Chapter Text
The battle against Gwi-Ma and the Saja Boys had been going so right until the abrupt moment everything took a turn for the worse. Looking back, Zoey can attribute the three key things that happened to tip the scales out of her favor.
The first being the strange feeling she got when confronted by Mystery and Baby. As much as Zoey had fawned over him before, she wasn’t about to let her attraction to Mystery get in the way of her job. The world came first and foremost and a relationship with a demon just sounded complicated when it came down to it. Zoey had enough on her plate.
Mystery is a very straight-forward kind of fighter. He lunges and snarls at her like some sort of wild animal, fighting like one too. As dangerous as his claws and teeth looked, his actual attacks were predictable. Zoey found it easy to drive him back, kicking him away to give herself some space.
But the pair must’ve been fighting together for a reason because where Mystery falters, Baby picks up the slack. He isn't as predictable or impulsive. He doesn't snarl or snap— he's silent. Circling her, golden eyes gleaming as he does, lying in wait until the moment she was distracted. Unlike Mystery, Baby is tactical. He seems to know just how dangerous Zoey could be and doesn't make his move until he knows he won't earn a blade in the gut for it.
If it were just the two of them, Zoey would have an easier time keeping an eye on him, but Mystery keeps grabbing hold of her attention. She pushes him back, again and again, having to take her eyes off Baby when she does, and the second he seems to decide she’s open to attack, he’s there. Faster than Mystery is, claws extended as he pounces.
Zoey is lucky she’s as quick as she is or he might’ve actually been able to land a harder hit. She can’t dodge the claws that rake over her arm, suppressing a cry when they do, but she can block his next attack and hold him back. She can put them in a stalemate to give herself a moment to breathe, arms trembling with effort as they keep him there. Baby’s teeth are bared at her but he can’t turn the tables on her like this. For better or worse, neither of them can gain an inch.
The battle has only been made that much harder by the way her right forearm burns. She doesn’t feel it where the hit landed weirdly enough. It doesn’t feel like any sort of cut or gash she’s taken before— it’s overwhelmingly hot all of a sudden, as if something is searing into her skin. It’s enough that Zoey struggles to focus on the demon in front of her, finding that briefly, the air tastes of electricity. That suddenly, she is all too aware of every sensation on her skin— the heat from Gwi-Ma’s flames; the sweat on her brow; the way her clothes feel against her skin— it makes her breath hitch.
Something is wrong. Something is wrong and she can’t— she doesn’t know what.
She’s lucky that Baby hasn’t been able to attack yet either. She doesn’t know why he hasn’t when it’s pretty obvious she’s distracted but she’s not about to look a gift horse in the mouth.
All of that ceases to matter when Rumi is in trouble however, Gwi-Ma’s flames focusing on her and her alone. Zoey finds what strength she has to shove Baby away, calling out to her. She doesn’t get to rush to help, Mystery suddenly in her path once more. Baby recovers too quickly from the hit, once again lurking behind her and looking for an opening. Her arm continues to burn unexplainably and everything is too much and Zoey really doesn’t want to watch one of her best friends die—
Relief hits her hard and fast when Rumi is finally given the aid she needs. Zoey may not know why a demon like Jinu would sacrifice himself for Rumi but he does. And he gives Rumi some kind of power to strike back at Gwi-Ma.
The trance on the crowd, at least somewhat, is broken. They open their mouths to sing in harmony, blue light filling the stadium and swirling towards them. Zoey manages to back up from both of the demons she faces, trying to catch her breath, but the moment that power hits her, she feels amazing. All exhaustion drains out of her, new strength funneling into her bones, and just for a moment, she forgets about all the pain. All the hits she’s taken, the weird burning in her forearm— none of it matters.
Zoey could take on the world right now.
And it’s because of this that the second moment of her downfall comes. The one that changes everything irreversibly. The one that causes the first event to be part of a domino effect rather than just a one off thing.
With her newfound strength, dealing with Mystery is easy. He charges right at her, clearly not expecting the strength she hits him with, nor the speed she now possesses. Zoey even catches a glimpse of his face before he’s evaporated into red particles. He’s gone in seconds, one less Saja Boy to worry about. And seeing as how Zoey wants to deal with all loose ends, she heads straight for Baby next.
Baby seems to be in some sort of shock over whatever happened to Jinu because he doesn’t fight like before. It’s slower, his swipe goes too wide and is too predictable, and honestly, it’s not even a fight for Zoey. Her power up has only made it that much easier to trip him up and slash her blades across his throat.
The second she does however, Zoey suddenly feels a sharp, agonizing pain. It hits her all at once— like someone has reached into her chest and torn her heart out in one, swift motion. It makes her stagger, suddenly breathing heavily like all the air has been sucked out of the stadium. Like she’s going to suffocate any minute now. Like she’s going to crumble to pieces in an instant but she hasn’t the slightest idea why.
Baby is gone in seconds but Zoey suddenly feels weak in the knees, the only thing keeping her upright being the power coursing through her veins. She gasps, a sudden tremble overtaking her, spots appearing in her vision. She’s lightheaded and in agony but—
But there’s work to be done. Zoey can’t let down Mira and Rumi now. They’re floating, swirling with power above Gwi-Ma, but they need her. They’re a trio, she can’t let them down, she can’t she can’t she can’t—
Something is wrong with her— her arm feels like it’s on fire— but Zoey can’t let them down. The power coursing through her does all the heavy lifting, bringing her up into the air even if Zoey feels like she needs to curl up and cry for an eternity.
She can do that later. Right now, she is a Hunter, and Zoey isn’t going to let her friends down.
Her hands join up with Mira and Rumi. She’s weak and losing energy fast but Zoey holds tight and sings. She meets their harmony, she’s never been so relieved to have them here when her whole body is screaming at her, she wants to be in this moment for just a little longer because it’s so much easier to bear the sudden anguish when they’re here—
But all things must come to an end. With a great force, they send Gwi-Ma back where he belongs and a new Honmoon is formed in the process, spreading out all around them in a glorious light. They hover in the air, completing the rest of their song, but Zoey feels herself begin to slip. This is the third and final event that causes everything to go wrong.
Rumi’s hand is clasped with her own but the power from the fans is draining away from her. The dizziness, the pain, the way Zoey cannot seem to stay upright any longer— it becomes harder and harder to ignore. Her eyes flutter, mouth twisting as to try not to make a sound. Not yet, Zoey thinks to herself. She has to endure, just a little longer. She has to smile for the fans and hold on tight to Rumi and Mira and— and—
Oh, no, Zoey thinks distantly when they finally touch back down on the ground again. The last remaining power from their fans is zapped away from her and Zoey tastes bile in the back of her throat. The world spins and spins and spins— it always does but now Zoey can feel it. A thousand miles, hurdling through the vast expanse of space, so quickly that Zoey fears gravity might just suddenly stop working and toss her out to suffocate among the burning mass that is the stars in the sky.
I can’t do it, I’m sorry, Zoey wants to say, but can’t seem to make a sound. She knows what’s going to happen before it does— she knows her body, no matter how much she pushes it, cannot do this anymore. Zoey may not understand why but she knows her limits. She’s found them. It makes a tear slip past her eyes as the constant burning in her arm seems to consume her whole.
Her grip on Rumi’s hand becomes loose enough for her to notice. Rumi glances over, a quiet question on her lips, but it’s far too late for that.
Something tugs Zoey down, the last domino toppling, and she falls.
Colors whirl past her as she enters some kind of free fall— was the ground really that far away? Zoey thought they stopped floating a while ago— but Zoey can do nothing but go limp, vision darkening. The impact she takes is harder than she expects. The world around her is no longer bright from the Honmoon but dark. Dark and gloomy with only a slight, rainbow-y shimmer above…
Zoey doesn’t get to process much more. Everything hurts. She’s burning alive. Something is so deeply wrong with her, and Zoey… Finds herself alone. No Rumi, no Mira, no nothing.
