Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Okay, time for our pre-game ramyeon!”

“Happy fans…”

“Happy Honmoon!”

“Hey, there’s no water in these?”

“Um, excuse me, miss? We asked for hot water-“

“Yes, of course, I’ll have that right out for you!”

The flight attendant sped away. Rumi’s phone, forgotten between the couch cushions, rang silently.

Mira burped loudly. Zoey’s laugh was interrupted by a similar, louder burp forcing its way out of her stomach. Mira and Zoey erupted into giggles, high-fiving each other as Rumi sat back and smiled.

After a minute of relaxation, Mira groaned. 

“Okay, for real though, where is the hot water? If I have to go another minute without my ramyeon, I think I’ll just have to cancel the show.”

“You guys are so dramatic.”

“Hey, I didn’t even say anything!”

Rumi rolled her eyes, but got up to walk towards the cockpit. She only made it a few feet before the plane rocked with the turbulence, knocking Rumi’s cup onto the floor, chopsticks rolling across the aisle. Rumi’s eyes narrowed. 

“Guys, I think something’s wro-“

The plane thrashed harder, and the world tilted forward. Mira acted first, summoning her spear and extending it for Rumi to grab onto as she held the window with her other hand, anchoring herself. Once Rumi had stabilized herself, holding onto a cabinet, Mira let her spear dissolve into the Honmoon as she and Zoey inched their way down towards the cockpit.

Zoey pulled out a knife, cutting the lock open as Rumi yanked the door open. Zoey took one look inside the cockpit, revealing it to be full of demons. In an instant, the demons shed their disguises, attempting to claw their way through the plexiglass windshield before Zoey made it in. Cursing, Rumi sat down at the controls as Zoey attempted to snipe the demons who made it out onto the wings. 

The plane was heading straight for the stadium.

“Both of you, hold on tight!”

Mira plunged her spear through the wall diving the cockpit and the main cabin, and Zoey latched onto Mira’s waist as Rumi attempted to steer the plane towards the Han River. A few seconds later, the left wing was torn off, sending the jet into a spin. Rumi crashed into the windshield with a cry of pain, flailing her arms in an attempt to grab onto something as the plane fell faster. As the right wing was torn off, the plane shifted, and Rumi was thrown into the windshield again with a horrible crunch before disappearing through the opening.

“Rumi!”

“Rumi!”

Mira and Zoey steadied themselves before jumping through the windshield, looking around frantically before catching sight of Rumi, falling limply through the air. The two hunters sailed through the air, lightly brushing the threads of the Honmoon as they dove to adjust their angle and speed. Mira caught Rumi in her arms, Zoey close behind as they braced for a hard fall into the river. 

As they impacted, Mira twisted so that Rumi was above her as she crashed down through the water, coughing and choking on water as the wind was knocked out of her. Zoey grabbed Mira’s collar with one hand, propelling them towards the river’s edge with the other. They had just made it onto land when the plane landed in the river with an earth-shattering shockwave. Mira and Zoey laid on the riverbank, gasping.

“Zoey, costume, hypo-“ Mira coughed up a bit of water, “hypothermia. Clothes off.”

Zoey nodded and painstakingly took off her waterlogged costume pants as Mira peeled off her leggings. Once they had stripped to their undergarments, they turned their attention to Rumi, taking off her costume jacket. They froze. 

“Um… Mira? I’m not, like, going crazy, right?”

Mira breathed heavily. “If you are, so am I.”

Rumi’s patterns snaked around her arms, up towards her shoulders and disappearing under her crop top. Mira and Zoey stared at her for long seconds before hearing sirens approaching. Bobby’s car squealed to a stop near them, followed by emergency vehicles. Zoey looked at Mira in panic. Mira met her eyes for a second, then tried her best to shake the water out before awkwardly shoving Rumi’s arms back into the jacket. 

Once she was done, she carefully picked Rumi up and stumbled in the direction of Bobby’s car. He was already running out to meet them, terror and determination written all over his face. Zoey grabbed his arm, dragging him towards the car.

“Bobby, get us home, or to a hotel, or something.”

“Huh?? How about maybe the hospital-“

Mira growled. “No hospital. Get us somewhere safe and private, we’ll take care of Rumi.”

Bobby snapped into action.

“Done. Get in the car, I know a good hotel nearby.”

Zoey climbed in first, extending her arms to help transfer Rumi inside smoothly, then setting her between their laps.

