Chapter Text
Blood.
Blood dripping down her face.
Pain searing, deep, deep into her skull.
Vision white with pain, except where it was black.
Black because her eye wasn't working.
Why wasn't her eye working, why couldn't she see.
Where were Rumi and Mira? They should be here, but she couldn't think about anything except her eye, her face, the gouge running down it, pain narrowing her world down to nothing but blood.
Blood that was still dripping onto the cobblestones.
Wait, stop, go back.
This is not where the story begins.
~~~~
It had been maybe six months since the Idol Awards from hell. Six months since Rumi had the secret she'd been forced to keep outed to the world. Six months since Zoey had performed the highest act of betrayal; pointing her weapons at her bandmate, one third of her soul, without letting her explain anything.
Six months since the Honmoon fell apart, and they forged a new one from it's ashes.
Three months since all of them had gotten their acts together and admitted they had feelings for one another.
(Two months and 19 days a voice in her head that sounded like Mira chimed in.)
One month since their most recent tour had wrapped up, breaking records in even bigger ways than they had expected.
30 minutes since they had finished eating dinner at a nice hole in the wall restaurant, choosing to walk back to the tower, enjoying the night.
Zoey hummed to herself, skipping along, a girlfriend holding each hand.
Wow that was still wild to think. Girlfriend. No space, between words. Official. Dating. In love.
Much less girlfriends, plural. Poor 14 year old Zoey, just starting her sexuality crisis would have had an aneurysm seeing her life now.
The crisp evening air curled around Zoey, cutting through her sweatshirt.
(It was definitely hers. Ignore the purple stitching on the sleeves, mirroring Rumi's patterns. And the surname Ryu across the back like a Letterman's jacket.)
Her feet slowed, falling back into step with Mira and Rumi.
"Everything okay?" Mira asked, glasses catching the light of the street lamps, making them seem to glow.
"I'm good!" The automatic answer slipped out without thought. Zoey forged on, covering her slip. "A little cold, so I wanted to stay closer to my hot water bottles."
Rumi gasped in mock indignation. "Is that all we are to you? Your walking heat sources?"
"Hmm." Zoey pretended to think for a moment. "There are a few other benefits to having you around."
"Just a few?" Rumi's voice grew high in protest.
"Wow, I see how it is," Mira deadpanned, stepping far enough away for the cold to seep back in.
"Wait no, there are many benefits to dating a Mira and a Rumi." Zoey surged forward, closing the gap between her and Mira, causing Rumi to stumble as she was dragged along.
"Apology accepted." Mira brought their joined hands up to her lips, pressing a kiss to the back of Zoey's hand. "Though you," she shot at Rumi, who was watching with a grin, "are still unforgiven for stealing one of my good flannels."
The flannel in question regrettably covered Rumi's patterns, cool evenings and recent rainstorms forcing all of them to break out long sleeves and pants.
"If it's yours you shouldn't have left it in my room," Rumi quipped back, grin growing large enough to show off her fangs.
As usual, Zoey's stomach flipped at the sight of them.
God her girlfriends were hot.
"So anything that's in your room is yours?" Zoey asked, praying Rumi didn't notice the mischievous edge to her voice.
"That's right." Rumi hadn't noticed she was walking into a trap.
"Awesome! Mira and I will be sleeping in your room for the foreseeable future, considering we're your girls and all."
Rumi turned bright red, the patterns on her face flaring pink as she stammered.
Get loved and cared for idiot!
Mira snickered at Rumi's distress, Zoey tugged her down to press a kiss to one of her patterns.
But their moment of domesticity could not last forever.
The Honmoon rippled under them, angry magenta and an elastic band snapped against Zoey's lungs.
"One date night. One uninterrupted date night is all I ask," Mira grumbled, dropping Zoey's hand, looking for the closest building to scale.
"It can't be that bad, that breach didn't feel big. We can be back to the tower in time to watch that new ocean life documentary I was telling you about."
Famous last words. Zoey had worked in customer service long enough to know you never said something was going to be easy.
~~~~
Finding the breach didn't take long, the ache in their chests leading them to a side street, thankfully abandoned, with demons still spilling into the human realm.
Shin-kal formed in Zoey's hands, and she jumped forward without hesitation, flinging her knives into demons.
Mira joined a heartbeat later, gok-do carving swaths through the horde.
Instinct, not rational thought, drove Zoey to duck. Rumi vaulted over her head, sword cleaving a demon that had gotten too close for comfort in half.
"Thanks!" Zoey yelled, hurled a knife at a wall, giving Rumi an anchor point. She grabbed the shin-kal's hilt, pulling herself into the air, before using the momentum granted by gravity to decapitate a particularly large demon.
