#*evil laughter*

"Mira...what are you talking about?" the Demon asks and Celine is so confused as to why there are so many sad scents rotating in her nose but she doesn't like it.

She can't comfort them all at once! She's too small goddamn it!

Then the Mira is shifting, sitting up, forcing the other two the move with her. Keeping Celine close to her chest as she sits up, the Demon now in her lap, all pouty and frowning.

The Zoey throwing one leg over both of them while the other goes behind the Mira as she pulls her in close, still chest to arm, cheek to shoulder has she uses her free hand to rub her back.

The Mira nuzzles her wet face into Celine. She has no idea what's going on. As she's been since the moment they found her but it's really starting to get frustrating because the mix of confusing smells is not helping the fog in her head.

"Celine had always been this...pillar...during our training days." the Mira says.

Again with the training. When did she do all these things they keep mentioning? Why can't she remember?

She wants to! She swears! If it's true she wants to! She doesn't like that she apparently forgot them!

"Despite me picking petty fights and being a general pain in the ass she always kept me steady when I was going through a rough time. When we all were." the Mira says.

"I envied her composure. Her strength to just...keep going. To never back down. To face stuff head on, firm and unmoving." she adds.

That doesn't sound like her. She runs from everything. That's how she ended up in this situation.

Right?

How did she end up in this situation?

What is this situation?

She tries to remember but all it does is send a spike of pain through her head.

A gentle hand strokes her behind her ears and when she looks up to see who, she sees it's the Demon but her eyes stay firmly on the Mira as she speaks.

"I envied how she cared. How she wasn't afraid to show that she did...as deadpan as she was about it, it was always obvious she cared." the Mira says, a smile in her voice and Celine feels more than hears the other two chuckle with her.

Well that's good...she thinks?

"I wanted to be able to be strong like her, to be able to be unflinchingly honest but kind. To be gentle but firm. That balance she always carried...like she wasn't carrying a storm of doubt in her head." the Mira says and Celine looks back at her, her whiskers tickling chin.

The Mira looks down at her, her hand gently rubbing her furry back as her eyes spill their tears.

"She taught me how to love myself."

'You're too hard on yourself, isn't that supposed to be my job.'

'I'm not harsh enough.'

'Would you call Rumi useless for not executing a move correctly?'

'What? No of course not!'

'Would you call Zoey unworthy if she had yet to be able to summon her spirit weapon?'

'No! Why would I-'

'So why do you not offer yourself the same grace?'

'I...'

'What makes you so unworthy of your own kindness and patience you so readily give them...but refuse yourself.'

"Every lesson she gave was a small glimpse of a sacrifice she would never let us see in full." the Mira says.

Celine blinks her eyes rapidly as the vision...somehow a little clearer but no less confusing vanishes.

"As much as she never wanted us to show our faults and fears...she wasn't very good at it herself." she adds.

"She was hard to read yes...but I saw enough to know when a lesson was something she was taught...or something she learned."

Celine doesn't know what she means by that but by the sad sighs that echo from the other two, she guesses they do.

"I wanted to be like her...I wanted to be like her...for you. Both of you." the Mira says and both the Zoey and the Demon frown.

"What do you mean?" the Zoey asks.

"I wanted to be for you what she was for me."

"Mira..."

"I wanted to be your pillar."

'That's all good and well, Mimi, but a house cannot stand on only one.'

'I know, Cece. That's why I have you three! To help me!'

'That's true. We wouldn't let you do this alone. Even if Poppy doesn't like it.'

'Exactly! We're stronger together!'

'I still think this is crazy.'

'And I think you're attached to her already.'

'You think it's a girl?'

"So yeah...learning the person I looked up to, who I thought was a good example of what I wanted to be, a better me, for me, for us...was a lie..." The Mira says, voice cracking slightly as she holds back her tears.

She lied? That's...why would she lie about who she was? Was that who she was?

"Did she ever really trust me? Did she think I would hurt you? Was she...was she ever really proud of me? How does she think of me now? Having become what she tried to protect you from." the Mira says, barely above a whisper.

The Demon pulls the Mira in for one of those hugs, squishing Celine between them, making her squeak but they probably didn't hear her because they don't back off.

She she's kinda stuck smooshed between their collarbones, eyes wide as she stares and a crying the Zoey who then decides she also wants to be apart of it.

She scoots even closer, wrapping her arms around both her companions, her nose pressed against Celine's.

And they're all crying.

Well...she supposes this is one way to comfort all of them at once despite being so small.

Where there's a will there's a way she guesses.

"I feel like a failed her. Failed you! I promised her you'd be safe with me. I wanted you to feel safe with me..." the Mira say, voice muffled against Celine's head.

She's going to take a wild guess and say that wasn't directed at her.

"I do...I did feel safe with you, Mir. Both of you." The Demon says.

Why would she need to feel safe? She's a Demon? What would she need to be protected from.

Except maybe...

...Hunters...

'Yes.'

'Demon...Hunters?'

'Yes.'

'...and this...blue moon thing-'

'-Honmoon.'

'-right...honmoon...that I've been seeing...its a barrier...to keep them out?'

'Yes, and as Hunters it is our duty to strengthen and protect it.'

'I don't know if that's a good idea. I mean when I saw your people that day, I honestly thought I was seeing things.'

'You were chosen, Celine.'

'I don't want to be.'

"-by then it was no longer about not trusting you." the Demon says.

Is she back? The visions keep happening and they hurt so much. Her head is ringing.

"So why? Why not tell us, if not only because of what Celine said." The Zoey asks.

What did she say? When? What's happening? What are they talking about? Stupid visions keep taking her away from the important things they discuss!

"I...I didn't trust myself." the Demon says softly and finally, finally, the overwhelming but still kind of comforting pressure of being squished is released and she can breathe properly again.

The Zoey and the Mira shift to look at the Demon still sat on the Mira's lap.

"As well as I hid my patterns...hiding the fact that I was different was...difficult, but not for the reason you think." the Demon says.

Hid her patterns? Why would she do that? And how? They're all over her. Maybe certain clothes would help conceal those on her body but what about the ones of her face? Do they have clothes for the face too?

"Before we found you two...aside from my patterns when I got older...when it was just Cece and I..." the Demon says and she gets a fond but sad smile on her face.

"I never really used to hide my more...demon traits." She add and their eyes widen.

"So when you two came along...It was hard having to stop being...me...in my own home."