“Bobby, can you turn the heat on?”

He nodded, turning the dial up on the AC with one hand and reversing with the other, speeding back towards the road as he took off his vest. Mira set her hand to Rumi’s neck, verifying her pulse before inspecting the rest of her body, spotting the ugly bruise on her ribs and several nasty cuts along her legs. In minutes, Bobby had pulled into the parking lot and was helping Mira out of the car. The girls carried Rumi inside as Bobby got a room key and first aid kit from the front desk, handing both to Zoey.

“You girls get to your room, is there anything I should get you from the store?”

“Uh… hair ties, heating pad, probably other things, I don’t know?”

“I’ll take care of it, thanks Mira.”

The girls quickly shambled to the elevator, leaving the front desk workers in a state of confusion. Once they got to the room, they stripped Rumi’s costume and cleaned her cuts with alcohol, then bandaged them with gauze and antibiotic ointment. After gently applying a pain patch to her rib, they set to work cleaning each others’ scrapes and cuts before laying down on the bed, exhausted. After a minute, they heard knocking on the door.

“Girls? You in there?”

Mira slowly pushed herself up off the bed, unlocking the door and letting Bobby inside. He set several grocery bags on the bedside table, revealing water, snacks, another first aid kit, toiletries, and various other items.

“You’re a lifesaver, Bobby.”

“Oh, just doing my job.”

“Technically this isn’t your-“

“Shush. How’s Rumi holding up?”

Mira looked back at Rumi, patterns clearly showing.

“She’ll be okay, I don’t think anything’s broken.”

“Good. I called Celine while I was out, let her know that you and Zoey are taking care of everything. She’s trying to arrange transportation, but it’ll probably be a few hours. I’ll go and give you girls some space, just call me if you need anything.”

“Will do. Thanks, Bobby.”

Bobby nodded and gave them a quick smile, before reassuming his stressed expression and leaving the room. Mira carefully laid back onto the bed, groaning in sync with Zoey.

“Mira, do you think we should wake her up?”

“Huh? Why?”

“I don’t know, I just don’t want to be asleep when she wakes up and have her freak out or something and hurt herself or something or-“

Mira reached over Rumi to grab Zoey’s hand.

“Zoey, calm down. She’ll be okay. Let’s get some water and then try and wake her?”

Zoey took a deep breath and nodded, grabbing one of the bottles from the bedside table. Mira put a hand on Rumi’s shoulder, very slightly jostling her.

“Hey, Rumi. Come on, wake up.”

Rumi didn’t stir. Zoey took an ice pack and pressed it to her forehead, and her eyes fluttered as she groaned awake. Mira rolled her eyes.

“Zoey, you’re so-”

“Hey, it worked! And now we can get her water and stuff!”

Mira ignored her. “Rumi, you awake? Can you look at me?”

Rumi tried to open her eyes, then clenched them shut and winced.

“Ah, shit, Zoey, help me sit her up a bit. Can you put the pillows- yeah, like that.”

Zoey grabbed a bath towel from the drawer beside the bed and draped it over Rumi’s shoulders and torso, then set the water bottle to her lips.

“Rumi, look at me. Hey, you’re okay, can you drink some water for me?”

Rumi opened her eyes and tried to focus on Zoey, blinking repeatedly. Mira grabbed some painkillers and put one on Rumi’s tongue.

“Drink up, superstar, we’ve got you.”

She took the pills, then moaned in pain.

“Where… what happened? The plane- thought I was-“

Zoey gently shushed her and helped her drink some more as Mira explained.

“The plane went down in the water, Zoey and I caught you and Bobby took us to a hotel to get patched up. Celine’s, uh, probably on her way? I don’t think she has a private jet or anything. Zoey and I are fine, just minor injuries, you probably have a cracked rib or something, so be careful moving around. We put a pain patch on it-“

Rumi gasped, her eyes widening as she looked down for the first time and registered the towel laying on her bare skin. She looked at Mira and tried to move, but Mira and Zoey firmly held her shoulders back against the headboard.

“Rumi, it’s okay, you need to lay back and-“

“No, stop. I- fuck, no, no, you can’t-“

“Rumi, hold still!”

“No, I can’t- Celine- shit, ow, ow…”

Zoey put her other hand on Rumi’s chin and forced her to look into her eyes.

“Rumi, it’s okay, you’re okay, please just relax? For us?”

