A/N: Here's the new Chapter! Which also means the next FIVE chapters are up on my Patreon for early access!

Rumi and her girls have a talk about the boy in their midst.

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Rumi runs. She can't even really say why, only that she knows she has to because… because she's afraid that if she stays any longer in that damn bathhouse, she'll start to trust that damn demon too. Part of her fears that she already does…

Jinu's good looks notwithstanding, Rumi started feeling strange as soon he'd sung those lyrics of his. Never mind her poor excuse for an attempt at Golden. That failure had hurt… it'd hurt a lot. She'd lost her voice faster than ever before, proving that even if she wanted to cut Jinu off and still make the Golden Honmoon, she was in no position to even try.

… But that barely mattered compared to the way Jinu's singing had resonated with her on a deep, terrifying level. She was sure she'd never heard that song before, and yet something about it had just… spoke to her soul.

It was like he was singing directly to her. Like he was calling out to her in some sort of… of siren's song. She wanted to go to him. She wanted to sing with him. She… she wanted a lot of things she couldn't let herself want.

And now even Mira and Zoey were being swayed to his side and turning on her. Or at least, they were turning on the Golden Honmoon, which might as well be turning on her. What was she going to do? How was she supposed to get them back when all she could do was run, apparently?

"Rumi!"

"Slow down!"

Oh. Of course they were chasing after her. Rumi puts on a burst of speed and then scales a nearby building in two backflips… but it's still not enough to shake them. She can feel them still right on her tail, even as they turn the chase into a roof hopping endeavor.

Her half-demon heritage makes her monstrously strong, but not actually all that much faster. At least, not compared to two Honmoon Empowered Hunters anyways. A sigh leaves Rumi's lips as she realizes there's no way she's going to be able to outrun them. At least not without resorting to something like exhausting them both over the course of hours… and so Rumi stops dead in her tracks.

Zoey hits her hard just a moment later, the slightly faster and youngest member of their group wrapping her limbs around Rumi from behind. She buries her face in the nape of Rumi's neck while clinging to her like a spider monkey, and a pleading voice reaches Rumi's ears.

"Please…"

Rumi just stays where she is, still as a statue. Staring forward, she can almost forget for a moment how utterly fucked everything is. But then, of course, Zoey finally climbs down and grabs Rumi by the wrist, turning her to face them. Mira is just a few feet away, arms crossed over her chest, a complicated but definitely strained expression on face.

Zoey's lower lip wobbles as she runs her fingers through Rumi's fingers.

"We didn't… you don't need to run from us, Rumi. We're in this together. Always."

Rumi's breath hitches. Together. They've always been together. The Chosen Three of this generation, the Honmoon's Hunters. Except… Rumi has always stood apart. As their leader. As the third to their pair. As the demon in their midst that they don't (and can never) know about.

And now what use is she? Without her voice, she can't even help them heal the Honmoon. Instead, they're forced to rely more and more on Jinu of all people. She's worthless. Useless. And if they can't manage to achieve the Golden Honmoon, if there really is no hope of making her patterns disappear, then eventually Mira and Zoey will find out what a monster she really is. They'll find out she's been lying to them all this time.

"… Why are you having such a hard time trusting Jinu, Rumi?"

Mira's question lands like a physical blow. Rumi even twitches as though it was one, her eyes widening and her breath catching. But both Mira and Zoey are looking at her, making it clear they're not going to take silence for an answer.

"… He's a demon."

Even to her own ears, that response sounds weak. And the way Zoey and Mira share a glance with one another doesn't help. Before she knows it, Rumi finds herself bristling at their reaction, a growl leaving her lips as she finds a bit more strength.

"And it certainly doesn't help when you both ogle him like a piece of meat! You both were so gross back there! He's literally the very enemy we've trained all our lives to fight!"

Rumi steadfastly ignores her own reaction to Jinu's chest and how hypocritical her words truly are. At the same time, she's praying to the damn Honmoon that they were too busy staring to notice that she was doing the same.

