Chapter Text
It was a chilly autumn day, which was a welcome relief after the months of hot summer that had stretched all the way through September into the early days of October. The leaves had however already turned the many shades of red and orange and yellow that made everything look so scenic.
Such trees framed the property, looming over a lovely garden around the back of the traditional house that had been sadly neglected in the past few months. Which was now littered with fallen leaves that had not been cleaned up yet.
Some such leaves had fallen onto the wooden flooring just outside the open doors that gave the occupants of the house a nice view out onto the property on this autumn day.
A cup touched down onto the table with a soft thud, steam rising from both teacups that sat on the table between the two. The traditional style tea pot sat between the cups, holding the rest of the hot tea waiting for the need for more tea.
The small bassinet sat in the corner of the room not far from the two adults sitting at the table. Soft noises coming from the sleepy infant that currently occupied the dark grey structure that only barely fit in with the surrounding furniture it was never meant to be placed near.
“I was saddened to hear of Mi-yeong’s passing. I’m sorry for your loss.” The man started, taking his cup off the table to have a sip of his own tea.
“It hasn’t been easy, but we’ve managed.” The woman responded, her head held high as if lowering it even in grief would reveal some fatal weakness.
“I had been surprised to find that you were the child’s new guardian. You never really struck me as a baby person Celine.” He said, setting his cup back on the table with a soft thud that echoed how Celine’s own cup hit the table moments earlier. His eyes glancing towards the bassinet before returning to the woman before him.
“I’m not, but it was her dying wish. How is one supposed to refuse that?” Celine asked, reaching for her cup.
“I suppose one doesn’t. What about other family? The father?” He asked.
“Well, Mi-yeong didn’t have other family, and she said the father was not available. She didn’t elaborate on what she meant by that.” She head off his next question. “Now, I assume you didn’t come all this way just come to discuss dearly departed friends.”
A chuckle left the black haired man, his eyes shone with respect for the woman across from him. “Sharp as ever.” he mused, drinking the last of his tea before setting the now empty cup back down. He didn’t stop Celine from taking the pot to re-fill his cup.
“Go on.” She pressed, setting the pot back down on the table when she finished her action.
“I had an idea for a new venture. The Sunlight Sisters were so popular, people want more, a reboot might bring in quite a bit of money.” He started, watching the woman’s eyebrow raise as she picked up her own cup once more.
“Yes. Well, with one of us dead and the other having quit entirely over a year ago, there’s not much that can be done for that.” She stated simply, raising the cup to her lips for another drink.
“While I do think it ended too soon there is nothing that can be done for that now. I was thinking more along the lines of the next generation.” His eyes glanced towards the sleeping infant a few meters from where they sat at the table.
“Rumi is a child. What do you hope to gain by talking to me about this now?” She asked, having already followed his gaze to the child of her deceased friend that had fallen into her care.
“I had brought this idea to Mi-yeong’s attention several months ago, before… everything happened.” he explained.
“So she obviously turned you down. What makes you think I will have a different answer?” She asked, her eyes narrowing slightly at the man.
“You’re more ambitious, and might also see my vision. Since you are the one responsible for deciding Rumi’s future now, I hope you might agree to join me. If you’ll just hear me out.” He takes another sip of his tea, watching her do the same.
After a long pause, the retired entertainer held her cup in both hands, looking towards the child then back at the man she had known for so long.
“I’m listening.”
It was a quiet summer night, the sky was dark with barely a sliver of a moon in the sky, stars glittering silently overhead, dotting the sky in intricate patterns. The Huntrix tower reached for the dark sky, the logo on the side of it illuminating the night around it, making it stand out against the black surrounding it.
Darkness surrounded the whole place. Bedroom doors left closed or slightly ajar, darkened hallways stretched towards the main living room which lay bathed in the soft light coming in from the windows. It didn’t illuminate much, just enough for every piece of furniture to have a slight blue glow outline to it.
The penthouse itself was almost silent, save for the soft noises coming from the small and private recording studio the Huntrix members had for late nights such as this. The door was slightly open, the warm light pouring from the crack all over the hardwood floor of the hallway. The soft sound of attempted music seeping from the small opening in the door.
String lights cast a warm glow over the room as the girls sat in their respective spots, going over the mediocre lyrics they had already written down, nothing like their normal standard. It would probably get there… eventually…
All three huntresses groaned, they had been working on this stupid song for several hours with no breakthroughs on lyrics or melody at all.
“Maybe this is why we’ve never written a diss track?” Zoey offered.
