskey for each of them, including Zoey, who didn’t even like anything above fifteen percent abv. Rumi reached out, carefully and slowly, making sure not to disturb Zoey, and grabbed the glass. She took a smaller sip and kept her reaction down to a shiver.

“You like this?” she asked, turning to Mira.

“It grows on you,” Mira said with a shrug. She sipped from her glass. They sat there in silence for a moment. Mira wanted to talk more, but seeing Rumi out in the open like this, her walls finally down, and Zoey so fascinated with her patterns. She found herself calming down.

Though, eventually she felt like she had to take mercy on Rumi. She picked up the glass for Zoey and placed it against her knee.

Zoey jumped when the cold touched her leg, and maybe possibly accidentally let out a squeak that no one could prove actually happened. She took the glass, and realized with some growing horror that she had been staring at Rumi’s patterns for a while, judging by how much the ice had melted.

She took a sip, less because she wanted to, but as a distraction. The cold and the water made it much more bearable. She glanced at Rumi and finally noticed how much she was blushing. “Umm… sorry!”

“It's… it's fine,” Rumi said. Zoey thought for sure she was just downplaying it, until Rumi reached out and threaded her fingers through Zoey’s. “Really… it is. God… I thought you two would…”

Zoey didn't want Rumi to finish that sentence. There was too much up to interpretation there, and she'd rather not hear just how little Rumi thought of them.

“You thought what?” Mira demanded. Zoey flinched and squeezed Rumi’s hand.

Rumi squeezed back as she met Mira’s gaze. “I was terrified. I thought… How many times have we said things with patterns have to die?” Zoey leaned against Rumi, practically trying to bury herself into her.

Mira flinched as well, before meeting her eyes. “You thought we’d kill you?”

Zoey felt Rumi look away. “I… no … I didn't.” Zoey sat up to look at Rumi, a tension in her chest vanishing. “I didn't think you would. But… if you tried to…” Rumi closed her eyes and pressed her glass against her forehead. Zoey swallowed a lump in her throat as Rumi’s patterns shifted back to the demonic purple they were when she first took her sweater off. “If you tried to, and if I had to defend myself…”

Both Zoey and Mira leaned forward slightly as she trailed off. Which made it easier to hear when Rumi whispered, "I wouldn't have.”

It didn’t compute. Zoey understood what Rumi was saying, but she couldn’t imagine it. She couldn’t imagine their leader seeing them, seeing her scared, seeing her scared and running away from them.

Except she could and she hated that.

Rumi took a sip before swirling the ice around in the cup. “I would have understood if you had tried. Demons have to be killed. But… I was so afraid of what it’d do to us… I couldn't risk it.”

“So you were just gonna let us risk finding out in the worst way?” Mira snapped.

Zoey leaned forward, tapping Mira’s knee with the cup. “Mira… please don’t…” she begged. She didn’t want to fight. She hated when they fought, it brought back too many memories. Mira opened her mouth to say something, but she met Zoey’s eyes and then her mouth shut with a clack. Zoey winced at the force Mira used.

Mira looked away and then sighed. “I’m sorry, Rumi. That’s not fair of me.”

Rumi shook her head. “It absolutely is, Mira, I… just…” Rumi shuddered for a second as she took in a shaky gasp. “I… if we made the Honmoon golden, Gwi-ma’s influence would disappear, and so would my patterns. I'd finally be free and get to be… me…”

That statement hung in the air for a moment. Zoey sucked on her lips for a moment before turning and taking Rumi’s hand into hers. She held her hand in her lap and played with her fingers. “And… who are you?” Zoey asked.

“Zoey?” Rumi tried to pull her hand away as she responded, but Zoey wouldn’t let her.

Zoey shook her head. “Rumi… whenever I thought I was too much, or when I was home sick, you and Mira were always telling me that it was fine. But… you’ve been hiding this from us all this time. I don’t feel like I know you. Not really. It’s like I know the same Rumi our fans do…”

“Zoey…” Rumi repeated again, once again trying to pull her hand away.

