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

Heart to heart time from another Mira/Zoey split POV!

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Mira had really thought she knew anger pretty well. Anger was like an old acquaintance of hers at this point. But right now… right now what she's feeling transcends anything she's ever felt before. It's taking every fiber of her being not to outright shake with white-hot incandescent rage as she kneels there on the roof and clings to Rumi and Zoey with all her might.

Rumi had asked her to… to kill her. She'd asked her outright, tears in her eyes, staring Mira down. Like that was something she thought Mira would be capable of. Like she really believed Mira would just summon her gok-do and end her life like that.

That hurt. It hurt a lot. Mira wants nothing more than to grab Rumi by the shoulders right now and scream in her face until her throat is raw and scratchy. Because seriously, where the fuck did she get off?

At the same time, Mira knows she has to stay in control. Her emotions can't get the better of her right now, no matter how pissed off she is. Rumi needs her. Zoey needs her.

Speaking of which… Mira meets Zoey's eyes over Rumi's bowed head and mouths 'sorry' to her. She really hadn't intended to just… blurt it out like that. Exposing what they'd figured out to Rumi without consulting Zoey first was a certified dick move. But Zoey just shakes her head though in response and even mouths the words 'not your fault'.

Uh yeah, it kind of fucking was. But this isn't the time to start an argument any more than it's the time to lose control of her temper. Though if she's being honest with herself, Mira doesn't know what time it is exactly. Do they just stay like this forever? At least Rumi isn't as tense in their arms anymore. For a moment it felt like she was going to try to run again even though they were both holding her way too tightly for that.

Not anymore though. Now it feels like Rumi is just… done. She's practically gone limp against them, her breaths coming out slow and shuddering. Mira doesn't know whether she's coming down from her panic attack or working her way up to another one. And… she doesn't know how to help her either. In the end… it has to be Zoey. If Mira talks, she's just going to say things she'll regret. Not because she won't mean them, but because she will.

"Rumi… it's okay. We aren't-"

Zoey cuts herself off before she can say the word 'mad', glancing in Mira's direction. Yeah, that would be at least half a lie and they all know it. In the end, Zoey just sighs.

"We don't hate you, Rumi. We don't want to hurt you."

Okay good. That's all true at least. Even if Mira's head is currently filled with white-hot fury, she's cognizant enough to recognize that no small amount of that anger comes from a place of love. She loves Rumi with all her heart, so of course hearing the other woman ask to be killed would throw her into a rage.

"Why would you even ask that of me, Rumi?"

Oops. Mira really had meant to stay quiet. She didn't intend to speak. But it slips out anyways, an angry whisper that has Rumi going stiff and Zoey shooting her a look. Still… she needs to know.

"What… what have I ever done to make you think I'm capable of harming you like that?"

Rumi flinches and for a moment Mira thinks she's going to stay silent and unresponsive. But finally…

"It's… it's how we were trained. How Celine trained us. We were taught to kill demons… to end monsters."

Zoey whines in the back of her throat.

"You're not a monster, Rumi! Don't say things like that!"

Jerking back all of the sudden, Rumi looks at them both with wide eyes. Then, she scrambles to rip her sweatshirt off over her head. Mira's breath hitches as Rumi's demon patterns are exposed in full a moment later. Zoey quietly gasps as well as they come into view.

Rationally, Mira had known Rumi had demon patterns. She was the one who had mentioned Rumi's ever-changing wardrobe to Zoey, after all. Once they figured out that Rumi was a half-demon, it was obvious exactly what she was hiding under the increasingly long sleeves and higher collars.

But knowing Rumi had demon patterns and seeing them outright are two very, very different things. They're not like Jinu's either. Rumi's are the dark, angry purple that all of Gwi-Ma's demons wear on their skin and they cover her shoulders and arms all the way down to her elbows. And from the look of how the jagged lines have started creeping up her throat, they cover her chest as well as her neck too for good measure.

Once she's let them both have a good, long look, Rumi shakes her head, staring down at her hands.

"You… you both saw it. You saw what my voice did to the Honmoon just now. It hurt it. It weakened it. The only reason we're not dealing with another demon incursion right this moment is because Gwi-Ma probably already spent all of his available forces at the bathhouse. But it doesn't change the facts of what I just did. Of what I am. I am a monster."

"Not from where I'm standing. Or kneeling. Whatever."

Both Rumi and Zoey look at Mira in surprise. Mira is honestly a little shocked herself. She really had thought Zoey would handle the talking, but the words are coming out before she could stop them. Still… she grits her teeth.

