Chapter Text
Rumi gasps as she feels herself awaken in a strange space, almost like being written in a blank page, staring at Jinu's widened eyes, shocked expression as he kneels in front of her, hand on her cheek, purple patterns prominent on his arms, climbing up his neck and face. She blushes furiously as she feels herself crabwalk backwards while making an unseemly noise. Jinu lets out his own yell as if he was surprised too. He looks at her expression to down at his hand and back again, the patterns slowly dissolving under his pale skin, giving Rumi time to form words.
"What the hell are you doing here?"
"Me?" Jinu looks around the space in confusion, as if this was an escape room and they only had to look hard enough for the clues to escape their embarrassment. "You're not supposed to see me!"
"What is that supposed to mean?" Rumi looks around the "room", if you could call it that. "Where did you take me?"
"I..." Jinu emphasizes the word as he tries to sit in a more relaxed formation, propping himself up lazily, while Rumi ignores his forearms. "...didn't take you anywhere. I don't even know where 'this' is. This was my existence from when I gave you my soul until..." Jinu still doesn't exactly know how to place where they are and what they've done. Have they time-traveled? Are they in an alternate timeline? He doesn't have much time to ponder before she continues.
"So...what?" Rumi makes a horrified expression as her face pales. "...Have you seen me all this time? Like...all the time?"
"No." Jinu's face grows red as he understands what she's implying, shaking his head vigorously as if to convince. "N-No. It was like a strange fluid state. I thought I was kind of dead and I just dreamed a lot. But when you pull the sword, or I guess maybe when you intend to..." He raises a hand to gesture around them in answer.
"Okay." Rumi lets out a breathy sound, nodding like she's trying to convince herself she's safe and that she hasn't supremely embarrassed herself.
And Jinu tries to hide his lie deep beneath his skin.
The strange fluid state was true. He didn't watch her every waking minute of every day. But...he was able to see more than he let on, from the minute she pulled him fully in the temple that night. Everything became clearer, more colorful and he felt a string pull tight in his chest, energy he had access to. So...even when Rumi wasn't exactly pulling him, if he focused hard enough, he could see her and her surroundings overlapping with the liminal space. It was easier to master when he wasn't, you know, alive. Now...he was having a hard time seeing either Rumi's or his actual surroundings.
And he didn't know how the hell she was here. And what the consequences of that in person were.
Jinu had been watching her intently, forgetting himself in the habit of how she couldn't see him at all when he was the sword to now having her fully in the liminal space with him. When he finally registers the irritation plain on her face, he blinks and lets out a sheepish chuckle, hoping to diffuse any tension.
"Do you touch me a lot?"
"Huh?" Jinu voice breaks as he hits a higher register, embarrassment coloring the tips of his ears and heat climbs up his neck. He begs silently that maybe she'll be too embarrassed herself to ask a second time, because he really, really doesn't want to answer.
No such luck.
Rumi shoves a harsh pointer finger towards her cheek, looking at him through half-lidded eyes as if bored with his methods. "You were touching me."
"Was I...?" Jinu lets out a bewildered chuckle, his eyes widening as if he could look off into a corner of the room, but alas, it was infinite. His finger moves up to scratch his cheek before he moves to change the subject. "Wait, what were you doing before this?"
"I was..." Rumi answers harshly, but has to move back a little through her annoyance to actually find the answer. Her eyes widen with strange intrigue. "...trying to call my sword."
"And this...is the result?" Jinu traces his jaw with his hand as he ponders, and now Rumi is doing the ignoring until he raises his shoulders in a boyish shrug. "...Did it work?"
"How the hell would I know, idiot?"
"I don't know!" Jinu slumps a little as he's been reprimanded before mumbling in retaliation. "This isn't how I feel when I'm pulled in entirety. If that helps at all."
"It doesn't." Rumi lets out a sigh before running her hand through her frazzled braid, gritting out her sarcastic reply to the universe. "Great."
They sit there in a tense silence before Jinu begins again. "...This could be the right track though." Rumi's defeated eyes look up at him in annoyance, so he quickly continues, hoping her mood won't sour anymore just from his speech. "I mean, not only for the sword thing but...it's dangerous to meet in person sometimes."
Rumi's eyes widen but her face flushes as she looks over the very strange landscape before them. Where they're all alone. "...Yes." She changes subject. "But I'm really more curious about how to pull my sword. I need to-" Rumi stops herself before outing her allies, leading to a strange expression on Jinu's face at the abrupt end.
"You need to...?" Jinu tilts his head, but when Rumi doesn't answer, he supplies his own theory, a little laugh exiting his throat. "...What? Kill demons?" Jinu is speaking sarcastically, and he doesn't notice the rage of a fire he stoked in her as he chuckles and shakes his head, an eyebrow raising. "Why do you need to pull the sword when I'm right-"
"You've killed people."