Zoey didn’t let go. “I want to know, Rumi, I want to know what you’re worried about because you’re one of the most important people in my life.The only other person is Mira. I want to know what you actually want, I want to know what you actually think, I want to know who you actually are…” Zoey knew she was beginning to cry, but she had to get this out. “You helped me when I needed it, but you never let me return the favor.”

Rumi didn’t pull away this time, instead she reached out and pulled Zoey forward. It was awkward; Zoey was being pulled up onto her knees and buried her face into Rumi’s neck, still holding onto her hand as Rumi held her with her other arm. “This… this is what I’ve wanted. I wanted to be real with you two. It just… it was so much easier to hide and pretend that I was okay.”

Zoey shifted, falling into Rumi. “But that’s not all of you, Rumi, and… I want to know all of you.”

Rumi nodded and Zoey felt a wetness run across her face that wasn’t from her own eyes. “I know… I’m sorry, Zoey.”

Mira shifted and wrapped her long arms around both Zoey and Rumi. “Now you’re apologizing for the right thing.” She squeezed them both tightly. “No more lying, alright?”

Rumi barked out a laugh. “Of course, I don’t have anything left to hide now…”

The three of them sat there for a while, each of them pretending not to notice how the others were shaking and trying (and failing) to not fall apart into a blubbering mess. Somewhere around the third or fifth round of everyone saying, ‘I love you guys so much’ the door to the veranda opened up. Celine walked in looking as composed as she always did. If Zoey hadn’t known better, she’d have assumed Celine was completely composed..

But, she knew better now.

Mira jumped up. Zoey could feel the Honmoon gathering about her, willing to give her weapon if she wanted it. Rumi stood as well, much more sedately than Mira, and Zoey followed just a moment later.

Celine froze in place, the false composure falling off her face immediately. She quickly looked over all of Huntr/x. “Girls… I…”

The door shut behind Bobby with a loud click that even rippled through the Honmoon. “Celine.” His voice was stern, but not unkind. “Not now.” Celine turned toward him and he stepped between her and Huntr/x. “Not now, and maybe not ever. That’s up to them to decide, but definitely not now. Give them time to process…”

Celine looked past him. She looked at Mira first, her back straightening as she noticed just how much Mira wanted to jump across the room and punch her. Then her gaze turned toward Zoey, and Zoey flinched away from her gaze. She didn’t know just what to feel right now. Zoey knew Celine went through a lot, but she made Rumi go through a lot too. Rumi flinched next, and Celine took in a shuddering gasp. Zoey looked up at Rumi who was now openly crying, but she was still looking forward.

Zoey followed her gaze to look at Celine, who had now looked away from Rumi. “Okay…” Celine said quietly, barely more than a whisper. “Okay… if… if they want to, they know where to find me. My door will be open.”

No one said anything.

Celine started making her way to the door. And Bobby reached out. “Wait, Celine, let me call you a car. You drank a lot–”

Celine didn’t break stride. “I’ll be fine.” Her tone was clipped, not with anger or frustration but rather a deep sadness instead. “I ran here to begin with.”

“But Celine–” Bobby started, before Celine disappeared completely. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He turned and looked at Huntr/x, then at the alcohol on the table. He huffed through his nose. “You girls are gonna need food. You want wings? I’m ordering you all wings,” he said, grabbing his phone and pulling it out of his pocket.

“Bobby…” Rumi started.

“I meant what I said,” Bobby cut her off. “You girls deserve some time to yourselves. You need time to decompress, to talk to each other.” He rubbed his face a couple times. “Hell, just to exist with all this out in the open now.” He looked up at them. “Do you think fifty wings would be enough for you girls?” He looked down at his phone. “Yeah, I think fifty should be good. Also fries…” He glanced at the bottle of whiskey. “Maybe some liquids too…”

Mira snorted. “Thank you, Bobby.”

“It’s my job to take care of you girls, and I love my job.” Bobby shoved his phone back into his pocket. “I’ll get out of your hair here. Don’t worry about anything. Huntr/x is on a hiatus for a bit. Let yourselves decompress. I’ll be nearby if you need me, for anything.”

Zoey leaned against Rumi, and Rumi leaned back into her touch. It almost sent Zoey into another round of tears. Rumi never really reciprocated Zoey’s touches before. She accommodated them, yes, but she always froze up at first. Not this time.

