Chapter Text
Rumi woke up in an empty bed. Which was unusual, because it, as far as she remembered, was a Tuesday. And they didn't have anything to do on this particular Tuesday, somehow. She could excuse Mira being gone - the taller girl loved cooking breakfast for them - but Zoey? Zoey loved to cuddle up to her riiiiight up to the moment they actually needed to get up and leave. And, of course, she complained the entire time she was booting up.
Rumi sat up in her bed. It was... her room, alright, but it was kind of a mess, with clothes and fast food garbage strewn about everywhere. Again, odd, she had just cleaned it recently, and it wasn't like Mira or Zoey would come in just to trash it. Hell, they slept here too, for crying out loud!
She could tell that something was off, so the half demon double checked that she had something halfway decent on (a pair of shorts, and someone's cropped tank top - Rumi had no clue who's it was, of course-) and headed towards her closed door. She glanced back at the Honmoon - a habit from years ago, before they had rebuilt it, back when she had to worry about it - and it was...
Gold?
The one they had built together, about 5 years ago now, was more... rainbow in color. Something was definitely not right.
She popped out in to an apartment that was cleaner than they had left it last night. It wasn't obvious, but if you lived there, it was clear as day. Like they had hired professional cleaners instead of doing it themselves.
She glanced over at Zoey's streaming room - but it looked just how it did before it was converted into her streaming room, "ZOEY'S ROOM!" sign and all. No fancy wireless "ON AIR" light up sign, and... less turtles? Not like Rumi typically kept track of the amount of turtles stuck to Zoey's door, but they had stopped spilling out onto the wall around it.
Again, odd. Mira's room - now more of a crafting space - looked... more edgy than before? A bigger, bolder, "KEEP OUT!" sign hung on her door, like she didn't want her bandmates to come in. In reality, she always secretly wanted them to join her on her Gunpla building sessions, but she rarely asked - opting to leave the door cracked instead.
Rounding the corner into their kitchen, Rumi finally saw a beautiful sight for sore eyes. Her Mira.
She tapped her nails on the island - the first few taps to let her know that she was here, because she was rather quiet in the mornings, and the next few taps were in code.
It was, of course, code for "I wanna spin you around and kiss you" - but to outside observers, it was just some random taps on a kitchen counter.
She arrived at her Mira, wrapping her arms around her waist, pressing a kiss to the back of her neck.
"Hey babe." Rumi said, casually, voice still a little sleepy.
Mira froze.
And immediately threw her off. The motion caught Rumi off guard, and she fell to the floor. Mira looked at her like she had just grown a third head. She called her Gok-do from the Honmoon, the golden blade glowing intensely.
Rumi flashed back to the Idol Awards for a brief second. Of Mira slowly - hesitantly - pulling her Gok-do on her. She had nightmares about it for years, until Mira finally convinced her to go to therapy.
But there was no hesitation here. A golden blade was at her throat in a near instant. And there weren't any tears in her eyes this time. No regret.
"Who are you." Mira panted. "And what did you do with Rumi."
"I- can explain." Rumi said, ignoring the fact that she really couldn't.
"ZOEY!" Mira shouted. "A DEMON BROKE THROUGH THE HONMOON! AND IT'S A SHAPESHIFTER!"
Why was Mira referring to her as a... Demon? She never did that, unless it was during-
Her thoughts cut off as Zoey screeched into the kitchen, all 6 of her Shin-kal knives out, and ready to go.
Rumi got the feeling that she was in genuine danger, but her legs refused to cooperate. Her lungs burned, leaving her gasping for breath.
"Oh finally!" Zoey said, and evil glint in her eyes. "Its been a while since I've killed."
That wasn't true. Their last official date - 6 days, 8 hours ago, not like she was keeping track - had devolved into a demon hunting session midway through.
Zoey and Mira stalked forward slowly, herding Rumi into a corner. Drawing out the kill. "Please-" She begged, hands up defensively.
Zoey hesitated for a microsecond, but that was all Rumi needed to pick up on it. "Zoey, please, you know me-"
"Wait, is that my tank top?" Zoey questioned, lowering her knives just a little.
"Yes, it is! You spilled some soy sauce on it last week-" On our date, and Mira had licked up the sauce that spilled on your chest, causing you to whimper loudly in the middle of the restaurant. It was adora-
Rumi slammed the brakes on that train of thought - judging by the way Mira reacted to her earlier, Zoey probably wouldn't react well either.
"Please," She all but hyperventilated. "Let's talk. Like civilized people."
Rumi woke up in her bed, stretching after another terrible night's sleep. It was the norm these days - the price of happiness, she always said - and moved to get up. Or, at least, tried to. Because something - someone - kept her in the bed.
"Mmmmrrrfg, five more minutesssss~" Came a sleepy voice from behind her. Rumi immediately rolled over to the other side of the bed, fully awake, staring at the intruder in her space. Looking back at her was a very, very confused Zoey.
Zoey. As in, her coworker, Zoey. In her bed. Sleeping with her face pressed against her back. And Zoey was looking back at her like spooning someone you worked with was a completely normal thing to do. Like she was the weird one for being startled.
"Rumiii," Zoey started, sleepily. "What are you-"
"What are you doing in here?" Rumi sharply cut her off. "You have your own room that you should be sleeping in."
"No? You guys banned me from doing subathons after that one time."
"Something about missing me~" She added with a flirty wink. "Also, uh, what happened to your patterns?"
"My what?" Rumi said, far too quickly and a bit too loudly. She shouldn't - couldn't - know about those. Did they come back while she slept? They had been fixed ages ago. How did Zoey know about them?