Rumi held her gaze for a moment before sighing and falling back limp, almost hitting her head on the headboard before Mira caught her. Her face screwed up as the adrenaline faded away and the pain from her ribs caught up to her.

“Do you want the ice pack?”

Rumi shook her head miserably.

“No, too cold.”

“Let’s get you under the covers, okay?”

Mira got up, untucking the comforter from the mattress and pulling it diagonally down as Zoey picked her up and shifted her to the side over the edge of the blankets and under. Zoey then wriggled her way under the covers herself, Mira coming back to Rumi’s other side and pulling the blanket up over everyone. Rumi whined in pain and began to cry, soon joined by Mira and Zoey as the stress of the night left their bodies. Mira and Zoey eventually fell asleep, carefully wrapped around Rumi under the covers. 

Rumi shivered both from her body temperature quickly rising and from the unaccustomed touch to her patterns. Mira and Zoey’s skin was warm against hers, purging the cold fear from her mind and replacing it with a dizzying warmth. She exhaled heavily.

“Thank you,” she whispered in the silence. “I love you.” 

A final shudder rocked her body as her temperature stabilized. Before long, she had fallen into painless, dreamless sleep.

Chapter Text

Rumi woke up to loud, insistent knocking. She slowly opened her eyes to see Zoey flopping out of bed, her momentum pulling herself towards the door as she caught herself from falling. She peeked through the door, then her eyes widened as she ran back to the bed.

“Shit, shit, shit, it’s Celine! Rumi, get up!”

She banged the closet door open, retrieving a bathrobe and shoving it in Rumi’s face before grabbing two more.

Celine knocked again, louder, and called to them.

“Rumi, Mira, Zoey? Is everything alright?”

Mira was out of bed and putting on her bathrobe, and Zoey moved to help Rumi sit up on the edge of the bed so she could do the same, despite her mumbled protests. Once all three of them were “dressed”, Mira stumbled over to the door and let Celine in.

Rumi watched her and Mira walk further inside the room towards the bed, Celine’s charcoal grey suit contrasting with Mira’s wrinkly white bathrobe. Celine spotted Rumi and zeroed in on her, moving to stand in front of her and looking her up and down.

“I’ve made preparations to get you three back to the tower, Bobby is waiting in the lobby. Mira, Zoey, would you excuse us?”

When Mira and Zoey said nothing, Celine turned to look at them. They gave each other and Rumi a panicked look, but before Mira could open her mouth Rumi gave them a subtle thumbs-up signal.

“Yes, Celine.”

“Yes, Celine.”

Mira and Zoey hurriedly shuffled out the door. Celine let out a breath.

“Lay down.”

“You really don’t have to-“

“Rumi.”

Rumi laid back on the bed and undid her robe, opening it to reveal her injuries. Celine leaned over and looked over her, then gently peeled the lidocaine patch off of her ribs. 

“Tell me if it hurts.”

She lightly prodded the bruised area, assessing the damage. 

“It’s just bruised, Celine, I already checked.”

Celine nodded and reached for the first-aid kit on the bedside table, replacing her lidocaine patch and adjusting some of the bandages on her arms. Rumi snaked her arms back into the robe and Celine helped her sit up.

“Are you sure you’re alright? Any dizziness? Sensitivity? Difficulty walking?”

“No, I’m- well, maybe a little bit of light sensitivity? But I’m fine, I swear.”

Celine pursed her lips.

“Mira and Zoey didn’t see anything?”

Rumi expected the question, and shook her head without hesitation. Celine sighed.

“Good. Go with Bobby and the girls, and once you’re back at the tower, you are to rest for three days, and no training, dancing, or patrolling for a week.”

“Yes, Celine.”

Celine backed away slightly, giving Rumi space to stand up. After a few seconds, Rumi breathed deeply, then slid off the bed and stood up straight. Celine nodded, then walked to the door, looking away just before Rumi stumbled slightly, bracing herself on the wall before regaining her balance. 

Celine opened the door to see Zoey and Mira leaning in the hall outside, waiting anxiously for Rumi. Rumi walked out and Celine closed the door behind her.

“You girls get back to the tower, I will handle the press.”

She started to walk away, pulling out her phone, but turned around.

“And make sure Rumi refrains from any strenuous physical activity for a week.”

Rumi groaned as Celine walked away, Mira smirked.

