Chapter Text
In a handful of small villages bordering a largely secluded forested mountain range there are rumors and tales of a mysterious cryptid. Many have stories of seeing this alleged creature, an older man in one village claims it's a vengeful spirit of the forest lashing out due to humanities endless encroach, a young child fears it's a ravenous monster hunting for human flesh, a middle aged woman believes it's a protective guardian spirit watching over the village, and there are so many other stories describing it with completely contradictory features and motivations. If you were to ask the actual cryptid, not like she makes a habit of speaking with anyone, but she’d smile awkwardly, laugh without making eye contact and then she’d run away before you asked her any more invasive personal questions.
(But you really shouldn’t call someone a cryptid directly to their face. It's kind of rude. She's just a girl. Well… a half demon girl, but it's not like she’s out here rending flesh or devouring souls. So yeah, just a girl with hair that's a vibrant shade of purple, a prehensile tail, crazy reflexes, enhanced senses, and cute little fangs.)
She isn't exactly anti-social; she wishes everyday for someone to call friend or, when she’s feeling really optimistic, family. Unfortunately due to her nature humans tend to fear her, but after everything she's experienced the feeling is more or less mutual. When she first escaped from her previous prison home there were attempts made to try and live among humanity, but that ended disastrously every time. Someone would inevitably see one of the characteristics that makes her stand out as other, and as she's learned humans really do not like those they see as not belonging to the in-group; She'd have to run somewhere where no one knew her to try again. It definitely did not help that she had nothing approaching normal socialization, understanding of societal rules and expectations or even the purpose of money.
Now that she has a slightly better grasp on those things she just prefers the simple self-sufficient life she's built up in the small home she's carved out deep in the mountains. There are absolutely things about civilization that pique her curiosity, but nothing she's read about or observed seems worth dealing with all the trials and tribulations of attempting to live amongst humans. So yeah, she wouldn't trade her nice simple life surrounded by nature for a tedious 9-5, the sensory overwhelm of the sounds and smells, and the endless stress of trying to hide everything that makes her different.
Her appa had constantly stressed that she should never be ashamed of who she is, easier said than done, but she tries. It was one of the last promises she ever made to him before everything happened. She can't break it. Gwi-Ma feeds on shame and she never wants to deal with anything that full demons are subjected to. She would die happy if she never heard his voice again.
Although, on rare occasions when the pressure of loneliness really weighs heavy on her, the idea of a nice warm bed, people that love her, and access to the unbelievable food she's smelt and in two of her most precious memories actually got to taste, makes her wonder if the stress of it all might actually be worth it. Unfortunately on those days that dark little voice likes to remind her of what she is, a half breed that doesn't belong in either world, and those dreams melt under a decade of self imposed isolation.
Ignoring all that she really did enjoy her life. She's worked hard to create something that’s all her own and is quite proud of her self-sufficiency, well near self-sufficiency. The two guardian spirits, at least that's what she thinks they are, that helped assure her safety and basic needs after everything happened were basically the closest thing she had to friends or family. So, not completely alone, but while the giant blue tiger was a more than willing cuddle partner and a phenomenal listener, he wasn't exactly much of a conversationalist. The sassy six eyed magpie occasionally responded with trills and eye rolls that could be taken as something resembling a back and forth, but once again that wasn't the kind of thing humans, and I guess half humans, craved when they formed civilization all those years ago.
Basically all this is to say she likes her life, but thinks it could be better, but also thinks she doesn't deserve it and has no plans to make any changes. Which all in all is one of the most human things about her. Who doesn't occasionally wish their life was better in one breath, beat themselves up about it in the next, all while doing nothing to change things?
Seoul, South Korea
Several hundred kilometers away in a place that is the complete opposite to the idyllic natural scene our half-demon calls home sits an overly ornate office building. Everything is made of too much glass, expensive furnishings, a frankly ridiculous amount of obnoxiously polished marble and every other ridiculous excess rich people use to try and intimidate and or impress others. Sitting on one side of a massive desk made of wood that costs more per square foot than any normal person could ever imagine spending on a tree is a middle aged woman with perfect posture, a seemingly unbreakable mask of neutrality, and the aura of someone who never hears the word no.
That last point would have been true if it wasn't for the taller of the younger women standing on the opposite side of the unnecessarily expensive desk who is currently screaming at the top of her lungs while the smaller woman tries to disappear into the background, a vain attempt to ignore the same argument she's heard countless times.
