Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

"Look at me!" Rumi cried out desperately. "Can't you love me like this?!"  

Her throat burned from the plea, her heart pounded violently, begging her to stop, to not expose herself further. But she couldn't hold back anymore. Everything she was, everything she'd tried to hide for years, it was all laid bare before Celine. There was no turning back.  

Celine stood frozen, unable to find the right words.

She tried. She truly did. Inside her, a battle raged between what she knew and what she felt. But when her eyes slid over Rumi's form, the dark marks crawling up her neck, that unnatural fire burning in her gaze, the voice that was no longer entirely human, her body locked in place.  

She couldn't look at her. Because looking meant accepting that her friend, her student, her girl... was a demon. It meant admitting everything she'd been taught was wrong. That the books, the teachers, the rituals, the prayers, the hunts... they'd all been mistaken. It meant accepting demons weren't just soulless monsters. And worst of all... it meant admitting she had failed.  

And no matter how hard she tried, Celine couldn't do it. She couldn't accept that, not after all this time defending the cause. Not after sacrificing so much for this damned war. Not when those very demons had taken her best friend's life.

"Rumi..." she finally whispered, still refusing to meet her eyes. "I don't know who you are anymore."  

Those words were like a knife to the gut. Rumi didn't know how to react. Her lips parted, but no sound came out. She didn't know what hurt more, that Celine couldn't bear to look at her, or that she pretended not to recognize her. 

But the worst was yet to come.

Celine, voice low and dripping with contempt, added.

"I thought you were strong. That you'd resist. But in the end... you turned out just like him. Like your father."  

Rumi's breath left her. It was as if the ground had vanished beneath her feet, as if all the oxygen had been ripped from the world.

This was cruelty. This was pure malice.

Because Celine knew exactly what she was saying. She'd done it on purpose. She'd brought up him, the demon Rumi had spent her entire life trying not to become.

She'd used Rumi's greatest fear as a weapon, and she'd fired without mercy.

"Is that what you think of me?" Rumi whispered. "That I'm like him?"

Celine clenched her jaw, eyes shut tight. She didn't answer. She didn't need to.

Rumi took a step back. Her eyes burned, her marks flaring with fury. She didn't cry, there were no tears left in her. She couldn't cry anymore.

Her whole life had been built around one idea. If she was good, if she restrained herself, if she fought for the right side, then she would be accepted.  

Rumi had given up everything for that. She'd renounced her origins, her voice, her identity, everything she loved, for the cause. She'd hidden who she was, sacrificed herself over and over, and when she could no longer keep it buried, when the truth finally came out...  

They threw her away like trash.  

They scorned her. Called her a monster.

Celine called her a monster, just like her father.  

And then, she felt it. Something inside her shattered. Something warm and human broke forever. 

There was nothing left. No one.

Traitors.

The word echoed in her chest, tearing her apart. Because it wasn't just Celine, saying the cruel things she always did, it was everything Rumi had believed in. The side she'd defended since childhood. The one that had promised her a place, a family, a purpose.  

A side that now did nothing but despise her and throw her to the wolves.

"You know what?" Rumi murmured, her voice so cold it didn't even sound like her own. "Maybe I am like him."

Celine's head snapped up, alarm flashing across her face. That wasn't something Rumi would say. That... didn't sound right. It sounded like a mistake.

"Maybe the mistake wasn't my blood. Maybe the mistake was thinking you were different. That you... were better."

Her marks burned brighter, as if answering her fury. Rumi took a step back, and her eyes glowed a terrifying, molten gold.

"Thank you, Celine," she said, her smile broken. "You've opened my eyes. I have no reason to keep fighting for a side that's already condemned me."

With one last look, equal parts accusation and farewell, Rumi turned and walked away. She didn't look back. Not when the tears fell inside her, not when her soul twisted from the betrayal.

Because if she was going to be a traitor... 

Then she would be a complete traitor.

And this time, she would choose the battlefield.

Honestly, Gwi-Ma had expected that half-demon girl to appear before him sooner or later.

After all, her father had been one of his most loyal followers. True, he'd become a traitor after falling for that hunter woman, but before that, he'd been the demon who'd brought Gwi-Ma the most souls. The most efficient. The best of them all. 

That's why it didn't surprise him that his daughter, even as a half-breed, was so powerful. Though, of course, she wasn't more powerful than him. Not even her father had survived when he'd tried to challenge him.

But he never imagined he wouldn't even be able to enter her mind. To whisper the things she wanted to hear. 

At first, he attributed it to willpower. Raised by a hunter, trained to follow her mother's path, of course she'd have strong emotional control. He thought that was what blocked him.

Then he assumed it was because her demon side was underdeveloped. To any casual observer, Rumi was just a normal teenager. A girl preparing for her future, nothing more. A girl who became a young idol, then a global icon.

Then came the incident with her voice. Her marks grew so strong they stole it from her. This, he thought, was finally his chance. After twenty-six years, Gwi-Ma would at last be able to invade and shatter that mind like he did with all his demons.

But even when he watched her so-called "friends" tear her apart on stage, even as everything she'd fought for over five years vanished before her eyes, Rumi still didn't let him in.

That's when he understood. No matter what he did, no matter what happened to her, Gwi-Ma would never control her mind.

So he changed tactics. 

If he couldn't have Rumi, he'd force Rumi to come to him. He'd invade the minds of the people she did care about, the ones he could break. And then, it would be Rumi herself begging him for mercy.

Yet the Saja Boys' final concert had barely begun. The endgame hadn't even started, he'd only just taken control of the other two hunters. There was no reason for Rumi to be here.

But here she stood before him. Gwi-Ma had no idea how the girl had teleported into the underworld, but it didn't matter. She was in his domain now.

"Have you come to beg for mercy, Rumi?" he mocked, assuming she was here to surrender. "You've failed."

He never expected her response.

"I won't speak to a talking campfire," Rumi said, her voice was different, weary, as if she were sick of life itself. "If you want to talk, we'll do it properly."  

Gwi-Ma frowned but nodded. For the first time in millennia, the flames of the underworld receded, and a demon took their place. He resembled the Saja Boys, though older, with streaks of gray at his temples and a gaze dark enough to drown in.

"Is this form more to your liking, Rumi?" he asked, extending a hand. "I assume you're not here to fight me." 

"I'm here to make a deal," she said bluntly. "I'm not fighting you. You've already won, as long as you accept."

Gwi-Ma raised an eyebrow before letting out a disbelieving chuckle.

"I don't think you're in any position to negotiate, dear," he said. "I already have everything I want. My boys have won. Your friends are at my feet. I hold all the power here."

Rumi almost laughed. But before she could speak, Gwi-Ma extended his hand with false courtesy.

"Come. You want to see them, don't you? You don't believe they're truly mine."

Truthfully, Rumi did believe it. By now, she was certain the entire city must be under Gwi-Ma's control. But if he led her to them, it would be easier to make him yield.

In the blink of an eye, they stood backstage where the Saja Boys were about to begin their final performance.

"Why don't you look up and see the ones you once called friends?" Gwi-Ma murmured, smirking.

Sure enough, when Rumi glanced upward, Mira's bright pink hair was unmistakable. And further down, Zoey's outfit made her stand out. But none of it fazed Rumi.

"If I wanted, I could break them out of your trance right now," she said coolly. "And then you'd be ruined, because together, we will defeat you. So why don't you drop the intimidation and listen to my offer?"

Gwi-Ma hadn't expected such defiance. Though he wouldn't admit it, her attitude unsettled him.

"You're not capable," he insisted, though even he didn't sound convinced. "You couldn't free them even if you tried."

Rumi tilted her head. "Test me, if you're so sure you can afford the risk."

Gwi-Ma looked away first, finally relenting.

"What do you want?" he asked, avoiding her eyes.

"Them," Rumi answered without hesitation, scanning the crowd before spotting one more familiar face. "And him. Keep the rest of the souls, but those three are mine. Turn them into demons, but they'll be under my control, not yours. Understood?"

Gwi-Ma raised an eyebrow, intrigued. She could have asked for anything, yet here she was, bargaining for... mortals? This girl was less clever than he'd thought.

"That's it? That's your demand?" he mocked. "You're challenging me for three humans? Two of whom betrayed you and raised their weapons against you? Three humans so trapped in their own fears and insecurities they couldn't fight like you are?"

Honestly, Rumi was briefly thrown that Gwi-Ma knew about Zoey and Mira turning on her. But then she remembered, Jinu had told her Gwi-Ma infiltrated his victims' minds, using their desires and memories against them. He must have done the same to her girls.  

"What they did or didn't do doesn't concern you," she shot back. "I'm letting Jinu the traitor live. I'm letting your Saja Boys win. You'll have all the souls you've ever wanted. Is three out of hundreds really too much to ask?"

It was a good deal. Gwi-Ma knew that. It was victory, with the added guarantee that no more hunters would stand in his way. It was spitting on the ashes of Rumi's father, because despite all his efforts, his daughter had ended up joining Gwi-Ma after all.

But there were still details to settle.

"You're not thinking this through, Rumi," he said, watching as more people flooded into the concert. "The moment they break free, they'll fight back. Harder than ever, ashamed of their moment of weakness. They won't yield."

"Then turn them into demons like me," Rumi countered, crossing her arms. "That way, neither of us has to worry about rebellion."

Where was the Rumi who hated her demon side? Now she was asking to turn her friends. Whatever had happened to change her attitude, it worked in Gwi-Ma's favor.

"Perhaps," the demon conceded. "But not all demons are under my complete control. You've noticed Jinu is smarter, freer than the others, haven't you?"

They both glanced at the demon singing onstage. Anyone could see that, beyond his thirst for power, Jinu genuinely enjoyed performing.

"Jinu's will is stronger than the rest. But I've made him believe he's mine," Gwi-Ma explained. "You almost made him doubt me. He tried using his voice against me, but I've conditioned him for too long. Your girls won't be as docile. They'll rebel."

Rumi almost laughed. That was exactly what would happen. Zoey and Mira would never bow to anyone's orders… Except hers, of course.  

"Leave them to me," she said, extending her hand. "I'll make sure they don't rebel... against me." 

But Gwi-Ma didn't take it. Not yet. 

"Let's do this, Rumi. I'll free them from the hypnosis. You convince them to join me. If you succeed, I'll turn them into demons under your command, free to do as they please, with no further interference from me. If you fail..." His smile turned vicious. "You'll kill them yourself."

Rumi's breath caught. 

The weight of his words hit her like thunder. Ending her girls' lives herself, it was too much to even consider.  

The mere thought of killing Mira and Zoey made her fingers spasm. It was so brutal she couldn't even picture it. Her stomach twisted, screaming that the risk wasn't worth it.  

She couldn't lose Zoey, her Zoey. Stubborn, bright Zoey, who always had something to say, who came up with ideas and did everything to make others feel better. The one who had looked at her and Mira in desperation, praying this was all a nightmare before Rumi had to scream to snap her out of it.  

She couldn't lose her Mira, with that unshakable gaze, that cold front she pretended defined her. The calm voice that tried to protect the people she loved, even at her own expense. The one who was always there when Rumi needed strength, who reminded her how proud she was of her. 

No, she couldn't kill them.

And yet, she couldn't say that.

Gwi-Ma watched her with glee. This was the end. He knew she wouldn't accept. She would never do anything to endanger her girls. She didn't have the strength to watch them fall.

But then, Rumi made a decision.

If she wanted the grand prize, she had to make the grand gamble. She had to trust herself. In the love she knew her girls had for her, in the belief that they would follow her lead.

Unlike Celine, who couldn't accept reality, who had never trusted Rumi's choices, who had wanted to hide the truth, her girls wouldn't make the same mistake.

They had only acted out of fear before.  

It wouldn't happen again.  

"Fine," Rumi said, not looking at Gwi-Ma. "I accept."  

Each word felt like it had been carved out of her throat with a knife. Like speaking them meant losing a part of herself she'd never get back.  

Gwi-Ma looked delighted.  

"Excellent," he purred. "Then I'll bring them to you."  

With that, he turned back to the Saja Boys, his form dissolving into flames as he reappeared at the center of the stage.

Chapter Text

When Mira regained consciousness, she realized things hadn't gone exactly as planned. Starting with the fact that she couldn't remember much of what had happened.  

She remembered they were on stage, waiting for Rumi to finish her solo in "Golden" so she could walk out with Zoey... And then they saw two demons kidnap Bobby, so they had to let Rumi finish the song on her own while she and Zoey ran to save him. But then they started playing "Takedown." And then...  

Then they found out Rumi was a demon. Or was turning into one. Or something inside her was being attacked by one. Mira wasn't even sure of that. She'd raised her gun at her after she'd screamed... Huntr/x had disintegrated, and... then a voice in her head told her she could get back the family she'd always wanted and lost in Huntr/x. That was all she remembered, until her head went completely black, and her thoughts took over.

She didn't remember how she'd gotten to the stands at a Saja Boys concert. Or how she'd been standing right there, face to face with them.

However, Mira also realized she wasn't the only one in that situation. Zoey and Bobby were beside her, and they seemed just as confused as she was. Whatever had happened to them, it seemed they'd been affected as well

The question was, why had they been released? What was Gwi-Ma planning now?

Mira looked around. People were walking toward the red fire rising all over the stage, without even thinking about it. It was as if everyone was immersed in hypnosis, where they had lost all willpower.

Gwi-Ma… Gwi-Ma was achieving his goal, and he was showing them off so they could suffer his defeat? But that didn't make sense. Gwi-Ma wasn't foolish enough to gloat unless they were completely defeated. Besides, Bobby didn't have the slightest idea about the whole demon business.

If Gwi-Ma knew enough about them to connect the two, then he would be the first to go through the fire, not stand by their side.

She turned to look at Zoey, who, still not understanding anything, also searched her gaze before they both nodded, drawing their weapons. They had to stop, at all costs, more people from falling into Gwi-Ma's clutches.

But before they could even get close to the fire, or any of the Saja Boys, a voice caught the three's attention.

"Rumi!" Bobby spoke first, his gaze lighting up at the girl. "You're here! What's going on? At the awards, you guys..."

"The awards are history, Bobby," Rumi murmured, though staring at her girls, unaware that her demonic marks were glowing a deep shade of red, and her eye was shining brighter than ever. "There's a deal you two must accept."

However, unlike Mira, who attacked before thinking, Zoey had noticed far more than anyone could have imagined. After all, that's what she almost always did: notice details that most people preferred to ignore.

Perhaps she had failed to notice Rumi's marks before, or the now obvious problems she was going through, but now she couldn't ignore them.

There were details, details that indicated that not everything was right… Like how Rumi didn't have her sword out, or how she didn't stop people from walking into the fire. How her marks, when they'd been discovered, had been purple and pink… And now they glowed the same color as Gwi-Ma's fire.

That Gwi-Ma, instead of attacking her, was right behind her, as if waiting for any move they might make.

No… It wasn't possible, was it? Rumi… Rumi wouldn't be able to ally herself with the enemy, right?

But if things were as she suspected, then… Then…

"Rumi, what did you do?" Zoey asked, being the first to speak, completely incredulous, turning pale at once, and opening her eyes in something akin to fear and surprise.

"I did what I had to do to get what I've always wanted, to be the person I've always wanted," Rumi muttered through gritted teeth. "And now you have to join me, join us. To get what we've always wanted."

"Join… you?" Zoey repeated, as if the words were a language she couldn’t understand. "Are you telling us that… that you’ve joined him? To Gwi-Ma?"

Rumi didn't respond immediately, and that silence was enough for both of them to understand everything. Worst of all, there wasn't a single bit of evidence that she was second-guessing her actions, or that she was devising a plan to defeat Gwi-Ma. It was a complete shift in loyalties.

"Rumi…" Zoey took a step forward, trying to reach her, while also keeping her voice from breaking. "You don’t have to do this. You… You don’t have to go down that road. We’re still with you. What happened onstage, what we did… If you’re doing this because of that, because of what we said or did, it was only in the heat of the moment, but we would never, ever do anything that would…"

"You don’t understand, Zoey!" Rumi roared, her scream shaking the air. The three conscious people instantly lost their breath. "This isn’t about you, this is about me. For me, to be who I deserve to be! I no longer want to beg for a place among humans. I no longer want to beg for love or loyalty. I'm tired of hiding, of pretending to be one of them when I never was!"

Zoey stared at her, her eyes wide open. How could she not have noticed Rumi feeling that way? What had Rumi been suffering? Hiding for so long? It was like she was breaking down inside. 

However, Zoey couldn't speak for Mira. Hearing Rumi's words, Mira's gaze hardened, and her jaw tightened, holding her anger inside.

Rumi had been their guide, their leader. All of Huntr/x revolved around her. The group had been created for her. Rumi was always the one who would get the most lines, the most scenes, the most attention. Rumi was the girl everyone loved, while they were her rock. Rumi was the girl who had grown up alongside Celine, absorbing all her knowledge, while they had to deal with their families. Rumi always came first.

Mira had lost her family because of Rumi. Mira had faced her father, her mother, and her brother, just for Rumi, for having something to do with Huntr/x, for that group that had been her entire life for over seven years.

All of that had been ruined in the blink of an eye. It was the biggest, purest betrayal Mira had ever experienced in her life. Rumi was betraying her, like someone of the worst kind.

"It was all too good to be true…" Mira muttered, remembering the words she’d said to Rumi when she’d discovered her marks. "This is… Too much. You sold yourself out! You gave yourself to Gwi-Ma! And you’re still waiting for us to join you!? Our mission is to wipe out the demons for the protection and safety of the land, not to join them!"

Rumi clenched her fists. She knew it wasn't Mira who was really speaking. It was all that morality and need to fulfill one's duty that Celine had taught them. It wasn't Mira, the girl who had opened up to her, telling her every insecurity, while her heart was breaking.

