Chapter Text
If they were meant to be Gwi-Ma's pets, Mira had always thought that Zoey fit the bill perfectly. She slept curled in their nest with soft snores rising and falling in time with her chest as Mira padded close.
Zoey eyes snapped up, watching sleepily. "Mir..?"
"Mmh," Mira hummed, nuzzling the smaller demon. "Just me, Zo. Got us some food."
The sleepy girl purred, rolling over to show her stomach as her eyes fluttered closed once again. Mira placed down the two paper trays to pet her partner's face gently. "C'mon sleepy, I got us raindrop cakes, your favorite." At the mere mention of the sweet snack Zoey shot up, clawed paws reaching around Mira to devour the cake quicker than Mira could even see.
The tall girl snorted before starting on her own cake at a reasonable pace that was far less likely to leave her choking with gelatin lodged in her throat unlike Zoey.
Licking her lips, Zoey let out a small sigh of relief.
"Thaaaank you, Mira!"
"Anything for you, Zo."
The dark haired girl curled herself around Mira's back, resting her head onto the lithe girl's lap idly.
These were the days that made Mira think that hell might not be that bad. Not if it was better than what her parents home had been. And especially not if she got to have Zoey.
Slowly, Zoey traced circles into her thighs, her tail thwaping against the floorboards as she lost herself in thought. Mira took another bite of her cake, gathered another scoop of gelatin onto her spoon and tilted Zoey's head back.
"More cake for your thoughts pretty girl?"
"Mmh." Zoey ate absentmindedly before fixing her face into a grimace. Mira could only sigh.
"He called for us didn't he?"
"Yeah. He says there's some task-"
In behind the frames of her glasses, Mira's eyes flashed with hurt and upset. "Zoey, there's never going to be a task. You know this, Gwi-Ma- he's just fucking with us. It's bullshit he's giving us to keep us active enough to not go insane but never enough to actually make us feel like we're capable of something! Look!" She gestured towards Zoey in her entirety.
Zoey lounged like she was perfectly content. Trailed along to Gwi-Ma when his soldiers came and demanded for an audience with both of them. Even when Mira herself chose to be dragged if she truly wasn't allowed to stay behind. She even accepted the gifts he gave of gentle bedding and sweet foods, enough to eat and fill. If they were to be caged animals, in Mira's eyes, Zoey had let herself be declawed and sat at the right hand of her enslaver.
"Look at what, Mira." The dark haired girl could only hiss as she bore all of her teeth, angrily. There was a challenge in her eyes: 'Say what you mean. I dare you. Go for it.'
It was a long silence and Mira couldn't bother herself to try and break it, only looking away from her partner's gaze and eating another spoonful of cake.
Zoey sighed through her nose as she slunk away from her cuddling against Mira's body, moving to sit up before continuing. "It's a mission to the surface- the overworld. He wants us together before he reveals anything else. I want to know what he has. You just have to come with me. You don't have to listen to him or agree, or do whatever task he has lined up- that'll all be for me, okay?" It hurt Mira, the way Zoey could hardly raise her head to meet her gaze with those soft brown eyes she loved so dearly.
Finishing off her desert, she held Zoey tight, placing her against her chest as she braced her girlfriend as though she could fend off the entirety of the world with those arms alone. She wished she could. She'd do anything to be able to.
"We'll go together, Zoey. I'm not leaving you, I promise."
Zoey held Mira tight.
They were a package deal. No one would separate them. ever.
As they climbed to the top of his mountain, at the highest peak of the stairs, the two small demons could see the looming, bursting figure of the Demon king himself.
His voice boomed over them and the endless fields of suffering demons like a rain of burning yet freezing hail, painfully shedding over them as he spoke.
"My hunters. For you I have a job."
Mira snorted with a disgusted and higher-than-thou look upon her face at the dreaded deity. "What is it."
Gwi Ma growled. Addressing Zoey and Zoey only. "Careful little one. Your taller is misdirecting her anger, pull her in."
Mira was quick to snap just as Zoey grabbed her bicep gently and held her close to her sides. The magenta haired girl could feel her blood flush at the chorus of chuckles from both the greater and lesser demons below. She was being owned and Zoey hardly even seemed to acknowledge it outside of the gentlest brushes.
The king's laugh rumbled in a dark warm way as he started again. "In the overworld, the honmoon has grown weak. But the hunters themselves know this, they've been keeping off my armies and spies from invading the lands as we need to escape. You are to infiltrate them. Kill them. Return to me after you do."
Mira could feel her own claws digging into her palms at the commands. Gwi ma didnt offer any incentive. He simply believed they would do as they were told with nothing further needed or wanted. Beside her she could feel the press of zoey's marks against her own, steadily ebbing love and reassurance against her and into her patterns. She had a plan. She must have.
