Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The threads were Golden. The Honmoon was sealed. And Rumi was falling.

She didn't know what had hit her. One moment she had been reaching for Zoey and Mira's hands in the dark, waiting for the lights to come back up for their bows. Then something had collapsed down on her and knocked her to the floor.

But she had kept falling.

She had been flying over the Idol Awards just a few minutes ago. She had sealed the Honmoon with their song. She had done her duty and saved the world. Why was it dark? Where were her girls? Why was she still falling?

She hit the ground still standing as if she had never moved but the force of the landing rattled though her; the only sign that she had truly dropped The jarring feeling in her legs knocked her to the floor in earnest. And this time there was a floor to fall to. She couldn't get her hands up in time to keep her head from colliding with the ground.

Stars exploded behind her eyes as chaos exploded around her. Growls and shouts approached quickly, the voices vaguely familiar through her daze. She felt sharp claws brush her arm before a roar rattled her bones and the claws were dragged away before they could get a grip on her. Everything beyond that was muddled and fuzzy, more from the shock of her odd decent than the collision with the dirt. (Dirt?) She need to get up. There were snarls and the distinct thumps of a fight all around her.

Rumi lost track of even the dirt below her for a moment and came back to herself to the feeling of arms around her. She tried to struggle, to lash out, but she was still disoriented and the quick movements made her nauseous. The hands easily fended off her attack with mumbled comfort that she couldn't parse but the claws didn't bite into her skin like the others had tried to. They lifted her into the air and tucked her close before beginning to move. Whoever held her carried her away from the fight and the shouts quickly faded into the distance. She heard the familiar cry of a magpie and a hushed voice answered. And then she faded into unconsciousness.

---

Rumi woke up with her cheek buried in soft fur. She must have fallen asleep in Zoey's room. It was very easy to sink into Zoey's mountain of stuffed animals and just drift off surrounded by the soft plushes. Rumi kept her eyes closed and reached out a hand to try to find Zoey beside her but didn't find anything except more fur. Zoey should be there. She was never willing to stick to the bed if one of the girls had fallen asleep all but on the floor. Though...did she have any plushes that were this big? Or ones that breathed? Or had gurgling stomachs?

Rumi sat up in a rush, then had to lay back down as she was overwhelmed by dizziness.

"Easy," a nearby voice said. "You've had a bit of a shock."

She blinked one eye open as the dizziness faded. A familiar face sat across from her in the dim blue light but with her eyes fuzzy with sleep and the lack of overhead lights she couldn't catch any other details of her surroundings. "Jinu? What's going on. How did it get this dark? The last thing I remember—"

"The Idol Awards stage?" Jinu asked. She nodded as it started trickling back to her. "Yeah. You girls did it. You sealed the Golden Honmoon. No more demons."

Rumi sat up again, more slowly this time. But once she was upright she rushed to brush her sleeves up to check her arms. The patterns were still there, bruising a dark purple into her skin. She couldn't hold back a sob. "We didn't do it. The patterns would be gone."

"No, trust me. You did it."

Rumi looked around at their surroundings. They clearly weren't in the studio anymore. Unless the Idol Awards had a room with crumbling stone walls, rocks and dirt on the ground, and Jinu's tiger had managed to sneak in; because that was the pillow that Rumi had mistaken for a stuffed animal. Even Jinu looked as rough as their surroundings. His human glamour was gone and his patterns and claws were on full display. Only his eyes remained a rich brown instead of the demonic gold. His dark dress shirt was mangled and there were scratch marks gouged into his shoulders, but he wasn't bleeding. He wouldn't be, demons didn't bleed (most demons).

"What happened to you?" Rumi wiped her eyes with one hand and reached out to the injuries with concern. Her desire to help him momentarily distracted her from the mysteries of her still-there patterns and wherever she had woken up. Though she didn't know if there was any way for her to help. She didn't really know demon first aid; just the opposite.

Jinu looked down at the scratches as if he were seeing them for the first time. "Oh these? Don't worry about them. It's nothing. This one was Mystery I think. And the other side might have been Abby. Or probably Romance. I was too busy getting us away to pay attention."

"Away? What about Mira and Zoey? Are they okay? I need to get back to them."

"Rumi—" Jinu said, trying to be gentle in a way she hadn't seen from him before, "—you're friends should be fine. They're safe on the other side."

"The other side?"

Jinu pointed up.

It wasn't a studio ceiling she found when she looked up. Or even the night sky. They didn't really get stars in the center of Seoul but Rumi didn't think she had ever seen a sky so dark and empty. There was nothing up there but a deep blue that faded into a heavy murky darkness.

As she looked for anything; a plane, a star, something, a light like a firework shot up into the sky and crashed against the blue as if it were actually a ceiling. The firework fizzled and fell away but the area it had hit glowed with a golden light like the threads of the Honmoon had started to turn. Had turned. Had sealed.

"No," Rumi whispered.

"Yep," Juni sighed.

---

Jinu didn't know it but he was wrong on two counts. Zoey and Mira were not on the other side and they were definitely not fine or safe. They weren't injured, their fall had been more controlled than Rumi's, but they were currently stuck hiding in a ditch from a very large gang of demons. And, more pressingly, they didn't know where Rumi was.

It had been at least an hour since they had left Celine and dove into the underworld after their missing groupmate. Probably longer but it wasn't easy to judge time down here, with no sun to show it passing. Right now the only time they cared about was the time that might turn into distance between them and Rumi.

"For some reason I thought this would be easier," Zoey whispered as they watched the demons skulking around their hiding place. "I didn't realize the demon realm was so big."

Mira made a noise of agreement while she also tried to hear what the demons were saying. She hated stealth. She itched to just take care of the demons so they could keep moving and searching. But when they killed a demon it was sent back to Gwi-Ma and they really didn't want him to know they were here until they could no longer keep it a secret. It helped a little that the demons appeared to be just as worried as they were, if for opposite reasons.

"They just said something about looking for 'the Hunter'," Mira realized aloud in a hiss to Zoey.

"Us or Rumi?"

"If they knew we were here they probably would have attacked us by now."

"So Rumi got away," Zoey said with a sigh of relief.

"But we still don't know where she is."