Bobby made his way out, stopping to wave goodbye one more time before leaving them alone. After a moment, Mira turned and pulled Rumi back down to the couch. Rumi fumbled for Zoey’s hand, and she grabbed the flailing limb with both of her own as she sat down. They all sat in silence for a moment before Rumi let out a sigh like she had decided something. “Can we…” she started, “can we go to the bathhouse? Together?”

Mira perked up and turned toward Rumi. She handed Rumi the glass of whiskey that she had put down at some point. “Tomorrow? We’ll make a whole day of it. Bobby did just order us a bunch of food.”

Zoey leaned into Rumi more and laughed lightly. “I think he wouldn’t mind.”

Rumi rested her head against Zoey’s. “I’m okay with tomorrow, as long there is a tomorrow.”

“There will be,” Mira said firmly. Even the Honmoon stilled underneath their feet.

Zoey looked down and saw the glowing lines from the Honmoon, shimmering as she observed them. The last twenty four hours hit her: the fact that the Honmoon said that Huntr/x needed Bobby, so it reached out on its own and gave him a weapon. Which, in turn, kick started all of this. She took a hand away from its place of honor holding Rumi’s hand and patted the lines of the barrier next to her on the couch. “Thanks…” she whispered to it.

The Honmoon pulsed in response, and Mira and Rumi turned toward her. “Say something?” Mira asked.

Zoey shrugged. “Just thinking… this really sucked, but… I’m happy.”

Mira huffed through her nose and grabbed her own whiskey. “You know what? Same.”

Rumi looked between Zoey and Mira. Zoey could see Mira smiling softly at Rumi and Zoey giggled when Rumi turned toward her with a stupified expression on her face. Slowly Rumi’s face broke into a smile. “Same…” she said, whispering it like it was something precious.

To Zoey, it was.

Chapter Text

Bobby woke up with a start. Going from dead asleep to wide awake was already a weird sensation, but the quivering of the… everything underneath was weirder. He sighed and sat up in bed. As soon as he was upright, the Honmoon stopped shaking and fell from his senses, knowing Bobby was aware. He grabbed his phone and looked at the time. The five a.m staring back at him taunted him with the knowledge that he had only been asleep for four hours after getting his girls back to the hotel at midnight, and then it took another hour to make sure everything was ready for their flight tomorrow. Well, now it was today’s flight.

Bobby rubbed his face and got out of bed. He thanked himself for having the foresight to lay out his clothes ahead of time. Now mostly ready for the day, he made his way out of his hotel room and down toward the lobby.

He waved at the receptionist as he passed by. Stepping out into the streets of New York, he let his feet guide him. He walked into an alleyway, walking deeper into it and turning a corner into a dead end.

The three demons standing around a giant rift in the Honmoon turned and stared at him. Bobby waved at them and gave them a wide smile. “Hi there!”

The demons looked at each other before turning towards Bobby, flashing their teeth and claws as they approached him.

Bobby held up his hands. “Whoa now, I don’t want any trouble. Can we just talk this out over a coffee?” The demons just cackled at him and continued marching towards him. “Yeah… didn’t think so.”

Bobby brought his hands up in the stance that Zoey had been drilling into him and aimed down the sights of his gun. The demons blinked as his weapon was pulled out of the Honmoon. “A hunter?” one of the demons asked before screaming in terror as Bobby shot the one next to him.

The silencer on the end of the gun didn’t actually completely make the gun quiet, but it at least kept Bobby from hurting his ears.

The demons didn’t need to worry about that.

Bobby turned and shot the second demon, which was when the final demon realized that they were getting shot. The demon roared and charged at Bobby, but Bobby snapped the gun toward him and fired before he even got half the distance.

Demons gone, he dropped his gun and sighed. “They never want to talk…” he complained. He looked up at the rift that had yet to close and sucked on his teeth for a second. “I am getting way too used to this…” he mused to himself as he pulled out his phone and looked at the time.

If he remembered right, it was around six back home. He went through his contacts and hit the call button. It rang twice before Celine picked up. “Bobby? Is everything okay?”

