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

An overdue confrontation.

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"I won't let you hurt her!"

Celine's words hang in the air and Rumi tenses up, preparing to intervene. Because frankly, in any other case she wouldn't have been worried, but their mentor is specifically shouting in Mira's face right now. Mira, who has a lot of very solid reasons to take advantage of the opportunity to throw down with Celine.

… Then again, maybe Rumi shouldn't have been so concerned, because in the end, Mira's face softens after a moment and the perpetually angry dancer lets out a rough sigh as she shakes her head and takes a step back, creating space.

"Yeah Celine, we know you won't."

The almost gentle tone seems to confuse their drunken mentor, leaving Celine blinking rapidly as she sways on her feet. Before she can make any other poor decisions, Rumi reaches out and grabs the older woman by her wrist, firmly tugging her back down to the couch.

"Relax, Celine. It's okay. They're not going to hurt me. We're safe."

Celine grunts as she's pulled back down, her eyes darting between Rumi's exposed shimmering patterns and the other hunters standing in the living room. She seems to be rapidly sobering up at the moment because every time she blinks, Rumi swears her vision gets a little bit clearer.

"What… I don't understand… Rumi, you told them?"

Before Rumi can answer, Zoey pipes up still holding a trash bag filled with empty soju bottles.

"She didn't have to! We figured it out ourselves!"

And Mira, being Mira, can't help but snipe just a little bit.

"You helped, Celine. Gave us the missing puzzle piece when you confirmed that half-demons existed."

Rumi shoots looks at both of her girls, not quite disappointed nor really all that upset, but more pleading with them to let her handle this. To her relief, they both nod after a moment, putting the ball in her court while Celine begins to tremble beside her.

"My fault… another thing that's my fault…"

She wishes she could say she's never seen the older woman like this before. Celine has always been a rock of stoicism and composure for as long as Rumi has known her. Sure, there have been moments these past couple of days when Celine has shown a less stellar side of herself, but even then she hasn't acted like this.

However, thanks to Jinu, Rumi does in fact have recollections of one other time where Celine, or at least a version of Celine, showed the broken woman that lay beneath the façade of composure. In the other timeline, in the future of next week that would now never come to pass, Rumi had seen Celine suffering a mental breakdown much like this one.

"This is why we have to hide it! Our faults and fears must never be seen! It's the only way to protect the Honmoon!"

Other Rumi wasn't exactly in the right headspace to see what Celine had been going through in that moment. After all, Other Rumi was going through her own arguably worse shit and didn't have the time to spare to look after the woman who raised her.

But Rumi in the here and now, with the emotions of the memory slightly removed, could see how poorly that Future Celine had been doing. She wasn't in her normal mentor persona. She wasn't commanding Rumi to obey or demanding perfection.

No, she'd been cracking, breaking under the pressure… just as the Celine of this present moment had cracked and shown just how broken she was. Of course, the problem is… Rumi can't just tell Celine that it's not her fault. That would be a lie, after all. But she'll be damned before she lets the woman take all the blame on herself like it seems she's been doing since shortly after Rumi was born.

Without hesitation, Rumi wraps her arms around Celine, holding her tight and running a hand through her hair.

"It's okay Celine. I'm okay. Look at me. My patterns are out. The girls know. And they aren't hurting me. Yes, they figured it out on their own. Yes, they confronted me about it. But they accepted me. They love me. We're all still together."

Slowly, Celine stops shaking. The more Rumi talks, the more the older woman seems to calm down. Or at least, that's what she thinks is happening. It's not until she finally pulls back enough to see Celine's face that she starts to second guess that. Because Celine doesn't look relieved.

No… she looks devastated.

Her eyes flicker from Rumi's patterns to Mira and Zoey both watching silently from nearby. She shudders as she slowly accepts that Rumi is telling the truth.

"… Why?"

Rumi furrows her brow in confusion, not quite understanding what Celine is asking. But the older woman elaborates swiftly enough.