Something in her gives in. Zoey closes her eyes and falls even deeper than before, sinking into the darkness with no idea when or even if she’ll be able to climb out later.
—
The first thing Zoey registers when she’s conscious again is the pain. Her arm continues to burn but the rest of her body isn’t fairing much better, aching all over like she’s been wrapped in the world’s most uncomfortable blanket. A pitiful whimper escapes her; she might’ve felt pathetic for it if she were more conscious but right now, Zoey doesn’t care about that.
She doesn’t know what’s wrong with her, she just wants it to stop.
The second thing she registers is the back of someone’s hand gently pressing to her forehead. Her pain seems to subside only marginally at the contact but the difference, however slight, is enough for her to go limp again. However when the hand pulls away, the relief goes with it, and Zoey makes a miserable protesting noise in response.
She uses what strength she can summon, damn the pain, to reach out and grasp blindly for the other person. They seem to offer her their arm as a compromise, muttering something under their breath. Whoever they are, they’ve got long sleeves on. The fabric they’re wearing isn’t very silky or soft but it’s not uncomfortable to touch at least. Hugging their arm close to her chest brings the same relief as before. It's only slight, her body still wracked with all sorts of burning, aching pains in her limbs and chest, but it’s enough that Zoey clings to her source of reprieve like a lifeline.
She doesn’t know who this is. Her mind jumps to Mira and Rumi first but the reactions are too subdued. Too unfamiliar. A doctor, maybe? Zoey certainly feels like she’s dying— maybe she is. Her body can’t stop shivering and her head swims.
The last thing Zoey remembers is… Falling. A dark world surrounding her, no Mira or Rumi. So where..?
Through great effort, Zoey cracks her eyes open. It takes more than a few rapid blinks for anything to really come into focus. It’s still dark out, her eyes trying to adjust to the minimal light in a desperate attempt to make something out. Dark fabric comes into view— black cloth, and a gat, and purple skin with even darker patterns, and glowing, golden eyes—
She may be in even worse pain then when she almost bled out by the docks after a demon attack but Zoey does not forget her training. She knows a demon when she sees one and there’s one here. It has her— she’s weak and they’ve been luring her under a sense of false security— but Zoey is never helpless. She refuses to be. She is a Hunter, first and foremost, and she is not going to fall for some trick just because she’s in so much pain that she wants to throw up.
Swiftly, Zoey shoves the arm she clung to away and reaches for her blades. They’re slower to form, giving the demon enough warning to hastily back away as they materialize in her grip, but she instantly feels more comfortable once they’re back in her hands. She mourns the loss of contact but if it was from a demon, then Zoey would rather go without it at all.
“Stay back!” Zoey hisses, doing everything she can to ignore the shake in her arms and how cold she feels. She’s running on fumes here, her body can barely take this. She’s not about to tell a demon that though.
It takes her entirely too long to realize she recognizes said demon. Short, aqua hair and a round face— a Saja Boy. Not just any either— Baby.
The knowledge temporarily throws Zoey in for a loop. “I thought… I thought I killed you…” Maybe not the best thing to say when you might just enter a fight you’re unsure you can handle but Zoey has questions, alright?
“Yeah.” Baby deadpans. One of his hands raises to ghost over his throat, as if tracing over the invisible line where Zoey slashed it. There’s no mark— there’s no sign that Baby was ever in a fight at all. He’s as good as new. Demonic as ever, but not a scratch on him. “Well, I got better.”
Zoey scowls. Okay so the demons she kills don’t stay down. Whatever, she can just do it again. “If— if you try anything—!”
“You’ll kill me again?” Baby eyes the blades with something she can’t decipher. “I wouldn’t recommend it. I don’t think you’d survive it a second time.”
Zoey’s eyebrows furrow. What is he— then it hits her. How badly she felt after killing Baby. Did he— “Did you curse me?”
He barks a laugh. Zoey’s shoulders tense— it hurts to tense up but her whole body is one strong breeze away from falling apart as is. All she can do is grin and bear it, trying to keep her swimming head focused on the demon in front of her. A sardonic sort of smile forms on his face. “Sure, you can call it a curse. I didn’t do jackshit though, believe me. I wouldn’t have chosen a Hunter if I had a choice at all.”
Zoey doesn’t understand. Her right arm is struggling to stay upright— it burns too much. She’s forced to drop it with a muffled cry but when Baby takes a step forward, she raises her left arm and, as threateningly as she can, announces, “I’m ambidextrous! Don’t try it!”
Baby stops dead. His face twists into several emotions too quick for Zoey to catch right now but eventually he says, “Have you looked around at all?”
It takes her too long to process the question. “I’m— I’m not falling for that.” She stutters out. It’s a trick, he just wants her to take her attention off of him so he can—
Baby takes a step back, then a couple more. Zoey watches with distant shock. His hands are raised in surrender but his eyes are far too sharp for comfort. “Look.” He implores her, something genuine in his tone. “I don’t think it’s really sunk in yet.”
Zoey’s breath catches but with the distance between them, Zoey trusts herself just enough to know she’d have a quick enough reaction time if it came down to it. She does a scan of her surroundings. The second she does, her stomach drops into something cold and icy.
Desolate, cracked lands surround her on all sides, seemingly going on forever. There are some dead flora and mountains in the distance but a thick, perpetual darkness seems to loom over the area. The only respite from it is dim light from above. When Zoey looks, she sees rainbow strands. Familiar strands.
The Honmoon, she thinks. But it’s above me instead of below me. It shouldn’t be— unless…
Realization hits her so hard that Zoey chokes on her panic. The demon realm. She can’t be here— why is she here— how is she supposed to get out—!
“Breathe.” Baby says and despite where it comes from, it unlocks something in her. Zoey heaves for a breath, her right hand clutching her chest while the other still holds tight to her Hunter’s weapon. She already felt shaky before but now a persistent fear clings to her— a cloud of doom.
Zoey knows what the demon realm is supposed to look like from her Hunter training. This is it. She was never supposed to go here— her Hunter training had depictions of it but never said how she was supposed to get out if she ever ended up there— is she just stuck forever—!
“Stop that.” Zoey almost yelps when suddenly, Baby is there, crouching not far from her, arms resting loosely on his knees. He doesn’t look like he did when they fought. His claws aren’t as long or sharp looking and there’s no calculating precision to be found in his eyes.
His eyes… His pupils are round for some reason. Most demons like him have slitted ones, why is he different?
“Stop thinking so hard and just breathe for a moment.” He continues. His gaze only briefly flickers to the remaining blade in her hand and back. “If I wanted to hurt you, I would’ve done it while you were still unconscious. But I didn’t. Believe it or not, it benefits me to keep you alive.”
Zoey doesn’t understand. She wants to ask but her voice is strangled now. Her body feels bad bad bad and she just wants to lay down and curl up and forget the world for a couple hours. Paying attention at all is difficult enough right now when her head feels like she’s perpetually underwater.
Because the instruction, even coming from a demon, is still good advice, Zoey tries to get ahold of her breathing again. It’s rough and ragged and she clutches onto her chest the whole time but slowly… She gets it under control. Her blade disappears from her grip once she does and Zoey knows she should summon it again but… She doesn’t.
If Baby wanted to kill her, surely he would’ve done something by now…
“Good.” Baby says after a while of Zoey doing nothing but breathing. “Listen up: I don’t need you to fully trust me but both of us have a target on our backs right now and we’re stuck in the same boat, so we’re better off sticking together. All I need from you is confirmation that you’re not gonna jab one of those blades in me the second I’m not paying attention. I’ll handle the rest. Sound fair?”
Zoey doesn’t understand what he’s going to handle or why he has a target on his back too or anything else about this. But she’s so tired and in so much pain even just sitting up right now. She wants to cry but holds herself back. She wants to scream for Mira and Rumi but knows neither will hear her if she’s down here.
