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Everything had been going so perfectly.
The Honmoon was reduced to fraying threads, HUNTR/X had split apart and the ritual disguised as a concert was packed to the brim with hypnotized souls, eager to throw themselves into Gwi-Ma’s gaping maw. ‘Soda Pop’ felt like a childish fever dream now that they were in their element, dressed in their traditional attire with their marks visible for the world to see.
Every movement in the choreography felt like a puzzle piece slotting into place, every syllable sung like a balm over their king’s ever present voice in their heads. It didn’t make it hurt any less, but there was an incredible relief in knowing they were doing their job well. That their mission was nearly over and they would be far away from Gwi-Ma one way or another once he was free.
Whether they were alive or dead didn’t matter. As long as their heads finally fell quiet.
When the half-breed abomination had shown up to rally her bandmates and stand against the horde of demons, it shouldn’t have been enough to even slow the end down. Not in any way that mattered.
But then Jinu, the fucking traitor, had jumped in to protect her from their king’s wrath. Given her his soul to help her destroy everything the Saja Boys had spent all those grueling months working for.
And as their leader’s body burned away until it was less than ashes, Baby could do nothing but stare in mute shock. The anger and hatred burning in his chest, coaxed brighter by Gwi-Ma’s ravenous hunger, warred with disbelief and sorrow. He stood immobile as Mystery left his side to lunge towards the smallest hunter, only to be struck down by her shinkal and vanish in a flash of light and smoke. A scream of pain and fury rang out as Abby was sliced open and disintegrated.
Fuck this.
Baby didn’t waste another second before teleporting. Aimless in the chaos, he didn’t know or care where he went, as long as it was away.
The almost-air of the spaces in between rushed against his face, sulfuric and stinging, before his feet met concrete as he reappeared outside the tower. It was quiet out here, but he couldn’t tell over the roaring of Gwi-Ma in his mind, louder than ever. He staggered, slumping against a wall and barely keeping himself from collapsing entirely.
‘STOP THE SONG!!’ still echoed like thunder, but it was too late. It had been too late before the half-breed hunter had started singing. It had been too late before Jinu had first snuck off in the night under the excuse of espionage.
Fuck. They had been doomed from the start, hadn’t they?
Fitting for the damned, he supposed, but couldn’t find it in himself to laugh.
The weave of magic pulsed, and the Honmoon exploded out from the tower with a roar like a tidal wave, iridescent and triumphant. For a moment, the world was nothing but color and light, reality drowned out by the power of HUNTR/X song.
Though, unlike when the shield was first created, it wasn’t crashing over him to sweep him back to the underworld. When the colors faded to a faint web of spiritual power, he was still slumped outside the venue, ears ringing.
It took him longer than it should have to notice. Several minutes spent staring at the shimmering colors under his feet, half numb. The only sound apart from his own trembling breaths was the cheering fans still inside the venue.
Gwi-Ma was silent.
Gone.
This seems like a more appropriate time to laugh, Baby thought, but the edges of his mouth didn’t even twitch. Maybe he’d find the humour in all this later, if the hunters didn’t track him down and skewer him first.
Gravel crunched under somebody’s shoes, and Baby’s patterns pulsed brighter in an instinctive show of power as he whirled around, claws out and ready. But the scent of demon blood stopped him dead in his tracks even before the sight before him registered.
He had thought for sure that the little hunter’s blow had been enough to do Mystery in for good, but the feral demon proved more resilient than he expected. He was slumped like a ragdoll in Romance’s arms, weakly pressing a torn off chunk of his jeonbok against his throat. The fabric was heavy, almost dripping with black blood.
“We have to get out of here,” Romance said. “Now.” He was wincing under Mystery’s weight more than he reasonably should have, breaths shallow with pain. At a glance, his legs seemed fine and his arms looked unharmed. Probably an injury to his ribs, then. His breath wasn’t coming out gurgling, so his lungs probably weren’t punctured, Baby decided. Not life threatening.