"Your.. yaknow, adorable tiger stripes that flash all of those cute, pretty colors?" Zoey stated, like it was obvious. "They're mostly shimmery though?"
Rumi fully got out of bed at that. "You shouldn't know about those. I- They were fixed when the Honmoon went golden!"
Zoey looked at her like she had grown a third head. "...Golden?"
This was wrong. It had to be wrong. The Honmoon had turned golden, 5 years ago, when they debuted Golden at the Idol Awards. It had gone perfectly. Well, except for the three weeks of, well- that was just the price of happiness that she had to pay. For being born like this.
Rumi turned to the window, looking out over Seoul. The Honmoon was still there, thankfully, but it felt.. different, somehow. It was more.. dense, than the golden one she was used to. Rainbow patterns weaved in and out of the city, in all different directions. It looked fine - beautiful even, but if Celine's teachings were worth anything, it wouldn't work if it wasn't gold.
"Rumi, are you... Okay?" Zoey asked, now fully sat up in her (their?!) bed.
"I'M-Fine!" She lied, bolting out of her bedroom. She skidded to a stop in their living room. Clearly, this was some sort of evil mirror world where she... slept with Zoey of all people?! Rumi glanced around, half expecting the kitchen to be on the other side than it usually was. She only saw the hallway leading to what should've been Zoey's bedroom, but...
It had a large "ON AIR" sign on the door, and the amount of turtles stuck to it was simply absurd. In fact, they were no longer contained to just the door, and they spilled onto the surrounding walls. And the ceiling.
Mira's room was... off too. The door was ajar, and there was no obvious bed inside. Instead, craft projects of all sorts piled high on the tables, walls covered in paint and anime posters that were definitely not to Mira's taste. Well, not like she really knew Mira's taste these days, but she couldn't possibly be into magical girl anime. (What even was Pretty Pretty Please, I Don't Want To Be A Magical Girl! anyway?!)
Rumi turned towards the kitchen. She would need all the brain power she could get to figure out what was going on and fix it, so she mentally prepared to eat some cup ramyun. She didn't normally eat breakfast in the mornings, but this was a special case. She'd deal with the guilt later. She turned the corner and found... Mira, cooking food while listening to a song that... was theirs, but she didn't remember singing (or writing) it.
Her voice - and that was her voice - was singing a chorus about how much she loved her girls. It was cheesy, and bordered on being a love song. If anything, the most surprising thing was the fact that Mira was cooking. She never did that. What the hell kind of alternate universe was this?
Mira turned around, grooving to the song. The moment she spotted her, her eyes lit up. "Heyy babygiiirl~"
Rumi just stared, slack jawed.
"You're right." Mira said, bringing her spatula to her mouth, blush dusting her cheeks. "I need to stop mirroring Zoey."
"Anyway, your timing is impeccable, as usual," she said, getting three matching bowls from the cupboard. "I'm almost done with this lovely gyeran bap."
Rumi tepidly sat down at the island. This was weird - wrong - but a small voice inside cried out that she was wrong. That she should stop denying herself what she deserved. She stamped that little voice out. She had fixed herself, checked off all of the boxes - what she had back in her penthouse, her real home, no matter how warm and homey this mirror world felt - was what she deserved. Not this.
A bowl appeared in front of her. "Made just the way you like it." Mira smiled, as Zoey skidded into the kitchen.
She was wearing what Rumi now recognized as... her shirt. "Wait, why are you wearing my clothes?" She asked.
"Because you keep stealing hers." Mira said, voice dripping with... affection? What? "Hell, you're wearing Zoey's- wait, when did you change?"
"I didn't?" Rumi said, totally confused.
"Hold on, where are your patterns?" Mira asked.
"You shouldn't know about those." Rumi stated, trying to drive that fact home. "Neither of you should know about them. I fixed them years ago at this point."
"Uhh..." Zoey said, mouth full of food. "Did you get switched in the night or something? You're acting really weird."
"No? I think you two did." Rumi accused. "I did nothing-"
"Hey girls!"
"Bobby!" They all responded, automatically.
"Sorry to interrupt your breakfast, but Gay Times wants an interview about your recent engagement." He said, like an engagement between.. All of three of them?- was something that was remotely possible.
Rumi gulped and flashed an awkward smile. "We'd love to!" She said. If she was going to be stuck in a strange world where she was open about her patterns, and engaged to the people that were supposed to be her coworkers, she might as well play the part.
"Does next week sound good?" She could probably fix this in a week, and get the weird Rumi to take her spot in the interview.
"Sounds great, I'll let them know!" Bobby said, cheerily. "Not sure how you regrew your hair that quickly, but it looks good! Must be another one of those 'Demon Things' - uh, if you need more haircuts now I can arrange that." He rambled. "I'll be out of your.. hair now, tootles~"
"Oh, hey, Bobby." Mira interjected. "We'll probably need transportation to Celine's island soon."
"Consider it done." Bobby said, adding in a little hand wave. "I'll call you when it's ready."
"Thanks Bobby."
"Anytime!" He disappeared behind the corner.
Rumi waited to hear the sound of the front door closing before she spoke. "What the fuck did he mean engaged?" She wasn't normally one to swear, but this was a special situation. "Also, I thought he quit 6 months ago." And why did he know about the demon thing?! She should probably be more alarmed about that, but, somehow, his total nonchalance was.. calming?! What in the holy Honmoon-
"Engaged to be married?" Mira responded, sharing a worried look with Zoey.
"And, what do you mean quit?" Zoey asked, eyes wide.
"I mean, he couldn't handle the stress?" Rumi shrugged. Employees quit all the time. It was a normal thing that happened.
