Chapter Text
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“You’ve broken the edict!” The voice screamed at her. “You must be punished!” The unearthly voice shook mountains and sent rocks cascading in deathly landslides around them. Beneath their feet the ground fractured like glass, spiderweb fissures running out from them and across the land. The monster’s fury burned across her skin, digging into her flesh with flaming talons extending from its blazing shapeless form.
Rumi screamed but this only provoked its ire further. Its laughter sawed through the air and it lifted her off the ground by her neck, dangling her over the nearest fissure in the ground it’s rage had created. Behind the monster of flames, Nari lay on the ground, tendrils of flames licking over her body and wrapping around her as she cried in agony, arms reaching out toward her mother for help. Rumi’s scream turned to a desperate howl.
“Please!” Rumi begged. “Please don’t hurt her.”
“You’ve broken the edict!” It repeated. “You must be punished!” It’s talons released her and Rumi fell....and fell....and fell....the sound of Nari’s screams ringing in her ears.
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Rumi bolted upright, a broken sob leaving her mouth. She was drenched in sweat, the sheets sticking to her body like a second skin. She scrambled from the bed and to Nari’s crib, where her daughter slept peacefully. She took Nari into her arms, heedless of waking her, just wanting to have her daughter safe in her arms.
“I’m sorry,” she cried. “I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you. I’m so sorry.” Nari woke, squirming in her arms, crying out in alarm at the distressed aura her mother was giving off. Rumi sat on the floor rocking Nari unable to shake the nightmare.
The view of the city in front of her was no consolation. The Honmoon blanketed the world in front of her, the threads fraying more and more each day. They had been gradually degrading for the last two months without the girls performing to strengthen it. In the last two months there had been no demons slipping through the holes in the barrier despite their lack of effort in maintaining it, so they’d been pushing their concerns about it to the back of their minds.
Her tears stung her eyes and the burn of that monsters' claws around her throat still clung to her. The echo of Nari’s screams still ringing in her ears. She tried to soothe Nari but she was too worked up and nothing she did would settle her daughter. Both of their crying was growing worse and Nari was near to a pitch that matched her cries in Rumi’s nightmare. Rumi couldn’t breathe, every gasp of air left her struggling for the next, her heart raced, hands shook, she felt like she was drowning.
Rumi squeezed her eyes shut trying to block it all out. Around her the shimmering threads of the Honmoon pulsed outward in pink waves. The faster her heart raced, the stronger the pulses became until it was nonstop.
Arms came around her, firm and secure; Jinu’s familiar scent cocooning her. “I’m here, it’s okay. I’ve got you,” he told her. “I’m right here. You’re safe. Nari is safe. No one is going to hurt her ever.” Tears stung Jinu’s eyes as he tried to comfort Rumi. He knew his words were falling on deaf ears, but he still had to say them. He had to try.
He’d only been away from the bedroom for ten minutes at most, getting a nighttime snack. Jinu had returned only to find Rumi in the throes of the aftermath of one of her nightmares. They were coming two or three times a week now and Jinu was afraid to leave Rumi alone while she slept. It wasn’t as bad if he woke her up in the middle of it, but if the nightmare ran its course....
It took Jinu nearly an hour to calm Rumi down enough for her to hand Nari over to him. Rumi had only managed a few hours of sleep and she looked exhausted. The bags beneath her eyes were becoming more pronounced each day and the makeup Rumi was using to hide them was needing to be replenished sooner and sooner. She couldn’t keep going on like this, but Jinu didn’t know what to do. She was wearing herself to the bone each night, only finally letting herself sleep each night when she could no longer fight it off.
Rumi needed help.
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“Have you ever heard of anything like it?” Jinu asked Katerina. They sat at the kitchen island on Katerina’s floor of Huntrix tower. He’d managed to catch her at a time when Bobby had been forced to leave the tower for work.
She shrugged. “Nightmares are a dime a dozen with Gwi-Ma, but according to what he told you he can’t influence Rumi.” Katerina hummed in thought. “That on its own is strange. Why can’t he influence her? Did he lie? If he didn’t, then where are the nightmares coming from?”
“I don’t know.”
Katerina chewed on the pad of her thumb. “Is it possible....you know Rumi better than I do, is it possible that there isn’t any outside influence causing her nightmares?”
Jinu didn’t give the idea a moments consideration. ”No, absolutely not. I’ve seen Rumi in the aftermath of these nightmares, there is nothing normal about what is happening to her.”
“Tell me again what she sees in these nightmares,” Katerina asked.
“It’s hard to get her to talk about them with me. It's only when she first wakes up she’ll talk about them and even then its only half-formed broken words that are mostly unintelligible because she goes straight into a panic attack. She talks about a monster made of fire and the ground being cracked open, and the monster usually kills her or Nari. Once she gets out from underneath the memories of the nightmares, she refuses to address them. I....I’m afraid of what this will do to her if it keeps going,” Jinu told her.
“Wow, you really love her,” Katerina said.
Jinu’s face scrunched. “Of course I do. Was that even a question?”
“You’ve known her for what, two months? I've known you for decades, it’s just unexpected,” Katerina said.
“When you know you know.”
Katerina gagged in disgust. “You're a walking cliche.”
“You’re not much better,” Jinu retorted and he laughed at the blank look of confusion on Katerina’s face. “You and Bobby, duh!”
She rolled her eyes. “That’s not....he’s just....we’re just having fun.”
“Theres a difference between having fun and being superglued together like a broken vase,” he told her.
“Are you calling me broken!”
“No! No, I'm just saying....wait, stop deflecting. You are so in love with Bobby. Admit it!” Jinu accused.
“Fuck off!”
“Your face is red, it’s because your embarrassed because everyone else can tell you’re in loooooove,” Jinu snickered and Katerina shoved him off his chair and sent him sprawling onto the floor. Jinu laughed harder and Katerina felt her face burn.
“Weren’t we supposed to be talking about Rumi and her problems not dissecting my life,” Katerina protested and Jinu sobered in an instant. He stood from his spot on the floor and retook his seat at the kitchen island beside her.
“Is there anything you can do?” he asked.
“I’ve got some contacts in the demon realm, I’ll see what information they have. For now try having her drink a tea made from jujube seeds before she sleeps,” Katerina said. “If this is otherworldly it probably will do little to help but maybe it’ll cause a placebo effect to calm her dreams.”
Jinu nodded. “Thank you for your help.”
“Well, you did put up with my shit for all those years you spent as my scribe, you’re past due for a reward,” she told him. Jinu sighed. He wished Katerina didn’t have to make this a transactional affair and instead could admit she was actually just doing a friend a favor.
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Jinu returned to the Huntrix penthouse and found Mira and Zoey painting their nails on the couch. They were laughing at something Jinu had missed and the TV in front of them was playing one of the old Sunlight Sisters music videos. They’d been going down a rabbit hole of old Sunlight Sister’s media when he’d headed down to see Katerina earlier. The surprise visit from Trixie at Celine’s house yesterday had them nostalgic for the 90’s.
Rumi was noticeably absent.
“Hey girls,” Jinu said, coming up to them with a grin on his face and leaning on the back of the couch.
Mira sized him up and narrowed her eyes. ”What do you want?"
“Do I have to want something to come and say ‘hello’ to the love of my life’s best friends,” he told them. The girls shared a look and crossed their arms.
“What do you want?” Zoey asked.
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