‘Celine! We need to do something. The Hoonmoon is barely holding on! Zo and I have to go out every single night to patrol and we still lose people. Huntrix needs to debut as a duo!’ She screams with an exasperated tone as her long pink hair sways with her aggressive arm movements.
Celine remains completely impassive keeping an even tone despite Mira aggressively leaning over the desk and screaming less than 2 feet from her face. ‘There has never been a duo in the long history of hunters. We must find your third!’
‘You’ve been saying that for 4 years! You found me easily and Zoey wasn't much harder despite being across the fucking Pacific Ocean.’ She aggressively points at the other girl before slamming her hands on the desk. ‘Where the fuck is this third girl?! Does she even exist?’
‘Mira watch your language! I won't let you talk to me like this.’ Celine snaps back, her face remaining completely unchanged, but her tone sharpening to that authority that reminds Mira of everything she despises.
‘Fucking language? The world is going to end while we sit on our asses concerned about manners and tradition? This is insane.’ The taller woman throws up her hands as she moves towards the doors. ‘C’mon Zo. I'm tired of Celine's bullshit. Let's take the rare chance we have to relax and head to the bathhouse.’
The small raven haired girl, Zoey, snaps out of her disassociated daze and obedient follows after her fellow hunter. She takes a moment to look back at Celine and after working up her courage stage whispers the words, ‘I’m sorry, but she's kind of right.’
The first crack in what seems like an impenetrable mask appears suddenly and is gone just as quickly. Neither of the women saw it, but they did hear the soft exhausted sigh of resignation. ‘You’re right. We can't keep ignoring your duty to the Hoonmoon. I have a full tour of auditions all across the country for the rest of the month. If I don't find her you can debut as a duo. I don't know if the two of you alone have the power to strengthen the Hoonmoon, but we have to do something.’
The anger visibly dissipates as Mira’s shoulders drop, her jaw unclenches, and her brow unfurrows. She tries her hardest to hold onto a bit of it because what the fuck, she's known Celine for 5 years and has never heard her admit she was wrong. Things are even more dire than they thought.
‘Thank you for listening to me. I'll hold you to that. We debut at the beginning of next month no matter what, okay?’ Mira tries her best to mask the absolute disbelief in her tone as she wrangles with the fact their perfect mentor has admitted a fault. So much for that stupid fucking mantra.
Our faults and fears must never be seen.
‘I hope we can find your third, but I'll get things moving on a potential duo debut.’ Celine calmly shifts her body and starts going through emails while lifting her hand to quietly signal the end of their surprisingly productive meeting without a goodbye.
Classic Celine…
Mira decides to be the bigger person and let Celine have the small win of the last word. It's an easy concession since she's still riding the high of being told she was right. That unexpected elation still doesn't fully quell her anger. She hates authority almost as much as she despises unnecessary formality and tradition. Even if the conversation ended up going her way in the end she's still seething at Celine's inexplicable need to hold onto pointless traditions. It would be nice to have a third, someone that could shore up the weaknesses of her and Zoey, but they can't just ignore their duty because the final hunter is somehow hiding from the Honmoon. Using a little more force than necessary the door closes with a satisfying slam as the sound of an award falling off the wall makes Mira smile a little bit.
The moment the door slams and two of the biggest sources of Celine’s stress leave the mask completely shatters. Her shoulders slump, her frown deepens and her face hits the desk as an exasperated groan escapes. She doesn't even care about the award for the Sunlight Sisters doing whatever, now lying on the ground, likely with a chip in the glass housing it.
‘Where the fuck is she? This has never happened in the recorded history of hunters. You're supposed to lead us to her!’ She might as well be talking to herself because the wavy blue lines of light that stretch across the world don't react at all to her complaints. It still feels nice to blame someone or something else. There are already too many fuck ups in her life and she'd prefer the lack of the third hunter be blamed on the magical barrier that protects the world just to lower her personal fuck up tally by one. It still makes no sense they can't find the last girl. She went all the way to fucking America for Zoey, but this last girl must be hiding somehow. There's no other explanation. Every other trio was together before the oldest even turned 18. Why wouldn't she want to be found? Did she somehow get hurt before she matured as a hunter? Is that even possible? The Honmoon should protect its hunters even before they are aware of it. She shakes her head as she snaps out of an all too familiar spiral.