"Maybe your... weirdness," Zoey said, obviously trying to be polite. "Has something to do with your lack of patterns?" Mira nodded in agreement.
"I'm not acting weird." Rumi said, flatly. "Your Rumi is the weird one for getting involved in.." She gestured towards her coworkers - fiances?! - "All that."
Zoey almost looked offended.
"Okay," Mira said, sternly. "We are going to Celine's place the minute Bobby has transportation ready. I know we deal with supernatural shit on the daily, but this is way above our pay grade." Zoey nodded.
"For once, I agree with you two." She said, voice dripping with near-venom.
"YEp! My father was a demon, and my mom decided to have me with him." Rumi said awkwardly. She was sitting on their couch, hands folded in her lap. "I didn't make a deal with Gwi-Ma. And these patterns are natural. I was born with em! Haha." Thankfully, once she got her girls to stop pointing their weapons at her - and had calmed down, at least a little bit - they were all able to sit down on the famed couch. They even ordered breakfast, and that was on the way as they discussed this apparently new information.
"So, if you're half demon." Mira said, sitting about a meter away. Zoey sat next to her, close - but not touching. The way you'd sit with... a coworker? Nothing in this world made any sense. "How does the Honmoon react to it?"
"Pretty well, actually. I seem to be more attuned to it?" Rumi replied. "But that might also be because we rebuilt it recently. Well, not recently recently, but recently in Honmoon time. You know."
"Rebuilt?" Mira asked. "We.. never..." She looked at Zoey, confused.
"Yeah!" Rumi said. "It's more.. rainbow now?" She sung a note to call the Honmoon to her. It took longer than she expected, and when a thread finally swung into their penthouse, she had to jump up to grab it.
"Oh wow, this is thin." She remarked, turning it over in her hands. Small flakes of gold fell off, coating her hands in glittery magic. "I'm surprised that you guys don't have massive demon problems."
"The Golden Honmoon is perfect." Mira stated, matter-of-factly. "No demon - besides you - has gotten through since we sealed it."
"I'm just... concerned about how easily this Honmoon crumbles."
"Maybe it's only doing that because you're part demon?"
"No, it does that for me, too." Zoey piped up. "I started using it as makeup for that one tour, because the stuff we were getting was irritating my skin."
"You mean, on that marathon tour that I thought would never end?" Mira added with a chuckle.
"No, but seriously." Zoey turned towards Rumi. "We performed in Antarctica. Twice."
"Oh... wow." Rumi said, lost for words.
"Yeah, something about making sure the Honmoon was fully gold, or whatever." Mira rolled her eyes.
Just then, their doorbell chimed.
"There's breakfast." Mira said, buzzing them in.
An obviously terrified assistant came in, carrying a bag full of good smelling food. "Sorry I'm late!" They said, bowing deeply as they set the food out on the table.
"Oh, is Bobby on leave?" Rumi asked. "Good, he deserves it."
"He, uh, quit 6 months ago, ma'am." The assistant said. "And, uh, I'm not sure if this'll sway your decision, but the restaurant actually messed up the order, so, uh-"
"Decision to what?" Rumi asked.
"Decision on... my employment?" The assistant grinned, awkwardly.
"...Why would I fire you for being a little late with our food?" Rumi said. "That'd be insane. So what if we wait a few more minutes to eat?"
"I- uh." The assistant backed away, slowly. "I'll be taking-my-leave-now!"
They all but ran to the elevator, and Rumi couldn't help but think about how strange this all was. What kind of person would fire an assistant for a small mistake like that? And, why did Bobby quit his job? He was happy with his position (and recent raise) the last time she saw him.
She popped open her food container. Kimbap. A safe food, and a little strange to have as your normal breakfast order, but it she always liked it.
Her girls were staring at her.
"Who... are you?" Zoey asked.
"I'm.. Rumi?" She replied, flashing an awkward grin.
"Yeah, no." Mira said. "Our Rumi would've fired them on the spot."
Rumi just shrugged. Maybe... hm. That would make a lot of sense, but-
"Hey, Rumi, can we eat all of this, or are you gonna make us save half of it for lunch?" Zoey asked, holding a decidedly normal sized container of food.
"You can eat it all right now?" Rumi said, like it was obvious. Because it was. Restricting calories - especially considering the fact that they were literal demon hunters - would be insane.
"Miraaa-" Zoey said, mouth already full of food. "I like this Demon Rumi a lot better alreadyy. Can we keep herr-?"
"Maybe." Mira smirked, digging into her own food.
As the trio ate, Rumi rotated the theory she was forming in her mind. Some sort of multiverse swap thing made enough sense, given what she and Celine had been studying about the Honmoon, but it was absolutely not a normal conclusion to jump to. One couldn't exactly say 'Hey girls, me and the Rumi you know are two completely different people, and, due to ✨multiverse shenanigans✨, we've been swapped' without concrete evidence.
So, she decided to get that concrete evidence, but like. In a sneaky way, without tipping her girls off.
"You know," She began, setting her food down. "Normally, Derpy would've come around by now to try and steal some food." That wasn't a lie, per say, but what the giant tiger really wanted was some headpats. And Zoey cuddles. He was a very relatable tiger.
"Who's Derpy?" Mira asked.
"The uh, big ol' demon tiger? Comes with a bird that wears a cute little hat?"
"BIG CAT?!" Zoey exclaimed, stars in her eyes. "WITH CUTE BIRD!! THAT WEARS A TINY HAT?!!!"
Gosh, Zoey was adorable in every universe.
"Do you have any photos." She said, vibrating like she was about to explode.