"Don't thank me yet!" Rumi called back, dodging a claw swipe that dissolved halfway to her as Mira stabbed it.
"So glad the two of you are enjoying this," Mira deadpanned, using the shaft of her polearm to bash a demon's head in.
A trio of Faceless dissolved under Zoey's blades. "Enjoy is a strong word. But I'm still happy to get sweaty doing an activity with my girlfriends!"
Rumi let out an embarrassing squeak, a demon dissolving on the end of her sword. "Please don't distract me in the middle of a battle."
Faceless toppled like bowling pins as Mira tossed one into a cluster. "But you're so fun to rial up."
"Hey!"
The cluster of Faceless turned to dust, Zoey picking off the easy targets. "She's not wrong babe."
Another swath of demons fell to Rumi's sword. "Horrible. The both of you. I can't believe I'm being bullied by my girlfriends."
"We bully you because we love you!" The stream of demons flowing from the breach seemed to have stopped. "I'm going for the tear!" She called to the other two.
"Got it." "We'll cover you."
Zoey narrowed her eyes, spring-boarding off a Faceless. She didn't even have to look back when she threw a shin-kal behind her, its scream announcing she'd hit her mark.
Landing on damaged Honmoon threads always felt weird, like running your fingers across an old, staticky TV. Except you could feel it in your soul.
Zoey dipped a hand down, dragging it through the Honmoon threads, coaxing them back together.
The Honmoon had changed since being reforged. Zoey had likened the old one to the branches of an old growth forest. Maybe a bit malleable, but for the most part set exactly where it intended to be. Incomprehensibly ancient, awe inspiring, and slightly intimidating.
The one she and her girls had created reminded Zoey of green wood. Weaker, with less history, but adaptable. More forgiving.
If they had managed to turn the Honmoon golden, it probably would have felt like petrified wood.
(The longer Zoey thinks about it, the more glad she is they had failed that particular task.)
Slowly, threads started stitching back together. Magenta turning back to iridescent.
Mira barked a laugh, and Zoey looked away from her task to see Rumi had stabbed a demon in the groin. It stared at the two of them in horror while it dissolved crotch first.
The tear was nearly closed, Zoey refocused on the threads just in time for a clawed hand to shove its way through the small opening left.
Zoey tried to dodge.
She failed.
Claws found her face.
Skin split.
The claws dragged downward.
Tearing the flesh of her brow bone.
It didn't stop.
Zoey swore she heard, rather than felt her cornea rupture as the claws reached her eye.
It didn't stop.
Her cheek was the next victim, deep, deep gouges. Would you be able to see her teeth through the wounds? It felt like you should have been able to.
Finally, mercifully the claws stopped.
Maybe Zoey fell backwards, out of range. Maybe the demon had short arms and hit the end of its swing. Maybe Rumi or Mira killed it.
The how didn't matter.
What mattered was this: Zoey was on her hands and knees, bleeding, blind in one eye.
Heat registered first.
Warmth running down her face.
Wetness registered second.
That warmth was blood, seeping into her hoodie, splattering on the cobblestones.
Only then did pain register.
Searing, all consuming, white-hot pain.
Someone was screaming. Was it her? It might have been her. She didn't know, her ears were ringing too loud to process anything except for that scream. All she knew was she was bleeding, and bleeding badly.
Oh god I'm bleeding. Am I dying? I feel like I'm dying. I can't see. I can't see. I can't see. I need to see. Why does it hurt so much? I can't think straight. I need help. Someone help me. Can anyone hear me? I need help. Please someone help! Mira! Rumi! Where are you? I need you. I need my partners-bandmates-girfriends-parts-of-my-soul. It's just pain. Why is my world nothing but pain? I need Mira and Rumi. I need to see. I need to not be in pain. Someone help!
Hands. Hands on her shoulders. Pulling her upright. Pulling the the hand she had pressed into her face away from her eye. When had she done that? She wasn't sure. Was that why should couldn't see? No, even with the hand gone it was dark. Fabric pressed into her face. That hurts! Please that hurts! Stop! It hurts!
Voices reached her ears as if underwater. Telling her things, things she couldn't make sense of.
More voices, above her head. Harsh, the kind that made her flinch all these years later.
Electric tinged voices joined the two next to her, while the voice that wasn't harsh whispered into her ear, saying things she didn't understand.
Sirens. Getting closer.
More voices. More hands, rubber clad, pulling her to her feet.
The two voices she knew were safe, the ones she twined with her soul stayed near.
Metal under her feet. A door slamming shut.
Soft yet scratchy fabric.
Harsh lights, too bright, too bright, too bright.
Something in her brain gave, folding under the pressure.
Black. Blissful silence.
Peace.