Chapter Text
Rumi sighed, blinking awake slowly to the smell of breakfast. She had slept for three, four hours tops- having spent most of her night scribbling out music and crumpling pages to fill her waste bin.
Instead of getting up, she rolled flat onto her back, staring at her ceiling. Rumi had never felt so low on energy before despite being no stranger to late nights and little sleep.
She should be- was excited; HUNTR/X had really made it. Next year herself, Zoey, Mira, and Bobby would do their biggest tour ever- a world tour. This tour could would be the opportunity they've been waiting for.
'That I've been waiting for,' Rumi thought, raising her arms up to let the sleeves of her pajamas fall and reveal her marks. They had started spreading again, now down nearly to her wrists.
'I'm going to have to tell costuming I need my sleeves adjusted again.' Rumi let her arms drop, 'schedule another meeting with Celine in case we need a press statement about the changes...'
She still didn't understand what caused them to get worse. Was it only a matter of time? Should she be finding ways to slow the spread, rather than looking for a reason?
She just felt so... Tired.
Rumi forced herself to sit up, stripping off her pajama shirt and throwing it aside. She let her pants slip off as she made her way over to her mirror.
Being in nothing but her panties exposed everything to her reflection- the jagged purple marking her skin used to make her feel sick, unable to look for long or only seeing what she had to. As the years passed she became numb to it: dressing without asssistants in her own room, making sure she looked presentable- to treating her own wounds when a fight went sideways.
She let her eyes roam, reviewing the patterns she already had memorized, learning the new ones. Only the ones on her arms had spread this time, hips unchanged. She ran her fingers along the band of her panties, touching the marks there lightly, 'How long until I can't wear crop tops or shorts?'
'Celine thinks my mother made a mistake.' Always assuring Rumi they could fix it. Celine had put so much into raising her.
This tour needed to be perfect.
'And I can't even write a new song for it.'
Rumi felt the little energy she did have drain out of her, backing up to her bed and sitting on the edge.
'Can a demon even turn the honmoon gold?' The thought suddenly crossed her mind, 'What if the honmoon made a mistake? Can a demon really help seal the demon realm? Is this a mistake that can be fixed?'
She knew she should get dressed, join the girls for breakfast and go over the schedule for the day.
'What if I'm just wasting their time?' Rumi put her head in her hands, 'What if this is all for nothing?'
How did they know she was capable of turning the honmoon gold? How did Celine know it would take away her patterns?
'She doesn't. She can't.' Rumi froze as the realization hit.
She was the first of her kind. Half human, half demon.
How could anyone know what she could or couldn't do? She shouldn't even exist.
A soft beat began and Zoey started randomly rapping, loud and easily heard through her door. She needed to get dressed and join them for breakfast, before they started to wonder and come check on her.
Still, Rumi didn't move.
'A mistake.'
Her mom had made, then kept a mistake.
The honmoon made another, choosing her, protecting her.
Celine trusted the honmoon, raising a demon she could never love, allowing the mistake to continue.
Her being here, right now, alive, was a series of poor choices.
A knock on her door made her jump, cheerful voice calling out "Rumi you in there? Mira is serving breakfast!"
Rumi stared at her door, finding herself unable to respond to Zoey.
'Would they make the same mistake?'
"Rumi?" Zoey turned away, next question directed at Mira "Are you sure she's not up already?"
Rumi couldn't hear Mira's response, but Zoey padded away towards the kitchen.
'Celine doesn't seem to think so, that's why I can't tell them.'
When they saw what she was, it would be over. Rumi felt oddly calm at the thought.
When her mom died, the honmoon reached out for the new hunters. Celine told her they had known ever since she was an infant.
Rumi slowly stood, walking to the mirror again, looking up to meet her own eyes.
If she wasn't here, the honmoon would pick the next generation of hunters. Mira and Zoey would still have Celine to help them maintain the honmoon while they trained.
Hunters who could actually turn the honmoon gold, who didn't have a demon-mistake with them holding them back.
The sooner she stopped this mistake, the sooner the honmoon would pick new hunters and the sooner the demons would be gone for good.
'Including me-' Only Rumi was selfish- she wasn't sure she could do it herself. She didn't want to die, exactly. It just needed to happen.
Mira and Zoey wouldn't make that mistake. She didn't have to do it herself.
All she had to do was walk out her door, patterns on full display, and let the hunters take care of her.
Celine will understand.