Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Between seeing that purple haired hunter, a hunter with demon patterns, go up against Gwi-Ma and actually get a good swipe at him or seeing Jinu reclaim his soul only to give it to that girl, Mystery was in shock. In shock not just from the events occurring around him, but also the sudden feeling of freedom in his mind the moment Gwi-Ma was weakened. Gwi-Ma’s hold on Mystery’s soul was slipping. Mystery caught sight of the short haired hunter- Zoey was her name- wielding her blades at him. Gwi-Ma’s last command echoed in his mind- stop them! Mystery’s legs rushed towards the hunter, claws raised to attack. But the demon king’s control faltered again. Mystery couldn’t dodge fast enough as he regained power over his limbs. The moment that girl’s fist grazed his jawline and he felt his head tipping back, Mystery panicked. His eyes widened in realization. His veil of hair had lifted, and eyes locked with the hunter at arm’s length away.

Zoey gasped, her eyes lighting up. “You’re just my type! Oh well!”

The hunter’s voice barely registered before Mystery teleported where stood, a hair’s width of space left before Zoey’s blades could slice him and send him back to the demon realm. 

Mystery’s boots thudded in the grass outside the Namsam tower. He gripped his chest with one clawed hand, the other smoothing his bangs into place over his face, ragged breaths calming little by little. Beside him, Mystery heard the displacement of air as the other three remaining Saja boys teleported onto the grass. Abby and Romance appeared in a tangle of limbs. It looked like Romance had tackled Abby and teleported both of them out to avoid fighting that scary pink haired hunter. Smart choice. Baby appeared moments after.

Mystery turned his face back towards the tower, hearing the echoing chorus of the hunter’s new song. All three Huntrix girls were now singing together as one. Clashes of iridescent blue light met bursts of red flames as they fought Gwi-Ma’s attacks, each swipe weakening the demon king. Even from outside the area, the Saja boys could hear the shouts from their master. As the song was nearing its apex, each Saja boy held their breath. They could see the trio ascend above the opening of the arena, glowing impossibly bright with the power of their fans’ souls fueling them. With a final burst of energy, the Huntrix released the power of the souls their song had touched and a new Honmoon descended. Each Saja boy flinched and braced to be pushed under the layers of this world back to the demon realm.

But the Honmoon came and passed. They felt the rush of energy beneath their feet as the fragmented barrier between realms sealed with iridescent power. Yet each Saja boy remained standing in the grass. After a moment, each demon looked down at themselves, patterns and claws still present, then at each other in confusion.

“We’re still here?” Abby spoke first, wonder and awe carrying in his voice.

“It appears so.” Romance removed his hat, looking back up at the tower and then down at the shimmering Honmoon below. “So what do we do now?”

“I’m sure as hell not going back in there.” Baby muttered, shrugging off his own hat and tossing it onto the grass.

“What about Jinu?” Mystery added quietly, barely audible above the roaring cheers and whoops coming from within the area as Huntrix finished their song and descended back into the arena.

At the mention of Jinu, all Saja boys turned back to Namsam tower. 

“Is he even..?” Abby muttered. All of the Saja boys saw Jinu’s sacrifice. The leader of the Saja boys somehow got his soul back and chose to help Huntrix with it. They all saw his body disappear into the flames of Gwi-Ma’s attack.

Each Saja boy closed their eyes, heads turned down. 

“Wait.” Romance picked his head back up, eyes opening wide. “I think I can still sense him. He’s weak, but I think he’s still in there!”

Mystery reached out with his mind, sending a small pulse of demonic energy towards the arena, grasping for any shred of demon energy from the tower. He could sense the other three Saja boys next to him, weakened from the fight they just barely escaped from. Sure enough, Mystery felt two more demonic presences from within the arena. One was a bright presence and immensely strong- that must be the half-demon hunter. But the second demon energy he could sense was barely there. So weak he could have missed it under the overbearing aura that the lead Huntrix girl gave off. 

“He survived.” Mystery simply stated with a nod. 

“We have to get him back!” Abby stepped forward, muscled arm raised and ready to jump into action. But then he faltered, one knee hitting the grass as he stumbled over his feet. Romance came to his side, looping himself under Abby’s arm to help him back to his feet. 

“I don’t think we’re in any shape to go into another fight right now.” Romance chastised Abby, thinking about how close they both came to turning into demon dust.

“But that means the hunters have him!” Abby protested.

“I don’t think they’re going to hurt him.” Baby added, bringing his hand to his chin in thought. “We saw Jinu protect that hunter from Gwi-Ma. Fuck, he even gave her his soul! How did he even do that?!”

“Do we go back to the demon realm then? Or rather can we even go there now?” Romance pondered, scuffing his boot into the grass where the glow of the Honmoon had settled and faded into place.

“I don’t want to go back.” Mystery muttered with a frown.

“But Gwi-Ma will just pull us ba-…” Romance trailed, eyes widening as he brought a hand to his temple.

“Holy shit” Abby gawked, bringing his own hand to his face. “I don’t hear him!”

“Me neither!” Baby’s eyes went impossibly round from shock.

“Is Gwi-Ma actually gone…?” Mystery looked down, his brows drawing together in thought.

The Saja boys stood in silence, their minds only containing their own voices for the first time in decades to centuries. 

The doors to the arena opened and the sound of thundering footsteps and cheers escaped into the outdoors. The fans were leaving the arena shortly. The humans would be outside any moment. Each Saja boy looked at each other, waiting for someone to take charge. 

No one moved.

“Ugh, you old men are useless!” Baby groaned, rolling his eyes. “Come on, I know a place we can go.” Baby grabbed each of the demons by the arm to huddle them together and teleported them all away.

—

As the Saja boys landed in a new location, Mystery reached out to steady Baby who immediately swayed with exertion. 

“Damn…That was harder than it used to be” Baby panted, hands on his knees and sweat beading on his brow. 

The Saja boys took in their surroundings. They were inside a dimly lit building. The windows leading to the outdoors were haphazardly boarded, nailed with flimsy plywood that blocked most of the outside light. A few rays of stray light bled into the space, climbing over rows of dust-covered desks and scattered office chairs. Cobwebs filled every corner of the walls and furniture except in one section of the room. One side of the room had been cleared of debris and a lumpy couch sat against the wall with a pile of pillows and blankets beside it. Wrappers of snack foods and empty soda bottles were strewn about on the floor. Each Saja turned to stare at Baby.

“What? You all either bicker, brood, or sneak off all the time and I got sick of it so I found this place.” Baby huffed as he composed himself, wiping the last bit of sweat from under his bangs. “Don’t worry, I’ve never seen a human come in here; it seems pretty abandoned. I stashed some snacks over there.” Baby pointed to a dusty break room. “There’s not enough blankets and the couch is mine so figure out your own spot to crash.” Baby shrugged off his jacket and fell with a whumpf onto the lumpy couch, dragging a blanket from the pile to curl up into the cushions without another word.

— 

Mystery sat in one of the discarded office chairs. His fingers drummed a line along his knees where they rested. Baby snored softly from his couch, not having moved in hours. Abby rummaged through the break room assessing the snack situation. Romance busied himself by swatting away cobwebs with an old broom he found in a closet. Romance cursed when a cobweb stuck itself to his hair, complaining to himself that he just got his hair fixed up after changing clothes. 

Mystery pondered the new clothing he was given. Simple and comfortable. A pair of loose gray wash jeans and a light blue oversized hoodie had been shoved into his arms from Romance, muttering something about a severe lack of form flattering options. Romance had teleported into a clothing store since all of the nearby businesses were still closed for the night, lamenting that if they now had free will they would not be wearing those dreadful demon robes any longer.

Free will.

What did that mean now? None of the Saja boys reported any more whisperings of Gwi-Ma’s voice into their head in the hours since the Honmoon was sealed. They hadn’t been pulled back into the demon realm to face the consequences of their escape either.

Mystery absently pulled the sleeve of his hoodie in between his still-clawed fingers and rubbed the fabric. His mind wandered. Trains of thought that would have brought sadistic glee for Gwi-Ma to latch onto and twist were able to run through his mind without interruption. The softness of the fabric between his fingers brought a sense of calm from a long protected memory. Down-soft fur running beneath his palms. The patter of rain hitting a rooftop overhead. A distant voice soothing him to sleep, telling him he is safe now.

A crashing sound made Mystery bolt upright from his seat, his chair toppling behind him. The muscles in his back and shoulders tensed impossibly tight and he felt the shimmer of his demon patterns flare against his skin.

“Oops…sorry” Romance muttered, broom in hand and reaching down to pick up pieces of a broken ceramic lamp. 

“Oi, keep it down!” Baby grumbled from the couch, jolted awake from the sudden noise. “We’re trying to lay low, remember?”

Mystery took shallow breaths through his nose, willing his muscles to relax little by little. It was just an accident. No one is hurt. It just fell off of a desk. Everyone is okay. You’re okay.

—

“We can’t just stay holed up in this shitty office building forever!” Abby groaned three days later. “Plus we’re out of the good snacks.”

The Saja boys huddled around the center of the room, arms crossed and feet tapping impatiently. 

“I agree,” Romance nodded his head. “We should find Jinu. I think we’ve rested long enough to try.”

“I assume he’s with Huntrix. We did kind of leave him for dead. Or mostly dead.” Baby shrugged, kicking a dust bunny away absently.

The Saja boys quieted for a moment, eyes drawn to the ground. None of them had spoken of Jinu since they fled Namsam tower. They knew he was alive, but didn’t voice aloud that they had abandoned him until now. Because after all, they did abandon him while he was weakened and at the mercy of their enemies. The space around the Saja boys glimmered with a faint glow of demon patterns stirring as they all followed the same thoughts and felt the same shame that came with them.

Jinu was the one to unite the Saja boys. He was their common thread. He found each of them in the demon realm and took them under his wing. They followed all of his plans and didn’t question his motives. They put their trust in him and Jinu trusted them in turn. Jinu gave them a purpose and an escape from the torment of the demon realm, even if they couldn’t escape from Gwi-Ma’s voice in their heads during their escapades performing as the Saja boys. And they left him behind without much of a second thought.

“We find Huntrix then.” Mystery lifted his head in resolve. “We find them, we find Jinu.”

________

Chapter Text

Zoey hummed to herself quietly as she wandered the streets of Seoul. Bucket hat and sunglasses firmly in place in her go-to ‘incognito’ fit. She moved from stall to stall in the open-air market. Her eyes scanned the items for sale, pausing only once for a particularly tasty smelling food stall. She shook her head, reminding herself of her mission: the coveted newly released limited edition leatherback sea turtle plushie. It was released by a conservation organization and all proceeds went to saving the critically endangered sea turtles- a cause after her own heart!

The only problem: the plushie release happened right before the Idol Awards and they sold out online before Zoey could order her own. They had been a smidge busy after all, defeating the notorious demon king Gwi-Ma and saving the world with a new Honmoon. And then of course a much needed trip to the bath house to celebrate. Plus many long conversations with Rumi about her patterns now that her secret was out in the open. So now her only means to obtain this plushie was by finding which stores and markets could still have any stock left. She scanned each stall that contained stuffed animals, keychains, figurines, anything that could be hiding one of those prized plushies.

Zoey passed a magazine and newspaper stand, briefly reading the headlines but pausing on one of them.

“HUNTRIX BACK AT THE TOP OF THE CHARTS”

“SAJA BOYS FALL OFF TOP 10”

It didn’t take long for the demon influence of the Saja boys to fade now that Huntrix secured the new Honmoon into place. There were no more missing person reports. She hadn’t even heard Soda Pop on the radio the last few days, even though it was ridiculously catchy. Everything was returning to normal, but Zoey still frowned at the headline. 

She knew something didn’t feel right with how things ended for the Saja boys. One minute they were all fighting against Huntrix, then Jinu surprised them all by going against Gwi-Ma, but all the other Saja boys disappeared without a trace. Mira was convinced they ended up back in the demon realm when the Honmoon settled into place. But Jinu didn’t disappear.

After the Honmoon sealed, they found Jinu unconscious at the edge of the performing stage. Zoey remembered how scared Rumi looked the moment their feet touched the ground and they all saw him. She couldn’t hear over the roaring of their fans, but she saw Rumi shout his name. Rumi ran to his side immediately. They thought for sure he was gone, but as Rumi rolled him over, they saw his chest rise and fall in shallow breaths. Rumi broke down sobbing in relief; he was alive. Zoey had never seen Rumi so relieved. 

If Jinu didn’t get sealed beneath the Honmoon, who knows how many other demons didn’t either. A flash of golden eyes framed by silvery hair came to the forefront of her mind. 

Zoey shook the memory away and continued her shopping, though an uneasy feeling started nagging at her. 

At first Zoey thought it was just her reaction from seeing headlines about the Saja boys. It had been a stressful time lately and Huntrix finally had some time to recover from everything that happened. It felt weird that the world just kept moving, unaware how close disaster had come to them all. 

She weaved through shops and streets, not having any luck finding her prize. Though after a while, she stopped looking particularly closely. Zoey peered over her shoulder a couple times, but nothing was there. Her fingers danced at her sides, feeling for the comforting hum of the iridescent Honmoon below. 

She must still be tired. She must be imagining things. Zoey decided maybe it was time to head home and try another day. Or maybe she’s just hungry, Zoey thought to herself, as a woman passed her holding a bowl of noodles that smelled too good to be legal. On cue, Zoey felt her stomach rumble in response. She checked the time on her phone, and sure enough she had spent the whole afternoon in the city with no plushie to show for it. The least she could do was bring home some dinner for everyone.

Zoey caught the woman with the noodles in passing, asking where she could get some of her own. She got the name of the noodle shop and typed it into her phone. It was only a couple blocks away, so Zoey started walking. 

Looking at the map of directions to the noodle shop, Zoey spotted a shortcut along the way that could save her time as her stomach was growling more intently, demanding savory noodles. Maybe she would get a fried dumpling to munch on for the walk home too.

Zoey wandered between buildings, the setting sun now blocked behind rooftops.

“It’s about time you stopped walking in circles.” A gruff voice called behind Zoey. The hairs on her neck stood on end.

She turned, spotting two large men blocking the path she had just come from.

“Your wallet and phone, toss em over.” Another voice sent Zoey spinning; the way out of the alley was now blocked by a third hooded individual.

“Psh..” Zoey scoffed at the men surrounding her. “I knew I wasn’t going crazy! You weirdos had me all worried for nothing!” Her shoulders visibly relaxed.

“What?!” One of the men stepped forward. “Don’t play games, little girl. Hand your stuff over and you won’t get hurt”. She heard the click of a pocket knife springing open and saw a gleam from the man’s hand. Zoey smirked, rolling her shoulders. 

“Man, you guys are in for a bad day. No one gets in between me and my dinner!” Zoey summoned a blade from the Honmoon and tossed it in the direction of the man standing alone. The blade notched firmly into the wall inches from his face- a warning shot.

“-The hell?!” The man sputtered, backing up a step as Zoey summoned another blade to her hand. But then the man’s focus switched away from her, flicking to just above her shoulder. 

All of Zoey’s alarm bells went off at once as a familiar feeling assaulted her senses. Demon. And close, too. She whirled just as another figure landed near silently between her and the other two hooded men, now each brandishing pocket knives. The figure stood taller than her in a light blue hoodie pulled up to cover the top of his head. He faced away from her, obscuring his front. Something about him felt familiar. A low rumble echoed in the alleyway as the men took in their surprise challenger.

“Oh look, a pretty boy came to the girl’s rescue!” One of the men laughed. “Step aside kid, you’re a little scrawny to do much, don’t you think?”

The rumbling growl got louder as Zoey noted the person’s hands shifted from soft human skin into faded purple claws and he took a step towards her assailants. Definitely a demon. But what is he doing?

“Oooh he’s got his nails done! He might scratch us!” The pair of men guffawed and elbowed each other.

An animalistic snarl ripped from the demon’s throat and the pair of men facing him suddenly balked. Zoey watched as all of the color drained from their faces, quickly switching from amused to downright terrified. Their eyes bulged from their sockets, mouths agape.

“Whoa, what the FUCK-” The men scrambled back, tripping over their own feet and landing hard on the pavement. Knives clattered to the ground, discarded as the demon slowly stalked towards the retreating men. 

The demon didn’t make any move though as the men caught their footing and hightailed it out of the alley. Zoey glanced behind her and the lone man she threw her blade at was also gone. Just as quickly as the altercation started, it was over and all was quiet. Zoey stared at the demon’s back before her, confused as ever.

“Um… thank you?” She started quietly, tilting her head to see if she could get a glance of her demon savior’s face, but he angled his head away in turn.

Zoey took a step forward, but a voice from the rooftops above came shouting down.

“What the hell are you doing?! Get back here!!”

Zoey had heard that voice before.

“Baby Saja?!” Zoey whirled to look towards the voice above and sure enough, there was one of the Saja boys. Baby Saja stood at the edge of the rooftop, dressed in casual clothing. He scowled down towards the demon below him.

Zoey turned her head to the blue hooded demon and caught a glance of the silvery hair that had been burned into her memories since she first laid eyes on the demon. Mystery?! Just as Zoey reached an arm in his direction, Mystery disappeared into a puff of dark smoke. Zoey looked back to the sky and Baby was gone too.

—

They made it out.

Those four words repeated in Zoey’s head as she made it to the noodle shop, absently placed her orders, and returned back to Huntrix HQ. Her head was swimming with all she learned, piecing together information from that short interaction as the elevator brought her to the Huntrix penthouse.

The Saja boys didn’t get sent back to the demon realm either, just like Jinu. They made it out of the fight. They must have been tailing her around the market. She wasn’t feeling weird from the muggers following her, she felt their demon presence after all. Where have they been? Are all of them out there, or just Baby and Mystery? Mystery. He jumped down and, what, protected her? Why? Why did they run away too?

The elevator dinged as it reached its destination. 

“Zoey! There you are! What took you so long?” Rumi’s voice snapped Zoey from her thoughts. Rumi was sitting on the couch in the center of the open concept living space.

“I brought dinner!” Zoey raised up the bags of noodles and fried dumplings, forcing a gleeful smile to her face.

“Oh my god you’re the beeeeeeeest” Rumi groaned and rose as the scent of dinner wafted towards her. 

Zoey made her way into the kitchen and placed the bags down on the edge of the large marble countertop.

“How’s Jinu doing? I made sure to get noodles for him too in case he’s hungry.” Zoey asked carefully, chewing on the inside of her cheek. Rumi paused, head turning to one of the bedrooms down the hall from the living space. 

“Still sleeping. He was up for about an hour earlier, but he’s still pretty weak.” Rumi’s voice turned solemn with worry.

“Hey, an hour is good! He’s making improvements every day!” Zoey gave her friend a small smile and reached to squeeze her hand.

“Yeah…Did you find the turtle plushie you were looking for?” Rumi asked, changing the subject. 

“Oh, uh, no. No luck today! No luck for me!” Zoey laughed awkwardly, fidgeting with the takeout bags. The plastic handles were tied in a knot so the food containers wouldn’t spill out walking home, but it seems they were tied too tight. Zoey huffed and summoned a Honmoon blade to slice the bags open.

“Oh…Are you okay?” One of Rumi’s eyebrows perked up at her friend’s behavior. 

“Yup! Just fine! Just dandy!” 

“You’re such a bad liar, you know that right?” Rumi gave a half smile. She reached out and placed a hand on Zoey’s shoulder. “No more secrets, remember? We agreed to always be honest after, well, everything.” 

Zoey sighed, shoulders falling. She took in a deep breath and let it all out.

“Okay, well something kind of happened while I was out. I didn’t find my plushie but I started getting this weird feeling but then I got really really hungry and I saw those noodles and they just smelled so good! But then I wasn’t paying attention and these three really mean thugs tried to jump me but everything was fine, they didn’t stand a chance and I didn’t even have to fight them because well you see the thing is I kinda ran into the S-” The elevator dinged and opened again.

“THE SAJA BOYS ARE BACK” Mira came stomping into the penthouse, booted feet slamming into the floorboards with every step.

“What?!”

“You saw them too?!”

“Too? What do you mean too?!” 

“Well after those thugs tried to jump me-”

“Wait wait back up, what do you mean you got jumped by thugs?!”

“Are we going to just skim over the part about the Saja boys?”

“What’s going on?!”

The Huntrix girls shouted over each other all at once until a fourth, markedly masculine voice carried in from the open elevator doors. 

“Awh, did you forget about me already?” 

“SHUT UP” Mira shouted at the elevator and stomped back, reaching in and pulling forward a very disheveled looking Romance in his human form.

The Saja boy stumbled into the room the best he could with a long coil of rope wound tightly around him from his shoulders to his knees. He shuffled his feet the best he could, still managing to lean his shoulder on the wall and offer a dramatic hair flick and sheepish smile.

“If I knew it was this easy to get you to take me home, I should have tailed you earlier.” Romance purred in a sultry tone, winking at the fuming pink haired hunter.

“I said to shut up” Mira ground out between clenched teeth. She gave another rough yank on Romance’s rope to pull him in the middle of the group, now flanked on all sides by Huntrix. 

“Eugh, fine, point taken.” Romance shrugged and looked towards Rumi with a curious eye. “So it’s true, those are demon patterns you’ve got.” His eyes roved over her patterns on display. Rumi rolled her eyes and looked at Mira.

“How did you find him? And why did you bring him here?”

“I didn’t find him, he and Abby found me.” Mira scoffed. “Not that they did a good job of being inconspicuous. Every cafe I walked by they were sitting at a table in hoodies watching me. They didn't even bother hiding their faces when I saw them. It didn’t take much for me to lure them away. I wasn’t going to let them cause a scene in public around innocent people.”

“You think so lowly of us.” Romance sighed dramatically.

“You’re DEMONS” Mira deadpanned at the captured Saja boy. Romance simply shrugged. “Abby ran off but I was able to wrangle this one for questioning. Not that he put up much of a fight.”

“So you brought a demon home?” Rumi asked, pinching her brow.

“I mean so did you, technically” Zoey muttered under her breath, but Romance perked up.

“He is here then? Is he okay?” Romance looked to Rumi, all jest cast aside. “Jinu. Just tell me if Jinu is okay.”

Rumi looked at the demon before her, surprise running across her features. Sure, Romance is a demon, but she saw with her own eyes that demons can change. The demon before her appeared genuine, his eyes swirled with worry and also determination. If the Saja boys wanted to hurt people, they would have by now. Rumi didn’t detect any malicious intent behind Romance’s words.  He truly was here trying to find his friend.

“He’s alive.” Rumi offered a curt response. 

Romance dipped his head, a relieved smile returning to his face as Rumi saw the tension ebb out of his shoulders. 

“But he’s not okay.” Rumi continued slowly. “He sleeps all day and all night and he can barely walk or eat.” Rumi caught Romance’s eyes as the demon lifted his head, tilting in confusion. “What’s wrong with him?”

Romance closed his eyes and felt for his friend, confirming a weak presence nearby. Jinu’s aura was truly weak. Normally, Jinu was one of the strongest of the Saja boys, but his energy was barely more than a flickering candle. Even after resting for a week, his energy levels should be coming back by now.

“His power feels almost fully depleted, the same as he was right after the Honmoon sealed. Maybe it has to do with being cut off from Gwi-Ma, or the sheer will it took just to survive Gwi-Ma’s attack alone.”

“Cut off from Gwi-Ma?” Rumi’s eyes widened. “He’s not speaking to you anymore? You can’t hear him either?”

Romance blinked. How much demon information did Jinu give away to this girl?

“Not since the Honmoon was restored.”

Rumi broke into a wide smile.

“It worked! He’s free!”

“But Jinu isn’t getting better?” Romance mused. “Maybe I could help. Maybe all of us could help together.”

“All of us?” Mira yanked on Romance’s rope again, making the demon stumble. “So you admit the rest of you Saja boys are still out there terrorizing the souls of the world, huh?”

“Such a lack of faith.” The Saja boy sighed. “No one is terrorizing anyone except maybe you terrorizing me by yanking me around with this rope. Stealing souls was Gwi-Ma’s thing. We didn’t have a choice before. We do now.”

“You expect us to trust you?” Mira seethed at the demon, narrowing her eyes to make her own judgements. “Off of what? Good faith?” She threw his words back at him.

“I did come with you willingly after all, is that not a notion of good faith?” Romance piqued an eyebrow at Mira.

“I captured you and tied you up!” She protested.

All Romance had to do was smirk as his eyes flashed golden and he easily teleported on the spot. The coiled rope fell to the ground in a pile, now containing nothing except a lingering cloud of shimmering pink dust. Mira stared at the empty space before her, jaw hanging.

“Like I said,” Romance mused from his new position, lounged across the long white couch a few feet away, inspecting his nails. “I came willingly.”

“You tricked me!” Mira screeched, hands balling into fists.

“To be fair this wasn’t the plan. Not my fault Abby ran away so fast, the coward. Guess he thought you really were going to run him through with your Gok-Do. We weren’t supposed to get caught, just follow you to find out where Jinu was. I was smart enough to figure if you didn’t kill me on the spot you might bring me right to him anyways. Oh how I love being right.” Romance sat up to hang his arms and head off the back of the couch, eyes sparkling with amusement. 

Mira summoned her Honmoon weapon and began stepping towards the cocky demon smirking at her from her own living room, but Rumi stopped her with a hand. 

“You think you can help fix Jinu? Truly?” Rumi challenged, face stern as she addressed Romance. Romance’s expression turned solemn once more as he nodded once to the hunters before him.

“We owe it to him for all he did for us. Let us help him. Please.”

____

Chapter Text

“What do you mean Romance got CAPTURED?!” Baby shouted at Abby. The muscled Saja boy sat on the lumpy couch, head held low with eyes averted to the floor, while Baby stood above him, furious and jabbing clawed hands into Abby’s chest. 

“I don’t know how Mira knew we were tailing her. We put on disguises and everything! And then she walked under a bridge and jumped us! Do you know how hard it is to blend into a crowd when there is no crowd?” Abby pouted.

“And YOU” Baby whirled to point a claw at Mystery, who was leaning against a wall peering out through one of the breaks between boards covering the windows. “What were you thinking, jumping in front of a hunter like that?? She could have killed you!”

“But she didn’t.” Mystery muttered.

Baby raked his hands down the front of his face, audibly groaning and muttering something about being surrounded by incompetence. 

“Well now we’re down two Saja boys out of five with no leads on where Jinu is. Way to go guys.”

“We could have kept following Zoey. You made us stop early.” Mystery fought back.

“No, we couldn’t have! You clearly have an issue keeping your distance and controlling your temper!” Demon patterns flared brightly between the arguing Saja boys as they stared each other down, shoulders squared. Baby’s golden eyes flashed brightly, narrowing in challenge.

“She was in trouble…” Mystery turned away, crossing his arms and tucking his shoulders inwards. “She can’t lead us to Jinu if she’s dead.”

“She’s a HUNTER. She would have been FINE.” Baby’s tone was sharp, but his bite was fading. This conversation was getting nowhere just shouting at each other.

Baby trudged to a chair and sat down, flipping the cap off of a soda bottle to take a sip, but finding it empty. He cursed a particularly vulgar expletive, crushing the bottle in his fist and chucking it across the room.

“Language, young man.” A smooth voice carried through the office with a ripple of displaced air as Romance appeared by the door leading to the street.

“Romance! You’re okay!” Abby jumped up and ran to his friend and clapped his back into a tight hug. “You had me so worried Mira got to you!”

“Well you did kind of run away screaming the moment the jig was up.” Romance patted Abby’s head, gently peeling the demon’s arms off of himself.

“How did you get away?” Mystery asked from across the room.

“I didn’t” Romance shrugged as the door beside him shook with a BANG. 

“HUNTERS!” Baby sprung from his chair, jumping back towards Mystery as the front door busted inwards with a splintering crunch, courtesy of Mira’s boot to the handle.

“Knock knock, Saja boys!” Mira called in a sing-song voice as the front door skidded across the ground, sending a formidable cloud of dust up into the air.