“Nothing I couldn’t handle,” Bobby started. “Well, actually no, there is something I need your help on. There’s an open rift here?”

“Are the girls not with you?”

“Nah, I figured I’d let them sleep in. They did really well last night and they–”

“Bobby…” Celine chided fondly. “I thought you said you weren’t gonna go out fighting?”

“They were sleeping!”

“Of course. Well, I’ve never tried this before. Can you put me on speakerphone?”

Bobby tapped his phone screen and held the phone away from him. “Okay, you’re on speaker phone.”

“We are hunters, voices strong,” Celine sang. The Honmoon rippled underneath Bobby as her voice echoed through the alley. Immediately the rift started closing. “Slaying demons with our song. Fix the world and make it right, when darkness finally meets the light…”

The rift didn’t close completely. Bobby held his phone away from him and made it face the rift. “It’s better,” he informed her, “but it’s not closed yet.”

Celine hummed from her side. “You’re not a hunter, Bobby, but join me anyway.”

Bobby chuckled awkwardly, but Celine began singing again. He joined her, hoping that she couldn’t hear his inability to carry a tune through the phone. But immediately the rift started closing faster. When they finished, the last notes echoed for a moment and the rift closed entirely. Bobby took her off speaker phone and put it up to his ear. “That did it. Thanks, Celine.”

“No problem, Bobby. Thanks for taking care of the girls.”

Bobby hummed and nodded. “Of course, but… that’s the third rift that opened and stayed open on this tour. Is this normal?”

There was a pause on Celine’s end. It was long enough Bobby checked his phone to make sure he hadn’t accidentally disconnected the call. “No, it’s not,” Celine admitted.

There was a slight lilt in her tone that made Bobby hesitate. “Celine, do you know something?”

Celine sighed. “I was gonna wait till the tour was over, but… I think the plan of trying to slow down and do bigger events might not be working. The Honmoon is weakening overall.”

Bobby cursed and pinched his brow as he walked out of the alleyway. “Shoot. The girls are gonna be so disappointed.”

“Well… Maybe don’t bring it up just yet,” Celine said.

“Celine! Weren’t you the one who was adamant that the Honmoon gets turned golden?”

“I know, I know… but… there’s two things I’m looking into. I… I admit this is somewhat selfish, but one of these is something I need to do. The other… we’ll have to wait and see.”

“Celine… I think the girls should know. They need to be prepared…”

There was a silence on the other end for a moment, but then Celine started up again. “Bobby… can you feel the Honmoon?”

“Uhhh… not really?” he admitted. “Like, I can feel it when the girls want to get my attention, or sometimes it tells me that demons are coming – which I'll point out I was told wasn't gonna be a thing by the way – but it’s not like I can sense it all the time like you ladies can.”

“The Honmoon has a… a sort of texture to it. It’s firm, solid. When it’s solid and strong, we can feel that it is so because everything feels more sturdy… or maybe it’s better to say everything feels more rigid. I went through Daegu the other day, where the girls had a stop on the tour. The Honmoon is… compact there… like it feels like it couldn’t be pushed through, but it’s pliable. It’s… it’s like standing on a bed instead of concrete.”

Bobby made a sound to show he was paying attention, but then followed it up by saying, “Well, two questions. One, what does that mean? And two, what were you doing in Daegu? That’s a little outside your normal stomping grounds, isn’t it?”

“To answer the first question, I have no idea. That’s part of why I don’t want to tell the girls just yet. As for the second, I was passing through to Busan, where the Honmoon is weaker…”

Bobby clicked his tongue. “How many…?”

“None.”

“But I thought you said it was weaker there?”

“I did…” She let out a sigh and her voice dropped. “Which is the second reason why I’m not wanting to tell the girls yet.” As down as she sounded, there was a small amount of hope in her voice.

It took Bobby a moment for him to realize why that might be. “Wait, Celine, are you saying–”

“I’m saying nothing yet, but… it’s possible. I don’t want to get her hopes up. But… I want to find him. For me. This might be selfish, but… I want to… I don’t know. Probably tell him some things I should have the first time… Or strangle him for vanishing completely out Rumi’s life when she realized she didn’t have a father… I suppose that one is my own fault.”

