Chapter Text
"We should have a girls' night!" Zoey shouted, both arms wrapping around one of Rumi's and tugging her towards where Mira sat in the middle of "their" living room in Celine's compound. Snacks were suspiciously already out. Rumi attempted a laugh.
"Isn't every night girls' night? We're all girls." Rumi pointed out. Zoey puffed out her cheeks indignantly.
"Yeah but like a sleepover girls' night! Not training or meditating or idol practice or like! Any of that! Fun, Rumi!" She kept tugging. Rumi hesitantly let herself be pulled to the couch. "We can watch something mind numbing or play video games or do each others' nails or--"
"She has a point, you know." Mira tacked on, examining her own nails as if they weren't impeccably done. "You need to learn to relax some."
Rumi made a face at them, offended. "I know how to relax!" Zoey and Mira exchanged incredulous looks.
"Since when?" Mira asked. "You get up before us--"
"--and go to bed after us!" Zoey added. Mira nodded.
"You spend all your free time practicing something even when Celine says we're done for the day!"
"Just hang out with us for fun tonight, please?" Zoey gave her best puppy dog eyes. Rumi, having sensed them coming, was pointedly not looking at Zoey. There was a moment of silent anticipation.
Rumi looked.
"Ugh... okay, okay. You two are incorrigible." She muttered; the tiny uptick of the corners of her mouth gave her away as Zoey cheered and Mira nodded smugly. If Rumi was being honest, she had been stressed lately. The patterns that she'd been born with had started spreading for no discernable reason. They had stayed steady for so long that she almost could pretend that they weren't there. Especially when she was with Mira and Zoey. They had joined Rumi and Celine to start idol -- and more importantly, demon hunting -- training, taking to both with enthusiasm. Celine gave the girls regimented time for bonding outside of regular training which Rumi had initially used as was intended; the three were already thicker than thieves. She couldn't imagine her life without them. But noticing more purple on her skin had Rumi using their usual time to focus on training in the hopes that she could be even more ready to seal the Honmoon for good. Get rid of her patterns for good.
Zoey and Mira had been disappointed but respected her wishes, either hanging out on their own or keeping Rumi company while she did whatever she was working on that day. But this was short-lived. They started dropping hints that Rumi should rest, take breaks, relax. Rumi had brushed their hints off -- apparently one too many times.
Thus, the ambush.
Rumi looked over the spread that they had put together while she'd been out, seeing literally all of her favorites. A pang of emotion -- guilt? affection? -- hit her. They had really thought about this. About her. She didn't even realize they knew her favorites, if she was being honest. That they'd been paying that much attention.
"Okay so what are we thinking of watching?" Zoey asked as she deposited Rumi in the middle of the couch, she and Mira bracketing -- trapping -- their leader between them.
"Something super boring." Mira suggested, grabbing the remote and starting to flick through channels. "So we can talk." Zoey nodded enthusiastically and started commenting on every channel that passed.
Rumi let the discussion wash over her, feeling herself unclench just the slightest bit. She wasn't sure at this point how long they'd been trying to get her to take a night off but now, pressed between their warm bodies, Rumi wondered again why she couldn't just. Tell them.
Celine's voice immediately popped into her head listing all the reasons why telling them exactly why that would be a bad idea. Rumi clenched her teeth to keep herself from sighing, eyes fixed on the TV without really seeing anything. When she was little, she'd assumed she'd be able to tell her fellow hunters about her patterns. So the sudden no that she'd gotten had startled her a bit. In the safety of her own mind, she also could admit that she felt really let down by the revelation. But Celine had several good points not least of which was that telling demon hunters that she was half-demon just might not incur the best reaction in the world.
Still.
They hadn't known that demons existed at all initially and took that relatively well. Why not half-demons? But Celine was insistent that it would be best they never know and Rumi trusted Celine. Celine just wanted what was best for her, after all. To protect her. Like I couldn't protect your mother, Rumi remembered Celine saying once. She wished she could remember her mother the way Celine did, but Mi-Yeong had passed when Rumi was only six months old. Too early to have memories other than blurred, half-formed wishes made of photographs and videos. Something Rumi would never admit to Celine: The clearest memory she had of her mother was the image of her headstone.