Zoey's control of her patterns was far greater than Mira's. On most days she even looked human, managing to be calm enough to have them fade away, or barely even having her coresponding emotions show unlike Mira who was a collage of every color she felt. And so Gwi ma couldnt tell she was soothing her, or that she was soothing her because Zoey knew that she was in control.
Another ripple of laughter rung through the crowd as she stared in pure adoration of Zoey.
"Whipped, hm?" Gwi ma snarled, clearly entertained by their small hidden display of human affection. "Better by her whip than mine. Off you go. I'll have others reporting back to me if you've not completed your duties or if you truly do think you can escape me. Remember my hunters: There is no place left for you to go. No place left for you to hide. No one who remembers you. You've no family, not even each other.
You are alone. You have no purpose. Tools for a task to then be discarded. Serve your master."
"My lord, if I may?" Zoey bent low as she spoke, waiting for the monarch's permission before answering again. "What should we do if we are attacked by the hunters? Or if one of us..-"
"Dies?" The king chortled, this truly must have been fun for him. Mira dreaded the idea. "Then you die. It is of no concern to me. But if you are alive you are to accomplish your task to completion. Tools can always be replaced. You are simply the tools that are had now. Go."
In a vortex of swathing flames the two demons were absolved and brought closer to the rift to the overworld.
From their rooms in their small pagoda they could see the ripple of the honmoon, as could any demon. But up close they could see in it visions of the world, so close to how two girls remembered it. They were so close to freedom. Zoey reached out a hand towards the rift only to feel a tight grasp on her forearm as she turned to see the look of utter fear on Mira's face. Zoey held onto her partner's hands and pressed a soft kiss to the taller girl's knuckles.
Soft doe colored eyes gazed upwards to soothe the frantic deep oak of her partner.
"Don't think. Just trust me, okay?" If this was the last thing she ever asked of Mira in this place, she wanted it to be something good. Something that would help them both.
She watched as Mira swallowed and nodded. "Okay."
This would be their rift to freedom. Togther, onward, inseparable— they marched towards the honmoon.
Yaaaaawn!
"Ah, the tiger is up I see?" Celine let a small smirk bleed onto her face as she laid out some porrage for both herself and Rumi this morning.
The lethargic teen merely growled harmlessly, a pitiful sound in her throat as she laid her head upon the dining table- clearly she hadn't gotten a lot of sleep.
"Want protein. Need eggs. Please."
"That's very nice but good big cats eat what they're given before making demands."
Rumi lifted her sleepy head to glare at her mother, fluffy tail thrashing behind her as Celine fixed her with a disinterested look as though she knew she held the upper hand in their dynamic. And unfortunately for Rumi, she did.
The girl mere grumbled, shovelling the savory porrage behind her fangs as Celine enjoyed hers civilly.
Mornings were never Rumi's favorite, nor had they been Celine's, and hardly even a favorite of Miyeong's if she was forced to be up of someone else's accord. But teenagers needed structure especially teenagers who had to save the future of fhe world, and so Rumi got up at the crack of dawn.
Lapping at the last bits of food in her bowl hungily, the girl moved to wipe off her mouth with her palm. She was in quite the rush today, Celine noted, that was odd. Breakfast was the same as always and yet Rumi's energy was damn near electric, but not dangerous or honed, more like a simple zap from friction on a rug.
The girl gazed at her patiently though her tail gave away her excitement as its tip twitched in unbound emotion.
"Yes, Rumi?" Celine smirked, watching as her daughter lit up at the permission.
Rumi clapped her hands together, tapping her claws as she began. "Okay, you know how you told me that I would feel when it happened? Feeling the connection to the other hunters? I think it felt it last night! It was weird like, feel a rip form in fabric but somehow I was the fabric. But the tear was clean and precise." Rumi paused, eyes narrowing into her empty bowl as she thought. "Maybe less like a tear and more like a needle, piercing through to heal and fix something that was already damaged."
Gentle brown eyes anxiously looked up towards Celine for approval, as though someone else would be able to tell her if this was the life long bond she was meant to be feeling. Instead, her mother's face only held soft worry.
It wasn't the first time Rumi had had dreams like these- of two girls wandering the blurred edges of some misshapen earth begging for her help and presence. But each time the dreams simply left a bigger hole in her heart that Celine knew she couldn't fill. Days of mania and anger at being alone- the first lone hunter in a generation of what was always meant to be a supposed trio.
"Rumi, dear…"
Rumi could hardly find it in her to look back at Celine. It wasn't that she felt alone with just her and Celine but rather that some part of her felt odd. She was whole, she knew that the other hunters wouldn't be missing parts of her, simply complimentary and beloved. But last night it was as if everything locked into place. Secure. Strong and Whole.
THRASH
Something was sweeping through the bushes outside.
No words were needed. The two remaining Hunters and fast at work and out the door. Rumi clung close and low to Celine's side as the woman slid open the porch door, threads of the honmoon ready to thrust forth her weapon. Neither of the two could spot anything from the crevice of the door- but Rumi could hear. And hear quite well if she was honest.