“Well we never needed or wanted to, so it makes sense.” Rumi sighed softly.
“Why don’t we get some sleep and try again tomorrow? It is getting late and we haven’t had dinner yet.” Mira suggested, setting her papers back down on the table.
“Sounds good, anything you two want for dinner?” Rumi asked as she set the guitar to the side, all three women getting up to file out of the little studio. Turning the light off as they exited to enshroud their instruments and papers in darkness, left for the next day.
The three pop stars padded quietly through their darkened living room towards the kitchen. Their steps near silent, a subconscious habit from years of stealth training. Rumi’s had always been more quiet than that of the other huntresses, her training with Celine had started early.
“Honestly, pasta sounds fantastic to me right now. Do we have the stuff for that tortellini dish you made for me last week?” Zoey asked, looking at their purple haired leader as they all filed into the kitchen.
“I know we have most of it, but I’ll have to check if we have tortellini.” Rumi replied, flicking the lightswitch to illuminate the kitchen with the glow of the light hanging over their counter.
“Want any help?” Mira offers quietly, watching Rumi’s braid swish around behind the woman’s back as she moves about the kitchen.
“Nah I’m ok. It’s a simple recipe.” Rumi smiles at them pulling out the package of tortellini she had excavated from the depths of their fridge. Holding it up to let the others know that is in fact what they’d be having for dinner before continuing to fish the ingredients out of the fridge and cabinets of their kitchen.
“Awesome! While she’s doing that I have videos for you!” Zoey exclaims, already sliding her stool over to sit right next to Mira with a soft noise of the stool against the wood flooring.
“More about turtles?” she asks, leaning in to look at Zoey’s phone to watch the first video while the youngest chirps out a yes.
Rumi smiles, grabbing one of her juice bottles out of the fridge as she starts to cook dinner. She always drank juice before bed, something Celine drilled into her before she could even remember. Said that it helped with sound sleep, who was Rumi to question? Celine had never steered her wrong before.
Mira and Zoey were always so kind to re-stock it for her, she never even saw them buying it on their grocery trips but the bottles never seemed to run out so it was obvious that they re-stocked it at some point.
She sipped at the bottle while filling the large pot full of water for the tortellini, setting the juice down before she moved the pot onto the stove. Once the water was on it just sat in the background while she worked on the ingredients for the sauce. No sense standing around waiting for the water to boil when she had other things she needed to do while she waited on that.
The peels fell off the garlic and into the compost bin on the counter, being set down on the small wooden cutting board that was usually used for garlic or butter and not much else. Rumi was never fast about cutting garlic, Mira and Zoey had once talked about getting her a garlic chopper before but she had refused. Her way of cutting garlic into tiny little pieces wasn’t what one would describe as chopping or dicing or even mincing. It was slow, odd, but it was hers, her weird little way of doing it that she liked. They had respected her no and never brought up a garlic chopper again, she liked that they respected her no.
They did kind of accept her no for their bathhouse trips, but they did whine about it. It was obvious that mattered more to them than a silly garlic chopper. Rumi would make it up to them someday, when they seal the Honmoon and her patterns vanish from her skin.
Mira laughed at something Zoey was showing her, Rumi smiled to herself. It was a nice night, simple, calm. It was rare they had nights like this, even before the Saja boys showed up, it was nice to have a quiet night to themselves.
She always felt so far away from Mira and Zoey, but she knew that was her fault, she was hiding such a major secret. They weren’t hiding anything, it wasn’t their fault they couldn’t be as close as they wanted, it was all hers. Her mistake of an existence that she was unable to fix… not yet anyway, maybe turning the Honmoon gold and ridding herself of her patterns would finally start to atone for her birth…
Rumi let out a silent breath as she moved onto measuring out the rest of her ingredients. The soft, comforting sound of her girls moved through the kitchen with ease, filling her ears and drowning out her bad thoughts in a way she silently appreciated without them even knowing they were helping.
“Rumi, I have to show you this video. It’s so cute and funny!” Zoey’s voice reached across the kitchen counter to their leader who was measuring out the whipping cream she would need for the sauce.
“Oh yeah?” She responded, glancing over their way before looking back at the measuring cup she was working with.
“Yeah it’s seals making silly noises and doing funny stuff.” Zoey grinned widely but she didn’t move from her spot next to Mira.
“She’s super excited to show it to you, it is funny.” Mira stated, resting her head on her hand as she looked at Zoey fondly, her lips slightly quirked upwards in a soft, barely there smile.
