This one kicked me in the head in the shower…
A puff of colorful mist interrupts the sounds of the night for a moment. The chirping and buzzing of insects quiet as they all become aware of something that doesn’t belong there.
But it does not move, it only watches. And the noises resume slowly. The single glowing eye turns slowly, looking to their right.
The Gumiho is there, watching in return. The two examine each other for a time, a creature who hunts and a hunter who fails.
Rumi’s voice aches from her screaming at Miyeong, but she still needs to say it. “I’ve failed, Celine.” The Gumihos ears pin backwards, a growl slipping from her. Rumi doesn’t stop talking. “I broke the Honmoon. I’m the reason it looks like this. It’s my fault.”
Celine’s silver eyes continue to track Rumi’s movements, her ears still pinned back but her posture not quite as… intimidating. Rumi can only hope it’s a trick to get her to lower her guard.
“I need you to do what my mother was too weak too.” Those silver eyes widened in shock, but Rumi doesn’t hesitate. She can’t. “I need you to kill me and save the world from me.”
The ears dropped to the sides as Celine stood to her full height, her canine expression unreadable to Rumi. She began to pad towards the half demon, and Rumi faced her with trembling arms. She’s going to die, and that’s ok. She needs to to save the Honmoon.
The massive fox stood directly in front of Rumi, looking down at her trembling, twisted form. She knows how she looks right now, she saw it in the mirror that she’s smashed earlier. A clawed hand, a glowing yellow eye, a wretched tail, and patterns all over her body.
She looks like a monster.
Celine’s head lowered until it was even with Rumi’s, their faces inches apart. Rumi couldn’t stop the way she shivered as warm breath coasted over her face, those unreadable silver eyes watching her closely.
The voice is like rocks tumbling through a river, deep and powerful in the way nature is. It should have been something that inspired awe, but the rejection instead filled Rumi with a mixed sense of anger and disbelieving relief.
Celine sat down, her tails gently swaying as she considered Rumi. “No, I will not kill you, little hunter.” Her tone is almost gentle, if a little chiding, as though Rumi were a misbehaving kit that needed to be told not to chew on her mother’s tail.
Rumi, for her part, is shocked and angry. “You have to! Look around, I did this! I’m the reason the Honmoon became so weak! If it gone, it’ll be fixed! And you can finally have your revenge! So just kill me!” Her voice warbles with demonic power as she screams the last words, dropping to her knees as hot tears stream down her face.
Celine is silent, watching as this young girl collapses in on herself. She knows this kind of rage, this kind of despair, the kind that could drive someone mad.
She saw it in the pond she lives near every time she caught her reflection.
Rumi doesn’t remember this, but as a child she used to wander into the woods. The first time she had, Celine had planned to kill her. She saw this wretched half breed and had wanted to avenge her family, the one stolen away by Miyeongs greed.
But the child had spotted Celine. Had walked right up to her and giggled. It’s a sound she hasn’t heard since her siblings had been killed. She’s not sure what prompts it, but she gently poked the small child in the stomach, eliciting another giggle from her.
Celine didn’t kill Rumi that time. Next time, she told herself, next time she will kill Rumi.
But then next time came. Rumi brought leftovers with her, Tteokboki that Miyeong had ordered from Celine’s favorite diner. The child offers it to the fox, and once again Celine was too stunned to kill her, to end the child of the woman she hates.
And so Celine promises herself that next time, next time she’ll kill her.
This cycle repeats, each time Rumi manages to slide a little further into Celine’s heart, and each time Celine promises to herself that she will kill the child next time she comes out.
Until finally, Rumi falls asleep on Celine. She’d been climbing onto Celine the last few times, earning her chiding nips and growls that made the forest ring with her laughter. But then she’d stopped moving, instead just laying on Celine’s back.
It took her too long to realize the child had fallen into a deep slumber.
This is her chance. She can kill the child without scaring her, so she can have a peaceful death. Celine lifted her massive head, jaws opened as she turned to do just that.
But the child mumbled in her sleep, then.
One word. One word that shattered Celine’s heart. What is she doing? Why was she about to become just as bad as Miyeong? Celine let her head rest back on her paws, and instead opted to keep watch.
She would be better than Miyeong, she would protect the only family she might still have left.