There aren’t many good options. Swallowing thickly, Zoey nods. If all she has to do is not stab one demon, she can do that. If he does anything bad, she can always change her mind.
“Great. Keep your blades to yourself and we’ll both get out of this in one piece.” Baby rises to his feet, eyes darting around as if double checking the empty plains all around them before asking, “Can you stand?”
Despite all the warning signs, Zoey tries. She shakes and wobbles badly but gets about halfway there before something gives out. A pained noise escapes her and Zoey tips to one side, darkness rapidly consuming her. Just before it does, she gets to see Baby’s eyes get comically wide.
Zoey doesn’t feel herself hit the ground this time, but that could be because she’s not conscious for it.
—
Distantly, Zoey thinks she’s being carried. She’s resting against someone’s back in a piggyback carry, her arms loosely wrapped around their neck while they keep a firm hold on her legs.
They’re warm to touch. It’s like she’s wrapped around her own personal heater. It chases some of the pain away.
Zoey nuzzles her head into their shoulder and neck, humming pleasantly, and falls back asleep.
—
She doesn’t wake up again until someone is carefully placing her down. The ground below her is cold and hard and Zoey misses her personal heater already. As they pull away, Zoey whimpers and tries to blindly reach out, grabbing ahold of their sleeve.
She hears a sigh and suddenly there are hands trying to pry her fingers off. When she makes a wordless protest, they say, “Calm down, it’ll only be for a few minutes. Let me make sure no one else is around.”
She hates to let go when every time she has contact, she feels so much better, but she does. What they’re doing is probably important. Zoey… She can wait. She doesn’t want to burden them.
There’s a breath of relief when she lets go voluntarily. “Stay there. I won’t be long.”
Then they’re gone. And Zoey is cold. Whatever she’s wearing isn’t warm enough, a deep chill getting under her skin and seeping into her bones. She tries to curl in on herself but the rocky terrain is uncomfortable and her own body heat can only do so much. Her arms wrap around her torso and she cannot suppress the shiver.
The shiver only seems to worsen with each passing minute. By the time she hears footsteps returning, her teeth are chattering.
The footsteps break out into a jog and she hears the same person from before mumble, “Fucking— I wasn’t even gone that long…”
Shame swirls in her gut. “S’rry.” Zoey slurs but seems to get waved off.
“It’s fine, it’s— let me just,” she hears fabric rustling, then she’s pulled forward a little before something is wrapped around her. Some kind of coat or robe— durumagi? Zoey’s vision is swimming when she tries to look but it’s dark and vaguely looks the part. She hugs it closer to her, trying to fight off the chill.
“There. Better?”
Marginally. Zoey still shivers, trying to fight off the coldness that’s settled inside of her. Like there’s something missing— like something was taken from her—
Unconsciously, she leans over to where they’ve taken a seat next to her and bumps their shoulders together. It brings so much relief that it has her chasing the heat the contact brings by pressing even closer. But then they tense up in response and she freezes. Don’t be a burden, something in her whispers. Even if her body screams at her not to, Zoey pulls away, feeling the chill return in full force. A violent shiver overtakes her.
It doesn’t last long. They huff and scoot closer to her willingly this time, throwing an arm around her shoulder to pull them closer together. Zoey all but melts in relief, burying herself in their body heat. It’s not being a burden if they did it themselves, right? She can just indulge a little. They’re warm, she can take a little body heat for herself, right?
Zoey swallows, then realizes just how dry her throat is. She hates to ask when she’s already asking so much but this is kinda important. “Water..?” Zoey croaks out.
“Huh?” A beat. “Oh shit, water. Food. Fuck. Fuck.” They groan to themselves and Zoey’s stomach twists with worry. Are they low on supplies? Or do they not have any at all?
“Sorry.” She whispers.
“Stop— stop apologizing.” They huff to themselves. Zoey should know their name— does she already?— but her head is full of cotton. It’s hard to think much of anything. They’re… They’re a he, right? She knows him… Somewhere. Somehow.
“I can filter some water from the dark river tomorrow.” He says out loud. She can’t tell if he’s meant to be talking to her or if he’s just talking to himself. “Food… Ugh, I’ll find something. I make no promises about how good it’ll be but it’ll be edible at least.”
Oh, he is talking to me, Zoey thinks distantly. Do I respond? I should respond. It’s polite.
“That’s okay.” Zoey manages to tell him. “Thank you…”
“Don’t mention it.” He says.
Both of them go silent after that. Zoey’s eyes droop. She lays her head on his shoulder and lets herself drift once again.
—
Zoey is still propped up by something behind her when she regains consciousness again but the scenery has changed. She’s outside again, the endless, dead plains all around her and the Honmoon still glimmering from somewhere above.
Zoey wants to reach for it. She’s never been so far from it, even when they were traveling via jet. Even though Zoey knows she’s not completely cut off from it, the distance is uncomfortable. Unnatural.
Being in the demon realm when she’s a Hunter is unnatural. Every second that passes feels like she’s not meant to be here. Like it doesn’t want her here.
The burning sensation in her right arm is enough to make it feel painfully numb. Zoey misses the time she got her tonsils taken out when she was younger and was given pain meds. She was fatigued and unconscious for long stretches of time then too but she got to sleep through the pain. It made her blissfully numb instead, even when the pain was at its worst.
Maybe she’s sick. Maybe she has some sort of infected wound, or venom in her system. Maybe that’s why Zoey feels like her body is constantly fighting to stay alive— as if something vital was taken from her and her body is struggling to compensate for the loss.
A glimpse of movement makes Zoey blink and refocus. There’s some sort of river not far from wherever she’s been propped up. The water is almost pitch black and it seems to be flowing… Somewhere.
Someone is crouched nearby, pouring a glass of water through some kind of fabric filter into another glass. The bright aqua hair gives him away.
Baby, Zoey remembers. This time her memory doesn’t fail her, providing some of the context she remembers. She ended up here after they defeated Gwi-Ma and remade the Honmoon. Baby said something about sticking together because they both had a target on their backs? Something about that he needed her alive? About how he’d handle everything if she would cooperate and not try to kill him again?
Why? Zoey thinks even through the haze of her mind. What do you get out of helping me? Why the sudden change of heart? Why why why why?
She snaps to attention when Baby finally stands up and makes his way over to her, dark water in hand. There’s only one glass and no fabric in hand now— where did the rest of it go? Did he store it somewhere?
“Perfect timing.” Baby says once within earshot. The tall glass is held out for her to take, which Zoey does tentatively. “Drink. All of it, or at least as much as you can stomach. You’ll probably need more later, I know, but this is what I’ve got for now.”
Zoey stares down at the dark water within the glass. It’s translucent now and not as dark as it was before but it still looks…
Baby huffs as he sits down across from her. “I know how it looks but it’s fine to drink. Maybe not the highest quality water but it won’t kill you. I filtered out what I could— if you can’t drink it then we’re fucked.”
We, the word bounces around her head like it’s the digital ball in Pong. Why is this a we situation?
Spotty memories return to her. Being carried, being given someone’s durumagi— it’s still wrapped around her shoulders— all of that was Baby, wasn’t it? Nobody else is here. He’s not wearing a durumagi anymore so it has to be his.
But why?
Her throat is uncomfortably dry. Zoey grips the glass and gulps the water down, closing her eyes so she doesn’t have to think about it. It doesn’t have the best aftertaste but… Zoey has tasted worse before.
A little satisfied sigh escapes her when she stops to breathe. Zoey looks down at the last remaining bit in the glass, then back up at Baby. Despite the many, many pressing questions in her head, the one that comes out is, “Where— where did you get the glass?”
Baby’s mouth twitches like he finds the question funny. “It’s a temporary construct I created. Demon magic.” Her curiosity must be visible because he says, “Drink the rest and I’ll show you.”