They ducked back as two of the demons ventured a little too close to their ditch. Zoey waited until they had walked away again to continue whispering. "If Gwi-Ma doesn't have her then she would probably try to get as far away from him as possible." Zoey gestured to the very conspicuous glow of the giant fire that lit up the horizon to their left.

Mira followed the gesture."Or she would stay close so she could easily charge in for an attack when she was ready." 'It's what I would do,' she didn't add. If Mira had found herself dragged into the underworld she would do everything in her power to make sure Gwi-Ma regretted it.

Zoey shook her head. "She doesn't know the terrain. Rumi would want to regroup. Make a plan."

"She does love plans."

---

"So what's the plan?"

Rumi ran her hands through the fur of the tiger, still leaning on his solid presence. The big cat rumbled contentedly and hadn't moved since she had woken up. "Why do you expect me to come up with a plan?"

Jinu shrugged. "It's your turn. I fulfilled our deal and got us somewhere safe."

Rumi raised an eyebrow.

"Safer," Jinu conceded. "We're away from the Saja Boys at least."

"I'm sorry to have to disappoint you but I don't have any more plans. I'm all planned out. Maybe you should have just let them take me to Gwi-Ma."

"Rumi—"

"Are you already forgetting how well my last plan turned out?"

Jinu let out a frustrated huff. "Okay, yes. You were wrong about your Golden Honmoon being able to save us. But at least you tried. Now you just want to give up? What happened to all of your big speeches about hope? About fixing mistakes?"

Rumi groaned and pushed herself to her feet, needing to get away from the comfort of the tiger. She didn't deserve it. "I did fix the mistakes Jinu, or can't you tell." She pointed up to the threads of her crowning achievement. "Clearly we were just too much to fix."

She stormed out of the dilapidated structure they had been hiding in.

"Rumi wait." Jinu jumped to his feet to follow her but he got tangled up crashing into the tiger trying to do the same. "It's not safe out there," he called after her.

Rumi didn't stop. She was burning with her mistakes. With her failures. She dragged her jacket off and loosened the zipper at her collar, hoping it would help her breathe and calm down. Her patterns glowed with an angry pink that only stressed her out more but she still threw the jacket angrily into the dirt away from her. What was the point of it anymore. She didn't need to hide her patterns down here.

She'd be the first to admit that there were worse ways things could have gone (Zoey and Mira seeing her like this for one) but being trapped in the demon realm with a guy she half-the-time couldn't stand was probably on her top ten worst list. This was supposed to be her moment. Her freedom. Her chance to have a normal international-pop-star-life with her girls.

Rumi collapsed to the dust in a heap. She propped her arms up on her knees and tucked her face into the crook of her elbow. At least she had managed to give that life to Zoey and Mira. Before she had left them.

She could hear Jinu approach behind her, humming a song so he wouldn't startle her. She was surprised to recognize it as one of her own songs instead of one of his.

"I didn't know you were a fan," Rumi mumbled.

Jinu hummed a small laugh. "Know the enemy, right?."

Instead of coming up next to her, Jinu stopped a few paces away. She peaked out over her arm to see why. Jinu picked up Rumi's jacket, folded it carefully, and fit it into a satchel he had found somewhere.

"Too many things are illusions down here," he said. "You shouldn't throw away things that are real. Especially outside the light of Gwi-Ma's fire."

Rumi huffed but didn't argue. He walked over and sat down next to her in the dirt, leaving plenty of space between them for her comfort. The tiger came up to her other side and flopped heavily against her, leaving no space.

They sat in silence. Rumi wasn't actually seeing the horizon she was looking at. Jinu studied it intently for signs of pursuit. "I lied to you. Before," he eventually said.

Rumi ducked her head and laughed humorlessly. "Of course you did."

"I let you believe that my mother and sister came to the palace with me. After I made my deal with Gwi-Ma. They didn't. I left them. To suffer. And I lived a life of luxury alone." She looked over to him but he refused to meet her eyes, still pointedly observing the landscape.

"Why are you telling me now?" she asked.

Jinu shrugged. He didn't know how to explain how much their deal had changed everything for him, even if it had failed. He tapped the hand-crafted bracelet that he now wore around his wrist. "Helping you win the Idol Awards was the first good thing I've done in more than 400 years. If you could convince me to do that, then maybe there's nothing you can't do."

Rumi thought about what he said, looking at him out of the corner of her eye. "It wasn't."

"Hmm?" Jinu asked, finally looking over to meet her eyes. He wasn't sure which part she was contradicting.

"It wasn't the first good thing. You helped me hide my patterns. In the bath house." She looked away and traced her finger across a pattern on her arm, shy all of a sudden. "Before you knew me. Before any of this. If I had been exposed then, everything would have come crashing down around me. Your plan would have worked. Gwi-Ma would have won. But you saw that I was scared and you helped me hide."

"Maybe I was protecting a fellow demon," Jinu countered, leaning over to bump her shoulder with his.

Rumi scoffed. "Do you really expect me to believe that your so-called selfishness doesn't extend to other demons." He looked away. "No, I think—I know, you were being kind."

Jinu grumbled a noncommittal answer and they sat together in silence. Neither able to feel ashamed of the deeds that had brought them here.

---

Mira was going to grind her teeth into dust. It had been bad enough when they were just hiding from the average wandering demon horde but now it felt like every demon they came across was singing that horrible Saja Boys song and it was driving her crazy. It felt like Gwi-Ma was targeting her specifically, even though he had no reason to know she was here.

Mira wasn't about to let Soda Pop push her over the edge. Just because they were being bombarded by the song didn't mean Mira would let that interfere with their monumentally important stealth mission. Soda Pop would not be the thing that revealed them. Mira would not let it win.

It was almost a relief when a pair of demons stumbled into view while the girls were in-between hiding places. It was simple bad luck. And if one of them happened to be singing the stupid pop tune that was bad luck for them. No one could blame Mira for being eager to finally finally be able to take some of her growing anger out on the song.

The singing demon hadn't even been the one to spot them. Their friend was still pointing them out when Mira's gok-do flew through the air and through the singer's side. Zoey's shin-kal had flown at the other demon seconds later and they both burst into a cloud of pink dust together. But that was it. Gwi-Ma would finally know that the Hunters were in his realm.

The girls had no choice but to run. If they made it far enough away maybe the next hunting party wouldn't be able to track them.

"Maybe we should split up?" Zoey suggested as they ran. "Let them still think there's only one Hunter here. Maybe pull the heat off of Rumi."