Abby flung himself backwards to be beside Baby and Mystery on the far wall of the room, all three demons brandishing their claws and patterns, golden eyes aglow. Romance remained next to the door, unphased by the theatrics and brushing dust off of his arms. 

“Why must everyone outdo me in dramatics these days?” Romance sighed boredly.

“You brought them here?!” Abby shouted, his patterns flashing brightly beneath the neckline of his tee shirt.

“I told you they wouldn’t react well to just waltzing into their hiding spot.” Romance looked at the trio of hunters through the corner of his eye as they stepped into the abandoned building, taking stock of their surroundings. 

Hiding spot was a good term for all this space appeared to be. The hunters expected some master base of operations where the demons would be scheming their next plan of attack. This place looked better fitting for a homeless person’s shelter. Blankets were strewn in different corners of the room, a makeshift bed was made of computer desks shoved together to fit a grown man, and food wrappers littered the floor.

Zoey took in the sight of the remaining Saja boys before her. They didn’t look like the intimidating band of demons they fought against only a week prior. Sure, they still had the patterns and the claws and the glowing demon eyes, but now they looked genuinely scared. Before, the Saja boys fought tooth and nail- or rather fang and claw- to defeat Huntrix. But now, even though all the Saja boys save for Romance were one twitch away from a fight, none of them took a single step forward off the wall. They were braced, but looked unsteady. Nothing like the confident well-composed boy band they were before. She noticed Mystery in the back of the demon cluster, his head turned down. For some reason Zoey got the feeling he was looking right at her.

“We’re not here to hunt you.” Rumi called forward, voice holding steady, raising her hands to show she did not wield any weapons. “Jinu needs your help.”

—

That’s all it took to convince the Saja boys that Huntrix wouldn’t turn around and impale them with Honmoon weapons. At least not immediately once their backs were turned. Romance explained to the rest of the Saja boys how Jinu’s strength wasn’t replenishing. The Saja boys seemed to understand Jinu was in a dire situation, but at least he was still alive. 

With a tense truce forming, Huntrix led the Saja boys back to Huntrix HQ. They snaked through alleyways and climbed on low rooftops to avoid being recognized on the street, either as Huntrix or the Saja boys in their human form, or even worse- both together. The group filed into the main elevator in Huntrix tower through a secure exterior entrance. Everyone seemed thankful the elevator was large enough where personal space was preserved between the clashing groups.

Once Rumi opened the bedroom door in the penthouse to where Jinu was resting, the tension between groups melted away. The Saja boys immediately went to Jinu’s side, crowding around the bed and kneeling low to be on his level. Huntrix stood in the doorway, watching the exchange with curious eyes. Jinu laid on a small bed, tucked beneath a thin white blanket. He donned a plain gray t-shirt, his skin mottled with patches alternating between unmarked human skin and his dark demon patterns. Jinu’s forehead shone slightly with a thin layer of sweat, his brows pulled in slightly as if he were having a bad dream.

Each of the demons hovered around Jinu carefully, not touching him for fear he might turn to dust. Rumi sighed, a small smile creeping onto her lips. She kicked off from the doorway and carefully walked around the Saja boys to a chair positioned at the head of the bed. She sat and gingerly placed her hand on Jinu’s shoulder. Each Saja boy’s eyes snapped to Rumi, flashing golden in warning.

“Jeez, calm down. Don’t you want to talk to him?” Rumi chuckled at the protectiveness she saw each Saja boy held for Jinu. They truly did care for him, it seems.

Rumi gently shook Jinu’s shoulder, leaning in and whispering something into his ear that no one could hear. Jinu stirred, shifting under the covers, but after a few moments his eyes cracked open. It only took half a second before Jinu’s bleary sleep-addled expression sharpened and he moved to sit upright.

“You’re all… Abby, Baby, Mystery, Romance, you’re all here!” Jinu smiled weakly as he made an effort to push himself up with his elbows, struggling with the exertion. Rumi leaned down to help support Jinu to sit upright and take in his new audience. 

“You scared the hell out of us, shithead” Abby sent a gentle knock to Jinu’s shoulder once he was steadily sitting up against the bed’s headboard.

“We thought you got burnt to a crisp back there” Romance added, reaching to rest his hand over Jinu’s.

“Well it was pretty toasty holding back the literal fires of hell” Jinu joked, his brown eyes as warm as the smile he gave his friends. “How did the rest of you get out?”

“They all ran away like babies the moment you went down.” Baby chuckled. “Real tough demons you picked out. We managed to stay topside when the Honmoon sealed the demon realm away. No clue why we didn’t get pushed down with it.”

“But we knew you made it, too.” Mystery added thoughtfully with a nod to each of the Saja boys. 

“Knew I could count on you guys to pull through” Jinu smiled around the room. His gaze landed on Rumi beside him, her hand still rested on his shoulder. “Thank you for bringing them. And I guess for not trying to slice their heads off with your sword like you tried the first time you met with me.” 

“Oh it was tempting.” Rumi joked with a coy smile. 

The Saja boys looked at the pair curiously, digesting the fact that Jinu must have been sneaking off with the leader of Huntrix all those times he disappeared early from their rehearsals and meetings. Suddenly his change in demeanor over time started to make sense. And the smile Jinu adorned whenever his eyes met Rumi’s didn’t leave much guesswork as to why Jinu sacrificed himself for her. The half-demon hunter and demon shared quite a connection.

“Why is your skin all messed up?” Abby poked at a spot of skin on Jinu’s arm that was halfway demon, halfway human.

“Your guess is as good as mine” Jinu sighed, bringing his arm up and turning it to inspect his patchwork skin. “I don’t have the strength to phase in either direction, it’s just stuck.”

“Your demon energy is dangerously low.” Romance pointed out. “But it is strange that you can’t even phase back to full demon.” Rumi tilted her head at Romance as he continued to explain, noting her unvoiced question. “It takes energy to maintain our human forms, Jinu should have been able to shift back with no effort to regain his energy.”

“Can’t you guys just give him some ‘demon energy’ or whatever?” Mira called from the doorway making exaggerated quotation marks with her hands. “Isn’t that the whole reason you said we needed to bring all of you here?”

“Gwi-Ma was the source for demon strength.” Jinu responded. “It was part of the tradeoff. To do his bidding and steal souls for him, we needed some of his power to actually be able to sneak through the Honmoon and do what we can, like phasing into human forms or teleporting. We were able to combine our energy on stage a few times for visual effects, but we never actually gave any power to each other.”

“It’s worth a shot, right?” Mystery added, extending his hand, palm upwards, towards Jinu.

The Saja boys nodded, each adding a hand on top of Mystery’s, looking to Jinu to add his own hand last. Jinu looked around at the Saja boys surrounding him. He wasn’t even sure he would ever see them again, and now here they are. They managed to survive the Honmoon and find him again, and now they’re here to help him. Jinu’s eyes crinkled at the corners from the smile that spread on his face and he placed his hand atop the others.

“Oh my god it’s too cuuuteeee!” Zoey whispered, covering her face with her hands and bouncing from foot to foot in the doorway.

Starting low from Mystery’s hand, everyone watched as purple energy swirled around the physical connection between the Saja boys. The energy rose like a flame, weaving through the fingers of each hand, getting a little brighter as each demon offered up some of their power. The trailing miasma of demon energy reached Jinu’s hand, grazing the surface of his skin before sinking into a patch of patterns at his wrist.

Jinu sucked in a breath, his grip tightening around the hands that held his own. Each Huntrix girl leaned in with wide eyes, trying to get a closer look at whatever demonic magic was occurring. As the cloud of energy continued absorbing into Jinu’s patterns, the patches of human-toned skin started receding. Patterns and purple-tinged skin crawled and expanded, a faint purplish glow coming from each Saja boy as they pushed their energy forward, little by little.

Rumi saw Jinu bite back a groan, his brows pressing tightly together and sweat beaded from the back of his neck. Another wave of energy from the demons and Jinu bit down on his bottom lip hard enough to draw blood. 

He’s in pain.

“STOP!” Rumi shouted. Each Saja boy startled, pulling their hands back. “That’s enough for now.” She shifted to sit on the edge of Jinu’s bed, hands rising to either side of Jinu’s face, inspecting the split lip he just gave himself. 

“It was working.” Jinu panted roughly, lifting his arms and showing each of them were absent from any human skin up to the sleeves of his shirt. His fingertips even adorned claws again.

“It was hurting you.” Rumi chastised the demon.

“A caveat of Gwi-Ma’s energy.” Jinu managed a dry laugh. “More demon power means the more he can make you suffer.”

Zoey gasped. “Bad Saja boys, hurting Jinu like that!”

Mystery turned and pouted at Zoey, reminiscent of the last time she scolded him in such a way at their joint signing event. Zoey’s expression softened and responded with her own pouted lip. 

“It was necessary.” Romance lamented, panting lightly himself.

Rumi looked back at the other four Saja boys. Each of them shared the same haunted look in their eyes that she saw in Jinu- save for Mystery of course whose eyes were always obscured. They sat stiffly, Abby with his arms wrapped around himself. Baby pulled up his knees to his chest, tucked in tightly and staring vacantly at the wall. Romance tried to look up to Rumi but cast his eyes aside. She could sense the shame thick in the air.

“It was hurting all of you…” Rumi muttered. She knew the painful memories Jinu carried with him that Gwi-Ma tormented him with. She couldn’t imagine what each of the other Saja boys must have been living with too. Even without Gwi-Ma actively in their minds, his influence and the shame wrought upon their memories and past mistakes were still haunting them. 

“No.” Rumi stated with a finite tone. “Torturing each other isn’t the solution.” She looked back to Jinu, his eyes already half-lidded with exhaustion. “Go back to resting. We’ll find a different way to get your strength back.”

With her decision made, Rumi rose and started walking towards the doorway. She stepped around the still-huddled Saja boys, none of them moving from their positions on the floor. Rumi dug her cell phone out of her jacket pocket, reading the notifications on the screen and then locking the phone.

“Bobby texted me. He needs some help with tour plans for next year, you two okay with demon-sitting while I go call him?” Rumi asked her friends as she headed towards their home office. Zoey and Mira nodded as Rumi leaned in with a hushed tone. “Go easy on them for a little bit.”

Mira and Zoey nodded again, noticing the solemn mood that threatened to suffocate the space before them.

—

Abby was the first to break the long lasting silence, stretching his arms above his head with a yawn. He broke his stare at Jinu sleeping peacefully and turned back to the two remaining hunters, still in the doorway but now absently scrolling on their phones.

“So…” Abby smirked. “Who’s bedroom do I get to stay in?”

Both girls snapped their eyes to Abby immediately, each turning varying shades of red in the face. Zoey’s mouth opened and closed with no words coming forth. Abby snickered, earning an elbow to the ribs from Romance.

“Absolutely fucking not.” Mira managed to scowl, willing her flushed cheeks to return to normal. “Follow me.” She spun on her heel.

Three of the four Saja boys rose to their feet, brushing off their knees. Zoey moved out of the doorway, noting Mystery did not follow. 

Mira instructed the other three Saja boys to two remaining guest rooms in the penthouse. She pointed to the door the farthest from her own, telling Abby he can stay in that one but to get cozy with a roommate as they only had three spare bedrooms and Jinu’s was obviously occupied. 

“On second thought,” Mira paused, leaning closer to the Saja boys and immediately frowning, “That door over there is the guest bathroom. Each of you desperately need a shower. You smell like hot garbage.” 

“So you do think I’m hot?” Abby wiggled his eyebrows, grinning wide.

“THAT’S NOT WHAT THAT MEANS” Mira raised her leg and jammed the heel of her foot firmly on top of Abby’s toes. The muscled Saja boy yelped, hopping on one leg towards the guest bathroom, smug grin still tugging at the edge of his lips.

Zoey snickered at the interaction and glanced back into Jinu’s room. She did a double take, noting only Jinu remained, snoring softly. Zoey quickly spun, scanning the room to spot the silver haired Saja boy standing at the wall of windows overlooking the city below. She let out a relieved breath, having not immediately lost track of the demon.

Zoey meandered her way to the windows, inching her way beside the lone demon little by little for fear he may run away if she moved too fast. Mystery didn’t move as Zoey approached and settled a foot to his side. Zoey peered up at him out of the corner of her eye, then out at the city below.

The view of Seoul from Huntrix tower was breathtaking. The sun was long gone below the horizon and the multicolored lights of Seoul after dark were ignited. All across the cityscape, neon lights blinked in a rainbow of hues. Headlights from cars, trolleys, and trains skimmed down roadways and disappeared behind city blocks. Even from way up here, you could see the bustle of crowds gathering around their favorite night life attractions. Seoul was a bustling city that never stopped moving even as the world quieted with the rise of the moon.

“The city looks so pretty from up here, doesn’t it?” Zoey asked aloud, not surprised that she got no response other than a small nod.

Zoey began fidgeting with her hands, twirling her fingertips and rubbing her hands together lightly. She rocked from her heels to her toes slowly, eyes drawn from the city back to the mysterious man beside her.

“Thanks again for earlier, by the way.” Zoey said with a small shake to her voice. “And also sorry for earlier-earlier.” Mystery angled his head towards her, tilted to the side in question. “Earlier-earlier, you know? The whole trying to send you back to the demon realm thing, back at Namsan tower. No hard feelings?” Zoey offered a warm smile, holding her hand out to the demon.

Mystery blinked from behind his bangs, looking down at the hand extended towards him.

“Yeah.” Mystery extended his own hand, surprised at the warmth that enveloped his own as Zoey gently shook their clasped hands twice. The hunter beamed brightly up at him. Mystery wondered how Zoey could think the glowing city below was anything to behold when she was the brightest thing he’d ever seen.

Mystery pulled his hand back, quickly averting his own gaze from the girl beside him, taken by surprise at his own thoughts. Zoey smiled awkwardly, her hands returning to fidgeting. Zoey still buzzed, switching from absently cracking her knuckles to tugging at the hem of her shirt. Mystery noted she was just like the city below- she too never stopped moving.

“So how’d you get those scars?” Zoey suddenly blurted.

Mystery’s spine went ramrod straight.

“Oh my gosh. I’m so sorry!” Zoey’s voice rose an octave with every sentence, her hands flying up to her face. “I don’t know why I even said that! That was so insensitive! People don’t just go asking those kinds of questions! Forget I ever said it! It’s just ever since earlier-earlier, I just can’t get your eyes out of my head! It’s like every time I close my eyes or try to go to sleep I just see those golden, gorgeous, molten amber, beautiful-”

Zoey peeked through her fingers to her side, realizing she was fully alone. Her hands and head fell.

“Way to go Zoey…” She muttered to herself.

—

The nighttime breeze ruffled Mystery’s hair. He sat perched on the top of Huntrix tower, one leg dangling over the edge of the building, the other pulled up to his chest. Another gust of wind brushed through Mystery’s bangs, parting them. He let it happen. Mystery closed his eyes, inhaling deep, and let the cold air skate across the now-exposed skin of his face.

The chilled air bit at his skin in uneven sensitivity. With centuries worth of muscle memory, Mystery raised his hands and traced the spindling lines of slightly raised skin that raked from ear to ear, criss crossing over his eyebrows and eyelids. 

‘So how’d you get those scars?’

Zoey’s words echoed in Mystery’s mind as he traced the lines marring his face again. Mystery was sure she must not have noticed them that day. He assumed she wouldn’t have had time to see the scars intertwined with the demon patterns that framed his eyes. Clearly she saw everything after all. Yet she still said those words.

‘You’re just my type!’

Mystery scoffed, turning his head from the wind and smoothing his hair back into place. How could he be anyone’s type? Ghostly voices invaded Mystery’s mind. He didn’t need Gwi-Ma in his head to resurface the memories of his past. He did that plenty himself.

‘Oh god!’

‘How horrible!’

‘How ugly!’

‘How shameful’

__________

Chapter Text

“SQUAWK” The multi-eyed magpie called from its perch atop the fridge in Huntrix HQ. The bird motioned with its beak towards a toaster on the large kitchen island, tufts of black smoke starting to rise from within.

“Ahh! Thanks Sussie!” Zoey quickly hit the release button on the toaster, springing the nearly-burnt toast free from the appliance and catching the airborne slices onto a platter.

With inhuman speed, Zoey placed the platter of toast down and loaded up more slices of bread into the toaster while using her other hand to flip five eggs sizzling in one of four frying pans on the stove. Zoey was a blur of motion and efficiency in the large kitchen. Three dozen eggs cracked open and either fried sunny side up, whisked into a fluffy scramble, or carefully dropped into a pot of boiling water to poach. A large blacktop was sizzling with thick cut strips of bacon next to a mountain worth of steaming hot rice, crisping lightly on the cooktop. Zoey sprinkled a variety of spices over a massive wok filled with an assortment of multicolored chopped vegetables. 

The morning sun bled into the living space of the penthouse. Floor to ceiling windows on both sides of the room ensured that it was always sunny and bright during the day. Zoey hummed to herself while spinning from each station of food she was tending to, the magpie above making another screeching noise when Zoey almost turned a poached egg hard boiled. A loud yawn echoed into the kitchen as Zoey turned to greet the first beheaded guest.

“What smells so good out here?” Abby meandered into the kitchen, eyes still half closed and hair sticking out in all directions.

“Good morning!” Zoey chirped, gesturing to the chairs and bar stools set up at the edge of the breakfast-bar style kitchen island, beckoning Abby to take a seat.

Abby’s eyes bulged from his head at the sheer amount of food before him, nearly starting to drool onto the floor. His stomach rumbled audibly in turn and he immediately sat in the closest chair, now very much awake.

“So what can I get for ya? Guessing lots and lots of bacon?” Zoey gave a coy smile, eyes jumping from bicep to bicep.

“Oh, actually I’m a vegetarian.” Abby said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head with his hand. 

Zoey stopped in her tracks, staring at the muscled demon in her kitchen. That was unexpected.

“I’ll definitely take some eggs though!” Abby offered. “And maybe some of that fruit, erm, if there’s going to be any left?”

Zoey snapped her head towards the edge of the countertop where a cutting board and serving bowl were set up just as Sussie squawked and swooped through the air, pecking his beak at a large blue paw that was working to maneuver half a melon into a wide open maw.

“Derpy, no!! Bad kitty!!” Zoey huffed and swatted the spirit tiger down, securing the half melon safely back to the cutting board. Abby chuckled. Zoey made quick work of the melon, removing the juicy flesh from the rind and chopping it into bite sized pieces. She glanced down at the tiger watching her with upturned eyes. She sighed and tossed the tiger the leftover melon rind, Derpy catching the piece with a content purr.

Baby emerged from the guest bedrooms next, helping himself to a large mug of coffee- no creamer. Mira and Rumi quietly exited from their respective bedrooms donning fluffy slippers and morning robes, drawn by the delicious scents surely filling the entire tower by now.

“Need any help Zoey?” Rumi started walking behind the kitchen island, but stopped when a spatula slapped down next to her wrist.

“Don’t even think about it!” Zoey narrowed her eyes at Rumi. “Last time you tried to cook breakfast you put salmon through the meat grinder trying to make lox bagels!”

Baby snickered from behind his mug of coffee as Rumi sat down on an open stool, frowning and grumbling that Americans have such weird names for food. 

The door to the guest bathroom opened and Romance sauntered forward to join the crowd. You couldn’t even tell the pink haired demon went to sleep; his hair was perfectly made and clothes freshly pressed without a wrinkle in sight.

“‘Bout time you stopped hogging the bathroom…” Abby pouted.

“My my, what a generous spread you’ve made, Zoey!” Romance folded his hands over his heart and bowed his head. “Thank you for welcoming us into your home with such generosity”

Abby and Baby muttered to themselves and cast their eyes aside. Romance clocked them instantly and gave each a smack to the backs of their downturned heads.

“Thank you for your hospitality!” Abby and Baby groaned in unison, nodding their heads to Zoey and casting a scathing look to Romance who had slid into an open chair next to Mira, already looking to make conversation by sitting entirely too close for her comfort.

One final soft click of a door closing had Zoey immediately turning to the hallway of bedrooms. Mystery entered the open living space, expression unreadable. 

“Good morning!” She called over to him. “Breakfast is just about ready! I can put together whatever you’d like to eat! I made banchan, so hopefully everyone has something they like here! I wasn’t even sure demons ate food until we had Jinu here! Hey did you know Abby is vegetarian?! I didn’t so I accidentally made way too much bacon-” Zoey stopped short as Mystery raised one hand towards her.

“Bacon sounds great” Mystery smiled at her “Thank you”

Zoey felt her cheeks flush with heat, momentarily stunned.

“SQUAWK”

“Bacon!! Right!!” Zoey jumped, turning to hide her reddened face away from that perfect smile and save the prized bacon strips from a crispy demise.

Mystery looked to the breakfast bar- there were only a few open seats left. Two open seats were on one end near the fruit bowl and then there was one open seat on the opposite side. Zoey hadn’t sat down, still tending to the bacon. Mystery started walking to the two open seats but hesitated. A blue paw snaked up to the countertop, reaching towards a discarded apple core. Derpy secured his prize and sunk into the floor with a ghostly ripple consuming his round, fluffy form.

“Alright, ready to start dishing out!” Zoey turned back with a smile- but then her lips fell for a moment. Mystery wasn’t where he just was and was now seated at the far end of the breakfast bar, head turned away from her. Zoey blinked, on the edge of a frown before forcing a smile back to her face and turning to the nearest person- a very angry looking Mira who looked about ready to stab her fork through Romance’s face. “Mira, you’re first! What would you like to eat?”

—

Abby must have eaten over a dozen eggs alone between the three plates of food he shoveled down. Apparently none of the other Saja boys knew Abby was vegetarian either. They explained that when in the demon realm, they didn’t experience hunger or the need for sleep. It was only when they were in the human realm they could experience those past sensations from before they lost their humanity.

Breakfast devolved from amicable silence and small conversations into full blown chaos in the form of a belching competition. It all started with one small burp from Rumi, who politely covered her mouth immediately after. Now it seemed Mira and Abby were head to head, making bets on whose belch could make Romance cringe harder. The rest of the group laughed them on, slightly grossed out, slightly impressed. 

“I must still be dreaming.” An unexpected voice had all heads turning as Jinu leaned against the open doorway to his room. “It almost looks like you’re all getting along”

“Jinu!” Rumi was instantly at his side. “You’re up!”

“Well it was kind of hard to sleep with all the fun out here, I was feeling left out!” Jinu pouted comically at Rumi.

“I saved you a plate, Jinu!” Zoey hopped up from her seat at the end of the breakfast bar, removing a plate with a little bit of everything stashed safely from Abby’s voracious appetite.

“You’re too kind, thank you” Jinu managed a smile as he let Rumi help him walk to the kitchen, still a little unsteady on his feet.

“So you’re really feeling better today?” Rumi looked Jinu over, noting his arms were still in full-demon mode but there were patches of human toned skin peeking from under the neckline of his shirt.

“Best I’ve felt all week!” Jinu smiled, sending appreciative looks to each Saja boy there as he sat down.

“Glad to hear it!” Abby came down with a firm clap on Jinu’s back that sent him nearly tumbling into his plate of food. Rumi barely caught Jinu’s shoulders before soft boiled egg ended up all over the kitchen. “Oops” Abby apologized sheepishly. Better certainly didn’t mean Jinu was back to full strength. He was still far from it.

“That’s great and all but what now?” Baby spoke up, moving a piece of food around absently on his plate. “Jinu’s still not in much of a state to go anywhere if he still can’t shift out of his demon form, and I’m not about to be cooped up inside this tower all day.” 

“Baby does have a point,” Romance nodded. “I doubt Huntrix was expecting to have a bunch of demons move into their home. We need to figure out what’s next.” All eyes looked towards Jinu.

“Wha- why are you all looking at me?!” Jinu sat up, mid-bite into a strip of bacon.

“You’ve always called the shots.” Abby shrugged. “So what’s the plan, boss?”

“I called the shots for the Saja boys because it was my idea to form the band and I needed it to work to- whatever, it’s not important. I’m not going to tell each of you what to do now.” Jinu held the stare from each demon around him. “I’m not going to hold you back from your freedom. I’m not Gwi-Ma. Your lives are your own now.”

“So you’re not going to stay as the Saja boys?” Zoey frowned. While she didn’t like the idea of a rival demon boy band stealing away the power of the Honmoon, they were still an exceptionally talented group. Plus without Gwi-Ma, who knows if a demon boy band would even weaken the Honmoon anymore? 

“That’s up for everyone to decide on their own.” Jinu shrugged.

Each other demon sat in silence for a moment as Zoey and Mira started to clear away empty plates, not about to interject into what started to feel like a private conversation between bandmates.

“It was kind of fun,” Mystery spoke softly. “at times.”

“There were wardrobe combinations I wanted to try for future shows that we didn’t get to do.” Romance said thoughtfully.

“You’re not putting me in a bib again.” Baby scoffed, crossing his arms. “You can do hair and makeup but I’m making my own looks.”

“Rehearsals were great exercise too,” Abby nodded.

Jinu looked at each of his friends, all with small smiles quietly tugging on the corners of their mouths. They all met each other's eyes, having the same thoughts of the future they could now control. None of them had the opportunity to imagine a future before their souls were lost to the demon king. Just that thought alone had each Saja boy’s eyes lost in wonder as the feeling of actual freedom sunk in.

“Well sounds like Huntrix might not be the only ones with a comeback tour.” Jinu smirked to his side at Rumi, who rolled her eyes with a grin. “Can't make any promises we won't steal all your fans again though.”

“You can try. I don't think any catchy tunes about fizzy drinks will have the same effect twice” Rumi jeered while Mira rolled her eyes.

“Well then Saja boys,” Romance stood from the counter, eyes sparkling with inspiration. “We have work to do!”

—

Everyone began to filter out of the kitchen as plans became tangible. The Saja boys decided to continue their path as a boy band, though quickly realized a somewhat important caveat- they had no money, no manager, no media team, no recording studio, no home base, nothing. If they wanted to make their chosen lives a reality, they needed to start from the ground up logistically. But with Jinu still weakened and not able to hold a human form, they knew they had time to figure things out before making any public announcements. For now they would have to remain hidden in the background.

Huntrix decided they would help support the Saja boys until they got on their feet, perhaps using it as a perfect excuse to monitor the demons and make sure none of them tried pulling any tricks and reverting to their soul-stealing demonic ways. And if they noticed the Honmoon weakening, then Huntrix would be there to fix it. The Saja boys would stay at Huntrix tower for now, though no one had any idea how long the arrangement could draw on for.

Jinu excused himself back to rest, the excitement of the morning taking a toll on his still greatly depleted energy. 

Romance declared they needed to begin by finding their new aesthetic, admitting they didn't have more than one change of clothing aside from the demon robes and hats stuffed into a trash can back at the abandoned office building. Rumi and Mira agreed to chaperone him out on a shopping trip, Mira outlining how to properly alter one's appearance to avoid being recognized in public. Hairstyles were changed with hats and sunglasses dispersed to hide distinguishing features. Baby decided to tag along, not trusting Romance to forgo the request for no more cutesy-baby outfits. Abby retired to his bedroom, stating he also needed a rest after stuffing himself with too much breakfast. 

Eventually it was only Zoey and Mystery left in the kitchen as Huntrix tower fell silent once more. Even Sussy had flown off through an open window.

Zoey busied herself cleaning the disaster that was the kitchen after cooking a breakfast fit for five demons and three demon hunters, all with insane appetites. Pans and plates were stacked high next to the large double-wide sink. She filled the sink with warm, sudsy water to begin chipping away at the mountain of dishes beside her, sighing at the task ahead.

Zoey scrubbed two plates clean before nearly jumping out of her skin. Mystery was no longer at the breakfast bar and instead took position right next to her at the sink, quietly cleaning one of the frying pans.

“M-Mystery! You startled me!” Zoey stammered, face flushing as she got an up-close look at the demon next to her. Mystery's long sleeves were rolled up past his elbows, showing off the toned skin of his forearms as he made quick work of scrubbing and handing the dripping pan over to Zoey. Her brain took a few seconds to realize he was waiting for her to rinse and dry the now-clean pan.