Mira preferred to spend the nights by her side, cuddled against her chest, while they watched a movie together. She knew she didn't care about demons, and preferred to avoid responsibility. She just had to remind her, she just had to... Convince her.

Likewise, Mira was sure she would be able to put an end to all of this once and for all.

"Mira, wait!" Zoey pleaded, turning to her and grabbing her shoulder in a desperate attempt to calm her down. "We have to make her see reason! It’s Rumi! It can’t be this late! She’s not—"

"Let's take care of the demons, Zoey," Mira interrupted, her eyes completely lost in anger. "When we're done with this, I'll take care of Rumi myself."

Zoey was speechless. She didn't understand what Mira meant by "handling it personally." Because between the fire, the chaos, the screams of the audience surrendering their souls... she was afraid Mira was right, and Rumi was no longer the person they had known for so many years.

From the shadow of the stage, beyond the spotlights, Jinu watched the scene with half-closed eyes.

He was no longer human; he had lost his humanity many years ago, when he gave up his family. He knew the shadows of being a demon; he had lived for decades under Gwi-Ma's rule, at his power and mercy, learning to survive. He had seen too much, and seeing it before him made no sense. 

Rumi was half-demon, that was true. But he knew that didn't matter to Rumi. It didn't make her less human, or less emotional, or cruel. Rumi wasn't anything like he'd imagined a person with marks to be.

Rumi had listened to him, had made him believe that he was worth it, and that he had a chance to be saved. Rumi didn't listen to Gwi-Ma's words, or the whispers in his head. Her will was strong, and that didn't make her weak.

She was a girl who was afraid of hurting the people she loved, who never stopped thinking about them, and who protected them above all else. And now she joined just like that?

No… That wasn't like Rumi. That wasn't the girl he'd met. It wasn't anything like what Rumi would do. That wasn't anything Rumi had taught him.

Jinu clenched his jaw before shifting his gaze to Gwi-Ma, who, even as a fire, seemed to be gloating over his victory. The demon was enjoying everything that was happening too much, as if it were nothing more than a playground of his own making.

Jinu clenched his jaw. He shifted his gaze to Gwi-Ma, who still hadn't said anything. His silence unsettled him. The demon was enjoying himself too much. As if all of this were nothing more than a piece on a chessboard.

And even though every part of his body screamed at him not to, that if he tried, he'd end up dead, either by Gwi-Ma or by the girls themselves. But he couldn't stay like this, couldn't let Rumi make the biggest mistake of her life; a mistake she'd regret for the rest of her life, without even realizing it.

If anyone could make Rumi desist from her actions, it had to be him.

Jinu finally stepped forward, knowing that if everything went wrong, he was signing his death warrant.

"Rumi!" he shouted from the edge of the stage. "You don't have to do this! Please stop!"

Rumi turned to face him, and for a moment, there was something more than pain and sorrow, as well as disappointment, on her face. Her intensely yellow eyes stared at him as if he were nothing more than a speck of dust in the midst of chaos.

"Don’t do this, Rumi," he continued, his urgency growing with every word. "This isn’t you. You didn’t want this!"

"And what do you know about what I want?" she replied, in a low, almost bored voice. "You're the same one I confided in, and you betrayed me. You mean nothing to me. You don't know anything about me anymore."

Jinu blinked. This was definitely not the same Rumi he'd been talking to for weeks, playing with her pets. This wasn't the same girl who was full of hopes and dreams for a better future, where everything would be much kinder and gentler.

"You... made me believe you were different," he murmured, more to himself than to her. "This isn't... No..."

"And you made me realize that no matter how hard we try, a traitor will always be a traitor." Unconsciously, her mind traveled to Celine. "What did you expect?"

Zoey, hearing that, lowered her head for a moment, feeling something in her chest shatter. Even if she still wanted to believe Rumi could come back, that look... that voice... wasn't hers. But what hurt her most was knowing that Rumi had hidden so many things from them in such a short time.

It had all happened right before their eyes, and they hadn't even suspected it. Rumi had had hundreds of encounters with Jinu... And they didn't know.

Perhaps, if Mira had let Jinu and Rumi talk for a little longer, the story could have been different. Things would have changed. Perhaps Rumi would have been able to come to her senses.

But Mira didn't want to hear anything. Mira was already fed up with everything that was happening. Mira wasn't seeing who Jinu was, and how he was pleading with Rumi not to join the wrong side. She wasn't noticing that Rumi's gaze seemed to tremble when she looked at Jinu.

Mira saw no one but a demon. The worst of them all. The mastermind behind losing all the fans, behind that whole mess. The one who knew Rumi's secret and used it to turn her into... That.

All of this was happening, in large part, because of him. And Mira was going to end up killing all the demons, because that was her duty. 

Without thinking much, Mira raised her weapon and threw it decisively.

"Get away from her!" she shouted, and without waiting for an answer, she launched her Gok-Do, not giving Zoey or anyone else a chance to stop her.

The weapon pierced Jinu's chest with surgical precision, not even making a sound, as if the air had been torn in two. Jinu took a step back, surprised, slowly lowering his gaze to his torso, where the weapon still glowed embedded within, with energy that sparked in waves of blue light.

Mira didn't even bother to feel a little sorry for Jinu while he was dying.

"One less," she murmured, without any emotion.

Perhaps, at another time, Rumi would have felt horrible seeing Jinu die right in front of her eyes. But not here. Because, when she thought of Jinu, all she could think of was a damn traitor.

A boy who, without thinking, had played with each and every one of her feelings. He had told her he understood her, he had given her a false sense of protection… Jinu was a liar! Until the last minute, Jinu had sworn that he would make Huntr/x win the Idol Awards… It was because of Jinu that her girls had turned against her.

Mira turned her face towards Zoey, her eyes completely lost in anger.

"Come on, Zoey, we have to stop Gwi-Ma from winning."

Gwi-Ma might have let Rumi try to convince her girls, but he wasn't a fool. Before they could reach him, he was going to fight, letting hundreds of demons attack.

Gwi-Ma's crimson fire roared like an unleashed storm as Zoey and Mira, side by side, began to move. Mira's rage cracked like thunder with every step, while Zoey, still heartbroken, struggled to maintain focus. They couldn't let any more souls be consumed. They couldn't lose this last fragment of the world they still knew.

"Left!" Zoey shouted, throwing two of her shin-kals at a group of demons advancing like shadows through the crowd. Her weapon struck them hard, sending out a wave of silver energy that disintegrated them in a blinding flash.

Mira wasted no time, raising her Gok-Do again, spinning it in the air before hurling it with brutal precision at a demon that was about to reach a hypnotized teenage girl. The monster screamed as it exploded in a cloud of dark smoke.

"Mira! From behind!" Zoey warned, and Mira barely had time to dodge a swipe that ripped her sleeve. 

"I'm fine! Keep going!" she growled, launching herself into the attack again. Every blow, every cut, was as if it tore at what she'd once felt for Rumi. How she felt that, even when they attacked, they needed someone else who could finish their attacks.

Amidst all the chaos, Rumi didn't join the fight. Because, in reality, she didn't care what Mira and Zoey did to those demons. All she cared about was the thought already running through her head.

She already had a way to make them hers, whether they liked it or not.

Her gaze went straight to Bobby and she smiled. It would be best to start with the one who was easiest to manipulate. The one who didn't know what was going on.  

Bobby was paralyzed. The man's lips were parted, uncomprehending what he was seeing. His skin was pale, almost grayish, and he was in deep shock. Nothing that was happening at that moment made sense to him. 

Just moments before, they were at the Idol Awards, celebrating because Saja Boys wasn't going to be on stage. Everything was going great... And then, everything stopped going great for some reason. They started singing that song they had prepared after discarding it days before... Mira and Zoey attacked Rumi, Rumi ran away, Huntr/x's popularity plummeted... She saw a Saja Boys lightstick... 

And then nothing... He didn't remember how he'd ended up there. But worst of all, he couldn't remember when Rumi had gotten so many tattoos all over his body, and had been able to hide them so easily. 

Or when Zoey and Mira could wield swords and guns with such skill and skill. Or how they were able to cut through Jinu from Saja Boys! Without even giving it a second thought!

Demons? Was that what they'd said? Were the Saja Boys demons? Had Rumi joined them? Bobby really wasn't getting any of what was going on—

Rumi walked through the smoke and falling bodies before disappearing. Her pace was slow, as if she were in no hurry, or as if nothing serious was happening around her. Bobby could barely recognize her; she looked nothing like the cheerful, dreamy girl he knew most of the time.

That Rumi, he had to admit… She was a little scary.

"Bobby..." She murmured, trying to modulate her voice, making it much gentler than the rest, almost velvety, smiling. "Look at me."

Bobby raised his eyes with difficulty, as if each muscle weighed a ton.

"Rumi… You…? You too…?" 

“You have to help me convince them, Bobby,” she pleaded. “I know we can do it together. After all, you fixing everything is how we keep Huntr/x together, right?”

However, Bobby was unable to react or understand anything he was saying.

"No… This isn't right. What's going on? I don't understand, I…" 

Rumi sighed in frustration. Not everything was going as she'd hoped. Bobby wasn't paying enough attention to her; she didn't know how she was going to convince him when he couldn't hear her. 

And seeing the frustration on Rumi's face, Gwi-Ma thought she might have another chance to get into his mind. After all, he was the demon king's, and loyalty wasn't one of his qualities. 

I'd rather have Rumi's mind under control, and convince him to kill his friends, than that stupid deal.

To his surprise, he realized that he could indeed enter Rumi's mind. Where there had once been a wall, Gwi-Ma could now enter. The demon smiled; he knew that girl couldn't possibly be so powerful that she could enter his mind.

But he soon realized he was very wrong. In reality, Rumi hadn't given him any access to his mind; he couldn't even see the most insignificant of his memories. Rumi hadn't given him permission.

He realized that all he could do was talk to her. It was a miserable channel of communication, and nothing more.

He sighed. That bridge had to be useful for something, right? Maybe... Yes, Gwi-Ma quickly realized that, perhaps, it could be useful for his plans. After all, it seemed Rumi didn't know what her demonic powers could do.

You have a voice, Rumi, use it. Your voice can enchant people as you always have. Whether it's to create a barrier that keeps the darkness at bay... Or to convince them to join it.

Rumi thought about the words Gwi-Ma had just said. Of course, demons charmed people by manipulating them with their greatest fears, but…  

I'm only relevant when I sing, I don't think...  

Gwi-Ma didn’t even bother to listen to what else Rumi had to say.  

And how do you think Jinu managed to attract so many people to me? By giving speeches on the street? I thought you knew these people, Rumi.

Rumi thought for a second, then smiled. Of course, Gwi-Ma was right. Jinu and the entire Saja Boys had eliminated Huntr/x's popularity thanks to their voices… She just had to do the same to convince Bobby!

Rumi closed her eyes for a second, allowing all the chaos to fade from her mind. The roar of the fire, the screams, the thunder of the demons being struck down by her former companions' weapons… It all became a distant echo. Bobby was the only thing that mattered in that moment. 

To even the score… Attack Mira in small, constant waves. Her attacks are powerful defensively, but slow, and will wear her down. Zoey uses her physicality and attack power, but she has no weapons to defend herself, especially if she's far away from Mira. Do what you want with that information.

Like Gwi-Ma, Rumi had given him that information to fulfill his own purposes.

She took a deep breath, and when she opened her mouth to sing, her voice had none of the aggressiveness it had displayed seconds before. It was soft, hypnotic… almost ethereal. A whisper in the air, warm and enveloping.

The melody glided like a breeze over Bobby's face, caressing his senses. Something inside him began to give way. His body stopped trembling. The tension in his shoulders eased. His breathing, which had been erratic moments before, now became more measured. As if each word Rumi sang lulled him with a false promise of rest.

"Rumi… What… are you doing…?"

She held his gaze with eerie tenderness, taking a few steps closer. The marks on her body pulsed to the rhythm of her song, as if responding to the tone, not to Gwi-Ma. As if for a few seconds, Rumi was the only one dictating the melody of hell.

"Come on, Bobby. Please." She begged, still using her powers. "Help me convince them, please."

"But, I…"

Rumi didn't give up at the first refusal. At least Bobby was listening.

“Didn’t it hurt when your band broke up, Bobby?” she asked, knowing she’d struck a chord with her manager. “You sacrificed your entire life to fulfill your dream, your entire teenage years, your entire life… Only for your band to go unrecognized, and before you knew it, everyone else had been supplanted, and your dream had disintegrated, leaving you with a debt that was impossible to repay.”

Bobby's body began to shake, making Rumi smile. She may not have seen it, but memories were running through her head again and again, reminding her of the worst time of her life.

"That's why you became our manager, isn't it? To keep us together. So that Huntr/x wouldn't suffer the same fate as your group, and thus, fulfill your greatest wish. Don't make me go through the same pain you suffered, Bobby."

From a distance, Gwi-Ma had to fight the urge to laugh and smile. The girl was very good at what she did.

Bobby lowered his head. At first, it was a slight, almost imperceptible gesture. A simple quiver of his chin, a longer-than-normal blink. But then, the tears came.

They weren't loud tears, nor did they fall in torrents. They were silent, heavy ones. The ones you shed when you no longer have the energy to fight, when hope has seeped away drop by drop, and all that remains is the need to belong to something. To anything.

"I... I just wanted them not to break up," he whispered, his voice cracking like freshly cracked glass. "I didn't want them to end up like us. My band... they left me. They left me with everything... everything on me. With the contracts, the payments, the empty memories of the stages. They left me alone..."

Rumi crouched down in front of him. Shadows danced around her as if they were part of her dress. Her hand, warm and soft, rested on Bobby's cheek, wiping away a tear with her thumb.

"You'll never be alone again, Bobby." Her voice was like a caress in the midst of horror. "They don't understand what it's like to hold everyone together. You do. You were always the glue that held everything together... and because of that, you can do it again. You can bring them back. To me. To us."

"How?" Bobby asked, falling into Rumi's trap. "What can I do about all this?"

"Help me convince them, Bobby. Set an example," she explained. "Because you're not doing this out of betrayal. You're doing this out of love. Join me, and show them this isn't as bad as they think."

And it was then that Bobby, trembling, nodded. It was barely a movement, but it was enough for Rumi to finally fall under his spell.

Rumi let out a satisfied smile. The other two couldn't be that far behind, if she'd managed to convince Bobby so easily.

Rumi sat up, still stroking Bobby's face as if he were a lost child. The marks on his body glowed brightly, as if fueled by the decision he'd just made. The music was gone, but the words he'd sung still hung in the air like a lingering curse.

From a distance, Zoey noticed Rumi's movements, and Bobby fell for her charms, his heart sank. He was living a nightmare.

"Mira...?" she said, haltingly. "Mira, do you see that? Bobby... he..."

But Mira didn't respond. She was too focused on finishing off one more demon. One of hundreds. One of many. 

And none of them were Rumi. So Zoey had to act on her own. Something that didn't go unnoticed by Rumi, who narrowed her eyes, but soon realized that, in fact, Gwi-Ma had indeed listened to her advice.  

Hundreds of demons were approaching Zoey from all sides, trying to attack her back and find her weak spots. Secretly, Rumi felt proud; Zoey was quite agile, and it was clear her physique prevented her from tiring.  Wow, she could even see a new emotion welling up right in front of her eyes when she saw that she now had Bobby on her side. Something was there that made Zoey attack much faster, her reflexes even better, more efficient, almost perfect. She seemed determined to reach her.

And it wasn't a lie. Zoey wanted to reach Rumi. She wanted to look her in the eyes, and for her to tell her directly that she had betrayed them. Because Zoey, no matter what, still thought about the goodness in people. She still believed that people deserved a second chance, and that not everything was as dark as it seemed.

It was Rumi, for God's sake! Rumi couldn't have turned into a dark, evil being right before their eyes, and no one would notice. Rumi would never be so evil as to turn the whole world over to evil!

And Rumi was ready. She realized that no matter how many demons she faced, Zoey would defeat them. Soon they would be face to face… And Rumi was sure she would be able to convince Zoey, just like she had Bobby.

Rumi, why not do yourself one more favor? After all… We're both benefiting from this.

Before she could react, Zoey, who had just fought her way through three more demons, felt a shudder run down her spine. It was like a bad feeling, one she didn't have time to react to.

Out of nowhere, an invisible force struck her brutally from behind. It was as if a steel train had hit her, propelling her several meters into the air. Her body slammed sideways into one of the stage's collapsed towers, shattering the already weakened structure and sending up a shower of dust and debris.

The silence was immediate.

Zoey's body lay among the twisted remains of the metal. She wasn't moving. Her head was bleeding from a wound on her forehead, and her arm hung at an odd angle, dislocated. She could feel something wrong inside her chest, as if her ribs had stopped protecting her lungs. Every breath was a torment. Every attempt to move, a punishment.

"Zoey!" Mira shouted from a distance, but she couldn't reach her before another wave of demons appeared to attack.

But if you could hear it, Rumi's voice was much louder than the rest.

What the hell did you do!? She roared inside her mind, looking down at where Zoey had fallen. You were supposed to tire them out, not kill them!

Gwi-Ma didn't like the way Rumi was talking to him at all.

I never said I was going to play fair. And you should know better than anyone that emotions are more useful when they're broken.

Rumi clenched her fists tightly. The marks on her body flickered with a darker hue, as if responding to the fury rising in her throat. But she didn't answer him. She couldn't. Not now. Not with Zoey on the floor, bleeding and broken. Not with Bobby at her back, believing this was all still part of a "just" plan.

But just before Rumi could make a beeline for her, Zoey stood up. Despite the pain, the blood pouring from her head, and the dizziness that made her feel almost lifeless, she raised her head and cast her shin-kal, even if she couldn't hold them with more than one hand.

