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As the Honmoon flashes with gold over the Idol Awards, Rumi is sure it´s the most beautiful thing she has ever seen.
It´s aesthetically pretty, sure, but it´s more than that to it.
This is it, it´s happening.
It´s a symbol of her freedom being within reach.
She´s in the middle of her Golden solo, and she sings even louder as she sees the gold spreading, her arms raising and her lips curling into a smile.
Then, suddenly, her vision starts filling up with black spots.
Her instincts tell her to slow down, but she forces them aside in order to keep singing.
It will be okay, she tells herself.
She can rest when the Honmoon is sealed.
However, things just get worse from there.
Pain fills her senses, like she is burning from the inside, and she can´t sing anymore.
She can only scream, her legs giving out and her vision blurring.
“RUMI!”
“RUMI!”
She hears Mira and Zoey scream her name even over the music and the crowd´s worried roars, and suddenly she´s in their arms, her body almost convulsing as waves of pain shoots through her.
“What is happening!? What can we do!?” Zoey asks through a sob.
Rumi ignores the question, in order to use all the energy she can muster to glance up at the Honmoon.
“T-the gold- Guys, you have to sing! We are so close-!” she whimpers, clawing at their arms to get their attention.
“Not without you!” Mira yells, grabbing Rumi´s jacket and pulling it off of her, before she can react.
The purple haired can feel her consciousness slipping, like she is about to pass out, but she fights it long enough to hear her bandmates gasp as they see her patterns, the markings so strikingly bright red it startles her.
She has never seen them like this. She doesn´t understand what she did wrong!
“Patterns? How do you have-?” she hears Zoey ask, her voice fading away as Rumi´s body gives out and she passes out.
Rumi passed out due to exhaustion brought on by work related stress.
At least, that´s the official explanation. The thing they tell the media, but Zoey and Mira instantly knew that isn´t the truth.
They knew that when they saw Rumi collapsing on stage, writhing in agony, and they know it now, seeing Celine´s expression as their mentor arrive at their penthouse.
They just have to look at Celine to know that she knows something that they don´t.
“Where is she?” the woman asks.
“Her room. She´s sleeping”, Mira responds.
“She has patterns”, Zoey blurts out.
“Like, demon patterns”, Mira adds for clarification, when Celine doesn´t look suprised.
The ex-hunter sighs, defeated.
“I´m sorry. You weren´t supposed to find out like this”, she says.
Mira blinks, shocked.
“I´m sorry, what?” she asks.
“You knew!?” Zoey questions.
The two hunters jump up from the couch, approaching the woman.
“How long has she had patterns?” Mira questions.
“Since she lost her voice?” Zoey adds.
Celine shakes her head.
“She´s had them since she was born”, she admits.
Mira laughs, nervously.
“You´re kidding! She would´ve said something! She tells us everything!”
Celine is quiet.
“Right!?” Mira asks, frantically.
“I specifically told her to hide them from you”, Celine says, an almost uneasy calmness in her tone.
The words hang in the air, uglier than any demon.
Zoey and Mira share a silent, horrified look, and Celine continues speaking, her tone calm yet dark.
“Rumi is half demon. I always hoped the Honmoon sealing would fix her, but from what you described, it sounds like the Honmoon was sucking out her life as it turned gold”, she says.
Mira covers her mouth with her hand.
“Oh my god… What have we done?” Zoey asks, close to tears.
Celine continues:
“I understand you are both shocked, but you have to remember that your duty as Hunters come before anything else”, she says, her tone almost scolding.
Zoey wipes her tears, and Mira holds her with an arm around her shoulder.
“But, all three of us are Hunters! Why would you tell her to hide from the two people who she has to trust the most?” the pink haired asks.
Not, not asks. Demands to know, as she holds Zoey tighter.
Celine raises her arms, gesturing.
“This is why! I knew you would lose focus on what needs to be done if you knew the truth”, she says.
“We sure have lost focus now, with our best friend hurt!” Mira yells, gesturing towards Rumi´s bedroom.
