Animation, live Action & the real world

Present!Celine would have a lot of trouble being around Eun Ji and Mi-Yeong. She misses them both a lot so to see them suddenly running around and playing with her younger self and seeing them so casually interact with her would be too much for present!celine. That’s not to say she wouldn’t help with figuring out how to get them home or help watch over them, but she certainly prefers to work in secret.

As for Eun Ji, I really like the idea that she’s the one who starts to pick up on present!Celine being their Celine. Yeah there’s obviously a huge difference between a 48 year old and a 7 year old that present!Celine probably could interact with them and they wouldn’t suspect her but there are some similarities. Eun Ji is the one who notices present!Celine’s humming kinda sounds like their Celine’s humming, present!Celine taps her foot a lot when she’s nervous and so does their Celine, present!Celine speaks fluent French and so does their Celine!

Her being really young probably also helps with this cause I feel like an adult would require more information. They’d want to be certain. But for an 8 year old, she just sees a couple similarities and they share the same name and she’s like “theory confirmed!” Seeing Rumi’s braid, Eun Ji probably wouldn’t think too much of it. A lot of people wear their hair in a braid, it’s not a big deal. It’s when she overhears Rumi be called Ryu Rumi and Rumi happens to mention the braid is from her mother that Eun Ji gets suspicious.

(Now I’m just imagining them somehow getting their hands on a music video of theirs from the future)

“Why does it matter!? We’re going to go live in Seoul after our debut anyway! What’s the difference in showing up a few days earlier?”

“The difference is your debut. If you go early, you’re tempted to drink, to run wild, to mess around with your skills because you believe you still have a few days before the country knows who you are. If you go after, you’re less likely to do so because you now have an image to uphold and people who will recognize you and take photos if you try to do anything stupid.” Celine crossed her arms over her chest, “I’m sorry, but the answer is no. You three have been here for two years. You can survive a few more days.” She was already walking away towards her garden before Rumi could argue further.

Grumbling something under her breath, Rumi stormed off to her room, falling onto her bed. Although Rumi did always have the attitude and dignity of their leader, there were times when Mira and Zoey got reminded that Rumi was only a year or two older than them. Zoey was 19, Mira was 20 and Rumi was 21 and while both of them trusted Rumi to be their leader without question, it was funny sometimes to see just how much Celine could get under Rumi’s skin.

“You okay?” Zoey asked.

“She doesn’t trust us.”

“It’s okay. We can always go to one of the cities on the island and have a night out.” Mira offered.

“I know, but…I had…specific plans in Seoul that I wanted us to be there for.” Rumi grumbled into her pillow. She pulled herself up enough that her chin was resting while her face stared at her wall.

“We could do it after we debut.” Zoey suggested, “I’m sure we’d have at least an hour or two free to do whatever it was you were planning.”

“It’s fine. I just wish Celine trusted us. She talks like we’re some irresponsible teenagers.”

“Well, Zoey is.” Mira snickered.

“I’m 19!”

“And a teenager and I’ve seen you down a whole bottle of cheese whiz in fifteen minutes.”

“You dared me too!”

“You still did it.”

A soft smile fell on Rumi’s lips while watching the two play argue with each other. She opened her mouth to say more, to participate in their friendly banter and maybe get some more laughter, until a vibration from the honmoon stopped her.

A tear.

“Let’s go.” Throwing off any anger or disappointment, Rumi fell straight into her leader mode and rushed for the door. Mira and Zoey were not far behind.

As they hadn’t officially become idols yet, their songs having not connected to the fans, Celine still held the ability to summon her Honmoon weapon—dual swords. When the girls officially debuted, Celine would lose that ability as she wasn’t a hunter anymore. For the last few days that she still had it though, Celine would occasionally join the girls in their fights. She never took over the fight or led them—always leaving the leading to Rumi—but she did act as support on the off chance they found themselves overwhelmed.

“Celine, behind you!” Zoey cried.

Celine whipped around and slashed two demons with her sword, “Good lookout, Zoey.”

“Good enough to handle the streets of Seoul.” Rumi grumbled.

“Do you have something you want to say to me, Rumi?”

“We’re literally fighting demons right now that want to devour our souls. How do you trust us to handle this and not go to the city early?” Rumi demanded, throwing her sword into a demon.

“It’s not about trust. I just don’t believe you need to take any unnecessary risk and, anyways, you’ll listen to me because I am your mentor and guardian. When I say something you listen.”

“I do listen to you! I listen to everything! Training, practice, dancing lessons, everything, everything! And you can’t accept this one thing that I want to do.”