"As far as I'm concerned, the only monster in our lives, aside from Gwi-Ma and his demons… is Celine."

Rumi chokes on her own spit but before she can rush to defend her guardian, Mira is grabbing her by the arms… directly on her patterns. It causes the half-demon to go completely still as Mira grips down on the markings, staring at them intensely.

"Look at these, Rumi. If Zoey and I had seen these without knowing, if we had found out in the heat of the moment… what the fuck would have happened? We know that demons can shapeshift. Seeing these on you… our first assumption would have been that you were replaced by a demon, not that you had always been a demon. We could have hurt you and not even known it was you we were hurting."

Licking her lips, Rumi trembles.

"Celine… C-Celine thought you wouldn't understand. That you would try to put me down regardless of if you knew it was really me or not. And she made sure I trained in staying covered up. Wearing m-multiple layers in case a demon caught my arm or s-something. She just… just wanted to protect me."

Mira narrows her eyes, gritting her teeth again. She opens her mouth to respond, only for Zoey to take the words right out of her mouth.

"That's bullshit."

Now its Mira's turn to join Rumi in gracing their youngest member with surprised looks.

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Zoey had had better days. Honestly, she'd had better weeks. But she had to be strong right now because Rumi was clearly going through a lot more than her at the moment. And Zoey wasn't going to abandon her friend and leader, not for anything in the whole world. That said… she can't help but be a little pissed off.

"We didn't know anything about demons when we first arrived at the compound. You trained under Celine all your life but we were just teenage brats who thought we were there to be idols until she dumped the 'truth' on us."

Rumi cringes while Mira snorts. Yeah, Zoey reflects, that had been a wild fucking day. Getting to Jeju Island, meeting Rumi, thinking that they had been handpicked just to debut alongside THE Ryu Rumi, basically a princess of pop…

And then Celine had sat them down and told them that demons were real and they were pretty much magical girls destined to save the world. Absolutely insane. Still…

"She could have told us right then and there. YOU could have told us then and we wouldn't have had any preconceived notions to make us want to hurt you in the first place. Just slip it in somewhere between 'demons are real' and 'you are hunters chosen by a magical semi-sentient shield powered by the souls of your fans'. Throw a 'oh yeah and Rumi is a half-demon but it's okay because the Honmoon chose her too and you can trust her' at us for good measure and it would have all been… fine!"

Zoey throws her hands up in the air, even as Mira snickers a little bit. Rumi just looks… well, she doesn't look convinced given the way she shakes her head.

"It's… not that simple, Zoey. You needed a killer instinct when it came to demons. You needed to be able to figure out when a demon was disguised as a human by their patterns and kill them even if they didn't reveal their true forms. You couldn't have 'what if they're a half-demon' in your head causing you to hesitate every single time. Hesitation is how hunters die and I'd rather risk my life a million times over than either of yours."

Zoey bristles but Mira beats her to the punch with a scoff.

"Yeah, that's the problem Princess."

Rumi actually has the audacity to frown at that. But Zoey jumps right back in before she can respond to Mira's provocative tone.

"She's right, Rumi. We're not 'Rumi and the hunters'. We're not 'Rumi and those two girls she lets follow her around'. We're HUNTR/X. We're the Chosen Three. That means we fight together, always. We have each other's backs, no matter what. You don't get to just decide what's best for us and you definitely don't get to risk YOUR life on OUR behalf without our say-so!"

That last part, Zoey might have raised her voice just a little bit. Rumi's shoulders hunch in and she… she even starts to pout as she stares down at the ground.

"… 'm supposed to be the leader though…"

Mira, finally seeming to realize she's still holding Rumi by her pattern-covered arms, lets go with a sigh so she can cross her own arms over her chest again.

"Being the leader doesn't mean you hide your biggest secret from us to your own detriment, Rumi. Fuck I'm so mad at you right now I want to scream. And I probably will scream later… at Celine."

Rumi's head shoots up, her eyes wide.

"No! You can't Mira… j-just… just scream at me. We can't let her know that you know…"

Mira narrows her eyes and shoots a glance at Zoey. But Zoey is honestly just as confused. Reaching out, she grabs one of Rumi's hands, frowning.

"… Why not, Rumi? It's not like she can blame you. We figured it out because of her slipup after all."

Rumi shudders.

"That's the problem. If she finds out that it was her fault… I don't know what will happen. She's… she's more fragile than she looks, more than she ever lets on. This might just break her and then where will we be?"

