Chapter Text
Then
Blood coated Celine's trembling fingers, warm and slick. There was so much of it, staining the floor, staining her jeans, spreading across Miyeong's chest. Celine's tears fell into the growing red, and she gripped Miyeong's ruined hand. There was no saving Miyeong, she was too far gone for anything that Celine knew.
Not even the Honmoon could save her now.
Her failure was complete.
Miyeong's eyes fluttered open; normally so full of life, Celine could see the spark growing dim, the site of it burned into her retinas. The eyes, looking into hers, waiting, expectant as always.
I love you, even now at the end, even after... but the words lodged in her throat. Even now. Like they always did.
"I want you to take her, Celine. You and my sister both. Take care of my daughter," Miyeong spoke forcefully, eyes flashing.
Celine looked across at So-Yi, but couldn't meet her eyes, knowing what she'd seen in them.
"I'm sorry, for so much. I thought we could finally be free of this duty. But I believe Rumi will be the one..." Her eyes flicked to her sister and So-Yi's eyes bore the weight of grief.
"Everything was for her." Miyeong's eyes flashed back to Celine's, her plea desperate, "She'll bring darkness to the light, I'm sure of it. Promise me, Celine!"
"I'll take care of her," Celine whispered. "Her and all if it. I promise."
"She's so beautiful…I know you'll both love her."
Now
Rumi dangled off the couch, legs up on the cushions, back on the floor, tongue sticking out of the corner of her mouth as she ferociously banged on her controller. Above her and to her right, Zoey was cheering wildly, "Kick her ass, Rumi!"
"Who's side are you on?" Mira leaned forward, unleashing a combo that staggered Rumi's character. Rumi protested, trying to get out of the combo but it was too late, Mira had won. Why had she agreed to this again?
Zoey jumped up, bouncing on the couch and screaming, "Finish her!!"
Cackling, Mira did just that, executing the combo that would obliterate Rumi's character. There was so much blood that Rumi blanched.
"Oh that is so disgusting," Rumi complained. "Did you have to throw me through the wall?"
"I know, its awesome." Mira tossed the controller to the side, then patted her hand on Rumi's leg, "Better luck next time."
The hand lingered, comfortable and familiar. Rumi closed her eyes. Her phone buzzed and she made an annoyed sound. Pulling it over, she saw Celine's name and pushed it away, "I just need to practice more — a lot more — but that'll have to wait."
Zoey stopped bouncing, dropping down into a cross-legged position on the couch next to Mira. Excitedly, she leaned forward, "What are you thinking, Rumi?"
Sitting like this too long had made her dizzy. She reached up and flailed her hands until her girlfriends got the hint and helped her up. She settled in next to Mira, "No more hemming and hawing. It's time to discuss our next album. We already have some songs written or planned, but we still need a concept."
"So do you have some ideas?" Zoey leaned her chin on Mira's shoulder, smiling across at Rumi, "Because I've got some but I was wondering if you had anything you really wanted to do. Like, considering…" She gestured at the all of Rumi.
"Other than some stragglers, we haven't really had to worry about demons," Mira said. She rubbed her fingers against her knee, "I'm not sure what we even sing about anymore. Even our last single was still… you know. "
Rumi leaned against Mira, resting her head on her shoulder as she considered it. She was proud of almost every song they'd done, with the exception of the one they'd unanimously agreed never to let see the light of day again, "Having fun. How awesome people are. Self-acceptance. I … want to write something about my scars. I want you to have songs about your own struggles. I want to hear you sing them, sing them with you."
She couldn't remember the last time she'd felt this light. Maybe she'd never had and had only fooled herself. But she was basking in their acceptance and in her own acceptance of herself, "Love. Self and … otherwise."
Chewing on her lip, she held her breath, unsure what their reaction might be. She wasn't even sure herself that she was ready to expose the part of herself that she'd given to them to the rest of the world. Rumi loved them, but the idol industry was brutal. Love them in the wrong way and it would try to tear them down as surely as any demon.
A notebook landed on Mira's lap, and Zoey said, "Notes about love and stuff. Some lyric ideas I jotted down, some cool lines, color schemes."