"No!" Mira said with so much force that she had to gasp a breath of air in to keep running and breathing at the same time. "No splitting up. I'm not losing you in this place too."

After they had put a good distance between them and the dusted demons, they tried to resume their stealthy search. But more hunting parties appeared and staying out of sight became harder and harder. Soon the were spotted again. And then again. After defeating the fourth swarm to catch them, Mira was feeling ready to ditch the stealth entirely. Maybe battling loudly through Gwi-Ma's forces would draw Rumi to them instead.

After dispatching the final demon of the latest group, the last thing they expected to hear was a new song ringing out over the wasteland. The Saja Boy's hadn't released any songs besides Soda Pop. And even if the had, the song that drifted to their ears now was noticeably out of place in Gwi-Ma's realm. It was old for Mira and Zoey but way too recent for your average centuries-old demons. Familiar but strange. A Hunter's song. But sung by a demon.

Zoey recognized it before she knew it. Almost started singing along before it properly started. Mira needed a full stanza before she understood what they were hearing.

"Is that a Sunlight Sister's song?"

"It is," Zoey said, putting her back to Mira's as they both looked around for the singer with their weapons raised. No one should be singing a Hunter's song here except for them or Rumi. And this demon wasn't even trying to imitate her voice.

The silhouette that approached slowly out of the fog had the Hunters' hands tensing on their weapons. The tall hat and long flowing hanbok screamed Saja but the face that came into view out of the fog wasn't one of the five they had been forced to become familiar with.

Zoey thought he had kind eyes. Mira thought she had had enough of Saja's, Boy or Jeoseung, to last a lifetime. Both were intrigued by the retro headphones hanging around his neck that trailed a cord down to a pocket.

Normally neither Hunter would hesitate. Normally they would have already moved on though a fresh cloud of pink dust. But normal hadn't done them any favors lately and the strange demon wasn't attacking them yet.

The demon stopped in front of them, just out of Mira's gok-do's reach. They stared at each other in a silent stand-off.

"What do you want?" Mira eventually growled out.

The demon examined both of their faced intently. "I am looking for a Hunter. But I never expected to find two."

"Why would you expect to find any Hunters in the demon realm?" Zoey challenged with a poor attempt at a casual laugh.

The demon gave her a dry look, eyes still darting around as if he were examining every feature of her face. They all knew it was a stupid question. There was no doubt that Gwi-Ma knew that all three Hunters were here by now and he would have sent all of his forces out to find them. But the demon chose not to helpfully regale them with his lord's evil plans.

"Does your teacher know you are here?" he asked instead.

The question threw them both for a loop. Zoey and Mira's eyes met as they silently tried to figure out the demon's game and if there was any leverage gained from truth or lies.

"She does," Zoey said cautiously.

The answer surprised him. "Is she not proud of her achievement? She sends her Hunters to rub salt in the wound?"

"She didn't achieve shit," Mira snapped. "We did all the work. Though, you know what? We didn't achieve shit either."

"We didn't say she sent us," Zoey said. She gave Mira a wide-eyed look and that was fair. After deliberating a simple answer to a simple question Mira was now letting her frustrations start to spill out with way too much honesty. She had to rein herself back.

The demon was surprisingly easy to read. His open expression of confused interest was strangely familiar. Mira found it annoyingly comforting at a time where she needed to stay on guard. She didn't know how but she could somehow tell when he had figured out whatever was puzzling him before he said another word.

"You are looking for her too."

Zoey's fingers twitched but her knives stayed in her hands; the demon still wasn't attacking. And they hadn't learned what he gained from singing a Sunlight Sister's song. If all he wanted was their hesitation he would have attacked by now.

"We're going to bring her home," Zoey threatened with an uncharacteristic growl in her voice that made Mira shiver.

A grin slowly grew across the demon's face. "You have followed her into hell? My daughter is blessed in her companions."

Chapter Text

"Wait wait wait wait wait! Daughter?" All of Zoey's hostility switched over to giddy excitement in a nanosecond that had Mira reeling to keep up. She dispelled her shin-kal before Mira had a chance to grumble a protest. Forcing Mira to step forward to do her best to nudge Zoey behind her and keep her polearm at the ready at the same time. "You're really him? You're Rumi's dad?"

The demon gave them a polite introductory bow. Zoey bowed reflexively in return. Mira pointedly did not shift out of her defensive stance. "You have heard about me?" he asked.

"Yeah, uh, not much but Celine told us. Before we came."

"Ah."

"Prove it," Mira demanded. She already knew it was the truth. She had recognized it in him in spite of the patterns, claws, and glowing eyes. But, after everything they had learned in the past day, blindly trusting even their instincts wasn't a luxury they could afford. And even if he was Rumi's father it didn't mean he was on their side.

Still, she didn't expect him to pull out a photograph of all things as proof. He looked at it fondly before holding it out to them.

Zoey squealed and shook Mira's arm with one hand as she grabbed forward for the picture. She held it up for Mira to see it too. "Look Mira!!! Baby Rumi!! So cuuuute!!!"

Mira agreed baby Rumi was very cute. And the picture was definitive; the demon standing beside Mi-yeong and holding the purple-haired baby was the man standing before them. But that still didn't guarantee that he was trustworthy. Mira's tone remained hostile as she demanded to know, "What do you want with Rumi?"

"The same thing as you do. If it is truly possible, I wish for her to go home. When the Honmoon was sealed and I heard that Gwi-Ma was hunting a Hunter, I knew that the worst had happened. That the Golden Honmoon did not allow exceptions."

"You don't want her here with you?" Zoey asked, hurt on Rumi's behalf.

The demon grimaced at even the idea. "My Rumi deserves better than this place. If I had wished this life for my daughter I would have taken her from Celine long ago."

"You think you could have fought Celine?" Mira said skeptically.

"Goodness no!" Rumi's dad said, looking terrified at just the thought. "I would have spirited my girl away in the night. Have you seen Celine fight?" He shivered.

Mira was almost mad that she was starting to like him.

"Yeah, she's scary," Zoey agreed.

"Isn't it dangerous for you to be singing Hunter songs down here?" Mira asked, not bothering to segue into the change of topic. She wasn't sure how long the lull of safety would last and they needed as many questions answered as possible before the next search party found them.