Zoey all but downs the rest as quickly as she can. Once finished, Baby snaps his fingers and abruptly, the glass in her hand evaporates into red smoke. Her hand clenches around nothing but the leftover moisture from the water left behind, and all of her worries are temporarily forgotten in favor of pure wonder.
“It’s a bit of advanced demon magic and can take up a lot of energy depending on the object but it’s useful if you need something to carry your things.” Baby shrugs. Zoey’s mind buzzes with possibilities.
“You said temporary? How long does it last?”
“As long as I’m awake and have the power to passively keep it up.” He answers. “Before you ask, yes, I could technically create food, but it wouldn’t actually taste like anything or satiate any hunger. It’s pointless to try.”
“Are your clothes temporary constructs?” Zoey looks down at the durumagi still wrapped around her shoulders. Baby shakes his head.
“I get this outfit back every time I die and regenerate. I assume it’s because Gwi-Ma doesn’t want a bunch of naked demons running around.” He snorts to himself. “Even he has his limits I guess.”
Zoey rubs her fingers into the fabric of the durumagi. The way it feels against her skin is kind of addicting— she draws invisible patterns into it, her mind drifting a little as the feel of it becomes almost hypnotic— then snaps back into place when realization hits.
“This is yours— you can have it back, I really don’t need—!” Zoey starts to say but Baby waves her off as she starts to unwrap herself.
“I don’t need it, keep it on.”
“But— it’s yours.” She stresses.
“You kept shivering before. Seriously, for both of our sakes, keep it on.” The look he gives is a bit firmer now. The fight drains out of Zoey— it would probably be ruder not to keep it now, and… She is still a bit cold.
The durumagi is huddled close to her once again. Zoey doesn’t know where to look, glancing all around before her eyes settle on the Honmoon. A dreaded thought sneaks up on her. “How…?” She croaks out, but doesn’t know how to finish the rest of the sentence.
Baby follows her gaze, a grimace settling on his face when he puts together the rest of her question. “It won’t be easy.” He tells her frankly. “But it’s not impossible.” There’s a lull in the conversation before he sighs and adds, “I might have to do a little damage to your Honmoon to get us both out. I just can’t do that until it’s weaker.”
Alarms ring in Zoey’s head. Every part of her Hunter training says that anything happening to the Honmoon is a spell for disaster. “You— you can’t.” Zoey says hastily— she’s not in great shape to fight him if it comes to that but she can’t just allow him to tear into her life’s work.
Baby huffs, a little annoyed, like he expected that response. “How else are we meant to get out of here?”
“I don’t… Know.” Zoey admits. “But— we can’t damage the Honmoon. No matter the cost.”
“And if it becomes life or death?” Baby challenges.
Then I’ll die. Zoey doesn’t say it out loud. Her fists ball up as her gaze falls. “The Honmoon ensures the safety of billions of people.” Is what Zoey does say. And if it’s my life or theirs… It’s just basic math. I don’t matter more than all of them. Mira and Rumi… They’ll be fine without me anyways.
Baby reads in between the lines. His face is drawn in tight. Zoey can’t help but add, “I’m only slowing you down; you’d be fine without me.”
“…You really don’t get it, do you?” He says slowly. At Zoey’s frown, he shakes his head. “Whatever, not a priority right now. I still need to find food and get us to some decent shelter to hunker down. Ending up as far out as we did has its advantages but the lack of food is not one of them.”
Zoey has questions. A lot of them. But all she can seem to say out loud is, “I’m… Tired. I’m sorry, I know I’ve slept a lot already—!”
“I told you to stop apologizing.” Baby cuts her off. “You can sleep. The sooner you get better, the easier it’ll be on both of us. I told you I’d handle everything else.”
Why? Zoey wants to ask again. But she doesn’t. She just hugs the durumagi closer and closes her eyes. Lets everything else drown away.
Despite some of the distance between them, Zoey feels like she can sense Baby’s presence, still lingering close by. Since they landed themselves down here, he hasn’t really left. She doesn’t understand why.
She should ask… But maybe she’ll wait until she wakes up.
—
Her consciousness keeps coming in waves, some lasting longer than others.
Baby wakes her up purposefully a few times, always with water and pushing her to drink. Zoey does, soothing her throat bit by bit. They take breaks sometimes but other times, she wakes up to being carried again.
Baby is stronger than she expects. It’s kinda nice to be carried— it’s been a while since the last time it happened. She feels guilty about it sometimes because he must get tired and she’s never actually seen him sleep so she’s not sure he’s getting much, if at all. But when she tries to ask, Baby just says, “I’m a demon, it’s fine.” And doesn’t elaborate further.
She’s putting too much trust in a demon she doesn’t know but Zoey is too exhausted to care. She doesn’t know what’s wrong with her but if Baby wanted to kill her, she would’ve been dead a while ago.
But she’s not. So as far as trust goes… Zoey thinks he’s earned at least a little.
The dead plains of the demon realm feel endless. Aside from the occasional mountain and dead flora, there’s not a whole lot going on. Zoey doesn’t know how far they’ve traveled, much less where they’re going. This is all new territory for her. The only really notable thing is how Baby never strays far enough that the dark river is out of sight, though he doesn’t stick close to it either.
Zoey asks about it during one of her bouts of consciousness, pointing out how it would probably be easier to follow the river if they’re both going the same way anyways.
Baby readjusts his hold on her, not halting their journey for a second. “That’s just asking the water demons to pull you in. They’re extremely territorial— I have to scare them off if I want to get water at all.”
“…Why?” Zoey mumbles, chin resting on his shoulder. It’s a little easier to see his face like this, watching all the micro-expressions he makes. He’s not the most expressive person, Zoey notes. She thought he was in a bad mood the first few times she paid close attention to his face but she’s starting to think that’s just his resting expression. RBF, Mira would call it.
God, Zoey misses her girls so much right now…
“‘Why?’” Baby repeats. “Why would they need a reason to do anything? If they don’t like other non-water demons in their space, why not try to drown them? Who the hell is gonna stop them?”
“But you’re all demons, aren’t you?” Zoey cringes at her words the second they leave her mouth. “I mean, not that humans are much better but… You all serve Gwi-Ma.”
“‘Serve’ is a really funny way of putting it.” Baby replies dryly. “Does it count as serving if you don’t have a choice?”
“…Do you?” Zoey blinks. “Have a choice?”
Baby mutters something under his breath that sounds suspiciously like a curse or a prayer in a language long gone. “I can’t believe I’m about to give a Hunter basic Demon 101 but no, we really don’t. Maybe some of these guys enjoy the gig but they don’t get a choice either way. Submit to the king or become the next soul he eats, that’s the deal. Except he doesn’t tell you that until you’ve already forfeited your soul.”
Zoey soaks that in, staring straight ahead this time. He could be lying. That’s what she was always taught before— demons lie. Demons cheat. Demons will do anything to take more souls and get out of being killed.
Only thing is that Baby doesn’t really have much of a reason to lie here. To get her on his side somehow? He must know that Zoey is a Hunter, through and through. That’d be useless. To get her sympathy so she won’t suddenly turn on him if he does something reprehensible? Maybe…
She still doesn’t know why he’s helping her. She’s almost afraid to hear the answer, or maybe she doesn’t trust him to be honest. Zoey doesn’t know; she hasn’t been able to bring herself to ask either way.
It doesn’t sound like he’s making anything up though. He sounds too bitter. Too blunt. Like he’s speaking from experience.
“What’d you forfeit your soul for?” Zoey finds herself asking.
“Kinda a personal question, don’t you think?” Baby huffs to himself. “It doesn’t matter. That ship has long since sailed.”
Zoey wants to say that it does matter— it matters a lot, actually— but hesitates and drops it before she can try to push.
It is a pretty personal question. Zoey’s not really entitled to that information, just like he’s not entitled to anything about her. They’re barely more than strangers to each other. She hardly knows anything about him and here she is, jumping right into the fray of it, demanding highly personal information.
Zoey closes her eyes briefly, only opening them again to ask, “Is blue your favorite color? Or aqua? Or whatever your hair color is?”