‘Thank god I have a few hours before I need to catch my flight to start my final pointless search. I need to calm down.’ Her hand reaches into a hidden compartment under her desk pulling out a flask and taking a massive swig. ‘Mimi, what would you have done if you were still here? Would you know how to find her?’
Somewhere deep in the woods everyone's favorite cryptid runs after a small deer while humming something wordless and ancient. The music seemingly comes alive as blue lines of light dance around her feet; the magic of the Hoonmoon coupled with her demon physiology allows her to easily bound through the dense forest, sinking her fangs into the neck of what has now become tonight's dinner. She spits out the hair and blood in her mouth with a little grimace as she hefts the animal over her shoulder.
‘Ugh! Why do I keep using my teeth? I hate the taste of raw meat and blood. Fucking demon instincts!’
She's a little annoyed, but the terrible aftertaste of blood is definitely worth the feast she is about to have. It's not everyday that she’s able to catch an animal this size, or even any animal at all. Luckily for her, she has cultivated a nice little garden and is an incredibly resourceful forager so she doesn't exactly want for basic sustenance, but fresh venison is absolutely one of her life's simple pleasures.
Today has been a great day! Derpy, the spirit tiger, and Sussie, the spirit magpie, (don't mock the names, she was 6 when she named them) had returned from wherever they disappeared to with quite a haul. A handful of miscellaneous books, and a nice thick blanket! It's still late summer, but winter would be here before she knows it and their primitive home isn't exactly well insulated. She's always wondered where they found the stuff they brought back, especially days like today when it's all neatly packed in a canvas bag, but they kind of just do whatever and you know what they say, never look a gift horse tiger/magpie in the mouth.
On top of new stuff and a future deliciously filling dinner the sun’s rays had been perfect today and her one hour of midday sunbathing had been incredible. That's all to say that today has been amazing and while she does sometimes wish for more she doesn't really need it. With an uncharacteristic deal of pep in her step she makes great time back to the small structure she calls her home, drops her catch with the intention of preparing it and to quickly get a fire going.
Before she gets a chance Derpy lumbers over with a vacant, but loving look on his wide dumb face, bumping against her hip in the universal cat language that says, ‘Hi! I missed you. Pay attention to me.’ With a soft smile she kneels down and takes his big head in her hands vigorously rubbing both under his chin and the spot right behind the left ear that always results in a happy kitty and deeply rhythmic purring that vibrates so deeply she can feel it in her bones.
‘Yes, yes. I missed you too! You're such a good boy! Thank you for the gifts!’ The big blue tiger chuffed happily as he leaned into her body knocking her gently down as his furry warmth engulfed her. If it wasn't for her demonic/Honmoon enhanced strength she probably would have died of asphyxiation from a big furry idiot and honestly there are way worse ways to go…
Gwi-Ma’s otherworldly magenta flames illuminated the entire underworld as his booming voice resonated through the very fabric of reality,
Little hybrid! Why do you hide? Will you let me destroy your precious ‘Appa’ instead of kneeling to your King?
Using that same powerful magic her father's words were broadcast in the same way.
‘Please keep running, keep hiding. Keep hiding my precious little tiger. You can't let Gwi-Ma find you. I'm sorry and I’ll always love you. Never forget th—’ His words were punctuated by screams of agony so visceral they made the underworld shake beneath her small frame.
Do you hear that ‘little tiger'? Hearing her appa’s precious nickname for her poisoned by Gwi-Ma’s demonic sneer nearly brought her to her knees, but she had to keep running. She was a good girl and would do exactly what her appa told her. Your cowardice is causing him so much pain. Is something like you worth all this?
A warm wet tongue envelops her face as a gentle peck against her temple snaps her from the spiral before she could relive that entire horrible experience. She pets them both as she slowly calms back down.
‘Thank you! You always know exactly what to do for me! I'd be lost if I didn't have you!’ She was incredibly grateful. If that memory had fully consumed her all that effort to catch dinner would have been wasted. After that particular event the smell of cooked meat made her sick for months. With a sigh and a gentle shake of her head to knock that thought loose she slowly extricates herself from her fluffy prison. Derpy isn't thrilled about it, but he acquiesces and reluctantly allows her to get back to her feet.