Celine almost looks desperate.
“I understand that, but this is bigger than all of us! You have the opportunity to seal the Honmoon and you need to take it!” she exclaims, like she´s begging.
Silence.
Dark, disturbing silence.
“What?” Mira asks.
It´s a single word, but it holds so much venom.
Zoey swallows, heavily and shakingly.
“You don´t mean what I think, do you?” she asks.
“Zoey, listen-”, Celine tries.
“DO YOU!?” Zoey yells.
Celine drops her gaze.
“Above everything else, you are Hunters. Your faults and fears must never be sho-”
She is promptly cut off as Mira´s fist connects with her face.
The sound of the impact seems to remain in the air after it has landed, a shocked Celine stumbling back, blood running from her nose.
Then, the shock turns into rage. For a terrifying second, it seems like the ex-hunter is going to summon her weapon, but Zoey steps forward to stand by Mira´s side and her movements halters, like she realizes they are two and there is only one of her.
“You should leave”, Zoey says, her tone ice cold.
Celine stares, angrily, but she does turn and leave, and, with their mentor gone, Zoey bursts into tears.
“W-what have we done, Mira?” she asks, sniffling loudly.
Mira hugs her.
“It will be okay, Zo. She´s alive, and that´s what matters”, she says.
Zoey shakes her head.
“But it´s not just that”, she whines.
Wiping her tears, she looks at the pink haired with desperation.
“Everytime we joked about demons being disgusting, everytime we laughed about patterns being ugly… She was hiding this all along, and we never knew!” she says.
Mira sucks in a breath.
“No wonder she didn´t wanna sing Takedown. The song was basically about how she deserves to die!” Mira says, now tearing up as well.
Leaving the conversation hanging in the air, the two carefully creep into Rumi´s room.
Their third member is still asleep in her bed.
Looking peaceful, despite what happened.
The jacket she wore at the show was discarded somewhere in the chaos, and her arms are left bare, Zoey and Mira slowly walking up to the bed and looking down at the sleeping girl.
“We hurt her, Zo. We hurt this precious girl, and I- I don´t know how I will ever forgive myself”, Mira admits.
Zoey quickly touches her shoulder in comfort.
“I know”, she murmurs.
She pauses.
“But, like you said, she´s still here, and we can love and protect her now. All of her”, Zoey continues.
“And we will”, Mira adds.
They stand there, watching the beautiful, pure creature on the bed, their shoulders touching.
“Actually, can I confess something?” Zoey shyly asks.
Mira glances towards her.
“You´re not half turtle, are you?” she jokes.
Zoey lets out a squeaky laugh.
“OMG, that would be awesome! But, no, I wanted to say that I- Well, I- I like Rumi. Like, like-like, like, more than a friend”, she rambles, her tone growing nervous as she speaks.
Mira says nothing.
“And you. I like you, too”, Zoey admits.
Mira seems to melt, her lips curling into a smile.
“Well, that´s a relief”, she breathes.
Zoey blinks.
“Wait. What?”
Mira nods.
“Yeah, I like you, too.”
She turns back to look at Rumi.
“Both of you”, she adds, softness slipping into her tone.
The pink haired walks closer to the bed, running her fingers over the patterns over Rumi´s arms, like she´s thinking.
“You better. I mean, look at her, no one could see this girl and not instantly fall in love”, Mira murmurs.
Realizing something, Zoey gasps.
“Oh my god, you were jealous!” she squeaks.
Mira spins around, frantically.
“What? No!”
Zoey giggles.
“Yeah, you were! Oh my god, you were jealous of both of us!”
“Shut up”, Mira grumbles, but she´s smiling.
Rumi wakes up feeling unusually comfortable for…
Well, for being Rumi.
Thinking back, she realizes why: she remembers the Honmoon turning golden, and that makes her smile.
They did it.
Now she can worry about the weight on top of her.
At first she thinks that tiger is back, but no, he would still be heavier than this.
She opens her eyes, and the first thing she sees is a dark bun of someone´s hair.
Zoey?
