Work Text:
Hunted
"'Takedown'...?"
The first notes of the song blast from the speakers behind and above her.
The walls reverberate. The stage trembles. The audience cheers.
Rumi waits for a heartbeat longer, glancing nervously back at the staff, searching for some kind of signal that this was a mistake. But the notes continue.
Behind her, Mira and Zoey are oddly calm. Rumi frantically covers her headpiece and tries to ask them what's going on in a whisper.
"They put this back in? Did they tell you guys-?"
But there's not enough time. It's too late to question it now.
Her friends simply smile, and it's a little off-putting. Uncanny.
Rumi has no choice but to perform.
Her body moves on instinct, reflexively following the motions that match the song. Mira and Zoey do the same behind her. They all sing their parts - they have to - but Rumi still knows this isn't right.
This isn't right-
A shove.
One so hard it knocks her sideways several steps. Had she been a foot closer to the edge of the stage, she likely would have gone clean off.
"Zoey-?"
And then another hard push from behind, one with enough force to make her shoulder crack.
"Mira-?"
Rumi whirls around, startled. It wasn't like either of them to make such a devastating mistake…
A mistake.
That's all she sees in their eyes.
They know what she is.
A mistake-
The patterns flash from beneath the sleeve of the black sequin jacket that had been so violently yanked off her shoulder.
Rumi just freezes. It's incomprehensible.
But Mira and Zoey advance on her.
Their mouths twist into snarls. Their eyes burn with suspicion. Their hands grab her with fury and intent to harm.
They push her again while continuing to sing as if this was rehearsed. As if this was what they'd been planning all along.
Zoey grabs her by the collar and sneers hatred into her face.
Mira appears behind her and utters threats into her ear.
But still, the music plays. The crowd cheers.
Rumi is the only one scared. Confused. Hurt. The rest of the world seems entirely fine with this.
It continues throughout the rest of the song. Mira and Zoey prowl around her like wolves, while Rumi plays the part of the rabbit.
Hunted. Terrorized.
Eyes wide, breath shallow, heart pounding, she watches them - not as their friend, but as their prey. She sings out of habit, and nothing more, legs shaking as she tries to dance while dodging their assault.
But they don't let her rest even for a second.
They both charge her and strip the jacket clean off, exposing her.
Nails graze her remaining clothes, her arms, her shoulders, as if seeking to gouge out the very patterns the song spoke of.
Rumi spirals, floundering to follow the correct movements.
She isn't safe anymore. Her secret has been laid bare in front of millions of people. But worst of all, in front of the ones she loves most dearly.
And they despised her. Just like she'd always feared.
The Idol Awards and the Honmoon be damned. Nothing shredded her heart to pieces more than the sheer hatred in their eyes.
Rumi staggers from every shove, eyes pleading, but they never hear her. They don't even see her anymore. All they see are her patterns.
She just needs to get away.
Rumi counts down the lines, the lyrics, the seconds-
Finally the song comes to an end. The lights dim for intermission.
And she runs.
Fueled by a lifetime of dread and fear that had been building up behind the walls of her secret.
So many years of trying to build those walls higher, reenforce them to be stronger...
All useless.
It all bursts now, a gushing, torrential tumult that propels her across the stage and into the shadows. Boots thudding, legs quaking, heart slamming.
No. No. Not like this-
There had been so many times when she'd wanted to tell them. When she nearly had. But Celine's warnings always surfaced at the last second.
Just turn the Honmoon gold, and they would never have to know. She could finally start to live a normal life. Simple as that.
So why?
Why?
Why-?
Rumi crashes into some unused lighting equipment backstage, and everything clatters with a deafening barrage of noise. She can feel the blood as it rushes through her veins, swirling and beating against the inside of her skull.
No. This couldn't be real. It must have been some terrible misunderstanding, a prank-
"Rumi!"
She gasps at the sound of their voices, whirling around so quickly that she nearly topples herself over.
Mira and Zoey appear before her like ghosts in the darkness. She can't see their faces in the shadows.
Rumi curls in on herself, clutching her own arms in a vain effort to conceal the patterns. They'd already bled down to her stomach and legs, and crept up her neck to her face as well.
"Zoey! Mira! Oh- Oh, thank goodness-"
She calls out for them, and suddenly, it's almost like she's been here before, witnessed this very scene before. It feels somehow familiar, but she can't explain how.
Maybe because she'd lived it a million times in her nightmares.
She takes a shuddering step forward, clutching herself so hard that her nails pierce the skin and create marks, crossing the lines where they'd scratched her. She takes another step, trying to find their eyes.