“Sounds fun, I do love seals.” Rumi smiled, setting the measuring cup down before putting the whipping cream away. Walking over to the island to look over Zoey’s shoulder, the bouncing girl eagerly restarted the video to show a seal laying somewhere making silly little noises that made Rumi giggle.
“I told you it was cute!” Zoey exclaimed, watching Rumi’s face eager for the reactions from the purple haired woman.
“Very cute, aw look at the eyes on that one.” She cooed, leaning more over Zoey’s shoulder to look at the phone which caused the younger woman to blush.
Mira chuckled watching Rumi coo over the seal video. When it comes to sea animals Zoey was all about the turtles, but Rumi was all about the seals, Mira herself was all about the sharks, or polar bears if that counted but Mira doubted it did. Land animals were a different story, but for marine life those were the ones.
“What are they even doing?” Rumi snickered, staring at the video of three seals stacked on top of each other slowly sinking deeper underwater while the three girls laughed at the visual.
“I don’t know!” Zoey squealed with laughter, kicking her feet under her stool with a large grin on her face.
“It’s very cute.” Rumi said as the video ended, already walking away to return to her task at hand. She was almost done prepping the ingredients for the sauce.
“I know right!?” Zoey’s grin widened, already diving back in to show Mira more videos.
Rumi laughed softly to herself, ignoring whatever they were watching to finish prepping her ingredients before she started the actual cooking.
The smell of the garlic was the first thing to start filling the kitchen, the drop in conversation was her first indication to look over at her fellow hunters. She snickered upon seeing them sniffing the air like cats who can smell their human’s chicken.
“You two are ridiculous.” Rumi laughs quietly into the back of her hand, her eyes softened at their identical grins when they opened their eyes to look at her.
“Always!” Zoey chirped, Mira nodding her agreement.
“Plus it smells good already.” Mira finally spoke.
“It’s just garlic.” Their leader blushed at the praise.
“Still smells good.” They insisted, like Rumi invented the smell of garlic somehow.
She scoffed in amusement, turning back to the stove to stir the garlic while she took another drink of her juice. The last thing she wanted was for it to burn on her watch.
Rumi had never been good at accepting praise. Zoey soaked it in like a sponge, Mira quietly accepted it with grace and maybe a grumbled thank you as she tried not to look too pleased with herself, but Rumi had never been good with it. Mostly because in Celine’s house praise was hard to come by. It had to be earned by clawing tooth and nail to the top of her expectations without failing even once just for the smallest scrap of praise.
Rumi had always been desperate for it, starving for any sort of approval or affection from the woman who raised her since she was only six months old. She rarely got it, and when she did, she almost didn’t even know what to do with it.
It was such a culture shock when Mira and Zoey first started coming around. They were all in their late teens when Celine had brought them in on that first day.
Mira and Zoey had known each other before Rumi, not for too much longer but they had known each other for a few years before Rumi met them. They were familiar with each other, understood each other’s heads already, their thoughts, fears and their dreams. Rumi knew none of that, and they didn’t know anything about her either, other than what Celine had told them in preparation for meeting their new leader.
They thought Rumi was the coolest as Celine had her demonstrate the training exercises. Moves and actions she had learned years before, honed and fine tuned through years of harsh training with her mentor who had raised her.
They hadn’t praised her in front of Celine after the first day. They had told her how cool she was only for Celine to shut it down harshly. Telling them it was expected of them as hunters, not something praise worthy.
Away from Celine however, they were quick to befriend their fellow hunter. Easily battering through her hesitation and clawing their way into her life like determined honey badgers.
Their praise was easy, ever flowing and freely given. There were no expectations, Rumi didn’t have to push herself until her bones cracked just for the tiniest hint of approval. Train all day and into the night just for the smallest scraps of praise.
Her childhood wasn’t bad necessarily, just not what one would describe as happy. Celine had started her training very young, Rumi grew up knowing who she was, and what she was destined to be, just like her mother.
Rumi added the tomato sauce to the pan, stirring it to let the garlic mix in nicely. Letting Mira and Zoey’s conversation fade to the back of her mind as she let her thoughts wander.
She often wondered if her mother would have raised her differently than how Celine did. She knew she was destined to be a hunter, that probably wouldn’t have changed, but would her mom have started her so young? Or would she have waited until Rumi was at least in the double digits before starting the training?
Her heart had always longed for her mother, she wished she had known her. Whenever she managed to get Celine to open up about her, often after the woman had a few cups of Soju, Celine always had a look on her face. Like she was talking about someone who had hung the very stars themselves.