“You shouldn't have to do everything alone” Mystery simply stated as Zoey gently took the pan from his hands.

“O-Oh, thanks” Zoey looked at the reserved Saja boy, then dropped her eyes back to the sink.

The pair scrubbed dishes in silence, double the hands making quick work of the mess. Zoey chewed on her bottom lip, being careful to avoid looking too long at Mystery. At least the many dishes gave her something to do with her hands. 

Every time the mountain of dishes seemed to near its end, Mystery collected more discarded cutlery and glassware from the kitchen in silence. The collection of clean dishes grew to include stacks of coffee mugs and juice cups. Zoey noticed how when Mystery cleaned the knives, he always handed them to her with the blade facing himself, never towards her. His hand always covered the entire edge of the blade so she could only ever grab the smooth handle. Zoey switched to biting the inside of her cheeks, afraid her lip might bruise from the abuse of her own teeth.

“Are you okay?” Mystery spoke softly, barely more than a whisper.

“Wha-oh yeah, I’m fine!” Zoey turned her head up to Mystery, a smile upon her lips with eyes closed, and quickly turned her head back down to the sink.

“You’re quiet.” Mystery stopped scrubbing. 

Zoey’s hands slowed, resting in the soapy water within the basin of the sink. 

Drip

Mystery looked to the faucet, but it was dry.

Drip

Mystery looked down at the faint ripples dancing on the surface of the water beneath Zoey’s downturned head.

Zoey turned her head away from Mystery, trying to muffle the sound of a sniffle as she wiped her face onto her shoulder. Was she crying?

“I’m sorry” Mystery said in realization as his hand moved without thinking to gently wrap around Zoey’s wrist in the now-cold water. 

“Why are you being so nice to me?” Zoey whipped her face to glare at the demon, his face now only a few inches from hers. She held her gaze steady on the hair obscuring his face, her own eyes rimmed with tears and puffy at the edges.

“I…” Mystery stumbled on his words “I don’t want you to cry”

“I just…” Zoey’s eyes softened, tears beginning to well larger. “I thought you hated me.”

“I don’t hate you” Mystery’s grip around Zoey’s wrist below the water’s surface tightened slightly, a brief reassuring squeeze. 

“You have every right to” Zoey dropped her gaze as a tear fell down her cheek. “I was quiet because I didn’t want to say the wrong thing again.”

Mystery’s grip on Zoey’s wrist loosened slightly, his thumb skating over her wrist. He could feel slight ridges on her skin over her pulse- it was racing as she continued talking.

“Rumi told us to go easy on you all after last night, and I thought she meant like no teasing or making mean jokes. I didn’t even stop to think if asking about your…” Zoey stopped herself from saying it for fear he may disappear again. “Well, Rumi told me after her call with Bobby about how it wasn’t physical pain you all were in after helping Jinu. I would understand if you hated me.”

“I don’t hate you.” Mystery repeated, voice firm.

“You don’t?” Zoey sniffled, looking back up at him with wide, round eyes that made Mystery’s chest feel like it might cave in on itself. “But at breakfast…it felt like you were avoiding me.”

“I wasn’t avoiding you” He stated.

“But-”

“I wasn’t avoiding you.”

“Oh...” Zoey’s brows drew in together.

“I’m sorry.”

“Stop apologizing!" Zoey tried pulling her hand out of Mystery’s grip, but she only succeeded in lifting their hands from the soapy water and splashing suds onto the floor between them. Mystery didn’t release her wrist. “I’m the one who needs to apologize! I shouldn’t have asked what I did to begin with! I know how it can be a touchy subject to others but I wasn’t thinking straight. It wasn’t my place to ask. You can just forget the whole thing.”

Mystery just tilted his head to the side, looking down at her. Zoey huffed, her eyes dropping to Mystery’s hand still lightly gripping her wrist, unable to tear her gaze from the connection. He watched as Zoey lifted her trapped hand, twisting it until her palm faced up between the two of them.

Mystery followed Zoey’s gaze as they settled on her upturned hand, or just before it. Mystery moved his thumb that had been resting over her pulse point and noticed a collection of faint lines along the skin just beyond her wrist. They ran parallel to each other in well defined lines sideways across her skin, pale white against her warm skintone. Mystery ran his thumb over the marked skin gently, feeling the ridges of slightly raised skin. Scars.

“I know it can be a sensitive topic. I should have known better.” Zoey spoke softly, bringing her free hand up to gently pry Mystery’s hand off of her own.

“Demons?” Mystery hoped that was the answer, but got a sinking feeling. Zoey shook her head, smiling sadly.

“It wasn’t easy growing up torn in two directions. I was told to be one thing but my heart knew it wasn’t right. It took a long time to figure out where I belonged.” Zoey emptied the kitchen sink, grabbed a towel to dry her damp hands off, and handed the towel to Mystery to do the same. “But sometimes knowing you survived something so hard can be a reminder of the strength you have. At least that’s how I look at it. But I know it’s not the same for everyone. So I am truly sorry. I won’t ask about it again. You don’t owe me an explanation or your story.”

Zoey excused herself, walking to her bedroom and softly closing the door. Mystery was left alone standing in the now-spotless kitchen, holding a damp kitchen towel and staring at the bedroom door that contained the most confusing woman he had ever met. He briefly touched his own scars, tracing one side of his face lightly with his fingertips. An echo of a melody came into his mind, sending a momentary shiver down his body.

𝅘𝅥𝅮The scars are part of me, darkness and harmony𝅘𝅥𝅮

___

Mystery didn’t know why he was standing there. He tried sitting on the large white sectional couch in the Huntrix HQ living space. He tried sitting on the rooftop to watch the city below and feel the wind on his skin. He tried going to sleep in his bed but he was too restless. Abby and Jinu were both still fast asleep and no one else had returned yet. After pacing the length of the penthouse until he could feel his skin crawling and his patterns started reappearing, he found himself standing in front of Zoey’s door.

His hand rose to gently rasp against the wooden door, unsure if she would hear it or even want to answer.

But after a moment he heard the sound of papers rustling and feet padding towards the door.

“Oh, hey!” Zoey answered, eyes widening in mild surprise. “Did you need something?” Mystery lowered his chin, unsure how to respond. “Is anyone back yet?” Mystery shook his head. “Are you hungry? You can help yourself to anything in the kitchen.” Mystery shook his head again.

“It’s quiet” He settled on a response.

“Oh.” Zoey looked at him. “Did you…want to come in?” Zoey opened her bedroom door wider.

Mystery blinked. Zoey’s face quickly reddened; you could almost see steam coming from atop her hair.

“That’s not what I- Oh my god! I just meant did you want to hang out! I have a couch in here and a beanbag chair so it’s not like-”

Mystery raised a hand with a chuckle and a coy smile. Zoey shut her mouth, and stepped aside, fists balled at her sides, willing the embarrassment to lower from her cheeks.

He stepped into her bedroom, leaving the door open behind him. The bedroom was so very Zoey. Fairy lights hung from the ceiling, twinkling in multicolored hues that jumped around the walls as each light softly transitioned between pastel colors. Posters and artwork were scattered on the walls, no particular common theme among them. Just like Zoey had said, there was a small light pink couch on one side of the room near a large window, a giant fluffy pillow propped up on one armrest. A side table was on the other end, stacked high with composition notebooks. There was a giant beanbag chair set up next to a small vanity table and chair. The vanity table had a large round mirror set atop it, the entire frame covered in a collage of photographs.

Mystery carefully wandered into the room. The photographs were mostly of Huntrix, either selfies from backstage at various performance venues or candid pictures of them outside of their stage costumes- a pillow fight in Hunrix HQ, the trio at a ramen shop all mid-slurp, a group hug with Bobby. A few pictures though Mystery didn’t recognize. A sunny city that looked nothing like Korea. A much younger Zoey standing in front of an older, stern looking Caucasian man and an older Korean woman with a sad smile.

On the other side of the room was a bookshelf packed with even more notebooks next to Zoey’s bed, piled high with three fluffy blankets and so many stuffed animals- half of which were all turtles. Zoey picked up one of the many notebooks nearby, plopping down onto the plush beanbag chair. Mystery gently picked up a stuffed turtle, turning to look at Zoey with a bemused look.

“What?” Zoey smiled. “They’re adorable!”

Mystery placed the turtle perfectly back into place among the pile of plushies. He began to move towards the pink couch when a crumpled piece of paper caught his eye. Mystery bent down to retrieve the page peeking out from under Zoey’s bedframe. He uncrumpled the paper only to find a poster of himself staring back at him, red devil horns scribbled onto the page.

He felt an eyebrow pique, a smile tugging at one corner of his lips as he glanced at Zoey from behind his fringe. She looked horrified, the rosy hue returning to her cheeks as she scrambled to snatch the poster from his hands. Mystery raised his hand high above his head, keeping the poster out of Zoey’s reach as she jumped to try and take it back.

“You weren’t supposed to see that!!” She huffed, trying to jump higher but not having any luck retrieving her stolen contraband.

“Horns?” Mystery chuckled, lowering his arm a fraction to let Zoey reach it on her next jump. 

“Well you guys were pretty mean, stealing away our fans!” Zoey pouted as she retrieved the poster, holding it close against her chest as if it were precious. Mystery frowned. She took the poster, smoothed it out briefly and stuffed it between pages of a composition notebook before returning to her beanbag chair. She pulled her knees up and opened a second notebook against them, creating a barrier between herself and the demon.

Mystery walked over and peeked over the top of her notebook, but Zoey tilted the book towards herself, still pouting up angrily at the nosey demon. Her cheeks were still tinged pink as she tried her best to look angry at him. Mystery didn’t like it when she looked angry at him. But then he got an idea. The hunter still confused him immensely, but she had a pattern. 

He tilted his head ever so slightly, then with a small flick of his jaw, made the smallest parting of his hair in front of one golden eye. He watched in curious satisfaction as his suspicion was confirmed the moment their eyes truly locked. 

Zoey’s gawked, mouth hanging agape as the rosy hue to her cheeks darkened to blush then to tomato red that spread all the way to her ears. Her voice sputtered, the notebook suddenly forgotten and flung from her lap as she brought her hands to cover her overheated face at lightning speed. 

Mystery wasn’t sure why he liked seeing her flustered. It was much better than seeing her angry or upset. Mystery reached down to pick up the discarded notebook and settled himself onto the comfy pink couch, flipping the notebook open to the first page.

“Not fair!!!” Zoey squealed at the realization she just got played, but unable to bring herself to uncover her red hot expression. 

Mystery skimmed through the first few pages of the notebook. It was filled with musical lyrics and small doodles around the edges of each page. Most pages had half-written concepts for the chorus of a song or clever rhymes to build a rap segment. The themes of the songs jumped all over the place, not dissimilar from how Zoey herself moved that morning multitasking between five different dishes all cooking at the same time. Mystery glanced around and found a pencil on the side table nearby. 

“Hey, what do you think you’re doing?!” Zoey peeked through the gaps between her fingers, eyes narrowed as she watched Mystery add a few lines to one of her lyric sets and flip the page to write in the next.

Mystery didn’t respond, just thoughtfully tapping the pencil against his lower lip every few seconds, occasionally mouthing the words Zoey knew were her own on the pages, getting a feel for the rhythm she was going for. He continued for a few minutes, his foot gently bouncing to a beat as he worked through a bridge between lines.

Suddenly the notebook was placed back in Zoey’s lap, flipped open to the first edited page. Mystery sat back onto the couch, head turned in Zoey’s direction expectantly as he nodded towards the pages.

Zoey peeled her hands away from her face, no longer flushed. Her eyebrows drew together as she read through the newly added lyrics. She softly sang through the words, following the tempo that Mystery had set with his foot moments before. She glanced over to the Saja boy as Mystery would occasionally raise his hand to signal higher or lower octaves for certain verses. As Zoey repeated the sequence with the adjustments, her eyes lit up brightly, sparkling in the fairy lights overhead.

“Mystery, this is amazing!” She pointed to the neat, eloquently curved script that contrasted her quick, blocky handwriting. 

“I’m not good at the rap parts. Baby usually handles those.” He shrugged.

“I’ve been trying to tie those lyrics together for weeks!” Zoey beamed, holding the open notebook in front of her face to re-read the words again. Then she gasped, jumping from her seat. “That’s it!”

Mystery looked at her curiously as she spoke again.

“That’s what the Saja boys need for their comeback! A collaboration piece with Huntrix!!”

—

It was hours later where Zoey and Mystery had set up in the living room of Huntrix HQ, countless composition notebooks scattered on top of and surrounding the low coffee table. Mystery sat on the floor at the table, feet tucked beneath himself as he tapped a pencil to his temple, occasionally writing a few lines in a fresh unused notebook Zoey had given him. Zoey laid on the floor nearby upon an oversized stuffed animal that looked more like a marshmallow with a cute face, using it to prop her shoulders up as she scratched out lines in a notebook of her own.

Abby lounged on the couch, absently pressing buttons on a remote control watching as the channels on the flatscreen TV switched. Beside him was an opened pizza box, only half of said cheese pizza remaining.

The trio heard the elevator ding and open inside Huntrix HQ, only Abby turned his head.

“Helloooo!” Rumi called from the opening. “Could we get some help carrying all this stuff?”

“On it!” Abby jumped up from his spot on the couch.

Rumi and Mira carefully walked into the living space, each carrying multiple boxes and bags and hardly able to see over the top of them. Abby quickly relieved them of their spoils, easily carrying all of the heavy parcels between his muscled arms. Each hunter sighed with relief, stretching their stiff arms and rubbing away any pressure marks from the handles of the heavy bags that had hung from their wrists.

“Hey what about us?!” Baby shouted, struggling to put his feet one in front of the other as he and Romance exited the elevator with equally full arms. 

“Psh, I guess” Abby smirked at Baby, towering high over the smallest Saja boy and only taking half of the boxes out of his arms.

“Ahem” Romance blew his bangs out from in front of his eyes, waiting expectantly.

“You wanted to go shopping, Ro” Abby laughed, placing the boxes and bags he carried in front of the kitchen counter. “Not my fault you bought too much shit.”

“Hey, this ‘shit’ is for all of us.” Romance huffed and sauntered to the kitchen, placing the boxes and bags down easily all of the sudden. Abby shot him a knowing grin.

“Hey Mystery!” Baby called, finally getting the silver haired demon’s attention from his notebook. “Catch!”

Mystery’s arm shot out and caught the sudden projectile. He opened his hand to reveal a small metal and glass device. His hand felt the side of the object and found a button. Pushing it, the glass screen on the front blinked to life.

“Figured we should probably get you all cell phones.” Mira looked over as Baby tossed another cell phone to Abby with no warning but the muscled demon caught it easily. “Don’t be stupid with the internet, please.” She groaned at the thought.

“Oooh can I see?” Zoey scooted herself next to Mystery, swiping the phone from his outstretched hand as he turned to her. After a few short seconds Zoey handed it back, pointing to the screen that now contained a short contact list. “There! I added each of our phone numbers if you need to call us! This icon gets you online. This one is the camera. This one is a note-taking app, it could be helpful on the go!”

Mystery nodded. He understood the bare minimum of the modern world’s technology but was slowly learning. He knew screens were used to show images of things, like pictures or videos of people and places or moving artwork called animation. He knew phones were used to contact people from long distances with either written words or voices, but how it all worked still baffled him. 

“Oh my god Zoey, first the noodles, then breakfast, now you ordered pizza?!” Rumi moaned as she spotted the various cardboard boxes sitting on the kitchen island. She flipped open the first pizza box to find all of her favorite toppings. “Girl, what would we do without you?!”

“Starve, probably” Zoey giggled, springing up onto her feet to stretch her stiff shoulders and legs.

Abby began opening boxes and bags, taking stock of all of the new clothing options at their disposal. Romance swatted Abby’s hands away from boxes with colorful, flowy satin fabric- his own personal choices. Romance handed Abby a small bag, eyebrows slightly raised with a wink. Abby peeked into a bag and a wide grin spread across his face.

As Rumi, Mira, and Baby began diving into the pizza boxes, starved from a day full of shopping, Abby carefully removed a piece of sheer black fabric from the bag in his hands. In one smooth motion, Abby’s shirt was discarded, thrown haphazardly right at Mira’s feet. Each girl- plus Romance- locked their eyes onto the demon. Baby rolled his eyes and made a gagging motion with his hand, putting an extra slice of pizza on his plate before walking away.

With abdominal muscles on full display, Abby took his time stretching his arms high over his head, flexing his pectorals ever so slightly with a small turn of his torso that made his obliques ripple on his sides. Mira’s cheeks turned the same color as her hair. Abby slowly raised the black satin cloth over his head, feeding each arm through an opening of the flimsy scrap of fabric that turned out to be some kind of cursed shirt.

As Abby began to pull the sheer black crop top over his head, Zoey blinked, her eyes suddenly torn away from the skin show in the entryway.

A sliver of a golden eye burned into her from the side, and suddenly her whole body started to overheat. Zoey turned her head to see Mystery with just the slightest part in his silvery bangs. One exposed eye locked onto her with such intensity she could hardly remember what she was looking at before his attention was upon her. 

The colors of his iris seemed to melt together as different shades of brown and amber whorled around his slit pupil, dilating ever so slightly. The grip he held on his cell phone was impossibly tight, threatening to crack the glass.

The sounds going into Zoey’s ears were muffled, hardly registering the screech that came from Mira’s mouth as she threw some unknown object- a slice of pizza?- at the duo of pink haired demons laughing at her. The TV was still on, playing a sports broadcast but it was like all channels were offline in Zoey’s mind, her mind frozen on the stare that captured all of her senses. Was her heart still beating? Was she even breathing?

The curtain of silver hair closed, Mystery turning away and Zoey shook her head, returning to reality. 

“Oi, I asked if there was anything good on.” Baby plopped onto the white sectional nodding at the TV, propping his feet- shoes and all- on top of a closed notebook on the coffee table.

“Wha?” Zoey blinked, mind finally starting to catch up.

“Hey! No shoes on the furniture!” Mira connected the heel of her palm to the back of Baby’s head, pointedly looking anywhere except behind her.

“Ow! I was just asking!” Baby rubbed the back of his head, removing his feet from the coffee table.

—

“A Huntrix collab?” Jinu brought his hand to his chin thoughtfully. The leader of the newly reforged Saja boys sat in silence, a plate of half-eaten pizza sitting upon his lap. Everyone sat in the living room, either upon the couch or scattered on the ground around the coffee table, warm sunset light filtering through the tall windows as the sun began to set over the cityscape once more.

Zoey had explained her idea to the group over dinner, surprised after Jinu emerged for the second time that day. He seemed to be more energetic, able to walk unassisted across the room. Each of the other Saja boys looked to him, patiently waiting for Jinu to collect his thoughts and give his opinion on the plan presented to him.

“It could work. If we give a united front the Honmoon won’t be at risk either.”

Each Huntrix member nodded, agreeing the less risk to the newly formed Honmoon the better. While the barrier between realms felt steadfast, it was still too early to know for sure. The previous Honmoon that shattered had been built upon generations of hunters maintaining its strength. No one knew if the new Honmoon would be as resolute. Huntrix didn’t know how long it would be before they had to perform again to reinforce the barrier. 

“Abby.” Jinu raised his head, addressing his bandmades one by one. “Think you can choreo a group of eight?”

“I can manage.” Abby grinned.

“Romance, I hope you considered Huntrix stage lighting when shopping today?”

“Since when don’t I consider all options?” Romance slid the back of his hand across his chin, flicking the end of his hair with his freshly manicured fingertips, eyes dragging between Abby and Mira.

“Mystery, you got a head start on lyrics today?”

Mystery nodded, fingers drumming on the notebook upon his lap.

“Baby.” Jinu addressed the final member of the Saja boys. “Don’t go too hard on the rap.”

Baby grinned, a devilish smirk spreading as he peered up from his phone screen. “No promises.”

Rumi, Mira, and Zoey watched the boyband discuss details, the conversation feeling reminiscent of their own from when Huntrix was first getting established. Full of confidence and inspiration, the feeling of endless possibilities ahead. Each of the girls remembered that they built their success together as a team- magical hunter voices or not. The Saja boys weren’t all that different from them. They all had their individual strengths but when together as a team, they became a force to be reckoned with.

“Good thing we have a full studio two floors down.” Mira brushed a stray bit of crumbs from her legs. “We can start working on choreo in the morning.”

“And our recording setup will be great to start mixing audio!” Zoey added, bouncing her shoulders to a beat only present in her mind.

Rumi smiled, looping an arm around each of the other girls beside her, pulling them in for a hug. “You two are the best, you know that?” It still amazed her that her closest friends accepted her for the way she was so ferociously, patterns and all, and that acceptance had even spread to the demon boyband who didn’t seem all that demonic anymore. 

___

Chapter Text

Zoey bobbed her head, hand holding one cuff of a headset to her ear. With eyes closed, she nodded along to the beat of the track playing into her ears. Her other hand moved sliders and turned knobs on the audio mixer in front of her, making hairline adjustments until she got the desired effect.

Once the beat of the bass intertwined with the pop of snares and tickled her brain in the way she knew would be an instant earworm, she handed the headset to Mystery seated next to her at the soundboard. He mimicked Zoey’s action, lifting the cuff to his ear to hear the rhythm. He listened to the loop track for a few cycles, head tilting at a complex string of sounds expertly wound together by this technology. He shifted in his seat, reaching to push one of the many sliders on the soundboard. 

Zoey watched his hands work. She had explained the basics of the mixer to him earlier when he seemed totally perplexed by the complicated technology. Now he used the setup like he had been using one whole life, able to quickly match her own skill level in making unique combinations of sounds that made her heart do somersaults.

Still unsure what direction the new collaboration piece would take, the pair made various barebone backing tracks of different vibes over the last few days. A light hearted beat filled with ringing high notes, hopeful. A fast paced, offensively snappy track, determination. A slow, melancholy piece that was borderline spectral, mystical. The back track in progress was still in progress of landing on a feeling, torn between something sassy and something whimsical.

Baby relaxed on a small futon couch at the back of the studio, tapping away at his phone. 

“Ugh, are you two done yet? I’m dying of boredom over here.” Baby called over, head flopping dramatically against a pillow resting against the futon’s armrest. 

“Almost, we just need to get this part right.” Zoey called back without turning her head. She leaned close towards Mystery, her ear bushing against the back of his hand as she listened into the headset he still held. He didn’t remove himself from the headset as they both focused on the track, not caring that one of Zoey’s low space buns of hair was now smashed into the side of his neck.

She idly adjusted a few knobs, still nodding her head slightly as the tune morphed and evolved. Mystery tapped a few buttons and new instruments joined the looping music. It was so close to done, it was still missing something though-

Zoey caught a blue shimmer of the Honmoon beneath her feet from atop from the studio chair. She smiled wide as a round, blue tiger phased through the ground beside her. Large red and gold eyes looked up to her, one fuzzy ear twitching as Derpy appeared in the room. 

“Hey there Derpy! Here to help?” She said gleefully as the feline circled her chair, rubbing his sides along her legs. “Or are you just here for attention, big fella?” Zoey reached down to scratch the tiger’s cheeks, pinching and squeezing as Derpy rumbled a deep purr, nearly making Zoey’s whole body vibrate from the reverberation.

“You named the tiger Derpy?” Baby’s voice made Zoey’s head turn.

“Isn’t it cute?” Zoey smiled, still petting the bear-sized housecat leaning into her hands.

“Whatever.” Baby laughed. “At least now I can finally get into the studio. I’ve got a sick segment to try.” The Saja boy stood and stretched his arms.

Zoey, confused, turned back to Mystery- or rather the chair Mystery was just in. He was gone. The headset they were both just listening into was discarded, hanging over the backrest of the chair. She didn’t even hear him get up or any doors open and close.

“Whaaaaa? Where did Mystery go?”

“Probably off to go be broody. He always does this when he gets into a mood.” Baby rolled his eyes, coming up to the soundboard and pushing a few buttons, pulling up a backing track from an earlier day.

Zoey frowned, idly scratching one of Derpy’s ears as Baby walked into the windowed recording room in front of the audio mixer, adjusting his hair to fit the oversized noise cancelling headphones over his ears. The Saja boy looked up to Zoey still sitting at the soundboard, motioning with his hands to put on her headset and hit play on the selected track.

Zoey shook herself out of thought, settling herself back into her work. She gave Baby a thumbs up through the glass separating them as the thumping back track started and Baby began hyping, getting a feel of the beat before diving into his rhymes. Derpy looked up at Zoey and warbled, head tilted and no longer receiving the doting attention he was before.

—

Mystery heard the door click open, but he stayed seated on the small light pink couch, head turned facing the window beside it. He rested his chin on the back of his hand, curled up on the armrest. Hazy clouds and stray moisture obscured most of the view of the city below, droplets running down the outer surface of the glass pane in steady streams. 

“Mystery?” Zoey called out to the demon in her bedroom. She definitely didn’t expect to find him here after she and Baby finished working in the recording studio for the day. “What are you doing?”

“It’s raining.” He mumbled, unmoving. 

Zoey gently closed the door behind her, leaning back against the wooden surface and watching the dispirited demon that was curled up upon himself. He continued looking towards the window, eyes obscured by his hair like usual. 

“Did I do something wrong again?” Zoey asked after a moment, her hands wringing together. That got Mystery’s attention away from the window.

“No.” He responded as Zoey felt her teeth pick at a piece of skin on her lower lip.

“You’re not avoiding me?”

“No.”

“You’re sure?”

“Yes.” Mystery said with some level of finality.

Zoey sighed, a little relieved but still concerned. She moved from her spot against the door to sit on the other cushion of the small pink couch. Once she was close enough to settle herself next to Mystery on the opposite end, she noticed something else on the couch between them too.

While Mystery used one hand to prop his head against the armrest, his other hand was holding one of Zoey’s stuffed plushies. His hand was clawed at the fingertips, but the grip he held on the stuffed animal was gentle. She saw him move his thumb across the fur of the plush dog, reminding Zoey of the soft touch of his thumb over her wrist from a few days prior.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Zoey asked carefully. Mystery didn’t respond at first, his head moving to look down at the plushie in his hand. He shifted his hand back to being human, lifting the small stuffed dog and inspecting the toy before handing it to Zoey. She took the stuffed animal, placing it on her own lap. Zoey was about to get up to return the stuffed animal to its place on her bed when Mystery spoke, giving her pause.

“I used to have a spirit guardian too, like Jinu.” Mystery’s voice carried gently, lost in his memories.

Mystery, not quite a teenager yet, smiled and tossed a stick across a wide courtyard. The summer sun shone above, fluffy white clouds overhead offering scattered shade over the expanse of green grass, trimmed hedges, and blooming flowers. He parted his dark brown bangs from in front of his eyes and reached down, retrieving the slobbered stick a moment later from a blue ethereal snout. 

The spirit before him wagged its bushy tail, long tongue flopping in between white teeth sticking out in a few spots along a canine muzzle. Splotches of different hues of blue and turquoise mottled the spirit’s short fur as it bounced from paw to paw, eagerly tracking the stick in Mystery’s hand with large orange eyes. One of the pointed ears atop the spirit’s head twitched, swiveling to lock onto a noise coming in their direction.

‘Wrap up soon, dinner is almost ready!’ A mature female voice called from within the house behind him.

‘One more throw,’ Mystery whispered to the spirit wolf. ‘If you catch it I’ll sneak you a piece of that spicy beef Auntie makes!’ The wolf chomped its jaws together rapidly, scooting back in anticipation of the chase.

Mystery wound his arm back, aiming for a tall tree in the distance. He threw the stick high, soaring through the air towards the highest branches of the sprawling cherry tree.

The spirit wolf spun and ran, tracking the path of his target. Mystery watched as the spirit wolf phased right into a large landscape rock, disappearing completely before his eyes rose and saw the wolf lounging on a large branch halfway up the cherry tree only a second later- stick in mouth and tail wagging.

‘Cheater!!’ Mystery shouted with a laugh.

“Jinu’s tiger sometimes reminds me of him.” Mystery said, the memory fading peacefully for once without Gwi-Ma’s presence looming inside his mind.

