Chapter Text
The morning after the Saja Boys "concert," the girls all slept in. Well, all of them except Rumi. She wasn’t sure she even fell asleep once. She just stared at the ceiling and thought of his face. Those human eyes that were looking at her with such devotion as he sacrificed himself.
He sacrificed himself!
She wanted to tell him what an idiot he was, but if he was with her right now, all she would do is hold him. Rumi would hold him and make him realize that he deserved love as much as she did. … And then maybe she’d tell him he’s an idiot.
For now, she felt the tears returning. With that, Derpy crawled up the bed and rubbed his big, fuzzy face to hers. Rumi was glad Bobby insisted on king sized beds for the girls, because a tiger would have surely crushed her in her sleep in anything smaller.
“Thanks, buddy,” Rumi whispered as she scratched his ears. “I know you miss him too.”
How do I miss him so much already?? She thought to herself.
Rumi began to wonder what time it was, but Derpy had her pinned down enough that she couldn’t read her bedside clock. She knew Mira and Zoey would be waking soon and then it was time to face the music.
When they returned home after the Awards the previous night, Rumi promised her friends that there would be no more secrets or lies, and she would tell it all after some sleep. Everyone agreed to that and they were off to bed.
Suddenly she thought she heard something in the hall.
“Sussie,” she whispered. The bird fluttered down and landed on Derpy’s head. “Can you sneak out there and tell me if Zoey and Mira are awake?”
The magpie sunk into a portal to (hopefully quietly) spy on the others. When she returned, Sussie gave a caw sound that definitely sounded like a yes.
“Ok,” Rumi said, ready to give herself a pep talk. “I can do this. I just need to tell my best friends every secret I’ve had since I was born. No big deal. Oh and that I have a supernatural tiger and magpie currently living in my room.”
She scratched Derpy’s head again. “Don’t worry though, I know they’ll love you guys. Zoey will absolutely give all the hugs to you, Derps. And Mira will definitely judge everyone around with you, Suss. Now, let me up so I can get this over with. I’ll call for you in a bit and I’ll introduce you then.”
Rumi took a deep breath and wandered out to the living space.
“Well, there’s Sleeping Beauty!” Mira said with a laugh.
“Oh trust me, there was very little sleeping, so I can’t imagine any beauty,” Rumi replied as she sat on the couch.
“No sleep?” Zoey gasped. “I might have been unconscious before my head hit the pillow.
“Yeah, well, I had a lot on my mind.”
“Yeah, I suppose so,” Zoey said, sitting next to her and putting an arm around her shoulder.
Mira sat on the coffee table across from them. “You ready to talk now?”
“Mira!” Zoey chastised. “Give her a minute!”
“What? There’s apparently a lot to cover!”
“It’s ok, Zo. I understand,” Rumi replied. “At least coffee first?”
Bobby burst in then. “I’ve got everything covered for my girls!” He was carrying a box of what promised to be a variety of pastries and coffee.
“Hi, Bobby!” the three said happily as they ran to claim breakfast.
“Rumi,” he said softly. “Do you mind if I sit in with this conversation? I feel like there’s some information that I need too.”
“Yeah, of course, Bobby. I’ll be happy to get all of this off my chest. But all three of you need to promise to just let me finish. And don’t do any judging til the end.”
“No promises,” Mira muttered with a mouth full of breakfast. “But not of you, Ru. I think I’m going to have choice thoughts for a few people.”
“Ok, well, let’s sit down and I’ll tell you all with coffee.”
They all gathered around the coffee table again and Rumi took a deep breath.
“Ok, well, you know now that I’m half demon. I don’t know a lot of specifics yet, just that my father was one. As I was growing up, Celine insisted that I keep it a secret. She covered up my patterns and made me swear to always keep this inside. And when we became a group, she insisted that I never tell you guys.”
“And there’s one of the people getting choice thoughts,” Mira growled. “Sorry,” she said after a glare from Bobby.