Bobby swapped ears as he entered the hotel lobby. “You didn’t help him, but… it does sound like it was his own choice to run at the end there.”

Celine sighed on the other end. “I know, I know… I just keep ruminating on it.”

Bobby chuckled as he went into where the hotel was serving breakfast. “Ruminating on it, huh?” He grabbed a tray and started going through the line. “Sounds like you’ve been listening to the therapist I recommended?”

Celine chuckled on her end. “Yes, well, it’s slow going. I’m not telling him some things obviously but it’s rough. Rough, but good.” She let out a heavy sigh and then said, “Thank you, Bobby.”

“Of course.” He paused in his stacking of sausages on the plate before quietly asking, “Have you…”

“Zoey and Rumi, yes. Zoey reached out a day or two afterwards. She’s good at hiding it, but she’s still upset. I think she just doesn’t want to fight. Rumi… Rumi and I are getting there. We’ve had a few conversations. They went well… better than I deserve.”

Celine fell quiet after that. Bobby let the silence linger as he focused on pouring out several cups of coffee and got them on the tray. “And Mira?” he asked while lifting the tray up and making his way to the elevator.

Celine sighed. “It’s been a few weeks, and she hasn’t reached out at all.” There was silence as Bobby thought about how to respond to that, but before he could find something, Celine continued, “I’m not surprised… Mira is… she’s wonderful for the girls. Mira says her weapon is a gok-do because it keeps people at arm’s length like she does. But I don’t think that’s it at all. It lets her reach over and protect the others easier. It was a rough start for them. But since they really clicked together as a team, she’s done her absolute best to protect Zoey and Rumi from anything.”

Bobby clicked the button to the elevator. It took a couple tries trying to hit it with his elbow. It probably would have been easier to put the tray down on the ground and then hit the button, but that honestly hadn’t occurred to him till after the button was pressed.

Celine sighed. “And even knowing that, I made Rumi keep a dangerous secret from her…” Bobby opened his mouth to say something, but then Celine cut him off before he could even start. “How are they doing?”

“Good! Good…” Bobby trailed off as he pinned the tray between him and the wall of the elevator, giving him a free hand to hit the button for their floor. “The girls have been literally inseparable. Rumi and Mira even joined in every time Zoey took me to a gun range. Zoey has been loving sharing that with us. Apparently she really likes shooting.”

The doors opened and Bobby stepped out into the hallway. “As for Rumi,” he continued, “She’s been on a shopping spree. Well, really Zoey and Mira are the ones on the shopping spree. Rumi is just along for the ride and loving it. Rumi told me the other day that she feels like the other girls’ dress-up doll. She tried to sound put out about it, but she had an ear-to-ear grin.”

Celine laughed. “That’s good to hear. I’m… I’m glad she’s comfortable. And Mira?””

Bobby laughed. “I had to tell Mira that she needs to put at least a lil bit of space between her and the others while in public. There were a couple social media posts of people saying stuff like, ‘No one is taking them away from you, Mira,’ and the like. It’s funny, that’d be such a scandal with other bands, but Huntr/x’s fans are practically encouraging it.”

Celine hummed. “I have noticed that actually. I think there’s a possibility that the Honmoon is possibly protecting them from backlash from their fans.”

Bobby froze in the hallway. “Excuse me, what?”

“The Honmoon is a magical force that we hunters maintain by drawing on the energy from our fans. It’s not just something we use, but every fan puts a little bit of themselves in it. I… don’t think it’s impossible that the Honmoon maintains a connection back to the fans and tries to keep them happy with us so they keep being fans.” There was movement on the other side of the phone as Celine switched ears on her side. “None of the other hunters have mentioned something like that in the records, but also the Honmoon has never been this strong before. For example, in the five hundred years of records we have, there has never been a single person important enough to be mentioned across two generations of hunters… until you.”

“I’m that special, huh?” Bobby laughed. “I knew it.” Bobby started walking again. “Hey, Celine, sorry, I need to go here.”

“Understood, give the girls my love… if they’ll accept it.”

“I will. Bye Celine and good luck.”

“Thank you, Bobby.”