So maybe she can't say anything yet. Maybe after the Golden Honmoon took her patterns away, Rumi can bring it up? Just to let them know. Or maybe not. Maybe it was just best to keep it a secret until it went away. After all, would it be relevant once they were gone?
Celine had been in this world and dealing with all this over twice as long as Rumi had even been alive. She likely knew best. Even if Rumi hated lying.
~~~
Rumi was out cold on Zoey's shoulder, TV light flickering across her face. Zoey wasn't sure when she'd fallen asleep but she was sure that it was adorable. Rumi had never fallen asleep around them before. It wasn't even -- oh. Yeah, it was pretty late actually. Maybe she should wake Rumi up so they could all go to bed. Then again, the couch was pretty comfy. Zoey looked over to Mira who, upon noticing Rumi had fallen asleep, had muted the TV so the any extra-loud noises wouldn't disturb her. Zoey opened her mouth to ask Mira's opinion on the "where should we sleep" situation when, thanks to the silence of the TV, they hear Rumi speak up.
"...not my fault..." Zoey and Mira exchanged gleeful eyes.
She talks in her sleep! Zoey mouthed, elated at this information. The excitement washed away to guilt because it didn't fully seem like this was a good dream.
"Should we... wake her up?" Mira whispered even more softly than Rumi had been murmuring, one hand hovering, hesitant. Zoey thought about it, biting her bottom lip, then shook her head. It didn't seem like a nightmare and Rumi hadn't been sleeping much lately. Maybe they could give her a minute?
Also she was curious as to what else Rumi would say. Sue her.
Mira, curiosity glittering in her warm eyes, lowered her hand slowly and nodded. She leaned in closer to see what Rumi might say next.
"Celine... wanna tell them." Rumi said, frowning. Zoey and Mira exchanged another look. Was Rumi keeping a secret from them? That wouldn't be the biggest surprise -- they were all still getting to know each other -- but something that she was dreaming about? Was this why she had seemed so stressed lately? Why she had pulled back from their hangouts?
"Tell us what?" Zoey whispered before she could stop herself, heart racing. Maybe Rumi was trans like she was? It wasn't something she'd told the girls yet but the thought of potentially having this in common with Rumi made Zoey feel like she was about to burst. She hadn't been trying to hide it exactly but coming out wasn't something that just came up casually in conversation. Besides, she liked people to get to know her as just Zoey before any sort of big revelation. Plus there was always the chance that they might not take it well. Although they were basically magical girls chosen by the Honmoon to defend the world so really compared to that, what was a little thing like being trans anyway? Zoey hadn't even decided if she was ever going to tell them, but if Rumi was too, well, why not!
Rumi huffed grumpily, shifting closer to Zoey but not seeming to wake up. "Dad was a demon... 'M half demon..."
Zoey's brain screeched to a halt. Her head snapped up to search Mira's face in a very clear did you hear that moment, finding that Mira had done the same to her. Zoey felt the what the fuck what the fuck in Mira's eyes right to her core. There was no way. This had to just be a weird dream. Was that even possible? A human -- a Hunter -- and a demon? Together? Having a child?
Zoey, eyes flicking between a sleeping Rumi and a shocked Mira, started trying to recall everything she knew about Rumi's mom and the Sunlight Sisters in general. No one had even known Mi-Yeong was seeing anyone before she suddenly gave birth after an impromptu hiatus. She'd died six months later. No father had ever come forward. And let's be real. Someone should have. There was no reason to not. Unless... apparently... Rumi's dad was a demon?
Were there... nice demons? Now Zoey was trying to remember everything she'd learned about demons in her time here. Celine hadn't said anything about nice demons. Or really much about them other than how to kill them, now that Zoey thought about it. Zoey hadn't questioned it but maybe she should have? But why would she think to question it? She'd just assumed that everything she needed to learn would be told to her and that was that. But now this? This was something else entirely and truly, Zoey had not the slightest clue to how to handle it.
Being trans really is apparently the last thing we could be concerned about, she thought near-hysterically.
