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The sky is covered in a red hue when Rumi reaches the tree. She doesn’t announce herself. She doesn’t need to. There, kneeling just under it, like Rumi knew she’d be, is Celine, who seems to sense her presence.
She turns around fast, with precision, like the hunter she once was, pointing a weapon directly at Rumi, who barely flinches at all.
“They saw” is what she announces first, voice hollow and emotionless. “They know. There is no denying it now.”
The sound of metal clinking against the ground is piercing, louder than it should be. It echoes despite the open space.
“Rumi,” Celine calls, her voice barely a whisper.
“You knew I was a mistake from the very start,” her voice echoes, inhumane and demon-like.
It’s when her knees hit the ground that she realizes she’s been here before. She’s lived through this before, and she hated it just as much then as she does now. She knows what comes next.
Even though she tries to stop it. Even though she fights to change it this time - like she tries every single night - she can’t.
With her body trembling and all the fight she had completely gone, she summons her sword and lifts it above her head, as an offering to Celine. The words she hates tumbling out of her mouth without her control.
“Do what you should’ve done a long time ago.” Rumi doesn’t dare to look up. At this point, she had already accepted it. She knew what had to happen. “Before I destroy what I swore to protect.”
This is the part she hates the most. The part she is never ready for. From behind the tree, Zoey and Mira reveal themselves. Woldo and Sinkal in hand.
Rumi wants to feel it. The fear. The dread. The pain. But she never gets to. Not tonight, not any other night. All she gets to do is to numbly watch as her two girlfriends - she is still getting used to calling them that - raise the weapon at her.
“We see you for what you truly are,” Mira says. Her eyes red, her expression wicked and voice haunted.
“A mistake,” Zoey completes. Her voice is hers but not hers at all. It’s dark and dangerous. Unkind. Hurt. “A demon who doesn’t deserve to-“
Just like most nights - the kinder nights - Rumi startles in bed. Hair sticking to her forehead, breathing uneven and hard, eyes filled with tears, and heart pounding like it might leave her chest.
It’s been months since the Idol Awards. Months that she’d been having these nightmares and feeling completely powerless. She tried everything to make it stop, but it just keeps coming back.
There are variations of it. In some of them, Zoey finishes her line and, together, she and Mira do what they silently threatened. Celine does nothing to stop it.
In others, she is back backstage after the Takedown performance - if you can call it that. More like an ambush, really. She goes through everything that happened, but when she runs, the girls catch up to her and she wakes up just as Mira’s Woldo or Zoey’s Sinkal - if not both - meet her skin.
Breathing now returning to something akin to normal, Rumi wipes her eyes with the sleeve of her oversized shirt and searches for her phone, finding it lost between her blankets.
3am . Great. She groans.
As if on cue, Derpy hops on her bed, eyes blinking - his left eye closing seconds after the right one - at her.
“Are you hungry, buddy?” Rumi asks and giggles at the soft purr Derpy lets out. “Alright, come on. Let’s see if we still have some snacks.”
Unbothered to put on slippers, Rumi walks barefoot to the kitchen. The house is quiet and dark, save for the giant tiger’s soft blue glow. She still doesn’t know how this goofball managed to stay on this side of the honmoon, but she isn’t all too upset about it.
She quietly opens the fridge, trying to make the least amount of noise possible. She knows Zoey went to sleep late because she always does when she streams. Mira is probably deep in sleep, having had a photoshoot that kept her busy for most of her day.
Rumi finds the last can of tuna, making a mental note to buy more the next time they go grocery shopping. A soft and repeated thunk catches her attention. She turns around to find Derpy trying to upright a plant he must’ve dropped accidentally.
She laughs with affection. What was with this furball and toppled pots? “You goofus!” She says softly and fixes it for him. “There you go. Better?”
He lifts his head in slow motion, eyes immediately narrowing on the tuna can, his pupils dilating.
“Okay, buddy. Easy. Sit,” She commands even though she knows he probably has one last brain cell that is solemnly preoccupied with uprighting toppled pots. He stares at her, blinking lazily. “Worth the try.”
She opens the can and feeds some to him, keeping the rest in the fridge. Steps coming from the hallway catch her attention. Mira steps into the kitchen, wiping the sleep from her eyes on her sleeve.
“Thought I heard you,” she comments, voice thick with sleep, as she walks to the fridge and gets some water. “Everything ok?”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you,” Rumi murmurs, hopping up to sit at the counter. Guilt tugging at her.
“You didn’t,” Mira reassures, walking to her. Looking at her - the way she does when she is inspecting, observing too much. “Have you slept at all?” She asks dubiously. Rumi all too familiar with that motherly tone.