She sees a flicker of a baffled expression for a moment. Then he sighs and says, “I don’t know. I haven’t really thought about it.”
“You haven’t—… How old are you exactly?”
He rolls his eyes. “Also a personal question but whatever. Five-hundred and twenty-two.”
“You’re five-hundred and twenty-two years old.” Zoey repeats slowly. “And you’ve never thought about your favorite color.”
“I didn’t say that. Just not in a while. Couple centuries or so.” He makes a slightly frustrated sound. “I had more important things to consider. What colors you like stop mattering when you’re trying not to get killed by virtually everything around you; demons, giant fires, and Hunters alike.”
“What about when you were human?” Zoey asks. “You’re one of those types of demons, right? What did you like then?”
“I don’t know.” Baby snaps, defensive. “What color did you like twenty years ago?”
“Yellow.” Zoey answers immediately. Baby seems briefly surprised by it but recovers quickly, huffing.
“Well, good for you for remembering. I don’t. Five-hundred years is a long time, in case you didn’t know.”
“Yeah…” Zoey mumbles, mostly to herself. Her eyebrows furrow and she starts glancing around. “You’ve been stuck down here for five-hundred years?”
“Yep.” Is his flat answer.
“…Well no wonder you aren’t concerned with color. There’s practically nothing down here! You’re the most colorful thing I can see for miles and you’re wearing all black!” Zoey exclaims, a little louder than she intends. Wincing, she lowers her voice again. “I’d go mad if I was stuck down here for that long.”
“Welcome to the life of the average demon, we know you won’t enjoy your stay.” Baby drawls, a bit of dry humor in his tone.
Zoey pauses, then quietly tells him, “If you promise not to take any souls or anything like that, I’d be okay letting you live on the surface from now on.”
This time, Baby does stop in his tracks. He turns his head to better look at her, though what’s going on in his head, she doesn’t know.
“…Really.” He says, not quite a question. Zoey nods anyway. “Just because… What, you hate it here and you pity me enough to not want to subject me to it too?”
“It’s not about pity.” Zoey wrinkles her nose at the accusation. “I just don’t think you deserve to be stuck down here forever.”
“Since when did I deserve anything other than eternal damnation?” He raises an eyebrow. “Getting soft for demons now, Hunter?”
“I don’t know. I know eternal damnation was the plan and all but…” Zoey frowns, trying to put it into words. “I guess if you were being forced to do something you didn’t want to do but got the chance to break free and be better, then I’d want you to have that chance. Because you don’t seem all that bad.”
Baby does nothing but stare at her for a solid minute. Then he looks away and starts walking again. “You don’t know me.”
“No.” Zoey agrees. “But you’ve done a pretty good job keeping me alive. So whatever you’ve done, maybe you can make up for it. Only you can make that choice though.”
“…This conversation is way too sappy for my taste.” Baby mumbles. “The lack of food is making you crazy.”
“I think you’ll find this is me at my tamest.” Zoey snickers to herself. “I’m low energy right now. Get some food in me and see how I really look in action.”
Baby huffs again but it sounds suspiciously like a laugh this time. For a while, neither of them say anything, Zoey resting her eyes but not quite falling asleep yet.
“I’d have to take them with me if I did.” Baby says suddenly. Zoey cracks her eyes open. “If I were to escape to the surface, I’d want to take the other Saja Boys left with me. What remains of them anyways.”
“…If they agree to the same rules, they can come.” Zoey reasons.
“How kind of you.” Baby says. If he means for it to come out as sarcastic, it falls flat. If anything, it makes him sound sincere, even if he isn’t looking at her when he says it.
Zoey doesn’t know why it makes her giggle. She’s still in a weird haze of aching in a way she can’t explain but finding comfort in touch. For a second though, she doesn’t feel anything at all. She’s just okay, despite everything.
She wants to believe everything will be fine. She’s terrified it won’t be but she hopes she’s wrong about that. For everyone’s sake.
—
Zoey is groggy the next time she awakens, slowly starting to shake off the pain and get her usual strength back, though not nearly as much when she’s starving. She hopes they can find food soon; she wants to do more than be lugged around like a useless backpack.
Her mind processes everything around her slower in her current state, so she gives herself a little grace that it takes her a minute to notice that her skin has turned demonic-purple.
Her heart rate spikes. Zoey can’t contain the panicked gasp that escapes her— did the demon realm somehow— is she stuck like this forever— why did it happen so suddenly— but all her thoughts are derailed when the demon carrying her turns his head. All at once, Zoey abruptly has a very different problem, because not only does she not recognize this demon, but it’s not Baby.
She doesn’t think— she acts.
A grunt is punctured out of him when Zoey smacks his back hard, rolling out of his hold and onto the ground. She puts some distance between them as she summons her blades to her hands, fury returning to her in full force. The other demon recovers quickly, shooting her a glare, but Zoey points one of her blades at him threateningly.
It’s through this action that Zoey realizes the demonic-purple skin and patterns on her arms have vanished, returning her back to her usual skin tone. She knows she didn’t imagine it before so what was that? Did the demon do it? Why?
“What the fuck are you—!” The other demon starts to say but Zoey’s lip twists into a snarl.
“What did you do?” She hisses at him. “To me? To him? Did you— did you kill him?”
Zoey had one ally, one demon by her side who knew what he was doing and was actively trying to keep her alive, and if this demon killed him for it—
A look of confusion passes over his face, then abrupt realization. He holds his hands up placatingly but before Zoey can snip at him that she’s not trusting some random demon who might’ve kidnapped her, his body goes up in a small puff of red smoke and Baby stands in front of her once again, looking the same as ever.
“Everything’s fine. Chill the fuck out.” He tells her, gesturing to himself. “It was just a disguise. We’re moving into more occupied territory and we need to look like people they won’t try to kill on the spot.”
Her arms lower as Zoey hesitates. It… Would explain why she looked demonic for a second. She knows demons can pull tricks like that, but… What if it’s a different demon pretending to be Baby? A double-cross?
Zoey presses her lips together and says, “Prove you’re actually him. Say something only he would know.”
Possibly-Baby furrows his eyebrows. He’s quiet for a couple moments and Zoey braces herself for the idea that this really is a demon trying to trip her up and she’ll need to fight back. That the real Baby is… Who knows where. If he’s even still alive.
But then he slowly says, “Your favorite color is yellow? Or used to be yellow twenty years ago at least.”
Her shoulders sag in relief, blades disappearing from her hands. “Used to be.” She smiles at him. “I like teal now.”
“Teal.” Baby repeats, raising an eyebrow. “Like my hair color?”
“That’s more aqua.”
“They’re practically the same thing.”
“Teal is greener, aqua is bluer.” Zoey informs him, not leaving room for argument. She knows her own favorite color, thank you very much, and she will not mistake it for its admittedly somewhat close but not the same counterpart. “The tube top I was wearing at the fan sign is teal. Your hair is aqua. It’s not the same.”
“I… Don’t care enough about color pigments to argue about this.” Baby rubs his face.
“That’s fine.” Zoey, reminded of one of her favorite jokes to pull, grins. “It’s all a pigment of our imagination anyways!”
Baby stops mid-face rub. His mouth twitches like he is fighting hard not to smile. “That is,” he says slowly, with the strain of a man trying not to laugh, “So dumb.”
“You’re laughing.” Zoey accuses with an even brighter grin.
“I am not.”
“You’re laughing on the inside.”
“You have no proof of this.”
“You think I’m funny.” Zoey tilts her head up smugly.
“I’m regretting all of my life choices that have led me up to this moment.” Baby deadpans, having finally tampered down his soundless laughter. He gives her a once over before asking, “From how hard you were able to hit me, I have to assume you’re feeling a bit better.”