Snorting derisively, Mira shrugs.

"We'll be down one thorn in our side, from the sound of things."

"Mira!"

Zoey snickers… which makes Rumi crack the smallest fraction of a smile as well despite her reproachful tone. And then, like a dam breaking, Rumi giggles. And Mira chuckles. And Zoey laughs.

It's not for long. Maybe a handful of seconds at most before it dies down again. But it feels good. It feels like something loosening up in their chests. Zoey clears her throat.

"Okay, okay… so we won't tell Celine we know just yet. But still Rumi, you have to know we don't care right?"

Mira gives her a look so Zoey amends her statement.

"I mean, we DO care… but we don't care that you're a half-demon. We care that you lied to us all this time about it. Okay? We don't hate you; we don't want to hurt you… we just want you to understand how you hurt us and do a better job of telling us the truth from now on."

Rumi winces and looks down at her hands for a moment. Then, she looks up again.

"… I tried to kill Jinu last night."

Zoey's eyes bulge out of her skull while Mira chokes on her own spit.

"You WHAT?!"

Cringing at Mira's volume, Rumi gives a half-hearted shrug and begins to explain.

"He sent Derpy to get me last night after everything that happened. It's like you already guessed, he knew about my patterns but was being respectful and not just blurting it out in front of you. He wanted to convince me that the Golden Honmoon was a bad idea. And he said… he said neither of you would want to turn the Honmoon gold if you knew my true nature. Because you wouldn't want to risk harming me."

"Damn straight."

Zoey nods along with Mira's immediate answer, causing Rumi to sigh and smile a small smile… but only for a second before it drops again.

"… I didn't react well to him saying that. I didn't want to risk him telling you both. So… so I tried to kill him right then and there with my saingeom."

Wow. That was… heavy stuff. On the one hand, they were hunters. They killed demons. Zoey herself had killed thousands at this point. But on the other hand, Jinu was a demon with a soul who was sent by the Honmoon itself to help them. On the other-other hand… well, Jinu was still alive and uninjured as of the bathhouse fight so…

"How… um, how'd that go for you?"

Rumi half-snorts, half-chuckles at Zoey's question.

"Not well. He's pretty much immune to our Honmoon Weapons. I landed a fully powered blow on him and it gave him a papercut. One that healed almost immediately."

Oh damn. They were really lucky Jinu was on their side, weren't they?

"Wow. So he's hot AND durable is what I'm hearing."

Rumi's head whips around as she growls.

"Mira!"

But Mira just smirks, unrepentant.

"What? I may not have said anything earlier when you were trying to read us the riot act, but don't think I didn't notice you ogling him the same as us back in the bathhouse Rumi."

Rumi squeaks even as Zoey gasps. SHE hadn't noticed that after all… she'd been too busy staring at Jinu's abs. But to be fair, they were really nice abs. Still, Zoey points a finger at Rumi accusingly.

"Rumi! You hypocrite!"

Suddenly, Rumi is blushing so hard it's reaching her ears. Wait, this reaction went a little bit beyond simple admiration for Jinu's physical form. Was… was Rumi attracted to Jinu beyond just his looks? Was she… crushing on their analog of Angel? Wait… did that mean Rumi was Buffy in this situation?!

Zoey almost says exactly that… but she manages to contain herself on that front. Neither Mira nor Rumi would know who Buffy the character was and she didn't feel like explaining it right now.

Of course, that doesn't mean she's not going to tease Rumi in another way. Reaching out, she places a hand on Rumi's shoulder, causing both the slumped half-demon and Mira to pause in their back and forth. Rumi looks up at Zoey hopefully and Zoey gives her an earnest smile.

It's VERY earnest. The most earnest! After all, the best teasing is also super serious and solemn and grave!

"It's okay Rumi. You're a half-demon that hunts demons. Like Blade."

She says it as heartfelt as possible. Really, Zoey means every word. She just also knows exactly what sort of effect the comparison will have on her two bandmates.

"Hah!"

Mira's bark of laughter barely manages to overshadow Rumi's groan as she buries her face in her hands.

"Zoeeey…"

Nailed it.

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A/N: If you didn't hear it automatically, go back and re-read Zoey's 'You're like Blade' line up above in the same voice/cadence that she uses to say "Hey, we'll get through this. We can get through anything. Together" when she's giving Rumi her support in the restaurant scene in the movie. It's extremely important

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

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