“Yes,” She did, but it just wasn’t restful enough to be considered proper sleep.
“It’s the third time I've found you in the kitchen this week,” she points out, not needing to continue.
“I’m okay,” Rumi says quickly, feeling like she’s got caught doing something she shouldn’t - which she has to remind herself she hasn’t before continuing. “Just… woke up”
She isn’t necessarily hiding the nightmares. But how does she tell her girlfriends that she is having a recurring dream where they kill her? Over and over. Every night. Every time she closes her eyes.
Mira hums, her hand finding Rumi’s hips. Her touch, as always, is grounding and brings a familiar warmth to Rumi’s entire body. A warmth she has allowed herself to feel not too long ago, as though she could have avoided it.
Spoiler: she couldn’t have. The pull towards Mira and Zoey was inevitable in the long run. Plus, when her girls want something, they usually get it - and who is she to keep them from getting it?
“A little kiss would make it better,” Rumi tries, trailing her fingers slowly up Mira’s arm to distract her from the subject. It works.
“Oh, would it now?” Mira hums, a smirk already forming in her perfect and soft lips. “Well, in that case, who am I to deny it?”
Mira leans in and captures Rumi’s lips in a slow, careful kiss. Rumi all but melts into it. It doesn’t matter how many times Mira kisses her, she will never get used to the sensation. How her body reacts to it. The fluttering in her stomach, the heat that rises to her cheeks, the pitta patter of her heart speeding up. How her patterns glow this soft yellowish color.
“Why are we making out in the kitchen at 3am with no Zoey?” Zoey’s sleepy and whiny voice comes from the door. Her arms crossed in front of her chest as she leans against the door.
Mira snickers under her breath as Rumi extends her arms for Zoey to come closer. As soon as Zoey takes her hand, she pulls her closer, nearly knocking her into Mira, but pays no mind to it. She needs her girls closer.
“Why is everyone awake?” the maknae asks, head dropping against Mira’s shoulders with half-lidded eyes.
“I needed water,” Mira explains. “And found this one,” she nods in Rumi’s direction, “awake again in the kitchen.”
“Derpy wanted snacks,” she argues, pointlessly. She knows they know this isn’t exactly true.
“I declare that we need a cuddle pile!” Zoey says with determination.
“Sounds like a good time to me,” Mira agrees.
“We can definitely manage that.” Rumi smiles, but her heart squeezes a little. What if she has another nightmare? What if she wakes up startled and sweaty again?
Her change in demeanor alerts the two girls in front of her. “Unless… we don’t have to,” Zoey says, deflating a little.
Rumi doesn’t have the heart to say no to her, and she could honestly use the comfort of her girls. Maybe then she gets to fully rest, knowing she is safe and sound in their arms.
“No, no,” she says, cupping Zoey’s cheeks and placing a soft, long peck on her lips. “I would love a cuddle pile right about now.”
Back in bed - Mira’s, as she has the bigger one - Rumi finds herself sandwiched between her girlfriends. Zoey clinging to her like a sleepy koala to her left and already drifting off, and Mira on her right, arm across her middle, tugging her impossibly close.
Rumi closes her eyes and lets the warmth and security of her girls lull her back to sleep.
Mira is the first to stir in bed. Blinking the sleep off her eyes, she looks around, situating herself. She begins to get up, only to be held back by a weight across her stomach and a disapproving groan.
Chuckling, she presses a kiss on Rumi’s temple. “Morning, baby.”
“No.” She moans sleepily. “Early,” she complains.
Mira shakes her head and peeks on Rumi’s other side. A knocked-out Zoey clings to the half-demon, face buried in the crook of her neck, chest falling and rising steadily.
“Come on, I’ll get breakfast started,” she whispers, brushing purple hair from the girl’s face.
Rumi looks relaxed. More than she has been since the Idol Awards. Mira’s been worried. More often than not, she finds Rumi in the kitchen or on the couch in the middle of the night, always bearing the same dark circles under her eyes, sometimes red-rimmed eyes as well, and a restlessness to her that tugs at Mira’s heart.
She’s asked about it, but Rumi stubbornly insists that she is fine, just restless. Mira always says the same thing, ‘I am here if you want to talk about it’, but Rumi never does.
Even Zoey has noticed something is off, but Mira told her to wait. To give the purple-haired girl a little room and not hover. Rumi never reacts well to their pressure.
Mira slowly untangles herself from Rumi, getting yet another disapproving groan. She kisses both her girls and heads to the kitchen to start breakfast. She settles on tteokbokki - Rumi’s favorite.