"B-But you were just onstage-"
Demons.
Those had been demons. Not them.
She knows that. Somehow she knows that.
Right. She'd been trying to work with Jinu, but he'd tricked her, betrayed her-
How did she know that-?
"Demons-" she stutters. "Th-Those were just demons… He tricked me… It wasn't you-"
"Oh, it was us, all right." Mira's deep rasp of a voice is cold and piercing. Enough to shoot straight through Rumi's chest.
"...Huh…?"
This isn't right. None of this was right-
"Demons?" Zoey scoffs. "You wish. It was us, Rumi. And we know what you really are."
Rumi stops dead. She can see their faces now.
Not the colorful, fanged faces of demons.
Not even the terrified faces of her friends.
But something else entirely.
She thought they would be scared of her. Confused. Terrified.
Images flash in her mind of exactly the expressions they'd made. The shock. The grief. The fear.
How, when Rumi had tried to approach, Mira had felt it necessary to put her arm out in front of Zoey to protect her.
How, when she'd tried to explain things to them, they'd responded with dismay and dread.
How, when they'd drawn their weapons on her, Mira's blade had been positioned to defend at best, and Zoey had half-heartedly brought out only two blades instead of the usual six.
Rumi had seen this before.
But that's not it. That's not what happens now.
Rather than confusion, betrayal, and despair in their eyes…
There was a hunger. Rage. A burning, scalding hatred. Hatred that had been festering inside them for years.
Boiling.
A putrid, steaming cesspool.
There was no fear in their eyes. It would seem that was only for Rumi now.
"No…"
The wolves approach her.
They sneer. Snarl. Growl.
Their weapons materialize, and this time Mira's gok-do is pointed directly at her throat, while Zoey's shin-kal are fully fanned across her fingers, ready to strike.
Rumi stumbles back a step, no longer moving toward them, but away.
"No… I-It's not you! I know it's not! Y-You're just demons!"
"Demons?" Mira spits. "You're the only demon here, Rumi."
"No!" She shrieks, and her voice echoes into the darkness. "It's not you!"
"You want proof?" Zoey readies a handful of shin-kal and slashes at Mira, but nothing happens. The blades simply pass right through her without harm. "See? If we were demons, Mira would have been shredded to pieces just now."
Rumi tries to speak. But Zoey was right. It was undeniable proof.
"It… is you…?"
"Damn right it is." Mira cracks her neck before advancing another step. "Our weapons won't do anything to Zoey and I. But you…" She pauses, sneering with disgust. "You're a demon. You won't be so lucky."
"You lied to us," Zoey growls. "You're just a filthy, worthless, disgusting freak like the rest of them!"
"No!" Rumi scrambles back, but her legs give out beneath her and she goes down. "I-I wanted to tell you, I-I was going to tell you-"
"So what?" Mira snarls. "Even if you had, it wouldn't have changed your fate."
"We'd have done the same thing," Zoey laughs. "It just would have been sooner rather than later."
They both raise their weapons while Rumi is down on her knees.
"No… N-No, no, no, please-"
The tears fall, and they burn her skin. So hot that it feels cold. Freezing. Empty.
Just like your soul.
She hears their voices in her head, until it's drowned out by cruel, cackling laughter.
"You ready for the takedown, Zoey?"
"I've been waiting my entire life for this…"
Rumi cries out a broken plea.
"No… please, please, please-!"
But nothing could stop a hunter once she had her sights set on her prey.
Mira's blade swings at her first, and Rumi just barely manages to throw herself to the side. But it catches her hip, slicing the flesh without effort.
Rumi screams.
Unlike every other demon who would simply dissipate, she's different. She bleeds.
The pain is excruciating. So hot and searing that she can't duck out of the way of Zoey's shin-kal. They all graze her: her legs, her arms, and both sides of her face. Blood spurts up and pours down her skin as she scrambles back.
But in chilling contrast to her frantic movements, the hunters approach slowly. Grinning. Laughing.
"Look at her crawling away like the roach she really is."
"Hideous on the inside and out!"
"Spent your whole life spreading lies-"
"But you can't hide, Rumi. Nice try!"
Again, they charge her, and she can do nothing more than clamber out of their path. But her palms and her knees slip in the slickness of her own blood.
The blades pierce her again.
Her back. Her sides. Her shoulders.
She screams again.
Her skin splits, severs, and more red gushes free.
"We see your real face-" one of the voices barks. "And it's ugly as sin."
"Time to put you in your place- cuz you're rotten within!"