Even though she was about to faint from the pain at that moment, Zoey was still willing to fight.

Even if in each of her attacks, Zoey was unable to make a single accurate shot and was brutally beaten again, Zoey was still trying to stand up.

Rumi, despite everything, couldn't help but feel proud of her. And, despite how worried she was... She understood that this was the opportunity she'd been looking for to have Zoey on her side.

Rumi walked steadily through the rubble, ignoring the distant roars of the demons and the din of battle. With each step, her marks glowed brighter, as if guiding her, as if fueled by the clear purpose burning in her chest.

In front of her, Zoey staggered to her feet, panting, blood dripping from her cheek, mixing with sweat and dirt. Her dislocated arm hung useless, and her breath came in sharp, painful gasps. Still, she held her shin-kal as steady as she could, ready to attack, even though every muscle in her body begged to give up.

"That's enough, Zoey," Rumi said softly, her voice a painful contrast to the scene around her. "You've done enough. You don't have to keep fighting."

Zoey stared at her, her eyes half-closed, her body trembling. Her lip was bleeding, but she still growled a reply.

"Don't... look at me like that. Don't try to confuse me, Rumi..." she murmured, although nothing but blood came out of her mouth.

Rumi didn't stop. She approached calmly, with no intention of attacking, her hands raised as if in a truce. Her eyes stared into Zoey's, soft, understanding, and sad.

They shouldn't have gotten to that point, not for anything in the world.

“Remember our talks on the couch, Zoey?” Rumi murmured, her voice modulating again. “You always mentioned that you don’t belong in America. You were always afraid that our whole dream would end, and that you’d return to that horrible irrelevance. You always overexerted yourself because you thought you weren’t good enough for Mira, or me. Or am I wrong?”

Zoey gritted her teeth, but didn't respond.

"How many times did you train to exhaustion just because you thought you might fall behind? How many versions of songs did you create because you were afraid we wouldn't like them and replace you? Because you were afraid of being useless?" Rumi took a step further. "But that's over. You don't have to prove anything anymore. Let me take care of you now."

Her hand rose delicately, and the dark energy around her seemed to calm down, enveloping her like a velvet cloak.

"You don't need to prove anything, Zoey. I know how strong, brave, and loyal you are. You've done what no one else would do in your condition… and for that, I'm proud of you."

Rumi's voice trembled slightly, as if she truly believed every word.

"You don't need to keep fighting me. It's not a betrayal if it's for something better. What if this was all about us? For a new beginning. Where you don't have to prove anything anymore, Zoey, because… You'll be enough for me, and for Bobby, and for Mira."

Zoey blinked. Tears were starting to mix with the blood, and she couldn't control it.

“Why… are you saying this?” she murmured, still fighting whatever Rumi’s words were, burrowing into her head and calming her.

"Because I want you with me. Because you're part of this, and because you're more than my family, Zoey. I truly couldn't live without you, Zoey. Without you, without Mira, and without Bobby. Because they're important to me, they're my everything," Rumi whispered, already a step away from her. "You just have to give in, Zoey. Just that."

The word "give in" felt like a key turning inside Zoey's chest. Giving in was what she wanted most right now, but… It went against everything she'd ever been taught.

Even standing just inches away from Rumi, Zoey refused to give in. She refused to accept that they could lose… That she could give in to the demons they'd spent years defeating. It was too much to accept.

Using almost all her strength, Zoey cast her Shin-Kai again, and with a superhuman effort, she tried to focus her vision, turning her head towards Mira. She wasn't capable of killing Rumi, that was something she had accepted, she wasn't capable of even hurting her, because it was too much for her conscience to allow her to live in peace if she committed an act of that magnitude.

But she could prevent Mira from being hurt.

However, Mira was barely able to avoid the two daggers that flew past her face. Neither had reached any demon. Try as she might, the shin-kai hadn't hit any of their targets. And Mira, in a desperate attempt, managed to grab one of them.

"Give in," Rumi repeated, more quietly, but as if it were an order. "It's not a defeat, Zoey. It's about getting us back together, about everything being the way you like it. Being in a place where you'll never be alone again, or second best. Come on, Zoey... Please."

Zoey, badly wounded, looked down, breathing heavily. Rumi's words surrounded her like a lullaby, wickedly sweet and reassuring. For the first time, she felt like she could... let herself fall.

Rumi watched her silently, waiting for her answer, knowing she was a breath away from leaning into her side, until finally, Zoey fell into her arms.

Rumi's eyes glowed a deep yellow, as she held Zoey tightly and wrapped her in a deep hug. Her girl was hurting too much, and she needed care. Care she couldn't give her yet. Not until Mira fell into her hands, too.

"Bobby, take care of her," she ordered, placing Zoey on the floor next to her manager. "I have one more fish to catch."

And immediately, she turned to look at Mira.

Chapter Text

Mira knew she was in trouble. Those demons were nothing like she'd imagined. At least, not in the way they attacked.  

It was as if they knew each of her weaknesses when attacking. As if they knew, specifically, what her weaknesses were, so they could attack them constantly.  

For some reason, that didn't surprise her. Suddenly, she thought it was the most logical thing to do. Rumi must have given Gwi-Ma all the information. With each passing moment, Mira became more convinced that Rumi had betrayed them.

Nothing remained of the person she had once considered more than a friend. Whoever that person in front of her had been, it was no longer Rumi.

Zoey's dagger was what made her aware of the reality around her, and not just about defeating one more demon. And it's not that she wasn't grateful. But maybe that brief moment of distraction made every muscle in her arms suddenly feel like lead. Every time she raised her weapon to fight again, she felt like it hurt her more than it hurt the demons.

She was getting tired.

But before she could continue fighting, all the demons suddenly and surprisingly disappeared, and Mira was able to see Rumi face to face.

It seems you didn't like the favor I did you with your other friend. So now you're on your own with her. Just remember, Rumi. If you can't beat her... You'll have to kill her.

Rumi groaned as she heard Gwi-Ma's voice in her head. Of course, that guy was a traitor. Expecting Gwi-Ma to help her get her wish was foolish.  

She would have to defeat Mira alone.

Looking into her eyes, Rumi could see that Mira's shone with a strength and intensity she had rarely encountered. That made her smile. That was the strong, intense Mira she had always known.

The same one who was cold and distant, yet held an enormous amount of emotion within her. Who made her feel hundreds of things inside, and was so sincere that her soul was as transparent as crystal.

After all, she knew Mira had seen her. She knew that Mira, besides seeing her, saw Zoey, lying on the floor, staring into space, hypnotized by Rumi's singing. And she saw Bobby, who was behind her, as lost as a zombie.

Mira knew Rumi had become a monster, and if she wanted to save the people she loved, even if they weren't her family... She had to take Rumi down.

Mira didn't hesitate for a second to charge straight ahead. Her boots pounded the ground with fury, and she charged forward, as if her entire body were a projectile, hurtling straight in one direction. Rumi.

Or Rumi's body. Because Mira wasn't sure she could call that demon by her friend's name anymore. She was determined, no matter how much her muscles were begging for a break. No matter how much she was trembling all over, ignoring any warnings she might feel.

She wasn't going to let anyone stop her. After all, she was a hunter. A demon hunter, who had chosen her demon as her prey, and she wasn't going to let her escape, because Mira would do everything in her power to protect the world she loved so much.

And Rumi didn't move as she watched Mira run straight toward her. At least, she didn't at first. After all, she needed her to walk right into the trap. For a moment, Rumi just watched her with her arms crossed, without even drawing her sword. It was as if she were mocking Mira.

And when she was close enough, Rumi's smile faded and her eyes darkened, until they became cold and calculating. It was quite ironic; she herself had been in Mira's place, about to kill a demon, a couple of weeks ago.

And as Mira raised her weapon to attack Rumi, she simply disappeared.

To be honest, she'd never used her demonic powers before. It was the first time she'd used her voice for anything other than being scared and seeing the Honmoon glow purple when she screamed, much less appearing or disappearing, but Rumi wasn't afraid.

Wherever she appeared, Rumi knew Mira would come for her. And that was exactly what she wanted. Rumi wanted to tire her out.

Mira screeched to a halt, gritting her teeth. She spun around, and as she did, a red flash forced her to duck. A sphere of demonic energy crossed over her head and exploded behind her. A blast of heat hit her back, and when she looked up, she saw Rumi standing at the top of the stadium.

"Rumi!" she shouted, her voice harsh with fury, her grip on the handle of her weapon tight. "Stop running away like a coward!"

She started running straight for the girl, oblivious to the rest of the Saja Boys still pursuing their goal of capturing all the souls of those fanatics and taking them straight to the underworld. All she cared about was defeating Rumi.

When Mira reached the top of the stadium, she prepared to brandish her weapon again, turning with precision... She cut through the air again, and saw nothing but a shadow.

Rumi had disappeared again, reappearing at the other end of the stadium, walking calmly, her yellow eyes flashing in Mira's direction. After all, Rumi didn't want to fight Mira. She just wanted Mira to follow her until her legs gave out.

And Mira did it because it was the only option she had to win and free everyone she loved. Because only by destroying the emotionless demons... was she going to win.

The same situation was repeated five or six times, Mira running from one end of the stage to the other, while more and more people fell into Gwi-Ma's clutches. They were both buying time for the other to carry out their plans.

Soon, the stands began to empty of the hundreds of people who had been at the concert. Silence began to fill the place, while Mira focused on her own heartbeat, which accelerated with every step she took.

It was then that she realized what was happening. Rumi wasn't facing her head-on, not yet, she was just driving her to exhaustion. Rumi was disappearing before Mira could even recover from the exhaustion to react again. When her legs threatened to give way, a flash of crimson rent the air, and Mira had to move, had to roll, had to dodge.

Sweat trickled down her forehead. Her fingers tightened on the handle. Her breathing came in ragged gasps. Her eyes kept searching, her will to push her forward, but Rumi had no intention of being caught.

Then she realized she wasn't going to win. No matter what she did, she wouldn't be able to beat that Rumi. The Rumi who knew her every move, from the hundreds of years she'd spent training alongside her. Who was using her powers consciously, who was far better than her.

But no matter how much her body begged her to run somewhere else, she couldn't. Because if she did, it would be like abandoning the people she loved. It would be like leaving Bobby and Zoey at the mercy of Rumi and the demons.

She couldn't leave them. She couldn't just leave them like that.

So instead of going straight to Rumi, Mira ran to the center of the stage, where Rumi had left Zoey and Bobby, to rush to her side. With her last bit of strength, Mira was going to get her family out of there. 

"Zoey, let's get out of here," she exclaimed, hoping the raven-haired girl would understand and follow her.

And somehow, Zoey did hear her. Maybe her mind was still numb from Rumi's soft voice, and the ideas she'd instilled in her of seeing what Rumi had always dreamed of. Of having everything they had, before the Saja Boys showed up and ruined their perfect life.

But Zoey also knew that nothing would be complete without Mira with them. And if Mira asked her to stand up and leave, it meant everything was going to be okay, right?

Maybe everything had already been resolved. And Rumi and Mira had agreed to leave at once. Yes, that had to be it, which was why Mira was telling her to stand up, no matter how hurt she was, to escape the place.

And from a distance, Rumi saw Mira running toward them. For a moment, she considered leaving her. After all, Mira would realize that both Bobby and Zoey were now under her control, and she herself would eventually give in.

But when she saw Zoey stand up, she frowned and pressed her lips together. She hadn't given her that order. Apparently, Mira was being much more convincing than she'd imagined.

Mira was acting unconsciously. Zoey was still badly injured; Rumi could feel every one of Zoey's bones creaking and the stabbing pain throughout her body as she tried to move her head at least. Neither of them would have gotten very far in their current state.

So, without thinking twice, Rumi ran to grab Zoey, standing behind her, and looked into Mira's eyes. They were eyes so devoid of all feeling, so dark, and at the same time, with that bright yellow in one of them, that Mira felt chills.

No matter what she did, Zoey was at the mercy of whatever Rumi wanted. She noticed this when Rumi placed her hands on Zoey and began speaking in a voice so ethereal it made even her tremble.

"Don't listen to her, Zoey," she murmured, almost in her ear. "Help me convince her. You know Mira, Zoey. She doesn't get things the first time, doesn't understand how we can still be a family."

A part of Zoey still wanted to fight. Something deep inside her told her this was wrong, that everything Rumi told her was nothing more than a lie.

"I want... Mira..." she whispered, slightly lowering her head. Rumi's grip on Zoey's shoulders tightened before she spoke again.

"And we're going to have Mira, I assure you," she replied, playing with her voice. "I just need you to help me like you always have, Zoey. To be the same as you've always been. That Zoey who's always coming up with new ideas, and who makes me adore her. Help me convince Mira to join us."

In the back of her mind, Zoey wanted to refuse, to resist Rumi's attack and run behind Mira. But it was as if her brain was completely numb, and her mind was running on autopilot.

Someone was pulling the strings of her life, and she wasn't in control of even her own mouth.

"Mira, please listen to me." she began, not understanding what the words were coming out of her mouth. "Listen to Rumi, please."

That's when she understood, understood that she had no way to get Bobby and Zoey back. Mira hadn't caught her breath, but she knew what she had to do. Mira needed to escape. Escape before every ounce of energy in her body was gone, rest, and come up with an idea to rescue the people she loved. She couldn't do that if Rumi got to her.

So instead of chasing after Rumi, Mira turned around and ran out of the stadium, as far as her legs would carry her. 

And seeing that, Rumi couldn't help but frown. The last thing she wanted was to leave Bobby and Zoey at Gwi-Ma's mercy. But if she let Mira go... Then she'd be failing.

She had no choice but to follow her.

Mira ran as if her life depended on it, although in reality, it did. Her legs trembled, her muscles were on the verge of collapse, and every breath was like swallowing hot coals. But she didn't stop. She didn't even look back. The echo of her footsteps resonated on the asphalt wet with the night dew, while the distant roar of the chaos they had left behind faded.

She turned, ran, and turned again through the corridors of the streets, before reaching the stadium, where they had given the most wonderful presentation that Huntr/x had ever made... And where, at the same time, they had disintegrated forever.

She thought she'd be safe. There was no way Rumi thought she'd be back where the Idol Awards had been. She could hide backstage for a while. It didn't matter that her vision was blurring and she was feeling dizzy with every step. It didn't matter that she could hear her heartbeat about to explode every time she puffed out her chest. She just had to run and hide.

She knew that stadium like the back of her hand. She'd hole up in what had been Huntr/x's locker room, get food, and get enough sleep to recover… And come up with an idea to beat Rumi and Gwi-Ma… All by herself.

The stadium was dark, deserted, like an open scar that refused to heal. Mira walked clumsily across the empty stage, where once colored lights, screams, and music had filled the air like an uncontrollable tide. Each footstep resonated hollowly, slowly, as if the echo took too long to return.

She was convinced she'd made it, that she'd run far enough, that she'd given enough to be able to take a second. Pain lanced from her muscles to her stomach. Her vision fragmented into flashes and dark spots. But it didn't matter. Just a little longer. She just had to reach backstage, kick down the door, huddle among the dressing rooms... and sleep, get some sleep, just that.

But before she could escape and surrender, she heard the sound she feared most of all: the light scrape of a sole on wood. Mira didn't need to turn around to know who had arrived, proving that all her efforts had been in vain.

Rumi stood before her, at the end of the stage. And not as a friend, or as a hunter. She stood there like an abyss, one Mira knew so well it hurt to look at.

"You don't have to keep running away, Mira," Rumi said in a calm voice, with no hidden agenda. "I don't want to fight you."

But Mira wasn't listening. She couldn't. Her chest tightened so tightly she could barely draw air, and nausea burned in her throat. Her heart was beating so fast she felt like throwing it up, the stadium lights spun in her head like someone was violently moving a kaleidoscope. And yet, she raised her Gonk-Do.

"Get away..." She murmured, though her voice sounded like a broken thread amidst so much panting.

Rumi frowned, hurt. Not out of fear, not out of anger. Perhaps it was something more like disappointment. Disappointment that Mira couldn't trust her like that.

"I don't want to hurt you," she insisted. "Just listen to me. Just for a second."

"No!" Mira shouted, her Gonk-Do igniting, even though her hands were shaking.

Mira launched herself at her, but not like before. She wasn't a projectile, nor the hunter she'd always been; she was a mere shadow of her former self. Her body moved clumsily, and each blow seemed to come with a delay. Rumi had to make no effort to dodge, blocking with the back of her sword, without counterattacking.

Rumi did nothing but defend herself, with no intention of attacking or harming Mira. Every time Mira tried to cut, Rumi simply twisted her wrist, deflected the blade, and stepped back, as if dancing rather than fighting.

Mira gasped, her vision dim, the lights above her head like halos of fire, and the sound of blood rushing in her ears was deafening. She tried to scream, but no scream came out.

Mira knew it. She had nothing left. She wasn't going to beat her; she no longer had the strength or drive to keep fighting. Gwi-Ma and Rumi had won. She had failed in her mission as a hunter.

There was nothing left for her but to keep Rumi from being completely happy, and to wish that Zoey could escape from her one day.

Her hands still held the Gonk-Do, but there was no more strength, no more direction. Her body trembled like a leaf whipped by a storm. Tears, involuntary, welled up at the corners of her eyes. Her muscles shut down. Her lungs were barely breathing.

She wanted to say something, but her jaw wouldn't move. She wanted to crawl, but her fingers wouldn't respond. She wanted to hate her. But she didn't have the energy for that.

Rumi took a step towards her, seeing that Mira could not take it anymore.

"That's enough, Mira," she whispered. "You don't have to continue..."

It was then that Mira, barely moving her numb fingers, placed the tip of her Gonk-Do against her own neck. The movement was clumsy and shaky, but Rumi understood instantly.

"Mira, no!"