“Rumi!” Mira and Zoey nearly froze when Celine snapped. She rarely got mad enough to yell. More often than not she would scold if she absolutely had to. When Mira first arrived she attempted to test Celine’s boundaries to see if she could get Celine to yell at her. She never did. She scolded Mira but never yelled, “Enough.” Rumi shrank back, nodding quietly.

Mira, who had been keeping her eyes on Celine and Rumi, didn’t notice the demon from behind grab her by the waist and yank her back into the trees.

“Mira!” Zoey and Rumi screamed.

“Zoey, with me. Celine?” Celine just nodded, stabbing a demon in the chest, “We’ll be back as soon as we get Mira.” Thankfully, the demon hadn’t managed to drag Mira off too far before she got the upper hand and broke free. She had bad cuts on her stomach but pushed through to turn the tables on the demon. Zoey, who had rushed into the trees the moment Rumi gave her the signal, came flying out and tossing her shin-kal’s into the demon.

“I had that.”

“But I got it first.” Zoey grinned, “That was a crazy argument, Rumi. Are you okay?”

“Fine. Fine. I’m fine.” Rumi tossed her sword forward to hit a demon that had planned on trying to sneak up on them, “She just annoys me so much sometimes! She thinks because she’s old that she knows everything.”

Mira had to bite back a laugh at Rumi calling Celine old. Normally, Rumi had nothing but respectful things to say about Celine so hearing her call her old was a shock, “She does know a lot.”

“Yeah, you’re right. You’re right. The rational part of me knows you’re right.”

“Nah. Let irrational Rumi out more. She’s fun.” Mira grinned, “Ow.”

“I got you.” Zoey whispered. She pulled a bandage from her arm pack and wrapped it around Mira’s waist. One hand on Mira’s back to support her and the other on her waist, “How’s the pressure?”

“Better. I think I need some sweets though to feel really good again.”

“Oh! You thinkin what I’m thinkin?”

“Bathhouse and hotteok?” Mira asked.

“Bathhouse and hotteok!” Zoey cried, “Yes! I say we stuff our faces first and then relax at the bathhouse until we’re pruny. It’ll be so fun!”

“You have a very odd definition of fun, Zo.” Mira chuckled, “But I’m in. Rumi?”

Rumi’s smile faded just as quickly as it had appeared, “I can’t. If we’re staying on Jeju then I think I should finish up some extra training. I’ll go with you guys later.”

“You sure? You could just come to the bathhouse with us?” Zoey offered.

“I-I’m sure. You guys should—”

“Ah!”

“Celine!” Rumi cried.

Rumi, Mira and Zoey rushed from their spot back to Celine who had two demons on her and another one that was pulling at her hair. Without thinking, Rumi tossed her swords toward so that it hit the demons on Celine, giving her the chance to turn around and slash the demon pulling on her hair. There weren’t many demons surrounding them at the moment but Mira and Zoey both decided to launch forward and attack the remaining few.

“Are you girls okay?” Celine asked, “What happened? Where did you go?”

“Mira got hurt.” Zoey moved to the side so she could see the bandages wrapped around Mira’s stomach.

“Get her back to the compound and replace those bandages with fresh ones. The honmoon should keep it from scarring but we need to prevent any further blood loss.” Celine ordered, “Rumi, stay here a moment.”

The moment Zoey and Mira had moved far enough away, Rumi let out a sigh, “What?”

“I don’t appreciate the tone, Rumi. I’m only trying to help.”

“I know you are. It just…feels like you don’t trust us. Like you only care about…nevermind.”

Celine relaxed her upset expression into a calmer one, setting a hand on Rumi’s shoulder so that Rumi would look at her, “It will all be worth it soon. I promise. Just a little longer.”

“And then everything will be perfect.” Rumi nodded.

“Yes. You’ve come so far Rumi and you’re doing so well. Don’t ruin things when you’re so close to your goal. Please just hold on a little longer.”

“Okay, Celine. I will.”

“Thank you. Now, it’s late. Why don’t we head back to the compound and get some rest? I can make your favorite in the morning.” The smallest of smiles fell on Rumi’s lips.

“I’m right behind you. I just have to grab my sword.” Technically the honmoon would summon the weapon back if she commanded it to but Rumi liked to have eyes on her weapon before releasing it back to the honmoon. She turned away from Celine to go retrieve her weapon, finding it under a brush and still glowing strong, “Just a little longer, huh? 21 years wasn’t enough, I just have to wait a little longer. Golden honmoon could take years and they’ll both…they’ll both…” Rumi stared down at her sword, watching it glow, “I just wish she understood. I wish she wasn’t this strict and all these rules didn’t exist and that she…that she could remember what it was like to be young.”

The moment the words left her mouth, Rumi felt the air around her go cold. She scanned the forest for any signs of demons that were left alive but nothing jumped out at her. Unable to find any demons or any cause of the cold, Rumi shrugged, chalking it up to a breeze, and ran off towards the compound.