The words pierce her more deeply than the weapons ever could.
She sobs. She chokes. Whimpering as she watches more and more red staining the floor.
Rumi knows. She knows they could have ended it already. But they hadn't.
They were choosing to play with their food.
Choosing to draw it out.
Choosing to make her suffer.
Maybe that's exactly what she deserved.
But it still hurts.
Beyond comprehension.
Worse than the wounds, multiplying and bleeding her life away.
Worse than being physically able to feel her body beginning to shut down.
Worse than the fear of death itself…
There's a pain far worse than all of that combined.
Hatred.
Their hatred.
Knowing that the last moments she spends alive will be of the two people she loves most in this world hating her to death.
'Break you into pieces in a world of pain.'
'Cuz you're all the same.'
The shin-kal flash again, and this time they're done playing. They plunge through her shins, her thighs, and her palms. Severing flesh. Splintering bone. Pinning her in a pool of blood and agony.
She screams again, until her voice shatters.
'A demon with no feelings-'
'Don't deserve to live-'
Blood.
There's so much blood.
So much that her patterns aren't even visible anymore.
'A broken soul-'
'The nastiest shell-'
"Please-"
'Begging-'
"Please…"
'Crying-'
Past the tears and the blood, Rumi can see Mira's blade as it cuts through the darkness.
She cries out one last time.
But it doesn't stop.
'Cut you open, lose control-'
'And rip out your heart-'
Rumi can still feel it beating as the blade plunges through her chest, into her heart, and twists. Blood spews, and just keeps coming, until it drowns her vision in red.
The last thing she hears is laughter.
'And watch you die-'
.
.
.
Rumi screams.
Outright in the dead of night, she screams as her eyes fly open to the calm stillness of her bedroom, shattering the silence with a caterwaul. Her voice fractures between sobs and gasps, completely uncontrollable.
The lingering terror has her body convulsing until she thrashes herself into a frenzy. Her legs get tangled in the bedsheets and a sickening slither shoots up her spine as she feels herself falling.
There's a crash - a hard, jarring impact as she smashes onto the floor. If she hadn't been at the peak of such heightened, unbridled emotions, the fall probably would have stunned her. But as she is now, her body just continues to flail. Her hands fly up to clutch her head, her arms, her chest. Her patterns burn red. All she sees, tastes, smells, and feels is blood-
Naturally, the commotion wakes the others. Hard, frantic footsteps come pelting down the hallway to her room. Mira and Zoey had woken instantly at the screams and raced out of their rooms, locked eyes, and just started running without needing to say a single word.
They rush to Rumi's bedroom with such speed that when they skid to a halt, they nearly break the door off its hinges.
"Rumi-?!"
"What's going on-?"
Mira and Zoey burst into the room to find a scene so heartbreaking it's borderline sickening.
Rumi is crumpled on the floor in a tangle of sheets and hair, clutching herself as if to fend off some brutal attack. She chokes out sounds somewhere between shrieks and wails, sobbing so hard that her gasps double up and result in total breathlessness. A small trail of blood dribbles down from her nose and smears across her mouth and chin as her body spasms.
It's nauseating to watch. Utterly devastating.
Mira and Zoey rush in.
"Oh my god-"
"Rumi-!"
Zoey tries to run straight to her, her eyes already welling up with tears. But Mira's keen instincts register the severity of the situation and just how dangerous that could be for both of them.
"Zoey, wait-!" Mira lunges forward, lashing her arm out to bar Zoey's way. Zoey staggers back, gripping onto Mira's arm with her entire weight now.
"M-Mira, she needs us-"
But no sooner had the words left Zoey's mouth than Rumi reacts rather violently. As soon as they start coming near her she yelps, kicking her feet into the sheets twisted around her legs in an effort to throw herself back as far as possible. Her shoulders slam into the wooden bed frame with such force that the bed actually lurches back with her.
"No-!"
To Rumi, all she sees is the very same scene. Mira holding Zoey back. To protect her. From Rumi. She knows what comes after that.
"No, n-no, please, puh-please don't, I-I-"
The words fall out of her mouth so quickly, hindered by her sobs and the blood, that they barely sound like words at all. Rumi presses herself further back against the side of the bed, trying to flee with all her might. But her legs won't work to lift her, and her arms are shuddering so badly they can't pull her up.
Whatever bit she does manage to get herself up ends in another collapse. Shockwaves shoot through her limbs, making them useless in her efforts to escape. Her patterns flash crimson, her heart smashes against her rib cage, and her lungs refuse to work properly.