But Mira wasn't looking at her. She was only looking beyond. She was looking at Bobby, at Zoey, at the childhood the three of them had shared, at the laughter that now seemed so distant. She was looking at everything she couldn't save.

I couldn't beat her. I couldn't save them.

But she could avoid becoming what Rumi wanted. She could prevent herself from being transformed, too. She could stop being a tool in the hands of demons.

But just as she was about to drive the blade of her own weapon through her neck, her arms finally gave out. Her hands lost all their remaining strength, and her legs gave way, causing her to fall to her knees.

Mira felt as if she were trapped in her own body. Panic surged through her, but she couldn't show it. Before she could completely fall to the ground, Rumi caught her in her arms, protecting her, and throwing her gun away.

"You're safe now, Mira," she assured her, but the pink-haired girl knew that was a lie. "You're with me now, and nothing will separate us."

Mira wanted to keep fighting, wanted to move away from Rumi's gentle, caring grasp, but she couldn't. Her body reacted in only spasms, as if she were using her remaining reserves of energy to keep breathing.

Rumi felt the adrenaline rushing through her body. The last thing she wanted was to see her girls in that state. That was the price she had to unfairly pay for having spent so much time hiding who she was.

Zoey was hurt, Bobby wasn't responding, and Mira couldn't get up. Jinu was dead for good. But she was going to fix this. It was time for Gwi-Ma to keep her end of the bargain.

Chapter Text

Gwi-Ma didn't expect Rumi to arrive with Mira in her arms. To be honest, when he saw the girl running after her friend, he thought he had won the bet, and was already savoring the souls of the two people she had left behind.

He never imagined that, when he was devouring the last souls of the people in that stadium, Rumi would reappear with the girl in her arms.

That made him quite unhappy.

"You got what you wanted. The girls agreed to join me. Now, fulfill your part of the deal." She demanded, with one of the coldest looks Gwi-Ma had ever seen.

Gwi-Ma stayed silent for a few seconds, looking around, trying to find an excuse not to do it. He himself knew it was for the best, after all, when those girls became demons, the hunters' legacy would end forever, and nothing would stop him from stealing souls from all over the world.

But his pride was still stronger than his hunger. The mere idea that there was another demon capable of mind control besides him... It was something he couldn't accept.

He saw his opportunity in the girl Rumi was carrying in her arms. That girl, without an ounce of strength left in her body, still seemed to resist, spending every drop of energy her body recovered on resisting Rumi's grip.

"She doesn't seem to agree with what you're saying." Said Gwi-Ma, looking at Mira. "She's still fighting."

"She can't do anything anymore. She'll realize it soon." She responded, tired of having to argue. "You've already taken all the souls you wanted, now you have to fulfill your deal."

Gwi-Ma narrowed his eyes, his crooked smile darkening his demonic face even more. The air around him pulsed with a corrupt, thick energy, as if space itself twisted at his presence.

In a blink, Gwi-Ma transformed back into his human form, just to look Rumi in the eyes again, smiling.

"You know you can't deceive me, right, Rumi?" He murmured, approaching slowly, with his hands crossed behind his back, as if he were simply taking a stroll. "You and I are the same. We're monsters born from the same sin. Control. The need to have everything under our rules... Even if it means breaking the people we love."

Rumi didn't blink. She held Mira firmly in her arms, glancing sideways at Zoey and Bobby, making sure they didn't break free from her control... And that they were okay. Mira could barely lower her eyes, her skin was damp with sweat and as pale as the moon. She clung to a thread of consciousness, enough to hear... but not to act.

She was trapped in her own mind, and that was driving her crazier than the fear of falling into Gwi-Ma's claws.

Gwi-Ma leaned slightly, looking at Mira's face mockingly.

"See? She hasn't surrendered her soul to you. She's still fighting, she still detests you. Even if she can't move, she's still trying to fight against you." He let out a low chuckle. "Don't you find that... annoying? Love shouldn't hurt this much. They still can't love you as you are. They never will."

If Gwi-Ma knew Rumi like the girls did, he would have seen Rumi's strength falter for an instant. That something inside her told her Gwi-Ma was right. That Celine had been right all along.

Neither Zoey nor Mira could ever accept her as she was. They would never love her as she was, they would never understand her patterns.

But almost at the same time those insecurities ran through her head, new thoughts appeared. If she couldn't make Zoey and Mira understand her... She would force them until they loved her again. Just like she wanted.

"I don't care if she loves me or not right now. She'll understand, sooner or later, and love me again." Rumi's voice was flat, devoid of emotion. "I care that she's here. That she doesn't leave anymore. And you, Gwi-Ma, are wasting time with your mind games."

Gwi-Ma took a step back, raising his eyebrows. The girl was very good at controlling her emotions.

"You've got guts, girl." He murmured, but Rumi didn't let him continue, interrupting.

"And you're breaking your deal."

A tense silence fell between them. The stadium's darkness seemed to breathe with them. The empty stands, covered by shadows and the remains of the disaster, were the only witnesses to that negotiation.

Finally, Gwi-Ma sighed, as if reluctantly agreeing.

"Fine. Fine. I give up, okay?" He raised both hands, mocking. "A deal is a deal."

Rumi watched him without blinking. Putting Mira down on the ground, before turning to look at Gwi-Ma.

"Start."

"Of course..." Gwi-Ma smiled, then pointed a claw at Mira's lifeless body. "But let her be the first."

Rumi blinked for the first time in the entire conversation. Her lips curved slightly, in a satisfied smile.

"Perfect."

Gwi-Ma didn't expect it to be so easy. He studied her, expecting some hesitation, some crack of doubt. But there was nothing. Rumi was sure. To her, Mira was already defeated. She already belonged to her.

"Then..." Gwi-Ma extended his hand and a circle of purple fire began to burn under Mira's body. "Let's begin the transformation. Come to my side, we'll go one by one... So you can have control."

The temperature dropped suddenly. The air became thicker. A deafening buzz began to envelop them, as demonic energy rose from the ground like thick smoke, slowly covering Mira's weak body. Her breathing became even more erratic, barely perceptible.

When Mira felt Rumi leave her on the ground, she panicked. Or something similar to panic. She could feel the tingling running through her entire body, but no matter how hard she tried, her body could barely keep breathing, nothing more.

Mira didn't know if she was really breathing or just imagining it. Her body was a prison of burning flesh and broken muscles that no longer responded to her. Every heartbeat was a distant echo, a dull drum beating against the walls of her mind as everything around her became blurry, like a painting diluted by rain. The purple darkness of the ritual enveloped her like a damp, suffocating cloth. She couldn't move. She couldn't scream. She could only see everything happening around her, feel.

And she couldn't feel anything but terror. A stabbing sensation that accompanied her when something went wrong. She had known it from the start, she had seen how Rumi had changed in recent weeks, saw her withdraw, and distance herself from them, talk to demons, pity them.

She had known for weeks and refused to see it!

Mira was terrified, pure terror. The kind that pierces your marrow and lodges deep in your soul. The kind where you know there's no way out or escape. That you're about to stop being yourself.

She heard it. She heard Rumi's voice, low, soft, obedient to Gwi-Ma, guiding Rumi as if she were an apprentice learning to defuse a bomb.

"Stand here," he said. "Right next to her. Touch her chest with your right hand, there... very good. You'll feel her soul start to vibrate..."

Her soul? Was Rumi going to steal her soul? Like just another demon?

Mira wanted to scream. Her chest trembled with every word, every touch, every instruction. She felt the pressure of Rumi's fingers on her sternum, as if her heart was about to be ripped out.

No. No. No.

And then, she felt something. A small, cold metallic weight sliding down her sweaty wrist, slowly descending from her right sleeve. The sinkal that Zoey had thrown at her hours ago, like the last warning of her existence.

That sinkal she had hidden just in case, waiting for the perfect moment.

Her fingers trembled. They could barely close. Every cell in her body screamed to stop. She was on the edge, one breath away from total collapse. But when she felt the familiar hilt touch her fingertips, a spark crossed her spine like lightning.

More than strength, or energy. It was nothing but will. Because Mira no longer had the strength to stay alive. She had nothing left but the will to follow her ideals, and end all the demons in the world.

When Rumi leaned closer, lowering her face to hers, and Gwi-Ma stepped forward with an open smile, that's when Mira acted. With a dry, brutal spasm, almost reflexive, she raised her right arm, and plunged the Sinkal directly into Gwi-Ma's face.

The demon screamed in anger, immediately touching where Mira had buried the dagger. Gwi-Ma stepped back with a guttural screech, but what caught everyone's attention most was that Gwi-Ma was bleeding. It was red, human blood.

Gwi-Ma's roar was more of rage than pain, and for a moment he seemed to lose all composure. He brought his hand to his face and upon seeing the blood between his fingers, his mocking smile disappeared, replaced by an expression of visceral fury.

"You...?! You miserable powerless creature...!" He spat, looking at Mira as if he could crush her just by thinking about it. His fangs showed, the skin on his face pulsed, and the purple circle around him stirred as if hell itself had been angered by the attack.

He lunged at her with his fingers turned into claws, ready to tear her throat out when Rumi intervened.  

"No!" She roared, stepping in and extending her arm toward Gwi-Ma. She knew Mira had ruined almost everything, that they were in serious trouble, but if she wanted to save anything, she had to do it herself right then. "Don't hurt her. Leave her to me, I'll make sure she learns her lesson. Let me handle them, mistakes included."

The silence burned between them. The demon looked at the two girls with hatred and apathy, restraining the impulse to kill them both right that minute, panting with fury, spitting with every word he spoke.

"She had the nerve to attack me! She hurt me with her damn weapons!" He claimed, with a tone of voice so deep it would make anyone tremble.

Anyone, except Rumi. A Rumi who was willing to do anything to protect the people she loved, and nothing more.

"Please." She insisted. "I'll make sure she never forgets what she did, but leave it to me."

Gwi-Ma snorted. He had never allowed anyone so many indulgences as he was giving that hunter. He didn't even know why, since his affection for her father had long since faded. Maybe it was his own disbelief and respect for the girl for being the only one he could never control. Because he couldn't believe someone who was only half-demon could be so powerful.

"You're not capable of hurting them. You're not capable of punishing her as she deserves."

"That's not true." She assured him, raising her face with an expression as immutable as a statue. "You'll see it's not if you give me a chance.”

Gwi-Ma blamed his arrogance and pride for accepting that offer.

"I want to see if you're capable." He murmured, spitting. "Go ahead. Punish your girls. Punish her for what she did."

He stepped aside, disappearing into the shadows with a hiss to enjoy the spectacle like a flame on stage. And when he did, Rumi's face changed.

The rage she had hidden behind her perfect mask finally emerged, like a wave that couldn't be contained. She turned to Mira, still lying on the ground, barely conscious, who could do nothing but look at her with hatred.

"Are you satisfied?!" She shouted, with a voice that wasn't just rage, but disappointment, frustration, and something that almost sounded like desperation. "You almost ruined everything, Mira! Don't you see?! You had already lost! You couldn't do anything! Nothing!"

Mira wanted to respond that there was always something more to do, that that scratch on Gwi-Ma was more than anyone had ever achieved, it was the most irrefutable sign that Gwi-Ma could be defeated if Rumi wanted to... But the words never left her mouth.

Her shadow lengthened over Mira's body as she walked toward her. Her voice trembled with anger and rage.

"You could have transformed without pain! You could have been the first, and it would have been quick, smooth, clean...!"

Rumi's breathing became erratic. She looked down at Mira, and her eyes, one human, the other golden, flashed with a mix of fury and something akin to pain.

"But now... Now you're going to pay." The idea finally came to Rumi and a smile formed on her face knowing it was something Mira would never forget. Seeing that she couldn't protect her family. She knelt beside her and spoke into her ear, so close that Rumi's breath brushed her skin. "You won't be the first to fall into this... You'll be the last, and you'll watch as Bobby and Zoey turn into demons right in front of you."

Her voice dropped even lower, like a poisonous caress crawling through the folds of Mira's soul.

"And do you know what the worst part is, Mira? That you won't be able to do anything to stop it. You'll watch them transform right before your eyes, you'll watch them become what you hate most... Before you yourself become one of them."

If he could, Gwi-Ma would have smiled. Rumi seemed good at controlling and emotionally attacking people she knew. She had done the same with her Jinu. It was one of the best punishments that could exist.

Rumi stood up again, leaving Mira on the ground. Mira could barely move her head. Her entire body felt heavy as lead. Sweat ran down her forehead, her chest rose and fell with effort, and her lips parted as if she wanted to say something. But not a single word came out.

All she could do was watch, watch how she had failed the people she loved most, as Rumi turned to Zoey and Bobby, and the purple smoke rose from the ground again.

The purple circle under Bobby's feet began to glow with a dazzling intensity. It was an unnatural glow, charged with an energy that felt like a buzz under the skin, as if every cell in the body wanted to escape that space.

Mira felt it even from where she lay, and her heart, though weak, stopped for a second as she watched Bobby being dragged to the center without resistance.

Bobby didn't scream or struggle. After all, he had no idea what was happening, he had just let himself be carried away by the promise Rumi had made him. Bobby just lowered his gaze.

The demonic mist rose like a black and purple whirlwind, enveloping him completely. For a few seconds, the only thing visible was the silhouette of his body among the swirling shadows... and then, without a clear sign, the smoke dissipated.

And Bobby was still there, standing, his head held high, as if absolutely nothing had happened to him.

Mira blinked and Zoey, beside her, also watched in silence. Still in the trance Rumi had put her in, there were many things that didn't seem right to her. Her heart beat like a broken bell, with an uneven rhythm that didn't seem to belong to her.

Bobby seemed the same... But both Mira and Zoey knew he wasn't. His gaze was too empty to be Bobby's.

Mira tried to move, tried to scream, to do something. But her muscles barely obeyed her. All she could do was cry silently, feeling the warm tears roll down her temples, mixing with sweat, as her throat choked on helplessness.

Rumi felt it too, but in a different way. She felt each of Bobby's heartbeats, breaths, feelings. She felt the power in her hands, felt how, with a single order from her, Bobby would do whatever she told him. It wasn't like before, where she had to get into his mind and convince him.

Rumi knew that now, whether Bobby liked it or not, she had control.

And she liked how it felt.

"Do you see?" Rumi's voice slid through the air with an icy softness as she turned to look at Mira from the center of the ritual. "Quick. Exactly as I promised."

Mira didn't respond. She couldn't. Horror was devouring her from within. Bobby had been more than her manager, he had been a father figure when she ran away from home. He had been her friend, her confidant, a brother... And he was gone, she had lost him forever, without even saying goodbye.

Everything was wrong, But Rumi didn't care. She walked towards Zoey, smiling, knowing she would be next, and Zoey couldn't oppose.  

Zoey's breathing began to slow and she tried to move, but nothing reacted to her body. Rumi's thoughts were still in her head. In the distance, Mira saw how her eyes moistened, frightened.  

"Zoey." Rumi called her with a soft voice, almost sweet. As if nothing before had happened. "It's your turn."  

Zoey didn't respond immediately. Her eyes remained fixed on Bobby, who did nothing but stand there, like a purposeless statue.  

"What did you do to him?" She finally asked. The voice wasn't loud, but it trembled with some fragility.  

Rumi tilted her head, as if she didn't understand Zoey's question. "I transformed him. Just as we agreed, remember? So we can all be together."  

"No... I don't believe you." Zoey shook her head slightly, taking a step back. "He doesn't... he doesn't seem like himself."  

"Of course, he doesn't seem like himself." Rumi smiled, though it was no longer a sweet smile. "But he soon will be. Right now he's under my control but... Zoey... When I release him, Bobby will be the same as always. And you can be free too. Just give me your hand, Zoey."  

Zoey looked at her, and for a moment, she realized the truth. This wasn't the same Rumi who woke her up with silly songs, the one who laughed too loudly during training, the one who cried watching ghost movies even though she said she didn't believe in them.  

This Rumi was very different from the one she knew. And even though something told her no... She was still too desperate, and convinced she could recover the past, to take her hand.  

In front of her, on the ground, Mira kept watching her. Her lips were cracked, dry, but her eyes screamed what her mouth couldn't.  

The purple circle activated again with a low hum, like an underworld whisper slipping through the cracks in the air. Zoey stood in the middle of the ritual, trembling, her legs barely able to support her body.  

"It won't hurt, Zoey... I promise it won't hurt." Said Rumi, extending her hand delicately, so Zoey would give in and trust a little more.  

But Zoey didn't respond. She just closed her eyes. Maybe to avoid seeing Bobby's empty face. Maybe to avoid seeing Mira's pain-filled eyes. Or maybe, deep down... she still hoped to wake up from this nightmare.  

Gwi-Ma, in the shadows, let out a dry laugh, like the crackling of dead branches.  

"Are you ready, little hunter?" He whispered mockingly. "Let's see how much your soul resists."  

The smoke rose again, thicker than before. Dark, heavy, suffocating. It slowly began to wrap around Zoey's body, climbing up her ankles, creeping up her legs like a living spiderweb.  

And then... Zoey screamed.  

A heart-wrenching, brutal scream that reverberated throughout the empty stadium. 

Her body arched violently, and she fell to her knees inside the circle, gasping as if the air burned her lungs. The purple flames intensified, and her skin glowed for a second before turning dull again.  

"What's happening!?" Exclaimed Rumi, alarmed, turning to Gwi-Ma. Her voice, for the first time, trembled. This wasn't supposed to happen like this, Zoey wasn't supposed to suffer!  

The demon clicked his tongue.  

"Interesting... Very interesting." He crossed his arms, watching with a hungry gleam in his eyes. "She's screaming because her soul is trying to resist, Rumi. She doesn't completely belong to you yet. Her hunter side is fighting not to give in."  

"But she agreed!" Rumi shouted at him, looking at Zoey, who was now writhing in pain on the ground. "She said yes!"  