The phone call ended before Bobby could once again tell her it was no problem. He put the tray down in front of a door before pocketing his phone. He knocked a couple times before picking up the tray again.

Half a minute later, the door opened, revealing Zoey still rubbing sleep out of her eyes. Zoey was practically drowning in Rumi’s oversized sweater. “Bobby?” Zoey mumbled. Suddenly the sleepiness vanished. “Oh! Shoot, did we miss our alarm? I’m sorry! We’ll get up–”

“No, no, you still have a few minutes!” Bobby got in. He raised the breakfast tray in front of him. Zoey smiled brightly and opened the door a little more to let him in. He walked in and put it on the dresser, noting that despite there being two beds in the room, one was completely untouched.

Mira looked up from where she was slipping a pillow into a still sleeping Rumi’s arms. “What smells good?” she asked.

“Bacon!” Zoey cheered, grabbing a slice right off the plate and tearing into it with gusto.

“And coffee,” Bobby said, keeping his voice low for Rumi. He grabbed a mug and handed it to Mira.

“Thank you, Bobby,” Mira muttered into the mug. The sleep still had not quite left her.

“It’s no problem,” Bobby said, once again. He chuckled to himself as he thought back to Celine cutting the call before he could tell her that again. “I enjoy taking care of you girls, and well, I was already up.”

Mira narrowed her eyes, and looked him over. She took a long sip from the mug before putting it down on the nightstand next to her. “What happened?”

Bobby waved her off. “Nothing I couldn’t handle. I just had to call Celine for part of it. The rift didn’t close on its own.”

Zoey giggled as she grabbed a sausage off one of the other plates. “Good to know all the time we spent in the range was worth it!”

“And…” Mira began slowly, “how is Celine?”

Bobby set his mug down. “She’s… she’s good. Busy, but good.” He shrugged. “She and I talked a little bit on the way back. She’s running around Korea.”

“Why?” Mira asked. She kept her gaze on Bobby. At least, until he looked at her; then she looked away from him and grabbed her coffee again.

“Well, she didn’t want me to tell you three because she doesn’t want to worry you guys. I can agree with her on that. I don’t want it bothering you during this tour, but you three should also know. It’s nothing that needs to be handled now, so it can wait, but if you want I don’t mind telling you now.”

Zoey slowed down as she ate. She bit her lip as she looked between Mira and Bobby. Mira huffed. “Tell us. I don’t care. We should know.”

Bobby sighed. “The Honmoon seems to be getting weaker–”

“Shit.”

“But the key word is seems to be. The areas you’ve been performing? The Honmoon is different. Celine told me it was like a bed instead of concrete.”

Mira blinked as she processed that. Zoey hummed and grabbed another piece of bacon. “I think I understand?”

Mira turned toward Zoey and raised an eyebrow. “You do?”

Zoey nodded. She hopped a few times in place, and Bobby could feel the Honmoon shift underneath him as she did so. “Well, the Honmoon is a barrier right? It’s always been firm. But like… a bed is solid, but it’s still inviting because it’s softer.”

Mira looked toward Bobby and he shrugged. “I think that’s kind of what Celine was getting at too? She also called it pliable.”

“What does this mean?” Mira asked quietly. “For us?”

Bobby shrugged. “Dunno. It’s why Celine didn’t want to tell you girls. She’s willing to let it play out.”

Mira scoffed. “That doesn’t sound like Celine.”

Bobby laughed. “That’s what I said too, actually.”

Mira folded her arms. “I know what my old family was like. What’s she playing at?”

Bobby met Mira’s eyes and held her gaze. “That part, she told me in confidence and… I think it’s worth keeping that part quiet.”

“Really?” Mira practically spat. “People are dying ‘cause of–”

“They aren’t.” Bobby cut off. Mira leaned back slightly at that. Bobby shrugged again. “It sounds like no one has died yet, despite the rifts opening.”

“That… that doesn’t make any sense?” Zoey looked between Mira and Bobby again. “If rifts are opening…”

Mira’s eyes suddenly widened and she glanced in Rumi’s direction. Zoey gasped as she made the same connection. “Does this mean–”

Bobby shook his head. “Well, that's out of the bag. But, she doesn’t know. Another thing she’s trying to figure out. She was thinking of keeping this all quiet till after the tour.”