She is. Not 100%— far from it— but better than before. To demonstrate this, Zoey slowly climbs to her feet, though wobbles a bit, her legs still feeling a bit weak. She stands up as straight as she can and gives him a thumbs up. Baby nods a little in return, still scanning her.
“Get me some food and I’ll be as good as new in no time!” Zoey tells him. It’s an honest answer but also an optimistic one, which is the best kind of answer in her opinion.
“We can probably track down some food soon.” Baby tells her. “Can you walk?”
Zoey answers by strolling up to his side. The first step is the hardest but the others come easier. Baby still frowns slightly at her shakiness however.
“I can keep carrying you. You might exhaust yourself on the way.”
“Maybe.” Zoey can’t deny that. “But I kinda want to stretch my legs and you deserve a break too.”
“I told you—!” He starts to say but Zoey beats him to it.
“I’m going to walk on my own regardless.” She tells him. “So we might as well both get something out of it, right?”
There’s a beat of silence. Baby can’t seem to argue with that.
“…Stay close to me.” He tells her. “So I can keep the glamour up for both of us.”
Zoey nods and steps closer. Baby hesitates but after a beat, there’s a shimmer and her body looks demonic once more. Baby is now wearing the face of a stranger, though Zoey can’t help but squint and see little similarities in this face and his actual one when she looks for them. She wonders if that’s on purpose, for her sake.
“Ignore everyone we pass by. We don’t want to attract a fight.” He tells her.
“Do demons run on Pokémon trainer rules?” Zoey jokes.
“No idea what that means.” Baby tells her. “Just follow me.”
He doesn’t know what Pokémon is? Zoey’s eyes go wide. She finds herself seeing an opportunity to kill two birds with one stone, both correcting this grievous mistake and finding an excuse to talk about something she’s been obsessed with since she was a kid.
Zoey walks in sync with him, side by side. After a few moments of silence, she asks, “Do you at least know what a video game is?”
“Kind of. Why?”
“Okay, good. This will be way easier to explain. So it comes from the word ‘Pocket Monster’ because you have these things called—”
—
“—but while Team Magma wants to expand the amount of land by using Groudon’s powers, Team Aqua wants to expand the ocean even more using Kyogre’s, so they have a bit of a rivalry as you can imagine—!”
“Why,” Baby asks slowly, eyebrows furrowing, “Would you want to expand the ocean? Isn’t there enough ocean already?”
Zoey shrugs. “He really likes the ocean. I kinda get it if it means more sea creatures.” Her eyes spark with realization a second later and she grins, “You are listening!”
Baby gives her a look. “You’ve been talking for well over an hour and you’re only realizing that now?”
“People tune me out sometimes! I never know for certain!”
Baby’s mouth opens and closes at that, like he’s at a loss for words. She can’t really tell what’s going on in his head, only that he eventually asks, “Didn’t you say legendary Pokémon are kinda like gods? How the hell do these two teams even plan to get them to do what they want?”
Zoey perks and hastily continues. “So, both teams set out to steal these orbs that can wake their respective legendaries and bend them to their will. The problem is that they both grab the wrong orb— Team Magma grabs the blue orb and Team Aqua grabs the red one. So instead of doing what they want, it wakes them up and pisses them off instead.”
“…Why the fuck would they grab a blue orb for the ground creature?” Baby’s face twists.
Zoey can’t help but giggle. “Nobody understands the logic, we just roll with it.”
She can’t help but notice Baby asks a lot more questions when she continues on. Zoey happily answers all of them— it’s been a while since she got to ramble about Pokémon to someone who hasn’t already heard everything she has to say.
—
“Do we really have to steal from someone in order to get me food?” Zoey whispers as Baby raids some poor demon’s food stash, chucking a few things her way. Zoey stares guiltily down at the bag of chips in her lap, having not opened it yet despite her protesting stomach growling.
“Yes. There is no way in hell we can brave the market.” Baby pauses his rampage, looking down at some kind of can. He holds it up for her to see. “Can you eat this cold?”
Zoey squints at it. It’s some kind of chili. “Yeah, everything’s already cooked, it only needs to be warmed up for taste.”
Baby nods and places it next to his pile of things they’re taking with them. It’s a growing pile— do they really need that much? On one hand, Zoey is gonna need a lot of food to survive for… However long she needs to survive down here. Forever? Zoey doesn’t want to be stuck down here forever but she doesn’t want to harm the Honmoon either…
“Why haven’t you eaten anything?” Baby’s voice breaks her out of her thoughts. He’s giving her a firm look. “I know you’re hungry.”
“I just… Feel bad.” Zoey cringes at herself for saying it. She’s been needing to eat for days now— her stomach hasn’t stopped cramping, except in the few times where she’s so numb that she doesn’t notice. And now that Baby has gone through the work to actually get her something to eat, she suddenly doesn’t want to? “Stealing from someone who might also need it feels wrong.”
“But they don’t.” Baby points at her firmly. “Demons can’t starve. You actually need this food, they don’t. They can always go get more— they’ll live without it. You won’t.”
That surprises her a bit. “Demons don’t need to eat?”
“Nope.”
“Not even souls?”
“Demons don’t eat souls.” Baby informs her, turning back to the stash. “Gwi-Ma does. We collect them for him so he won’t eat ours instead.”
“Oh…” Zoey trails off, quiet. “I was taught that demons ate them alongside Gwi-Ma as a reward.”
“It used to be like that before the Honmoon was formed. But a lot of things have changed since then.” Baby shrugs his shoulders. “This is the only demon realm I’ve ever known though. I’m old but not that old.”
She nods along absently, staring down at the bag of chips again. Maybe not the healthiest thing to eat but it’s more appetizing than cold chili right now. She just… Hasn’t broken into it yet.
Zoey hears Baby sigh. She presses her lips together, ready for whatever he’s going to say to get her to guiltily eat the chips already.
“Zoey.” He says. Her head shoots up, already surprised, because she doesn’t think he’s used her actual name all that much, which makes her woefully unprepared for the short but honest, “Please.”
Zoey stares at him, in a state of shock for a moment. But her hands find the bag of chips and finally pop it open, making him let out a breath of relief.
“Thank you.” He says quietly— like he means it, like her eating is doing him a favor too— and turns away from her again. Zoey has no idea what to say so she just grabs a couple of chips and stuffs them in her mouth.
It’s almost dead silent, aside from the sound of her crunching and Baby rustling through the options.
About fifteen minutes later, Zoey has finished her bag and Baby has not only found a good amount of food he deems suitable for the journey, but also a backpack to carry it all in and a water canister they can take with them as well.
“If demons don’t need to eat,” Zoey asks as they leave the poor, raided cave behind. She tries to imagine the demon they stole from is a terrible person. It doesn’t help all that much. “Why do they love food so much? That cave had a lot of food for something that’s not necessary.”
Baby shrugs. “It tastes good. A lot of demons enjoy the sensations of eating. It can help us replenish our energy. It has its benefits.”
Zoey nods along. “You know, you did grab a lot of food.”
“We’re gonna need a lot of food.” He points out.
“I know, but… You could eat too, if you want?”
Baby is silent for a little too long to be natural. “You need it more than me. I’ll be fine.” He says in the end. He doesn’t let her push any harder so Zoey is forced to drop it.
—
They stop for the night in a long but tight cave, a little cramped but overall safe. Baby says they’re ‘Getting close to their destination’ but hasn’t actually told her where they’re going. She assumes it’s somewhere safe but that’s all she really knows.
He tells her to sleep and how he’ll keep watch. Zoey hasn’t actually seen him sleep but Baby keeps saying he’s fine even though she swears he’s starting to slow down. She knows what overworking looks like and Baby is not slick about it. But Zoey also has very little room to talk because even though she’s eating, she overdid it by trying to walk on her own when she shouldn’t have and is now the reason why they have to stop at all, aches returning.
At least Baby said he needed a break too. That makes Zoey feel a bit less like she’s weighing him down.
She sleeps, unsure for how long. All she knows is she hears yelling when she wakes up again.