"If they could accept you… then why couldn't she? Why did she try to hurt you? Why did she make me…"

Celine trails off, unable to say it out loud. But Rumi knows exactly who the other woman is talking about. Jia. Her heart breaks all over again for Celine, even as the words feel dangerously close to some of the things Future Rumi had said to Future Celine in front of the seonangdang tree.

"Why couldn't you love me?"

"I do!"

"All of me?!"

Now isn't the time to dwell on that though. In this moment, Rumi holds Celine tight, not really having an answer for her. She couldn't say what was going through Jia's mind when she tried to kill her as a baby. Maybe it was really as simple as 'all demons must die'. Or maybe it was grief and heartbreak and rage all bundled up in one bout of psychosis.

In the end, Rumi can't answer Celine's question… but she can lean in and press their foreheads together, speaking quietly as she shows her gratitude.

"Thank you for saving me, Celine. Thank you for protecting me and raising me. Thank you for loving me."

Celine goes still under the weight of Rumi's words. Then, she begins to shake again, tears finally falling from her eyes and streaking down her cheeks.

"You… you shouldn't be thanking me. I failed you. I ruined you. A-All of you. So much… in s-so many ways."

Rumi opens her mouth to repudiate that, only for Mira to beat her to it.

"Nah."

The fiery red head's sudden interjection causes both women on the couch to jolt and look over at her, only to see Mira standing there with her arms crossed over her chest and a hip cocked out as she frowns.

"You fucked up, sure. Everyone does. 'To err is human' and all that bullshit. But you definitely didn't ruin us. You wanna know what ruining looks like? Ruining someone looks like kicking them out of the only house they've ever known at fifteen because they don't 'conform' to your bullshit."

Mira's past was no secret to any of them, but it certainly seems to give Celine pause to have it so readily used as an example. A pause that Zoey is more than happy to interject herself into. The youngest hunter takes a deep breath before picking off right where Mira left off.

"Ruining someone is using them as a pawn in your divorce. Making them spend as much time in one country as the other so they can never adapt to either. Its treating them like a trophy, instead of your daughter."

Again, Celine flinches, causing Zoey to softly smile as she continues on in a gentle tone.

"Mira's right. Maybe you failed us just a little by making Rumi lie to us all this time. And maybe you didn't teach us everything we should have known. But you had your reasons and they were a hell of a lot better than most could have given. The important thing isn't dwelling on the past… it's finding ways to do better in the future."

Reaching down, Rumi takes Celine's hands in her own, intertwining their fingers together as the woman who raised her slowly looks back to her. Her turn.

"I should have told Zoey and Mira ages ago. That's not all on you, Celine."

Celine immediately starts to shake her head in vehement disagreement.

"But I-!"

Rumi isn't having it though and cuts her off.

"No. You raised me and therefore had an undue amount of influence over me, sure… but more than anything else, you taught me to be a leader. You didn't train me to shy away; you didn't teach me to bow my head and hold my tongue. From the very beginning, you showed me how to stand up for myself, with every intention of putting me in charge of Huntrix."

Celine blinks, clearly not fully understanding. Rumi just huffs and shakes her head, smiling in wry amusement.

"It was my own fear and shame that were truly holding me back, Celine. Sure, you played a part in that… but it was MY choice to keep Mira and Zoey at arm's length. Year after year, album after album, award after award. I made that call over and over again to keep up the lie. I can't put all the blame on you, I have to own my own mistakes. My own lies."

On the one hand, Celine is no longer blubbering and falling all over herself to apologize. On the other hand, she now has this frown on her face that Rumi recognizes all too well. Also, she's starting to hold Rumi's hands with increasing strength.

"Rumi… no, you're blaming yourself far too much for this. You suggested telling Mira and Zoey the truth to me time and time again. I was the one who constantly shut you down. You can't just ignore that or my culpability in-!"

She's just opening her mouth to argue with Celine when a sudden snicker from off to the side causes the older woman to fall silent. Both of them glance over to see Zoey trying and failing to contain her snickering giggles behind her hands. Mira, meanwhile, just groans as she pinches the bridge of her nose and shakes her head.