Rumi’s visits slowed to a stop a year after that. Her training as a hunter and training to suppress her demonic nature made it impossible to wander off into the woods. Celine watched her train sometimes, as Miyeong gave instructions.
She still hates her. She always will, she thinks.
She ignores that quiet part of her soul still tethered to the woman.
Rumi slowly forgot her Imo in the forest, she never brought it up to Miyeong. She tried to, once, but her Eomma had started crying and didn’t stop for over an hour. Rumi eventually attributed it to a child’s imagination.
She eventually heard the stories from Miyeong, about how she was responsible for the death of an entire family of Gumiho. (She didn’t tell Rumi of the one living one, who hates her, in the forest. She can’t face the shame she feels from it.)
But Rumi found out anyways. She learned of her mother’s shame after fleeing the idol awards from Jinu.
She’d hoped that the Gumiho Celine, former member of the sunlight sisters, might hate her mother enough to kill her the way Miyeong refused to.
The massive fox did not move from her seated position, instead tilting its head slightly. “I have lived for a long time, little hunter. I have lost much, and loved and hated for years at a time. And I am tired.” The massive fox began to shrink in on itself.
Rumi watched in stunned anger as, for the first time in over two decades, Celine assumed the shape of a human. Her hair is streaked with silver, wrinkles around her eyes showing how the years have sped by. Shes wearing a simple pair of trousers and a shirt, but the thing that draws Rumi’s attention are her eyes.
Celine silver eyes slowly fading into a black, filled with a bone deep exhaustion.
“I am tired, little one.” Celine’s voice is smooth as she repeats herself, like aged wine freshly uncorked. “I hated your mother for years, yes. I desperately wanted to kill her, and you, for a time. But then you wandered into my forest.”
A smile spread on Celine’s face as she spoke, an exhausted, sorrowful smile, but a smile nonetheless.
“That first time, I was going to end your life. But then you walked up to me without a hint of fear, and you laughed in joy. When you returned home, I didn’t know how to feel. For weeks and months after that, you came out to visit me over and over again. Each one doused the flames I’d been letting burn me for so long. One time, you even fell asleep on top of me, and you called me your Imo.”
Rumi could feel tears slipping free still as her mind thought back to her “imagined” friend. She didn’t imagine it. Celine had been a part of her life for far longer than she’d realized, watching over her. Celine gave Rumi a moment to let everything she’s said so far sink in, that smile still in place.
“I could never hurt you, Rumi. And while I will never forgive your mother, I can’t let my hatred of her keep consuming me.” She stepped forwards, her hands gently clasping Rumi’s shoulders, directly over her patterns in a way Miyeong couldn’t. “So don’t let your hatred of yourself consume you, too.”
Celine pulled Rumi into a hug, letting the young woman cry into her shoulder. Those same trembling limbs wrapped around Celine, tight in the way only a desperate person can manage. The two stand there for a time, tears falling as they hold one another for comfort.
When the tears finally run dry, Rumi pulls back, but Celine keeps her hands on Rumi’s shoulders. Hesitantly, Rumi looks up to meet those gentle eyes, filled with warmth and sorrow.
“What do I do?” Rumi whispers.
Celine smiled again, wiping away Rumi’s tears before cupping her face. “You are a hunter, the best of two generations. If anyone can save the world, it’s you. And it starts by getting your girls back.” Celine kissed Rumi’s forehead before letting go and stepping back. “And if you get the chance, stab Gwi-ma for me.”
Rumi nodded, taking a deep breath. She’s not quite sure what she’ll do, but she does know this; the only one who can stop this is her.
The first generation of hunters created the Honmoon. Could she do it with her girls?
Rumi looked up one last time, meeting Celine’s eyes. “When this is all over, would you want to meet them? Mira and Zoey?”
Celine winked at her. “I’d love too.”
With a quiet puff, Rumi vanished.
Celine turned, looking towards the moon. Would her family hate her for not being able to hold onto her anger?
No, they wouldn’t want her to live her life suffering in anguish. They’d want her to be able to live on, not just survive.
Celine let her fox form emerge once more, turning to face the next hoard of demons emerging from the mostly shattered Honmoon.
If she survived this, she’d have to tidy up her den. It’s rude to have guests in a messy one, after all.
Just a fun little spinoff thing. I know Rumi is supposed to be collateral, but I love the idea of Celine being able to eventually recognize that this kid has literally nothing to do with it.
