With this Edge of the Universe AU you’ve just created I know we’ll learn what happened post golden honmoon with Rumi and Jinu but I gotta know…what type of conversations did Mira and Zoey have with Celine post golden honmoon? Like…what happened there??
An excellent question! The answer is… The news was pretty poorly received.
Neither Zoey or Mira knew Rumi was half demon before the Honmoon took her, so when they see her suddenly get pulled under while on stage with her, that’s not what they think happened. The first reasonable sounding theory they come up with is a demon, maybe Gwi-Ma himself, did something and pulled her into the demon realm at the last second so she’d get trapped with them. Maybe as revenge, maybe to force Mira and Zoey to do something to get her back— they don’t know the details but it sounds the most plausible.
(As far as the fans are concerned, the disappearing act was part of the show. After all, Huntrix has done way crazier things before, what’s one more? Though, it is sad that they ended up retiring right after… And it’s kinda weird that Rumi stopped showing up in public after their last show… There’s probably dozens upon dozens of conspiracy theories online, but no one can prove anything one way or another.)
Zoey and Mira rush to Celine in hopes that she knows of a way to fix what happened, but when they break the news to her, she immediately becomes filled with guilt that she was wrong about the Golden Honmoon fixing Rumi’s patterns. And in her shock and grief, she tells them the truth: Rumi is half demon. She was hoping the Golden Honmoon would free her of her patterns. It didn’t. She’s been banished to the demon realm for eternity now and there’s nothing any of them can do about it.
The revelation hits both of them hard. At first there’s denial— how could Rumi be a demon? You’re wrong, you have to be. Then bargaining— maybe we can get her back, maybe the Honmoon can pull her back up with our connection, maybe we can still do something. But no matter what they say, Celine keeps shaking her head. Nothing can be done. The Golden Honmoon is final. It’s the perfect shield, and it doesn’t make compromises.
Which of course, leads them straight into anger. Lots of accusations are thrown around, ‘How could you do this?’ and ‘Why did you tell her it would fix her?’ and ‘You should’ve told us, if we had known, we never would’ve gone through with it’ and so on, only getting worse and worse each time. Celine snaps back when her love for Rumi is called into question and by the end of the shouting match, Zoey and Mira storm out and don’t see Celine again for a while.
They try to see if there’s anything they can do with the Honmoon on their own— dozens upon dozens of ideas, slowly fizzling out with each attempt. Grief and anger runs rampant— why didn’t Rumi say anything? How could she not trust them with this all this time? Is she even still alive down there, or are they doing this for nothing? Did she really think that little of them if she never trusted them enough to tell them?
Little pieces about Rumi’s unexplainable behavior suddenly makes sense, like never going to the bathhouse and slowly becoming obsessed with wearing sleeves over the years. They find cards in her room when they gain the courage to go in— she was meeting up with Jinu but they don’t know why. She never actually drank any of her tonics, and yet, her voice still healed. She… Wrote down lyrics for a song. A duet, for a song titled ‘Free’. It doesn’t say who sings the second part but… The lyrics don’t sound like they match Zoey or Mira.
Sometimes, Mira and Zoey fight too, vicious and hurt and lashing out at the only other person around, but they always make up in the end. They have to hold onto each other, because there’s not much left otherwise. They don’t feel like singing for a while, but I think slowly, they have to keep moving.
Occasionally, they release new solos or duets. They never perform like they used to but they’ve posted a recordings of acoustic covers at times. It’s not a perfect fix but it helps, a little. It doesn’t sound right without Rumi, but most if not all of the songs are quietly dedicated to her.
They start talking to Celine again eventually. It’s not quite forgiveness but there’s an understanding that they’re all grieving the same person. They make a grave for Rumi, near her mother’s, and talk to her sometimes there. It hurts but what else can they do?
They tell her grave that they forgive her for lying, but that they wish they knew sooner.
After the Golden Honmoon, Zoey and Mira never see Rumi again, but she haunts them for the rest of their lives all the same.
