Work Text:
The tree sitting by the hunters' graves was always something of curiosity to Celine, she’d grown up around it from the age of twelve, now at forty three, she’d known it longer then she hadn’t.
She’d seen it through so many things, the deaths of the group before her and her girls, through Mi-Yeong's betrayal and death all those years later. She saw it when twenty or so years later Rumi came to her asking for death. By the honmoon’s sake, that tree has seen so much.
Some days she’d wondered if it was alive within its own special way, it felt like that most days. The stories were told as if the tree was the centre of the universe. A funny notion to Celine, but that tree had seen so much more. It, as she'd seen it, had also seen her during the years, some of the darkest moments, but also those of joy and excitement. Times of questioning too.
The first memory she has of it truly being something other than a tree was shortly before her 14th birthday, a week or two before possibly. She’d just met Eun-Ji, the second to her group, the second part of three in her soul. She remembers praying to it, so clearly. Praying for it to fix her, as it was unnatural for a girl to like a girl. Her prayers always went unanswered, no matter how much she tried.
Her most vivid memory of the tree is the night it felt as if it sang as she, Eun-Ji and Mi-Yeong all sang and shared stories under it, singing louder as Celine spoke of her time in France. Such fond memories, even though now they may be bittersweet.
The tree saw it all, Celine finally admitting she liked girls, Mi-Yeong dying, and Eun-ji leaving when Celine refused to kill Rumi. That tree saw Rumi grow, saw the bond and relationship between the Huntr/x girls. Saw Rumi fall and beg Celine to make the choice she should’ve long ago, Celine refusal and the honmoon’s collapse.
With happiness and joy it saw the relationship between the girls and Celine grow even stronger as the years passed after that fateful night. Grew even stronger, sang louder than it had ever before.
The tree holds the memories of Celine, who sang to it first, and taught others to sing to it. The tree offers Celine a back support as a decade after the idol awards, her soul finally leaves on a warm Tuesday morning, back to the ones she’s loved and cherished all her life. The tree stands for all time, every generation of hunters knows the tree. But only one hunter ever quite knew the tree in such a special way.