"Of course." Rumi said, flicking to the photos app on her phone. She tapped her way to the 'Albums' section, scrolled past the folder labeled "Engagement!!" - she really had to talk to them about that, but like, probably later? Later would be fine, probably - and opened the folder named "DERPY <3"
Handing the phone to Zoey, she leaned back and watched as the shorter girl make the cutest noises as she scrolled though the album. It took every fiber in her body to hold her back from getting up and kissing her right then and there.
"Cute! Awww! Adorable! CUTE!! Kitty. CUTE!!!" Zoey said, using her entire body to swipe through the photos. "Cute, cute, cute, AAAAHH!!"
She threw the phone up in the air. It landed in Rumi's mostly empty container of kimbap, face up. The photo displayed was nothing short of adorable.
Derpy was at the bottom, taking up about a third of the frame. Zoey was lying on top of him, happy as a clam, her cheeks getting kissed by none other than Rumi and Mira, who was also taking the photo.
Whelp. So much for avoiding the topic of their engagement.
"Right." Mira said, leaning over to get a better look. "We should talk about... that."
"Mhm, yep!" Rumi said with a smile. "Um. Yeah... We are.. kind of engaged."
Their reactions were immediate and overlapping.
"We're engaged?!"
"YOU'RE ENGAGED TO MIRA?!!"
"Well, actually," Rumi said, rubbing the back of her neck. "We're all engaged. To each other. As like, a polyamory sort of thing."
The two of them just stared, slack jawed.
"Is that even legal?" Mira asked, still in total disbelief.
"Well, yeah, thanks to our activist efforts."
"But... wait." Zoey said, fully serious. "Don't you have a boyfriend?"
Now it was Rumi's turn to stare, slack jawed. "A boyfriend?" This had to be a different universe. She wasn't even into men.
"I forget his name, but... yeah? Something like that?"
"Okay, lets get some actual clothes on. We're going to Celine's." Rumi said, already getting up.
"You?" Mira asked, looking at her like she was crazy. "Actually wanting to go to Celine's? You never want to go there if you can help it."
"Not in this universe, no." She said, wiping her phone off. "But in the one I'm actually from? Yes."
It took longer than normal for Rumi to pick out an outfit. Because, well, for starters, in the real, not-mirror world, HUNTR/X actually had separate closets. They didn't just share one giant one, and that made it easy to separate out clothes.
But right now, she was paging though clothes, trying to find something that was actually hers. The girls had - gracefully - bowed out to let her change on her own, and now she was just wasting everybody's time. It wasn't like anyone expected her to wear her own clothes. They were probably expecting her to come out with stuff pulled from Mira and Zoey's wardrobes, and while it would probably be best for her to keep up appearances, she had pride, dammit!
Most of the clothing that was visibly hers had those terrible patterns on it. It all seemed to be designed to complement this Rumi's failure to fix herself. Finally, after what felt like hours of searching, she came across something that might work. It matched with two other outfits, something she was not a fan of for an unofficial outing, but it would have to do if she didn't want to impose on anyone. She changed quickly.
Zoey and Mira traded places with her, and popped out with - as she had feared - the other matching outfits. Rumi rolled her eyes at the sight.
"What?" Mira asked, with mock offense.
"I just-" Rumi said, struggling to articulate herself for once. "We're our own people? We don't have to match all the time?"
"Giiiiirl-" Zoey said, draping herself over Rumi in overly dramatic fashion. "Our souls literally bound together to create the New Honmoon. So, we do, in fact, have to match all the time."
Mira chuckled. "We can wait on the balcony, if that sounds cool? I can also make tea if people want."
"Yes to both!" Zoey responded, bounding outside with the energy of a golden retriever. Mira turned to make the tea, and left Rumi to consider the implications of what Zoey had just said.
A "New Honmoon." One that was, apparently, rainbow in color. And, well, if this was a completely different Honmoon, did that mean this was an entirely separate universe? One where she was, apparently, into women. One where she shared her patterns openly. Where she didn't hide.
Unfortunately, while it made a lot of sense, and explained away pretty much all of the weirdness of the last couple of hours, 'I woke up in a different universe where I was ✨dating my coworkers✨' sounded more like a trashy K-drama than actual, real life.
She sighed as she stepped onto the balcony. The mid-morning sun lit up the streets below, buildings covered in rooftop solar panels that reflected the sun back up at them. Zoey looked.. almost ethereal in this light.
Rumi shook that thought from her head as she came closer, only to find that Zoey was talking to...
A bird. With three eyes and a tiny hat. She hadn't seen that little guy in a while.
It chirped at her. Somehow, she understood it as a confused "Hello?".
"Sussieee-" Zoey said, drawing out the syllables. "It's just Rumi. No need to be weird about it."
"To be fair, I just.. haven't seen him in a while?" Rumi asked. "Not since the Honmoon was sealed."
Of course, Zoey (and, by extension, Mira) knew about Jinu's pet. And, of course, Zoey had named it something so... Zoey. His tiger was probably around somewhere - she couldn't remember a time when they hadn't appeared without the other.
Zoey chuckled. "The way you talk about the Honmoon feels... strange. It seems to work totally different to this one."
"How so?"
"Well," She started. "First off, it took away your beautiful patterns. And then it doesn't even allow these cute little guys in? Like, what sort of Honmoon is-"
Rumi wasn't listening. She hadn't been, not since the "beautiful patterns" comment. Because, to put it bluntly, they weren't beautiful. Couldn't be beautiful. Celine had never touched them, just hovered over them. Because they were a mistake that needed to be hidden. And Jinu... Jinu only loved her in spite of the patterns, not because of them. But even then, they were gone. Fixed. But for some reason, her coworkers seemed obsessed with them. Like they weren't a flaw that needed to be covered up.