Thankfully… neither of them call her out on it. Zoey even has the good grace to look a little embarrassed. Maybe even a little ashamed. Unfortunately, Mira on the other hand doesn't have an ounce of shame in her body. She never has. And right now she's clearly feeling… confrontational.

"Yeah and? I have eyes, so what? He's a total catch."

Squawking, Rumi growls, repeating herself with a bit more strength this time.

"He's a demon, Mira!"

But then Zoey clears her throat, pushing her index fingers together.

"Yeah but… he's a nice demon?"

The sense of déjà vu is incredible, even as Rumi snarls.

"Demons are never nice, Zoey!"

Except this time around, Mira goes off script.

"Demons with souls seem pretty damn nice. Half-demons are probably pretty nice too, I bet."

Rumi freezes up… but they don't know. They can't know. If they knew, they wouldn't even be able to look at her without disgust in their eyes, let alone talk to her like this.

"We… we don't even know any half-demons."

Yet again, her voice sounds weak and almost plaintive even to Rumi's ears. Yet again, Mira and Zoey share a glance with one another.

"They have souls though, right? If they're only half-demon, then they have to have a soul for their human side."

Mira's logic is unassailable; Rumi is forced to admit. Especially since she knows that the pink-haired dancer is right. After all, for as much as she might be a monster… she wouldn't be able to connect to the Honmoon if she didn't have a soul. The Honmoon would never have made her one of its hunters if she didn't at least have a soul. Still…

"Rumi… what if Jinu is telling the truth? Since he has a soul, doesn't it make more sense that the Honmoon sent him than the idea that he's part of some rogue demon faction that managed to figure out how to… manipulate the Honmoon barrier or something?"

Rumi flicks her gaze over to Zoey only to see the younger hunter looking at her with big, hopeful eyes. When she doesn't immediately answer, Zoey continues on.

"And if the Honmoon DID give him a soul back and send him to us… doesn't it make sense to trust him? He's had every opportunity to betray us and he hasn't. He's even saved Bobby's life multiple times at this point. What sort of demon with ill intentions would care enough to help out our manager of all people?"

She's not going to convince them that Jinu is evil. That realization rushes like ice down Rumi's spine. To be fair… she's not sure that even she's fully convinced Jinu is evil anymore. And yet… and yet…

"… Fine. Yeah. Maybe he's not evil. But I still don't think we should count the Golden Honmoon out just yet, girls!"

The looks on Mira and Zoey's faces are downright incredulous.

"I'm serious! Hear me out… Mira, you said it yourself the other night. Jinu can claim all he wants that the Golden Honmoon is impossible, but we KNOW that's not true. We've SEEN the gold from previous performances."

Forcing a reassuring smile onto her face, Rumi looks between her girls. Unfortunately, it doesn't feel like she's getting through to them. Still, she presses on anyways.

"… That means the Golden Honmoon is achievable! Perfection is within our grasp! I just need to fix my voice and we can seal Gwi-Ma and his demons away for good. We don't know for sure that Jinu's plans for the Honmoon will do the same thing. In fact, he's been pretty damn cagey about that part!"

Zoey looks like she might cry.

"But… Rumi… if the Honmoon sent Jinu to stop us from going golden…"

"We don't know that part for sure. Maybe… maybe Jinu is confused. Maybe he just thinks that's why the Honmoon gave him his soul back. Maybe there's another reason entirely. There's way too many 'maybes' surrounding that option, Zoey. But we know the Golden Honmoon will work. And we know we can do it… together."

For a moment, she thinks she might be able to get through to them. But then…

"And what about the half-demons, Rumi? Celine was either lying out her ass… or she straight up gaslit herself into believing that bullshit about half-demons being fine once we achieved gold. What if the Golden Honmoon hurts them, huh? What if it sends them all down to the demon realm, or worse, kills them outright?"

Rumi's smile trembles a bit. See here's the thing. She's pretty sure, at least based off of her conversation with Jinu last night, that she's probably the only half-demon around. Whatever had happened between her mother and father to create her… it likely wasn't so easily replicated. Otherwise they would have already run into a half-demon before now.