“What was he like? Your spirit guardian?” Zoey’s eyes were wide with wonder. She was so enamored by Derpy that she didn’t even question what Derpy was or if there were more creatures like him out in the world. Mystery nodded down to the stuffed dog in Zoey’s lap.

“A little like that, but his ears weren’t floppy. He was blue, too, and had the softest fur you could imagine.” Mystery smiled sadly. “He used to sit with me when it rained. He had these goofy crooked teeth that would stick out every now and again. I called him Scraggle.” Mystery paused, his smile falling as a rumble of thunder sounded from outside, echoing into his mind and triggering another memory. “He actually saved my life when I was little.”

The thunder overhead was so loud in his ears in combination with his frantic heartbeat. Rain pelted down in thick sheets of ice cold water despite the canopy of leaves overhead. Another lightning strike lit up the dense forest as an even younger version of Mystery ran with clumsy steps through the darkness, his small hands grasping anything nearby to pull himself through an opening in the underbrush. He could barely see anything, but kept running as fast as his legs could take him.

His foot caught on an exposed root, sending him nearly tumbling towards the forest floor but Mystery caught himself on his hands, avoiding the impact. He felt cuts scrape along one of his palms from a jagged rock underneath his hand. He cried out, rearing back to cradle his hand and look at the blood beginning to well from the wound. But his vision was too blurred, clouded with a red haze. He brought his arm to his face, wiping over his eyes with a strangled sob as his sleeve came back soaked deep crimson. 

Mystery wailed from his spot in the mud, facing up towards the sky as pain shook his body again. The rain battered the skin on his face, stinging along the myriad of angry, jagged cuts that sliced around his eyes. The rainwater that ran down his cheeks dyed red, mixing with the weeping wounds.

He sobbed again trying to clear his vision, wiping away the bloodied rainwater on his face over and over again but only making the pain worsen. Then suddenly the rain didn’t pepper him from above anymore. He wiped the blood from his eyes once more and looked, eyes going wide at the blue canid standing only a few feet away. An invisible force surrounded them, like a bubble that the rain couldn’t get through. The wolf approached Mystery, sniffing lightly.

Mystery tried to scramble backwards, only to find his back against a tree trunk a moment later. The ghostly wolf approached again, stopping an arm’s length away and sitting on the ground. The pair sat shielded from the rain in silence until Mystery’s eyes drifted closed, exhaustion finally overtaking him. 

When Mystery cracked open his eyes with some difficultly, crusted with debris and dried blood, the wolf was still there. This face throbbed. The rain had subsided though. The wolf wagged its tail slightly, standing and stretching with a wide yawn before turning to walk away.

‘Wait!’ Mystery called after the wolf, scrambling to his feet. Mystery caught up to the curious animal. The wolf left no pawprints in the mud. Only Mystery’s small feet left prints as he trailed after the creature. 

Mystery was brought back to the present when he felt a warm hand rest on top of his own. He blinked, eyes focusing as he felt thin fingers intertwine between his own. A few of his patterns had resurfaced at some point, glowing faintly in the overcast light. He willed the patterns to recede. 

“Thank you for telling me.” Zoey whispered to Mystery, gently holding his hand.

A crack of thunder rumbled through the room and Mystery’s grip tightened on reflex. 

“Do you want me to sit with you?” Zoey offered gently. Mystery considered, then nodded.

Zoey didn’t press any further after seeing the impact those unspoken memories had on the demon beside her. She didn’t want to say the wrong thing even though the number of questions she had about Mystery instantly doubled. She wanted to know more about him and his past. What happened that nearly got him killed as a child? What happened to Scraggle to make Mystery talk about him like a long-passed family member? Did spirit guardians die? Is it related to his scars? But she knew the emotions were still raw after who knows how many years, decades, or centuries of Gwi-Ma’s torture. Zoey realized she didn’t even know how old Mystery actually was.

Zoey wasn't sure how long they sat in silence, listening as the storm outside started to lessen, softening to only a faint patter of drops hitting the roof of the building. Zoey’s mind was still swirling with barely-contained questions and curiosity when she saw Mystery’s head loll to the side. She noticed his breathing had turned slow, deep, and even. She smiled softly at the now-sleeping demon boy.

She made a motion to rise from the couch and free her hand from where it sat intertwined with Mystery’s, but found even asleep his grip was firm on hers. She tried to pull away but his hand tugged her back, refusing to let go of the small comfort.

Zoey sighed with a defeated smile, settling herself back onto the couch beside his sleeping form. She tucked her legs underneath herself, her hip barely touching his as she rested their joined hands upon her lap. She reached into her pocket with her free hand and retrieved her phone, making sure to mute all sound settings before scrolling through her social media apps to kill the time.

—

‘You can never hide your truth. But I can still help. I can make them forget you.’

‘Forget?’

Mystery woke suddenly, his eyes snapping open but body paralyzed. His heart pounded in his ears as Gwi-Ma’s voice- no, just a fragment of another memory- faded from his mind. He took a deep breath through his nose, reminding himself Gwi-Ma is gone. His senses began returning to him as his eyelids relaxed, feeling heavy again. A tickling sensation traced along one of his hands.

He paused, staving off the temptation to fall back asleep. When did he fall asleep? He wasn’t in a bed, though he was still oddly comfortable. Another featherlight sensation moved in a whorled line along his forearm. Mystery turned his head slightly, following the feeling on his skin.

It was Zoey. That’s right, he was in her room. How long ago was that? He watched as her eyes were downcast towards his arm that rested on top of her legs. One of her hands was entangled with his own while the other gently traced the patterns on his skin. His purple tinged, demonic, patterned skin.

Mystery instantly commanded his demon skin down, the patterns and purple hue disappearing all at once while Zoey was halfway through tracing a pattern that looped around his wrist.

“Oh! I didn’t wake you, did I?” Zoey startled, looking up with slightly blushed cheeks.

“No.” Mystery reclaimed his hand from Zoey’s. “Sorry…”

“Don’t apologize, silly! You seemed like you needed to rest.” Zoey smiled at him, arching her back to stretch her stiff shoulder blades from sitting for so long.

“Not about that.” Mystery looked down at his hand, bare lightly tanned skin all the way around.

“Oh, I don’t mind about your patterns!” Zoey shrugged. “It’s not like it’s a secret you guys are demons. Plus Romance said it takes energy to keep them away, right? I hope you don’t feel like you have to hide them? You can show them if it makes you more comfortable.”

Mystery tilted his head. He had been making sure to hide his patterns every day still. All of the Saja boys were, save for Jinu who physically couldn’t. Mystery had gotten used to covering those parts of himself, the concept nothing new to him, whenever he was in the company of the hunters. But Zoey had a point. Their k-pop idol hosts weren’t just normal humans. They had all seen their demon appearances before anyways. And it was exhausting at times going the whole day without a rest for his energy reserves.

Zoey smiled warmly at Mystery as he allowed the dark lines to resurface onto his skin. His skin was still a natural human tone, just with the addition of his patterns. He still felt the need to hold all of it back, but this was at least a relief to let the patterns show.

—

Romance scowled, his patience running thin. The group was not much closer to figuring out the theme for the Saja Huntrix collaboration piece. Lyric sets were disconnected, choreo for eight proved more complicated than expected, and Romance was tired of waiting to design costumes so he went ahead and assembled a concept to try out. So that morning, Romance distributed bags of clothing to each Saja boy and Huntrix member and told them to meet at the choreo stage at noon. It was 12:20 now, one member of the group still missing, but then the door opened.

“About time you showed up Baby- and what do you think you’re wearing?!” The pink haired demon nearly shrieked and crossed his arms, donned in a silky white blouse with a neckline that cut halfway down his sternum. The sleeves of his shirt flowed dramatically even while crossed. He wore light gray dress slacks, embroidered with golden accents down the side seams. Small rose gold accessories shone from the group- earrings, bracelets, chain necklaces, or belts. Each of the other Saja boys wore similar outfits, tailored to their body types but all with the same white-and-gold theme. Huntrix stood nearby, dressed to match. 

Everyone in the group turned to look towards the entrance of the indoor auditorium that held Huntrix’s indoor practice stage. Romance had declared this room had the best lighting to debut the costumes he designed. They watched as Baby emerged from the stairwell that led up to the penthouse two stories up. Baby smirked as he sauntered in, reveling in the shocked gasps that followed.

His hair was no longer styled as the cute boy cut he usually did. The ends of his bangs were swept up out of the way in a fresh-out-of-bed look as if someone reached down and ruffled his hair with their hand and it stuck like that. The sides of his hair had been trimmed down, fading nearly to the skin at his ears and nape of his neck. His lower eyelids were rimmed delicately with black eyeliner.

The rubber soles of black leather combat boots clicked as he walked. He wore a pair of black skintight jeans, ripped in various parts along his legs. A silver chain hung from one of his pant pockets, the other end clipped onto a belt loop at his hip. What was most shocking- his abdomen was hardly covered at all. A flimsy cropped tank top covered most of his chest, though it also had some conveniently placed tears in the fabric leaving nothing to the imagination, while leaving his surprisingly toned midsection completely bare. Black leather cuffs hugged his biceps and tight silver circlets adorned each wrist. He wore fingerless black leather gloves, accented with stacks of silver rings on each finger. 

“I told you, I’m not wearing that cutesy shit any more” Baby crossed his heavily accessorized arms back at Romance, stopping in front of the opposing demon.

“What did you do with the costume I told you to put on?!” Romance fumed.

“Burned ‘em on the rooftop.” Baby stuck out his tongue. “Nothing was the right size anyways. Too baggy.” Each of the other Saja boys quietly inched away from the increasingly hostile exchange, Huntrix following suit with wide eyes. They settled on the side of the room to watch from a safe distance, Jinu taking a rest on a nearby chair.

“This,” Romance gestured to Baby’s cocky posture. “Is NOT the aesthetic we’re going for! At all!!”

“You had us in all black for the idol awards.” Baby kicked up an eyebrow with his retort.

“It was a tastefully darkened version of our established style.” 

“Exactly, same old same old. I thought we were doing something new?”

“We are! This is the new style!” Romance waved his hand to everyone standing or seated awkwardly off to the side.

“Then I guess you don’t want this band to be any good.” Baby shrugged, taking out his phone and swiping the lock screen open.

“This theme did numbers for Huntrix’s fans, what makes you think this won’t work?”

“Ugh, maybe because we’re not Huntrix.” Baby groaned. “Just because we’re collabing doesn’t mean we have to match them.”

“So you want, what, some kind of edgy punk look?” Romance grimaced.

“Better than puffy sleeves from last century’s fashion. The fans won't go wild for that.”

“How could you know what the fans will and won’t like?” Romance narrowed his eyes at the devilish smirk that grew on Baby’s mouth as he tapped something into his phone.

“They’ve already told us. You just need to know where to look.”

A TV screen positioned in front of the practice stage flickered to life. Baby swiped a few more times on his phone and the TV synced, opening a youtube video titled “SAJA BOYS LAST PERFORMANCE- COMPLETE EDIT”. Everyone in the room except Baby cringed as the video started playing.

It seemed to be a stitched together video from different fans’ cell phones that had been recording from the crowd that day at Namsam tower. The audio was mostly intact, but the video became greatly distorted whenever golden demon eyes or a building-sized mouth made of flames came too much into frame. It didn’t carry the weight and influence of the real performance, but it was the closest thing that was left, now permanently preserved in the vault that was the internet.  

“Baby, why are you playing that?” Jinu sighed and pinched his brow with closed eyes, unable to watch the screen that showed the performance that nearly ended the world.

“Just read the comments.” Baby grinned, swiping up to scroll through the tens of thousands of comments left on the video.

AHHH THEY’RE SO HOT!!! 🔥

This is lowkey terrifying, but why do I LOVE it?!

Jinu’s got mad face card, did you see that SMILE? 🫦

Please Abby my Sanctuary needs you asap 😩

Here Romance, take my soul, it’s yours 🫳💐

My soda just popped fr 😏

Absolutely feral for Mystery rn 😈

Scratch those nails down my back, Baby 💅

Rumi, Zoey, and Mira’s eyes went wide, redness rising on their faces with each new line of text that appeared on the screen.

Romance looked torn between horrified and intrigued, hands over his mouth as he read each comment twice. Abby snorted, grinning and nodding at every comment about himself. Mystery’s mouth pulled tight, a slight tinge of pink darkening at the tips of his ears. Jinu raked his clawed hands down the front of his face, peeking through the gaps between his fingers as his eyes became transfixed on words he couldn’t believe were from actual people.

“You’re seriously telling us the fans were into that?” Jinu groaned.

“I guess no one can resist a bad boy, right ladies?” Baby snickered, eyes landing on the three Huntrix girls who were pointedly looking at the ceiling. None of the hunters said more than a vague but generally affirmative grumble, awkwardly switching their weight from foot to foot and avoiding eye contact with anyone around them.

“Say Mira, what do you think ‘step on me, daddy’ is supposed to mean?” Abby waggled his eyebrows, met instantly with a firm punch to the gut from the hunter. Abby doubled over, wheezing in raucous laughter as he wrapped his arms around his aching stomach.

Mira stormed to the exit door, avoiding looking at the feral comments still streaming across the TV screen and muttering something about how she should have sliced those stupid abs right off his stupid body when she had the chance.

“Well then,” Romance snapped his attention off of the screen and clapped his hands once. He looked down at his outfit and the outfits around him. “Back to the drawing board. Everyone, get out! Except you, Baby. Stay here. Bring that phone, too”

Romance ushered everyone out of the space, sending them away so he could re-do all of the costume concepts. Rumi caught up to Mira and led the group up the stairs that connected the studio to the penthouse. 

The climb was mostly silent, save for Abby leaning to whisper something in Mira’s ear which earned him another smack to the side of his head. Rumi looked at Jinu, some unspoken message sent in their eye contact as she rolled her eyes. Jinu piqued an eyebrow and glanced at the pink haired duo behind them in the stairwell blocking the path for Zoey and Mystery behind them all, looking like they very much did not want to get caught in the middle of what was brewing.

Rumi turned back and climbed the last set of stairs, moving to open the door to the penthouse. She heard a distinct clink and shuffle from inside. She immediately raised a hand and summoned her Honmoon sword, eyes flashing back to Mira and Zoey. Both girls saw the look and nodded, expressions instantly serious and pushing past the Saja boys to huddle at the door.

Rumi turned the handle, a faint click echoing down the stairwell.

“Rumi? Is that you?” A feminine voice called from the direction of the kitchen. Rumi’s eyes widened in recognition, the iridescent patterns that adorned her exposed skin flared to life momentarily, rapidly pulsing with bright colors.

“Is that Celine? What is she doing here?” Zoey gasped in a whispered voice. Mystery and Abby each grabbed one of Jinu’s arms, teleporting out of the stairwell in a flash of purple smoke.

“How did she get in? None of us told her the new elevator code.” Mira seethed.

“Rumi, I know you’re there. Please just come out so we can talk.” Celine called, her voice getting closer to the still-shut door.

“Rumi.” Zoey got the lead hunter’s attention as her patterns pulsed again. “You don’t have to talk to her. We can handle it.” Mira nodded beside her.

“No, it’s fine.” Rumi took a deep breath, centering herself and calming the best she could. She swung open the door to meet the unexpected guest.

Celine stood halfway between the stairwell door and the kitchen. Her eyes immediately darted across Rumi’s skin and the patterns visible there before looking at the floor. Huntrix carefully entered the living space, closing the door behind them. Zoey and Mira squared up on either side of Rumi, making it clear that anything Celine wanted to say to Rumi could be said to all of them.

“Oh thank goodness.” Celine sounded relieved. “I couldn’t reach any of you.”

“Yeah. What part of ‘don't talk to us ever again’ didn’t you get?” Mira’s voice cut through the air as sharp as a blade.

“Celine, you should leave.” Zoey frowned at the previous generation’s hunter.

“No, please!” Celine looked at both of the girls who spoke. “Just let me apologize!”

Mira and Zoey looked to Rumi, gauging her reaction. Rumi stood stiffly, eyebrows pulled close and still gripping her Honmoon blade. She frowned lightly at Celine, but her expression was steadfast. Better than exploding, right? Rumi motioned with her head for Celine to sit at the kitchen counter and dismissed her sword. The older woman smiled, doing as requested and sat with her hands resting upon her lap.

“Thank you” Celine watched Rumi’s feet travel over the floor in her direction, stopping fifteen feet short of her. “I know I said some horrible things before, but-”

“No but.” Rumi interrupted instantly, patterns on her forearms pulsing angrily. “You said horrible things. End of sentence.”

“Alright…” Celine nodded slowly. “I said horrible things. I'm sorry. I truly did think I was protecting you. I didn't think that my actions could hurt you so much. I never wanted you to suffer like that.”

Rumi let Celine continue.

“I was wrong about everything. I was wrong about you. You still restored the Honmoon despite…”

“Despite what?” Rumi’s words were clipped.

Celine’s hands trembled slightly, her eyes trying to rise along Rumi's form. Rumi could see her guardian's gaze pause along each pattern that glowed against her skin. Finally Celine met Rumi’s fierce gaze.

“Despite being a demon.” Celine’s voice wavered as her words hung in the air, soaking into the walls.

“Half-demon.” Rumi corrected her. “I am both a demon and a hunter. For so long you made me think I couldn't be both, that one side had to defeat the other. It was your fault for making me believe that for so many years.”

“You don't understand.” Celine frowned. “It went against everything the hunters were taught for generations!”

“You tried teaching us the same thing.” Zoey spoke. “You tried teaching us that all demons were soulless and evil, no exceptions.”

“You set us up for failure from the beginning.” Mira added. “You didn't believe we would accept Rumi because you knew you never could.”

“You told me to cover up and hide my patterns because no one would see past them, not even my closest friends. But Zoey and Mira accept me for all of me, not just despite of me.” Rumi smiled as she felt Zoey and Mira take hold of each of her hands, solidifying they would always support each other no matter what.

“How could we know that you wouldn’t turn out just like them? Like all of the other demons?” Celine argued.

“Turn out like them? You still don’t get it, do you?” Rumi’s left eye flashed golden, her voice warping slightly. “I have always been one of them. Everything you did to force me into hiding that part of myself just made it grow stronger. The shame you fueled into me from your own lack of belief did the opposite of what you wanted.”

Rumi took a moment to breathe, re-settling her fast-beating heart to stop from becoming too emotional. She did not want to fight with Celine, but the wounds carved into their relationship were still too raw. Once her patterns faded again, Rumi continued.

“You still act like every other demon in the world is a monster. But that’s just simply not true. They can be kind. They can get emotional. They can be funny, and sometimes downright silly. They’ve made mistakes. They have regrets and shame of their own. But that shouldn’t condemn them for eternity. The people that Gwi-Ma tricked and turned into demons were his prisoners, not his followers. They don’t deserve to be hated. They need our compassion.”

“You're so much like your mother.” Tears rimmed Celine’s eyes. “I wish she would have trusted us to tell us about your father before you were born. Maybe she could have changed our minds too. Maybe she could have helped me be a better guardian for you.”

“Well she’s gone.” Rumi’s words bore no bite anymore. “The damage can’t be undone so easily between us, Celine. Not yet. So please just go home.”

Rumi held her head high as Celine collected herself and exited the penthouse through the elevator. As soon as the penthouse was silent again, Rumi allowed her face to fall. Zoey and Mira wrapped their arms around their friend in a comforting embrace. Rumi trembled lightly, finally allowing herself to deflate from the encounter. A few moments passed and Rumi took a deep, level breath at last.

“We really need to double check those security codes.” Zoey smiled at her friends.

“I’m on it.” Mira scowled and cracked her knuckles. “When I find out which security guard told her the new code, they’re getting more than just fired.”

The trio laughed together, finally letting the last bit of tension out of their system. A footstep nearby made each head turn. The demons who had disappeared from the stairwell were peeking out from the hallway leading deeper into the penthouse. Jinu began stepping out now that the coast was clear.

“Were you eavesdropping the whole time?” Rumi cringed.

Jinu didn’t respond, only walking directly towards Rumi. He stopped before her, pausing for a moment to search her eyes, then enveloped her in his arms. Rumi returned the embrace, eyes closing and sighing into his shirt as he held her tightly.

Zoey and Mira looked at the pair, then at each other. The two of them slid away, deciding it was best to leave them to whatever private moment was surely evolving. They joined Mystery and Abby in the hallway, shooing each of them away from watching Jinu and Rumi. Mira grabbed Abby by the collar of his white shirt, dragging him to the Huntrix office room at the end of the hall, stating his muscles might come in handy to interrogate whichever sorry soul would be at the receiving end of her wrath after she looked through the security footage.

Zoey looked to Mystery, not quite sure what to do. 

“So…” she started. “Do you think Baby actually burned his clothes on the roof?”

Mystery pondered for a moment, before shrugging and gently wrapping his hand around Zoey’s arm. Before Zoey could ask what he was doing, the world disappeared in a cloud of darkness around her, impossibly loud wind rushing through her ears.

Zoey’s feet met solid ground a millisecond later. Her body felt like it had been tossed around in an ocean riptide and thrown back onto dry land, off centered and dizzy. The hand on her arm steadied her, giving her a grounding point in the world. The sounds of the outside world slowly came through her ears, birds above, cars below, wind from all around. The offensively bright sunlight made her eyes squint up, a stark difference from whatever void she had just been in. She was standing on top of Huntrix tower. 

“Did you just-” Zoey stumbled as she tried to take a step, but her foot didn’t land flat. Mystery held out his other hand to steady the hunter as she settled. “Oh god that felt so weird!”

“You wanted to go to the roof.” Mystery said simply, as if teleporting was the obvious thing to do.

“I’m pretty sure there are stairs!” Zoey laughed shakily as the world stopped spinning. “You need to give me a heads-up next time you decide to just teleport me!”

“Oh...sorry” Mystery frowned. Zoey released his hand to look around, finally feeling steady. 

“Whoa, it’s so cool up here!” Zoey twisted to look around. Even though Huntrix HQ had no shortage of floor to ceiling windows to see the city below, being truly on top of it all still brought her a sense of awe. The wind rustled the loose hairs of Zoey’s bangs as Mystery released her arm and stepped away.

Zoey watched Mystery walk around on top of the building and let his patterns resurface, not showing an ounce of apprehension as he walked along the very edge of the hundred-story building. She had to admit, even though Baby was certainly onto something with a bad boy aesthetic, Mystery looked quite handsome in the white outfit Romance assembled for him. The soft cotton button-up shirt was loose around his build, the fabric gathering and wavering in the high altitude breeze. His sleeves were rolled past his elbows, cuffed and tight at the base of his biceps. The light gray dress pants were form-fitted at his hips just enough to make Zoey blush whenever Mystery turned away from her. 

“That woman-” Mystery’s voice brought Zoey’s brain back into focus as he completed his circuit around the edge of the rooftop and came back to her side. “She didn’t seem very nice.”

“Celine. She used to be a hunter too.” Zoey nodded to Mystery. “She raised Rumi after her mom died when she was a baby. She’s misguided, but it doesn’t excuse what she did and said to Rumi.”

“Mm” Mystery made a non-committal sound. 

“Sorry you had to hear that conversation.” Zoey frowned up at him. “Celine is still having a hard time accepting things. I can’t imagine how she would have reacted if she saw the rest of you here too! Probably a good thing she can’t use Honmoon weapons anymore.”

“Do you think Rumi’s mom would have accepted her?” 

Zoey, taken slightly aback by the question, watched as Mystery’s head lowered slightly, moving to put his hands into his front pant pockets, his arms pressed against his sides. She studied him as the wind rustled his hair, able to see glimpses of his face underneath. His eyes were downcast and distant, dulled irises staring at nothing in particular.

“I think she would have.” Zoey placed her hand on Mystery’s arm. His arms relaxed at her touch.

“What if she didn’t?” Mystery spoke in barely more than a whisper. “What if she was ashamed by Rumi and her patterns too?”

“Mystery…” Zoey moved to stand in front of the demon. She brought her hand up and gently cupped his cheek. Her fingertips brushed the scars there. Mystery flinched slightly, but didn’t pull away. “You’re not talking about Rumi are you?”

‘I know that child isn’t mine, just look at him! Look at his eye color! Do you take me for a fool?! I won’t raise your bastard son. He is a disgrace.’

Mystery shook his head as the piercing sound of shattered glass echoed in his mind. He focused on the feeling of Zoey’s fingertips gliding down his cheek as her warm touch departed, her hand resting at her side again.

“I was raised by someone who wasn’t my mom either.” Mystery spoke, surprised at how easily the words came tumbling out of himself. “I called her my Auntie, but we weren’t actually related. Auntie took me in and raised me like I was her own from the beginning. I didn’t understand how she could see me as her family so much more than…” He trailed.

“Just because someone isn’t related to you by blood doesn’t mean they can’t be your family too.” Zoey smiled softly. “Rumi and Mira are family to me, and not just because we’re hunters together. They support me and don’t mind when I get a little too excited about things. They let me be myself and don’t fault me for it or make me hide myself away. We laugh together, we cry together, we fight together too but always forgive each other at the end of the day.”

“Auntie was always kind to me.” Mystery nodded. “Scraggle was her family’s spirit guardian. He brought me to her estate when he found me. I don’t know how, but he knew I would be safe with them.”

Zoey didn’t interrupt him. She saw glimpses of his eyes go far away again as the wind whipped between them.

“I’ve always been grateful for them. They never made me feel like an outcast. They never looked at me with pity. Auntie told the rest of her family that I was there to stay, and that was that. I was no longer some kid found lost in the woods. I was just part of their family, though I guess I didn’t realize they had become my family too. I wish… I wish I could have let them know how much they meant to me.”

“I’m sure they knew.” Zoey gave him a sad smile, catching his gaze into her own. He looked so sad.

“They didn’t.” Mystery held Zoey’s gaze, not bothering to smooth his hair back into place after the wind had thinned the layer of hair that hid his eyes and his scars. “I was short sighted. I still wanted to find my real family again. I didn’t realize what I did until it was too late.”

‘I can make them forget you.’

‘Forget?’

‘She’ll never be able to look at you if all she sees is shame and regret.’

‘So my mother won’t know me anymore?’

‘I can make it so your family won’t remember who you are, or what you are to them. You can start anew. You’ll simply be a mystery to them.’

‘Okay. Do it.’

“I didn’t know that Gwi-Ma’s deal would make me lose everything.”

“Don’t blame yourself for what Gwi-Ma did to you.” Zoey’s gaze sharpened, making Mystery snap out of his solemn expression with the sudden edge to her tone.

“It was my fault.” Mystery held Zoey’s fiery stare.

“No. Do not blame yourself for others who took advantage of you for their own gain.” Zoey remained steadfast, locked onto Mystery’s golden brown eyes that seemed genuinely shocked at her reaction.

“It’s not that simple.”

“Maybe it isn’t, but that doesn’t make it right.” Zoey took a half step forward until she was nearly chest-to-chest with the demon in front of her, their faces so close she could feel his breath as he looked down to her. “I may not know everything about demons still, but I do know this from Rumi and Jinu. Gwi-Ma manipulated you. Whatever deal he gave you was never to help you. It’s not your fault.”

Mystery finally broke their connected gaze, turning his head away. Zoey reached out and wrapped her hands around Mystery’s, intertwining their fingers, fearing he may teleport away. 

“You may not believe it yet, but I do.” She spoke to him quietly now, idly moving her thumbs across the backs of his hands. “Like Rumi said, whatever happened to you in your past shouldn’t define you forever. You deserve to be able to forgive yourself. You deserve to be happy.”

Mystery’s heart ached in his chest, reverberating from the words spoken so softly but also with such strength into his core. He wanted to believe her so badly. The memories of his past had controlled his thoughts for so long, a dark blanketing storm cloud over his mind. But Zoey’s words broke through those clouds little by little, letting small rays of bright sunshine through.

“I’m tired.” Mystery sighed, letting his head drop as his cheek lightly rested on the top of Zoey’s head. 