“Looks like you won’t be able to secretly work yourself to death during hiatus this time.”

“Ugh, stop..”

Zoey giggled.

“Nope! You’ll take a break even if we have to follow you to bed and watch you sleep!”

Zoey widened her eyes as much as possible and stared at Rumi to prove her point. Mira chuckled softly, and Rumi rolled her eyes.

“Let’s just go find Bobby already.”

Rumi started walking towards the lobby, but after a moment, she stumbled and flailed her arm towards the wall in an attempt to catch herself. Mira and Zoey were quick to catch up to her and wrap their arms around her, and-

“Ow!”

Rumi ended up smacking Mira in the face on accident. 

“Sorry!”

Zoey pulled her back upright, then wrapped Rumi’s arm over her shoulder and snuck in beside her.

“Zoey, I’m fine, you don’t need to-“

Rumi yelped as she stumbled over her feet and leaned hard into Zoey. 

“It kinda looks like she does need to.”

“Ugh, shut up.”

Rumi flushed with embarrassment as they continued on  towards the lobby. Eventually they met with Bobby, then filed into a car surrounded by security. Mira went in first, then took Rumi’s hand and helped her climb in the middle, bookended by Zoey, who wrapped her arms around Rumi and slumped into her. 

“Zoey, put your seatbelt on.”

Zoey shook her head. Rumi laughed softly, rolling her eyes. Mira reached for Zoey’s hand and gave it a squeeze.

“C’mon. You can snuggle with Rumi all you want once we get back.”

Zoey pouted at her for a moment, then removed her arms from around Rumi and stretched, bumping her hands into the roof of the car.

“Fineeee, but you have to join us.”

“Oh, the horror.”

The girls broke out into giggles as Zoey clicked her seatbelt into place. Zoey leaned onto Rumi’s shoulder and closed her eyes, and Rumi did the same to Mira, who leaned back and snuggled in. Rumi sighed and spoke softly.

“…Thank you. Thank you both.”

Mira huffed.

“Later. And you don’t need to thank us.”

Zoey nodded into Rumi’s shoulder.

“You’d do the same for us.”

Rumi smiled and drifted off to sleep.

——

Mira and Zoey ended up practically dragging a half-asleep Rumi into the elevator. When the elevator dinged as they reached the penthouse, Rumi groaned. Mira smirked.

“Come on, fearless leader. To the couch we go.”

Zoey shouted softly.

“Couch! Couch! Couch!”

They walked her over to the couch, and Mira put her hand on the back of Rumi’s head to support her as they lowered her, flopping onto the couch themselves shortly after.

“…mmm, Mir, Mira, I don’t… Zoey?”

Rumi mumbled some more. Zoey gave her a concerned look and took her hand, looking at Mira.

“Zoey, get her some water? I’ll take a look at her.”

Zoey nodded and sped off to the kitchen. Mira slowly stood up off the couch and undid the knot keeping Rumi’s bathrobe on. She gently tugged at Rumi’s shoulder, trying to extricate her arm from the sleeve, when Rumi’s eyes shot open. Her hand clamped around Mira’s wrist.

“Mira, I-“

“Hey, it’s okay. We already know, remember? You’re okay.”

Rumi’s grip relaxed as she met Mira’s gaze.

“Yeah, yeah, right. Right. I remember.”

Mira smiled down at her.

“We can talk about it soon, but first I need to take a look at your bandages.”

Rumi nodded, then slowly wriggled her arms out of the robe. Mira went over her arms, wiping off some dried blood and inspecting all her scrapes and cuts.

“Why… why aren’t you mad at me?”

Mira’s focused expression faltered.

“I am.”

She took a deep, shuddering breath.

“I’m upset that you kept this from us.”

She looked Rumi in the eyes.

“I’m more upset that it took… it took you almost dying for us to find out.”

Her voice cracked.

“God, Rumi, that was terrifying. I…”

Rumi grabbed Mira’s hand and interlaced their fingers.

“I’m okay, Mira, really.”

Mira scoffed and glared at her.

“…okay, I may have a tiny little concussion, but!”

“Don’t even finish that sentence.”

Rumi started giggling, and Mira let out a slightly watery chuckle.

“You’re insufferable.”

A moment later, Zoey came back with a basket full of precariously balanced snacks and water bottles. Mira rolled her eyes and got up to grab the water bottles before they fell out.

“You know, you could have just taken two trips.”