"Zo. You're freaking out." Mira's steady voice broke through Zoey's thoughts. She looked over to Mira again, flabbergasted. She was about to ask how Mira wasn't freaking out when she noticed how blown wide her pupils were and the tightness in her shoulders. Oh. Mira was freaking out too. That was... comforting. In a way.
"Mm? Zoey?" Heads snapped to Rumi, whose subconscious somehow decided that now was the time to register words enough to wake up. Rumi's sleepy eyes focused on Zoey's face. "You okay?" She asked, sitting up and leaning in. "You look like you've seen a ghost. Was something scary on?" Rumi looked at the silent TV then back to Zoey, concern written all over her face.
"Ahaha!" Zoey burst out, panicked. "Yeah that was it! Mira can you turn off the TV please?" She added hastily, wanting to shut down the proof machine before Rumi could inspect it any closer. Mira -- may every deity and the Honmoon itself bless her -- immediately shut it off. It took a moment for Zoey's eyes to adjust to the now moonlit room; Rumi was still looking at her with concern.
"Are you sure? Are you okay?" She took Zoey's hand gently. Zoey nodded rapidly.
"Yup! I think it's just cause it's so late!" She offered, voice high. "I was sleepy and then BOOM jumpscare ahaha jumpscares always get me even when I know they're coming that's the whole point of jumpscares I guess and like sometimes they're okay but lots of movies tend to overuse them to try to scare the audience instead of--"
"She probably just needs to get some rest." Mira leaned around Rumi to add her hand on top of Rumi's on top of Zoey's. "We've got sunrise meditation in the morning." She added, looking out the window at the moon as if to check the time when Zoey and Rumi turned to look at her. "Might be a good idea to go to bed."
"Oh, shoot! How could I forget!" Rumi stood up, going into what Zoey and Mira affectionately called "leader mode" instantly. "Let me clean all of this up. You girls go to bed."
"No; we should help!" Zoey -- revelations of the night aside -- wasn't comfortable with Rumi cleaning up after all three of them.
"Yeah. We're the ones who got all this out." Mira pointed out, she and Zoey rising to their feet to help.
Rumi waved their protests away. "I already took a nap. It's fine. Besides, you two don't know which floorboards squeak like I do and Celine will not be happy to find out we're up so late." Rumi flashed Zoey and Mira a confident, fond smile, already filling her arms with their refuse and leftovers. "Just don't be late tomorrow and we'll call it even!" She left the room before either of them could argue again.
Zoey and Mira looked at each other a moment before dropping back onto the couch. They stared at each other, silently communicating in what -- if it were written down -- would be mostly question marks, exclamation points, and expletives.
What were they going to do?
~~~
"Hey Celine! Is there a bathhouse in town we can go to for our hangout time today?" Zoey asked cheerily as she crossed Celine's office and threw open the window dramatically. "It's so nice out today!" Zoey leaned out the window, breathing in deep and sighing. She pointedly did not look at Mira who was hiding under the windowsill on the outside of the building. They were sleuthing.
Zoey brought herself back into the window, turning in time to catch the tail end of a Look that Celine gave Rumi. She pretended not to see it, beaming hopefully at Celine and leaning against the windowsill. Zoey let her hands grip the edge as if to hold herself up on her toes instead of to hide the slight twitch of nerves in her fingers.
"There is." Celine said slowly, face a mask of neutrality. Zoey noticed she didn't answer her second question.
"I, uh. Actually have a bit of a headache today. Sorry Zoey." Rumi jumped in, an apologetic look on her face. She was looking out the window above Zoey's shoulder instead of making eye contact with Zoey. Lying. "It is nice out though. You two should go!" Zoey frowned, lip jutting out for the beginnings of the look that always got her her way.
"But Rumiiiiiiiii..." Zoey whined, wiggling a little. This time, Rumi looked right at her. There was sadness hiding behind her eyes.
"I'm really sorry, Zoey. Maybe another time?" Rumi suggested. Zoey sighed and nodded.
"Okay... I'll go let Mira know." She gave Rumi a double thumbs up. "And thanks, Celine!" She added, flashing a big smile their mentor's way. Zoey took a big breath before launching out of the room, yelling at the top of her lungs for Mira to get ready for the bathhouse.