"It is more dangerous to not," Rumi's dad said cryptically. "And it lets me feel close to Mi-yeong."

"Do you ever sing any of our songs?" Zoey asked curiously.

"I've never had the pleasure of hearing them," he said with apologetic sadness. "We don't really hear much new music here. Except for that blasted soda song."

His clear disdain for Soda Pop endeared him to Mira more than anything else so far aside from his connection to Rumi. It was official. She liked this demon. "That sucks. You should get to hear good music, even in the demon realm."

Rumi's dad hesitated and Mira recognized something in it again. His eyes shifted away like Rumi's would when she would pause before asking for something she thought would be too much trouble. "Perhaps you could sing one for me? Please? You could sing your victory song."

It didn't seem fair; Rumi's dad's first Hunter/x song not having Rumi there to sing it. It was already horribly unfair that Rumi hadn't met her dad first. Mira and Zoey hadn't know a thing about him yesterday and yet somehow they had met him before his own daughter.

"Shouldn't you get to hear it from Rumi first?" Zoey asked.

"It is her song too, yes? She is a part of it, I will hear her in it," he promised them.

The girls met each others eyes. They pointedly hadn't sang anything since they had arrived in the underworld. Mira worried it would draw too much attention to them. Zoey feared it would accidentally hurt the very (half-)demon they were there to find. They both half-believed it might drag them back to the human world and forever away from Rumi.

But the demon before them sang a Hunter's song. If they could trust him (could they?) he likely knew what he was doing and asking for.

Still, Mira wasn't comfortable singing the song exactly as written. Not without Rumi. She glanced at Zoey one more time, took a breath, and began. "♪She was a ghost. She was alone. Hah—"

The demon closed his eyes to savor the sound of the song. As Zoey picked up her own section, Mira could see the star-shine glow of her soul begin to brighten visibly in her chest, right over her heart. She suspected the warmth she felt in her own chest as Zoey sang meant the same was showing in her own skin.

She looked over to Rumi's father, almost expecting the same. Even if it was his first time hearing the song, any of their songs, he clearly enjoyed their sound. But as much as he appeared to be appreciating the music, he still looked the same as he had before. He was a demon, they couldn't connect to the Honmoon. Though maybe it wasn't just a trick of the ever-present darkness that caused his patterns to seem a little lighter while they sang.

He was right, you could hear Rumi all over the song. Even without her voice. The two of them sang louder as they pushed the limits of their voices through the chorus and they could feel their connection to Rumi answering, though it was muffled by the weight of the Golden Honmoon above them.

---

"Do you hear that?" Rumi asked Jinu. They were hidden again, back in their alcove and working on a plan. Though they hadn't yet gotten much farther than 'keep hiding.'

He picked his head up and looked around. "Maybe. Something faint. Can you tell what it is?"

"It's not faint," Rumi said. She clambered to her feet and turned her head, trying to focus on it's direction. She knew those voices. She knew that song. She couldn't see them but they sounded like they were just over the hill. "How could you think that sounds faint. It's getting louder."

"Rumi," Jinu hissed. "It's not safe. Especially if someone is out there singing. It's probably a trap."

It could very well be a trap. They were in Gwi-Ma's realm. Mira and Zoey couldn't possibly be here. And Rumi could very easily picture a world where demons could fool her with a song sung by her dearest friends. But as Jinu tried to pull her back into the shadows they sheltered under, Rumi felt in her soul that it wasn't true now. She didn't know why they were here. Couldn't care to figure out how they got here. All that mattered in that one moment was that her girls were truly out there and they were calling for her.

"Waited so long to break these walls down," Rumi whispered to herself, "To wake up and feel like me." She looked back to Jinu, still trying to gently pull her back into safety. Rumi laughed a little as she shook his hand off and joined in to the song properly. "♪No more hiding—

"♪—We'll be shining—" It was all Mira and Zoey could do to keep singing as a voice echoed back at them. Rumi's dad's head whipped in the same direction as the two of theirs as they all looked to see where it came from. In the distance they found a third light beginning to shine like the sun on the horizon.

There she was.

Zoey met Mira's eye, a manic grin growing on her face that had been missing since they had last crossed the Idol Award's stage. Mira matched it with a thin smirk. "♪—Cause we are Hunters, voices strong—," they sang as Mira shook out her arms and coiled into a ready stance and Zoey bounced on the balls of her feet. They didn't have to do it on the beat but it always made things more fun.

"♪We're goin' up, up, up—" They ran. Rumi's dad had to scramble to try to catch up as two-thirds of Hunter/x took off in the direction of their number one fan.

---

Rumi was running. She didn't know when she had started. She didn't know how far behind she had left Jinu. All she knew was the song and the pounding of her feet in the place of drums.

Ahead of her two voices were getting even louder. Two lights were growing closer, and forming into shadowed shapes; one taller than her, one shorter. The shadows became figures and the figures became people. Appearing in front of her, still in their costumes from Golden, Mira and Zoey had found her.

They all stopped suddenly in their tracks about 5 meters away from each other as they reached the end of the song. Rumi had run to them without a thought but now that they were here she didn't know what to do. She couldn't help but bringing her arms up to hug her bare shoulders, hiding the patterns from her friends instinctively as the marks flashed with a pink glow.

"Don't." Mira choked the word around a mournful hiss. Zoey and Rumi looked on in shock as she stumbled forward, almost falling but catching herself for the steps necessary to take her far enough to collapse into Rumi. Mira burst into tears, mumbling something into Rumi's shirt.

Rumi and Zoey froze, meeting each others eyes over Mira's shaking shoulders. If she didn't know in her heart that this was truly her fellow Hunters, and if Zoey hadn't looked just as shocked, Rumi might have started to agree with Jinu about this being a trap. It wasn't that Mira wasn't a crier; they all had shed their fair share of tears. But Mira was rarely, practically never, the first one to start crying.

"Is she—?" Zoey started, "What is she saying?"

Rumi had to concentrate to distinguish the word that Mira was repeating like a mantra in between sobs. When she finally parsed the sounds she relaxed, bringing her arms up to hug Mira tight.

"She's calling me 'stupid' over and over again," Rumi admitted to Zoey, voice a little shaky with her own tears starting.

"Oh. She's right." Zoey rushed forward to join in the hug and began to cry as well. "This was a bad plan Rumi. Your worst ever."