"-and like, yeah, I bet the gold is really pretty, but I'd rather have your patterns than a Golden Honmoon, to be honest."
...Apparently, Zoey had rambled the entire time that she had been stuck in her own head.
"Wait." Rumi interrupted, "What do you mean 'rather have.. my patterns.. than a Golden Honmoon'..?"
Zoey shrugged. "The one we have works pretty well, and... I dunno, you seem happier with your patterns on full display. And, well, selfishly, I like you being a walking mood ring that I can instantly read."
Rumi scoffed. "My... patterns. Are the result of a mistake made by my mother back in the early 2000s. They are shameful. Something to cover up, and not something to... flaunt, like some sort of fashion accessory."
Zoey just stared.
"Do you.." Mira said flatly, her voice hiding an unreadable, fragile emotion. "Consider yourself a mistake?"
"Well, yeah." Rumi said, like it was obvious. "Dark met the light, and they decided to.. have a baby about it. My birth is the direct cause of the untimely deaths of two Hunters, and I know for a fact that I tore several holes in the Honmoon as a child, by complete accident. Why Celine didn't just kill me as a baby is beyond me."
Mira pressed a warm cup of tea into her hands. "Drink this. And know that you have a therapy appointment Thursday at 2."
Rumi just accepted the tea without question. She hadn't even asked for tea, but here she was, getting some anyway.
She could tell, just by the smell, that it was her favorite kind of tea to have in the mornings. She took a sip, instantly relaxing into the flavor.
The trio stood in silence for a moment, enjoying their tea. Mira and Zoey kept shooting worried looks her way.
And on some level, that made sense. What she had just said probably sounded insane to them, but it was the objective truth. She had always gotten the feeling that, if she hadn't been born, Celine would've been a much happier woman. Hell, the Honmoon might've turned gold earlier, preventing thousands of deaths. She didn't deserve to live, and she should've been killed at birth, but she had made peace with the fact that she wasn't. The past was just the past, nothing she could do to change it. She could only hope to live with the sins of her parents, and to do something worthy of their sacrifice.
Mira's phone lit up.
She flipped it open. "Hey Bobby!"
"Hey girls! I've got transportation to Celine's island ready to go! It is definitely not up to your typical standards, but it was the only thing available on short notice with the range to get out there."
"Sweet!" Zoey said. "Thank you so much for the help."
"Yeah, thanks." Rumi added, even though she really didn't want to go to Celine's now. Or ever, really.
"Do you girls need a ride to the airport? I can get a limo out front by the time the elevator reaches the lobby."
Suddenly, she felt it. A small, near-imperceptible change in the Honmoon that only a Hunter would notice. The others clearly felt it too. Zoey chugged the rest of her tea, and swung her leg up onto the balcony's glass railing.
"No.." Mira said. "We have our... own transportation."
"Alright, cool!" Bobby replied. "Remember, don't get hurt, but if you do-"
"First aid team on site." Mira and Zoey said, simultaneously, like they had this exact conversation all the time.
"See you girls in 5~!" Bobby said, cheerfully.
Mira snapped her phone shut, ending the call. "Where is it?" She asked.
"Eleven o'clock, high." Zoey responded. "On the way to the airport too, lucky."
"Seven demons." Chirped Sussie.
"Hey, Zoey." Rumi said, concerned. "You're leaning really far over that railing."
She just chuckled. Tossing her empty cup to Mira, she flashed a cocky grin. "Well, you know what they say~"
Throwing up a hang loose with her free hand, she leaned even farther over the railing. "What's up dangerrrrrrr-!"
Rumi rushed to the edge, peering over at Zoey, plummeting towards the ground in a strangely controlled, yet seemingly random way. She felt a gust of wind blow by her, and Mira joined Zoey in her fall.
She looked more like a diver, gracefully flipping and turning in way that just screamed show-off.
"What the fuck-" Rumi said, slamming her cup down and bolting for the elevator.
Rumi stepped out onto their shared balcony, holding a steaming glass of tea. The mid-morning sun lit up the streets below, bathing everything in a golden, Honmoon-enhanced light. It was beautiful, and she totally understood why some astronauts became poets. Her idle thoughts then moved to actually going to space, but the unnecessary risk shot that down. Plus, Zoey would talk her ear off about the climate impacts of non-scientific space trips. Even though they were one of the most successful K-pop groups of all time, they at least tried to keep their impact down.
The Golden Honoon danced as another beautiful sight joined her on the balcony. Her Mira. She was holding the glass of tea she had prepared for her, and absolutely refusing to look her way.
"You made me tea."
"I did, yes." She would. She always would. As long as she was able to.
"I didn't ask for it." Mira responded, an emotion in her voice that Rumi couldn't quite read.
"You would've wanted some." Rumi said, simply. "You always like your tea in the morning."
A soft breeze dusted their rooftop hideout. Her reactions reminded Rumi of the beginning of their relationship, when everything was new, and she had just begun to worm her way over the walls of Mira's heart. It gave her a new appreciation for what they had now. Open, honest communication. Nighttime cuddles, morning kisses. A love that, while different, was always there, from the beginning.
The Rumi of this universe, evidently, hadn't gone down that route. Judging by their reactions to her patterns, she hadn't been outed to her girls, and she hadn't revealed them on her own, either. Suddenly, a sickening thought stuck her.
What if the Golden Honmoon fixed what wasn't broken?
She had spent her whole life, wishing and praying that her patterns would just - go away, spent every waking minute working towards that goal - that she never stopped to think about what would happen when she eventually achieved it. It had been her entire plan back then. Why she pushed up the release of Golden to the literal first night of what was supposed to be a two week hiatus. Why she pushed herself - so hard - until the whole thing went up in flames.