A deafening dark silence settles across the space and Jinu could swear he heard an echo. His arms slowly fall, still raised in an embarrassing gesture when she interrupted. Jinu's face settles as he stares at hers, darkly lit, just like how she used to stare at him before she knew him. He felt his own embers burn as he thinks a sinister thought, back to the night his hands were first stained red, his father's lifeless form before him.
She has no idea.
"Yeah." Jinu's own dark eyes meet hers in slight challenge. "I have."
"I have."
Rumi knows. She has known. It's the very reason Hunters are needed in the first place. The Saja Boys wasn't just a fun cutesy plot to help further her career. Souls were stolen, devoured. Innocent ones.
And then there was the night he simultaneously saved her and destroyed someone else. The blood splattered across her face as she felt the rest seep into her clothes.
People were dead.
Because of him.
"What do you plan to do with me now?" Rumi's reminiscing is interrupted by the flinty gold that sparks in Jinu's eyes, his figure closer than it appeared to be only moments before. Jinu leans forward, his large body crowding her in even in a place with no edges in sight, no lack of escape. Still, she watches his skin deepen into a colder hue, purple sharp bright lines moving to paint across his skin, making her shiver in fear. "Demon, remember?" He murmurs with enough to show his canines, sharper than they were before.
No, not canines. Fangs.
The way he's speaking is so unnerving, when she has a flash of memory of the demon she had been saved from by the original hunters, and the one behind it all, his voice still ringing in her ears, the echo of that demon's death still vibrating through the night air.
Jinu is a demon. One and the same, Rumi. It won't serve you to forget it.
Rumi shakes her head but she feels her elbows shake as they keep her propped up, Jinu's demonic form moving over her slowly as he stares at her face with a vacancy that unnerves her. "N-No, don't say that. You're-"
Jinu lets out a bitter chuckle. "I'm what, Rumi?" He tilts his head at her as he speaks with a preternatural calmness. "In case you forgot, I was going to murder hundreds of people that night."
Rumi squeezes her eyes shut, trying to keep her brain from imagining the horrors of that night if she hadn't come back for them. However, it only exacerbates the image and the sounds of screams when she feels his breath graze her ear, only furthering her pain.
"And you know that. It's why I had to die."
"No!" Rumi surprises herself and Jinu the way her eyes bolt open, mortifying her while his heart pumps faster. How was she more passionate about him dying than all of those people? A wave of nausea washes over her at the realization, as memories of so many sleepless nights, nightmares haunting her at every waking turn.
Even with the surprise that flit across his face, Jinu's jaw clenches as he doubles down. "Yes."
"Shut up!" Rumi somehow manages to reverse their positions, her hands wrapping around his gray neck. She feels the heat burning through her as her fingers shake around his neck, tightening with panic as she glares down at him, teeth bared.
Jinu's shock is quickly replaced by a mean smugness as he croaks out a reply. "Look at you." He chuckles but his hands come up to caress hers, the dichotomy sending harsh wracks through her quivering body. "You're just like me."
Rumi whimpers in fear when her eyes move from his smile to her arms, covered in patterns.
A demon.
Lines of purple coloring him as her own iridescent ones light up across hers, reminding her exactly of what Jinu is to...everyone but her. But what is he to her? That was the better question. Why did it feel like he was someone else right now? Or maybe he was just...
You'll never save anyone as long as he's here.
"What?" Rumi whispers to the space, her entire face twisting in confusion, making Jinu's eyes widen slightly and lose sight of his goal or maybe, regaining his sanity. He shakes his head, the bangs fluttering around with the movement.
"...Rumi, I...I didn't mean to-"
Maybe he's different. You could trust him.
"Who...what...shut up!" Rumi hears the slight echo and muffled noise of Jinu talking over the voice in her brain, which was contorting and twisting, sounding like herself and Gwi-Ma mixed together, whispering contradictions as she breathes heavily. She shakes the voice away and throws her hands out in front of her, shoving away the person in front of her, overwhelmed by the sheer amount of feelings and visuals she gets as she closes her eyes.
Celine. Seoul. Fans. Zoey. Mira. Bobby. Lights.
Mom. Dad.
Jinu. Jinu. Jinu.
"And now...I give it to you."
"Shut the fuck up!" Rumi digs her fingernails into her temples. She's whimpering, muttering under her breath as she rocks back and forth, the images taking form and warping into each other.
I'm gonna die, they're gonna die, he's gonna die-
Pressure. Not pain. Just...unadulterated pressure. Against the back of her head, on her hand, on her lips. The images fade, first the edges blurring, than the faces gently dissolving in the mist cloaking her spinning mind. The lack of air makes her mouth part, the pause in her lungs forcing her body to reset, to return.
And return she does.
She only registers the pressure against her lips as his after she assesses his proximity as way too close. But...too close for...?
Rumi doesn't move away, and an argument could be made that it was because of his strong large hand holding her head in place, the other settled in the spaces between hers on the ground. But it would be a flimsy one, considering the minute she craved air, he had already made an attempt to separate, hoarse words brushing against her lips.