"I didn't know this would happen," Rumi protested through her tears.

"We figured it out as soon as Celine told us everything," Mira stopped chanting to grumble into her shirt.

"That's easy to say after its already happened," Rumi grumbled back. Then the sobs almost took over again. "I'm so sorry that I wasn't the one to tell you two about everything. I was so sure that the golden Honmoon would fix it all and make things easier to explain."

"We're just glad you're okay," Zoey said. She squeezed them both tighter. "We were so worried, right Mira?"

Mira didn't answer but she also clutched tighter to Rumi.

Zoey leaned back and wiped the tears from her eyes, trying to keep her other arm still wrapped around both girls and just take in that Rumi was back with them. And that she was okay.

Zoey unconsciously brushed her knuckles across the bruise on Rumi's cheek. It was small enough that she hadn't spotted it from further away. She was relieved that she didn't see any other injuries but while she was checking, she caught movement out of the corner of her eye sneaking up on them behind Rumi. The demon—not just a demon—the Saja Boy reached out a claw to Rumi's back.

Zoey lashed out before he could react and grabbed the extended hand. She latched onto his wrist and twisted, pulling him off balance and flipping him bodily past her hip. He hit the ground. Hard. And Zoey used her grip on his arm to roll him onto his face in the dirt and twist the arm behind his back. She had a golden shin-kal against the side of his neck by the time Rumi finally called out.

"Wait."

Zoey froze and looked up. Rumi was still trapped in Mira's arms. In fact, Mira had shifted somewhat to put herself between Rumi and the danger while Zoey had been moving. But Rumi had a hand held out around her to stop Zoey.

"He's with me," Rumi said.

Zoey looked back down at the Saja Boy she had pinned.

"Um...hi," Jinu said, his voice muffled by his face pressed into the dirt. Like Rumi, he was still wearing the same clothing from the Idol awards. Though his was more tattered and he was significantly more injured than Rumi, with visible scratches across his shoulders.

"Jinu helped us seal the Honmoon," Rumi explained.

"That's not points in his favor," Mira mumbled. She hurriedly brushed the tears from her eyes now that they were no longer alone.

"I can't say I'm happy with it either," Jinu said.

"I didn't ask, Saja Boy," Mira growled at him.

"He's protected me since we got here."

"Hmph." Mira still eyed Jinu skeptically

Zoey caught movement behind Rumi for a second time but in the other direction. She recognized this demon sooner as their own companion finally caught up to them. Despite being a demon, he wheezed as he slowed from his run and approached. Zoey wondered why he hadn't simply teleported as he struggled to catch his breath. He may have the appearance of being not much older than them but Zoey thought at that moment that he looked the most like a dad.

Rumi followed her line of sight and tensed. She pressed Mira behind her with one hand, just like Mira had moments before, and summoned her sain-geom with the other. She clearly wasn't expecting the heavier weight of the gold blade though and the sword dipped to the ground for long enough that Mira could reach over Rumi's shoulder and hold her arm still before she attacked.

"He's with us."

Unfazed by the threat, Rumi's dad leaned down and put his hands on his knees until he got his breathing under control. "It's been too long since I've been in a chase with Hunters," he admitted bashfully. "I suppose I've let myself go."

Rumi twitched at the sound of his voice. She didn't shake off Mira's hold but she didn't dismiss her sword either. "You're working with a demon?" she asked the girls.

"For a few years now apparently," Mira said and then winced at how harsh she sounded. She didn't need Zoey's glare or Rumi wrapping her free hand back around her patterns to know that she had messed up. "I didn't mean that."

"No. You're right," Rumi said sadly. She curled in on herself away from Mira without actually moving from her defensive position in front of her.

"No. I'm not." Mira put both hands on Rumi's bare shoulders, wanting to reel her back close but unsure if it would be welcome. "I'm mad about the lies but patterns or not, you're still Rumi. You didn't choose them. I just don't understand why it's okay for you to work with demons and not us?"

"It's not—I wasn't working with Jinu. I was using him."

"Hey!" came a muffled complaint from the dirt.

"Don't you start. You were using me too."

Zoey had to hold in a giggle as the Saja Boy grumbled wordlessly, only loud enough for her to hear.

Mira continued, "Well we didn't even need to ask for our friend here's help." Already Mira was calling him a friend. A part of Mira still didn't know what was happening with this new world that she had been dropped into. "And we would have never even talked to him if it weren't for you. No offense, sir."

"I understand completely," he said. He hadn't taken his eyes off of Rumi through the whole exchange, drinking in the features that he had been looking for when he had met Mira and Zoey.

Rumi still didn't relax, his stare making her even more uncertain. "I don't understand."

"He's your Appa," Zoey blurted out when no one else seemed like they were going to bother to explain.

"Oh," Rumi whispered. She leaned back into Mira again as her sword finally vanished. Mira couldn't see her face to tell if it was from fear or discomfort or just nerves. She slung an arm around Rumi's shoulder's in a one armed hug that hopefully provided comfort for any of the above.

"Him?" Jinu asked incredulously. "Seriously? That's the guy?"

Zoey loosened her grip so that she and Jinu could almost meet each others eyes. "Do you two know each other?"

"By reputation only," Rumi's dad said with a curled lip in Jinu's direction. "Do you have a problem with me, Soda Boy?"

It was offical. Rumi's dad was Mira's second favorite demon.

Zoey pressed Jinu face into the dust with a casual warning of, "Be nice."

"No," Jinu's answer was still audible, if muffled by the ground. "No problem."

Rumi hadn't been paying any attention to the whole exchange, still caught up on one detail. "You're my Abeoji?"

Given an opening, her dad gathered himself together and bowed deeply. "My dearest daughter. I had never wanted us to meet like this but I am so very pleased to see you. I don't know what Celine has told you about me—"

"Nothing," Rumi said and then flinched when she realized that she had interrupted.

"Ah," he said, not at all bothered by the interjection. "I appreciate her...restraint. She had made her feelings about me very clear over the years. In any case, I am very sorry that I have not been able to do my duty to you as your father. I have thought about you and your mother every day—or what passes for one in this realm. I deeply regret that you have had to carry my shame and that it has brought you here but I am so happy to finally see you again."

"Again?" Rumi squeaked.