“You left bed,” Zoey complains a few minutes later, as she and Rumi walk into the kitchen and plop on the stool by the island.
“I tried to stop it,” Rumi sighs, “I guess she hates us, Zo.”
“Oh, the horror ,” Zoey places her arm on her forehead dramatically. “To be hated by the person you love just like that.” She fakes a sniff for good measure. Rumi snickers under her breath.
“Okay, Miss Dramatic,” Mira rolls her eyes. “I’ll just stop breakfast then, what do you think about that?” She turns to look at them, quirking an eyebrow.
Rumi and Zoey exchange a quick, panicked glance, then look back at Mira. “No, no, no. We forgive you,” Zoey states, smiling cutely.
“Hm, thought so,” Mira hums and turns back to the stove.
Finishing the food, she places it on the table and serves them all.
“Did you sleep okay?” She asks Rumi, unpretentiously.
“Actually, yeah.” The now-gone bags under her eyes confirm her statement, and Mira lets it go - for now.
“Good, good. Let’s eat.”
They settle into a conversation about their schedule for the day. Training, practice, grocery shopping, and, to top it off, Zoey convinces both to go to this new restaurant she’s been dying to try.
It’s a full day, but they get to go through it all together, which is not always the case. That seems to content all three girls, as they begin a long grocery list, to which Zoey adds an unnecessary amount of snacks, saying something along the lines of ‘what if there is an emergency and we need snacks but they are all gone because Mira refuses to get them’. Rumi thought it was a good enough reason, while Mira, knowing she was fighting a lost battle, just wrote it all down.
Later that day, the Huntr/x members flop on the couch, exhausted from what turned out to be a very exhausting day. Between dance practice and training, some demons had filtered through the honmoon, requiring a long fight that had taken most of their energy.
Zoey sat in the middle, her head against Rumi’s chest and legs thrown over Mira’s thigh. “I might actually be dead.”
“I’m so tired,” Mira groans, throwing her head back and softly massaging Zoey’s calf.
“I might have an idea to help us relax,” Rumi says.
Not twenty minutes later, the three of them are submerged up to their shoulders in a hot tub at the bath house. It had taken little to no convincing to get everyone moving when Rumi suggested it.
“That’s the stuff,” Zoey says in a sing-song voice, melting into the water.
Since the Idol Awards, the three of them have been going to the bath house regularly - at least once a week. Rumi is still trying to make it up for the times she couldn’t join them.
Exhaustion takes over the half-demon, pulling her into a nap, and as soon as Zoey notices it, she quietly nudges Mira. Nodding her head towards Rumi, and got a confused look back from the pink-haired girl.
“She hasn’t been sleeping, has she?” Zoey asks quietly, voice laced with concern.
“I don’t think she has,” Mira sighs. “I found her crying on the couch two nights ago. She shut me down when I asked about it.”
“I hate when she shuts down like that.” The maknae looks at Rumi again, noticing how her relaxed features have started to twitch slightly in her sleep.
“I told you she just needs time to come to us,” Mira remarks softly.
“It’s been months, Mira.” Zoey snaps, voice still low, not to disturb the sleeping girl. “It’s time for an interv-”
Zoey’s voice is cut off by whining. Both girls turn to Rumi, who is now mumbling in her sleep, face pinched in pain and distress. She grows breathless, letting out soft sobs. Her whole body begins trembling as beads of sweat form on her forehead.
“Rumi,” Zoey calls.
“No,” Rumi mumbles, still asleep.
“Baby, hey.” Mira tries. “Wake up,”
“Zoey,” the half-demon cries. “Mira, please,” she begs breathlessly. “Don’t”
Something in her voice squeezes Zoey’s heart, taking her back to the backstage of the Idol Awards. Just like then, Rumi’s voice breaks over the word ‘please’. She’s having a nightmare, it dawns on Zoey, about that night. About them raising their weapon at her, isn’t she?
“Mira, she-” She can’t bring herself to finish the sentence or hide the panic behind it.
“I know.” That's all Mira says, jaw set.
The taller girl reaches for Rumi, shaking her softly. Calling her name in the gentlest way she can manage over her worry, not to startle her. Rumi flinches slightly before jolting awake. Tears are streaming down her face, and she breathes hard. Wide eyes roam around the room, as if she’d forgotten where she is.
“You’re okay.” Mira wraps her arms around Rumi. “You’re safe, baby. We’re here.”
She holds Rumi as she sobs. Zoey shifts closer, taking one of her hands and squeezing it tightly. No one says anything for a long time. Not until Rumi’s breath has returned to normal and her tears have stopped.