Rumi had always listened, eyes wide and sparkling as she was hanging off every word her normally stoic caretaker told her about her mother, the woman she never got a chance to really meet.
One time, she had asked Celine after a few too many drinks. The woman had practically fallen apart, it had startled the eleven year old so much. She had told Rumi that Mi-yeong would have been so disappointed in her, that she wouldn’t have even been able to look at such a disgusting being.
Rumi had never asked again… She couldn’t bear to… and with that, her last connection to her mother’s past was severed, with no way to learn more about the woman who birthed her…
Celine never talked about that night, Rumi doubted she even remembered it given how drunk the woman had been.
A tiny shard of hope that lived inside her younger self had wondered if Celine had been saying that Mi-yeong would have been disappointed in Rumi, or in Celine herself. She had dismissed it at the time, and it vanished entirely as she got older, as her patterns grew and spread across previously flawless skin.
Of course she was talking about Rumi, there was no reason for Mi-yeong to be disgusted with Celine. Not with an abomination walking around, patterned skin proving the mistake of birth.
She wondered if her mom regretted whatever led to her becoming pregnant with a demon’s child. Was it love? Was she assaulted? During her time as a hunter demons never seemed interested in that sort of thing, only in taking souls. Did her mom ever think about aborting her? It was legal here in South Korea. Even if she had she obviously didn’t, she had Rumi, and the few pictures of her mom that she did have with her showed her mom holding her close, the most loving and open expression on her face as she looked down at the little pink bundle in her arms. Could someone who made that face towards her have possibly ever thought about aborting her? Ridding the world of her mistake before she even breathed her first lungful of air?
Rumi sighed softly, shaking her head to clear those thoughts away, brushing her sleeve against her forehead quickly to wipe the sweat from her brow. The last thing she wanted was for it to drip into the sauce, that would be gross.
She had never been good with the heat, but the further her patterns grew the longer her sleeves had gotten, the easier it became to overheat. Not that her bandmates knew about that, Rumi was always good at hiding what she was feeling, she had to be.
“Is it almost done? Zoey is about to pass out from starvation.” Mira’s voice cut through her thoughts like the sharpest blade, forcing the darkness back into the corners of her mind.
“Hey! You’re hungry too!” Zoey defended herself, her stomach letting out a loud growl almost on que as if to disagree with her.
“It’s almost done.” Rumi told them, going back to stirring the dish that thankfully she had continued to make even while her mind was elsewhere. She strained the tortellini, pouring the noodles back into the pot for them each to grab their own portion. Taste testing the sauce with a small spoon before she reached for more seasoning.
“Do we want to watch a movie while we eat?” Zoey asked, glancing towards the living room.
“It’s already pretty late Zo, maybe an episode of a tv show would be better.” Rumi offers.
“And not one of the ones with the forty-five minute episodes, we’re not watching that political show tonight, none of us have the mental energy for it.” Mira tells her as Zoey whines.
“But it’s a classic! And Rumi likes it!” She protests.
“I do but Mira is right, it’s late. We’re probably going to eat and head straight to bed, a show with a thirty minute episode is probably better.” Rumi reasons, turning off the burner as she has deemed the sauce finished and ready to be eaten.
“What’s fifteen more minutes?” Zoey grins.
“Come get your food and we can go look at what to watch.” Rumi laughs, taking another drink of her juice, leaving about half the bottle left when she put it back down.
The other hunters sprang up from their seats, Zoey bounding over to the stove while Mira followed at a calmer pace. They both scooped some tortellini into their bowls before adding their own amounts of sauce.
Mira didn’t like a ton of sauce, only giving herself a scoop or two before mixing it with her noodles, a little sprinkle of parmesan on top and she was done.
Zoey liked more, she went with a more normal amount of sauce but with way more parmesan, it practically covered the whole bowl and part of the counter by the time she was done.
Rumi waited until they were done and getting their own drinks before she started to get her own bowl ready. Rumi liked a lot of sauce, often more sauce than noodles, and just a little parmesan.
Once each girl was settled with their food and beverage choices they made their way into the living room, letting the light from the TV be enough for them as they got comfortable on the couch to eat.
“What to watch, what to watch…” Zoey pondered slowly, already starting to flip through the options on one of their many streaming services they were subscribed to.
“Just pick before we’re done eating.” Mira teased, having already chugged half her glass of water.