“Let’s get back inside then.” Zoey squeezed his hands within hers lightly with a smile. “Before Baby comes up here to set something else on fire.”

___

Chapter Text

Zoey sat at her vanity table, brushing out her hair over her shoulders and humming a tune to herself. The window in her bedroom was open, letting the sounds of morning birdsong flutter into her space. It had been a quiet morning at Huntrix HQ. None of the Saja boys had come out for breakfast that morning. Zoey didn’t mind though, as every day since the demon boyband temporarily moved into their home had been packed with activity. Between brainstorming sessions on music themes, coming up with backing tracks, Mira and Abby fighting over warmup exercises, Romance and Baby bickering about current fashion, and Jinu still not back to full capacity, everyone seemed like they needed a day off. A day of rest would surely help them figure out what direction to take.

Though only the Saja boys could truly take a full day off. Even while on a performance hiatus since the idol awards, Huntrix still had media commitments they couldn’t reschedule too many times without risking their corporate contracts. Rumi had tried telling Bobby they needed time away from cameras for a little longer, at first to give them recovery time from everything that happened up to the Idol awards, and then again to do their secret work with the Saja boys.

Zoey peered at the composition notebook sitting at the edge of her vanity table, seeing the edges of the poster that was secured safely between pages. She hoped her conversation with Mystery the day before didn’t come off the wrong way. But she was happy he started to open up to her a little bit more. 

A small whoosh of air brought Zoey’s attention back to the mirror, her demon-detecting senses firing rapidly.

“Wha- Mystery?!” She spun in her chair, surprised by the sudden appearance as Mystery teleported into the room right behind her. “You can’t just teleport into my room!! What if I wasn’t dressed?!” Her face reddened, pouting up at him.

But Mystery didn’t respond, just standing stiffly and fully showing his demon appearance. His clawed hands flexed at his sides, balling into fists and releasing over again. She couldn’t see his eyes, but she didn’t need to see them to guess they probably looked haunted. His patterns flashed as he breathed in quick, shallow breaths.

“Are you okay?” Zoey asked, dropping her upset expression in favor of concern. He shook his head.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Another shake of his head. Zoey pursed her lips in thought of how to comfort the demon. 

“Do you want a hug? Those always make me feel better!” No shake. Zoey watched as Mystery pondered for a moment. Then she saw his chin dip once.

Zoey smiled, standing from her chair and moving to be in front of Mystery. He didn’t move. Zoey puffed air from her nose in a half-laugh as she moved to wrap her arms around him, squirming her hands under his tense arms and around his ribs, crossing her wrists behind his back. Mystery raised his arms, enveloping her shoulders and to Zoey’s surprise, pulling her flush against his chest. Zoey’s eyes went wide and her face warmed from not only his body heat but the redness that spread across her cheeks. She tried to look up at him but then felt a pressure descend on top of her own head. 

Mystery bowed his head, burying his nose into Zoey’s hair and breathing deeply. His grip around her tightened a fraction, feeling her smaller frame settle and relax into his own. He didn’t know why, but her presence soothed him like a balm on burns. He inhaled again, the scent of her sugared cherry shampoo filling his senses as his mind finally slowed.

Zoey uncrossed her wrists to move one of her palms in slow circles between Mystery’s tense shoulders, her other hand casually circled around his waist. She felt his breathing begin to calm, peeking from her position at the crook of his neck to watch the glowing patterns there dim little by little until his purple-tinged skin began to lighten and the patterns laid still and matte against his skin. 

The tension ebbed from Mystery’s body as he felt her touch move along his back. He could feel the ends of her nails whenever her hand trailed up to the base of his neck, grazing lightly against the skin at the collar of his shirt. He liked it whenever she touched his skin. Whether it was when their hands brushed at the audio mixer trying to turn the same dial, or when she traced the patterns on his arms, or when she held his hands to tell him he deserved to be happy. A whisper of a thought came into his mind, wondering how he could ever get enough of her.

Mystery opened his eyes, nose still buried in the hunter’s loose hair. He released his grip on her, stepping back. Zoey blinked, her face still warm and tinged pink. Mystery thought she looked almost ready to pout at him, but Zoey just smiled up at him. His gaze lingered on her lips for a long moment.

“You can sit in my room while I get ready if you’d like!” She tucked her own hair behind one ear. “As long as you don’t mind if I talk? You don’t have to talk too, I just ramble sometimes before an interview!”

Mystery looked down at her, just now realizing he had never seen her hair loose from her usual low space buns. It took all of his strength not to reach out and trail his claws through the strands of her hair to see what it felt like.

“I don’t mind.” Mystery offered a tense nod instead, controlling his hands and thoughts as he took his place upon her small pink couch nearby. 

Sure enough, Zoey did ramble. She talked about anything and everything while she did her makeup, put in her earrings, and fixed her tousled hair. She explained some of her favorite facts about turtles and tortoises- apparently they were totally different things. She complained how the kitchen was nearly out of potato chips and how she suspected Baby was purposefully putting empty bags into the pantry just to mess with her. She recalled a movie about Korean history and mythology that she watched after she learned she was to be a hunter, having not grown up knowing as much of the culture as Mira and especially not as much as Rumi. 

Zoey would occasionally voice questions but Mystery realized they were all rhetorical, just speaking and catching his reflection in her mirror to acknowledge he was there. She didn’t ask what had made him so upset that morning, respecting his decision to just be present and not talk about it. Zoey looked up to a clock hanging on the wall of her bedroom and gasped.

“Oh no, I’m almost late!!” She scrambled at the vanity table, fumbling over lip gloss caps and eyeshadow palettes. Her hands located a small tube of cream colored liquid, dabbing the mixture onto her wrist and then using a sponge to blend the color.

“Okay, I’ve gotta run! We’ll be back in an hour!” Zoey jumped from her chair, grabbing a small crossbody bag hanging near the door to the hallway.

Mystery remained on the couch, eyes switching from the doorway where Zoey disappeared back to her vanity table and the vial of product left in the middle of it.

—

“Ugh, remind me again why we signed a contract with that stupid program? They always ask the dumbest questions” Mira groaned as the elevator returned the three hunters to the penthouse an hour later.

“They weren’t so bad this time around.” Zoey shrugged. “At least they didn’t ask which pro baseball player we would date like last time!”

“It disgusts me that they think our personal lives are for everyone to know about.” Mira shuddered.

“Oh the inconvenience of being world-famous!” Rumi teased her companions. They didn’t have the same lifelong preparation for the public eye like she did being the daughter of a Sunlight Sister. Rumi tried to lead most of the media interviews, but those clever show hosts always knew how to get reactions out of her fellow performers no matter how much prepping she helped them with.

“Hey! Who ate the last cup of ramyeon?!” Mira shouted into the air after throwing open the pantry doors in the kitchen.

“I’ll add more ramyeon to the next grocery order for Bobby to drop off.” Zoey pulled out her phone and tapped the screen until she got to her grocery app. “These Saja boys need to start making their own grocery list with how much they like to snack!”

“Hey, did any of them seem weird today?” Rumi leaned against the kitchen counter, noting the penthouse was quiet, save for themselves. Not a single demon was in sight.

“Yeah, Abby skipped our workout this morning now that you mention it.” Mira looked back thoughtfully. “And I couldn’t find Romance anywhere either.”

“Do you think they got into a fight?” Zoey frowned, recalling Mystery’s surprise entrance into her room that morning.

“I hope not.” Rumi said, running her hands over the patterns on her wrists. “I’m going to go ask Jinu.”

Rumi pushed off of the countertop, walking to Jinu’s room, knocking softly before entering and closing the door behind her. Zoey excused herself as well, stating she needed to get back into her comfy pajama pants if they still hoped to have a relaxing day off. Zoey waved to Mira as she walked back into her bedroom and shut the door behind her.

Zoey paused, blinking once into her room that was not empty like she expected. Mystery sat at her vanity table, facing the mirror. At least she didn’t jump this time at finding the man in her bedroom again.

“Did you stay here the whole time I was gone?” She looked at Mystery curiously.

He didn’t respond. He didn’t even acknowledge she was there. Then she noticed his hand. He was holding her bottle of concealer. Her eyes flicked back to the mirror in front of him, realization dawning. Zoey carefully approached Mystery. She stood behind him, placing a hand on his shoulder and looked at his reflection. 

As she gazed into the mirror, she smiled sadly. His hair was parted, carefully tucked behind his ears on each side. While his demon patterns still crawled around the skin on his arms and up his neck, they didn’t extend to his face. He repressed the patterns at the base of his jaw, leaving only seemingly unmarked skin above.

And then of course there were his eyes. Both fully exposed to the open air, they were locked onto his reflection. The amber coloring of his eyes were beautiful. Zoey realized then that his pupils were rounded and there was no glow coming from them. His eyes were bright, yes, but they weren’t quite the stark golden demon coloring. The color of his natural irises swirled like honeyed espresso with a dash of cream stirred in. Flecks of gold shimmered around his pupils, encircling the center of his eyes. She has never seen brown eyes quite like his.

The skin around his eyes was splotchy, the concealer haphazardly applied in rough lines, and it didn’t match his fair skin tone. But Zoey saw how the streaks of concealer were placed perfectly to cover the lines of white scarring she knew laid underneath. 

Zoey repositioned herself, moving to sit upon the edge of the vanity table in front of Mystery. She gently took the vial of concealer from his grip, setting it down on the table and picking up a different container next to it. She then picked up a small box and flipped open the lid, removing a small damp cloth from within. As her hand approached Mystery’s face, his eyes finally snapped from his reflection.

A clawed hand caught Zoey’s wrist, stopping her approach. Mystery’s pupils thinned as his molten eyes glowed softly, staring at her, but Zoey saw the sadness behind them.

“This one isn’t quite your shade. Let me try something that might match better.” She offered softly, showing him the other vial of makeup she was holding and giving it a small shake to stir the pale liquid inside. Mystery released her hand, the glow from his eyes fading as he gazed downward as his only response. 

Zoey began removing the makeup from around Mystery’s eyes, gently wiping the dried liquid from his complexion. She took care cleaning over his eyelids, watching as he closed them for her. His long eyelashes shuddered under her touch. When Zoey brought the makeup remover cloth under his eyes, she noticed the concealer was already somewhat smudged there. Faint trails cut through the makeup at the corners of his eyes, falling down his cheeks. Her heart tightened in her chest, squeezing so hard as it nearly shattered for him. 

As the last lines of concealer were cleared, Zoey got the first clear look of Mystery’s entire face since the glance she got at Namsam tower. He had high cheekbones, gently accenting the sides of his slim face leading to his eyes. His nose was slight, the bridge gently swooping down towards his lips. Even though she knew he likely has lived through multiple generations worth of time in the demon realm, he bore no wrinkles. There were no frown lines between his brows, but also no laugh lines at the corners of his eyes. He looked so young. Pale white scars criss-crossed from just above his eyebrows down to his bottom eyelids. She counted over a dozen individual lines that skated along his skin. His right eyebrow was split in half with a particularly jagged mark that barely missed the eye below. Zoey felt a light flush creep onto her cheeks as she memorized his face.

Zoey opened the bottle of fair-toned concealer and gently touched the cool liquid to his scars, feeling how the application brush caught on small ridges of raised skin. Mystery closed his eyes for her again. Once there was enough product applied, Zoey carefully blended the lines of makeup with a small sponge. After she was satisfied with her blending, she shifted herself out from in front of the vanity mirror. 

Mystery opened his eyes and took in his reflection once more. His breath caught in his throat, blinking hard a few times as he felt wetness gather on his eyelids. Zoey watched as his eyes jumped along his reflection, turbulent emotions behind his gaze as it hit him all at once.

“I’ve never seen myself without them.” His voice cracked as he breathed, bringing one hand up to touch his nearly perfectly covered skin. The raised texture was still there beneath his fingertips, but that hardly registered.

“Never?” Zoey gasped softly.

“I was five when I got them.” He said plainly, eyes still on the mirror as he moved his head at different angles, taking in this version of himself for the very first time. 

Mystery heard a shuffle from Zoey’s direction before his view of the mirror was suddenly obscured by a mess of dark hair. Zoey wrapped herself around Mystery’s shoulders tightly, flung from her seat on the vanity table and now sat upon one of Mystery’s legs. He blinked, bringing his own arms around her as if in reflex.

He felt her form tremble, the side of his neck suddenly feeling wet with moisture as Zoey spoke a muffled sentence he couldn’t quite make out. He pulled her away from himself a few inches to untangle her arms from around him, his own brows drawn in concern. Zoey lifted her face from his shoulder, eyes gleaming with large tears.

“You were just a kid?!” She cried, hands fisted on her lap. 

“It was a long time ago.” Mystery looked down at her, perplexed.

“That doesn’t make it better!” Zoey pouted, fuming while fat tears streamed down her face. “That never should have happened to you, let alone as a child!”

Mystery reached up and wiped the tears from her cheeks with the pads of his thumbs, a surprised smile forming upon his lips. He looked at Zoey, his vision clear as day without his hair obscuring the world. He wasn’t sure what he expected to see in her now, but it wasn’t this. He was used to pitying stares and averted gazes when people saw behind his hair, saw his shame. The echoes of voices from his past felt more distant now, and instead Zoey’s voice was ringing clearly in his mind. She cried for him not out of pity or sorrow. The look in her eyes screamed in anger, ready to fight the world for how it had wronged him. A sense of warmth bled into Mystery’s chest, blooming.

“Hey” He spoke to her softly, hands still cradling her cheeks.

“What?” Zoey’s lower lip pouted out again as Mystery smiled at her. Anger faded from her eyes as Mystery wiped the last stray tear from her puffy face.

“Are you hungry?” Mystery tilted his head to the side slightly, amused by the sudden confusion running across Zoey’s face rapidly.

“...What??” 

“Do you want to go get lunch with me? Somewhere outside this tower?”

“WHAT?!”

Mystery was completely serious. Zoey’s brain short circuited from the whiplash, needing a second to reboot. She rose, suddenly aware she was still seated basically in Mystery’s lap. That fact certainly didn’t help calm the instant heat that flooded her cheeks that had nothing to do from her prior tears. She walked herself to her bed and immediately fell like a ragdoll, face planting into a mountain of plushies and burying herself from the outside world.

Then a noise straight out of her dreams made Zoey’s head jump from her self-inflicted prison of pillows. Mystery had turned towards her where he sat, the most beautiful laugh coming from his smiling lips. The autumn brown eyes that watched her were crinkled in the most genuine smile she had ever seen from the demon. Zoey didn’t know if her face could turn any redder as she committed the sight and sound to her memory forever.

“Or I can just go by myself?” Mystery joked, his split eyebrow quirking up playfully.

“NO!” Zoey leaped from her bed. “Just give me a few minutes!” Zoey rushed towards the second door within her room that led to her en-suite bathroom and full closet. She closed the door more forcefully than she intended and immediately leaned her back against the door.

Lunch. With Mystery. Just the two of us?! Zoey thought to herself, feeling the rapid beating of her heart pound against the inside of her chest. She kicked off from the door into the bathroom and looked at herself in the mirror. Her makeup was smudged and smeared where her tears had fallen and Mystery’s thumbs had wiped them away. She could still feel the warmth of his hands on her face, touching her skin so gently. 

Zoey slapped herself lightly. Snap out of it! It’s just lunch! With…a colleague? A friend? She turned on the faucet, splashing cold water onto her face to scrub the makeup off and chill her boiling blood.

Once her face was cleaned up and her clothing changed into something more casual- an oversized green sweater that went to mid-thigh, a comfortable pair of black leggings, and ballet flats- she took a deep breath. Just lunch. She grabbed her trusty bucket hat and returned to her bedroom, finding Mystery had also somehow gone and changed his clothes at the same time.

He wore a brown faux leather bomber jacket, unzipped to show the white v-neck shirt underneath. His dark wash jeans were cuffed at his ankles to accent the brown boots on his feet. Zoey noticed his hair was still mostly tucked out of his face. He allowed some of his bangs to hang freely again, adjusting so that the hair was unevenly parted on his forehead, covering his split eyebrow but still leaving his eyes mostly unobscured. Even though he hadn’t done all that much to alter his appearance, Zoey was shocked this was the same Saja boy. She hoped her blush wasn’t too severe as his gaze caught hers.

“Did you have somewhere in mind?” Zoey asked, trying to bring the attention off of her flushed face, as she approached the handsome man before her. 

Mystery looked at her, then simply held out his hand. She eyed him cautiously before grabbing her bag and placing her palm onto his, bracing for what she guessed was coming next.

The world disappeared in an instant as she squeezed her eyes shut and gripped Mystery’s hand tight. Like before, the world came back in waves only a half moment later. First the feeling of solid ground, then her eyes focused, and the noise of a distant bustling crowd came to her ears.

The unnatural sensation of being teleported wasn’t as bad as last time at least. Zoey still wobbled on her feet. Mystery steadied her with a hand on the small of her back, allowing her to squeeze his hand as hard as she needed to as the waves passed. Once Zoey felt settled, she looked around. Mystery had teleported them into a small alcove between buildings somewhere in the city, and sure enough a delicious savory scent wafted from the bustling street ahead of them.

“Where are we?” Zoey asked up at Mystery. 

“I saw this place before when I was…uh…around.” Mystery smiled sheepishly. He saw this place when he had been tailing her around the market that day. He had noticed her pause in front of this restaurant previously. Her eyes had sparkled that day when she read the posted menu of what was within. Mystery didn’t let go of Zoey’s hand as he led her out of the alley, rounding the corner to reveal the entrance of the small restaurant.

“Barbecue!!” Zoey gasped, the same stars dancing in her eyes that he saw before. She nearly started drooling, recognizing that savory, sweet, salty aroma from earlier, the scents of short ribs, brisket, spicy marinated pork, and slices of juicy ribeye wafting out from the restaurant’s open windows. 

This time it was Zoey dragging Mystery by their joined hand into the restaurant.

Zoey handled all of the modern interactions and etiquette that Mystery hadn’t quite grasped yet with modern society. They were seated at a booth, facing each other in front of a small grill that was sunken into the table between them. Mystery watched as Zoey conversed with the wait staff before plates of raw meats and vegetables were piled high on their table.

“It’s really cool!” Zoey explained the concept of Korean BBQ style eating. “Usually at restaurants the chefs do all of the cooking and you just get whatever you order however they prepare it, but here they give us all the ingredients and this grill to make it together!”

“So…normal cooking?” Mystery tilted his head to the side, his chin propped against his hand as he watched Zoey talk so animatedly.

“Yeah but it’s traditional cooking! Gathering with friends and family to laugh and drink and cook together!” Zoey picked up a set of tongs and clinked them twice with a wide smile.

Mystery raised one eyebrow, picking up a pair of tongs himself and surveying the selection of food at the table. Zoey watched him excitedly, waiting to see what he would choose first. He looked at each plate scattered on the table: pork belly, button mushrooms, soy chicken thighs, onion slices, zucchini squash, and thin strips of marinated beef. His tongs hovered for a moment over the skirt steak before adding it to the grill with a steaming sizzle.

“Good choice! Though I’d say there aren’t really any bad choices here!” Zoey smiled, adding a piece of pork belly onto the grill herself. She looked up and noticed it didn’t seem Mystery had heard her. His eyes were trained to the grill, hand still gently holding the tongs. Zoey frowned, leaning her hand across the table to gently touch his hand.

“Hm?” Mystery raised his head, his eyes clearing from whatever fog had settled over him.

“Are you uncomfortable?” Zoey frowned at him.

“No,” He looked back to the grill, turning the thin cut of beef on the grill. “It was a…happy memory this time.”

“Awh, yay!!” Zoey beamed, equally joyful and relieved. 

“The spiced beef that Auntie made was always my favorite.” Mystery smiled as the scents from the grill melded with his remembrance of a similar scent from so long ago. “Though hers was a little different. She never told me the exact spice blend she used. She told me her secret recipes were the only thing to get me to come inside for dinner on time.”

“Your Auntie sounds like a wonderful person.” Zoey smiled as she watched Mystery relive memories that didn’t haunt him at last.

“She was.” Mystery nodded, turning the beef once more on the grill. “She used to sing to me when I couldn’t sleep at night. I think that’s why I like making music.”

“My dad hated music.” Zoey retrieved her perfectly tender piece of grilled pork belly to her plate, letting the slice of meat cool as she added a few vegetables to the grill. “He especially hated Korean music. He never understood Korean culture even though my mom is from here. He wanted me to study business like him. I don’t think he believed that I could be successful as a musician.”

“You’re very talented, Zoey.” Zoey’s eyes met Mystery’s briefly, feeling a blush creep up her neck at the sound of her name on his lips.

“He didn’t think so even when I started winning competitions and getting a fanbase online.” Zoey shrugged it off. “He told me it was temporary and would ruin my future if I didn’t go to college. He and I fought a lot. He and my mom fought a lot.”

“I’m sorry” Mystery frowned at her solemn expression.

“It’s okay, he’s not really in the picture anymore.” Zoey offered a reassuring smile to Mystery. “Things got better once my mom and I moved back to Korea! He can’t even come into the country without risking his restraining order.”

“Restraining order?” Mystery tilted his head, unfamiliar with the words.

“He’s not allowed within like three kilometers from my mom and me or he could go to jail.” Zoey shrugged, looking down to stab a piece of food with her fork.

Zoey heard a crunch of metal and her head whipped up. Fire-bright demon eyes pierced into her own. Mystery looked at her with burning intensity, his suddenly-clawed hand was gripped tight around mangled tongs. His jaw was tense as he spoke, canines sharpened to dangerous points.

“Did he hurt you?” The tenor of Mystery’s voice dropped low, his tone deceptively calm and laced with animosity. Zoey’s eyes widened and immediately reached across the table to place her hands around his clawed fist. 

“He never put his hands on me.” She said reassuringly to him, a small smile on her features but it didn’t reach her eyes. Her wide brown eyes whorled with a deep sadness that surprised Mystery enough for his demon features to begin fading. 

“Your mother?” He asked carefully. Zoey gave a small nod.

“I came home after school early one day and saw her bruises. I was old enough to put two and two together and decided we needed to leave for good.”

“He still hurt you in different ways.” Mystery said as Zoey saw his gaze trail downwards, landing on the scarred cuts on her wrist peeking out from the sleeve of her sweater. She didn’t put any concealer on them after washing her face before leaving for lunch. She didn’t move to cover them, just nodding her head.

“My mom got us both into therapy once we moved back to Seoul permanently. It helped me work through a lot of it.” Zoey pried the destroyed metal pieces from Mystery’s loosening grip, hiding the broken tongs under a napkin. “I only cover them when I’m performing or doing some kind of show though. I’m not ashamed of my scars, but Celine told us we had to hide any imperfections to be real k-pop idols. ‘Faults and fears must never be seen’ blah blah blah”

Mystery nodded thoughtfully as Zoey kept talking.

“I used to think Celine was only talking to me when she would say to hide things like this away, but turns out she meant Rumi and her patterns more. Though we all saw how well that blew up in our faces.”

“Will you keep hiding them now?” Mystery asked.

“I don’t think so. I think I did this morning just out of habit. I still want to talk to Mira and Rumi about it and get their thoughts on my scars being shown so publicly, but I think they’ll be on my side. The world is changing and things are becoming less taboo. I think it would be good to show them to the world. Maybe teen girls seeing me with these scars too will help them feel less alone.”

Mystery watched as that little bit of sadness settled in Zoey. She removed her hands from his own, no longer clawed at the fingertips. 

“I won’t tell you that you shouldn’t do what makes you most comfortable, Mystery. But if you ask me you don’t need to hide yours either. You’re gorgeous both ways.” The words fell out of Zoey’s mouth before she could realize what she said aloud. His eyebrows kicked up, a grin growing on his lips.

“Gorgeous?” He teased, moving one of his feet to brush against Zoey’s legs as she drew her hands out of his reach, covering her face and sputtering. He laughed to himself, thoroughly amused by the woman across from him as she fumbled over her words, trying to rapidly change the subject back to the still mostly uncooked plates of food on the table. The blush on her cheeks capped the ends of her ears sticking up from the sides of her bucket hat. She looked up to him after getting him to engage in a vastly different conversation. The sadness in her eyes was finally gone. A word drifted into Mystery’s mind.

Beautiful.

—

“I ate way too much food, but it was just soooo good!!” Zoey whined as the pair took the elevator back up Huntrix tower. Mystery had offered to teleport them back after lunch, but Zoey told him if he tried to teleport her again she would actually throw up.

It was a half-truth. While the nauseating experience of teleporting could have certainly made her lose her lunch, Zoey mostly wanted to keep spending time with Mystery. She had enjoyed their lunch together. Even with the earlier heavy conversation, she didn’t feel as awkward around him. She began slowly understanding the complex person he was, picking up more snips of his past as he felt comfortable sharing them with her. He didn’t look as troubled by his memories when they talked about their childhoods. It warmed Zoey’s heart that he put that trust in her.

As the elevator neared the penthouse suite and slowed, Mystery’s ears picked up a crashing sound echoing from beyond the doors. Mystery shook his hair back in front of his eyes and moved from his position leaning on the elevator wall to be in front of Zoey as the doors dinged and opened, a raucous symphony of shouts filling the space.

“Jinu, you asshole!” Rumi’s fuming voice rang through the air.

___

Chapter Text

Zoey and Mystery exited the elevator carefully, their steps deliberately placed to avoid shards of broken plates that were scattered across the floor. They both looked up and saw everyone else there but separated, split on either side of the living space. Rumi and Mira stood in the kitchen, cabinet doors open and half empty, their contents now littering the floor surrounding the Saja boys on the other side of the room. 

The other Saja boys stood huddled, patterns flashing against their skin and expressions soured. Jinu stood in front of the demon cluster, one eye glowing golden as the skin on his face had become half human and half demon, patterns encroaching on the last patch of tanned skin there. His jaw was set in a ferocious scowl, sharpened canines pointing out.

“What’s going on?” Zoey frowned, taking in the chasm between groups and feeling the charged air, thick with tension.

“What’s going on is Jinu lied to me!” Rumi huffed, grabbing another plate from Mira’s hand and hurling it at Jinu. “You told me you were getting better!”

“I am getting better!” Jinu shouted, swiping a clawed hand through the air to deflect the plate before it could reach him. The shattered plate clattered along the floor in pieces.

“No, you’re getting worse!” Rumi shouted, eyes rimmed with tears but none of them fell.

“You call this worse?” Jinu raised his arms to gesture at himself, standing steady. “I’m standing, I’m not tired, I feel strong again!”

“Except you don’t talk to me! And when you do, you’ve been nothing but mean!”

“All you do is coddle me like I’m a child! Stop treating me like I’m some broken little project to fix!”

“Jinu, you’re not broken.” The anger in Rumi’s voice began to crack.

“Then stop acting like you can fix me!! You can’t!!” The patterns on Jinu’s skin flashed brightly, glowing magenta stripes creeped closer towards his eye, crossing the bridge of his nose.

“This isn’t you…” 

“You think just because we’ve teamed up in this stupid attempt to be an actual boy band means that you know everything about how I should be?”

“I know who you are in your soul, Jinu.” Rumi placed her hand over her heart, voice breaking.

“My soul?” Jinu laughed cruelly. “What good did that even do for me?”

“You saved my life, Jinu. You saved everyone’s lives.”

“Yet I’m still miserable. That’s the best part about this irony. Gwi-Ma is finally gone. Four hundred years of torture was supposed to be over but the only way I can even stand on my own two feet is with his power.”

“We agreed you wouldn’t take more of Gwi-Ma’s power from the others!” Rumi’s voice strained, her anger resurfacing with it.

“No, you said you’d find a different way. But here we are, nothing else has worked! You failed.”

“So you go behind my back, lying to me saying your energy was coming back on it’s own while you all continued to torture yourselves?!”

Zoey gasped, looking up to Mystery beside her still, his shoulders tense and mouth tightly pressed closed. She spoke to him softly.

“This whole time? Why would you do that?”