She slowly pulls away from Mira, arms wrapped around herself. She looks anywhere but at the two girls in front of her, like she can’t bear seeing their expressions right now.
“Rumi,” Mira begins softly.
“Can we go home?” Rumi asks, cutting her off.
“Unnie, talk to us.” Zoey tries, concern laced in her tone.
Rumi only shakes her head, breathing growing a bit uneven again. Zoey looks at Mira and she knows the taller girl is at her breaking point. They’ve been at this for months now, watching Rumi deal with whatever it is alone and scared. Mira feels powerless and Zoey knows that after having all her concerns confirmed, she will take action.
“We can go home,” Mira says and Rumi visibly relaxes. “But we are talking about this.”
Mira gets out of the tub without another word, Rumi watching after her with a somewhat panicked expression, then her eyes fall on Zoey as if asking for help. Asking for them to spare her the talk.
“You know I’m always on your side, but,” Is what Zoey says instead. “She is right. You know she is.”
She gets out of the tub as well and goes into the changing room. Mira is dressed in only her shirt and underwear, leaning over the sink. Knuckles white from holding the edge, eyes red-rimmed. It breaks Zoey’s heart to see her like this. The younger slowly walks to her and places a soft hand on her shoulder, just to let her know she is not alone.
Mira looks at her then, with a sad lop-sided smile. Zoey’s concerned eyes silently ask ‘Are you ok?’ , to which Mira nods and places a soft peck on the maknae’s lips. They both finish dressing up and wait for Rumi to change.
The ride home is tense and silent. Zoey looks between the two girls. Rumi still has her arms around herself, as if they can hold her together for long enough to get home. Mira, on the other hand, has one knee up the seat, elbow supporting on it as she absently nips on her finger and watches the streets pass by.
Zoey hates this. Hates to feel they aren’t in tune. This tension and hesitancy around each other. Since that night, things have been so great between them. Barely two months ago, she and Mira had told Rumi about their feelings, to which the purple-haired girl had admitted she felt the same for as long as she could remember, not being able to act on it because of her hidden patterns.
They called her an idiot for that, and they had laughed. Laughed and kissed and cuddled. They built this easy routine with endless snacks and movie nights. They’d sleep together right after, just to wake up all tangle and cramped in the morning. That was until Rumi slowly began to sleep back in her room, instead of with them. And that’s when it started. The waking in the middle of the night, the dark circles under her eyes, and tiredness during the day.
They had given her enough time to come to them about this, and the fact that she hasn’t yet is concerning. It usually never takes this long for Rumi to open up, so this must be something dark enough that will keep the half-demon suffering in silence.
The sun has almost fully set by the time they get home, dying the sky in orange and pink. The ride up to their apartment is just as silent as the ride was. No one knows how to begin this conversation. Rumi looks like she is actually about to flee the scene instead of facing it.
As she is about to, though, Mira crosses her arms, looking at her. Her brow slightly lifted.
“Mira,” Rumi begs.
“No.” The pink-haired girl says firmly. “We’re doing it.”
“Come on,” Zoey says, taking Rumi’s hand and guiding her to the living room.
Zoey sits on the couch, hand still holding Rumi’s, who takes the seat by her side. Mira sits on the bean bag, right in front of Rumi. She takes a deep breath, like she is gathering strength to be as patient and gentle as she can muster under the circumstances.
“Okay,” She says, followed by a long sigh, then raises her head. Her eyes fall on Rumi. “What’s going on with you?” The question comes out gentle, soft even.
“Noth-” The half-demon cuts herself off the second Mira squints her eyes, daring her to finish it. She doesn’t. “I’m sorry.” She says instead, looking down to avoid their gaze.
“You don’t need to be sorry, Rums,” Zoey says in her sweet, caring voice. “We are worried. You are going through something, and you won’t talk to us.”
Rumi looks up at her nickname, meeting Zoey’s eyes. “I- I don’t know how to” She confesses, voice so small it crushes the maknae’s heart.
“Tell us what they are about,” Mira prompts. “The nightmares.”
“How do you-” Rumi begins, eyes wide.
“You were mumbling in your sleep at the bath house,” Zoey explains. “You… said our names and you were shaking so hard.”
“Fuck-” Rumi says in a breath and covers her face, sniffling softly. “I’m sorry. I am so sorry. I didn’t mean to-”
“Baby, hey,” Mira takes her free hand and squeezes. “Stop saying you are sorry. You did nothing wrong. You’re ok.”
“I can’t,” Rumi manages, choking lightly around the words.
They sit in silence and wait until the purple-haired girl calms down. Just being there for when she is ready. Usually, they would just let go and pull back. But not tonight. Not after seeing how much this is hurting Rumi.