"Saying yes isn't enough. Not with her." Gwi-Ma licked his lips as if already savoring what was coming. "She has fire in her blood. Willpower. The ritual is forcing her into something her soul doesn't want. That's why it hurts so much. Because she's still saying 'no' to you."  

"Shut up!" Rumi clenched her fists. Her breathing became ragged and a pang of guilt shot through her stomach. But she couldn't stop now. Not when she'd come this far. Not when she'd already lost everything.  

Zoey screamed again, this time louder, and her body arched so much that she fell to her side. The flames licked at her, but didn't burn... they only tore her apart from the inside.  

Mira sobbed silently from where she lay. She couldn't move. She couldn't run to her. She could only watch as the only person who still believed in her humanity was being torn apart before her eyes.  

"Do it quickly, Rumi..."  

Rumi hesitated. Did she really want to continue? Was this what she had imagined? But then, Zoey's screams slowly faded, as if the pain was consuming her completely. Her body collapsed onto the circle, and the flames suddenly extinguished.  

Rumi took a step forward, holding her breath.  

Zoey was still there, lying on the ground. Her clothes were torn, her face dirty with sweat and tears. Her chest rose and fell with difficulty, but... she was still breathing.  

She hadn't changed at all, she still looked like Zoey, as always.  

Rumi knelt beside her, trembling inside, touching her face.  

"Zoey..." she murmured, but Zoey didn't respond.  

She just fainted.  

What was done, was done, and there was no going back. Zoey was still alive, which was the most important thing of all.

Only Mira was left... And now she knew what was going to happen to her. It wasn't going to be pleasant. Mira wasn't going to enjoy it at all.  

Neither Mira, nor her.  

Rumi didn't want to look at Gwi-Ma. She didn't want to see that twisted smile, nor his eyes gleaming with anticipation. She didn't want to hear another of his poisonous comments. The only thing she did was stay kneeling beside Zoey's unconscious body for one more moment.  

Zoey's breathing was shallow, fragile. Her face was relaxed, as if she had finally escaped the pain, even if it was in the black veil of unconsciousness. Something inside Rumi told her everything would be fine. That Zoey just needed to sleep, and not think about the hell that was unfolding across the world. 

Rumi pressed her lips together and slowly stood up. She felt her stomach twisting, her hands trembling, and her skin was pale, but her face remained as expressionless as always, hardened by the weight of what she had done and what still remained to be done.  

Without turning to the demon, she raised her voice to finish her disaster.  

"Activate the circle." She murmured, her voice hollow. Though anyone on stage could hear it.  

The purple flames ignited again. But this time they were different, much crueler, as if the spell itself knew what was about to happen.  

Rumi approached Mira's body, still lying on her back, motionless, trapped between physical collapse and the internal resistance that hadn't completely broken. Her hair stuck to her forehead, her skin pale, her lips slightly parted in an unconscious sigh.  

Gwi-Ma said nothing this time. He only watched, seeing if she would be capable of fulfilling her purpose. Ready to finish Rumi if she decided to change her plan again.  

Rumi knelt beside her, and for the first time, hesitated to touch her. Her outstretched hand trembled slightly, suspended in the air, just centimeters above Mira's chest, but she knew there was nothing else to do, so she just did it, she touched her, and the world split apart.  

Mira's scream wasn't like Zoey's. It was much worse.  

It wasn't immediate. First came a spasm, a violent shudder that shook her body as if something inside her was trying to escape. Then, her muscles tensed all at once, and her mouth opened in a silent shriek. But finally, the real scream came.  

A sound so raw, so visceral, that it echoed to the stadium's rusted beams. The purple flames thrashed like a storm, twisting around her, dragging her toward the center of the circle as if they were invisible hands.  

Rumi didn't move. She couldn't. She felt Mira's body convulsing under her fingers, and yet, she didn't pull away. She watched her, felt her, and every second was worse than the last.  

"Why...?" Rumi murmured, though she already knew the answer, Gwi-Ma had said it before. "Why does it hurt her more than the others?"  

Mira was the strongest of the three. Mira was the one who hadn't agreed to sell her soul to the demons. The one who, without an ounce of strength left in her body, was still fighting against Rumi, against everything. The one who refused to fall for temptation's charms and still hesitated to keep fighting.  

It was such an immense internal struggle that it burned. It was burning them both in the contradictory feelings clashing against each other.  

Mira screamed without air. Her throat tore with every sound, her body arched violently, over and over, crashing against the ground as if trying to escape from herself.  

Rumi leaned over her, drenched in sweat, teeth clenched, her fingers pressed against Mira's chest, she couldn't stop, she couldn't stop anymore. She couldn't do anything, or she would condemn Mira to be Gwi-Ma's disciple instead of hers. That would be worse. Worse than death.  

Mira began to bleed from her nose. A thin line trailed down her cheek, mixing with the tears now falling ceaselessly from her unfocused, open eyes.  

The purple circle glowed so brightly that for a moment, it blinded everything around them.  

And then... silence.  

Rumi felt the pulse under her fingers stop for an instant, felt Mira's body go limp as everything finally stilled, the flames slowly extinguishing.  

Mira's body fell to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut. Motionless, pale, and cold.  

Rumi looked at her and stayed there, kneeling. Her hands drenched in sweat and blood. Her throat was dry from everything that had happened, and her chest burned with rage and despair.  

She felt nothing but the echo of a pain not even Gwi-Ma could have anticipated.  

Rumi had everything she wanted. Her girls were with her now, nothing in the world could separate them anymore. But... it didn't make her feel better. She had their souls... And she hadn't thought she would suffer them more than enjoy them.  

Mira's body was still there, unmoving, eyes closed. She had fainted mid-ritual, and if you didn't pay attention, it seemed like she might never wake again.  

"Our deal is done, Rumi." Gwi-Ma murmured, uncaring of what had just happened, devouring the last soul. "Enjoy your demons and your actions, Rumi... You'll need it. We'll surely meet again."  

Rumi only looked at him with the most profound look of disdain she had ever given. Gwi-Ma was a bastard. Gwi-Ma knew what would happen... And he chose to revel in that pain rather than warn Rumi.  

Rumi wanted to kill him, but she knew it wasn't the time. Not yet.  

The flames disappeared little by little, until the stadium was left empty and dark, with no one but the four of them, and absolute silence.  

And Rumi, at last, understood what it meant to feel empty. But there was no turning back, so Rumi had no choice but to take the two girls by the hand, call Bobby, and disappear.

Chapter Text

In moments like those, Rumi would thank a thousand times, that Bobby was a functional human being, and could restore all the media mess that was forming in that place.

Although, being honest, more than a media disaster, everything seemed like the beginning of the apocalypse. The army had arrived, as well as the police, and the few people who still remained in the city, were put as suspects.

Rumi... And in general, Gwi-Ma, had underestimated the ability of humans to report everything that was happening. The videos of the disappearance at the Saja Boys concert had gone viral on the internet in seconds, and since they were all devoured by the flames of the fire, it only made it much worse.

From the top of the tower, Rumi could only admire the disaster. The Honmoon was broken. Demons came out from one side and another. Soon, all of Korea would be consumed by them. And she doubted that Gwi-Ma would want to stop there. Not when she had the whole world at her feet.

Not when she realized that there were more places than just Korea to conquer.

However, what Gwi-Ma did, or didn't do, she didn't care. She no longer cared what the world did, after all, it wasn't her fight. It was no longer anything she had to worry about.

Was that how her parents had felt? She constantly asked herself in those days. They had fought against everything for their love. Her father had faced Gwi-Ma, betraying his world, just for love.

Was she so different from him? She had also betrayed her world, her ideals, or whatever it was, just to have a life next to the people she loved. People who were going to hate her for what she had done, and for a long time.

But, sooner or later, they would realize that there was no other option. That it was that, or fall in battle. That, before Rumi appeared, they had already lost the battle. The Honmoon had already disappeared.

Someday, they would realize that it was the best option, that Rumi hadn't done it with any bad intention. That having them under her control, being loyal to her, was the best thing that could have happened to them.

All of them being owners of each other, was the life they had always dreamed of. What Rumi had always wanted. For them to know her exactly as she was... For them to idolize her and no one else.

For a moment, she thought of Celine. Hidden in her farm, dealing with demons that appeared at all hours and from all places... She hoped that wretched woman, whom she once called "mother," was writhing in all her mistakes.

Although, now that she thought about it, maybe she would have to go make another deal with Gwi-Ma. After all, if anyone was going to end Celine's life, it had to be her. It was the least she deserved.

Rumi closed her eyes for a second, letting the cold wind from the tower mess up her hair. The distant roar of helicopters and the blare of sirens mixed with the screams and chaos of the city, but none of that really mattered to her.

Not now. Not when she knew there was a place she needed to return to.

She turned on her heels, walking through the entire room, until she reached that room she had claimed as her own. The contrast was brutal between one side and the other. Outside, hell had broken loose on earth. Everything was burning, and chaos flooded the world. But, inside, in her house, in her safe place, the silence was so absolute that one could hear the slow, broken breathing of those who were sleeping. Zoey and Mira emanated a calm and peace, which made Rumi feel a little envious.

Zoey was wrapped in bandages, each one placed with surgical precision. Rumi had made sure to clean every wound, to bandage every cut, to cover every bruise. Although the bandages no longer smelled of medicinal herbs, they still carried a faint trace of the incense Rumi had burned while working on her. Each line of fabric was almost a physical reminder of her control, her care, her possession.

Mira, on the other hand, was covered with wet cloths. Her skin was burning as if a fever was slowly devouring her, and Rumi had taken care to keep her stable. Every so often, she would change the cloths with a delicacy that no one could have attributed to her. Her hand, the same one with which she had fought Mira, now moved with softness across Mira's forehead, making sure she didn't stir in her unconscious state.

Rumi stood for a long moment, watching them in silence.

The contrast was almost cruel. Outside, Gwi-Ma's demons were taking souls left and right. All the streets were filling with desperate screams and inconsolable cries, from people who were losing those they loved the most.

And then there was her, Rumi. Who had everyone she wanted. Two such fragile figures sleeping peacefully in her room. So simple, so vulnerable, so... Hers.

Just as she had always wanted.

"How much longer will you sleep?" She asked herself, as if the words were a secret that the air should not steal from her.

Her eyes fixed on Zoey. The shoulder bandage was stained, that wound was taking a long time to heal, and Rumi knew she would have to change the bandages soon. And for an instant, she allowed herself to imagine her little Zoey, with her demon marks, being born from that wound. With corruption growing from that area, as if it were her symbol of war.

That would be beautiful.

She didn't know whether to wish for that day to come quickly or to pray for it to take a little longer. Part of her wanted to see them, open their eyes and, upon seeing her just as she was, accept that bond that they could no longer break. Another part, perhaps the most hidden, the weakest, wanted to continue enjoying the illusion that she was taking care of them because she still could.

She leaned over, adjusting the bandages on Zoey's arm, and then carefully removed a lock of hair that covered Mira's face.

"Mine..." She murmured with a hint of satisfaction and tenderness that contradicted the harshness of the word.

The outside could burn, Gwi-Ma could devour entire cities, and the world could collapse before her eyes... but none of that mattered. As long as they continued to breathe under her roof, as long as she could watch them sleep, Rumi's world was complete.

Taking care of them had become her life's mission, and that's what Rumi was going to do. Even from the dangers of the soon-to-be-extinct human world.

Zoey's entire body ached when she opened her eyes. Every part of her, felt as if she had been thrown at a moving truck.

What had happened? How had she gotten to the Penthouse? Zoey didn't remember.

But if she was sleeping so peacefully, it was because everything had gone well. Had the Saja Boys finally been defeated? Had they managed to make the Honmoon golden? Because that was the only reason for them to have all come home. But if all that had happened, and she didn't remember it, she was going to be quite sad.

She didn't realize that Mira was by her side, deeply asleep. Nor the compresses resting on her forehead, trying to dampen her fever.

She only realized that, when she got up, she had bandages all over her body. They covered her entire abdomen, and her shoulder, as well as her arm, were so bandaged, that she couldn't move them.

Ah, that had to be Rumi's mark. The battle must have been fierce for…

The memories began to rush to her head, fleeting. Fast.

Rumi was a demon. Or, at least, something like it. Half demon or something like that. They had been deceived, and her patterns had been exposed at the awards.

She had raised her weapons against her. Rumi fled and...

Zoey's eyes widened and, immediately, she turned pale. She began to remember everything too quickly.

And even with pain all over her body, the cold of the floor reaching her feet, and the fear of finding herself in hell itself, she got up, and walked to the window. What she saw, horrified her.

She thought there could be nothing worse than seeing the Honmoon disappear before her eyes on that night, but she soon realized that there was something much worse.

And that was there was no Honmoon at all.

In the window panes, the only thing reflected was chaos. There was fire, red and blue lights from police cars and ambulances, and the constant hum of helicopters patrolling the sky. But outside of anyone's eyes, Zoey could see the holes, coming from the underworld, wide open, and letting the uncontrolled demons free. She backed away from the window as if the surface was on fire, with a shiver that had nothing to do with the cold.

Everything was lost. Of the Honmoon, there was nothing left but ashes. The entire world was cowering under a black, empty tarp, devouring everything in its path. Her city was only the beginning. Zoey knew it, what would follow, would be the entire world.

Her heart raced, and a pulse of pain ran through her shoulder. She brought her hand to the bandage, which now did not feel reassuring. All of this could be nothing more than a nightmare. It couldn't be true.

Had the Saja Boys and Gwi-Ma won? Where was Mira? Rumi... Rumi had promised her that they would be together again. But if she had already lied once...

Why had she been so gullible as to believe her?

She turned abruptly to the bed, and let out a sigh of relief when she saw that, at least, Mira was there, resting under the sheets, although she didn't dare to get closer.

What was it that Rumi had done?

Suddenly, a faint light coming from the living room caught her attention. A light that flickered and emitted a low hum, as if it were calling her. With every step she took, the pain in her body became more intense, but the curiosity and the need for answers were stronger. The marble floor was freezing under her bare feet, but she didn't care, even with everything, she had to be stealthy.

Upon reaching the threshold of the living room, she saw what was producing it, it was the cold glow of the main television. It seemed that there was no one in the place, but, in the end, it was on a news channel that seemed like an endless loop of disaster.

A news anchor, with a serious and pale face, spoke in a grave tone while images of the city in flames passed behind her. One could see overturned cars, looted stores, and people running in terror.

The chaos she had seen in the window was not a vision, it was the reality that was unfolding in the world. The news anchor talked about nothing but the mysterious disappearances, and the unprecedented attacks that had been seen in the Saja Boys concert videos. But the worst part was seeing Rumi's face, being one of the few people who had been in that place, who still hadn't disappeared.

Rumi was being the face of the industry at that moment, when the entire world was accusing her music of being the culprits of the apocalypse.

"Do you think I don't suffer too? Zoey, Mira... They were my family. I miss them, I would do anything to be able to go back with them. How could I do something to make them disappear too?"

Zoey hadn't realized how, a single phrase, a fragment, could completely freeze her blood.

There were hundreds of words, but Zoey could only retain fragments. "Curfew," "Stay at home," "Emergency evacuation," "Leave the country," "Apocalypse."

Zoey staggered and had to lean on a wall so as not to fall. The Honmoon had not only broken, but had completely vanished. They had lost. The battle had ended before they realized it.

And then, her gaze fell on a detail in the corner of the screen. A news banner that showed a blurry photo of the Saja Boys members. Below, a headline in red letters that flickered: "Missing in action."

Zoey's face broke down. The whole world had disappeared. It was the day everything had gone wrong.

She was so lost in the shock of the new reality, that she didn't realize that the door was opening gently, and how Rumi turned to look at her.

For an instant, on that haggard face, a smile was drawn, and her eyes shone with something akin to a little hope. But it was only an illusion, after all, Rumi had lost hope since that night.

If she was doing all this, it was to be able to live in peace. Gwi-Ma would take a while, if not years or decades, to devour all of humanity. Sooner or later, the great powers would find a way to defeat the demons.

And by the time that happened, Rumi didn't want to be involved. She didn't want to be part of a list of people who had an international search and capture folder. Nor run the risk of spending a life in prison for being the one responsible for disappearing millions of people.

The image of K-pop may have been in the dumps during that moment. But, really, her career didn't matter to her at that moment. In general, she no longer cared about any of her careers. She cared about having a peaceful life, next to the people she loved. And for that, she had to convince everyone that she was innocent.

Or that she had lost her mind, so they would never bother her again.

"Zoey?" She greeted her, looking her in the eyes. "I think you saw too much, dear. Your wounds are still sensitive."

Zoey turned quickly, with eyes full of tears and fury. Rumi was there, with her arms crossed, a strange smile on her face. The same smile she had seen the night she told her she would honor her. The same sparkle in her eyes she had seen when she betrayed her.

"What did you do, Rumi?" The words came out of her mouth as a whisper, broken by desperation.

"What we did. You are a part of this, Zoey." Rumi's smile widened, but her eyes were empty, as she pointed to her hands. "Remember that you accepted my idea, you agreed to join me, Zoey."

Looking down, Zoey could see that there were small purple dots on the hand that wasn't bandaged.

"Where is everyone?" Zoey tried to make her voice sound slightly stronger, but it broke in the process. "Where is Gwi-Ma? How could you do all this to make us his slaves?"

Rumi shook her head calmly, clicking her tongue.

"Zoey, we were fighting to defeat Gwi-Ma, remember?" She said, without taking her eyes off her. "Do you really think I would let us become his slaves? No. Never."

Rumi tried to approach Zoey, calmly, as one would a small animal that was scared in the middle of the street. But Zoey took a few steps back.

"Don't come near me." She exclaimed, but, when she raised her hand, it began to hurt.