‘Sorry buddy!’ She pats his head a few more times so he understands she really doesn't want to leave him. ‘I’d love to spend the evening cuddling with you, but I'd like to get dinner started before the sun goes down.’ She smiles as he lets out one of those sighs that makes you think your cat is actually a single father working two jobs to pay rent and not, well, a cat.
Sussie stays perched on her shoulder carefully monitoring her with their stare that seemingly sees directly down to the soul. Rumi thanks them for their vigilance with a gentle stroke of the feathers under their beak. That seems to be enough to satisfy their concern and free of the gentle care of her two favorite friends spirits she gets busy preparing her meal.
The rest of the night passes pretty uneventfully as she finds herself cuddled up with Derpy and Sussie while she reads one of her new books, trashy sapphic monster smut romance, but beggars can't be choosers. She’s a voracious reader, but is limited to whatever she or her spirits can find. She once spent an entire day in a library before someone kicked her out and that was one of the best days of her life. (Also, she’d never admit this, but she really loves the monster smut romance. It helps her believe someone might love her like that one day. Romantically, not that other thing. She isn't a pervert.)
After a particularly spicy romantic scene the book has a natural lull that makes her realize the combination of a full stomach, a long day, and the gentle warmth from the smouldering fire has her eyelids feeling heavy as she burrows deeper into Derpy’s warm fur.
‘Goodnight. Love you!’ Derpy and Sussie each get a quick good night peck and Rumi is rewarded with a lick and a literal peck. All three shift to get comfortable as the gentle pull of exhaustion takes her to the sweet oblivion of sleep. These cool summer nights were always her favorite, especially when she fell asleep comfortably under the stars.
There's a loud crash near the dwelling they call home followed by a sickening laugh and quick angry conversations she can't hear. She makes herself as small as possible as she cowers under the bed praying they won't notice her before her appa can get back. He’d been forced to leave her more often for longer and always came back more tired, weaker, with a bit of his soul ground away.
(Rumi always thought this was a unique situation to half demons, to be fair everything is a unique experience to half demons since there's only one, but your guardian leaving for several hours and coming back less happy and exhausted is a pretty universal human experience. Comparing Gwi-Ma to an unreasonably demanding boss, sociopathic demons to shitty coworkers, and being forced to harvest souls to tedious meetings is a little extreme, but the crushing grind of capitalism is probably almost as bad as horrifying monsters stealing the souls of the innocent.)
The angry bickering comes closer and closer, but thankfully they seem to move right past her hiding place. The pressure in her chest eases as she releases the breath she was desperately holding, but before she could take in any more air she sensed the wrongness of reality warping as a demon teleported. Before she could move away a hand was reaching out to yank her from her hiding place.
‘Look Ro! I found a little monster under the bed!’ He dangles her six feet off the ground by her ankle as he smirks in an infuriatingly smug way.
‘Let me go!’ Her small body attempts to struggle against the powerful grip of the broad shouldered demon's claws, but it's completely futile. She wills one of her hands into small claws and contorts her body to swing at the arm holding her, unfortunately she's too weak to cause any damage and Abby quickly manhandles her in such a way she can't move at all. ‘My appa will be back any minute and you'll regret this!’ Her father is a powerful demon and his reputation usually did enough to protect her from random attacks, but this felt different. Jeosung Saja were incredibly rare and this was a group of three of them.
The third demon, an attractive man with dark hair, that had been impassively watching walked over with a condescending smirk and a tone that matched. ‘Sorry princess. Your daddy is busy with our other two associates. He won't be able to save you today. Gwi-Ma is determined to take care of your father's little mistake. He can't have anyone carrying his mark running free.’
Her eyes snap open as she wakes in a panic.
‘I can't move. They got me. Gwi-Ma found me. I'm sorry appa. You died for nothing.’ She desperately gasped.
There are tears running down her face, breath barely coming as she continues to struggle against whatever is holding her down. She immediately relaxes when the weight on top of her starts gently vibrating in a soothing nature. As she takes a massive lungful of air her vision clears and she realizes she's safe, just trapped under a big purring cat. She definitely does not respond to his purring with a self soothing rumbling of her own. Rumi absolutely does not purr!