“I-” Rumi begins after a few silent minutes, avoiding their looks at all costs. They don’t say anything about it. “I keep dreaming about that night,” She confesses quietly, voice shaky still. “About Celine and about-” She trails off.
“Us,” Mira completes for her. “You have nightmares about us.”
That prompts Rumi to start crying again. Repeating that she is sorry over and over. Zoey can’t take it. Her eyes instantly burn with tears, and she lunges forward, wrapping her arms around the singer, shushing her. Reassuring her.
They have talked about it, of course. As well as what happened between Rumi and Celine right after. They told her that when they raised their weapons, it wasn’t a threat. It was only so she would run. So they’d have time to think. It wasn’t their best moment. Zoey had broken down in tears the moment the half-demon fled.
Mira took a second longer to break, still hurt. Not about Rumi being a demon, not at all. But because she lied. Because she thought they wouldn’t have her back. They talked it all out for weeks after it happened. They cleared the air around them, and everything was ok.
How did they go from that to this is what is beyond Zoey.
“It won’t stop.” Rumi cries. “I try to stop it, but it just won’t.”
“Let us help you,” Mira says, her voice even - though Zoey knows she is controlling it and it would break otherwise.
“We’ve got you, Unnie.” Zoey coos in her ear. “We’ve always got you.”
“Last night,” Rumi says after a moment. “After you found me in the kitchen I- I slept better. I didn’t- The nightmare didn’t-”
“Why did you stop sleeping with us?” Mira pushes. It’s a question she had asked Zoey before and gotten frustrated over way too many times.
“One day you were out and Zoey was streaming and I fell asleep while waiting for you,” She tells them, her voice less shaky but still thick with emotion. “I had the first nightmare that day. I was backstage, and your weapons were pointed at me and…” She pauses, and the girls wait for her to breathe. “And when I ran, you caught up to me. Both of you. Then you- you drove your-” Rumi shakes her head, refusing to continue.
“Oh, Rumi,” Mira says, getting onto the couch and sitting behind her, pulling her closer. Zoey climbs next to them, not once letting go of the singer’s hand.
“We’d never do that,” Zoey tries. “We love you so so so much.”
“I know,” Rumi says. “God, I know! That’s why I started sleeping alone. I didn’t want you to doubt that I know that. So I didn’t want to wake up startled and have to tell you any of this.”
“Rumi,” Zoey says. “We’ve talked about this.”
“How many times do we have to tell you you don’t need to hide anything from us, you big idiot?” Mira sighs and Rumi lets out something between a chuckle and a sob.
“I’m sorry.” She leans into Mira. “I just-”
“You are just one stubborn as hell demon,” Mira completes before she can. “Aren’t you?”
“Yes,” Zoey nods. “Yes, she is. A demon that right now, needs to be reminded she is no longer allowed to carry any weight on her own.”
Mira hums, nodding her approval. “And how do you suggest we do that, babe?” she asks, her voice cool and mischievous.
“Uhm, guys?” Rumi asks, looking between the two of them and already trying to escape Mira’s tight embrace.
Zoey and Mira smirk. The maknae is the first to press a kiss to Rumi’s right cheek. Then left. Forehead. Corner of her mouth.
Mira follows, pressing her lips against the purple-haired girl’s temple and neck, finding a soft spot where she can feel the girl’s pulse thundering.
Rumi squeals in Mira’s arms as the girls kiss her over and over and over until they have her laughing again and calling uncle from Zoey’s tickling hands.
“I got it! I got it!” She yelps. “Please stop-” She manages between fits of laughter.
“Will you forget about it as soon as we stop?” Zoey asks, stopping tickling her for a brief second.
“No!” Rumi says. “No, I promise!”
“Good girl,” Mira rasps close to Rumi’s ear, making her shudder.
They stay like that for a while, all tangled up and breathless. With the exhaustion of the day catching up to them, they decide to order some takeout and watch a documentary Zoey found about the different species of turtles, and swears it’s so interesting.
As soon as they get to bed - Rumi sandwiched in the middle - they cling to the half-demon. Zoey placing one leg over Rumi's and cuddling close to her chest as she drapes an arm around the younger's waist. Mira spoons her from behind, slowly pulling purple hair from her neck - and lightly brushing it with the tip of her fingers in the process, making Rumi chill entirely - and kissing her skin softly.
“Sweet dreams, little demon,” Mira says against her ear, summoning a familiar warmth to her entire being and that light yellow glow from her patterns.
Rumi doesn’t have nightmares that night or the following ones. It ends up that all she needed were her girls clinging to her all night and letting her know that they are there. That they will always be there.