"Zoey, you're not well yet." She murmured, without stopping. "You are like me now. But we are not loyal to Gwi-Ma. No. You don't hear his voice... You hear mine. "

As Rumi advanced, a strange tingling sensation began to rise up Zoey's legs, spreading throughout her body. It wasn't pain, but a weakness that was settling in her bones. A constant hum, like that of a beehive, resonated in her head, making her thoughts become confused and slow. The image of the television, Rumi's face, and the chaos outside began to merge into a blurry nightmare.

"What are you doing?" Zoey said, desperate, feeling that she couldn't control her own muscles. Her hand, which she had raised to stop Rumi, fell heavily to her side. The words became difficult to form.

She was losing control of herself.

"I'm just relaxing you. You don't have to stress anymore, Zoey." She replied, deep inside her head. "Come, come closer to me, and let me see those wounds."

The voice wasn't Rumi's, not in the way Zoey knew it. It was a sweet, coercive melody that enveloped her, erasing her fury and her terror. It felt as if someone was cleaning her mind, getting rid of the painful memories. The image of the Saja Boys disappearing, the betrayal, the physical pain, everything became distant, like a dream she couldn't remember clearly.

She could barely remember her name. Zoey's mind was racing, but not as fast as it used to. The usual scheme of possibilities and explanations that normally arose in her mind without any effort was becoming confused and blurry, as if it was fading away.

Why did her brain feel so cloudy? She didn't know. But every part of her body begged her to just listen to Rumi's voice, and nothing else. So that's what she did.

"Good, good. I'm going to change your bandage, you'll be fine, I'm not going to hurt you."

In reality, at that moment, Rumi could kick her on the floor, and Zoey would probably thank her. She was too confused and with her mind blank to be able to make her brain articulate a single word.

"Let's go to the room, we'll be more comfortable there."

Zoey let herself be guided by Rumi without resistance. The voice in her head was still the only guide in the fog that her mind had become. Before she knew it, she sat on the edge of the bed, waiting for Rumi's next instruction.

Although for her, it was just to feel Rumi's voice caressing her skin again. She felt as if her body was an empty shell, waiting to be filled by a new will.

Rumi carefully turned her so that she was with her back to her, like the position of a patient in a surgery. Zoey's first bandage was undone, and dirty with blood. Rumi slowly removed it, revealing the wounded skin and the flesh that had healed halfway.

With a gentle movement, Rumi knelt to be at the same height as her back. The smell of medicinal herbs, incense, and something sweet and smoky flooded the space.

Rumi's hand traveled over Zoey's back. There was not a single touch that was not careful. And even so, every time her fingers brushed against an area, Zoey felt a strange vibration that was not at all unpleasant.

Rumi sighed. It wasn't a calm breath, it was one that seemed to be a mixture of relief and desire. With each breath, Zoey felt the heat that emanated from her hand. It felt as if her body was being readjusted. A strange, almost alien sensation. It was as if she was being reprogrammed.

And then Rumi touched her, right where her spine met the shoulder blade muscle. Zoey had no idea what was there, but Rumi did.

Before, there were only dots. Almost like the ones on her hand, imperceptible unless you paid attention. But, in that wound, they were finally growing like ivy. Patterns. Zoey's patterns.

"They're beautiful, you know?" Rumi murmured, appreciating the design that was forming. However, Zoey didn't respond, she wasn't capable of it.

Without being able to contain herself, Rumi caressed them. For an instant, she thought she would feel pain, but, instead, Zoey felt a wave of satisfaction that filled her completely. Like an animal that approaches the fire after having been in the open.

The patterns that Rumi touched transmitted a heat to her that burned her inside, but that comforted her at the same time. It was a sensation that was so strong, that Zoey gasped, like the purest of her primitive instincts.

Rumi bit her lips upon hearing that sound and pulled away. It was not the moment, not with Zoey in that state. In doing so, Zoey felt empty for a moment. She realized that she had become dependent, without knowing it, on that touch, on that sensation that Rumi was causing in her body. It was an addiction that had consumed her, without her realizing it. And the worst of all, is that, for the first time, she didn't want to escape.

With each caress from Rumi, a pang of pleasure ran down her back. It was as if every time she touched her, the need for her to continue touching her became stronger. Zoey realized that this was Rumi's power. It was not the power of dark magic. It was not the power of a demon. It was the power of connection. The manipulation. Of making her feel that she was the only person who mattered in her life. And of making her feel that she needed her.

Rumi finished changing the bandages. Zoey's skin was still burning, but now, instead of being a burning of pain, it was a burning of need.

"Ru... Rumi..." She tried to string words together, but they barely came out of her mouth. Even so, Rumi smiled, satisfied.

It was an achievement for her that Zoey, in that state, was thinking so much about her name, as to be able to say it.

"Shh. Don't strain yourself. You're done." She whispered. "Go sleep with Mira. We'll have time to talk when she and you wake up. By then, everything will be over."

Zoey felt a kiss on her forehead, as soft as a feather. With her eyes closed, Zoey fell into sleep. And for the first time in her life, she didn't care about not knowing what was going to happen the next day. She didn't care about not being in control. At the end of the day, Rumi had taken it for her. And at that moment, she was grateful for it.

When Rumi made sure that Zoey had fallen asleep again, she sighed with tiredness. If the police had arrived at that moment, she definitely would have been in a lot of trouble. Everything she had tried to overcome for days would have gone down the drain.

She really needed Bobby. She would have to go look for him in his apartment sooner or later, and see how his transformation was going, too. She wasn't sure she could handle the situation, until Korea was completely evacuated, and the borders were closed.

Now, more than ever, she had to take care of her girls. She couldn't let them wake up, not yet. When they did, they wouldn't understand so quickly. They would have to learn again.

Only until they were alone, could they learn to love her.

Chapter Text

Mira didn't remember anything that happened when she woke up. Her body was numb and it felt as if hundreds of stones had fallen on her, but, by some miracle, she had emerged victorious from it.

She turned to her right, and found Zoey's body, sleeping peacefully. What had happened? Memories began to flood her mind, her hitting a punching bag, they were going out to sing Golden...

Everything seemed so unreal... Had it been a nightmare? Was the presentation just about to happen, and it was just a horrible dream of how she thought everything could go wrong?

When she looked a little more closely, she realized that it wasn't the only thing that was different. They were in Rumi's room. That made all the alarms go off in her head.

Rumi would rather die than let the three of them sleep together in her room. The few times they did, they would usually sleep in Zoey's room or hers, never in Rumi's.

Rumi was so special that they couldn't enter her room without asking for permission first. Despite apologizing a thousand and one times, and crying until Zoey had managed to convince her that everything was fine, Mira still remembered how Rumi had yelled at Zoey to no end, when she entered on one occasion without asking for permission.

So... What were they doing sleeping in her room? Where was Rumi? Why wasn't Rumi anywhere?

Mira leaned a little over Zoey, as if she needed to make sure she was really there, that she was breathing calmly. The girl's chest rose and fell in a slow, relaxed rhythm, oblivious to the anguish that was currently burning her throat.

That's when she noticed the bandages. They were covering her arm, some peeking out from under the neck of her shirt, and others, more rough, on her left leg. The surrounding skin was still red, as if they had had to put them on in a hurry.

She looked again at Zoey's face, relaxed as if nothing in the world could disturb her, and habit got the better of her. Even with all the questions that were burning inside her, she wasn't able to wake her up.

She gently caressed a lock of hair that had come undone on her forehead, and in silence, she got out of bed.

The air in Rumi's room was impregnated with her perfume, with her obsessive tidiness, with the idea that no one else had the right to be there.

Mira pursed her lips and forced herself to walk towards the door. Every creak of the wood under her feet reminded her that she was invading a forbidden place. And, yet, she needed to find her. She needed to see Rumi, to understand why she wasn't there.

The sunlight slightly dazzled her eyes, forcing her to blink a little. She put a hand on her forehead and walked towards the main living room of her penthouse, which was empty, as if no one had touched it in days.

But, when she got to the kitchen, and saw Rumi looking for something in the refrigerator, she realized the reality. Rumi's patterns were more than evident, they shone all around her body, and she had no doubt about what was happening.

The memories began to flood her head all at once. Gwi-Ma inside her head, saying she didn't deserve a family. Rumi, beside her. Her fighting until she ran out of strength. Zoey, Bobby, fire...

It hadn't been a nightmare, it had been reality. Rumi was a demon. Rumi had betrayed them and sold them to Gwi-Ma.

And she still had the audacity to be there.

"Mira!" Rumi's eyes shone with a golden glow, like burning embers, and the smile that spread across her face seemed so authentic that it hurt to look at it. "You woke up..."

Mira's heart contracted violently. That voice, that familiarity, was the same one she had heard thousands of times in rehearsals, in nighttime confidences, in the most intimate moments of Huntr/x.

Only, instead of seeing it now as something sweet and tender, as it almost always had been, instead of it being something that made her feel good and feel like part of a family... Now she saw it as false, hypocritical. As part of a lie.

And Mira hated lies.

"Get away from me, you damn demon." She spat, with an icy tone that tried to hide the tremor in her throat.

Rumi blinked. The smile she had didn't disappear, and her eyes filled with something similar to compassion. Unlike Zoey, who had woken up very early, without being recovered, and when Rumi was in a very bad mood, Mira was not the same case.

The city had already been uninhabited. Without Honmoon, Gwi-Ma was already taking over neighboring cities, without any control. Korea was being uninhabited at an accelerated pace, and there was no one left who could stop her either. If there were people left, they were only persistent ones who refused to abandon their homes. People who would soon become survivors, and get lost in the big cities.

No one would see anything she was doing.

She walked slowly, closing the refrigerator door with a dull thud.

"Don't be like that, Mira." She asked, looking her in the eyes. "I know you see me as I am now, but I'm not bad. My patterns... They're just that, patterns. I saved your lives, you should be grateful."

"Grateful that you sold the whole world to Gwi-Ma?" She snapped, not realizing how her hand was trembling. "That you sold us to him?"

"I didn't sell you to him!" Her demon voice came out for an instant, but, quickly, she regained her composure. "Mira, I didn't sell anyone. If it weren't for me, you, Bobby, and Zoey would be a couple more demons in Gwi-Ma's immense ranks. He had already won."

Mira left a couple of things on the table.

"Why don't we talk for a while?" She offered. "I can cook something. You didn't give me a chance to talk that night. We'll fix it... And then we'll wake up Zoey to give her the good news that everything is fine."

Mira wanted to let out a laugh. She was no longer the Rumi she had once adored. The Rumi who... The Rumi she loved, would never have done so much harm to her. The Rumi she loved would never let Gwi-Ma win.

"Never." She murmured. "Unlike you, I never negotiate with demons, I kill them."

Mira took a step back, without taking her eyes off her. She tried to summon her Gok-Do, but the energy didn't come. Her fingers trembled in an empty gesture, as if trying to grasp air. Nothing. There was nothing she felt in her hands, not a weapon formed.

"What...?" The desperation on her face was immediate, upon realizing that she was defenseless, that what she knew... Didn't work.

Rumi tilted her head, and the laugh that escaped her throat was low, cruel, almost intimate.

"Mira, it seems you don't know the rules." She murmured, without her smile disappearing. "A demon cannot summon weapons from the Honmoon. After all, it was created to hold them back, not to strengthen them."

Mira gritted her teeth.

"You do." She whispered, looking around, trying to find something she could use as a weapon. A knife at the back of the kitchen appeared on the horizon.

"Because I'm half demon, half human, Mira." She replied, as if it were the most obvious thing. "My father was a demon, that's why I was born like this. And if you had let me talk, you would already know everything. Of the Honmoon there are nothing but remains, and only I can use them."

"Shut up." Mira walked in a circle, trying to keep the table between them as a makeshift wall.

"Why? Isn't it fun?" Rumi walked in the opposite direction, matching Mira's every move, as if they were playing a game of chess without pieces. "We're home, Mira. We don't have to fight. This is a safe place, and besides, I..." She raised her hand, and the marks on her skin lit up like black and red constellations, vibrating with a latent power. "I'm stronger than ever."

Mira clenched her fists, and her nails began to mark the palms of her hands.

"What the hell did you do to me? To Zoey?"

Rumi's smile wavered, but it didn't go out.

"I took care of you." She answered, genuinely. "When you were unconscious, when Zoey was bleeding and Bobby was barely breathing, I made sure everyone was safe. That everyone could rest and recover, while I took care of the media disaster that was the entire Saja Boys concert... Bobby's work really deserved more than a 3% royalty."

Mira swallowed. Part of her wanted to believe, to cling to that idea... But the memories of fire, of Gwi-Ma and of Rumi's words on stage weighed more than any bandage.

"Don't use me against myself." She whispered, her voice cracking.

Rumi looked at her, fixed, motionless. Then she tilted her head and smiled with that mixture of tenderness and arrogance that had always defined her.

"Do you really think I'm against you?" Her steps surrounded the kitchen island, approaching with measured slowness. "Look at me closely, Mira. I'm here, in front of you. I could break you in a second, but I don't. Because... Because I'm still me. The Rumi you always knew, I'm still her... I'm just not hiding anymore."

Mira felt a chill run down her back. Her body wanted to run away, but her feet were nailed to the floor. The brightness of Rumi's eyes devoured her whole, as if she wanted to tear away her doubt and transform it into surrender.

She tried once more to summon the weapon, desperate, but all she managed was for her chest to hurt, empty, as if something inside her had broken.

Rumi laughed again, soft, amused.

"See? You can't. And the more you try, the more you'll wear yourself out." She took one more step, almost brushing the edge of the table. "Do you want some advice? Let it go. Let me take care of you. Let's talk. Let's reach an agreement, let's wake up Zoey... And let's be happy."

The silence between them became thick, electric, as if the air itself had tensed to the point of breaking. Mira breathed heavily, her eyes fixed on Rumi's silhouette, while the memory of every broken promise and every shared night tore her apart inside.

Rumi, on the other hand, seemed calm, almost happy, as if the battle had already been decided.

She didn't expect Mira to take a knife, and point it directly at her face with it. The edge of the knife trembled in Mira's hands, but her eyes were firm, fixed on Rumi's.

"Do you really think that's going to do me any good?" Rumi asked with a twisted smile, without moving from the spot. Her patterns shone faintly around her skin, like a reminder of what she was. "You know as well as I do that demons don't die with an ordinary weapon, only with a Honmoon weapon."

But those words didn't make Mira retract, not a bit. On the contrary, for the first time all day, she smiled.

"That would only be if you were a complete demon." She growled, without taking her eyes off her. "But you told me yourself, Rumi. You're a half-demon. Can't half-demons die from normal weapons either?"

For an instant, Rumi hesitated. She didn't know if Mira's words were true or not. After all, she was the only half-demon that existed. And to confirm it... She would have to do some deadly damage to herself, which was not going to happen.

Mira took advantage of that opportunity, that small bewilderment of Rumi, to attack. She got close enough to attack, and Rumi barely had enough time to step back, causing the blade of the knife to touch her cheek, hurting her.

"See?" Mira panted, her pulse racing. "You bleed. And if you bleed, I can kill you."

Rumi put her hand to her cheek, looked at the blood on her fingers, and for the first time, her smile disappeared completely.

"You don't want to do any of this, Mira. I have the advantage." She whispered, trying to make her girl desist.

"And you forget who was the person who earned the most stars in Celine's training sessions." She replied, before attacking her again.

The knife shone under the faint kitchen light as Mira lunged at Rumi. The movement was fast, clean, almost identical to the ones they practiced on training nights when Celine watched them with her arms crossed and a raised eyebrow.

But this time it was not an exercise. This time, each blow was loaded with fury, with broken memories, with the desperation to finish off what Mira thought were the remains of a person to whom, once, she had dedicated her entire life.

Rumi dodged the initial slash with a turn of her hip, almost identical to the one she had taught Mira. The smile returned for an instant, twisted, as if there was some nostalgia in the battle.

"Do you remember when you were unable to hold a weapon without your arms trembling?" she said, trapping Mira's wrist in the air. "Do you remember who was the one who taught you how to fight?"

Mira took advantage of Rumi's strength to propel herself, turning on herself, and she gave her a knee to the side that made her stagger.

"I also remember when you let me win so you wouldn't hurt my pride." She replied with gritted teeth, freeing herself with a dry pull. "But that's over, Rumi. I don't plan to lose again."

The blade grazed Rumi's abdomen, cutting the fabric of her shirt and leaving a thin line on her skin. Rumi hissed, taking a step back. The patterns on her skin lit up like a liquid fire, climbing up her arms.

"You have no idea what you're doing." She growled, and immediately counterattacked.

Her movements were fast, fluid, exactly as when they trained together... only now with a much greater force. Each of Rumi's blows made the air rumble, each block almost dislocated Mira's wrist.

But Mira remembered every pattern, every tic in Rumi's shoulders before launching an attack, every breath that gave away a charge.

Mira, however, was not at one hundred percent. Her body resented the previous fight, the wounds were not fully healing, and each turn burned her muscles like embers. Her reflexes remained, but her strength began to falter.

Rumi noticed. The smile returned to her lips, and she thought it was a good time to try to do the same thing she had done to calm Zoey.

"You were always the best at fighting, Mira." She said, easily stopping a new attack. "But this is not a class, and we are not in danger, stop fighting"

Mira gasped, feeling her strength vanish for an instant, and Rumi's voice became much more intense. But she didn't let herself be defeated, she couldn't let Rumi win. Resisting the pain, and with a desperate movement, she attacked her again, and Rumi was barely able to dodge it.

"Mira... drop the knife. You don't have to fight. Leave it in my hands. I always protected you, remember? It was always me who held you."

Mira clenched her teeth so hard that she felt a metallic taste in her mouth. The knife trembled in her hand, her arm lowering just a few centimeters. For a second, her will seemed to break.