More screams. More sobs. More breathless, incorrigible pleas.
Now that they see just how dire the situation is, Zoey is glad that Mira had kept her at bay. As badly as the two of them want to go to her right now, contact isn't what Rumi needs, but space.
Zoey's face and neck are already wet with tears as she clings onto Mira's elbow, restraining herself with everything she's got.
"Rumi…" She does everything she can to soften her voice. "Rumi, we're here. We're right here-"
But Zoey's gently-quivering promise is met with a startling vehemence.
"No-!" Rumi yells the word so hard that it sprays droplets of blood and lodges the air in her throat, sending her into an even more severe bout of hyperventilation. And even then, she still wheezes out her fears. "I-It's not you- Ih-It's not, i-it wasn't you- the demons- It… no, no, no, it was you- It was you a-ah-and you-you hated me, you hate me…"
Her breath fails her completely. Hunching forward, she clutches her head until her nails dig into her scalp. Still, her patterns bleed across her body, and she remembers the pain, the feeling of pure terror and fear - fear of the two people she loved most in this world - the feeling of the blades piercing her flesh and pushing in deeper, twisting- the crunching of bone, the wrenching of muscles and organs, the burning of the blood in her veins as it leaked and leaked, pouring uncontrollably, the sensation of feeling her own heart being ripped from her chest as the tendons snapped-
No-
She screams the word, but no sound comes out anymore. It's just the constant, incessant, insufficient shallows gasps that aren't even reaching her lungs correctly. The pulse drumming in her ears is so loud, so violent, she can hardly make sense of anything else. It's a dizzying, concussive, repetitive beating with no signs of stopping.
It hurts. Everything hurts. Her vision is bleary, clogged with tears that can't fall fast enough, a tang of iron in her nose, vision swirling with the smoky red glow of her patterns that burn…
Opposite the room, Zoey is absolutely beside herself. It's taking her everything she's got to stay on her feet and try to push through the storm of emotions. Mira clutches onto her to keep her up. Electricity shoots through her body, making her muscles rigid with tension.
She tries to be logical. She tries to think. Think of Rumi and what she needs right now.
It's obvious what the nightmare had entailed. To her, Mira and Zoey were threats right now. No matter what they said or did, Rumi just can't fathom to consider them any other way.
So as much as it's killing Mira to stay put, she knows they have to. Rubbing her forearm across her eyes, she croaks out her words.
"We're not going to hurt you, Rumi... I promise."
Gathering Zoey close to her side, Mira slowly lowers both of them down to the floor, both because she felt that neither of them could manage to stay up for much longer, and to get down on Rumi's level.
They can do nothing more than watch her continue to jolt and flinch, as if being constantly jabbed by unseen blades. She's petrified, gripped by so many terrible things at once that her body can't comprehend anything at all. Blood is still trickling down her nose and mouth and dripping off her chin. Her breathing doesn't get any better either. She just keeps gasping and gasping and gasping- so deeply and with such force that it ends up being too shallow. It gets to the point where it begins to make Mira and Zoey lightheaded. Their hearts tremble with discomfort that matches her heightened levels of distress.
"Rumi-" In spite of the bile in her throat, Zoey calls out for her again. "Rumi... it's us. We're not going to hurt you. We would never… never hurt you…"
But you did-
Again, the words don't come out due to how frantically she's breathing. Rumi can still smell the blood, still taste it, still feel it gushing out of her chest, hot and fervent and excruciating as it pours her life out of her body-
"Rumi-" Mira tries again, but she's not even sure if Rumi can hear her over all the sounds of her panic. "Rumi, please! Please just… just look at us. We're right here."
"We're not gonna hurt you-" Zoey insists. "We promise. We promise. Please, believe us…"
The two of them stay put from where they'd slumped to their knees against the wall. The distance between them and Rumi is so agonizingly small. It would be so easy to just reach out and touch her.
But they can't. Not unless they absolutely have to. Mira is even resolved to let her go if she runs - so long as it meant she just didn't hurt herself.
But at this point, there was no way Rumi was going anywhere.
She can barely even breathe or keep her eyes open, and if not for the bed behind her, she would have fallen completely to the floor. Her condition isn't improving. If anything it's declining, and it's getting dangerous. Both Mira and Zoey can sense it.
"Please-" Mira begs her. "Rumi, please just- don't hurt yourself-"
"No…" Zoey whimpers. "Please, no…"
And somehow, something sparks in Rumi's heart just then. Past all of the raging, deafening banging in her veins and her chest and her head. A tiny flicker of light.