Hands padding on grass. A soft giggle followed by trotting. "C'mon Mira!"
A huff, with lighter, more attentive and delicate steps. No words. They must have been doing something.
Rumi tugged on Celine's cardigan and nodded her head towards the source of the sound. Her eyes widened at the confidence in Rumi's face, not even a smidge of uncertainty. Alright then. The two moved in sync, avoiding well known squeaky floorboards and old wood to the side of the house.
In their berry bushes— the ones Celine would spend every summer tending to and Rumi would, as every good pest was wont to do, pick and eat at much to Celine's annoyance— was a small girl. She popped each of the blackberries into her mouth with varying degrees of expression.
One. "Blegh— too sour!" She frowned, sticking her tongue out. Two. The girl hissed. "I bit into a pit, owww! Miraaaa, come kiss it better!"
Beside the girl sat another, taller, slender and obviously found of the antics of the smaller. She gave a small peck to the cheek of the younger girl, rubbing a hand over hers before analyzing the bush. It didn't take long before she found what she was looking for— a berry, nice and round. Firm but not overly so. Perfectly in season.
'Mira', Rumi assumed, purred happily as she fed the berry towards the other girl.
"How's that, Zo?"
"Perfect! I didn't know you knew about berries, Mimi!"
Mira shrugged, though the reddened tips of her ears gave away her faux nonchalance. "'They' always thought it was important I had a balanced breakfast and knew what one looked like. I just picked up on what the fruits looked like when ripe."
Zoey bunted her head into Mira's shoulder, snickering. "Alright little miss modesty."
"Well one of us has to be."
"Hey!"
Rumi's tail swayed playfully as her ears perked towards the antics of the other girls. Their voices curled around her ears and wrapped her soul lovingly and tender— she could only imagine what it would be like to hear them say her name.
She sighed, far louder than she had meant to. The two girls looked over so quickly they could've broken their (albeit, pretty) little necks.
Both Zoey and Mira tensed, as though they could bolt at any moment if approached or simply lunge out and attack. Their once soft and loving gazes to each other turned cold and scared when they saw Rumi- except they weren't looking at her.
No. They were looking at Celine, weapon drawn, shoulders tight as she clutched her sickle at the ready. Each of them were trying to gauge what the other might do- if Celine would attack them and they would be forced to fight back and vice versa. But Rumi could see the tremble in her mother's jaw at the sight of the other girls. When she took a proper look at them, no longer fawning and flushing, she could see what must have been preoccuping Celine's mind.
The girls were thin, dirty, and exhausted. Zoey hardly looked like she had lost her baby fat, cheeks still round and eyes full of wonder and hope that was dimming by the second as she realized she might have to fight. Beside her, Mira was no better. The frames of the girl's glasses were scuffed and worn down, the lenses dirty and her face hollow and pale.
Celine lowered her sickle, letting it evaporate string by string back into the Honmoon as she crept slowly forth towards the two, crouching a short length before them.
"Hello."
Zoey clutched onto Mira's arm and in turn the older girl wrapped her other arm around Zoey, fixing Celine with not quiet a glare but a general look of mistrust. Celine knew that kind of look well.
'Stay away from me, we're not friends Miyeong!'
'Cece pleeeease, we could be! I just wanna paint your nails!'
It was the same stare she'd always given Miyeong when she promised her something that must have been too good to be true for someone like herself. A street rat.
Celine clicked her tongue. Holding out a hand palm side up towards Zoey but keeping her eyes loocked onto Mira's- she knew the way this game was played and it was best played by appealing to the girls' trust.
"My name is Celine, this," She nodded back towards the corner where Rumi stood awakardly by herself. "Is my daughter, Rumi. Can I ask how you two found yourselves out here? This is very out of the way for tourists to want to come to." She didn't bother to mention that this was also private land and that no one was allowed up without explicit permissions.
The pink girl's eyes narrowed, her mouth fixed in a heavy frown as she continued to challenge Celine's gaze and found nothing there. Not a challenge, not a feeling of superiority, just…kindness. And not the faux kind that anyone could easily fake, no, this was the real deal. And Mira hated it. Because she knew how easy she would fall victim to it- and she did anyways.
"I'm Mira. This is Zoey. We're lost and we need somewhere to stay. I'm sorry for eating from your bushes, we were hungry." Curt and to the point, better to beg for forgiveness than ask permission. Well, except for the fact that Mira didn't beg to anyone, no matter what Zoey might have said.
Celine nodded softly still holding out her hand as Zoey softly touched her fingers to her palm. Quickly, the small girl gave out a soft gasp.
Mira's eyes honed in on her. "Zo?"
"Woah…"
"Woah?"
Celine chuckled quietly before them. "Woah indeed. Welcome home girls."
"YIPPIE! OH, UH-" Rumi cheered from behind the three before quickly blushing as the attention was turned on her. "Sorry…haha."