She leans her head to the side, and, sure enough, Zoey is literally laying on top of her, seemingly sleeping deeply.
There´s a third arm draped over both Rumi and Zoey, and Rumi turns to look, and sees Mira asleep right beside them on the bed, her nose almost touching Rumi´s shoulder, that´s how close she is.
The smile on Rumi´s face grows into something probably resembling an idiotic grin.
Having the other girls this close, she feels like she has no more problems in the world.
She turns her head, getting comfortable, looking at her arm-
Her arms.
Oh, no.
No, no, no-
She doesn´t understand: they sealed the Honmoon, didn´t they?
Why are her patterns still here?
She goes from being calm to panicking in less than a second, frantically clawing at her arms as her patterns begin flashing in bright red.
“No, no, no! Go away!” she cries.
Zoey and Mira mumble sleepily, but they are soon instantly awake, both of them sitting up as Rumi continues to hyperventilate.
“Rumi? Rumi, it´s okay!” Zoey says, reaching out to try to grab her hands, where she is still desperately clawing at her arms.
“You´re safe. You´re in your room and you´re safe. We´re here”, Mira adds, scooting up behind her and holding her hips.
Rumi shakes her head, continuing to sob.
“No, I- I was gonna fix this! Fix me!” she cries.
Zoey squeezes her hands.
“I know that´s what you think, but it´s not true. You don´t have to fix anything”, she says, her tone soft and sad.
Rumi swallows.
“H-how…?”
“Celine told us everything”, Mira says, still holding her.
Rumi gasps, and Zoey lets go, but only in order to reach up and wipe away the girl´s tears.
“Oh, Rumi… We love you, always”, Zoey says.
“We´re mostly upset learning you had to deal with all of that yourself. We´re a team, and we want you to trust us”, Mira says.
Feeling exhausted, Rumi leans back towards the pink haired, and Mira catches her, wrapping her up in her arms and holding her.
“We´ve got you, Rumi. You won´t have to deal with anything by yourself again”, Mira whispers, her breath warm against Rumi´s neck.
Zoey scoots closer, still holding Rumi´s hand, and Mira quickly takes the part demon´s other hand.
Looking down at their joined hands, Rumi notices Mira´s bruised knuckles.
“What happened to your hand?” she asks, worried.
Mira hesitates.
“I, eh…”
“She punched Celine”, Zoey says.
Rumi turns to look at Mira, wide-eyed.
“What? Why?”
Mira is noticeably unphazed.
“She talked shit about someone I love”, she says, shrugging.
Rumi´s thoughts spin.
“Someone you love? Who…?” she starts to ask, but she quickly notices the way both Mira and Zoey look at her.
They are looking at her like they are expecting her to realize something.
Her heart rate speeds up, and her patterns start to glow again, but this time they are holding a mix of blue and purple shades.
She swallows.
“You mean…?”
Mira responds by kissing her.
It´s a soft, careful kiss, like it´s testing the waters.
Mira pulls back too quickly, but Rumi understands why when she sees how Zoey is looking at her.
Her head spinning more violently, she turns her face to Zoey, and now Zoey leans in, her lips meeting Rumi´s just as softly and carefully as Mira´s did.
“I love you. Both of you”, Zoey confesses as they pull apart.
“So do I”, Mira says, reaching out to touch Zoey´s shoulder as Zoey kisses the pink haired´s cheek.
Rumi smiles, even as tears are still running down her cheeks.
“I love you guys, too, I- Oh my god, I never thought this day would come, and especially not before I had fixed myself”, she says.
Her girlfriends both make disapproving noises.
“No, no. Don´t talk like that anymore”, Mira says.
“You are already perfect, Rumi. Absolutely perfect”, Zoey says, leaning in and kissing her again.
Mira kisses them both, this time with a little more passion, and then her and Zoey guide Rumi back down to lay down, both of them instantly cuddling up to her, so close that they are both basically laying on top of her in one big cuddle pile.
Feeling two lips simultaneously kiss her head, Rumi smiles.