Mystery couldn’t bring himself to look at her. Zoey tried to reach out and touch his arm, but he teleported in a flash to Jinu’s side. Zoey looked at the five Saja boys standing together. Each of them minus Jinu cast their faces downwards, eyes obscured from meeting her stare. Zoey looked at her fellow hunters, their expressions teetering between anger and hurt, the ache of betrayal evident.

“What else can we do?” Jinu scowled. “We’re still demons. We’ll live in this pain forever, so why keep pretending like anything has changed when it hasn’t?”

“That’s not true!” Rumi’s voice carried with more sorrow than anger. “Things have changed! You said that your lives are your own now. You’re not controlled by Gwi-Ma. He doesn’t define you! You get to choose how to live.”

“Well I was wrong!” A nauseating wave of demonic energy pulsed from Jinu as he shouted, making the Honmoon shudder in response. “I thought with Gwi-Ma gone we could be better. I thought we could be normal and not have to remember. I wanted so badly to just be a person again. But now look at me. Any hope I had in being human is almost gone.” Jinu’s voice cracked, a sliver of his fury breaking to show the agony behind his remaining brown eye. 

“Jinu…” Rumi spoke softly. “You can’t change the past. You can’t make it so it didn’t happen. No one can. But you are the one choosing to stay there.”

“How can I move on when re-living the past is the only thing that lets me get out of bed?” Jinu panted, shoulders shaking from his outburst.

“I can’t answer that for you.” Rumi shook her head. “But I can tell you with certainty that thinking you have to be one thing or the other is wrong. You can live with those memories without letting them consume you.”

“This isn’t living.” Jinu’s voice resigned, quieting. “I should have just died that day. Then maybe I could be at peace.”

“You don’t mean that” Rumi’s eyes widened, tears welling at the edges again.

“I do.”

In a flash, Rumi was gone from her position in the kitchen. Zoey barely registered that her fellow hunter just teleported until she heard a sickening crunch come from Jinu’s direction. She saw the tail end of Rumi’s patterned fist after it had connected with Jinu’s face, sending him flying backwards. The rest of the Saja boys didn’t catch him as Jinu’s back slammed hard against the wall behind him. His body slumped down, out cold. No one moved.

“No, you can’t mean that.” Rumi muttered to herself, glowing patterns dimming until they rested into their normal barely visible hue. She spun on her heel, feet carrying her out of the room and down the hallway to her bedroom, slamming the door shut. Mira and Zoey followed after her, concern and sadness filling their expressions.

Zoey glanced back at the despondent Saja boys, standing around their passed out leader. She tried to catch any of their eyes, but all of them kept their heads bowed or turned away. Zoey frowned before continuing with Mira to Rumi’s door, knocking once before letting themselves inside. 

Rumi stood outside on her balcony, hands gripping the railing as the wind whipped her braid and she looked out at the sky. Tears streamed from her eyes in steady rivulets. Mira and Zoey came to stand beside her, each gently placing a comforting hand on her arms. 

“He can’t mean that, can he?” Rumi cried softly, shoulders turning in on herself. 

“I don’t know.” Zoey said. “He’s hurting a lot.”

“He should have told me.” Rumi wiped her eyes on her shoulder.

“What would you have done?” Mira asked.

“I would have tried to help him more! I could have told the others to stop!”

“Do you think they would have listened?” Mira quirked an eyebrow.

“No, probably not…” Rumi muttered. “I don’t know what to do. I don’t know how to make him see what he’s doing to himself.”

“Healing doesn’t happen overnight.” Zoey cast her gaze towards the sky alongside Rumi. “He’s been living the same life for four hundred years. Sometimes life feels hopeless when you’re stuck in a pattern.”

“How do we break the pattern if he keeps going down that road?”

“Show him a different path.” Zoey shrugged with a small smile. “Walk with him down it so he’s not alone.”

“What if he won’t let me?”

“Be patient with him. But keep going together. Change is scary. His life has changed so drastically and so fast, too. I think he expected it to be easy. He said he wanted to be human again. When that didn’t happen, he went back to the thing that he had gotten used to for so long: being a demon.”

Rumi nodded, her gaze lowing from the sky in thought.

“It sounds like he was holding himself back, trying to force himself to be something different.” Mira added.

“It’s funny,” Rumi let out a solemn laugh. “He once told me all I’ll ever be is a demon just like him. I fought so hard to just be a person too, and it made the demon in me win. I thought after everything that happened he would see it the same way I do now.”

“Which is?” Mira prompted.

“Pain and shame in life are inevitable. You can’t pretend it’s not there, or hide it from those around you without a cost. It comes down to how tightly you let that pain wrap around your heart. You can let it control you, or you can learn to accept it.” Rumi’s voice held strong and she reached to hold Zoey and Mira’s hands. “But sometimes you have to admit when you need help. There’s no need to carry the weight of it all alone. And there’s nothing wrong with letting others help lessen the hurt.”

Zoey and Mira smiled at Rumi, nodding along proudly at their friend who has come so far in her own healing journey. They were each other’s support system through and through. Their friendship had nearly been broken before, but with all of them together again, secrets bared, they knew they could get through whatever the world threw their way.

“How do you guys always know what to say to make me feel better?” Rumi sniffled, her tears drying.

Zoey and Mira looked at each other, smiling as they spoke in unison.

“Therapy. Lots and lots of therapy.”

 —

The trio of hunters stayed together for a while longer, allowing the stress of the earlier argument to soften until it was only a dull ache in Rumi’s heart. Their conversations wandered from topic to topic, ending in comfortable silence as the mood calmed. Mira asked Rumi if she wanted to go back out to the penthouse, but she said she needed a little longer to spend some time by herself. The other two girls nodded, leaving Rumi to her privacy.

Mira and Zoey made their way back to the living room and to their surprise, the space was spotless. The masses of shattered plates were no longer scattered on the floor. Pillows that had been thrown at the beginning of the argument before it had escalated to blunt objects were returned to the couch. Even the blankets normally draped lazily along the cushions were neatly folded. The only evidence of the earlier dispute was a potted plant that was now conveniently placed to obscure the Jinu-shaped indent on one wall. There were no Saja boys in sight.

Mira and Zoey looked at each other, eyebrows raised, and shrugged. They continued into the quiet, freshly cleaned space until they each spotted a piece of paper taped to the wall next to the elevator door. Zoey walked up, detaching the page from the wall and reading the message.

‘Out buying new plates and some food.

Don’t worry, I won’t get caught.

I took Mira’s wallet, hope that’s ok.

-BB

P.S. sorry for being total dickheads or whatever.’

Zoey chuckled, handing the note over to Mira. Mira groaned, throwing her head back in a way Zoey knew meant she was being sarcastic instead of being actually upset. Zoey looked around again at the space that she fully expected to spend at least an hour cleaning. Those Saja boys surprised her in new ways every day, though she could go without any more surprises that resulted in screaming matches and broken kitchenware. 

Each of the guest bedroom doors were closed. Neither of them dared to knock or open any of the doors, not particularly wanting any conversation with the demons for the time being. Mira decided to head back to her room and monitor her credit card charges just in case Baby decided to buy solid gold plates on Huntrix’s dime. Zoey stood in the kitchen, unsure what to do herself. Zoey’s eyes landed on the stairwell door that led downstairs to the audio mixer. Maybe some work will take her mind off of things.

Zoey walked down the stairwell, her mind still replaying Rumi and Jinu’s argument she and Mystery had walked in on. She frowned to herself, remembering how Mystery had disappeared from her side. She knew that at the end of the day he was a Saja boy and a demon so of course he would be on Jinu’s side, but that didn’t make it hurt any less. She hoped that he would trust her to talk about what they were doing with Jinu, but she guessed maybe he didn’t trust her as much as she thought.

Zoey reached the landing to the recording studio and opened the door. Immediately she noticed the light inside the soundproof recording room was on even though all of the other lights were still off. She felt her head tilt to the side as she noticed the audio mixer was turned on as well, seeing the red, green, and yellow lights blinking in a rhythmic beat. Was someone in there?

Zoey thought about turning around and heading back upstairs. If someone was down here, it had to be a Saja boy. But then her curiosity got the better of her. The only people that had used the recording room so far were Baby testing out rap sets or herself trying out different harmonies. It certainly wasn’t Baby in there this time.

Quiet as a mouse, Zoey tip-toed into the audio studio, closing the stairwell door behind her as gently as she could. She crept towards the mixer, ducking her head under the glass windows between her and the recording room to avoid being spotted by whoever was within. She sat on the floor below the mixer table, spotting a headset sitting near the edge. She carefully reached for the headset, hoping the motion wouldn’t be noticed. She pulled the headset down swiftly.

With headset in hand, Zoey could start to hear the backing track being played and a lilting voice layered over top. The singing continued to a second verse, so she knew she hadn’t blown her cover yet. Zoey brought the cuff to her ear, a small twinge of guilt creeping into her mind as she began eavesdropping. The guilt didn’t last for long as she recognized the melodious singing voice of Mystery in her ears. 

Her music-oriented mind registered the backing track was in a minor key, the slow tempo accented by the plucking of harp strings over a simple melody of woodwinds. This wasn’t one of the backing tracks she had made. This song was definitely not suited for a k-pop concert performance. This piece had been made sometime when Zoey wasn’t at the studio, but she didn’t know exactly when. Then the next segment of vocals began.

Mystery’s voice was soft and airy against the backing track, accompanying the harmony of the harp as if it was his singing partner. His voice carried in melodic notes, not quite forming words for a few beats until his voice transformed into lyrics. Zoey barely registered the words he sang, her heart already racing. But then Zoey recognized it. 

𝅘𝅥𝅮I can’t pretend I’m all right anymore.

The further I slip away,

The more it hurts when I break.𝅘𝅥𝅮

She had written some of these words herself in one of her many notebooks. It wasn’t from the notebook that Mystery had written lyrics into the first time they started writing music together though. This notebook was different- when did he read that one? Mystery’s voice carried to a new segment of words, nearly identical to her notebook but altered slightly. 

𝅘𝅥𝅮I see the wrongs in the world,

The hurt that you’ve I’ve caused.

Nothing’s going to change the things you I did.𝅘𝅥𝅮

Zoey had left this notebook on her bookshelf during their writing sessions. It was an old notebook from years past and she wasn’t even sure when she had even opened it last. Zoey felt her eyes blink away tears as Mystery’s voice jumped into a new unfamiliar verse, and his breathy tone turned heavy. Suddenly the theme of the song changed. 

𝅘𝅥𝅮When everything’s already broken

I can’t stop myself from falling apart

I can’t stop myself from hurting you too.𝅘𝅥𝅮

The starting verses from her notebook had been written in sadness and heartache. Lyrics from her damaged teenage heart, breaking for her mother who had survived hardship alone and away from her family for a man who did not love her enough to treat her with compassion. Mystery’s additions to her lyrics turned the focus of the song inwards, and now it was his own voice carrying the weight of letting others down when he should have done better, should have been better. She heard the remorse in the song so tightly intertwined between the words and his voice, nearly breaking on a high note.

Zoey felt her legs move, now standing in front of the recording studio window and clutching the headset to her ear as she watched from watered eyes as Mystery sang his solemn ballad into the microphone. Once the song concluded and the music faded from her ears, Mystery finally noticed her there as if he had only just opened his eyes.

He removed his own headset and pushed his hair out from in front of his face to look at her with both of his eyes in surprise, but also in recognition of knowing she had been listening. The deep shame in his gaze confirmed the message Zoey had heard in his lyrics: 

I’m sorry.

Zoey let the headset fall from her hands and moved to open the door to the recording studio but Mystery beat her there, swinging the door open and looking at her, waiting. A tear slid down Zoey’s cheek before she flung herself at him, wrapping her arms firmly around him and burying her tear stricken face into the side of his neck. Mystery enveloped her with his arms immediately, his touch gentle.

“You’re not mad?” Mystery took a chance, airing his worry softly into the air around them.

“Oh I’m furious!” Zoey responded, hands balling into the back of Mystery’s shirt. “I’d have half a mind to punch you in the face too!”

“Well I’m glad you haven’t yet.” There was a lingering sadness in his tone even as Mystery smiled just a little.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Zoey pulled herself back from Mystery’s neck, not breaking their embrace but standing far enough to look up into his eyes. She wanted the truth.

“We knew you all would disapprove…” Mystery frowned at her.

“And that didn’t make you think that maybe it wasn’t right to do in the first place?” 

“Jinu said he just needed enough to be able to phase his appearance back. We didn’t think it would take so much energy though…”

Zoey searched his eyes. His eyes seemed so dim, now a muted ochre hue. Maybe it was the lack of lights overhead to shine off of his eyes, or maybe it was a reflection of his regret. She saw how he truly seemed apologetic, the words of his song still echoing in her mind. He was apologetic not only for being part of the terrible plan that brought pain to all of the Saja boys but also for the pain he had caused her, too. 

“Promise me you won’t do it again.” Zoey frowned at him. “Rumi meant it that we will find a different way to help Jinu that doesn’t involve you all being each other’s Gwi-Ma.”

“We weren’t-”

“Promise!” Zoey pouted, a bite to her voice reminding him she was in fact still mad at him.

“Okay, I promise.” Mystery flinched at her tone.

“And yes, you were being each other’s Gwi-Ma.” She held her grumpy stare at the demon. “No one else was making those memories come back except yourselves. You’re not allowing each other to recover and leave room for happy memories. No wonder Jinu got so mean, all that’s been in his mind are the worst parts of his life.”

Mystery remained quiet, letting Zoey’s words sink into himself. Maybe she was right. How were they any better than Gwi-Ma, constantly choosing to repeat and re-live their worst memories and shame? They thought it was the price they had to pay to help Jinu. Maybe they were more wrong than they thought.

“Is that why you were all in a funk this morning?” Zoey asked after a moment. “You seemed really upset.” Mystery nodded.

“We had been giving him energy one at a time before, so it would be less obvious.” He admitted, wincing at how their secret sounded even worse aloud. “This morning we tried all together again, hoping we could just be done with it and give Jinu as much as he needed…It didn’t go well.” 

Zoey puffed air from her nose. Obviously it didn’t go well. Mystery continued.

“Abby kind of ended up punching Romance and giving him a black eye. Romance went a bit nuts, trying to attack Abby after that. Baby and I had to break up their fight before anyone heard too much.”

“Why would Abby and Romance fight each other?" Zoey frowned. Mystery shrugged.

“They didn’t seem totally aware of what they were doing. I don’t know what each of them sees when we give Jinu energy, maybe their memories got mixed up with reality.”

“Wait. You don’t know what each other sees?” Zoey watched as Mystery shook his head down at her. “Don’t you guys ever talk?”

“Talk?” He stared blankly.

Zoey pushed herself away from Mystery, taking a step back with a half-turn, head shaking as she brought her hand to pinch the bridge of her nose. He frowned, the air was cold without her there against him.

“You guys have never talked about your pasts with each other?!” Zoey asked incredulously. “Never while you guys plotted to destroy the Honmoon together? Not even once since being free from Gwi-Ma?”

“No.” Mystery said, watching as Zoey sighed irritably, massaging her temples with her hands.

“You idiot boys.” She shook her head. “How did you guys even manage to form a successful boy band when you’re not even friends.”

“We’re friends.” Mystery frowned.

“Friends who don’t know anything about each other?” Zoey challenged.

“The demon realm isn’t exactly a great place for small talk.”

“You’re not in the demon realm anymore, now are you? Why do you all act like you’re still there?”

“I… I don’t know.” Mystery admitted. “I think we were so used to just hiding everything. We had to protect any good memories we had left. Any show of weakness and Gwi-Ma would be in your head instantly. I don’t think we realized we could stop.”

“You’ve talked with me. I probably know more about you than any of them do, don’t I?” Mystery’s eyes found their way to the ground, confirming Zoey’s realization. A thought sparked in Zoey’s mind. “Well I think that’s step one.”

“Step one?” He looked back up, tilting his head slightly.

“Step one to helping Jinu for real this time. Being an actual friend.” Zoey reached down and grabbed one of Mystery’s hands, interlacing their fingers and giving him a warm smile.

Zoey led Mystery back up to the penthouse from the recording studio. She was still upset at the Saja boys for keeping this from them, but now she refocused that emotion to determination. She was going to crack each Saja boy open until they started to trust each other. Well, gently crack open at least. She knew as little as Mystery did about the other demons and still wanted to tread carefully over any sore topics.

They found the penthouse occupied by a pink haired trio at the breakfast bar. Romance sat upon a bar stool, wincing as an ice pack was pressed onto his bruised cheekbone by Mira in front of him. Abby sat a few feet away on the next stool over, watching with a guilty expression. Mystery flicked his hair back in front of his eyes before they were spotted, nearly forgetting.

“I said I was sorry Ro, I really am…” Abby pouted at his fellow pink haired demon.

“Maybe I’ll think about forgiving you when the bruise is gone.” Romance scowled.

“Dude, too harsh.” Mira scolded Romance. “An accident is an accident. Abby said he was sorry.”

Romance rolled his eyes and winced as it aggravated his bruise, then spotted Zoey and Mystery entering the space. His eyes narrowed as he spotted their joined hands. Zoey and Mystery looked down between them, then both removed their hands and stepped a foot apart from each other. A matching blush crept up Zoey’s cheeks and Mystery’s ears.

“Uh, hey guys!” Zoey called with a stammer.

“Hey Zoey.” Mira called over her shoulder to her friend. “Can you believe Romance tried telling me he got a black eye from running into a wall? I know a sucker punch bruise when I see one.”

“I said I ran into a door, not a wall!” Romance scoffed, offended.

“Ah, the story changes again! You’re such a bad liar.” Mira rolled her eyes but smiled at the injured demon.

“Yet you still believed you tied me up against my will.” Romance sighed, smirking as he watched Mira’s face flush, recalling the earlier encounter. Abby bellowed a laugh.

“Okay sometimes you’re a bad liar.” Mira grumbled, peeking under the ice pack she held to see the swelling on Romance’s face had reduced.

Zoey and Mystery joined the group, walking to stand on the other side of the kitchen island together. Zoey opened one of the kitchen cabinets, noting Baby must not be back yet as there was only a single dinner plate there. She then opened the fridge, finding a bag of cotton candy grapes that hadn’t yet been eaten by the snack stealing demons. She removed the bag, sliding it into the center of the kitchen island where everyone could reach. 

“Hey Abby,” Zoey talked casually as she returned to her spot next to Mystery, popping a grape into her mouth even though she wasn’t hungry. “I’ve always wondered- why do both you and Romance have pink hair?”

Mystery turned his head to look at Zoey and she could feel his eyes on her, as if saying ‘You’re starting with this talking thing already?’. She smiled at him from the corner of her eye, moving her foot to nudge his foot beside hers, her unspoken response clear: ‘Why not?’.

“Clearly he saw how good I looked with it and copied me.” Abby smirked, noticing the sweet snack in front of him and helping himself.

“Copied you?!” Romance spun in his bar stool to face Abby. “If anything, you copied me. I’m older, after all.”

“You are?” Zoey asked aloud, looking between the two pink haired boys.

“At least I think so.” Romance frowned, taking the ice pack from Mira’s hand and pressing it back onto his bruise. “I don’t recall seeing you down there for a long time unless we just never ran into each other.” 

“I think the year was…1922?” Abby tapped his chin with a finger as he ate another grape.

“1922?!” Romance gawked. “You’re the youngest of us all? Even Baby was around longer than you!”

“Whoooaaa, Abby is the maknae??” Zoey’s eyes went wide.

“Then how old are you, Romance?” Mira asked, curious eyes flipping between all of the demons.

“Well it depends how you count it.” Romance frowned. “We stopped aging as demons. I was twenty-seven at the time, and it was…1740-something?” His free hand caught a stray grape that rolled in his direction on the countertop.

“Careful dude, a 200 year age gap might get us cancelled.” Abby snickered as Romance reached over to smack his bicep with the back of his hand.

“What about you, Mystery?” Zoey reached to the center of the table to pluck another piece of fruit from the bunches of vines, passing a grape over to the quiet demon beside her.

“Oh, uh… about the same as Romance, early 1750s I think.” Mystery took the grape from Zoey’s hand, rolling it between his fingers.

“Whoa, you could have run into Romance back then and might not have even known it!” Zoey’s eyes sparkled in wonder, then gasped. “What if you’re actually long lost cousins??”

“I don’t know about cousins,” Romance looked at Mystery curiously, some kind of thought running in his mind. “But I suppose it’s possible our paths could have crossed at some point. I didn’t leave my family’s palace often though.”

“Palace?!” Mira blurted, shock running across her features. “Were you some kind of prince or something? Actually no, that makes so much more sense now.”

In between the conversation, Mystery leaned down to Zoey’s ear and whispered to only her. “Did you really just trick us into talking using snacks?” Zoey smiled, making a feigned expression of innocence and then winking at him.

“No, I wasn’t a prince myself,” Romance smiled to himself, eyes momentarily going distant. “But you’re not too far off. Very distant relation to the king at the time.”

“I’m gonna call you Prince RoRo anyways.” Abby smiled, elbowing the pink haired not-prince, making Romance nearly drop the grape he was about to enjoy.

“Oh, please don’t.” Romance groaned, but couldn't hide the small smile that tugged at the corner of his mouth. 

Just then, the elevator rang and the doors opened. Baby walked in, carrying boxes of all new dinner plates in his arms. Plastic bags hung from his elbows, definitely not containing plates based on a mild, savory smell wafting out of them. Abby hopped up from his seat, a sudden devious smirk on his lips.

“Here, let me help you out with those, old man hyung.” Abby lifted the boxes and bags out of Baby’s hands, leaving the smallest Saja boy stunned. Baby blinked a few times, then stuck a finger into his ear to make sure he was hearing properly.

“What the fuck did I miss?” Baby stared at the group, nearly everyone failing at holding themselves together as laughter echoed through the penthouse.

___

Chapter Text

Zoey had learned so much about each Saja boy that evening over dinner. She felt like she was meeting them for the very first time- finally meeting their true selves despite having been living together for over a week.

While she had previously learned Abby was vegetarian, it also turned out he grew up in a farming family. Something about his family’s livelihood being made on slaughtering cattle had made him turn away from all meat, though he didn’t seem to want to talk about the family business much. Most surprising to her, Abby was actually a fairly talented artist if given a pencil and paper. Turns out he could draw more than just his own abs at fan signings. Once she coaxed out that he had designed the Saja boys lion logo and most of their more artistic merch designs, she gave him one of her many blank notebooks to use for any future artistic inspiration. 

Romance was a man of high culture with his semi-princely background. He reminisced about the finery from the Joseon Era, lamenting how the quality of fabrics in the modern day paled in comparison to the organic dyes and skill-based stitching techniques from his time period. Romance shied away from giving any specifics on his immediate family or past relationships. The latter was a surprise to Zoey given the demon’s overly-flirtatious behavior, though she picked up how he always smoothly redirected any attention from himself onto others. Even a direct compliment given to him was turned around to point out something he liked better about another person instead.

Baby was the toughest to crack. The seemingly youthful Saja boy remained reserved, tapping away at his cell phone and only adding to conversation between bites of the sushi he had brought home for dinner that evening, including a variety of vegetarian rolls just for Abby. Zoey made note that Baby preferred to observe each conversation for a long while, gathering information to make a pinpoint-accurate jab or joke about a detail that may have otherwise gone unnoticed. Baby was certainly smarter than he let on.

Mystery acted as she expected. Knowing that he hadn’t shared his past with his fellow bandmates meant she had a much more intimate knowledge than everyone else. She resisted filling in the gaps to questions that the other posed, listening as Mystery’s answers varied between a vague summary or a detailed memory. His story was his own to share at whatever pace he was comfortable with. She watched him divulge however much he wanted, knowing whatever details he left out were hers to hold.

Conversation lulled as bellies filled and the sun started nearing the horizon along the cityscape. A somewhat awkward, yet still comfortable silence settled over the group. No one brought up Jinu or the events from a few hours prior. It was clear to Zoey that the rest of the Saja boys felt the same remorse Mystery had expressed to her in some capacity. They knew what they were doing probably wasn’t right, yet they had done it anyway. 

An eerie ripple along the smooth white kitchen countertop startled everyone from their silence. Empty sushi takeout boxes toppled as Derpy phased right on top of the kitchen island, rising into the world. The blue tiger’s head swiveled, crooked eyes looking down at the discarded boxes now strewn in different orientations from his arrival. But Derpy didn’t raise a paw to try and fix any of them. Derpy looked up instead to the crowd gathered around him, everyone wide eyed at the spirit’s sudden appearance.

“Do you think he wants some sushi too?” Abby wondered aloud as Derpy locked one eye with him.

Derpy made no move as Abby offered a piece of his food. Instead the tiger turned again, taking a step towards the edge of the counter where Mystery stood. Zoey shifted herself closer to Mystery until she was shoulder-to-shoulder with him. Her hand brushed his under the edge of the counter, linking her pinky finger around his and offering a small comfort in knowing the spirit tiger’s presence may still upset him.

Mystery stood stiffly as Derpy came to the very edge of the kitchen island, stopping only a few inches from himself. The tiger’s breath rustled Mystery’s hair as Derpy chuffed once, then bowed his large blue head to gently push at Mystery’s chest. Derpy warbled at Mystery, moving to nuzzle into the demon. Mystery frowned and looked down at the spirit. He brought a hand up to gently pat the tiger on the head. Derpy made another low sound, it almost sounded like a whine.

“He’s sad.” Mystery muttered, his hand smoothing down the short fur atop the spirit’s head. Derpy chuffed again, tail flicking.

Just then, the entire floor across the penthouse rippled, iridescent lines flashing to life and glowing brightly.

“The Honmoon?” Zoey spoke, looking at the barrier beneath their feet flickering into view. “What’s going on with it?”

“Over there” Mira pointed. Everyone’s gaze followed her extended hand towards the hallway leading deeper into the penthouse. There the lines of the Honmoon rippled and glowed more intensely, bright flashes of white and blue surged from the barrier. It didn’t look the same as when the previous Honmoon weakened. The lines of the barrier remained intact and there was no darkness coming from any part of it. It wasn’t breaking, but it certainly wasn’t acting right.

“Jinu” Mystery said in realization, looking back down at the distressed spirit guardian still pushing into his chest. “Something’s wrong with Jinu.”

The group scrambled, tripping over their seats to crowd around the door to Jinu’s room. Mira and Zoey stood at the front, watching the strange behavior of the Honmoon peeking out from under the door. Just as Mira’s hand wrapped around the door handle, everyone heard a noise from behind the door. Not just a noise- a voice.

Mira paused, quietly shushing the many bodies standing around her as they all leaned closer, straining their ears. Rumi’s voice carried from behind the door. She was singing.

𝅘𝅥𝅮Remember it felt right every time you let me in?

Remember it felt like you could tell me anything?

But these secrets they keep you in pain and,

This damage you’ve caused makes it dangerous.𝅘𝅥𝅮

Mira turned the doorknob slowly, not a creak or squeak sounding as the door inched open just barely. Six heads stacked on top of each other, peeking into the room before them. Jinu was tucked back into bed, courtesy of Abby after Rumi put an abrupt end to their earlier argument. His nose was bandaged, an angry bruise peeking from the bloodied wrapping. Rumi sat next to him on the edge of the bed. A sparkling tear fell from her closed eyes and down her cheek as she sang to him softly, one hand resting on Jinu’s chest while he slept.

𝅘𝅥𝅮I know your dark side, know you’re not the only one.

Those who surround you can feel what you’re goin’ through.

We can’t help you if you never let us.

You can trust me, I’ll help you survive this𝅘𝅥𝅮

The Honmoon surged again, lines warping along the surface of the floor as Rumi sang. Mira and Zoey watched with wide eyes as the Honmoon bubbled. The normally thin stripes of the barrier widened in small clusters, then rose, pinching off from the Honmoon in small, wispy orbs of light. 

𝅘𝅥𝅮You should be free,

Free,

We can’t help you if you never let us.

Let us help soothe your pain ‘til it’s weightless. 𝅘𝅥𝅮

The streaks and droplets of light floated in the air around Rumi and Jinu, encircling them before moving beyond the singing hunter and drifting towards the unconscious demon- a barely-there glow emanating from his chest from between Rumi’s fingers.