But then, rage pierced her chest like lightning. She remembered Zoey asleep, hurt. She remembered Bobby trapped in the fire. She remembered Rumi, smiling next to Gwi-Ma, offering them as pieces on her board.

"Shut up!" She roared, and the strength of her voice shattered the illusion like glass.

The pressure in her head disappeared, and the air became breathable again. Rumi staggered for a second, surprised, putting her hand to her temple, and letting the ornaments on one of the tables fall.

Mira, really, had a lot of willpower. Much more than Rumi had been imagining. Enough, to break her mind control.

Both were frozen for a second, breathing heavily, with dilated pupils. And it was that crash of metal hitting tiles and Rumi's moan, that woke Zoey up.

The hallway door burst open, and Zoey appeared staggering, with the fresh bandages still on, her hair tangled and her eyes barely ajar.

"What...?" Her voice was weak, hoarse. "What are you doing?"

Rumi and Mira turned to her at the same time. Rumi's alerts went off when she realized that she not only had to deal with one of them. If she couldn't control Mira at that moment, she wouldn't be able to control Zoey.

She had to take care of one of them at that moment.

"Zoey, go to the room and don't come out until I order you to"

Mira didn't hear anything, but something inside her imagined what was happening. Zoey was fine a second ago, and then... It was like when everyone started to lose their minds, because of Gwi-Ma's voice.

Rumi was getting into Zoey's head, she was controlling her, at her mercy.

For a second, Mira lowered her gaze, and she realized a new thing. Marks. Zoey had marks that ran through her hands and her head, small, but existing. Rumi had done it, she had turned Zoey into a demon... And the Zoey she knew had also disappeared.

She needed to change her strategy. She would never defeat Rumi that way, she would get tired again. But she could finish off two demons for the price of one.

Mira turned her head, moving away from Rumi and, in an instant, the blade that a few seconds ago was looking for Rumi's chest, now rested dangerously against Zoey's throat.

Zoey let out a small gasp when she noticed what was happening and tried to look up to see Mira, who seemed to be completely out of her mind.

Mira was panting, sweaty. The blade trembled from the force with which she was holding it, but her gaze was icy, fixed on those small dark marks that spread like threads under Zoey's skin.

"Mira!" Rumi screamed, her voice breaking, paralyzed in the door frame. "What are you doing?"

"You better disappear and leave me alone if you don't want me to kill her!" She exclaimed. "I can see her marks, she's not Zoey, she's not my Zoey!"

Zoey's eyes widened, incredulous, while a lump rose in her throat.

"It's me, Mira... I'm Zoey." She tried to speak, not knowing where she was getting the strength to speak at that very moment. "You... you would never hurt me. The Mira I know... would never hurt the people she loves. Not her family"

"Shut up!" Mira bellowed, with tears slipping uncontrollably down her cheeks. "You're not you anymore. Look at yourself! Your hands... your face! Rumi already turned you into something else, like everyone else."

Rumi, who had been petrified when she saw the change of target, took a step forward with her hands up. Her smile had completely disappeared; her eyes shone with pure terror. If she did something to Zoey, if Mira slit her throat, it would be no one's fault but hers.

"Mira..." Her tone was urgent, almost pleading. "Don't do it. Don't hurt Zoey. Take it out on me, okay? Focus on me, attack me, but don't look at her."

"You want me to believe you?" Mira squeezed the knife with more force, the blade marking a red furrow on Zoey's neck. "You did it! You contaminated her! She's already another demon who has no feelings!"

Zoey was breathing heavily, fear collapsing her from within. She was used to seeing Mira fighting, furious, but never like this. Never with that look devoid of humanity, with that blade so close to her skin.

"Mira... look at me, please." Her voice broke in a plea. "It's me, I'm Zoey, the same one you trained with, the one you went to the bathrooms with... The one who admires you..."

For an instant, Mira's hands wavered. The knife trembled in the air, lowering just a few millimeters. Her lips parted, as if she wanted to say something, as if she wanted to believe.

But then she heard Rumi's voice, who already had an idea to put the game in her favor again.

"Mira, if you kill her... if you stab that blade into her, there will be no turning back. You will be like me. Nothing will differentiate you from being a demon, of those you hate so much."

Mira's chest shrank. She looked down, as if for the first time she was seeing herself. The marks on her own hands, almost imperceptible, but shining faintly, pierced her with an unknown terror. The patterns that snaked through her arms like living shadows... They were there, and she hadn't even noticed before.

"No..." She whispered, her voice broken. "No, no, no..."

The knife began to slide down, her arms lost strength and the rage dissipated to become a shock. The air escaped from her chest, as if suddenly all the oxygen had disappeared from the room.

It was in that precise instant of vulnerability when Rumi took advantage to try again. Her eyes shone like burning suns, and her voice entered Mira's mind like a sweet poison.

"Let it go, Mira. Leave it to me. I know what to do. I can protect you, like I always did. You don't have to carry anything else. You don't have to keep fighting. Calm down, and stop fighting, trust your family"

Mira let out a gasp, and the knife slipped from her fingers until it fell to the floor.

Her pupils dilated, her body was trembling. She could feel Rumi inside her, snaking through her thoughts, getting tangled like roots that clung to every corner of her mind.

"Come on, Mira, relax. Stop fighting, it's a lost battle. No one is going to hurt you... No more than the one you yourself have caused"

Zoey, terrified, tried to move, to pull Mira away, but her friend's face said it all. The stiffness, the trembling, the parted lips, the eyes that seemed to look but not see. Mira was falling, little by little, under Rumi's control.

"W-What are you doing to her?" She murmured, scared, turning to look at Rumi. "What are you doing to Mira?!"

"Nothing... Yet." She murmured, without taking her eyes off Mira. "I'm just helping her relax."

Tears began to well up in Mira's eyes, until they ended up soaking her cheeks. In her, there was nothing left but desolation, trembling and defeat.

Rumi approached slowly, and with the softness of someone caressing a crystal about to break, she raised her hand and wiped Mira's tears with her thumb.

"Shhh..." She whispered sweetly. "Don't cry, my hunter. I don't want to see you like this. There's no reason to cry."

Mira sobbed, unable to resist, with glassy eyes fixed on Rumi's. It seemed that all that was left in her was an infinite pain, and the feeling that she was getting lost in her own mind, only increased her desperation.

Rumi smiled, warm, and placed a damp lock of hair behind her ear.

"Let's go to the room, okay? You're tired, you're hurt... And you need to rest." Her voice slid into Mira's mind like poisonous honey. "Trust me."

Mira's muscles relaxed, obedient, as the orders took root in her mind. With a gentle gesture, Rumi took her hand and guided her towards the hallway.

Zoey, paralyzed, could only follow them when Rumi turned her head and silently ordered her to accompany them.

The hallway felt eternal. Mira's steps were slow, unsteady, but she offered no resistance. Her tears fell without stopping, and each one was dried by Rumi's hand, with patience that was even more disturbing.

Finally, they reached the room. Rumi made her lie down gently, arranging the pillows under her head as if it were a gesture of love. Zoey remained in the doorway, with her bandages twisted and her eyes wide open, terrified.

Rumi leaned over Mira, her lips brushing her forehead in a light kiss.

"Now rest... But first..." She whispered, and her voice immediately became grave, with that demonic vibration that chilled anyone's blood. "I have to teach you a lesson."

Mira didn't even flinch. She couldn't, it was as if she didn't care. At that moment, Rumi could order her to jump into the void, and she would accept it with a smile.

The one who did react, and a lot, was Zoey.

"Lesson...?" She murmured, turning to look at Rumi, and taking one of Mira's hands. "What are you going to do to her?"

Rumi smiled, caressing her cheek.

"Mira has to learn that resisting me will only make her suffer more. I can't let her defy me without consequences. She has to remember that we are her family... And maybe, by seeing what the past was like, she can learn the lesson."

Rumi sat on the edge of the bed, putting a hand on Mira's temple. Her eyes burned, and suddenly, the surrounding air became dense, heavy, loaded with memories.

Mira opened her eyes violently, but said nothing. The memories simply came to her head. Memories of being in a huge mansion, with parents who were eternally disappointed in her, and a brother who was willing to make her life more miserable.

"No..." she whispered, clenching the sheets with her fingers, "I don't want to see it..."

"You have to." Rumi murmured, with a chilling calm. "You have to see them, so you remember why we are a family."

Zoey took a step inside the room, with tears in her eyes.

"What are you doing to her?" She asked. Rumi didn't answer.

"How are your wounds doing?" She replied with another question, confusing Zoey. "Do they still hurt?"

Zoey blinked several times, confused, with a dry throat. Zoey had no idea what was happening, but it also affected her.

She saw the patterns. Dark, snaking over Rumi's arms like living embers, and out of the corner of her eye, she also noticed them on her own hands. Small lines that seemed to move under the skin like roots.

She looked at them horrified, not understanding.

"What... what's happening to me?" She murmured, almost to herself, as she squeezed the bandages that covered her wounds. "What is all this, Rumi?"

Rumi didn't take her hand off Mira's temple, although her eyes blinked, tired.

"Nothing that can't be controlled. They are the marks of what we have done, and that's it." She said softly, with that dangerous calm she used as a shield. "But, it's best to wait for Mira to wake up, for her to calm down. Then the three of us can talk. Without screams. Without knives. Just... us, what happened, and what our next steps are going to be."

Zoey felt a chill down her spine. Talk? After what had just happened?

The idea was absurd, but Rumi's voice was so convincing, so enveloping, that for an instant she believed that it could indeed be possible. After all... She was Rumi, wasn't she? Her life revolved around her. She was the Rumi she adored so much... The one she loved so much.

Rumi finally took her hand off Mira, with a long sigh, and looked down at her unconscious friend. She caressed her with tenderness, almost as if she wanted to silently apologize, although her mind control still tied her down inside.

"Let me clean you, okay?" Zoey's voice pulled her out of her thoughts. "Mira made a cut on your face, you better take care of it so it doesn't scar"

Zoey walked to Rumi's bathroom, just to wet a towel, and be able to clean her face, something that made her shiver. It was then that Rumi turned to Zoey. Her eyes shone tiredly, with purple shadows under her eyelids. She had barely slept in days, and honestly, she had already been reached by exhaustion.

She couldn't keep pretending to be strong.

"I'm exhausted, Zoey..." She whispered, like someone confessing a secret. "These days have been hell, and yet, I'm still standing, I'm still taking care of you. Do you know how hard it is?"

Zoey didn't answer. Her breathing was short, nervous, but she didn't look away.

"Hug me" Rumi asked suddenly, almost with a whisper. "Please, Zoey, I need a hug from you to be able to continue with this."

Zoey frowned, taking a step back, as if she hadn't heard correctly. "What...?"

Rumi stretched a hand towards her, with trembling fingers. Her expression was no longer arrogant, not even dominant. It was fragile, human, as if she was really crumbling in front of her eyes.

"Please..." She whispered, with a plea so broken that it made Zoey's skin crawl. "Hug me. Show me that you can still see me as I am. That, above all people, you are the one who can realize that I'm still the same Rumi as always and not... that monster that Mira thinks she sees."

Zoey swallowed. Everything inside her screamed that she shouldn't do it. That it was a trap, that if she got close, she would be trapped like Mira. But there was something in Rumi's voice... a real tremor, a pain that disarmed her resistance.

She stood frozen for a few seconds, undecided, her gaze fixed on that outstretched hand. And Rumi, with an even more broken whisper, pleaded again.

"Don't leave me alone. Not... not now. Please, Zoey, not again."

And as if it were an order, Zoey took a step forward, unable to bear it anymore. Finally, with her heart pounding in her chest like a drum, she leaned in and let Rumi wrap her in her arms.

The warmth was immediate, strong, almost suffocating. Rumi hugged her desperately, burying her face in her shoulder, as if she were clinging to a lifebuoy. Her patterns throbbed weakly against Zoey's skin, and, yet, the contact didn't feel like something demonic, but human, like something warm and vulnerable, that Rumi had been waiting for for days.

"Thank you..." Rumi whispered.

Zoey, with her eyes open and tears flooding her eyes, slowly raised a hand and placed it on Rumi's back.

"Always, Rumi." She replied, also giving in to the warmth of her body.

And for an instant, all of that seemed real. It seemed that the madness that the last few weeks had been had disappeared. It was just Zoey and Rumi, sharing a moment, without the whole world crumbling at their feet.

But, when Rumi squeezed her a little more towards her, reality filtered back in front of her. The patterns on Zoey's back began to shine a little more strongly at Rumi's touch, and she couldn't help but wonder if Zoey's hug was real, or just an indirect order that was spreading through her head.

However, when she looked down at Zoey's back, she noticed that something irregular was coming out of her patterns. Was it like horns? A lump? And on closer inspection... Zoey's skin was turning Red, not purple.

That was weird. Rumi didn't know what was happening, and that uncertainty made her tremble. She couldn't do that alone. She needed someone. She needed Bobby to control the matter.

"Bobby, please tell me you're willing to listen to me." Rumi pleaded from outside the door.

Bobby did not answer. Rumi tried one more time.

"Please, Bobby. I know all of this can be a shock for you, and that's why I need us to talk, to explain things to you. For you to know everything, and not be scared."

Again, no one answered in the house. Rumi began to believe that Bobby had gone out.

Rumi leaned her forehead against the wood of the door, exhaling with a tremble that she couldn't control. That silence was worse than any scream, any insult. The air seemed to have stagnated on the other side, as if the house had stopped breathing.

Then she heard it. A faint noise, like the brushing of bare feet dragging on the floor.

Rumi straightened up immediately, the patterns on her arms barely sputtering, ready for whatever.

"Bobby?" she asked in a murmur that broke, as soon as it came out of her mouth.

The sound came back, closer. A dry tap, as if something heavy had leaned against the wall.

Rumi didn't hesitate anymore. She stepped back and with a kick she opened the door, making it crash violently against the interior wall.

The first thing she saw was the gloom. The house was dark, all the curtains closed, as if the day had no permission to enter. The second was the figure standing in the center of the living room.

Bobby.

Or, what was left of him.

His skin had lost its color, turning a sickly, almost translucent gray. His eyes, which always shone with a naive spark, were now a milky void that didn't blink. He stood straight, too straight, as if every muscle was tensed in a rigid obedience.

"Bobby..." Rumi took a step inside, barely able to pronounce his name.

He turned his head towards her. There was no recognition, no surprise, no trace of what he had been. Only silent obedience.

Rumi felt the blood in her veins run cold. Her first reaction was to step back, but the floor seemed too far away. Tears wanted to well up in her eyes, but rage got ahead, burning her chest.

Gwi-Ma.

That bastard had done it.

She clenched her fists, swallowing the lump that threatened to break her right there.

"Bobby..." She repeated, this time in a firmer tone, as if by naming him she could rescue something, anything.

He didn't react. He didn't waver. He just waited. Nothing remained of the manager who smiled at them and gave them his unconditional support. The one who always handled the situations, and got them out of their worst states, the one who cheered them on, pushed them...

Now he was nothing more than an empty shell.

Rumi had to talk to Gwi-Ma

Chapter Text

Rumi had never seen the underworld. She had never expected to see it.

None of the books that Celine had given them to teach them about demons had images or drawings of it. After all, the people who reached the underworld never returned to tell what they had seen.

And, definitely, no demon had wanted to write a book detailing their home.

Despite that, Rumi hated the underworld. Since she was a child, she had been told that that place had nothing but demons. Those demons that she should hate, because they were the reason for all the evils of humanity.

Those same ones, that she had joined, after the world turned its back on them.

She supposed that, in the past, there wasn't so much joy and so many demons as at that moment. Because, honestly, that place was far from the gloomy and damp place she had imagined. Despite everything... It made her feel good.

The demons, although they were at Gwi-Ma's mercy, seemed to be quite happy. In the underworld, they seemed to have enough personality to do whatever they wanted.

The Saja Boys' songs were heard in every corner of the place. Their songs filtered into every corner, as if Gwi-Ma had installed speakers in the cracks of hell itself.

Rumi had never thought that the air of the underworld could feel... light.

She had expected the stench of rot, smoke, blood, and despair. But what she found was something different, a strange heat that clung to the skin, like embers that didn't burn, and a vibration in the environment that seeped into her bones.

It was ugly, yes. The walls seemed to be made of melted rock, with cracks that exhaled smoke and flames that rose and went out without any rhythm. There were rivers of something thick, darker than water, that bubbled as if they were boiling with the lament of the souls they transported. And, even so, it was not a dead place.

The underworld was alive.

Demons of all shapes and sizes walked the black stone paths, and the most surprising thing was that they didn't seem to regret or hate being there. They laughed, negotiated, pushed each other in grotesque games that seemed to border between the childish and the deadly.

What the hell was going on with her? Why did that air make her feel so light, as if the shadows drained the fatigue from her body?

For the first time in a long time, she breathed without her chest hurting. As if every breath in that place nourished her heart.

Remorse tried to break through her defenses, but she buried it deep. She had come with a purpose, and she wasn't going to let that feeling distract her.

She advanced among demons who stepped aside when they recognized the marks on her skin. Some bowed with subservience. Others looked at her with envy, murmuring. Rumi didn't dedicate a single word to them.

Gwi-Ma's altar was in the center of it, demonstrating his enormous figure. Rumi didn't even bother to think about it, before starting to climb, to reach him. The air there was different, it was dense. She could understand why the demons were so afraid of him.

But she was a hunter, she wasn't afraid.

"My little traitor returns home." His voice resonated like a contained roar, reverberating on the walls.

Rumi gritted her teeth, forcing herself not to tremble.

"Don't call me that."

"Isn't that what you are?" Gwi-Ma asked. "You betrayed yours to join me. And now you're here, don't you like the place?"

Rumi ignored him. She took a step forward, firm, without taking her eyes off him.