"By the fucking Honmoon, do you two hear yourselves? You're literally playing the reverse blame game here."

When they just stare at her blankly, Mira rolls her eyes and explains.

"Each of you self-sacrificing idiots is trying to take as much guilt onto yourselves as you can to save the other from pain. But I dunno, just maybe… you're only hurting each other more by doing so. Ever think of that?"

Lowering her hands from her mouth, Zoey nods energetically.

"Mira is right! Seriously, just stop for a second and breathe! I know I'm the people pleaser here, but honestly! Also that was super insightful, Mira!"

"Thanks, I try."

Rumi has known her girls too long and too deeply not to recognize when they're half-putting on an act just to defuse a situation. But while Celine is the one who trained all three of them, they've been on their own for years now with the older woman slowly taking more and more of a backseat.

Perhaps that's why they actually manage to catch her off guard that Rumi hears the most unbelievable of sounds come from Celine in that moment. Slowly turning back to the older woman, Rumi stares at Celine in disbelief.

"Celine… did you just snort?"

Immediately, Celine straightens up.

"What? No I didn't?"

But of course, Rumi isn't alone… her girls always have her back.

"Mm, preeetty sure you did, Celine."

"Hehe, yeah, I definitely heard it."

Celine frowns, shaking her head.

"I don't know what you're talking about girls, I-!"

Rumi can't say what comes over her. It's literally not something she's ever done before, not as a child, not as a teen, and definitely not as an adult. But hearing Celine of all people let out such an undignified sound… she wants to hear it again.

Maybe it's unbecoming. Maybe it's inappropriate given the circumstances. And yet… Rumi nevertheless reaches forward and begins to tickle the woman who raised her right there on the couch.

"Wha- Rumi! W-What are you, ah, d-doing! You, haha, s-stop it this, aha, instant!"

But Rumi doesn't let up. And Celine can't get away as she squirms until she's laughing earnestly. Amidst that laughter comes more snorting too, the sound filling the living room as Mira and Zoey both look on in a mixture of amusement and disbelief.

Finally though, Rumi does stop. She halts her tickling in order to grab Celine around the middle and hug her tightly once more, refusing to let go.

"Mira… Zoey… get over here."

Celine, still recovering from the tickle attack, doesn't even have a chance to protest before she's dogpiled. Zoey is the most enthusiastic of course and immediately leaps onto the couch as well to tackle hug from the other side. But even Mira gets in on things by moving around the back of the couch and draping her arms around all three of them from above.

In the end, Celine's protests die on her lips as she just slumps back into the furniture and their embraces, trapped in the middle of the impromptu cuddle pile. For a split second, they all enjoy the moment for what it is.

And then Mira lets out a sigh.

"Just so we're all on the same page, I was really looking forward to punching you today, Celine. Might need a spar later just to get it out of my system."

"Miiira…"

Rumi's groan is answered by a smirk from the abrasive dancer… and a chirp from their cute maknae.

"Yeah, and you and I need to have a long talk about the Hon-Glocks now that I've found out the whole 'ammo' problem was a straight up lie!"

"Zoeeey…"

But Celine… Celine just chuckles, not put off at all by the pointed threats.

"Mm… very well."

Rumi's eyes dart up to meet the gaze of the woman who raised her. Immediately, she can tell that things are far from one hundred percent fixed. She can see the darkness in the depths of Celine's eyes and knows that the older woman has been hiding just how broken and shattered she is for over twenty years now, just about as long as Rumi has been alive.

If she really was close to ending it all like Bobby had feared, they've hopefully staved it off for today. But Rumi knew nothing was truly solved yet. Nothing could be completely resolved with just a single conversation. It would take a long time to get Celine somewhere better… and that wasn't even taking into consideration the work Rumi needed to do on herself, her relationships with Mira and Zoey… and Jinu as well.

But at least here in this moment in time… everything was good. And that… that had to be enough, for now.

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A/N: The first of many conversations is had. Next time we see how Bobby and Jinu are doing outside lmao.

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

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