Another one landed on top of that, "Ideas on self-acceptance. Some stuff about self-loathing and overcoming it." Then a third, "Things I've noticed about you both. Thoughts about myself, us. Rumi's scars. Mira's mask."
"I don't have a mask."
"It's made of glass," Zoey supplied helpfully. "And protects you from the judgment of others. Sometimes it cracks."
Mira let out a shuddery exhale, and picked up the first notebook, "It's too early for emotions."
"It's after lunch!"
"I still want to use that eyeliner line of yours in something, from that time I punched your stalker," Rumi picked up the top one and flipped through it as Mira opened the first.
Her eyes scanned the pages, starting to pick out some good lines and ideas, and how they might fit together into something coherent. At least until her vision started to get blurry and she had to re-read a couple of lines over and over.
"Zoey, we can't do that one," Mira said, eyes locked onto one page. "God do I want to, but we can't."
"Why not?"
"We'd get banned from nearly every awards show and the radio. We can't sing about eating—"
"Think of how hot the choreo would be."
"Oh I've already thought about it and I've sketched it but we'd still get banned."
"Hello? We've got to do it."
"Can you convince our beautiful leader?"
"Zoey?" At Rumi's voice, they both looked at her.
"These are beautiful." She hugged the notebook to her chest, then offered it to Mira, "And not just the ones obviously about me. You touch on all three of us. There's a lot of good ideas in there and I think we can come up with some really good songs. No one could deny what we mean to each other, even if they aren't willing to see past the surface."
Mira flipped through it, pausing on one page and letting out a shakey breath, "Oh Zoey."
"What if its a concept album in two parts?" Zoey asked, putting her hand on Mira's knee, "Uh. Part one, dark. Our struggles, our fears and uncertainties, then part 2, light, overcoming them, finding ourselves, accepting each other and our feelings, with some sexy in between. Maybe even tease that there's more between us, beneath the surface. Leave fans guessing a little, if we're not ready yet to be loud."
Mira lowered the notebook, "Sounds sappy. I love it."
"And having a banned song sounds like it might be fun." They could be … subtle. She wasn't sure if she was ready to be loud yet.
Liking that idea, Rumi got to her feet, her girlfriends jumping up right after.
Mira pumped her fists, "I love this part!"
Rumi picked up her phone, swiping Celine's notification away and bringing up Bobby, "I'll text Bobby and let him know to start dropping rumors we've got an album coming. He'll know what to do."
"I so love working on a deadline." Zoey wrapped her arms around Rumi and peered down at her phone, "Rumi, is your clock right? Today is the fifteenth, right?"
"Yeah, why?" She looked at the time, then stiffened, "We have an event in thirty minutes! I'll get the outfits, Zoey—"
"—Make-up, on it!"
"Mira?"
"I'll get the car."
Zoey vaulted over the back of the couch as Mira ran for the door, skidding past the turtle aquarium. Rumi was already running to the closet, sliding inside as the lights came on and lit upwards a dozen rows. She was still into the whole white and gold thing, but thinking about one of the lines in Zoey's notebook, she picked out something different with a subtle rainbow theme to it.
They'd never worn this set, Rumi couldn't even remember what they'd been thinking with the design, but the inklings of their next album were dancing around in her mind and she knew she wanted to introduce their next era like this. Holding out her arm, she watched the shimmering of her rainbow patterns. Rainbow patterns, both literal and figurative.
"Hold still!" Zoey was leaning dangerously over the seat, holding Mira's head in place as she tried to apply eyeshadow.
"I'm trying to drive," Mira complained. "You're going to get us killed."
Rumi snapped out automatically, "Our careers will be dead if we're not perfect."
Zoey glanced at Rumi, and Rumi stammered, "Uh. It's okay. It's okay. I don't mean that. Really. We can touch her up when we get there, we don't need to be perfect."
Sitting back, Zoey sighed, "Its like instinct, isn't it? Drilled into our heads like a mantra since I was like fourteen and you were like knee high to an ant."
It was hard to believe she'd be twenty-four in a few months, and she felt like Celine as she said, "Any faults could weaken the honmoon because we'd lose the fans."
"It was love that made the new Honmoon." Rumi stared at herself in the visor mirror, inspecting her make-up, "Love of ourselves, of each other. Acceptance." She tilted her head back against the seat, "But ugh! Its so hard to shake. I felt dirty just saying that. I'm sorry."