“I can’t say sorry enough for hiding from you. I should have trusted you! But I had been hearing that from the start, so I believed it. We could have avoided so much if I would have just told you!”
“Rumi, she was basically your second mother. Of course you believed her,” Zoey said.
“But still… Ok, so there’s one secret. Then there’s the latest one. Jinu.”
“You did love him!” Zoey said with heart eyes.
Rumi chuckled. “I don’t know, I guess so. We had so little time! When we fought the demons in the bathhouse, my shirt was cut and he saw my patterns. He actually helped me hide them. And then we met up a few times. And we talked and it was so easy with him! He understood me and I think I understood him. The other Sajas weren’t like him, so he could open up to me. We walked in the moonlight and sang together. I had literally never been able to talk to anyone else about my past and he really hadn’t either. I couldn’t believe he went through with his plan at the Awards to expose my patterns, but now I’m thinking he did it for a good reason. It made everything else happen to defeat Gwi-Ma. And even if it was his plan to hurt me, he still saved me. He sacrificed himself so I could fight til the end. The idiot sacrificed himself!”
Once again, the tears came. She buried her face in her hands and sobbed. Mira and Zoey moved to each side wrapped their arms around her. Bobby sat sympathetically in front of her, still taking in the fact that the girls were demon hunters, and that Rumi was descended from a demon and also in love with one. All in all, he thought he was taking it fairly well.
Rumi raised her face again and wiped her eyes with her sleeve. “He told me since I gave him back his soul, he was giving it to me. I could feel it surrounding me.”
“Wait! Is that what that was?” Mira said with a gasp.
“What was what?”
“Ok, I only caught a glance of it since we were fighting, but I saw when that all happened. His soul… I think it went into your sword.”
“Wait, what?”
“No, seriously, it lit up differently.”
“Rumi! Get your sword! Let’s look at it!” Zoey said, clapping excitedly.
“Um, ok.” She summoned her sword (ignoring Bobby’s jump) and looked at it. “It is different. Look at how blue it is now. I thought it was just the Honmoon.”
Zoey beamed. “But the Honmoon is iridescent now. What if—”
“What if Jinu is in my sword?”
The sword suddenly flashed a bit.
Rumi gasped. “Jinu?” The sword shimmered. “I think you’re right! He’s in there, or at least his soul is! How… how do we get him out?”
“Research!” Bobby exclaimed. “I need to do some serious digging into what you girls do. I will find out about… um… souls and Honmoon… weapons?”
“Bobby! You’re the best!”
“Eh, above average.”
“So, is that everything now?” Mira asked, taking Rumi’s attention away from her sword. She was looking at it like a love-sick puppy and Mira desperately wanted to change that.
“Oh! Um, well, there’s one more thing,” Rumi admitted. “We have new house guests.”
At everyone’s inquisitive looks, Rumi called, “Ok, guys, come on out!”
As the portal opened and Derpy and Sussie appeared, Zoey and Mira instantly jumped up and summoned their weapons.
“No!” Rumi yelled as she stood as well. “They’re not evil!”
“Wait, what?” Zoey asked.
“They’re good! I don’t really know what they are, but they’re good. They were Jinu’s pets? Friends? I don’t know,” Rumi said, shaking her head with exhaustion over this whole ordeal.
Zoey laughed as she put her weapons away and Derpy wandered over to her. “Ok, demon or not, they’re pretty cute!” He nudged her and she giggled. “Yeah, they can definitely stay!”
Sussie flew over and landed on Mira’s knee. They shared a bored look and Mira smiled. “Yeah, they’re cool.”
Rumi breathed a sigh of relief. “Ok, well, welcome to the tower Derpy and Sussie.”
“Derpy!” Zoey squealed. “I love it!” She rubbed her face against his. “We are going to be such good friends!”
Sussie and Mira shared another look and Rumi knew that everything was going to be fine with the group.
Now, to get Jinu out of her sword.