Baby’s voice is among them but he’s drowned out by the sheer amount of other voices. Angry ones, coming from the entrance of the cave. She hears the scuffle from a fight, grunts and noises of pain, and like a switch has been flipped, she’s ready for action. Zoey outstretches her hands and summons the blades to her hands.
“Dirty traitor!” She hears an unfamiliar voice yell. “Turning your back on your king!”
“Kill him!” Someone hisses eagerly. “Gwi-Ma can bring him back after if he wants his own revenge! Or maybe he’ll just eat his soul and be done with it!”
“Good riddance!” Another exclaims.
“I’ve been wanting a chance to kill him anyways!” Yet another adds.
“No time like the present!” A laugh follows, then more join it.
Zoey creeps closer, trying to get a good look at the entrance. There are several different types of demons there, all trying to grab at Baby’s clothes and limbs. Baby is taking swipes at them but he’s struggling— someone has already gotten ahold of him and they’re not letting go, hindering his movements. He’s outnumbered, too many opponents to focus on at once. He’s not fighting like he did with her— he’s slower than he was. His attempted hits are less calculated and more wildly swung. His eyes dart around too quickly.
His face is displaying fury but his eyes tell a different story. He looks scared.
Zoey clenches her jaw and swiftly throws three of her blades. Each of them hits one of the demons in the crowd, causing the others to screech in alarm. All eyes turn to her, including Baby, who looks more shocked than she expected him to. Did he not think she was going to help?
“Hunter!” One of the demons shrieks, abruptly looking a lot more afraid than before, as do the rest of them. Baby takes advantage of their panic, finally able to slash his claws across the throat of the one grappling him, freeing himself at last.
Despite it only being two of them against around seven or eight others, it’s a pretty quick fight. Between Baby’s practiced ruthlessness and Zoey’s precision and ability to one-hit kill all the demons her blades sink into, they make it a clean win. One by one, each demon is taken out until only the two of them remain, panting a little in the aftermath.
Baby has dark blood on his claws and splattered across his cheek and parts of his clothes. He glances around on high alert, body tense. “We need to move just in case anyone else knows we’re here.”
“Yeah, okay.” Zoey agrees easily. That sounds like a good idea. “Are you— are you okay?”
“Huh?” Baby is already moving towards the back of the cave, wiping the blood off his claws and face on his hanbok so he can grab the backpack and lug it over his shoulder. “Yeah, I’m great.” He says after a beat, like he’s only now processed the question. Then he repeats, “We need to go.”
He doesn’t wait, immediately poking his head out of the cave to check their surroundings before beginning to hastily start walking down the mountain they took refuge inside. Zoey jogs to catch up, adjusting the durumagi around her shoulders. The air is still filled with tension and even when Baby puts up a glamour on both of them, he doesn’t seem all that relaxed.
He’s twitchy. The usual steady confidence Zoey has seen from him the past few days is nowhere to be seen. His eyes keep darting around, his fists clench and unclench restlessly, and Zoey realizes she can actually hear him breathe right now, meaning it’s much heavier than usual.
It feels like one too many red flags to ignore. “Hey, Baby? Maybe we should find somewhere to rest. Somewhere safe to catch our breaths.” She suggests lightly.
Baby scoffs at the idea. “Safe? Nowhere is actually safe in the demon realm. You can be ambushed at any time— killed at any time. If not from one thing, then another. No matter how safe you feel, there is always something that can sneak its way past your defenses and ruin all of that.”
Her eyebrows furrow. “Then… Somewhere safer than being out in the open. It doesn’t have to be perfect. I just think sitting down for a second would do us some good.”
“I can carry you again but we have to keep moving.” Baby tells her.
“Baby—” Zoey tries, but Baby is only half listening and she can tell. His eyes are still checking and re-checking and re-re-checking their surroundings like he thinks he missed something the first time, and it is dizzying to watch.
Zoey narrows her eyes and finally reaches out to grab his hand before stopping dead where she is. Baby’s full attention finally zeroes in on her, halting in place. His eyes— they’re wild. His pupils aren’t perfectly round anymore, more cat-like now.
There’s a little residual blood left on the hand she grabbed. Zoey pays it no mind, staring him directly in the eye.
“Five minutes.” Zoey tells him, hoping she sounds firm. “You can pick the spot, but five minutes to breathe will do us a lot of good.”
Baby is quieter for longer than she expects. But he does relent in the end, exhaling and nodding, now looking around for a place to grant her request.
They end up under one of the many dead trees in the area, though this one is just thick enough to hide them if they don’t move too much, allowing him to drop the glamour. Zoey sits down and pulls Baby down with her to ensure he does the same. He’s still twitchy but he allows it, fingers drumming on his leg. He’s not looking at her.
She’s still holding onto his hand, Zoey realizes somewhat belatedly. She releases it, both embarrassed and a little reluctant.
Nothing really seems to change for the first minute. Baby is still silent and tense, as if waiting for something to happen. Zoey can’t help but feel unqualified to help when she doesn’t know him all that well but she has to do something… Say something, say anything—
“Did you know,” Zoey blurts out, “That red pandas are supposed to be carnivores?”
Baby’s attention turns to her, more puzzled than anything, but she has succeeded in catching his attention. “What?”
Zoey opens her mouth but something occurs to her. “Do you know what a red panda is?” She asks. Fortunately, Baby nods slowly, so she continues, “Red pandas mostly like to eat bamboo— they love bamboo and berries and stuff. But they’re supposed to be carnivores. Their stomach is built to digest meat, they just don’t eat much of it. They actually struggle to digest bamboo properly but they keep eating it regardless, even if it’s harder on their body, because they really love bamboo.”
Baby is silent for a long pause. “…Why?” He asks at last, incredulous. “I know you said they love it but that just seems stupid. If it’s bad for them, and they know it’s bad for them, why keep doing it? It can’t be that good.”
Zoey shrugs a little. “Some habits are hard to break I guess. You get stuck doing things the hard way and suddenly, it’s the only way you know how to do anything. So you ignore the fact that it’s bad for you, because at least it’s familiar.”
Another beat of silence descends between them. Baby’s eyebrows furrow. “Is this— were you making a metaphor?”
All the pieces connect in Zoey’s head. She’s a genius without even realizing it. “Yes!” She shouts, then sheepishly backs up and repeats in a quieter tone. “Yes, I was. I think you’re working yourself to the point of exhaustion and are ignoring how bad that is. You should take more breaks, or else you’re gonna burn out.”
“I’ll take a break when we get there.” Baby says. Zoey isn’t quite satisfied with that.
“If you burn out, it’ll help neither of us.” She points out. Baby pinches the bridge of his nose, frustrated.
“I know. I’m not trying to burn out. But the sooner we get there, the better. It’s safer there. We could stay for a few days.”
A few days? Zoey hums to herself. “You have to promise to rest all of those days.”
“Sure, fine, yes.” Baby agrees a little flippantly. He’s still agreeing however, and Zoey intends to make sure he keeps his promise.
She holds out her hand to shake. Baby looks at it, then at her, before he sighs and shakes it. She smiles at last, victorious.
“Has it been five minutes yet?” Baby asks.
“Nope.” Zoey tells him. “One more minute. Maybe two. Maybe three—!”
“One.” Baby says.
“Two.” Zoey counters.
He sighs. “Two.” He relents. “Then we’re staying on the move until we get there. I can carry you again if you get tired.”
“Are you tired?” She asks.
Baby doesn’t answer that, probably because the answer is damning, but his silence is equally so, so there’s really no winning for him. “I’ll be fine for the rest of the trip.” He claims.
Weirdly enough, Zoey does believe him on that front. She just also thinks he’s probably going to crash as soon as they get— wherever they’re going.
“Where are we going? To the other Saja Boys?” She guesses.
Baby shakes his head. “Our usual place won’t be safe. I don’t know if the others have even regenerated yet. We’re going to an… Old friend’s place.”