The fragments of blue and white light grazed Jinu’s patterns, dancing along his darkened skin. Everywhere the wisps of light touched, desaturated purple skin lightened. The demon skin encircling Jinu’s human eyelid receded, healthy peach-toned skin reclaiming his features as the demonic discoloration fled halfway down Jinu’s neck.

The beads of light began to sink into some of Jinu’s patterns where they sat upon tanned skin. The dark streaks and stripes along his face and neck began to change. The markings started to glow iridescent from the inside out, becoming brighter as more of the light fused to him. Then as the last of the peculiar lights in the air disappeared, his patterns faded until they settled as a mere shimmer against his skin.

Once the room dimmed and all was quiet, Jinu’s eyes fluttered open, both irises dark chocolate brown. He shot up, sitting upright and grabbed Rumi’s arm with a clawed hand. Mira and Zoey couldn’t react before he pulled Rumi towards himself, wrapping his arms around her tight and immediately speaking.

“Rumi, I’m so sorry.” His voice cracked as he buried his head down onto Rumi’s shoulder, his arms squeezing her as if to make sure she was even real.

Rumi returned his embrace, wrapping her arms around him gently. She continued to cry softly against him, a hiccup sounding from her as Jinu spoke again.

“I’m so sorry I didn’t tell you. It was all my idea, and I didn’t mean any of-”

“Shhh.” Rumi brought a hand to the back of his head, smoothing his sleep-tousled hair in a comforting motion. “It’s okay. I know.”

“I am broken.” His voice broke, weakness in more ways than one showing through.

“You’re not broken, Jinu. Trust me.”

“I do trust you.”

“You’re not alone, I’m here. We’ll get through this. Together.”

“Together.” Jinu nodded against her, then raised his head from Rumi’s shoulder. He blinked. “Uhh, all together?”

The six stacked heads still peeking through the doorway jumped as they were spotted, a banging sound echoing into the room as they scrambled and twelve feet got caught and tripped over one another. The doorway swung all the way open with the force of falling tangled bodies. Everyone landed in a giant heap on the ground in front of Jinu’s bed.

“What the-” Rumi whipped around, looking at the mass of hunters and demons still trying to untangle their limbs from one another. Mira gave one good kick to free herself from the pile, dusting off her legs as she stood. The rest of the group found their footing, helping each other stand as they looked at Jinu with confused stares.

“Why are you all staring at me?” Jinu cringed, feeling awkward with the attention.

The leader of the Saja boys sat in his bed, one arm still wrapped around Rumi beside him. His hands were still clawed at the ends, but he now looked more like he did when they first came to him at Huntrix HQ. His skin was splotchy once more, alternating patches of demon skin and human skin. But this time it was a little different. Even though still adorned patterns all over his body, the patterns that sat on tanned skin looked like Rumi’s patterns now. The spots of tanned skin were striped with iridescent markings, some of his patterns even split down the middle between dark and light where his skin tone changed back. His face was fully cleared of demon skin, glowing eyes and pointed fangs nowhere to be seen. 

“Jinu! Your patterns!” Rumi gasped beside him, finally noticing the change that everyone else had witnessed in real time. Her hands rose to cup his cheeks, tears welling in her eyes anew as she took in his face.

“What the hell just happened?” Baby spoke up from the cluster of shocked onlookers. “Did you just sing the demon out of him?”

“I think she sang the human back into him.” Zoey smiled. 

“You can do that?!” Baby’s jaw hung open.

“A hunter’s voice is powerful.” Mira brought one hand to her chin in thought. “When a hunter’s voice connects strongly enough, it reaches the souls of others. It was songs of hope that formed the first Honmoon from the connection to those souls.”

“And Jinu gave his soul to me to help defeat Gwi-Ma and make the new Honmoon.” Rumi nodded, a teary eyed smile on her face as she looked at Jinu, resting her hand back over his heart. “I think I can give it back.”

“Give it back?” Jinu’s eyes went wide, now finally noticing the changes to himself since he woke, not only in his appearance but also how he felt inside.

“So you just have to sing to him some more?” Abby asked.

“We can’t just sing any song for our voices to work like that.” Rumi shook her head. “It has to be the right song. It has to be able to reach deeper than anything else.”

“So that means no more demon energy transfers, right?” Romance winced, his own bruised face still tender.

“Definitely not.” Jinu and Rumi said in unison, their hands intertwining together before Jinu spoke again, now addressing his fellow demons. “I’m sorry I asked all of you to do that for me. It was selfish. I wasn’t thinking about how it would affect all of you, too.”

“We’re sorry too, Jinu.” Mystery stepped forward in the group, walking to stand next to Jinu and put a hand on his shoulder. “We should have been better friends. Friends don’t let other friends suffer alone. We’re in this together.”

Zoey’s heart swelled with pride, watching as each of the other demons joined Jinu’s side, coming together as a truly united front. Something stirred in the back of Zoey’s mind watching the boys in front of her, a string of words in line with a hopeful melody. Puzzle pieces clicked into place as the idea hit her. That was going to be the theme for their song. Unity.

Before Zoey could blurt out her realization, the floor shimmered again. All eyes were drawn away from Jinu as Derpy phased into the room and jumped onto Jinu’s bed- ending up mostly on top of Jinu himself. The impact of the spirit took Jinu by surprise, knocking the air out of him with the sudden weight of the creature. 

“Oof- hey there big guy! Where have you been?” Jinu laughed as the oversized blue kitten flopped onto his lap, warbling and purring. 

“He was pretty worried about you, too.” Mystery reached down to give Derpy a gentle scratch behind his ear. 

“Worried about me?” Jinu adjusted his posture to give the tiger a belly rub with both hands and look up to Mystery beside him. “How could you tell?”

“I know a thing or two about spirit guardians.” Mystery smiled as Derpy leaned his head into Mystery’s touch, stretching his paws and flexing at the toes, basking in the affection he was receiving. 

Zoey smiled again. Her excitement about figuring out the perfect theme for their collaboration piece could wait until tomorrow. These shared moments building between friends were far more important.

—

The outside light had disappeared into the late evening when everyone made their way back out of Jinu’s room. Most of the group settled onto the white couch. Rumi and Jinu sat in the kitchen, now able to eat their own rolls of sushi that had been set aside for them earlier. Zoey disposed of the empty boxes from earlier and now rummaged around in the pantry and cabinets, searching for something.

Even Derpy remained with the group, attached to Jinu’s side and constantly rubbing against his legs and purring. At some point Sussy flew into the room too and perched atop the fridge, watching over the group with a relieved chirp. What a wild day it had been for everyone, Zoey thought to herself. Not much of a relaxing day off after all. But the day wasn’t over yet, and she was still determined to get some time to relax on the couch in her pajamas.

“One, two, three…seven, eight! Perfect!” Zoey reached into the kitchen cabinet to retrieve what she had been looking for. Her hands became full as she pulled out eight small glass cups from the cabinet, setting them down gently on the countertop in a line.

“Zoey, you can’t be serious.” Rumi watched her, mouth still half full with a bite of food. “Do you really think that’s a good idea?”

“What do you mean?” Zoey grinned, casting a sly smile to her fellow hunter. She opened another cabinet to retrieve two glass bottles of clear liquid.

“First we let the Saja boys stay with us, now we’re drinking with demons?” Rumi kicked up one eyebrow, watching as Zoey swirled the contents of one of the bottles before she unscrewed the lid and began filling the shot glasses in front of her.

“It’s our day off! And I think everyone could use something to help, err, de-stress from the day. What’s wrong with that?” Zoey slid two glasses along the countertop in front of Jinu and Rumi using both of her hands.

“Do I hear Soju?” Mira called from the couch. “Yeeessss!!”

“See?” Zoey grinned. “Mira’s in!”

Rumi looked at Zoey, then turned to look at Mira jumping up from the couch with a fist pump in the air. She looked to Jinu beside her, who just raised his hands in a ‘don’t ask me’ gesture. Rumi rolled her eyes and picked up one of the shot glasses before her, passing it to Jinu. He held the glass, unsure what to do before Rumi picked up the other shot, clinked it against Jinu’s glass, and downed the clear liquid in one gulp.

“Fine, we can have a little bit of fun!” Rumi smiled as the burn settled into warmth in her stomach.

“Yayyyy!!” Zoey squealed, handing a full shot glass to Mira who also downed her Soju in a clean swallow. Zoey followed suit shortly after, only pausing for a second with the liquid against her tongue before swallowing. Each girl then turned to Jinu.

Jinu raised the glass to his lips, looking at the others watching him expectantly. He mimicked their actions and threw his head back, letting the liquid flow down his throat. Jinu coughed a few times as he struggled to swallow the lightly burning liquid.

“Eugh, I’m used to sipping Soju.” Jinu wiped the corner of his mouth, careful not to brush his hand against his still bruised and probably broken nose.

“You can sip on the next one if you need to, old man.” Mira teased, before grabbing two more filled shot glasses and bringing them to the rest of the demons observing from the couch. Zoey picked up the remaining two glasses, carefully balancing them in her hands.

Abby reached his hand out over the back of the couch towards a glass, but Mira passed him by to walk to Romance, seated at the far end of the couch. She handed Romance the next glass.

“We drink from oldest to youngest for the first shot, Abs. You’ll get yours eventually.” Mira smirked.

Romance chuckled, able to smoothly take his shot without a hair out of place. Next was Mystery, who winced at the glass placed into his hands. But he still took the shot, trying to suppress a cough as the sting of the liquid made its way down his throat. Baby took his shot with ease before turning to Abby.

“You know, if you mix up the letters in ‘Abby’, you can be ‘Baby’ too, maknae.” Baby jeered to the youngest Saja boy as determined by the year they were actually born.

“Ha ha,” Abby took the last shot glass from Mira’s hand and downed it. “I’m still bigger than you, little Baby.”

“Only in height.” Baby jabbed back quick as a whip, making Jinu choke on the bite of sushi in his mouth.

“Whooaaaa! Okay!” Jinu coughed again, freeing the grains of rice that nearly got lodged into his lungs. “None of that!”

Everyone else exploded in laughter, a few faces becoming tinged pink either from the alcohol in their bellies or from the crude yet very well timed dick joke. Once everyone got their giggles out of their system, Zoey collected each glass from around the room and refilled them at the kitchen island. She expertly distributed the glasses once more, bringing the now half-empty bottle of Soju to the living space and setting it down on the coffee table for anyone to refill as they wanted.

“How about we all watch a movie together?” Rumi called from the kitchen as Zoey plopped down on the couch next to Mystery. 

“Boooooring!” Mira droned. “You said we were going to have fun!”

“Movies are fun…” Rumi pouted, her hopes for a tame evening instantly shot down.

“We could make it fun” Zoey grinned widely, an idea coming into her head as she took a sip from her glass. Mystery leaned over towards her, his warm breath tickled the skin on her neck as he spoke.

“Another one of your tricks?” He whispered into her ear, sending goosebumps down Zoey’s arms in a shiver. Zoey’s stomach flipped into a somersault that had nothing to do with the alcohol there. 

“I was just thinking we should make whatever movie we put on more interesting!” Zoey spoke to Rumi, not giving Mystery a response outside of leaning into his shoulder beside her. “Nothing too crazy, Rumi, don’t worry! I’ll even let you pick the movie!”

“Okayyyy…” Rumi narrowed her eyes at her friend. “What’s the catch?”

“Just a nice, casual, totally not crazy, movie drinking game!” Zoey smiled, batting her eyelashes innocently at Rumi’s incredulous stare. She shivered again as she felt Mystery’s breath against her neck again, a small puff of air as he gave a silent chuckle at her antics.

“I’m down for that!” Abby reached over to clink his glass against Zoey’s in a shared ‘cheers’, taking his second shot all at once.

“I guess that would be fun enough.” Mira agreed.

“Aw yeah!!” Zoey shook herself from the distraction of Mystery behind her and jumped up from the couch, skipping giddily towards her bedroom. “Let me go get my Santa hat and mustache!” Rumi rolled her eyes again with a smile. A movie drinking game is certainly tamer than any other drinking game that could have been proposed.

“One question, if I may.” Romance raised a hand in the air. “What’s a ‘Santa’?”

Abby, Mira, and Baby burst out laughing again. Even Rumi laughed lightly to herself at the clueless demon. Rumi looked over to Jinu, surprised to find he was also staring blankly at the rest of those who laughed.

“Oh my god you seriously don’t know about Santa Claus? Christmas?” Rumi asked.

“Christmas wasn’t celebrated in Korea til the nineteenth century” Baby called from his spot on the couch, reading the fact from a search engine result on his cell phone. Zoey re-emerged from her bedroom, donning said Santa hat and carrying a fuzzy black fake mustache in her hand alongside a roll of office tape.

“You’ve never celebrated Christmas ever??” Zoey’s eyes went wide, her lower lip jutting out in a dramatic pout as she looked towards Romance, Jinu, and Mystery. “That’s so sad!!”

“We’ll throw them a Christmas party later this year, Zoey, okay?” Rumi smiled, tossing back her second shot of Soju. “Now let’s get this movie night started!”

Zoey’s expression changed just as quickly from sadness to happiness again as she bounced towards the TV screen in the living room. She gave an explanation of the rules of the game while she assembled the pieces she had gathered. The Santa hat was placed on the corner of the TV while Zoey used a piece of tape to secure the fake costume mustache on the other side of the screen, a little off center.

“So basically we all watch a movie and whenever someone on the screen lines up with the Santa hat so it looks like they’re wearing it, or if someone’s face suddenly has this mustache on their mouth or nose, we all take a sip of our drink!” The rules of the drinking game were simple enough for all of the demons to understand easily without worrying if they’d forget halfway through the movie. 

Rumi and Jinu finished eating their dinner and joined the rest of the crowd in the living space. While the white sectional style couch was oversized when considering the three women who owned the penthouse, it was barely large enough to accommodate eight bodies comfortably. Mira found herself sandwiched between Romance lounging on the end spot and Abby on her other side, taking up enough space for two with his arms resting along the back of the couch. Next, in the middle of the couch, space was made for Jinu and Rumi to sit comfortably next to each other with Derpy curled up on the floor at Jinu’s feet. Baby decided the couch was getting far too crowded for himself and he assembled a pile of pillows to lay upon on the floor between the coffee table and the TV. The other end of the sectional couch was occupied by Zoey, working to fluff up one of the remaining pillows left, and Mystery seated on the very end spot. 

With everyone settled in for their movie night, Rumi picked a film at random, though ensuring the movie was still appropriate for mixed company, and meeting Mira’s request that the movie at least be interesting to watch instead of something boring.

As the movie progressed, Abby took it upon himself to try and be the first one to call out when the conditions were met for everyone to take a sip of their drink. He also turned out to be a generally very vocal movie watcher, pointing out funny things or asking questions to Mira or Jinu seated on either side of him. The group laughed along at every perfectly placed mustache during otherwise serious scenes, any context of the movie’s plot thrown out the window.

Zoey replaced the empty Soju bottle on the coffee table with a full one halfway through the movie, even though participation in the drinking game had reduced to about half as people tapped out from the game. Romance and Jinu both turned out to be lightweights, but they put the blame on their bruised faces, citing their bodies can’t keep up with drinking and healing their wounds at the same time. Abby was still going strong, though his funny comments and questions came fewer and far between. Rumi, Mira, and Zoey’s cheeks were lightly tinged pink from the influence of the alcohol, but they knew how to handle their liquor. 

Mystery kept taking miniscule sips of his Soju. Zoey noticed he nursed the glass carefully throughout the movie. While the others were on their fourth or fifth glass, Mystery was still barely on his third. Zoey found herself occasionally watching the demon beside her more than she had been watching the movie.

Three quarters of the way through the movie, Zoey pulled one of the many throw blankets on the couch around herself. Mystery tilted his head towards her in question.

“Just a little chilly.” Zoey smiled at him, her voice soft as to not interrupt the others still watching the movie or having their own side conversations.

She watched Mystery frown, reaching forward to place his half-empty glass down on the coffee table, then lay back on his cushion on the couch. Zoey thought that was all he was doing until her blanket suddenly started to shift. Mystery reached over and tugged at her blanket towards himself.

“Are you cold too?” Zoey started removing the blanket from around her shoulders, but then Mystery gave a firmer tug, pulling so that she became off balance in her seat. Zoey’s shoulders toppled to the side, lightly colliding with Mystery beside her. Her eyes widened as she felt one of his arms circle around her, pulling her close against his side and draping the shared blanket around both of them.

“Better.” She heard Mystery grumble against the top of her head. Zoey peeked up at him, seeing the slight flush of color on his own cheeks from under his hair.

“You could have just asked.” Zoey whispered up to him, shifting her weight to more comfortably cuddle against his side, resting her head across his chest. She felt the rise and fall of his breathing and the slow thumping of his heart from inside his ribs. 

Mystery shifted again, moving slightly. Zoey lifted her head, about to ask if he was uncomfortable or if she had moved too close, but then she felt one of the hair ties holding her low space buns together snap. She stared up at Mystery, slight shock running over her face as she watched him cut the rubber bands from her hair with a clawed hand, gently rustling her tightly wound hair free and tugging her back into place against his chest. Zoey’s face burned as Mystery settled his arm back around her, this hand idly tangling in the ends of her hair every now and again.

“Soft.” He muttered again.

“Mystery, are you tipsy?” She whispered to him with a coy smile.

“Maybe.” The playfulness in his voice confirmed her suspicion. 

“Lightweight.” She teased, eyes drifting back to the movie still playing but not particularly watching what was going on.

Mystery’s heartbeat was steady and slow as he lazily played with her hair. Zoey relaxed into his touch. The sensation was so calming, the low thumping in her ears and soothing hand trailing along her back was not a good combination for paying attention to the movie. And then add in a warm blanket and even warmer body enveloping her, she practically melted into Mystery’s side. Zoey felt her eyelids become heavier and heavier. She let out a content sigh, perfectly relaxed and in the most comfortable place she had ever been in.

“Are you still mad?” Mystery’s whispered voice called Zoey away from the edge of sleep. She turned her head over, shifting her shoulders to face the demon she was using as a pillow, no longer caring about the TV.

“No.” She smiled at him, noticing his hair was parted as he looked down at her.

“Good.” Mystery nodded. “I don’t like it when you’re mad at me. Or sad.”

“I’m happy now, don’t worry.” She brought one of her own hands up from where it had been pinned between their bodies. She touched his cheek lightly, watching as he leaned into her palm and closed his eyes. Her gaze wandered to his lips. It would be so easy just to move a few inches closer. 

But the call of sleep tugged her back from her thoughts. Her hand gently fell from Mystery’s face, curling in against herself as she drifted to sleep right where she was. The last thing Zoey felt as sleep claimed her between slow heartbeats was the barely-there feeling of lips grazing her forehead, a ghost of a kiss upon her now sleeping head.

--

Zoey awoke the next morning back in her own bedroom. She reached her hands out, eyebrows drawn together at the lack of warmth around her as the early morning sunshine filled her room. She pushed the blanket off of herself, sitting up and stretching her arms high above her head with a yawn.

She opened her eyes, blinking the sleep away, and looked around. She didn’t remember coming to bed the night before. She didn't remember the ending of the movie either. She looked over at her nightstand to find her cell phone was plugged in and there was a small note beside it, written in a familiar neatly swooping script.

‘As comfortable as the couch is, I figured you didn't want to sleep the whole night there.

Did you know you kick in your sleep? Like a lot?

-Mystery’

Zoey’s face flushed, a small smile crossing her lips as the tail end of the night before came back to the forefront of her mind. She had actually fallen asleep on him. And he, what, carried her back to her bed? What a gentleman, Zoey chuckled to herself.

Her cell phone buzzed on the nightstand. She swiped open the lock screen to find a new group chat titled “Loser Squad” in her notifications. It looked like it contained all of Huntrix’s and Saja boy's contacts together. A collection of photographs loaded in the chat, sent from Baby's cell phone number. The first was a selfie of Baby holding an empty bottle of Soju and grinning wildly.

The second photo made Zoey rub her eyes before making sure she saw the image correctly. It was a photo of Mira, Romance, and Abby sprawled on the couch, all fast asleep while the light from the TV illuminated the trio. Mira’s head rested on Romance’s lap and her feet were propped up across Abby's legs. Abby's arms were wrapped around Mira's legs, and Romance had one hand resting across Mira's shoulder. Baby was in the frame of each selfie style photo making a gagging expression with his face.

The next photo was Baby pretending to puke in front of Jinu and Rumi, who slept shoulder to shoulder against each other on the couch, their hands intertwined. Jinu's head was flopped over the back of the couch and Rumi's head was leaned against his shoulder, drooling onto his shirt. Zoey smiled to herself, it seems that she wasn't the only victim of a warm body the night before.

Then Zoey's face flushed looking at the last photo that came through the group chat. It was her and Mystery, snuggled up under a blanket, faces only an inch apart as she slept on his chest, his head bowed over above her. Mystery's arms encircled her, holding her close. Baby's face in the corner of the photograph gave a dramatic eye roll and stuck his tongue out.

The faint feeling of a brush of lips against her forehead came back to Zoey's mind and she touched the spot with her fingertips. More text messages came rapidly through the group chat from others who were awake, some combination of either laughing emojis or veiled threats demanding Baby delete those photos or else.

Zoey smiled as she saved the last photo onto her own phone.

___

Chapter Text

Zoey took her time that morning showering and getting dressed. She mulled over her thoughts about the best way to pitch her idea for their collaboration song to the rest of the group. She had a really good feeling about it and didn't want to explain it poorly. Normally she would have no issue just running straight to her friends and letting herself word-vomit until they got the gist of her idea. But it wasn't just Huntrix anymore that needed to understand her many chaotic trains of thought.

The Saja boys might not follow as easily. Trying to figure out their combined path forward was starting to get stressful for everyone. She didn't want to risk any more fights or hard feelings to form as she gently pushed them into opening up with each other at the same time. Maybe it would be best to talk to just Rumi and Mira first. Zoey chewed her lip as she brushed out her hair in front of her vanity mirror.

Her hands paused above her collection of hair ties for a moment, considering leaving her hair down, but decided to do her hair as normal. She grabbed her phone, opening a group chat she had with just Rumi and Mira, sending a quick message.

“I’ve got a plan. Let's chat just us girls”

A thumbs up emoji came through from Rumi a minute later. Then a message appeared from Mira.

“Not fifty-seven plans? 😜”

Zoey rolled her eyes with a smile as she typed her response in the group chat.

“Just one this time, I promise! 🥺👉👈”

Rumi sent a text next, followed shortly by a picture.

“We'll come to your room. 2mins, bringing coffees☕☕☕”

The picture that came through the Huntrix group chat made Zoey snort. She covered her mouth to avoid laughing out loud. She looked at her phone screen, now showing another cuddly couch combination. The white couch was lit in golden sunlight. It seems not everyone made it back to their beds after the movie after all. 

Abby was front and center in the picture, still fast asleep sprawled laying across the couch but now wrapped around a different set of legs that definitely didn't belong to Mira. His muscled arms looped around the legs of the body that had been sitting to his other side the night before- Jinu. Jinu had slumped forwards from his seated position, now half twisted to lay across Abby's back, one arm circled around Abby's waist. They looked quite comfortable.

A soft knock on Zoey's door tore her eyes from the image on her phone, still trying not to laugh. She watched as Rumi and Mira tip-toed into her room, carrying three mugs of coffee between the two of them. Each of them wore the same giddy grin on their faces.

“Can you believe them?” Rumi whispered with a silent laugh, handing Zoey her mug of coffee.

“I'm using that picture for blackmail, one thousand percent.” Mira snickered as she closed the door silently so as to not disturb the still-sleeping demons on the couch down the hall. 

“Abby must have a thing for legs then?” Zoey waggled her eyebrows at Mira, who narrowed her eyes at Zoey.

“I don't think he gets the concept of personal space.” Mira deadpanned as she took a seat on the edge of Zoey's bed, bringing her legs up to sit cross legged off the ground. 

“I tried to wake Jinu to go to bed after the movie but he didn't get up. It's his fault when he wakes up with company and a crick in his neck.” Rumi shrugged, taking a sip of her coffee as she reclined on the two-seater pink couch.

“We were all pretty tired.” Zoey turned her chair around to face her friends. “But I'm glad everything worked out okay after, well, all of yesterday.”

Each of the girls nodded into their mugs of coffee. Uncomfortable silence stuck around for a beat too long, each girl replaying parts of the day before in their minds. But Zoey wasn't thinking about only the afternoon argument. The day before definitely had its downsides, but all in all she realized it had evened out in her mind. The Saja boys and their secret altercation that morning that left everyone hurting in more ways than one. Mystery and his scars, the sudden confidence he seemed to gain taking her out to lunch and coming out from behind his protective veil of hair. The aftermath of discovering what Jinu had been up to and all of the broken trust- and broken faces- that came out of it. But trust was being rebuilt one apology and act of compassion at a time. A shared story, a friendly gesture, taking ownership of one's mistakes, a song sung from the heart, a song sung to the soul, a warm embrace, a brush of a kiss-

“Earth to Zoey” Mira's voice snapped Zoey from her thoughts. “So what's this plan of yours?”

“Oh! Right.” Zoey blinked, pulling herself back to the present. “I think I figured out the right direction to go for our collab song!”

“Okay?” Mira narrowed her eyes at Zoey again.

“I think we've been going about it all wrong with the Saja boys.” Zoey continued. “We've been trying too many different things all at the same time. None of the lyrics or backing tracks Mystery and I wrote feel right. Romance and Baby are still fighting trying to figure out costumes. You and Abby haven't been able to figure out how to best organize us all on stage for choreo.” She nodded towards Mira and then turned to Rumi. “And Rumi, you haven't even used the recording studio to test out any harmonies with me. The only singing I’ve heard you do since defeating Gwi-Ma was singing to Jinu yesterday.”

“We just need to get a good starting point, that's all.” Rumi frowned at her friend. “Then everyone can work off of that from there.”

“I don't think that will work either.” Zoey shook her head. “It's still too disjointed. This is a collaboration song. We need to work all together.”

“We have been working with them.” Mira countered. “You said it yourself. You’ve been working with Mystery and Baby where you work best, I've been working with Abs and Romance where I do.”

“The way we work as Huntrix isn't going to work here. Rumi, I know what melodies you like to sing most often so that's how I write our lyrics to work so easily. And Mira you always make sure the stage lighting and dance moves flow so perfectly with each song even before I finish the lyrics. We know how each other works without having to ask unless we're truly stuck. And we're definitely stuck right now. This song can't just be Huntrix featuring the Saja boys or vice versa. It has to be both.”

“It has to be both…” Rumi stared down towards her coffee, eyes dragging across the patterns on her hands.

“I don’t get it.” Mira frowned.

“Like when Baby showed up in his edgy costume! He challenged Romance to think in a different way that he hadn't considered. But Baby wasn't even supposed to work on costumes, he was supposed to work on lyrics with me.”

“Hmmm” Mira tapped her chin. “So what, we need to re-figure out our strengths as one band?”

“Not quite re-figure out. Just get new perspectives! See what ideas we haven’t thought to try!”

"So combine our efforts into one area at a time?” Rumi's eyes lit up, finally seeing the vision.

“Exactly!” Zoey bounced in her chair with a smile. “We need to make this piece all together!”

“But Zoey, you still haven't told us what the theme is going to be?” Mira questioned.

“Yes I have.” Zoey smiled wide. “The song will be all of us together, United.”

Just then a loud thump and crash sounded from outside, followed shortly by Jinu’s frantic shout echoing all throughout the penthouse.

“WHAT THE HELL?! ABBY GET OFF OF ME!!”

The trio of hunters burst out laughing with their whole chests. Everyone was certainly wide awake now.

—

Huntrix decided not to pitch the song theme directly to the Saja boys. Instead they figured that if this theme was as perfect as Zoey was certain it would be, they would start making progress organically once they changed their songwriting approach. The tricky part would be the very first step, but Zoey had an idea for that too.