The bright yellow eyes that followed Rumi narrowed coldly.

“Your wish is my command.”

——————————————————

When morning came over the compound, the girls were already used to getting up early so the moment the sun peaked through the windows, they were up and out of bed. Normally, Rumi preferred to spend her mornings working out in the gym while Zoey usually ran laps and Mira practiced her dancing. This morning was so different. They worked until the sun was actually raised in the sky and decided to head back into the compound to get breakfast.

“Huh? That’s weird.”

“What’s weird?” Mira asked.

“Celine said that she would cook breakfast this morning. She’s usually up by now.”

“Did she say anything to you after we left? Did she get hurt?” Zoey asked.

“No. Even if she did, you know she’d still be up and walking around.”

“She’s like Rumi in that regard.” Mira said.

“Ha-Ha. Hilarious.”

“You know it’s true.”

“I’ll go check on Celine while you two keep arguing over Rumi not knowing how to relax.” Zoey said.

Celine’s room was on the other side of the compound. According to Rumi, that’s where she, Miyeong and Eun Ji had stayed when they were the Sunlight Sisters and, after Miyeong died and Eun Ji left, Celine couldn’t bring herself to leave and had just converted it into one big bedroom.

Knocking on the door, Zoey called into the room, “Celine? Are you okay? Are you awake?”

From inside the room, Zoey could hear light grumbling.

“Celine? Celine, can I come in?” She slowly opened the door just enough to peek an eye in. The room was completely organized and Zoey could see Celine’s black hair poking out from the bed but she wasn’t moving. She continued to move slowly into the room, trying very hard to make enough noise so that Celine could tell her to leave but also be quiet enough that she didn’t accidentally wake Celine, “Celine? I just need some proof of life really quick, okay? Just enough to tell Rumi you’re not dead.”

Letting out a yawn, Celine sat up, “I’m up. I’m up. Thank you for waking me, Zoey.”

Zoey’s jaw had dropped down as low as it could go and her eyes were wide. All in all, she looked like how someone would draw an animated cartoon character.

“What? Zoey, what’s wrong?”

Zoey’s expression didn’t change.

“Zoey? Zoey!” Celine reached forward to try and shake her arm but froze when her hand came into view. It was small and chubby. Similar to how Rumi’s hand had looked when she was a toddler, “What the—“ Celine reached for her throat.

That didn’t sound like her.

That didn’t sound like her at all.

Staring over the bed, Celine winced and backed up. The floor suddenly looked much further away than it had this morning.

“Zoey? What’s going on?” Finally snapping out of her trace, Zoey grabbed her phone and opened the camera so that Celine could look at herself.

Instead of her normal 48 year old self staring back at her, Celine saw a 3 year old version of herself staring back.

Her scream was loud enough that it echoed through the entire compound.

——————————————————

Rumi and Mira had come bursting into the room the moment they heard Celine’s scream. For what exactly the scream was, they weren’t completely sure, but screaming of any kind got their attention. Bursting in, Zoey was still standing by the bed and Celine was now fully standing on the bed. Standing up, Celine just barely reached Zoey’s height. Had she been on the ground she would have most likely come up to Zoey’s waist.

“Zoey, why is there a toddler in Celine’s room?” Rumi asked.

Before Zoey could open her mouth, Celine launched forward, “I’m Celine! It’s me.”

Rumi was the first to move forward, her eyes narrowing at Celine seemingly trying to piece together if this toddler was telling the truth or not. Her face was different now thanks to her new age but her eyes were identical.

“Celine?”

“Yes! Yes, it’s me! A-A demon must have stung me or something.” She wobbled on the bed causing Zoey to move closer on the chance Celine fell, “That’s why I’m a child.”

“You think a demon stung you and turned you into a toddler?” Mira asked.

“What else could it have been?” Celine asked, “The Honmoon wouldn’t have done this so it has to have been a demon. I just don’t remember being stuck or struck by one of the demons. Maybe I missed a strike.”

“Wait.” Rumi’s eyes grew and shrank within a second and guilt covered her face, “Oh, no.”

“What’s ‘oh, no’? What are you saying?”

“I….may have made a wish after the fight with the demons last night.”

“You wished for Celine to be turned into a toddler?” Zoey asked.

“WHAT!? NO! I didn’t wish for Celine to be a toddler!” Rumi yelled.

“Then what did you wish for!?” Celine demanded, stomping her foot against the bed.

Rumi suddenly went silent, staring at the ground.

“Rumi.” Celine warned.

Rubbing the back of her neck, Rumi replied, “I think I said something about wishing that you…didn’t give us as many rules and could remember what it was like to be young again.”