"Bobby."

The name fell like a stone in a dark lake. Gwi-Ma raised an eyebrow, amused.

"Ah, yes. Your little foolish human, what's wrong with him?"

"What did you do to him?" Rumi spat.

"I didn't do anything to him." He replied, as he raised his smile. "You did it yourself. I only fulfilled your wishes."

Rumi was silent for a couple of seconds, before Gwi-Ma continued, delighting in the fact that the girl didn't seem to understand anything. She was completely ignorant, she had no idea of the kind of deal she had made.

"You asked for those demons to be at your mercy, Rumi. And that's what I did." He explained. "However... I'm still the king. Even of you. Even of your demon part."

Rumi's patterns began to glow.

"You don't control me. You can't even enter my mind if I don't allow it. You have nothing over me."

The flame that was Gwi-Ma's form smiled.

"I may not control you like the rest, Rumi." He admitted. "But I'm still the king of all demons. Thanks to you, I have more power than I've ever had. Even if I don't control you, I'm at a higher rank than you... Higher than your demons."

The fire that was Gwi-Ma crackled, expanding as if the air itself were catching fire with every word he was about to utter. His flames formed silhouettes that lengthened and contracted, as if shadows of thousands of condemned faces danced inside him.

"You think you're very smart, little Rumi," Gwi-Ma said with a poisonous calm. "You think that because you managed to resist me, because I can't get into your mind, and your will doesn't bend, because you are a hunter and a demon at the same time, and that's why you are different from everyone else. But the truth is that you are only playing within a system that you didn't even know existed, and that system led you to perdition."

Rumi didn't look away, although the heat burned her skin.

"What are you talking about?"

"Let me illustrate, my favorite traitor." Gwi-Ma said, before making two flames appear, telling a story. "There are three ranks in this place. The first is me, the king of demons. Everyone answers to me. Then, come those who made a deal with me... And the half-demons like you. Although now you are part of both."

That last phrase made Rumi frown.

"No, of course not." She assured. "I didn't make any deal with you."

"You did the instant you asked for mercy for the lives of your friends." "It doesn't matter if it was out of desperation, ambition, or love... they always end up here. With their own will, with power, with a purpose. Maybe you were already one before... But, perhaps, that's why, now I can talk to you in your mind."

The figure transformed into a dark shadow that devoured the human one.

"Anyway." He continued, delighting. "The third rank are those who feed. Those who have been transformed based on my demons taking their souls. Those poor creatures no longer remember who they were, they only live to consume, and the more they eat, the stronger they become. But... They are still bound to me."

The flames deformed until they became a swarm of clumsy, faceless figures, dragging themselves like chained beasts. The fire crackled and, for a second, Rumi thought she saw Bobby's empty face there. Her muscles tensed, her marks burned like hot iron.

"What... do you mean?" She asked through gritted teeth.

Gwi-Ma tilted his head, amused.

"Don't you really understand? Zoey, Mira, even your dear Bobby... by being at your mercy, they have fallen to the last of the ranks. By asking them to be at your mercy, by forcing them... You chained them. And, like any slave, sooner or later they will deform. Their faces will blur, their laughs will fade, their memories will be consumed in fire. Until only obedience remains. Until they are only demons who fulfill your wishes... Just as you wanted."

For an instant, Rumi imagined it. Zoey and Mira writhing, turned into monstrous shadows, dragging themselves like soulless beasts, with empty eyes that only looked for Rumi.

"You're lying!" She roared, but only earned a laugh from Gwi-Ma.

"Am I lying?" Gwi-Ma repeated, getting so close that his fire licked her cheek. "Didn't you see Bobby? That serviceable, attentive shell, incapable of articulating a word. Do you think he broke suddenly? No, little one. He just anticipated his destiny."

Rumi felt her stomach turn, as if she had just swallowed ash. The image of Bobby, so empty, pierced her like a knife. And then, Zoey and Mira... they couldn't end up like that. They couldn't.

"Enjoy your choices, Rumi... Because you no longer have any escape from them. And now, if you'll excuse me... I'd prefer you to leave. Your company is not pleasant to me."

Rumi began to descend from the altar with her jaw unhinged. What Gwi-Ma had told her had to be a lie. It couldn't be true.

She couldn't have condemned Zoey and Mira to that horrible fate. It couldn't be. She couldn't have done something like that.

If she had made that deal with Gwi-Ma... If she had done all that, it was only for the purpose of saving them. She had betrayed her purpose as a hunter, she had destroyed the Honmoon... Just so that they would be by her side.

And now they were telling her that her girls' days were numbered no matter what? No. Rumi wasn't going to allow it. But... What could she do now? There was no solution.

She was about to let tears fall onto her face, when she felt a hand touching her shoulder. Rumi turned by instinct, thinking of pulling out her sword, before noticing that it was one of the Saja Boys, in his completely demonic form, but she could recognize him by that hair on his forehead.

Mystery.

It was strange to see them that way. They lacked all the color and energy with which she had known them. On the contrary, they didn't seem to be zombies, who could barely speak. But they could speak, of course they could.

"Rumi?" He asked her. "Is that you?"

"What do you want?" She replied, defensively.

"We want you to defeat Gwi-Ma," Romance said, with a lost look. "We want you to save your friends."

"Save them?" Rumi repeated, not understanding. "How? Gwi-Ma said it's too late. I turned them into slaves by making them demons..."

"Gwi-Ma didn't lie, but he didn't tell you the whole truth either." Baby intervened, fixing his eyes on Rumi. "You can't save your girls now. There's no way you can undo the hierarchy, much less break it, if you don't hurry, once they convert... There will be no turning back."

A chill ran down Rumi's spine as they spoke.

"But there is a way for your demons to convert to a higher rank." Abby explained. "And that is... For you to end Gwi-Ma's life, and be the first in the hierarchy."

Rumi felt the world turn upside down. All the air had left her chest. The idea hit her head with the weight of a slab. Killing Gwi-Ma. Taking his throne. Becoming what she had sworn to destroy.

That seemed like madness... And, at the same time, it would be like fulfilling the purpose of her whole life. Ending the king of demons was every hunter's dream.

"End... Gwi-Ma..." She let the words savor on her mouth. "End his life, to save Zoey and Mira's... Is that what you mean?"

"That's right," Romance replied. "If you want to save your friends, you have to end Gwi-Ma. Why? Why me?"

"Because no one else can. You and your friends are hunters. Yes, someone can defeat him forever, it's you. And the underworld... Maybe it's better with someone like you and your friends in charge... At least, that's what Jinu thought."

Jinu.

"Is that why you want me to do it?" She asked. "Because of Jinu?"

"Because we want you to protect your girls... As we couldn't save Jinu." Romance finished. "He had given us a chance... He really thought you could change everything. We can't blame your friends for killing him, but... We should have defended him more."

For an instant, Rumi closed her eyes. She remembered Jinu's words. Gwi-Ma could not be defeated with hatred. Now she understood those words. Gwi-Ma fed on hatred. That made him happy.

He could only be defeated with the antithesis of hatred. Love.

She would not defeat Gwi-Ma with hatred. If she wanted to save the people she loved, she needed them themselves. She couldn't defeat him alone.

She needed Zoey, Mira. She needed her girls...

They were her strength. They had been her reason to betray, to fall, to get up. It had always been them. From the first moment Zoey looked at her with that irreverent spark, from the first time she held Mira in her arms in the middle of a fight, from the first time she felt she wasn't alone.

She had to look for them... To end Gwi-Ma.

"Mira. Please, listen to me, Mira. Please." Zoey begged, trying to calm the girl's attacks, without any success.

Not two seconds had passed since Rumi had left them, when Mira's body began to tremble. When she began to let out screams, over and over again, and seemed to be on the verge of starting to convulse.

Zoey was sure that hours had passed, and Mira hadn't stopped.

What had Rumi done to her? Why was Mira crying like that? Why was she acting like this?

"Mira... I'm here. I'm here, Mira." She begged, praying that the girl could hear her. "I'm not going anywhere, Mira. Wake up, please."

Zoey could barely breathe, feeling as if her chest was burning. Mira's body writhed on the bed, her nails scratching the sheets, and her screams were so heartbreaking that they seemed to have no human origin. Every word, every sob, pierced Zoey like needles sticking into her skin.

She held her shoulders, trying to keep her from hitting the headboard, but nothing worked. Mira screamed, cried, shrunk as if she were being torn to pieces inside.

"Mira, it's me!" Zoey held her tighter, desperate, tears falling down her cheeks. "It's me! Zoey! Please, look at me! Listen to me!"

But nothing. Mira was lost in a world that Zoey couldn't enter. Every second that passed, it seemed like she was losing her a little more. Mira's voice was already hoarse, between sobs and broken screams, and the fear made Zoey start to think the unthinkable.

Suddenly, the door burst open.

Zoey raised her head, still circling Mira's trembling body and her broken breathing, before letting out a sob too.

Rumi was standing on the threshold. Zoey could barely pronounce her name.

"What did you do to her!?" She screamed, exasperated. Her body demanded that she run to Rumi and hit her, but she couldn't let go of Rumi. "What did you do to Mira!?"

Rumi didn't have the strength to fight at that moment.

"We'll talk about that later." Rumi said, walking towards her. "We don't have time for fights now, move away and let me do this."

She wasn't sure. Zoey felt a scream in her head telling her not to allow something like that. Not to let Rumi touch Mira. But, did she really have a choice? Could she really go against Rumi's desire?

The answer was no. She couldn't go against Rumi's desire.

With delicacy, she sat next to Mira, before starting to touch her patterns, stroking them with affection, feeling their strength. Her patterns also began to glow, almost synchronizing with Mira's small marks, as if they were one.

She took a deep breath. What she was doing had to have some precision, more so because she had no experience. She closed her eyes, and let her voice calm down, being sweet, almost captivating.

"Mira... Wake up now." She murmured, and her voice vibrated in a way that Zoey had never heard. "It's time to stop this."

The effect was immediate. The room seemed to shrink until only Mira's heartbeat and Rumi's remained. Mira's screams stopped, turning into sobs, and then, into small laments.

Rumi let out a sigh of relief, and it seemed that Zoey had also regained her breath.

Slowly, she approached Rumi, without enough courage to touch her shoulder,

"Rumi...?" She whispered, without taking her eyes off Mira. Her eyes were trembling, and she seemed to have lost all the color in her skin. "What happened?"

"We'll talk about that later..." She insisted, closing her eyes and standing in front of Zoey. "We need to defeat Gwi-Ma, as soon as possible."

Defeat Gwi-Ma? What was she talking about?

"We don't have to defeat Gwi-Ma... We have to defeat you!" Mira roared, who had already woken up. "You are a cursed monster!"

Rumi felt a chill, but she didn't stop. It was what she expected, it was what she knew Mira was going to do to her. But they had to get through that quickly.

"Mira, please, try to..."

"Try what!? Try to see that you're not the same as my parents!? That you're not as horrible as them!?"

The insult bounced off the walls like a dry blow. Mira fixed her gaze on Rumi with all the pieces of rage she had left; around her, the room smelled of sweat, bandages, recent fear. Zoey sat up on the bed, unable to believe what she was hearing. Her hands still held Mira's wrist as if clinging to her would prevent the fall.

"How could you?" Mira's voice was broken, but full of complete venom. "What makes you think you had the right to open that door in my head? I heard my mother scream. I felt his hand on my neck. I felt... everything. They are not memories, Rumi. They are wounds. And you reopened them."

For an instant, Rumi remained motionless, her eyes glowing. She had tried to prepare for the reproach a thousand times in her head, but no reply was enough against that wave.

"It was what I had to..."

"You used my memories!" She roared, feeling tears on her cheeks. If she could see herself, she would realize that her patterns were growing and glowing with colors at that moment. "You took everything you knew about me to torture me! Everything I confided in you, thinking you were the best... You used it to destroy me!"

Zoey let out a choked moan upon hearing Mira.

"Please!" Rumi exclaimed, starting to lose patience. "Can we... Can we pretend this didn't happen? For a second, please... There's something much more important to do..."

"Don't try to evade your responsibilities, Rumi!" She roared, pointing her finger at her. "First you betray us, you betray your legacy as a hunter, you hide from us that you are one of them, Jinu... You turn us against our will! And now... now..."

Mira tried to stand up and go straight to her, but she didn't have enough strength for that. A dizziness was more than enough to make her fall back to the floor.

"You don't have energy. Don't waste it on me." She ordered, before shifting her gaze to Zoey, who had frozen. "Take care of her, keep her from doing anything stupid. I'll go look for something for you to eat, before we talk completely and with the truth."

Rumi closed the door. Zoey and Mira looked into each other's eyes, not knowing what to say in reality.

They hadn't spoken since the Idol Awards. Not since they had seen Rumi on that stage.

Not since Mira had told her that she didn't deserve a family, and they were nothing together. Not since Gwi-Ma had been in control of everything.

"I'm sorry." Mira murmured, not daring to look her in the eyes.

That threw Zoey off balance.

"Excuse me?" She asked her, still breathing heavily.

"I made you fall into the clutches of Gwi-Ma and Rumi. I said horrible things." She insisted, not noticing that her cheeks were blushing. "This is my fault, isn't it?"

Zoey stared at her as if she suddenly didn't understand who was in front of her. And, however, there was Mira, with her eyes lowered, confessing guilt that Zoey had never expected to hear.

"Your fault?" She repeated in a hoarse whisper, almost incredulously. "Do you really think this is your fault, Mira?"

Mira clenched her fists on the sheets, unable to hold her gaze.

"I was the one who pushed you away, the one who pushed you straight into Rumi's and Gwi-Ma's arms," she murmured with self-directed anger. "I was the one who didn't know... How to react. And then, as soon as I saw you... The first thing I did was threaten to kill you."

Zoey clenched her jaw. Yes, that wasn't a lie. But she didn't blame Mira for that. In part, she understood each of her actions.

"No, Mira. The one who trapped me was Rumi. She played with us, she made us believe she was fighting on our side, and all the time she was selling us to him." She leaned towards her, forcing her to lift her eyes. "The one who failed us wasn't you. It was her."

For the first time in a long time, Mira's eyes met Zoey's. There was guilt, there was exhaustion, it seemed that both knew that their life had changed too much, in just a couple of days.

Everything seemed too implausible to be true.

"Run away, Zoey." She murmured, still weak. "Run away, now that you can. Escape from Rumi's clutches. Go away and escape... Before she returns."

Zoey blinked, stunned.

"What?"

"I'm serious." Mira squeezed Zoey's hand hard, digging her nails in as if she needed to mark the urgency. "We can't stay here waiting for Rumi to decide what to do with us. We can't keep playing her game. We have to leave... And you have to leave now that you have the opportunity."

Zoey immediately shook her head, almost horrified.

"No. I'm not going to leave you here."

"You have to!" Mira interrupted her, finally seeing her in the eyes. "Leaving together would be impossible. Rumi would notice immediately. But if you leave, now, before she comes back, you can get out. You can escape."

Zoey felt her whole body burn, with the mere idea of leaving Mira at Rumi's mercy... With the idea of accepting that Rumi was now a person she didn't know, and not the woman she loved.

That she was no longer her Rumi... That she never had been.

"No." She replied, burying her hands in the bed. "Please, Mira, don't ask me that. I couldn't even. Rumi is out there. She'll notice it immediately. I won't be able to run away without her noticing."

"We have a balcony, Zoey." She insisted, turning to look at the place. "You can run away through there."

"But..."

"We jumped out of a moving plane to get to a stadium and we didn't suffer a scratch. Seriously, do you think you couldn't jump from this height?"

Zoey didn't speak. Mira knew perfectly well what she was thinking... And each of her excuses. Mira was smart, after all, and thought things as fast as she did.

"But... What about you?" She asked, still nervous. "What is going to happen to you?"

Mira tried to smile, but it came out twisted.

"I'll buy you time, Zoey. When Rumi returns, I'll buy you some time so you can escape. Leave the city, go as far as you can, where Rumi can't find you... And when I escape, I'll look for you, okay?"

Zoey shook her head. That wasn't right. That was a terrible idea... That wasn't what she wanted, definitely not.

"No." She said sharply. "I won't leave without knowing that we will meet again."

Mira sighed. Of course, Zoey would never abandon one of her own. She wasn't Rumi. She didn't betray.

"All right." She conceded. "Go to the outskirts of Korea. We'll meet in Songdo, okay? In three days, we'll be there, without fail."

Zoey was still unsure. There was still a part that told her no, not to do it. Her world and her mind were split into two parts, that couldn't agree. Escaping was the most logical thing. There was too much, too many things that seemed to scream at her that there would be no other chance.

It was staying, and condemning herself, both of them... Or leaving, and leaving Mira in Rumi's clutches. At her complete mercy. At the mercy of a demon who had ruined their lives. A demon who had destroyed the world.

A demon who, once, she had spoken to as a friend.

Maybe, there was a chance. If they escaped, they had a chance to win. They could find a way to undo the spell Rumi cast, before they became demons. Maybe, they could get their friend back.

They could make Rumi stop being that. That monster she was now. That monster she had become, without understanding the moment.

"Mira..." She whispered, turning around one last time. Both knew that she had already made her decision, and that there was no time to lose. Rumi would return in any second. Losing would be too late.

The other girl held her gaze, as fragile as she was fierce at the same time.

"Run, Zoey." And she said it as if it were the last order, as if with those words she signed her condemnation and her hope.

Zoey walked towards the balcony. She opened the door, letting the air in. Her heart was beating as if it were going to burst. And then, for an instant, she believed that yes, that maybe there would be a future in which both could meet again, away from Rumi's reach.

That they would escape... To find a way to save them all. To become the people she wanted so much again. And letting out a sigh... She jumped from the balcony.

Moving away from her girls, at least momentarily.