Hell - she had been the one to destroy the Old Honmoon, her anguished cries doing more damage than the Saja Boys ever could.
Somehow, it had all worked out, and with the help of her girls, they managed to defeat Gwi-ma and create a new, rainbow Honmoon with the power of friendship. Well, what they thought was the power of friendship at the time.
"Hey, uh, Rumi?" Zoey asked, cautiously stepping out onto the balcony. "Did you make this tea.. for me?"
"Of course, dear." Rumi said, adding in the term of endearment without even realizing.
Zoey flushed. "Aa-anyway, uh, thanks!"
Rumi just laughed. God, she was whipped.
Her phone lit up, interrupting their little moment.
"Hello, this is Rumi, you're on speaker."
"Hi! So, uh, your pilots just arrived. They're doing pre-flight checks now, and it'll be about 30 minutes before takeoff. We have a limo waiting for you in the garage."
Suddenly, she felt it. A small, near-imperceptible change in the Honmoon that only a Hunter would notice. Her girls clearly felt it too, with the way they shifted uncomfortably.
"Ah, thank you," Rumi chuckled. "But we have our... own transportation."
The assistant on call paused. "Can you... elaborate, please?"
"No." Rumi said, hanging up.
"Alright girls, we ready to go?" She stretched. Always good to do that before hunting.
"How did they get past the Golden Honmoon?" Zoey asked, voice laced with concern.
"Probably the same way Rumi got in?" Mira questioned.
"Well, at least it's on the way to the airport." Rumi said, eyeing the stab of red in a sea of gold.
Pocketing her phone, she looked back at her girls. "You ladies ready?"
"Just-" Zoey chugged the rest of her tea. "-about."
"Wait, won't we need the limo to get out there?" Mira asked, a concerned look on her face.
"..No?" Rumi responded, right before sprinting towards the edge and jumping off.
She had half a mind to wonder if the Golden Honmoon would catch her, like the Rainbow Honmoon would, but that was probably something to wonder before doing an acrobatic fucking pirouette off the balcony.
"Ugh, You came at a baaad time," She sang, willing the Honmoon into shape. Golden threads wound around her muscular arms, the spirit of the fans preventing her from splatting on the ground. "But you just crossed the line-" She dipped lower than she intended to, and found herself running at street level, dodging cars and busses.
"You wanna get wild-" She vaulted over a random open air tour bus. Knowing her luck, the photos would be #1 trending on Tw/tter within the hour. "-Okay I'll show you wild!" Effortlessly weaving through morning Seoul traffic, she could feel herself getting close. The Honmoon guided her directly to the demons that breached it, and she soon arrived at an alleyway that backed up to some metro tracks.
"Better come right, better luck tryin'-" She called her sword from the Honmoon. The large, rainbow blade was quite the adjustment from the slender, one handed sword she started out with - but all it took was some extra training, and she was as proficient as ever. "-Gettin' to our level!"
She expected her girls to join in at this point, but then realized - as she cut the first demon in half - that said girls weren't actually with her. "Cuz you might die, never the time-" Her sword slammed into two demons at once, their combined mass slowing her down just enough for a fourth demon to try their luck. They failed, and, as the demons already on her sword disintegrated into dust, she pushed her sword through them as well. "-Tryna start a battle-"
She dodged another attack, twisting her body around to put the sword through the offending party. "Bleedin' isn't in my blood, 뼈속부터 달라서-" They all but exploded into dust.
Five down... Eleven more to go.
"Beating you is what I do, do, do, yeah-"
"-Body on body, I'm naughty, not even sorry-" Rumi raced through the streets on some superbike that she apparently owned. This Honmoon appeared to let her hear the girls, even when she was several blocks away. She maneuvered through traffic to a little alleyway that backed up to some metro tracks.
She initiated a classic bike slide, but then, at that exact moment, she called her Saingeom from the Honmoon. The slender, golden blade dug into the ground, pulling her off the bike and sending it crashing into the back fence. "And when you pull up, I'll pull up-" She muttered. Couldn't help to sing a little.
"ARE YOU INSANE?!!" She turned around, shouting at the girls and feeling the heat of the explosion that followed. A demon screamed by her, half disintegrated, as her coworkers just stood there, slack jawed.
"A little late to the party?" Zoey grinned awkwardly. "Na-na-na-na-"
"-Locked and loaded I was born for this-" Mira sung. "There ain't no point in avoidin' it-" Since when did they finish each other's lyrics in battle?
"Whatever." She muttered, launching herself at the five remaining demons. They had only killed one of them before she showed up. Guess she'd be doing everything herself, as per usual.
She stabbed her sword through the chest of a demon trapped under some debris, the monster's face twisting into an expression of extreme pain as it was ripped back down into hell.
She turned to kill the four remaining demons, nearly running into Mira, effortlessly stabbing her Gok-do clean through the nearest one. Her hair flowed beautifully, in sharp contrast to the violence she was dishing out.
Meanwhile, Zoey threw her Shin-kals, ripping one to shreds, but sparing the final two demons - like she was herding them, pushing them... on to the metro tracks.
Just then, a metro train buzzed by the trio. The final monsters took their chance, and leaped onto the train with supernatural ability.
"Are you fucking with me?!" Rumi shouted, angrily. Now, all the innocent people on that train were in danger, all because her coworkers decided to fuck around and get fancy.