Why…?
Why hadn't they hurt her yet? If they truly hated her, they would have by now.
But they haven't.
Which meant that maybe… maybe…
Rumi lifts her head out of her shaking hands, casting an anguished look at them. And all she sees reflected in their eyes is twice as much agony.
Not hatred. Not malice. Not disgust.
Instead, there is distress. Because keeping their distance is tearing them to pieces, but they do it anyway.
For there is also patience - forced, agonized patience that shows just how desperately they're trying not to push her into something she wasn't ready for.
And fear. Fear that stems only from the most tender, indescribable, profound form of love.
The love of two soulmates who are watching their third shatter into pieces right in front of them.
For that brief instant, Rumi's patterns flash from red to blue, as if her soul is finally remembering and trying to resonate with theirs again. She tries to find her voice again, but it's no use. She feels her stomach surging with acid. Her heart is being assaulted by everything all at once. It's too much. It hurts…
But she wants to be with them. And she wants them to know that.
She swings her head back down into her hands, trying to push back against the pounding in her head. Sweat and spit and tears and blood drip down her face as her lungs constrict, tighter and tighter.
No…
She knows now. They're telling the truth.
This is real. It's them.
Mira and Zoey.
Her Mira and Zoey.
Just thinking of them makes her patterns flash back to blue for a second, and her throat loosens up just enough for something other than the screams.
"Mira…"
Rumi manages to lift her face again, her voice nothing more than a meek, pitiful whisper.
"Zoey…"
A rush of hope washes through the both of them when Rumi calls out for them. Wiping away their own tears, they quickly answer her.
"Yes-" Mira chokes. "It's really us, Rumi."
"We're here!" Zoey cries. "We're right here!"
It's them. Rumi knows it in her heart. In her soul.
She lets out a wail, one weighted with so much fear and pain and exhaustion that it takes all the strength she has left to move. Rumi pushes herself forward as she reaches for them, but she's so dizzy, so trapped, so unequivocally broken that she knows she won't make it.
But they do.
Mira and Zoey reach her, and they don't let go.
When Rumi falls, she falls into their arms. There's still a loud thud as her lower body hits the floor, but they catch her around her back and shoulders with such fierce tenderness that it negates the bruising impact. They catch her, and they don't let go. Not for anything.
"Rumi-"
"Rumi!"
She's about to break apart. Mira and Zoey have never been more terrified in their lives. They can feel every turbulent beat of her heart - hammering, bashing, slamming at her from the inside out. Every inch of her is shuddering, as though she'd braced a blizzard, yet her body is flashing with scorching heat. The sounds she's making are downright awful - some breathless, mangled mixture of sobs, screams, coughs, and chokes.
She's falling apart.
But they hold her together. With strength and relief and love.
Mira presses her palm against Rumi's ribs, directly over her heart. It gushes beneath her touch, and it really does feel like it's reached the point of bursting. But Mira holds firmly, one hand against Rumi's back and the other over her chest.
"It's okay-" she rasps. "It's okay, Rumi. We're here for you. We're not going anywhere."
Rumi can feel her heart bombarding her chest with painful reverberations that bounce back in on themselves. But when she feels Mira's hand pressing close, it feels just a tiny bit better. The added pressure is firm, but grounding somehow - somewhere else for the pain to transfer to and be absorbed.
As for Zoey, she's been running her hands up and down Rumi's sides and her back, trying to keep her movements slow and steady in contrast to all the noise and movement that's attacking Rumi. Sniffling past the tears, Zoey focuses only on her.
"Breathe, Rumi-" she begs. "Just try to slow down and breathe."
Rumi tries. She tries with everything she's got as she clings to them both. But there's just so much happening inside her. It hurts-
"I… I can't-"
"Yes you can." Zoey's voice is as gentle as her touch. "Breathe, Rumi."
At the same time, Mira presses more touches over Rumi's heart, trying to combat the beating in her chest with a steadier rhythm.
"Easy… easy…" she murmurs. "You're okay, Rumi."
Rumi whimpers again, gasping with her whole body. But she tries. She tries-
"Mira… Zoey…"
They squeeze her back as tightly as they dare.
"It's okay," Mira hushes her, stroking her fingers lightly through Rumi's frazzled hair. "We've got you. And we're not letting you go."
"Just breathe," Zoey says again. "Let your heart slow down. You're gonna get through this. We promise."
Rumi's pulse throbs beneath Mira's palm, and her stomach heaves beneath Zoey's hands. Sweat and tears drench her skin, she's still sniffling blood, and her veins are still on fire.