Of course, she can't exactly tell her girls that, now can she? Or at least, she can't tell them that specifically. She just has to… frame it properly. Easy..

"Even… even if the Golden Honmoon harms half-demons too… I feel like they'd understand and be willing to make that sacrifice. It's simple arithmetic, right? We're talking about saving countless future souls from Gwi-Ma and his demons… at the cost of a handful of half-demons at most. Obviously if there were anymore than that, we already would have run into them. They can't be THAT common or widespread."

"… Rumi… no."

Blinking, Rumi looks over at Zoey to see the tears have finally started to fall down their youngest member's face. She blanches, confused for a moment… before she thinks back on what she said and realizes how it sounds. Oops.

"Oh Zoey…"

Fortunately, Zoey allows Rumi to pull her into a hug, embracing the smaller girl as she kisses the top of her head. Zoey cries into her chest, her body wracked with sobs. Rumi needs to fix this. She didn't mean to sound so heartless, she's just struggling to put it all into words without letting her girls know her secret.

"Girls… I'm not… I'm not saying I WANT to sacrifice anyone for the Golden Honmoon. I… I'm sure that Celine was at least partially right. So long as any half-demons up here have stayed true to their humanity… there's no way the Golden Honmoon will hurt them or drag them down below. It will only harm those who have given into their darkness and let their demon side spread too far. It'll… it'll be fine for the rest. I'm sure of it."

As far as reassurances go, even Rumi knows she's not doing a very good job here. But before she can find better words and figure out what to say to make Zoey stop crying…

"And what about you?"

Mira's voice cuts through, causing Zoey to stiffen in Rumi's arms. Rumi, meanwhile, doesn't understand the question at first. She furrows her brow as she looks over to see Mira is angrier than she's been in a long, long time.

"Mira…"

Zoey's quiet utterance of Mira's name causes the latter to glance down at her… but in the end, she just shakes her head.

"I can't do it Zoey. I can't just stand here and pretend like we're talking about random strangers anymore."

What?

Mira stomps forward and jabs a finger right in Rumi's face.

"What. About. You? Where do you fall on this fanciful fantasy spectrum of yours, Rumi? Do you consider yourself a half-demon who's stayed true to her humanity or are we talking about you being willing to commit suicide here just to achieve the Golden Honmoon?!"

It starts to dawn on Rumi then what Mira is saying… and what it means that she's saying it. She's outright talking about Rumi's heritage. Like… like she already knows Rumi's biggest secret.

Her arms around Zoey loosen up and fall away, causing Zoey to straighten… and take a step back so she's standing right next to Mira. The three of them are still only a foot apart, but the sudden distance feels like a monumental gulf between them.

Zoey won't look Rumi in the eye even as she's silently making it clear she's on Mira's side. They both know. How? How do they know?!

"How do you… did… did Jinu tell you?"

Mira pauses… before scoffing.

"Seriously Rumi? That's your first question? I guess it makes sense that he knows too. He was dropping hints left and right wasn't he?"

Rumi bites her lower lip but before she can muster up a response, Mira continues.

"We haven't spoken a word to Jinu without you present yet, so no, he didn't tell us. If you want to blame anyone… blame Celine."

What. Celine wouldn't… oh.

"Yeah. We're not idiots, Rumi. It's kind of been obvious that you were hiding something from us for… a long time now. We just didn't have any way of knowing what it was… until Celine opened her big, overly caffeinated mouth last night and told us that half-demons were a thing."

Oh no.

Zoey finally musters up the courage to speak, letting out a little bit of a shaky giggle.

"I-It was kind of obvious… once we had that final puzzle piece. Your lyrics in Golden aren't exactly subtle, Rumi. And nobody online has ever been able to pin down your father's identity even after all these years…"

Rumi flinches at the mention of her father. Ever since Jinu showed up, the thought of her father and the fact that she didn't know anything about him had been lingering at the back of Rumi's mind. But between everything else that had been happening and there just being… no time to really breathe, it had ultimately fallen to the wayside.