"Annoyed? A bit-" Zoey rapped, grabbing onto the threads of the Honmoon after them. "-불을 비춰 다 비켜, 네-"
"-앞길을 뺏겨!" Zoey finally showed up, Mira in tow. They leapt off a clearly stolen-er, commandeered scooter. Why they didn't just nab one of her superbikes in the garage - or just, let the Honmoon take them here, like she had - was beyond Rumi.
"Knockin' you out like a lullaby-" The trio harmonized, instantly strengthening the Honmoon as they powerwalked towards the demons. Rumi signaled for the other two to rush forwards - forward guard, like they had always done in training. They rushed towards the demons, a sense of efficient brutality inherent in their movements.
The brutality showed in their fighting. Instead of messing with the demons and going for trickshots, this Zoey - Golden Zoey? - simply threw her golden Shin-kals fast at the approaching horde. Three evaporated by the time Mira got close enough with her Gok-do to even start hitting, ripping through four of them in one swift movement. Usually she liked to dance, at least a little bit. "Hear that sound ringin' in your mind-"
While they were brutally effective, they weren't the most coordinated thing in the world. "Better sit down for the show-" Rumi sang out as they all leapt towards... the same demon. Their weapons clashed, rainbow sparks, mixed with golden glitter exploded just above the poor guy's head. They took the opportunity to climb the fence with their remaining buddies and jump onto a passing metro train.
The trio groaned in pain, tangled on the ground. Mira glared at her, like it was her fault somehow. "That's how it's..." She grinned, widely. "Uh, Done, done, done?"
Mira jumped up first, Gok-do slipping back into the Honmoon. She picked up the little scooter - still running, somehow, despite being tipped over for the last minute or so - and hopped on.
Zoey was soon to follow, wrapping her arms around the taller girl. Rumi plopped on the back, and, after not really finding a seat, wrapped her arms around both Zoey and Mira, squishing Zoey in between them.
The dumb scooter was comfortable for one, workable with two, and definitely not designed for three whole demon hunters. You should've grabbed one of my bikes! She thought, nearly sliding off as Mira dodged a turning car. Luckily, their ride didn't take long.
Mira ripped the little scooter onto a crossroad, the machine's tires screaming in agony as they made the turn at an entirely inadvisable speed. The bridge over the metro tracks was closed to regular traffic, but some light construction work was nothing to them at this point.
They blasted past the ROAD CLOSED signs, dodging open sections of bridge, drying concrete, and port-a-potties, towards an open section of guardrail. Mira drove up an incredibly convenient board onto the sidewalk, jumping the scooter off the bridge and onto the train passing below.
The trio leapt off the bike, the blasted thing somehow staying on the roof, despite the train's jolty motion as it traversed a switch.
"HUNTR/X don't miss-" Rumi restarted, calling her sword from the Honmoon once more. Her girls quickly followed suit with their weapons. "-How it's done, done, done."
They jumped over the gap between train cars. "HUNTR/X don't quit-" Forward guard, once again. Three demons evaporating near instantly, her girls making quick work of them. "-How its' done, done-" One left. Rumi jumped their way, closing the distance rapidly.
The demon ran, and almost immediately tripped, scrambling a little as Rumi landed on top of them. She pushed her sword through their chest, only for it to phase past them like they didn't exist, landing with a thunk on the metal roof of the train.
They both stared at each other for a beat, neither quite sure what to make of the situation.
"Uh," Rumi started, desperate to kill the awkwardness. "How's the weather.. down there?" She grinned. Perfectly normal small talk question, social blunder averted.
"Pretty good," The demon shrugged. "Considering that it is hell at the end of the day." Then, their eyes narrowed. "Wait, are you-" Their question was cut off by their rapid dispersal back through the Honmoon.
Rumi stood up, sword slipping back into the Honmoon. She turned back to her girls. "Everyone alright?"
"We're fine!-" Zoey replied, "Just, uh, out of practice! Yeah."
"I think we got all of them." Mira said. "Unless there are more tears that we don't know about."
"We... should be good?" Rumi shrugged. "I don't sense anything-" Mira raised an eyebrow. "-But I could be wrong!" She finished the sentence with her trademark awkward smile. They clearly didn't trust her, and that's fine, it's fine-
"I think that one was the only one." Zoey said. "And hey! Look on the bright side! Nobody-"
Just then the train lurched, finally sending the scooter off the roof. It landed on an adjacent track, shorted on the third rail, and exploded into a shower of sparks.
"-died?" Zoey smiled, with her trademark awkward smile.
"Who's scooter was that, anyways?" Rumi asked.
"That weird paparazzi guy who's always hanging out front?" Mira replied. "He definitely caught your little jumping stunt, by the way."
"Ah, that's fine." Rumi said. They'd have to buy the guy a new scooter, and, knowing him, they'd have to sign it too. "But you could've taken one of my bikes."
"Well, yeah, but then I wouldn't get to punch him in the face."
-Oh. Oh. Great.
"-We'll probably have to give him a tour then." Rumi deflated. They absolutely could not have Mira - or any of them, really - getting an assault charge and winding up in jail. Especially when the Honmoon was acting this weird.
Mira rolled her eyes. "I guess, yeah."
"RUMI!" Zoey cried out, hitting the deck at the same time as Mira. Rumi didn't even need to be told what to do - she just pressed herself to the roof, waiting for the low bridge to clear. Looking back up at her girls, they all seemed to realize something at the same time.
They should probably get off the roof of this train.
Zoey and Mira had no trouble getting onto the train. Because of course, this New Honmoon seemed to love it when they just grabbed onto it's delicate strings. The one back home would've crumbled in her hands.
(Hell, she's pretty sure that she saw her Zoey - the real Zoey, not like she was possessive of her, not like she had any right to be - using it as makeup for the Golden tour.)