Zoey nodded. “I… can see that now. This is gonna bug me for a while.”

Mira snorted. “Me too, but I’d rather know. Thanks Bobby.”

Bobby shrugged. “If Celine asks, I didn’t tell you two anything. I just said there were rifts opening and you two made the connection when no one was showing up missing.”

Zoey hummed. “Should we tell Rumi?” She whispered.

Bobby looked between the girls. “I don’t know how I’d feel in her position, so maybe when she wakes up–”

“I’m awake,” Rumi said from her spot in the bed. “Zoey is loud.”

“Sorry!”

“It’s okay,” Rumi said. She tightened her grip on the pillow, before pushing it away and reaching out for Mira. They entwined their hands together and Rumi sighed. “I don’t know how I feel about it either. I…”

“You don’t need to know,” Bobby said. “And… we don’t know if he’s why nothing has happened.”

Zoey sat down on the bed and put a hand on Rumi’s shoulder. Rumi’s patterns glowed at the touch, and she rolled over and wrapped her arms around Zoey’s midsection. Zoey smiled and started running her fingers over Rumi’s scalp. “Is it bad that I kind of hope he isn’t? That my father didn’t just fuck off to anywhere for all these years?”

Mira hummed. “Well, take it from someone who has shitty parents. He might be your father, but he isn’t your family.”

Rumi relaxed. “Yeah… I got a better one.” She sat up slowly. She let go of Zoey, but her hand found its way into hers at the same time as Mira reached out and took her other hand. Rumi huffed through her nose. “I have you three here with me now.”

A lesser man than Bobby would claim he wasn’t crying. Bobby, however, would gladly admit that brought tears to his eyes.

Rumi, as if aware that she was two seconds away from making Bobby bawl like a baby, looked him in the eyes. “And yes, Bobby, I am including you in this. I’m… I’m so thankful you’re in my life.” Bobby wasn’t sure if he saw her swallow or if that was the tears in his eyes forming. “The last time I talked to Celine, she mentioned every hunter has their own unique skill. Mira can read it better than any, and Zoey can easily close rifts… but I never seemed to have one.” This must have been news to Mira and Zoey cause they snapped their attention to Rumi. Rumi straightened her back and pulled on the girls. “Celine thinks it’s because of my demonic heritage.”

Mira started standing. “Excuse me? I–”

Rumi pulled her back down. “Let me finish,” she chided. She pulled Mira in and wrapped her arm around her in a hug. And as Mira melted into Rumi’s side, he hoped that Celine was right that the Honmoon kept the girls from having too big a scandal. “She thinks the talents hunters develop is a uniqueness that the Honmoon creates based on our personalities as we draw on it. It’s the Honmoon trying to help us. Because of my demonic heritage, the fact that I’m naturally stronger than a normal human, the Honmoon doesn’t need to help me as much. So it gives the excess to Mira and Zoey. They are stronger hunters than the previous generation because of my heritage, not in spite of it. But… lately I’ve been wondering if my talent was you, Bobby.”

Bobby took a deep breath in through his nose, then slowly exhaled it. “Girls, I am about to really start crying here, and I’m an ugly crier, okay?”

Zoey laughed and leaned on Rumi, nestling her chin on Rumi’s shoulder like it belonged there. “We know, Bobby.”

Rumi laughed too, but she looked down at the comforter covering her legs. “I don’t know how I feel about my father being alive. But… I don’t care. He’s not my family. You three in this room are, and… as much you hate it Mira, Celine is too.” Mira looked away and grumbled something, but Rumi took a deep breath and sighed. “I have better things to focus on. Like–”

Suddenly all of their phones went off as their individual alarms went off. The girls groaned, with Zoey and Mira climbing out off the bed. Rumi sighed and finished, “Like getting out of here and getting on our flight. Gotta keep the fans happy.”

“Happy fans…” Bobby started as he made his way out.

“Happy Honmooon!” the girls finished, before falling into a fit of giggles.

Bobby closed the door behind him and smiled to himself. They’d be alright, as long as the Honmoon let him help them. He’d make sure of that. After all, he really did love his girls.