But with every gasp, the air feels like it stays in her lungs a little longer. And with every pulse, her heart feels like it's quieting, just a bit.
Mira and Zoey don't let up even for a second. They stay close, whispering the sweetest, most caring, most devastatingly loving things to her.
Rumi knows her pain hurts them more than it's hurting herself. They are so unspeakably precious to her. Just hearing their voices and feeling their touch has her patterns flickering to blue once again, then again, and again. Until the fiery red pulses become calmer, watery ripples. The shaking in her heart becomes less and less intense, and the deeper, drowning gasps become lighter.
Both Mira and Zoey feel the instant when Rumi collapses completely between them. Whatever purchase her fingers had found on their clothes comes undone, and a moan of both pain and relief ruptures from her throat.
They're scared for her. So, so scared. But they keep to their promise and don't leave her side.
Finally - finally - her wilder breathing starts to soften, and her heart rate slows to a less terrifying pace. Dizzily, Rumi blinks her eyes open from where her chin has come to rest on Mira's shoulder. The glow of her patterns has turned entirely blue now, a familiar color that resonates with their feelings for her.
She can still feel Mira's hand on her heart, and Zoey's arms squeezing her torso. She can hear them both crying her name, over and over.
What has someone like her ever done to deserve people like them…?
She isn't sure if she'd ever understand.
But for now, she doesn't want to question it. She just wants to stay with them.
For a while longer, Mira and Zoey simply hold her close as Rumi's panic finally subsides. She's still shaking, still so weak and wheezing and covered in sweat. The worst they'd ever seen her. Because nothing could have damaged her more than the thought of them hating her enough to cause her harm. That alone spoke volumes to just how much they meant to her - which was just as much as she meant to them.
At last, the room is silent, save for just a few softer sobs from each of them. Mira and Zoey are uncertain of where to go from here; uncertain of what Rumi can handle at this point.
Which is why they're both so shocked when Rumi is the one who eases herself back first, in spite of how badly she's still trembling. She sways a bit, but they're right there to steady her.
"Rumi-"
"Oh, Rumi-"
They each reach one hand up to caress her bloody, tear-stained face. Rumi hiccups their names.
"Mira… Zoey…"
The tears start coming all over again, which worries them.
"Hey, hey, easy…" Mira eases forward to wrap her hand around the back of Rumi's head, pulling her close.
"D-Don't lose your breath again…" Zoey is so nervous about her spiraling back into hyperventilation. She continues to run her hand up and down Rumi's side until her palm starts to sting from the friction of touching her clothes so much.
And after everything, Rumi just wants it all to be over. She knows what's real now, and she just wants to be here with them.
"You're here…" she whispers, so thinly that it's barely audible. "You're here…"
It was just another nightmare, bred from the painful memories. But she knows in her heart - in her soul - that they would never hurt her. They have nothing but softness and warmth and love for her, which is especially true right now.
"That's right-"
"We're here, Rumi."
Mira and Zoey confirm her words with even more gentle touches. Mira eases back to look down into Rumi's swollen, tearful eyes. She hadn't taken her hand off of Rumi's chest all this time in order to monitor her heart. Even now, she keeps her palm lightly pressed against Rumi's collar.
"Are you okay?" Her voice is stern and serious, but still somehow gentle.
Rumi swallows thickly as she dips her head.
"I… I think so…"
Hearing her say those words is the final straw. Mira breaks, pulling Rumi back into her arms.
"Oh god… thank god, Rumi…"
Rumi still doesn't have the strength to return the embrace fully, but she does what she can. Zoey remains pressed into her all the while, with her head buried against Rumi's side. She can't bring herself to do anything more than whisper her name.
"Rumi… Rumi…" Zoey quivers as she weeps quietly, while Mira is trying to pretend she's not crying as much as she is, but the deep, loud sniffles give her away.
It's really them. This is real. Rumi is safe here; of that she's certain.
She does all she can to compose herself as much as possible, though that really isn't much at this point. Her nose is running nonstop, as are her eyes, and no amount of sniffing or swiping will stop them.
As everything winds down, Mira and Zoey revert back to their desire to act, to help, to do something - anything.
"God," Mira mumbles. "You had us scared to death, Rumi… You're totally drenched with sweat... Let's clean you up, okay?"
"Tissues-" Zoey blurts. "I-I'll get some tissues-" Fueled by this fresh desire, Zoey manages to push past the weakness in her knees and staggers to her feet just long enough to grab a box of tissues from Rumi's desk. She spends a few seconds pulling out one, and then another, and then another, and another, handing them out to Mira and Rumi before keeping a handful for herself.