Mystery, however, looked dead on his feet. An injury from a hunter’s Honmoon-powered weapon never healed without being counteracted by strong demonic magic very few had reliable access to.
And they couldn’t afford weakness. Not now.
“Leave him.” The words felt heavy and oddly hollow on his tongue. “He’ll be gone in twenty minutes tops.”
Golden eyes snapped to meet his, sharp and furious. “We’re not leaving him,” Romance hissed, teeth bared in a snarl as he held the other demon closer. As if on cue, Mystery’s head lolled to the side and his legs gave out entirely. Romance yelped, and his hand flew up to keep the soaked compress pressed to Mystery’s slit throat. Left with only one arm to hold the other demon up with, the pair sunk down until Mystery was sprawled limply over his lap.
Unbelievable. “Romance, for once in your life, don’t be an idiot. Are you planning to drag him around like dead weight until he dies?”
“You can save him, can’t you?!”
“And why should I?! We’ll move easier alone and I won’t have to ration my power.”
“... I’ll be in your debt, alright?”
That gave Baby pause. He stared the taller demon in the eye, finally looking at him for the first time that night. There was desperation and fear in his gaze, but it was tempered by steel and a kind of determination he never knew Romance had in him.
Romance knew full well what that meant - what kind of power debts had over a demon. Owing someone effectively meant being owned until the debt was considered repaid in full. And the interest rate was sky high.
No demon in their right mind would offer to become indebted. No matter what fate they made the deal to avoid, becoming owned was a risk precious few were willing to take.
“For him?”
Romance nodded.
Well. True conviction was hard to say no to.
Baby knelt and tugged his wide sleeves up. “Your debt is acknowledged,” he muttered, and shivered as he felt something intangible but unyielding as steel snap into place. Based on Romance’s pained wince, it felt far worse for him.
No time to think about that. Baby took a deep breath and reached for the well of magic inside himself. All jeoseung saja had enough inherent magic to do things like teleport, fly and change their forms, but the power to alter other demons’ bodies to their whim was something only Gwi-Ma and his kin were capable of. The king rarely used the power for anything except torturing and tearing apart his subjects with a thought, but healing wasn’t beyond him.
And as one of his bastard children, it wasn’t beyond Baby.
The raw magic crackled like lightning when he cautiously prodded at it, and it took longer than he was willing to admit to coax it down from a roar to a gentle whisper. Cyan flames licked at his fingers as he placed his hand over the wound stretching over Mystery’s throat. It was a miracle that the other demon wasn’t disintegrating yet, even if the injury was shallow. The fire seemed to sink into pale skin, making the edges of the wound glow as the flow of blood stopped and flesh knitted itself together.
When the flow of energy stopped, the cut looked like nothing more than another jagged mark of shame, apart from a soft glow almost imperceptible to the human eye. Baby exhaled, leaning back and clenching his fists to keep them from trembling.
That… shouldn’t have been difficult. Above the Honmoon, using magic took more power than it did down under, but healing a single wound should have been child's play nonetheless. And yet, all he wanted to do now was sleep for a week.
The threads flickered like starlight under their feet.
No time to reflect. The cheers inside were starting to die down, so the show must be over or close to it. When HUNTR/X realized half of their targets had slipped away, they’d stop at nothing to hunt them down. It was time to go.
“How badly are you hurt?” he asked, gathering Mystery’s still unconscious form into his arms and standing. Romance followed, grimacing only slightly as he got to his feet.
“I think a few of my ribs are cracked,” he murmured, gingerly smoothing down his robes. “I’ll be fine.”
Baby nodded. There was nothing more to say.
Shadows of what once was and could have been, they walked. The sound of their footsteps rang empty and hollow, two where there had once been five. The harmony was gone. They’d need somewhere to rest, somewhere they wouldn’t be noticed and recognized as idols. All their money had been tied to an account Jinu was in charge of. None of them knew how to access it.
Unbeknownst to anyone, under midnight-dark robes, the color had receded a few inches from the edges of their markings, leaving the jagged tips pale and unremarkable like scars.
The lights of Seoul glimmered in tandem with the Honmoon.