He hesitated. "You were very small. You probably don't remember."

"You should show her the picture," Zoey said eagerly. She jumped to her feet, barely managing to be careful stepping around Jinu as she clutched at Mira's arm to keep herself from overwhelming Rumi with her excitement.

Rumi's dad took out the photograph again and held it out to Rumi. She accepted it carefully.

"Oh," she whispered again. Her fingers brushed over her mother and the baby in the demon's arms. "I've never seen—"

"There was only one copy." Rumi's dad whispered as well, matching her tone.

The silence drew out, no one wanting to interrupt the moment. Even if the longer the silence took, the more likely they were to be discovered.

"I don't expect anything of you, Rumi," her dad finally broke the silence, "I only wish to help you and your friends get home safely."

"You think we can get them home?" Rumi finally looked away from the photo.

"Get us home," Zoey corrected.

"Zoey, I can't—My patterns."

"She's being stupid again," Mira grumbled.

"No. This is where I belong."

"Is it? Good to know. I guess it's where we belong," Zoey said with a shrug. "Hear that Mira? We don't need to worry about going home anymore. What a relief."

Rumi gaped at her. "You can't—You—What? You two are needed up there."

"By who?" Mira demanded. "The Honmoon is golden. The world doesn't need the Hunters anymore. The fans will move on to the next hot new thing. And everything we need is right here."

"If you're staying we're staying," Zoey insisted.

"I was always hoping we'd retire somewhere with a beach but we can make it work. A world without demons has always sounded a little boring anyway."

"Oh, Mira! There's probably something like the baths down here with all the water demons Gwi-Ma has sent after us."

Mira scrunched up her nose. "I don't know if I want to go to a water demon's bath house."

"Wait! No, seriously. Stop," Rumi interrupted their all-too casual plan-making. "We're not staying. We're going back."

"We?" Mira confirmed.

"Yes! Fine! If it's the only way you will go. We," Rumi conceded. She paused and Mira could tell Rumi thought she had one more card to play. "Us and Jinu."

Mira couldn't hold back a sneer as she turned to look at the Saja Boy heaving himself to his feet.

"It was the deal we made for the Idol Awards," Rumi explained. "If he helped us, he gets to live in the human realm."

It was almost cute how smug Rumi looked, thinking she had caught Zoey and Mira in a trap. Thinking that they could hate this one demon more than they loved Rumi.

"Fine by me," Mira forced herself to say casually.

"You can't be going back on deals," Zoey agreed.

Rumi gaped. "Wait...no...that's not..."

"Time to go, Rumi!" Zoey swung forward and wrapped her arms tightly around one of Rumi's, ready to drag her home single-handedly.

Rumi's dad watched the whole exchange with a fond smile.

Chapter Text

A bird cried out above them, causing Zoey and Mira to flinch and the others to look to the sky. Moving slowly so he wouldn't attract Zoey's ire again, Jinu took a step away and held out an arm for the magpie to land.

"Eyes," Zoey pointed out helpfully in case Mira didn't notice that the bird had six. Mira was instead focusing on the way that Jinu and the bird seemed to be having a conversation.

"Someone is coming," Jinu told them after he and the bird were done. "The Tiger is distracting them but we need to go."

It should have been harder to be stealthy now that their group had more than doubled but Rumi's dad and Jinu's knowledge of the terrain allowed them to move quickly and silently away.

Jinu led the way with Rumi at his side, having a hushed conversation. Rumi's dad followed close behind them but far enough away to still be giving Rumi space. And Mira and Zoey brought up the rear to guard their backs. Mira would much rather be right at Rumi's side but she really didn't want to have to interact with Jinu and clustering too closely together while they walked would just restrict all of their movement in the event of a fight. So Zoey and Mira took turns looking out; one of them always kept an eye on Rumi and the other watched behind them for pursuers.

As Mira scanned the landscape at their backs, she heard Zoey let out a small laugh. When she turned back to see what had caused it, Mira saw Jinu step forward faster to confer with his bird again and Rumi slowed down a little to fall behind her dad and walk at their side. She was in a huff about something that Mira had missed.

"What happened?" Mira asked Rumi but Rumi shook her head and refused to answer.

"Rumi tried to get Saja Boy to help her convince us to leave her behind and he said no."

Mira's eyes followed Jinu. He glanced back for a moment and met her gaze, giving her a small nod of acknowledgement with a quick flick of his eyes to Rumi. He wouldn't be able to escape the demon world without them breaking Rumi out but the look he shared with Mira wasn't self interest, it was protective. Mira was almost impressed.

Rumi stared at Zoey in shock. "Did you hear...?" Rumi asked.

"No. You're just really easy to read."

"Since when?" Rumi demanded indignantly.

"Since always," Mira said without even thinking about it, finally turning back from Jinu to give Rumi a teasing smirk.

"We were just missing half of the pages," Zoey added.

Rumi grumbled, in another huff, but she didn't move away from them like she had Jinu.

---

It had been too easy for too long so they were due for trouble when more demons finally found them. climbing out of a small gully, they rounded a corner to find a hunting party stalking toward them. If that weren't bad enough, there were two Saja Boy's leading the handful of small dokkaebi and one hulking giant.

Unlike Jinu, the Saja Boys had switched back to their demonic garb instead of continuing to wear the modern clothing they had worn at the Idol Awards. There was no sign of the mentioned tiger though. Mira wondered if that meant that this wasn't the only group nearby.

Jinu stopped and held up his hands at the sight of his groupmates. "Heyyyy fellas. Romance. Baby. Let's talk. No need to do anything rash here."

Mira's fingers twitched. Their group had needed to move to a single file line to traverse the gully and hadn't yet shifted back into their protective arrangement. Jinu again led the way with Rumi right behind him. Mira had moved in front of Rumi's dad to closer to Rumi, and Zoey still guarded the rear.

Jinu stood too close to Rumi for Mira's comfort for an impending fight. If he was about to betray them it would be a couple of steps before Mira could get her gok-do between them to fend him off. It didn't help when Rumi moved closer to Jinu's side, though Mira could see that her hand was also held at the ready for a weapon. Out of the corner of her eye, Mira caught Zoey moving in front of Rumi's dad and closer to them as well. She would have the best shot as the only one of them with a ranged weapon.