“Just for that, I’m making you two watch She-ra!” The maknae proclaimed, flipping over to Netflix to search for the American show. She popped one of her tortellini into her mouth and after a moment of panic from it being hot against her tongue she moaned. “Rumi, this is so good!” her voice was muffled as she was talking with her mouth full.
“Her food is always good.” Mira says, taking her own first bite. “But she’s right, fantastic as always.” She complimented, smirking as the purple haired woman blushed, ducking her head slightly at the praise.
“Thanks.” Rumi borderline whispered, eating her own food.
“Hey Zo, is this the original or the reboot, you already made me watch the original.” Mira asked.
“The reboot, neither of you have seen it yet!” Zoey grinned, sitting back as the animated show started on the TV.
They all settled in on their beloved couch, forks clinking against their dishes quietly as they ate, their food rapidly vanishing from their bowls. Rumi finished off her bottle of juice, tossing the little plastic bottle onto the floor to pick up later.
“Ok, so these two are totally fucking right?” Mira asked after a little bit, draping an arm across Zoey’s shoulders as the shorter woman laughed.
“Right!? That is so not how you greet a friend!” Zoey exclaimed.
“A friend with benefits maybe.” Mira smirked, taking another bite of her dinner.
“So wait, this was just a training exercise right? If these princesses are as dangerous as they’re claiming then that was a pretty easy exercise.” Rumi said.
“You’re just used to how Celine trained us, shhh and enjoy the show!” Zoey scolded lightheartedly.
Rumi chuckled, conceding defeat as she just focused on eating her food. Their bowls soon sat empty across the coffee table since none of them had been willing to get up to go put them away.
“You comfortable there?” Mira lay with Zoey sprawled out across her body, the lyricist snuggling happily to her girlfriend’s chest using her breasts as a pillow.
“Yes.” She grinned, snuggling deeper into Mira as if to prove a point.
A yawn escaped their leader sitting on the other side of the couch from them. They looked over to see the lead singer half asleep curled up on her section of the couch.
“Tired Rumi?” Zoey asked softly, smiling at their bandmate who just nods.
“Yeah, I think I’m going to crash early, do you two mind putting the leftovers away?” she asks, getting off the couch with a big stretch.
“Yeah we got it, night Rumi.” Mira tells her.
“Night!” Zoey grins, snuggling back to Mira as Rumi picks up the empty bottle of her juice off the floor, chucking it in the trash can as she leaves the living room.
“Night.” Rumi says, another yawn escaping her lips as she disappears down the darkened hallway towards her room.
They watch a couple more episodes before they get tired enough to head to bed themselves, cleaning up the dishes and putting the leftovers away didn’t take terribly long. Dual yawns came from the pop stars as they wander down the hall towards Mira’s room which they both tend to sleep in most nights, Zoey’s room was a glorified stuffed animal storage room at this point.
Zoey peeked into Rumi’s room through the cracked door as they passed, their leader was completely passed out in bed, curled up under her covers snoozing away with a little bit of drool leaking down onto her pillow. She smiled as she quietly shut the bedroom door, following Mira the rest of the way down the hall and into the pinkette’s bedroom as her smile faded.
“I feel bad.” She murmurs “It’s so hard to keep this up…” she admits.
“I know… feels like it’s getting harder every day…” Mira replies, getting into bed to lay with Zoey.
They lay facing each other, the blanket pulled up over most of their bodies as if that could shield them from the topic at hand, the soft glow of Mira’s shadowbox highlighting their features with several pale colors ever so slightly.
“Are you sure we can’t get around the NDA? At all?” Zoey whispers, big brown eyes looking to her partner almost pleading.
“It’s air-tight… He really has us by the balls…” Mira sighs, moving her hand to rest on top of Zoey’s between them.
“What happens when everything is over? Do you think it will break her?” Zoey whines softly, almost a whimper.
“I don’t know… I don’t even know if she’ll be able to look at us…” Mira admits.
They both startle slightly at a noise from Mira’s phone, the pinkette grabbing it to look at the message from their boss.
-We’re wrapped up for the night, great job. Good night girls.-
“It’s him isn’t it?” Zoey asks.
“Yeah.” Mira replies, tossing her phone behind her on the bed.
“Wrapped up filming for the day? I mean I guess so given we’re all going to bed…” She says softly.
“Yeah… I wonder if they’ll use anything from tonight in the movie.” Mira says almost absentmindedly.
“I kind of hope not… It’s nice to have moments where we can just be ourselves around her, instead of just playing a part…” Zoey admits.
“I know.” Mira agrees, bringing Zoey closer to her as they get comfortable in the bed.
“I know…” she repeats softly.