Everyone blows their noses no fewer than three times each, but then Mira and Zoey get straight to work on Rumi. Zoey has her close her eyes so she can lightly dab the tissue beneath her eyes, brushing away the tears and all the wetness they've left behind on her cheeks. She then grabs another tissue to start cleaning off Rumi's forehead and hairline, where so much sweat had gathered. Mira gets to cleaning away the last of the nosebleed, then patting down her neck and collar, where her patterns are still glowing faintly blue and gradually settling back to their usual purplish pearly color.
All the while, Rumi sits there in silence, still needing both of their support to stay up. Smaller, dryer sobs keep hiccuping in her throat, and her face is so flushed she looks like she's about to be sick. But even so, they would both much rather see her like this than like they had five minutes ago.
Zoey wipes the sweat from her temples, then her ears and the back of her neck.
"Oh, Rumi…"
Mira finishes with another tissue and tosses it aside, grabbing the next so she can continue drying Rumi's collar.
"It was… a really bad one, wasn't it? I'm so sorry…"
Rumi sniffles again as she looks up into her eyes.
"Yeah…" she rasps. "But... I'm okay now. Thank you both… for coming."
"Of course!" Zoey cries. "Of course we came, Rumi! You were screaming-" She flinches, still pained to recall the awful sounds. "I don't ever wanna see you like that again…"
"Me neither," Mira agrees. "If there's anything we can do, Rumi, anything-" She gets choked up again and tapers off, rubbing her sleeve over her eyes.
Rumi's heart has been aching all this time as a result of the panic. But now, it aches in a sweeter, kinder way.
"You've already done so much… But I promise… if I need you girls, I'll tell you. I swear it."
Mira gives a sharp nod, while Zoey bobs her head up and down a dozen times. She then offers out her pinky finger. Mira follows her lead. Rumi manages to bring one of her hands up to link her pinky first with Zoey's and then with Mira's.
With this, everyone feels like they can finally breathe again.
"You should change," Mira says, clearing her throat. "Those clothes need to go straight into the wash. Come here." She puts one arm across Rumi's back and guides her forward, then slips her other hand beneath her knees. Rumi curls in toward her, burying her face into Mira's chest.
Slowly, steadily, Mira gets to her feet, with Zoey spotting her from one side.
Once she's fully up with Rumi securely in her arms, Mira heads for the bathroom. Zoey quickly paws through Rumi's dresser to find a fresh set of pajamas and her robe, then hurries after them.
Once in the bathroom, Mira uses her foot to move a cushioned stool from the vanity area to the sink. Crouching down, she ever-so-gently lets Rumi down so she can lean back against the sink cabinet. Zoey is immediately there to help Rumi stay up.
"Here," she says, handing the clothes to Mira. "I'll go clean up and bring us some water."
"Thanks, Zoe."
As Zoey hurries off, Mira gets to soaking a few small towels in warm water before cooling Rumi down. She goes slowly, helping Rumi remove her sleep shirt and pants and cleaning down her back before drying her off and getting her into the fresh set of clothes.
All the while, Zoey cleans up the fallen tissues in the bedroom, gathers the sheets and remakes the bed, and pushes it back into place. That's when an idea comes to her, and she scurries off into her own room to grab a couple of touch-lights: one in the shape of a turtle, one a teddy bear, and one a cat. She brings these back into Rumi's bedroom and sets them up on the nightstand and dresser, turning them on so the soft, rotating colors fill the darkness. Satisfied, she then hurries to the kitchen to fetch three cold bottles of water.
By the time she returns to the others, Rumi is in her fresh clothes, and Mira is just helping her slip into her robe as well. Zoey hands Mira her water, then kneels down to hold Rumi's hands and support her while she drinks too.
The water is nothing short of a blessing for Rumi's sore throat and stomach. Combined with how Mira had ensured that not a drop of sweat was lingering on her skin, she actually feels as mended as she thinks she ever possibly could right now.
Everyone finishes their water, then wordlessly comes together for an embrace. When they part, Mira catches Rumi's eye.
"Are you okay? Does your chest still hurt? Is it hard to breathe? Does anything feel off, Rumi?"
Rumi shakes her head with complete honesty.
"No. Just… really sore."
"I can imagine." Mira reaches out to rub her collar a bit. "You sure that's all?"