“Nope!”

Zoey plopped down on the couch next to Rumi and leaned into her, gently taking her arm hostage. Rumi tensed, then relaxed. 

“Someone’s comfy.”

Mira sat down on Rumi’s other side and handed her a water bottle.

“Drink.”

She drank. Then, she shivered as Zoey traced her patterns with a soft touch.

“So pretty…”

Rumi choked, her face turning red.

“They’re patterns!”

Mira gave her a deadpan look.

“We noticed, Rumi.”

“I- ugh. You guys are so weird.”

Rumi took a deep breath. Zoey looked up at her, and Mira turned to do the same.

“So. Um. Patterns.”

Zoey nodded approvingly.

“…patterns?”

“Yeah. Patterns. I…”

Mira rolled her eyes.

“How did you get them?”

“I was born with them..?”

Mira’s face scrunched up in confusion. Zoey tilted her head.

“Wait, then what was the whole thing with Celine, does she- well of course she knows, but why-“

Rumi groaned.

“I just didn’t want to get into it with her, okay? Like, I wasn’t feeling good, and I knew she would want to know the whole story, and she would probably give us all a huge lecture about it and I just wanted to go back to bed!”

“Real.”

“Real.”

They all laughed.

“Okay, can we maybe circle back to you being born with demon patterns? Because, like, what? Literally what?”

“My dad was a demon.”

Mira and Zoey’s mouths fell open. 

“That’s… literally so cool!”

Rumi looked at Zoey in bewilderment.

“Rumi, I’m so glad you’re telling us this, because we are absolutely going to be figuring out all your secret half-demon superpowers now.”

“We?”

“Yes, Mira.”

“Fair.”

“Zoey, what? What are you… what? Why?”

Zoey frowned.

“Why what?

“I don’t know?? Aren’t you, like… afraid? Disgusted? I’m a monster!”

“Pretty sure Zoey’s into that.”

Zoey giggled.

“Mira, I’m being serious! What is wrong with you two?”

Rumi clenched her hand into a fist, squeezing her other hand around Zoey’s as she trembled. Mira frowned and took Rumi’s fist in her own hand, gently squeezing.

“You don’t seem like a monster to me.”

Zoey stroked Rumi’s hand with her thumb.

“Is that why you didn’t tell us?”

Rumi sniffled and nodded.

“Oh, Rumi… you know I’m always on your side.”

“I-“

Her voice broke.

“Yeah. I know, Zoey.”

She relaxed her hands, allowing Mira to interlace their fingers, and let out a sigh.

“I’m sorry.”

She let out a small huff of laughter.

“It just seems so silly now. I don’t know what I was worried about.” 

“It is silly. You are a silly goose.”

Zoey spoke solemnly as she poked Rumi in the cheek. Mira hummed in agreement and reached for a bag of shrimp chips, letting go of Rumi’s hand to tear it open. She popped one out and tossed it in an arc at Zoey, who caught it in her mouth with ease. She plucked another one from the bag and held it in front of Rumi.

“Open.”

Rumi rolled her eyes, but opened her mouth to receive the snack.

“You can roll your eyes all you want, but for the next week it’s going to be Rumi pampering time.”

Zoey lit up.

“Oh. My. God. Rumi. This is why you always say no to the bathhouse!”

Rumi pursed her lips. Zoey and Mira shared a conspiratorial glance.

“We are giving you a spa day right now. Literally right now!”

Zoey was practically bouncing in her seat.

“Okay, maybe not literally right now, Zoey.”

“Still. You’re getting the whole package. Princess treatment.”

Rumi flushed.

“You don’t-“

Mira shoved another shrimp chip in her face.

“We want to.”

“Yeah, we’ve wanted to. Since, like, forever.”

“Forever.”

Mira and Zoey spoke in unison, then broke into a fit of giggles. Rumi hesitantly smiled, and laughed softly with them.

“You guys really aren’t upset?”

Zoey snuggled into her side.

“Believe me, I’m very upset that you’ve been keeping all this from me, but it’s okay. You’re going to make it up to me.”

Mira snickered.

“You mean us.”

Zoey dramatically sighed and rolled her eyes.

“I guess I’ll share her. If I really have to.”

“Good.”

Mira’s arm gently snaked along the back of the couch as she laid her head on Rumi’s shoulder. Rumi giggled.

“I think there’s enough of me to go around, Mira.”