"We can send Celine our therapy bills," Mira suggested. "But forgiven."
"Hah, yeah. Pfft. As if we need therapy," Zoey laughed. Though she thought the bigger problem was finding a therapist that wouldn't lock them up for the whole demon huntress thing.
She straightened, noticing that Rumi's back had gone stiff, "Rumi? Babe?"
Rumi tilted her head, and then suddenly pushed open the car door and jumped out, dragging her fingers along the Honmoon and drawing out her saingeom as she disappeared into the night.
"Rumi!" Mira swerved, twisting the wheel and drifting the car around a corner and gunning it in the direction Rumi had gone. Zoey pushed open her door, "I'll catch up with her!"
"Damn it, wait!"
And then Zoey was flipping through the early spring air, landing on the sidewalk with her shinkal between her knuckles. She listened closely, feeling for the soft, comforting hum of the Honmoon and the beautiful bright note that had to be Rumi. She sprinted in that direction, leaping over a fence, catching sight of Mira's headlights as they continued down the road.
The hairs on the back of her neck stood up and she slowed to a jog. There wasn't much light, but she could make out the shapes of elevated buildings and rope bridges through a thick fog. It reminded her of a playground they'd passed a few times, or one of those paintball courses they'd done for a variety show.
Might be fun to do again, but right now Zoey had other concerns. With all the shadows and overcast, moonless sky, it was creepy. But it would make a great site for a music video. Or a demon fight.
A flash of light blinded her, and only the feel of rushing air warned her of the attack. Zoey dodged back, springing off of her hands and fanning her knives out in an arc in front of her. The demon dodged right into one of them and disappeared into ash and smoke. But she didn't see any others.
Demons were rarely found alone. Zoey looked around, spinning as she tried to find her girl, "Rumi??"
They were at their weakest apart and the longer it took for her to find Rumi the more her stomach twisted itself into knots. Almost every time they got separated in a fight, one of them got hurt. The last time—
Relief washed over her when a long, clear note pierced the air. Zoey ran towards it, seeing Rumi up on top of one of the wooden fort-like buildings, parrying a strike from a lithe, quick demon that dashed in and out of the fog. It struck like lightning, Rumi barely keeping up with it as she backed up along the roof, blocking or parrying but not going on the offensive. Every time her blade blocked the demon's attack, Rumi's patterns shimmered.
Zoey sang out, voice joining Rumi's in harmony as she threw a shinkal, forcing the demon to pause long enough for Rumi to regain her footing and Zoey to land lightly next to her. The anxiety eased now that they were together.
"You have to warn us next time," Mira said, landing on Rumi's other side.
"I know, I'm sorry. I'll explain after we deal with this demon."
Spinning her Gok-Do, Mira nodded. Zoey brandished her weapons and grinned at the demon as Rumi lifted her saingeom. The demon curled its fingers, claws growing. It was too dark to really make out its shape, but it was thin and nimble, with a tail and long, long hair, and those piercing yellow eyes that always terrified and thrilled her in equal measure. Mira set the beat and the three of them started to sing.
Then it lashed out, Rumi parrying with her blade, Zoey darting forward, swiping low as Mira swung high. The demon was agile, dodging every attack. With some alarm, Zoey realized that their song wasn't weakening it. The music was supposed to get into the heads of the demons they fought but this one wasn't reacting like it was bothered.
Rumi seemed to note the same thing, leading them into a medley of their greatest hits, and throwing in a couple Sunlight Sisters songs for good measure. Constantly changing up the melody and the words worked, the demon backpeddling away from them as they advanced.
"Got you." The air around Rumi's saingeom pulsed, then the weapon grew thicker and longer. The demon took another step back, seeming to make a threat assessment before it turned and vanished into the night.
"Really?" Mira leaned on her Gok-Do and looked disappointed, "We barely got to fight."
"Rumi." Zoey turned to her, peering at her with concern, "What happened?"
Lowering her saingeom as it returned to its normal size and shape, Rumi hesitated, like she was searching for words. Zoey didn't press, simply waited and Mira put her hand on Rumi's shoulder.
"My saingeom," Rumi whispered. "It very urgently told me there were demons."