"Yes." Rumi lets out a breath as her eyes wander between them. "Thank you guys. I mean it. I don't know… what I'd do without you-"
"Hey, hey, no no no no, don't cry-" Zoey pleads with her as she gently wraps her arms around Rumi again, petting softly through her hair. "You don't have to think about what you'd do without us. Because you'll never be without us!"
"Well said, Zoe." Mira folds her arms around the both of them and holds them close for a long moment.
Once Rumi's tears have stopped again, they separate a bit.
"Can you stand?" Mira asks her.
Rumi taps her feet on the floor and stretches her legs a bit.
"I think so."
"Take your time."
Mira and Zoey each take one of her arms and help her get up. She's still wobbly, but she's also determined.
With their help, Rumi limps her way back to the bedroom, where upon entering, she's puzzled to see the little light-up figures decorating her room. She looks at Zoey with grateful, affectionate eyes.
"Thank you, Zoey."
Zoey simply smiles back.
When she and Mira feel that Rumi is heading toward the bed, they follow and carefully let her down. She sighs, folding her hands into her lap as if she doesn't know what to do with them now that she's not holding onto them. Rumi turns her eyes up to them, and she is the picture of enervation. But even more than that, there is so much gratitude.
"Mira, Zoey, I really-"
"You already thanked us," Mira reminds her. "You didn't have to, but you're welcome, regardless."
"We'd do anything for you, Rumi," Zoey says in earnest. "We just want you to know that."
For the first time all night, Rumi's lips curve up into the tiniest smile.
"I do," she says. "I'm the luckiest person in the world to have you guys by my side."
"Us, too.
"We're lucky to have you too."
Mira and Zoey finally let themselves smile, too.
But by now, all three of them are feeling the weight of that crash of adrenaline full-force. There's a weariness in their limbs, and just a few seconds later Zoey has to fight back a yawn. Rumi notices and bows her head a little.
"I guess we should get back to bed," she murmurs. But even as the words leave her mouth, her heart twinges. When she lifts her face again, her brow is furrowed, her eyes pleading. "But- I don't really want to be alone, s-so if it's not too much trouble-"
"Stop right there." Mira holds up her finger to stop her in her tracks. "Did you seriously think we were gonna leave you after all this?"
"No way!" Zoey declares. "No way you're sleeping alone tonight - or any other night, if you don't want to."
Rumi hadn't realized that she'd started to clamp her own hands together without having anywhere else to put them. She looks back and forth between the two of them.
"...Really?"
"Yes!"
"Absitively posolutely!"
"What?"
"Huh?"
Zoey's little tongue-twister has Mira and Rumi both chuckling. Mira then slings her arm around Zoey's shoulders and pulls her in to ruffle her hair.
"Well, you heard this little gremlin. We're not going anywhere, Rumi."
"Not even if you paid us!" Zoey affirms.
Rumi exhales, and with it goes the final bit of nervousness that she might have to face the rest of the night alone.
It wouldn't have been the first time they'd all slept together - far from it. But it would be the first time since Rumi's patterns came to light.
Mira and Zoey swap taking turns to retreat back to their own rooms to gather their pillows and blankets, making sure that one of them is always with Rumi until all three of them have come back together.
Mira throws her pillow to one side of Rumi's, while Zoey places hers on the other side. Weighted and weary, they all climb in, taking a minute to fit everyone's legs together while fanning the blankets out.
Mira and Zoey wait for Rumi to lie down and get comfortable however is best for her before they situate themselves.
Zoey curls into Rumi's side and completely ignores the pillow she'd just brought in by laying her head on Rumi's chest instead. She sighs, placing her arm snugly over Rumi's stomach.
Mira slides one arm beneath the nape of Rumi's neck, being careful with her hair. She turns toward her and puts her free arm over Zoey's back.
Rumi simply lets her hands curl in wherever they can, keeping them both close to her.
All at once, they yawn, and let out a mutual sigh. As soon as they close their eyes, they all start drifting off within seconds. But they all make sure to tell each other one last, very important thing.
"Goodnight, Mira," Zoey murmurs. "Goodnight, Rumi. Sweet dreams..."
Mira follows with her turn.
"Night, Zoey. Night, Rumi…"
And Rumi finishes the routine.
"Thank you, Zoey… Thank you, Mira... Goodnight…"
The soft glow of the little night lights fill the room with a cozy amount of color. Rumi's patterns also give off a faint glow, which seemed to demonstrate just how safe and peaceful she felt.
Warmth envelopes the three of them, along with a blanketing softness, and a deep-rooted sense of comfort.
Sleep comes quietly, and is kind to them all for the rest of the night.