Zoey nods along slowly. “Are they nice?” She asks. “Your friend?”
Are they gonna freak out if they see me? Is what she doesn’t ask but is quietly thinking.
“She’s nice.” Baby confirms. “You’ll probably like her.”
That, if nothing else, is something to look forward to.
—
Zoey tries to hold out, she really does.
But her body is still recovering from all sorts of things and while the pain has finally faded, she finds herself becoming exhausted quicker than she usually would. Her footsteps become heavier and it becomes harder and harder to keep up with Baby after a while.
He notices when the glamour flickers, her starting to stray a bit out of its current range. He pushes until she finally gives in and lets him carry her the rest of the way. At the very least, being pressed against his back is just as comfortable as it was before.
Baby keeps moving, a man on a mission. Zoey falls asleep.
—
For the first time in days, when Zoey awakens again and stares up at a cave ceiling, she’s… Comfortable. She’s not laying on solid rock, she’s laying on… A mattress?
Groggily, Zoey pushes herself up to look down at the cushions under her, confirming her suspicions. Not a very fancy mattress but seeing as how she’s been sleeping on the ground and on Baby’s back the past few days, it’s a welcomed upgrade. She pushes down on it, testing its firmness a little before her attention turns to the room around her.
There, on her right, Zoey sees something she’s never seen before: Baby, actually sleeping for once.
He’s sprawled on another mattress near hers, laying there like he’s dead to the world. Knew he’d crash, Zoey thinks to herself. At least he really is catching up on sleep now. He might’ve said he was fine skipping it due to being a demon but Zoey has a sneaking suspicion there was more to it than that. And seeing how Baby is sleeping like a— well, you know— she thinks she's right.
The backpack of their stolen food is nearby but Zoey takes interest in a note she spots not far from her bed. It’s folded in half so it can be propped up, and written in bold letters on the front is, ‘ZOEY, READ ME’ which she gladly leans forward to do so.
The inside reads as follows:
Zoey,
You probably guessed by now but we made it to my old friend’s place and she has agreed to let us stay for a few days. Don’t panic if you see Jagged, she knows about you and won’t hurt you. I’m going to sleep and might be under for a while. Don’t wake me unless it’s an emergency.
—Baby
Zoey reads the note three times over to make sure she really gets everything. Once she has, she puts it to the side of her bed and rises to her feet. The durumagi is folded up at the foot of her bed and she finds herself taking it with her. She’s still stuck in her outfit for the Idol Awards and the durumagi is a lot warmer, so she sees no reason to let it go yet.
Carefully, Zoey makes her way out of the room soundlessly, pushing back the curtain at the entrance. There’s a short hallway before she finds herself in some sort of living room where a tall, broad shouldered demon with red skin seems to be taking stock of some of her food on what looks like a worn kitchen counter. She looks up when Zoey enters, a huff of a laugh leaving her.
“Rise and shine, kid. Never thought I’d have a Hunter in my place and for sure didn’t think I’d welcome one in, but here we are.” Jagged smiles, eyes crinkling at the edges. She’s got some sharp teeth poking out of her mouth but Zoey isn’t intimidated by them. She thinks they’re kinda cool.
Remembering her manners, Zoey is quick to bow. “Thank you for letting me stay in your home. I know it must not be easy.”
Jagged waves her off, leaning against the counter in front of her. “I owed Baby a couple favors anyways. He knows he’s welcome here. Besides, I think I was probably the right choice, all things considered.” She nods at Zoey. “Speaking of, how you feeling? Baby said you were in pretty rough shape before.”
He mentioned that? Zoey thinks to herself, but replies, “Better! I’m not at my best right now but a few days rest should fix that! I’m mostly just shaking off the side effects.”
Jagged nods understandingly. “You’re a tough kid; not everyone recovers from all that so easily. But at least you had Baby there— not everyone can say that, you know.”
“Yeah…” Zoey doesn’t want to know what would’ve happened if he wasn’t there. Or if he hadn’t been so adamant to help. “I guess I got lucky.”
“I’ll say. Magical backlash of that size must’ve been devastating.”
That makes Zoey blink. “Magical backlash?” She repeats. “From… The Honmoon?”
Jagged raises an eyebrow at her. “From killing your Soulmate.” She says slowly.
It takes Zoey far too long to actually process what she’s saying. “My— my what?” Zoey gapes at her, wondering where the hell she got that idea, because last Zoey checked, she doesn’t have a Soulmate. She would’ve noticed— getting the mark is very noticeable and a lot of people describe it as an itch that can’t be scratched at first, or a sudden flash of heat to the area it appeared in, or—
Her thoughts come to a screeching halt. Zoey fumbles for her right sleeve, tugging it down to get a better look at her arm.
There, sitting there plainly on her inner wrist, is a small image of a visibly clawed, aqua hand holding three teal shin-kal, spread out like a fan.
There’s no mistaking it. It’s a Soul Mark.
Her mind whirls. She should’ve noticed but with everything else going on it must’ve slipped right by her. When did that appear? Was it during the Idol Awards? Was that why her arm was burning? That only happens when you physically touch your Soulmate for the first time so who—!
Magical backlash. From killing your Soulmate.
Too many pieces click into place at once, overwhelming her. Zoey— she needs to see for herself, she needs to be sure—
She bolts back towards the room she came from. Baby is so deep in his own sleep that he barely twitches as Zoey carefully takes his right wrist and pulls down the sleeve. Once she does however, there’s no escaping the truth, because he has a matching mark, identical to hers in every way.
Soulmates. Zoey and Baby are Soulmates.
That’s why he was so adamant about keeping her alive. Because after your Soulmate dies, you can feel it. They say it’s agonizing, like you’ve lost a part of yourself. Some people don’t survive it.
And Zoey went and killed her Soulmate.
If Baby hadn’t come back from the dead, Zoey might not have survived the backlash. She might’ve died, right then and there on that stage, or maybe in a hospital room, or maybe in the demon realm. Is that why she got pulled down in the first place? Because she needed to recover with her Soulmate? A Soulmate that she killed in the first place—
It takes a few minutes for Zoey to be able to move again. She staggers out of the room, her head full and her tongue heavy. When she returns, Jagged is waiting for her, a slight frown on her lips.
“He… He knew that whole time, didn’t he?” Zoey says slowly, as if testing the words out. Jagged heaves a sigh.
“And he didn’t say anything. I wish I could say I was surprised.” She shakes her head. “You can give him an earful when he’s up and moving again. He’ll have deserved that one.”
“I… I killed him…” Zoey whispers, horrified. What kind of Soulmate does that?
Jagged groans softly to herself. “Listen, kid. The first thing you need to know about demons is that temporary deaths aren’t treated with the same weight as permanent ones. We come back, it’s not a big deal. Demons get killed sometimes— it happens. Sometimes you hold a grudge because of it and sometimes you don’t. And how were you supposed to know a demon would be your Soulmate exactly?” She shrugs. “I don’t think anyone could’ve guessed that.”
Zoey can’t bring herself to answer any of that. She has too many questions— too many uncertainties of what this means.
Soulmates. Zoey had wanted one as a kid. She loved the idea of them— someone who you needed to meet. Someone who might love you despite all of your flaws. But when she got older, the thought of it slowly drained away. Because Soulmates were rare. Because Zoey had other things to think about, like new song lyrics, like world tours, like a Golden Honmoon and a demon boy band and the fact that Rumi had patterns—
But now, after all these years, Zoey has what she had wanted so badly as a child. But it’s not as simple or easy as she thought it would be. In fact, it kind of makes her sick to think about.
Soulmates. Of all the things Zoey was prepared to handle while stuck in the demon realm, this was not one of them.
“…I’m going to make tea.” Jagged announces after a long stretch of silence, leaving no room for argument. “And you’re going to drink it.”
Zoey can do nothing but nod numbly. She doesn’t think she has it in her to disagree about anything right now.