‘Just a nightmare.’ Hands gently running through the tiger’s soft blue fur. ‘Thanks for being a weighted blanket. It really helps.’ She hugs him tighter as her adrenaline eases and exhaustion takes her back under.
Back in Seoul two incredibly grumpy women are struggling to get dressed quickly.
‘We’ve already dealt with a breach today. This is the first time there’s been two in the same day.’ Mira grumbles while she tugs on a pair of sweatpants.
‘Ugh.’ Zoey, the lyricist, says eloquently.
‘I’m tired too Zo. Hopefully it's just a couple demons and it's close by.’
‘Wait, doesn't it feel really far away!?’ Zoey exclaims with confusion and a surprising amount of energy for the dead middle of the night.
The pink haired hunter takes a moment to meditate and reach out to the Hoonmoon. ‘Huh? It’s not even in Seoul. Didn't Celine tell us rifts can only open near a hunter?’ She questions as she stops her rush to get dressed.
Zoey who is much better at communicating with the Hoonmoon is uncharacteristically quiet until she suddenly exclaims. ‘Found it! It’s somewhere in the northern mountains. There probably isn't even a single soul anywhere near it. What are they planning?’
Mira sighs as she goes to change back into her pajamas. ‘Maybe our mysterious third hunter lives off the grid in the woods and that's why she hasn't been found.’ She snarks, but secretly hopes it's actually true.
The smaller woman stares at the wall in deep concentration. ‘What if we went to the breach? Maybe we could find her.’
‘It's hundreds of kilometers away. It's not worth it on the off chance our third was raised by wolves.’
‘Wild wolves have been mostly wiped out in Korea.’ Zoey says with a frown; She always has a fact for any animal mentioned. ‘Maybe she was raised by tigers? Wait, no. Those were also hunted to extinction. Man, humans kind of suck almost as much as demons sometimes. I guess she could have been raised by feral cats? Do you think our mystery hunter is secretly a cat girl?’ Her eyes lit up in a way that would have once concerned Mira, but she's learned over time that her girlfriend has weird interests.
‘I doubt there's a cat girl living in the woods who's supposed to help us save the world.’ Her chuckle is good natured. No one had ever been able to make her laugh and smile as easily as Zoey can.
‘But what if—’
‘We can worry about it in the morning. Celine might know something about it.’ Mira hated cutting off Zoey, but she was exhausted and as much as she loved her rambling she really just wanted to go back to sleep and not worry about whatever tricks the demons were trying to pull.
‘Okay. You're right.’ The younger woman sounds a little dejected, but she's also obviously just as exhausted.
Mira lifts her up and drops her on the bed. Leaning over her to give her a quick kiss. ‘Love ya babe and you know I love listening to your rants, but we need sleep. Goodnight!’
Whatever air of dejection that hung over Zoey easily blows away in response to her girlfriend's affection. Zoey cuddles into her shoulder with a deep sigh of contentment. ‘I love you too. Goodnight babe!’
Rumi wakes up in a panic for the second time in the same night, but she isn't surfacing from a nightmare this time. Just the same familiar feeling of wrongness in the Hoonmoon she feels occasionally. It's not normally this strong though and that definitely concerns her. She sits up quickly and surveys her surroundings, observing the Honmoon’s quaking.
‘Where is Derpy? He never leaves my side at night. Fuck…’ Rumi has a bad habit of talking to herself. Thinking out loud usually helps her organize and plan better. It's not like there's anyone around to be annoyed by it.
Her heart rate spikes as she jumps up into a defensive position. The wrongness of the air has her on edge; She almost feels like she can smell the stagnant air of the demon realm. Oh shit, this is a breach. He found her. Fuckfuckfuckfuck.
A sharp pained trill comes over the trees to the north and she snaps out of her panic to immediately bound towards it. One of her precious pack spirits are in trouble. She's stronger now. She's not just going to run away and let someone she loves die. Not again. Never again.
As she runs the air gets heavier with that odd distortion she can feel deep in her soul. Her worst fears are confirmed when she comes upon a clearing overrun by faceless demons. Derpy is protectively curled around Sussie who’s lying motionless on the ground. The sight of her pack friends family guardian spirits in distress causes her blood to boil, her claws and fangs extending as she pounces on and tears the throat out of the nearest demon to her. Three more disappear into ash before they even realize what's happening. These were just foot soldiers. As long as there are no stronger demons everything would be fine.