"Not to mention the physical stuff, like the fact that your hair color is clearly natural or the way you've been needing to wear longer and longer sleeves and higher and higher collars on your costumes for years now. Almost like you had something to cover up. Something that's been growing over time."

Mira's caustic, sharp tone makes Rumi flinch even harder. Shit, when they put it all like that… how the fuck had she managed to keep it a secret as long as she had? Oh right, because neither of them knew that half-demons were even a thing until Celine said what she said.

Celine. The one who told Rumi all her life that she'd have to hide it. The one who told Rumi that the others would never, ever understand. All this time, all these years… and it was CELINE who let it all slip?!

Something caught halfway between a hysterical sob and a manic laugh bubbles up through Rumi's throat and out of her lips. She crashes down to her knees on the rooftop right there, choking on her own spit as she's caught between crying and cackling at the… the sheer ridiculousness of it all.

Zoey and Mira loom over her as she sob-laughs like a mad woman in front of them. Fuck, this really isn't what she wants their last memory of her to be. Some insane demon going crazy in the face of finally having her secret exposed. So Rumi forces herself to stop. She controls herself, hiccupping a couple times but ultimately quieting down in seconds.

Hanging her head… she shudders.

"D-Do it."

There's a pause before Zoey's voice comes out, hesitant and confused.

"Do… what, Rumi?"

Not her though. Rumi doesn't want it to be her. So she forces herself to raise her head and looks Mira right in the eye. The most practical one of the two. The one who will do what needs to be done.

"Please… just make it quick. For Zoey's sake if not mine."

Mira freezes, staring down at her with wide eyes. Does she really not get it? How can she not understand? She was so angry a moment ago. So furious. Where is all of that rage now when Rumi needs her to strike her down? All of the emotions in Rumi's chest overflow in an instant and she snarls, her voice taking on a demonic timber as she cries out.

"KILL ME!"

The pulse she sends through the Honmoon would have horrified her a day ago. It HAD horrified her a few nights back, when she'd sent the first one out after the failed live performance of Golden. But now? Now she's not worried. They'll take care of it. Her girls… and Jinu. They'll handle it and-

Rumi freezes as Zoey is suddenly clinging to her again. She blinks in stupefaction when Mira, instead of running her through with her glaive, drops down to her knees and grabs Rumi as well. Before she knows it, Mira has an arm wrapped around her… and is using her free hand to grab Rumi by the chin and force her to look her in the eye.

Mira… is crying. Not sobbing quite so hard as Zoey is right now, but she still has tears streaming down her cheeks.

"F-Fuck you, Rumi. Fucking… shut the fuck up, do you hear me? I'm not going to kill you. I will NEVER raise my weapon to you. Do you understand? You're not going anywhere. You're OURS."

Rumi just stares, her heart beating a million miles a second in her chest. For just a moment, her fight or flight instincts activate and she very nearly chooses flight. To try and run again. In fact, there's something building inside of her and she instinctively knows that if she lets it finish, she might just experience her first demonic teleport, allowing her to escape Mira and Zoey entirely.

"P-Please Rumi… please don't go. Don't leave us. We need you."

But then Zoey speaks, her tone broken and filled with tears, and that sensation building up within her chest… dissipates in an instant. Rumi can't do it. She can't run from this anymore. It's like Mira said. She's theirs as much as they are hers… and whether they're going to kill her or hug her, punish her or forgive her… that's up to them, in the end.

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A/N: Guys I really didn't intend for Mira and Zoey knowing to come out this early. But Rumi is a Certified Dumbass and Mira just couldn't take it anymore. So here we are.

Also

Celine back at the Tower: *peacefully snoring in her bed, still dead to the world and unaware of how fucked everything is going to be when she finally wakes up.*

Feedback is GREATLY appreciated, every comment helps me shape a story like this one!

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