"Rash?" Baby scoffed while Romance snarled at Jinu's words. "What do you consider rash, Jinu? Teaming up with a Hunter? Trapping us all down here forever?"

"Maybe getting yourself killed over useless revenge. Or did you not see." Jinu pointed a thumb over his shoulder. "The Hunters are trapped here too."

"Yeah," Romance said around his snarl, showing all of his teeth, "and Gwi-Ma wants them. He's given his biggest offers yet for the demon that brings them in."

Jinu looked back to Rumi. Rumi shook her head at whatever she saw in his face but Mira couldn't read him.

"Rumi?" Mira growled out in a whisper. Rumi knew Jinu better than them. She would back away if she were in danger. She had to back away.

Jinu raised an arm to Rumi. Mira's gok-do was in her hand and almost moving when Jinu shoved Rumi. Rumi stumbled back and fell as Jinu turned again and pounced at Baby, claws extended.

Mira was nothing if not adaptable to new choreography. She dug her heel in the dirt and twisted her hip to quickly turn her lunge toward Jinu into a charge at Romance. Shin-kal flew past her head at the demons as she collided with the Saja Boy.

"Dammit Jinu," Rumi shouted. She scrambled to her feet and summoned her sword, quickly joining the fray as well.

It was the same as any other demon fight but also completely new. There were still three of them surrounded by the attacking horde but it was Jinu instead of Zoey, who had hung back to help them from a distance and protect Rumi's dad (he had admitted himself that he was out of practice). Mira used her longer reach to keep any demons from overwhelming Rumi but she had to pay extra attention to not accidentally hit Rumi's Saja Boy. She could fight beside Rumi while blindfolded, patterns and all, but Mira didn't know how to avoid a demon in a battle. And Jinu didn't know their rhythm. They all had to trust and follow Rumi's lead.

Rumi set the tempo, swinging her sword to a beat the others could follow. Mira's steps were light, a step behind as she made absolutely sure who she was aiming for. Jinu's movements were sharp, extra cautious when he teleported too close inside Mira's reach. It slowed them both down but they had Rumi and Zoey to cover the gaps. So when Rumi slashed with her sword, Mira was on her off-side with a sweeping stroke. When Rumi blocked a swing Jinu slid in behind and knocked the demon's feet out from under them. And when all of them were too focused on an opponent, shin-kal flew in to catch anyone who got too close. It wasn't easy but it worked. It felt like something they could figure out; if they could learn the steps.

Soon they were only facing the giant, Romance, and Baby. Then it was just Romance and Baby. And then it was just a cloud of pink in the air. Mira waved it away from her face as they all were finally able to stop and catch their breath.

With the danger gone Rumi let her sain-geom vanish and moved to check on Mira. Zoey rushed forward and grasped both of their shoulders tight.

"I'll, uh, scout ahead," Rumi's dad said, shuffling with slight embarrassment over not joining the fight and trying to be helpful in whatever way he could.

"Be careful," Rumi called after him.

He nodded a promise to her before tentatively rounding the corner the other demons had come around. Assured that they were likely safe for the moment, Rumi extracted herself from Zoey's arm and rounded on Jinu with a thunderous expression.

"What the hell was that about, Jinu," Rumi said as loud as she felt she could be without attracting more demonic attention.

"I don't know what you're talking about," he deflected.

Rumi stomped over and shoved him hard. He stood firm and didn't let her push move him at all so she shoved him again to make her point. "Do you just like knocking me over or do you have a death wish? Taking them all on by yourself? What even happens to you if you die now? Do you return to Gwi-Ma? Is that what you want?"

Jinu stepped back as Rumi's went to shove him again. "I wasn't going in by myself. Mira was right behind me."

"I was right behind Rumi," Mira corrected. She crossed her arms and stared at the Saja Boy, also curious what his plan had been. "Until you pushed her out of the way."

"And here I thought we were on our way to becoming friends."

"Ha," Mira said and Jinu gave her a small smile. Like it was a joke between them. Like they were friends that had jokes. Mira agreed with Rumi, he was infuriating.

"Don't worry. She's easy to wear down," Zoey told Jinu with a giggle. Mira glared at her.

"You're deflecting," Rumi growled with frustration. "Stop deflecting and tell me why you did that!"

Jinu tried to continue holding out on them but he was no match for the Hunters. Rumi's furious gaze, Mira's distrustful stare, and Zoey's open curiousity wore him down.

"I didn't want Rumi to do anything stupid," Jinu finally sighed out.

Rumi scoffed. "I wasn't—"

"Are you honestly going to tell me you weren't considering giving yourself up to save us?"

Rumi swallowed whatever her next argument was with a choked sound and Mira and Zoey knew instantly that Jinu had hit the nail on the head.

"Really Rumi?" Mira groaned.

"I wasn't going to do it," Rumi protested and at least they could tell she wasn't lying about that.

"But you considered it?" Zoey frowned.

"If it kept you all safe? I consider everything."

"That's very sweet," Mira said. "But—and I can't believe I'm saying this—I'm with the Saja Boy on this one. Don't consider that."

"Ever," Zoey insisted.

"But—"

"Unless you want us to also consider it?" Zoey said almost sweetly. Mira loved it when she played dirty.

Rumi's mouth snapped shut.

"I thought so," Zoey said. Mira also loved it when Zoey was smug.

---

When Rumi's dad returned with an all clear they continued on their trek. It was a while before they could stop again, finally finding a safe place to rest in a cave they found carved into a small rock face. Jinu ominously assured them that Mystery wouldn't be able to track their scent inside. They had barely settled in when the heretofore unseen tiger caught up to them. Mira froze at the size of the thing's teeth but Zoey fell in love in an instant and dove into the creatures fluffy side with a barely muffled squeal.

The tiger didn't seem to mind. It's blank gaze shifted from the girl hugging it tightly to meet Mira's cautious eyes. He gave a contented 'wuff' of air and collapsed under Zoey, to her further delight.

They were as far into the cave as they could go and still have light enough to see, since they couldn't light a fire. Apparently, any fire in the demon realm would automatically connect back to Gwi-Ma.

"And now we're back to needing a plan," Rumi grumbled. She sat down next to the tiger's head so she could hug him around the ears.