"I'm sorry, I didn't know what else to-"
She moves her head forward, wanting to feel the pressure once more, but now against her tongue. Jinu's eyes widen, his lips frozen in surprise, before meeting her in earnest. The hands that were slipping out of her braid move further in, tangling as if he never wanted to be free in the first place. His hand on hers, closing the gaps, squeezing as he lets out a noise that Rumi didn't plan on hearing, making her heart race for a different reason than just moments before.
"I'm sorry." Jinu pants the words against her mouth, not seeming sorry at all to Rumi, until she realizes he's talking about his demonic outburst that caused her panic. "I'm sorry, Rumi, I-"
She shuts him up by biting on his lower lip, tugging him closer until his chest is against hers, and he's finally obedient for once, his other hand moving from hers to her jaw, his patterns lighting and disappearing like snakes under his skin. She doesn't want to think about anything anymore, especially if it means panicking or having to stop kissing him. After a soft sound slowly leaks out of her throat, Jinu can't help a breathless chuckle from following. Still, it gives them the opportunity to replenish their depleted supply of oxygen.
"Don't leave me."
She almost whimpers it against his lips, which would normally mortify her, but she's weak. She feels drained and oh, so weak. The only thing keeping her conscious is his warm body against hers, and he speaks reassuringly to her as his fingers gently brush across her cheek.
"I won't."
But you have. And you will. And-
Rumi's memory is triggered, bringing back the first time she kissed Jinu, or at least, what she thought was the first time. The demon who the Hunters had saved her from. And his seductive words, leading her into a trance that she couldn't break by herself. At a demon's mercy.
"Rumi. I would never leave you alone."
Liar.
Jinu is unaware of the turmoil Rumi's facing, his bangs tickling her cheeks as he shifts the angle, a silent ask to deepen what they've just begun.
It's too much. Too persistent. Too similar to what his impostor had made her feel, only months ago, his claws lingering around her throat as he purred in her ear.
Rumi gasps, looking up in fear so fast, she still catches the glimpse of Jinu's flushed dreamy gaze, his chest heaving before his eyes widen, concern in the features.
"Rumi."
The breathless caress of her name on his lips sends shivers down her back, and she's not sure what it means.
And that's when she disappears.
Rumi's inhale seems to be what fully brings her back to her body, meditation leaving her sweaty but in the same room she was in when she attempted to pull her sword. But she's restless, exhausted, and dizzy, and she's not alone.
The girls must've heard her from the other room, and her body is heated with something that feels like a fever, and she can't help but wonder if she was acting insane while she was...incapacitated.
"Rumi!" Mi-Suk's the voice she hears over the sound of whimpering. Overstimulating and slightly annoying. And then she realizes she's the source of it. The girls hands have all found some way to anchor her, Mi-Suk at her arms, Jae at her legs and Seong pressing her body against her back as if keeping her upright. "You're okay. You're safe."
When she becomes aware of Jae's position, her face twists nervously, and Rumi tries to get her legs to stop jolting, noticing that she had been thrashing, that their positions were not superficial or a precaution. Rumi was endangering more than just herself again, transforming her panic into shame as she catches her breath. She shakes her head, trying to ground herself to here, not where she was.
"How long was I...?" Rumi has noticed the stability in all of their positions, looking slightly worn out and yet, concentrated. "What...what was I doing?" Rumi looks between all of their looks, trying to calm her but wanting to know more.
"Nothing really. We knew you were going to try to pull your weapon, but..." Rumi's eyes widen hopefully, but Mi-Suk gives a subtle shake of her head.
Oh. Great. So she failed.
All of that for nothing. Rumi's eyes start to fill, and the vibration makes Seong turn around to rub her back. "It's okay, we'll..." A heavy sigh passes between them all. "...We'll figure something out."
And that's what breaks the dam. Rumi curls in on herself, bringing her knees up to her chest, and the girls let her, choosing instead to hold her tightly as they surround her like a cocoon of support.
When she closes her eyes, flashes of Jinu's patterns, his smile, his intensity, and the words that wrapped around her, choking her with recognition.
What was I doing?
Rumi's trying not to think, not with her overworked brain, but it's proving harder than it looks. The sensation of his lips on hers still lingers, despite the fact that the others had confirmed she never left this spot. It had felt so real. But it had also felt as real as that demon impostor. She couldn't trust anything. Least of all, herself.
Was that really Jinu?
The realization that she could've made that entire dilemma up in her head was starting to make her feel sick, unsure if a fever would evoke such strong imagery. The idea makes her swallow against her constricted throat, and somehow that sensation feels like his fault, like always. A result of the taste of his tongue, real or not, poisoning her mind with ideations that wouldn't...couldn't...
"Anything you need. Take your time."
Rumi's startled by the last comment made by the girls before she feels herself sinking into some dream-like state, despite her fear in going under. Who knows where she'd end up tonight?
Because part of her is starting to slip from her grasp, but that begs the question...
Who has it?