In the room, Rumi waited to sigh until Zoey's voice had faded into the distance.
"Are you sure we can't tell them? I know you think they wouldn't understand, but I hate lying to them."
"Yes, Rumi. I'm sure. We have to keep your patterns a secret until the Golden Honmon wipes them away. They can't know about your... heritage. It's not safe. I know it's not what you want, but it's for the best. We can't have anything getting in the way of sealing the Honmoon." Rumi sighed again.
"Yes, Celine." A beat of silence. "I think I might actually have a headache." Rumi offered, still looking out the window. "I'm going to go lay down."
"Very well. I'll bring you some water in a moment." Rumi smiled a thin smile of thanks at Celine before exiting.
Celine counted to thirty before letting out a sigh of her own.
Outside, Mira snuck away from the open window, not rising to her feet until she was back in the training area.
~~~
"...and that's what they said." Mira relayed to Zoey in a hushed voice, huddled together in a thankfully empty bath.
"Woah. I can't believe it!" Zoey's voice was just as quiet although there was a strain in it. The pair hadn't slept the night Rumi had confessed via sleeptalking; Mira had waited until she'd heard Rumi's door close then snuck into Zoey's room. They stayed up talking and trying to figure out what to do or if they should even give dream speak credit in reality. The pair had decided that they needed to figure out it if was true but, like, sneakily. If it was real, there was no way Rumi would just come out and tell them. Especially not if Celine was stopping her. Mira had wanted to just confront both of them directly, but Zoey had -- uncharacteristically -- put her foot down against that and so firmly that Mira didn't feel she could argue. Zoey had said no outing anyone without their consent -- even to themself -- which made Mira squint at her suspiciously but that wasn't something she disagreed with. The phrasing made Mira wonder if Zoey was hiding something as well, but Mira didn't really have a leg to stand on about that. It wasn't like she'd told them about the Autism diagnosis her parents had buried a million years ago. Everyone had something... not to hide specifically but that was... private.
"I know, right?" Mira lowered herself into the water until she could blow frustrated bubbles into it. This whole situation was weird and kinda sucked.
"Do you think..." Zoey hesitated then seemed to change her mind, joining Mira in bubble blowing instead. Mira sat up with a huff.
"No! You can't do that. Now I'm never gonna stop wondering what you were going to say." Zoey laughed at Mira's expression before sitting back up again.
"Okay, okay. I was just wondering if you thought there might be... pictures of them. Rumi's parents. Together, I mean." Curiosity danced in Zoey's eyes. "Don't you want to know what the demon who gave Rumi her patterns... I don't know... looks like?" Mira hummed thoughtfully. To tell the truth, she hadn't thought about it. She said as much to Zoey, who looked fit to burst. "I have so many questions!" She near-wailed, slumping over and splashing the water half-heartedly.
"Yeah me too I guess but like. If we're actually going to respect her privacy or whatever, we should... respect it all the way?" Mira asked more than said, feeling the suggestion settle between them on the surface of the water.
Mira let the silence wrap around them as she and Zoey thought. If it was up to Mira, they'd all just. She didn't know for sure. Just tell everyone everything and be done? But that wasn't realistic to ask. She knew that. Despite how close they had gotten so quickly, they were still relatively new to each other. And again it wasn't like she had walked up to them with hi I'm Mira my family hates me as an introduction. Maybe it was a matter of just... waiting? Building trust? Giving Rumi opportunities to tell them and letting her know they accepted her?
Like. Was it weird that she was secretly half-demon? Sure. But Mira also had magical powers. Who was she to decide where the line between weird and permissible was? She literally was learning how to fight demons with singing. There were weirder things out there. She was weirder things out there, in her own way.
"Maybe we just need to prove to her that she can trust us!" Zoey suggested, energy infusing her once more. "And that we can keep a secret! Cause I don't know about you, but I don't want Celine to ever know we were eavesdropping on her like we were." Zoey laughed nervously. "I can't imagine how it is for Rumi who grew up with Celine."
"Celine's not that intimidating." Mira said with a smirk. At Zoey's gobsmacked expression, she reluctantly confessed: "But same. We gotta keep it a secret."