Instead, she ran along the tracks, desperately trying to catch up to the speeding train. Mira held out her Gok-do, clearly meant for her to grab on.
Rumi didn't take the bait. It was obviously held out in pity. She could just hear her now - 'Too weak to get up on your own, nepo baby?' - so she just ran faster. She jumped for the chains locking off the back door, grabbing onto the bottom one. The fact that her body slammed against the coupler, causing her to wince in pain was secondary to the fact that she was on the train now.
"GO!" She shouted, pulling herself up to a more stable position. "Kill those demons! I'm fine!"
Mira didn't go. She glanced behind her, but didn't move. "You're allowed to need help!"
"I do not need help!" Rumi argued, climbing up the towards the roof. But clearly, she didn't do this often, nor did she train for this. She put her weight on one of the wiper blades, and it instantly gave way. She lost her footing, and, as the train changed directions, felt herself falling off of it.
Mira caught her, quickly, like she expected it. She pulled her up onto the roof, but she didn't let go right away. Instead, she moved her hand to Rumi's lower back, pulling her close.
"You're allowed to depend on us, Rumi." She said, seriously, making direct eye contact. "We're a team."
Rumi gulped. She stared into the taller woman's beautiful eyes, surrounded by eyeliner sharp enough to kill, for just a moment too long, Mira's almost possessive touch never wavering.
"We are a team." Rumi said, finally stepping back. "A team with a job to do."
She called her Saingeom from the Honmoon, and sprinted towards the front of the train. One of the remaining demons disintegrated as she ran to it, killed by Zoey's Shin-kal. That left one final demon near the front of the train. It tripped.
Fatal mistake.
Rumi pounced on it, driving her sword through it's chest, only for it to phase past it like they didn't exist, landing with a thunk on the metal roof of the train.
They both stared at each other for a beat, neither quite sure what to make of the situation.
"WHY are you still alive?!!" Rumi shouted, directly in the monster's face.
"I-, uh, don't know?" The demon shrugged as it grinned an unnaturally wide smile. "Is 3,000 too old to have a midlife-"
"AAAARRGGHH!!" Rumi screamed at it, slamming her sword up and down repeatedly. That seemed to do the trick, because their screams combined for a moment as the evildoer was dragged back down to where it belonged.
Rumi got back up, slipping her Saingeom back into the Honmoon. She turned to face her coworkers. "Seriously?! You two got here before me and didn't kill a single one of those monsters!"
Mira wordlessly approached as Rumi continued. "And, if anything, it looked like you two were playing around with them?! Do you not remember that these killers steal souls?! I just-"
"They-" Zoey interrupted. "They can't!"
"Yeah?! No shit!" Rumi yelled. "That's why we do this whole thing!"
"NO!" Zoey yelled back, matching her energy. "I mean they literally can't!"
"What?" Rumi looked at her like she had just grown a third head.
"Rumi." Mira said, tone flat. "This Honmoon works differently."
"I-" Rumi stuttered. A part of her wanted to flat out reject her coworker, but, then again, said coworker did just jump off their balcony a few minutes ago like it was nothing. And then, she used it to leap onto the train. So, maybe this Honmoon did work differently.
"They can come up, but they can't bring souls back down with them." Mira explained.
"The Honmoon doesn't even tell us about a lot of them." Zoey added. "Most demons just want to, I dunno, hang out?" She shrugged.
"...I guess?" Rumi said. Maybe there were other good demons, aside from Jinu? And, maybe herself, if you considered her a demon. She didn't. Hadn't, for a while. Not since she was fixed. But, also- "We need to check on the train."
Mira nodded, solemnly. "Let's."
The trio clambered down into the train, slipping in through one of the end doors. The train was, thankfully for once, packed. They made their way through the train car. Nothing was out of place. Nothing, except-
A demon, calmly sitting on one of the bench seats, reading a newspaper. Rumi glared at it, and slowly stalked towards it. Too many people around, unfortunately. They'd have to kill it once it got off. Strange that the Honmoon didn't alert on this particular monster.
Her slow advance was suddenly halted by Mira's acrylic claws digging into her shoulder. "The Honmoon didn't alert, so he's fine."
"Maybe," Rumi continued to stare the demon down. "This Honmoon is wrong." The demon finally noticed her death glare, and all the color drained from it's face.
"HI-" Zoey skidded in front of her. "I am so sorry, she's been acting weird all morning."
"What?" Rumi said, a tinge of anger in her voice.
"Please," Zoey bowed slightly. "Forgive us for interrupting what is probably your morning commute." Mira followed her lead, and the hand on her shoulder forced Rumi to bow as well. Why they were showing respect to a demon, and not, well, killing the bastard, was, once again, beyond her.
"I'll- I'll just-" The demon tugged at it's collar awkwardly. "Be.. on my way?"
"Totally understandable, considering the completely unprompted glare she's giving you right now." Zoey said, standing back up and grinning awkwardly.
"Excuse me, my glare is completely prompted in this circumstance." Rumi turned said glare toward her shorter coworker. When she turned back to where the demon was sitting, it was gone. "Great. Now that monster is gonna kill someone, and it'll be our fault for failing to stop him."
"Or, maybe not!" Zoey said, apparently immune to her glare. "Just trust the Honmoooon-"
"This stop is: Gimpo International Airport." A robotic voice played on the train's speakers. "The doors will open on the-"
"I can't believe that we intentionally let a demon go." Rumi said, a hint of frustration in her voice.
"Hey, look on the bright side." Mira deadpanned. "Nobody died."
Rumi stared at her for a moment as the doors opened. "I'll take that victory."