Mira didn't like the idea of being so close to the big cat's face but with Zoey flopped on the other side of the tiger, someone had to trap Rumi to keep her from plotting any more wild ideas about being left behind. So Mira sat down right beside Rumi and draped herself over Rumi's shoulders. Rumi flinched at the first touch of Mira's arm against her bare patterns but when Mira didn't flinch away from them, when Mira's hug tightened instead, Rumi reached an arm around to hug her back.

"C'mon, you're great at plans," Zoey said, peaking at them over the tiger's back. "Except for the golden Honmoon one which we all agree was bad. Though arguably that was Celine's plan so maybe your great plan record stands."

"Sure, I can make a plan when it comes to demon hunting," Rumi said with a frown. "But the whole point of the golden Honmoon is that demons can't break through."

"Hunters can," Zoey pointed out, "break through that is." She climbed further over the tiger's back toward them so that the three of them could huddle closer together.

"Yeah," Mira said, "how do you think we got here? I ripped that bitch apart."

Rumi gasped, mildly scandalized by Mira calling the Honmoon a bitch.

"It did fix itself right after though," Zoey admitted.

"You'll have to shatter the Honmoon," Rumi's dad said. He stood at the mouth of the cave, keeping a watchful eye outside. "It cannot remain golden with you on the other side."

The suggestion, especially from the mouth of a demon, should have Mira bristling. Should have her snarling a protest, even coming from someone she had decided to trust. It did hurt to hear that they'd have to destroy the very thing they had spent their whole life (and countless Hunter's lives before them) building but Mira had been slowly coming to the same conclusion.

Rumi sunk into herself, in a similar boat. "And then what."

"We make a new one," Zoey said with a shrug.

"A better one," Mira added.

Rumi looked between the two of them. "How?"

They both froze, having no immediate answer for that one. It took millions of fans to turn the Honmoon golden but it had originally been created in a village of no more than 50 people. They probably needed to perform for some number in between the two to make something strong enough if Gwi-Ma was on the attack.

"We need to put together a show, yeah?" Zoey said slowly.

"We won't have time," Mira pointed out. "We need to make a new Honmoon as soon as we get through."

"If only we had some way to contact Bobby." Zoey pulled her phone out of her pocket sadly. As she unlocked it, they saw her eyes narrow in the light of the screen.

"Does our service plan reach the underworld?" Mira joked.

Zoey squinted at the top corner of her phone and startled upright. "I think it might."

Zoey swiped around the interface, pressed buttons, and held the phone out close to the other two, already on speaker phone. They all jumped at the sound of the phone's dial tone ringing.

"Hope we don't get roaming charges for this," Mira murmured.

Rumi snorted an involuntary laugh.

The other line picked up. "Zoey! Thank goodness. Please tell me Mira is still with you? Are you girls still okay? Is there any sign of her?"

"Bobby!?" Zoey was too shocked that the call had gone through to answer any of his questions.

Bobby didn't register her shock, too caught up in his own stress. "Listen. I am having absolutely no luck over here. I don't know what's going on. People are treating me like I'm crazy for even mentioning Rumi, let alone looking for her. It feels like a conspiracy. Or like I've been dropped into some kind of spy movie."

"It's okay Bobby. We found Rumi. She's here with us," Mira eagerly passed on the news.

"Hi Bobby," Rumi squeaked at the unexpected prompting.

"Rumi! Thank goodness!! It's so good to hear your voice. Are you okay? Did anyone hurt you?"

"I'm alright Bobby. I, uh, I wasn't kidnapped by spies. I...I'm just okay."

"What is that?" Rumi's dad whispered to Jinu.

"It's a telephone," Jinu whispered back.

"No...no I've used a telephone."

"I can't tell you how worried I've been." Bobby's relief was audible through the call. "Where are you? I'll send someone to pick you up."

"Sorry Bobby, we're a bit out of the way for a driver to come to us but we'll meet you as soon as we can," Mira promised.

"We were actually hoping you could set something up for us," Zoey started.

"Anything," Bobby said.

Mira smiled fondly, knowing he would regret the blanket promise. "Can you get us somewhere to to a quick performance. Like, in a few hours?"

"A few hours? Girls it's the middle of the night."

The three of them exchanged looks. And Zoey tapped the phone screen so that they could check the time and confirm. There was no way to notice time passing under the empty sky but it didn't feel like it should already be the middle of the night.

"It doesn't have to be a big venue," Zoey finally said. "A nightclub maybe? And some way to livestream if we can?"

Rumi shot Zoey an unhappy frown at the word 'nightclub' and sure, it would likely cause a scandal. But Zoey flailed her free arm in a 'what do you want us to do' shrug. Where else would they find a crowd to perform for this late.

"Are you sure? You girls just had the biggest show of your career and then Rumi disappeared. You really should rest."

"We know. We will. But, uh, we don't want any conspiracy rumors to spread. Rumi doesn't want the fans to worry about her."

"Oh, true. Good call. Everyone else may be acting like they didn't notice her vanishing but word has probably gotten out."

They hashed out a few more details and Bobby promised to text them when he had something. Hopefully their phone service would hold when they had to move again. They promised him again that they would be careful and prepared to say goodbye.

"And Bobby?" Zoey glanced at Mira and turned the phone slightly away from her, knowing she wouldn't like the next part, "can you let Celine know we found her? I think she was really worried."

Mira's lips tightened but she didn't say anything.

"She'll be my next call," Bobby promised.

They hung up.

"So," Zoey started, "that's our second question answered. Now we just need to figure out the first one."

"Which one was the first one again?" Rumi groaned into the tiger's fur.

"How to shatter the Honmoon."

"Oh right, ha. How could I forget."

"It's our Honmoon," Mira insisted. "We should be able to break it if we want to."

"Maybe that's it. Maybe it just needs all three of us to break it," Zoey theorized.

"Worth a try," Mira said. Rumi pouted but after their conversation with Bobby, she didn't begin to argue again. They had committed. If she refused now it would make all of his work tonight for nothing.

"You won't be able to reach the Honmoon here." Jinu pointed out. "We'll have to go closer to the fire. Gwi-Ma sits closest to the surface. It's how he controls who can leave."

"Great," Mira said.

Zoey ticked off the details on her fingers. "So we have a plan: break the Honmoon, make a new Honmoon, and our crack team is ready to go. Anything else we needed?"

"Oh just to get through hoards of demons."

"And we've done that for years. No sweat. Let's go!"