The whole group gathered in the kitchen for breakfast: an assortment of pastries that had been delivered up the elevator, courtesy of one quick text to Bobby. Zoey sat at the kitchen island, a notebook open in front of her. She tapped a faint beat onto the countertop with the eraser end of a pencil, her lips twisted in determination. Mystery watched over her shoulder, one hand resting in the middle of her back while the other held a half-eaten donut. His eyes skimmed the collection of lyrics on Zoey's page from under his hair.

The others around the group ate their breakfast in two groups. After the morning couch fiasco, Jinu stood as far away from Abby as possible. Jinu stood on one end of the kitchen island as Rumi peeled back the bandage over his nose. She offered another soft but teasing apology as Jinu winced.

“Sorry your nose is just so breakable.” Rumi smiled. “But it looks like it'll heal straight.”

“I hope so, I've been told I have a ‘mad face card’.” Jinu said with a semi-pained smile, making air quotes with his hands. Rumi just rolled her eyes at him, carefully affixing a fresh bandage back over his bruised nose.

The rest of everyone was huddled around the opened box of pastries, deciding which bready sugar bomb to enjoy next. Baby helped himself to an overly-iced cinnamon roll. Romance slapped Abby's hand away from the last strawberry cream cheese danish, protecting the last one of those in the box that Mira had called dibs on earlier.

Zoey made a dramatic sigh, letting her head flop back into Mystery's chest where he stood behind her.

“I can't figure out this next verse!” She announced louder than she likely needed to for everyone to be able to hear.

“I'm sure we'll come up with something.” Mystery frowned down at her, moving his thumb across her back comfortingly.

Mira rose from her seat, swiping her prized pastry from the box before Abby tried to steal it again. She batted her eyelashes once at Romance then used her free hand to trail her fingers up his arm. She smirked while a blush crept up Romance's neck as her fingernails flicked under his jaw. Then she turned away abruptly to face Zoey.

“Well let's hear it, what do you have so far?” Mira walked past Romance to stand beside Zoey. She glanced back at Romance over her shoulder, who was following after her with a gleam in his eye. He settled up close next to Mira, eyes roving her face as she took a bite of her pastry.

Zoey read her lyrics, tapping again with her pencil to set the beat. 

“We used to be lost, our path went off track

“But maybe today we'll find a new way

“I’m in your corner…I’m... Ugh right there, I can't figure out what's next!”

The group listened to the words, repeating in each of their heads for a moment. As they all thought, Romance spotted Mystery's hand resting on the small of Zoey's back.

“I've got your back?” Romance mused.

“I'm in your corner, I've got your back!” Zoey perked up, scribbling the words down.

“Cause I've got you, and you've got me!” Abby’s voice piped up from where he was suddenly standing behind Mira and Romance, looping his arms around both their necks and pulling them towards himself, smiling wildly. Mira struggled against his arm, flailing as Abby managed to steal a bite of her breakfast straight from her hand.

“Why fight it when we could be better?” Mystery added softly, his hand moving from Zoey’s back to sit in the dip of her waist and gave her a small squeeze.

“And what’s better than when we’re together?” Zoey sang along, leaning into his touch.

“When we face the world, know I'm by your side.” Rumi chimed in, her voice light as she sang the words into a melody. She looked at Jinu with a warm smile.

“Nothing can stop us, no need to hide.” Jinu sang back to Rumi, reaching out and taking her hands into his.

“Times get tough” Baby jumped in with his snappy words.

“Life gets rough” Zoey followed, the tempo of her tapping pencil quickening with a rap segment coming together in her mind.

“The world beats you down” Baby grinned, feeling the beat as he and Zoey went back and forth with their rhymes.

“But Baby don't you frown” 

“Just reach out a hand.”

“We'll make our last stand!” Zoey scratched the words into her notebook so fast they were barely legible, but they were there.

Zoey looked down at her notebook as she finished recording the words that came from all around her. It was messy and definitely needed some fine tuning, but it was more progress than any of them had made separately. She looked up, catching Mira and Rumi’s eyes as they grinned at her and each nodded. This could actually work. No, it was definitely going to work.

—

Mystery did not like this one bit. For four entire days, Huntrix and Saja boys worked all together ironing out each individual part of their new song piece by piece, detail by detail. Zoey had dragged him along into every activity- sometimes literally dragging him by his hand. The audio mixing studio became cramped with so many bodies. There were only three headsets, so two to three people had to crowd around each one to be able to hear the backing tracks and give their two cents. Gone was the peaceful work he had gotten so used to with Zoey.

Even worse, Zoey was constantly nudging him to speak up when he didn’t want to. He had no interest in costumes, lighting, or choreo. Yet Zoey still encouraged everyone to speak their minds. Mystery knew she was up to something with this switch in daily activities. He assumed it was just another one of her sneaky ways to get each of the demons to open up to each other, but once the ‘team effort’ attitude continued to the second day, Mystery wasn’t sure. Did she not want to work with him like they had been before? Or had they just figured out a good direction for their collaboration piece and this was an unfortunate side effect? The song they all contributed to was finally coming together, taking shape each day. 

Every day was exhausting. Mystery knew it was a good thing that they were making so much progress, but it didn’t make him as excited as the others seemed to be. Huntrix even decided it was time to bring in Bobby soon, knowing they would need their manager’s help in coordinating the actual concert performance. This collaboration would let the Saja boys start to make their chosen reality possible in a legitimate way, not fueled by demonic influence with the purpose of stealing thousands of souls. But that also meant they were getting closer to being independent from Huntrix. Their agreement was, after all, temporary. 

That thought bothered Mystery the most. He didn’t realize how much he had settled into Huntrix HQ over the last two weeks. Maybe it had to do with the fact that it was the first time in nearly three hundred years he felt happy. The idea of losing what- or who- had made that change in him plagued his mind with each passing hour. 

He was sorely missing the comfortable moments he and Zoey would otherwise have shared had it not been for everyone else being around at every waking moment. Her lingering touches turned more brief in their presence. Her attention was constantly torn from him by the never ending conversations. All of their meals were taken as a group, using those times to continue tossing around ideas for the next aspect of their work. He couldn’t escape from it all. Even if he wanted to depart from the group, Mystery found the idea of being alone without Zoey next to him even worse. 

But this day Mystery was determined. Even if he was going to be stuck working with the whole group, he wasn’t going to put up with losing Zoey’s attention. His eyes were upon her as Abby instructed the group for the new choreo dances. 

“Alright, so here’s the sequence we hashed out yesterday.” Abby walked along the wall in front of the indoor practice stage, pointing to a line of papers that were taped up at eye level there. On each page was a rough rendering of the stage with eight bodies sketched in different poses, arrows drawn on each depicting the flow of movement. 

Mystery half-listened as Abby talked through the dances, demonstrating some of the more complicated transitions between poses that couldn’t be fully shown in his drawings. Mystery leaned forward towards Zoey who was standing in front of him. He noticed how her arm stiffened slightly as the ends of his hair tickled her shoulder, goosebumps pebbling down her bare skin. He whispered into her ear.

“Aren’t you cold?”

His eyes traveled down her form. Since it was choreo day, everyone made sure to dress for activity. So while Zoey’s hair was pinned up off of her back much to Mystery’s disappointment, she had more skin showing than he had ever seen from her. His eyes trailed down the back of her neck over the complicated criss-cross strapping of her workout top. The black fabric was skin tight around her chest, cropped at the base of her ribs and leaving her stomach bare. The loose blue shorts she wore left most of the expanse of her legs open. Light and breathable.

“A little, but I’ll warm up when we start dancing.” Zoey peered over her shoulder at him as she whispered back, giving him a much faster once-over compared to the slow roving of his eyes down her body. Mystery was dressed in dark gray joggers and a form-fitted tank top that hugged the toned muscles of his chest very well. He saw her eyes flick down his body, and he got an idea.

“You can take my shirt if you’d like.” Mystery whispered again into her ear, letting a little husky tone slip out just to see her reaction. Zoey snapped her attention back forward, but sure enough Mystery could see a pink hue at the tips of her ears that let him know she was imagining it. 

Abby finished running through the sequence instructions, lining everyone up on the stage to give it a first pass all together. Zoey took her place between Mystery and Baby on the practice stage. Each hunter was flanked by demons on either side for this segment. Baby queued up a backing track over the stage speakers, giving everyone their beat to dance to. 

Mystery went through the motions of the dance alongside everyone else on stage, hitting the poses that were taped onto the wall. He watched Zoey dance beside him, her movements fluid and well-controlled. He looked up from where his gaze had settled on her bare stomach and noticed she was watching him too. Her eyes, similar to his own, were roving around his body as he moved. Mystery grinned, she was definitely still imagining. Mystery glanced around the room and noticed everyone else was focused on their own dancing, not on him.

The next turn in the dance sequence that let Mystery face Zoey, he made a small adjustment. Mystery added an extra flourish to his arms which resulted in his fingertip grazing the skin on Zoey’s shoulder. She looked up to him, feeling the brief contact. Mystery grinned as Zoey’s eyes locked with one of his own though a small parting made in his hair so he could catch her off guard. He raised his split eyebrow at her, his eyes flicking down at himself and back at her. Zoey’s face flushed instantly, nearly missing the next cue to continue dancing.

Mystery added the same flourish when the group ran through the dance sequence a second time. And again, he parted his hair to lock eyes with Zoey. The third time he tried the same thing, she refused to look at him. Mystery narrowed his eyes at her, that simply won’t do.

Mystery moved from his position on the stage ever so slightly, coming closer to Zoey for more of the dance movements. He allowed his hands to shift, extending his reach just an extra inch with his demonic claws drawn out. He skated the end of his claws just over her skin whenever she got close. He didn’t touch her, but he was oh so close. And she knew it too from the color of her cheeks.

“Mystery!” Abby’s voice halted the group mid-dance and Mystery flicked his hair back into place. “You’re out of formation! We’re supposed to have space between us, quit getting so close to Zoey.”

Mystery frowned, stepping back to his assigned location, but then Romance stepped out of his position.

“Wait, no! That’s genius!” Romance hopped down from the stage, walking in front of the sketched pages.

“Genius?” Jinu moved to sit at the edge of the stage, giving himself a break to wipe the sweat off of the back of his neck.

“Just imagine this,” Romance pointed to the starting segment of the poses. “Here, we start farther away, just like we were.” Then he walked down to the middle of the wall. “But by the time we get here, what if we move closer, so close that we could reach each other, but we don’t touch, not yet.” 

Mira jumped down, following the sequence of pages. She reached the same spot Romance was looking at, the same idea coming into her mind at the same time as she pointed to the blank page taped on the wall- a missing segment.

“And then here, this spot right here, that’s the moment.” Mira grabbed a pencil and scribbled in a child’s rendition of stick figures holding hands that made Abby cringe at her lack of artistic ability. “That is the turning point to match the lyrics.” 

“We start apart,” Rumi filled in the gaps of what the others were saying. “Just barely out of reach, but then we come together!”

Mystery watched as the group talked over the idea while Abby quickly sketched out adjustments to the poses and replaced drawings on the wall. Mystery looked over to Zoey who was oddly quiet in the otherwise lively discussion. He tilted his head at the look on her face. Her eyes were narrowed at him with low-drawn brows. She crossed her arms over her chest as she stared at him with a lightly flushed face. But her eyes weren’t angry, some emotion in Zoey’s eyes simmered there that he couldn’t quite identify. Mystery turned away from the group towards her and flicked his hair to part in front of one eye, looking at her with a smug grin. He shrugged his shoulders once as he walked beside her.

“I guess I’m a choreo genius today.” He leaned down into her ear, grazing the back of one of her arms with a clawed hand. Zoey shivered under his touch, not giving him a verbal response. Her eyes fell to the floor as Abby declared they were making the adjustments to the set and instructed everyone to line up in new positions. Mystery frowned.

The group went again with the updated dance sequence, Mystery now peppering more and more barely-there touches to Zoey’s shoulders and arms. In one segment where stage positions switched and bodies turned around each other, Mystery let his fingertips trail on the skin at the small of her back.

Zoey stumbled. Her steps fell out of tempo, nearly bumping into Baby on her other side.

“Whoa, watch it!” Baby said as he stepped back, saving his foot from being stepped on.

“Everything alright over there?” Rumi called over from her place on the center of the stage.

“Yeah!” Zoey’s response was short, her words clipped. “Just gimme five minutes, I need some water.”

Mystery watched as Zoey hopped down from the stage, walking stiffly to the stairwell door, leaving without a glance back. He heard voices from the others agreeing to a small break but didn’t pay them much attention.

Zoey walked up the first flight of stairs, arms rigid at her sides. She paused at the first landing between levels. Her breathing came in small gasping breaths not from physical exertion, but from the rapid beating of her heart inside her chest. She felt for the wall to steady herself, willing the warmth from her face- and the rest of her body- to calm.

Her skin was on fire wherever Mystery had touched her. She felt each spot on her shoulders, her arms, or her back where he had skated his fingers against her skin. It had taken all of her strength to hold herself together for the sake of their work. But those small touches, barely there or barely not there, got to her more and more until all of her focus was burned away. And then his eyes, even when she avoided looking at him, she could feel every time his eyes were on her. Even when she shut her own eyes tight, it was his amber eyes looking into her from the backs of her eyelids.

She was frustrated. Her mind and body warred between two sides. She knew the work they were doing for this collaboration was important and that meant shoving down her feelings for the silver haired demon that consumed all of her thoughts. But she couldn’t keep fighting it when her blood ran hot every time he touched her or mesmerized her with his gaze. 

She thought she could stop herself. They were colleagues. They were friends. But she knew it wasn’t as simple as that. She had seen so much of him, those layers beneath that he hadn’t shown to anyone else. He didn’t act the same with everyone the same way he had been when it was just the two of them together. She had thought maybe he shared feelings for her too after their lunch, his apology, and how he held her so affectionately. But maybe she was wrong. Maybe she mis-read the signals and just saw what she wanted to.

Then a ripple of air sounded from behind where Zoey stood in the stairwell landing and her mind alerted to a demon presence. She didn’t have to look to guess who was suddenly there behind her. Zoey kept her eyes on the ground as Mystery walked to stand in front of her. She tried walking around him, but he stepped in front of her again, blocking her path to escape. She watched as he raised one hand to her chin, lifting her head until she was facing him. She still cast her eyes to the wall beside them.

Mystery frowned down at her, tilting his head further to move the hair from his eyes. He almost smiled as Zoey finally looked at him, but she didn’t react how he thought she would. Instead of flushing or smiling, she just stared up at him with drawn eyebrows, lips twisted in a small scowl.

“Quit doing that!” Zoey pouted up at him.

“Doing what?” He felt a grin tug at the corners of his mouth.

“Distracting me!”

“Why?” Mystery watched her expression curiously. She looked like she could be mad at him, but that same unknown look in her eye gave him pause.

“Because!” She huffed at him.

“Are you mad at me?” 

“No!” Zoey’s face started to flush again. So he was right, she wasn’t mad. Mystery kicked up one of his eyebrows. He grinned a little wider at her, waiting for more explanation. Zoey searched his amber eyes for a moment before speaking again. Her shoulders deflated, some kind of defeat in her eyes.

“You can’t just tease me like that if you’re not going to do anything about it!” Zoey began to reach her hands up to Mystery’s hand still gently hooked under her chin but before she could remove his hand, her body was rapidly shifted from where she stood.

Her back met the wall behind her, flush as her body was pressed there. She gasped as her hands were suddenly pinned above her head against the wall, both wrists gripped by one of Mystery’s clawed hands. Her face burned like hot coals when Mystery dipped his head low and she couldn’t stop herself from staring.

“Do you want me to do something about it?” His voice turned dangerously low, his piercing eyes suddenly molten gold as his gaze dipped to her lips. Mystery realized then what that look in her eyes had been every time he touched her skin- desire. Zoey was entranced for a moment, nearly forgetting how to breathe as she breathed her response.

“Yes.”

Mystery consumed her mouth with his own, closing the gap where their shared breaths had mingled only a moment before. Zoey’s eyes fluttered closed, leaning into him the best she could as he kissed her ferociously. She fought to free her hands from his grip, wriggling until he released her wrists. Zoey kissed him back with fervor as she buried her hands into Mystery’s hair, twining her fingers around his silvered strands. 

His hands started roaming across her body. Gone were the light touches he teased her with as they danced. Gone were the comforting, gentle embraces they had shared before. His hands greedily explored the skin around her abdomen, one of his thumbs hooking under the edge of her cropped shirt as his hand settled around her waist. His other hand dipped down the side of her hip, palming his hand along the side of her thigh to pull her body closer to his own. He slanted his mouth across hers, hungry for more.

Zoey arched her back off the wall, pressing herself against Mystery’s body as they continued exploring each other’s mouths. Mystery groaned into Zoey’s mouth as she gently tugged at his hair. Her fingers pulled the hair at the back of his head again, earning her a low growl that reverberated down her spine. Mystery nipped at her lower lip and Zoey felt a prick of sharpened fangs. She gasped.

Mystery began to pull back, realizing, but Zoey chased him, her own teeth gently clamping down on his lower lip in turn.

“Don’t stop.” She panted at him, eyes half lidded.

Mystery returned to her and kissed her again, gently biting at her bottom lip followed by a slow, languid kiss on the same spot. A soothing caress against any accidental hurt. Zoey kissed him back in return, one of her hands moving from his hair to the back of his neck, keeping him from running away from her. Mystery’s grip on her backside tightened, lifting her higher on the wall onto her toes and parting her legs with his knee. 

Zoey kicked off from the floor, jumping to wrap her legs firmly around Mystery’s waist. He moved his hands along the curves of her body to settle on the underside of her thighs just inside the loose hem of her shorts, supporting her weight easily in the air. Her kisses slowed and deepened in this new position, her head now angled above his as he held her wrapped around him. She broke their joined lips for a moment, the long side fringe of her bangs tickling the sides of his face as she opened her eyes and looked down at Mystery.

He opened his eyes for her, looking up with a hazy smile before returning his attention to her skin. He kissed at the underside of her chin as she smoothed his hair back out of his face. Mystery’s lips traveled along her jawline, leaving spots of heat along Zoey’s skin as he moved towards the column of her neck. Zoey shivered against him as he brushed his nose at the base of her ear, leaving a scorching kiss below the lobe that was there. He placed another kiss there and received another shiver. He smiled against her skin before she pulled his head back to her own and kissed him roughly.

“I said,” Zoey mumbled between kisses. “No teasing.”

Mystery’s laugh rumbled through them as he squeezed her thighs in his hands. Zoey’s hands cupped his cheeks as she held his head from continuing that dangerous exploration towards the spots she knew were sensitive. Her whole body was molten wherever he touched her with his hands or his mouth. Desire coursed through her veins like wildfire, fully ignited after he had set her smoldering with his huskily spoken words and featherlight touches on the practice stage.

Her hands roamed away from his face as she recalled his earlier offer that sent her imagination spiraling on the dance floor. Her palms moved down Mystery’s neck, feeling his pulse beating strong as her hands reached the strong muscles that laid just beneath his tight fitted shirt. Her fingertips felt along the dips of his collarbones, the strength of his pectorals, his broad shoulders on either side. She kissed him deeply as her arms trailed along the flexed muscles of his bare arms. 

The door leading into the stairwell below clicked open, the sound of voices echoing in as Zoey and Mystery’s eyes snapped open. 

Without a second thought, Mystery teleported them.

The pair reappeared a second later, tumbling down beside a pile of stuffed animals that launched off of the plush surface and onto the floor beyond. Mystery landed on his back atop Zoey’s bed, still holding her thighs straddled on either side of his hips as her mind caught up to her body’s new surroundings. The whiplash of teleporting passed swiftly this time, only a moment passing before Zoey sat up on her knees and looked at the clock on her bedroom wall.

“I guess it’s been more than five minutes. We should probably go back…” She blushed, then looked down below her and went beet red as Mystery responded.

“No.”

Mystery lay beneath her, trapped under her thighs. His eyes glowed, liquid gold pools framed by streaks of silver lightning and patterns as dark as night staring up at her. All of his hair was still pushed back, a shining halo around his head as he laid on her bed beneath her. Mystery’s own kiss-swollen lips were parted as he panted lightly up at her. His clawed hands tightened on her thighs again and the muscles in Zoey’s legs squeezed his hips in response. Her mind zeroed out, all thoughts abandoned in favor of the demon between her legs.

“No?” Her mouth felt dry as she swallowed hard.

Mystery reached up, gently tugging her down to him and capturing her lips into his once more as she hovered over him. Mystery’s hands roamed up her back, catching on the many straps of her shirt there. His hands reached the base of her neck, gently tugging at the twisted space buns there until the ties that held her hair captive were gone. He rustled her hair free, combing his hands through her silky strands as they came down around her face. His hands returned to Zoey’s hips and then paused before grabbing her firmly. In a smooth motion, Mystery lifted her and flipped their positions. Zoey’s head landed on a pillow and Mystery settled himself over her, using one of his knees to keep her legs parted beneath him. Zoey gasped at the sudden reversal, but it was muffled as he descended on her lips again in another fervent kiss. She relented, wrapping her arms around his back and arching up into him.

“I’m done sharing you all day, every day.” Mystery spoke, moving from her mouth to trail kisses along Zoey’s jaw between words.

“Sharing me?” Zoey’s voice was airy as Mystery found that sensitive spot at the base of her ear again. She inhaled sharply as he took her earlobe between his teeth, her hips bucking up around his leg positioned between her own.

“It’s been driving me mad,” He whispered into the shell of her ear with that same husky tone, feeling as her body shivered in response. “Not being able to talk to you. Not being alone with you. Not being able to touch you how I want to.”

“O-ohh” Zoey let out a breath and tangled her hands into the ends of his hair again. Her back arched up against him as he descended from her ear down the side of her neck. His mouth found the hollow between her neck and collarbone, leaving a searing kiss on her overheated skin and letting his sharpened canines graze over her skin. Zoey’s hips jerked again as Mystery scraped his teeth along her collarbone and pressed his knee against her heated core. 

“But if you don’t want this, tell me to leave, and I will go.” He spoke softly against her as one of his hands nestled in the curve of her waist.

“And if I tell you to stay?” Zoey felt her body ache for more of him. Mystery growled against her skin, dragging his lips back up her neck to kiss her deeply. He shifted his weight over her. Zoey could feel his response as he pressed himself flush against her body. His hand trailed up the curve of her waist, skating over her skin, tracing the hem of her shirt and pausing at the edge of her breast.

His lips slowed and softened as he broke their kiss and opened his eyes. He watched as her eyelids fluttered open beneath him, locking onto him instantly. He stilled, hands paused and breath held. Zoey looked up into his eyes, the golden flecks in his irises shimmered around his blown out, rounded pupils. Her lips moved to form one word.

“Stay.”

Chapter Text

“Stay.”

The word was barely out of Zoey’s mouth before Mystery descended upon her again, his lips meeting hers in renewed intensity. His hand moved, trailing up and down Zoey’s exposed abdomen twice before rising to cup the bottom of her covered breast. He kneaded the soft tissue, feeling and learning how her body responded to his touches beneath him. 

Zoey’s hands roamed freely, tracing the dips and valleys along his abdomen through his fitted shirt. She felt his body shudder as her hands dipped lower along his stomach. She smiled against his lips as she repeated her circuit tracing low over his stomach, her fingertips finding the bottom edge of his shirt. Mystery kneaded her breast again as Zoey slipped a hand under the fabric of his shirt, feeling the smooth, warm skin beneath. She fisted the hem of his shirt, lifting the fabric higher so she could more easily explore his toned midsection.

Mystery broke their kiss for a moment, lifting one eyebrow as he looked down at her. She just raised her eyebrows back at him, her lower lip pouting out slightly. Mystery chuckled, releasing her breast from his hand. Zoey watched Mystery sit upright on his knees, lifting one of his arms to remove his shirt in a smooth motion over his head. He tossed the garment to the side, leaving the shirt discarded on the floor below. He brought his hands up to rake his disheveled hair out from in front of his face and looked back down at Zoey.

She stared at him with darkened eyes, unabashedly taking in the view above her as she propped herself up on her elbows. Her eyes greedily drank up his form. Mystery smirked, letting Zoey take her time to admire him. Even though his shirt had already been skin tight, the image of him shirtless kneeled above her set Zoey’s mind and her body ablaze. His well-toned physique was not bulky, but Zoey could easily see the strength below his skin. His patterns danced over his skin, whorling around his pecs and framing his midsection. The patterns continued even lower along the sides of his hips. Her eyes flickered down to the slight trail of hair peeking out from the waistband of his pants, the fabric below tented there. Her hands reached up to trace her fingertips up the patterns of his sides, feeling the ripple of muscles along his ribs as she pulled him back down on top of her, reclaiming his lips to hers.

She roamed her hands up the skin over his back, firm muscles engaged to hold himself over her. Zoey found the ends of his hair at the base of his neck and twined her fingers through them again. Mystery resumed his attention to her breast, palming over her shirt. He heard her whine against him as his fingers pinched the sensitive, peaked nub beneath. He retreated his hand down, then slipped his fingers under the hem of her fitted top. He pushed the fabric up with the back of his hand, freeing Zoey’s breasts as the two-in-one sports bra and tank top bunched at her collarbones. His hand returned to her breast, kneading and massaging without the restriction of fabric. 

Zoey moaned into his mouth as he flicked his thumb over her nipple, her thighs squeezing his leg against her core again. Mystery repeated the motion, pushing with his knee against her. One of her hands fisted his hair behind his head, pulling lightly, as her other hand gripped his shoulder, the edges of her nails imprinting into his skin. Mystery nipped and sucked at her bottom lip between kisses, pleading.

She opened for him, sighing as their tongues swirled and greeted one another. Their mouths explored, tongues twining and learning the shape of each other. His body was an inferno against hers as he pressed their bare chests together, his own hand pinned there upon her breast. She broke their kiss, coming up for gasps of air. Mystery kept his head low, planting scorching kisses along her jawline, nudging her head to the side as he began gently biting the shell of her other ear. 

Zoey let out a breathy sound as Mystery lifted his body an inch off of hers and removed his palm from her breast, leaving the sensitive skin open to the chilled air. His hand moved in a lazy path down her bare chest, tracing around her ribs and circling her navel before dipping lower and lower. His fingertips played with the waistband of her shorts, feeling along the barrier that sat atop the ridges of her hip bones. He nipped at her earlobe again, placing a soft kiss just below that sent her body shivering again but not from the cold. Zoey realized his hand paused there at her waistband, waiting, asking. 

She turned her head back to his, bringing her hand up from his shoulder to his jaw, pulling his mouth back to her own. She kissed him roughly as her legs parted from where they were clenched around his leg. Her tongue invaded his mouth, feeling the edges of his sharp canines as his hand continued down over the top of her shorts. His hand skirted around the space where her hip turned into her leg, dragging his fingertips along her bare thigh, then slid up the underside of her loose shorts. His wrist tugged the flowing fabric aside as his palm pressed down between Zoey’s legs.

Zoey let out a soft moan into his mouth before taking his lower lip between her teeth as he cupped his hand around her over her underwear. He adjusted his hand, lifting his thumb to press at the apex between her thighs. He felt her back arch as he pressed again, moving his thumb in an agonizingly slow circle. Zoey’s head lolled back against the pillow, gasping lightly at the maddening sensation. 

Mystery took the opportunity to drag his tongue down the column of Zoey’s throat, pausing to plant heavy kisses at her collarbone just above where her shirt was bunched there. He glanced up at Zoey, her head still thrown back as she panted lightly with the slow pace of his thumb working her clit. He grinned, curling one of his fingers to sweep along the valley between her legs and hook the edge of the last barrier of fabric there. 

He dipped his head to capture her breast into his mouth as he pulled the fabric of her underwear aside and felt the wet heat waiting there for him. He swept his fingers along her as she opened her legs wider for him. He memorized the feeling of her beneath him, finding exactly which places along her body made her suck in a breath or arch her back against him. He swirled her peaked nipple around his tongue as he slipped one finger- unclawed- into her. 

Zoey moaned loudly as his finger delved into her. Mystery raised his head from her breast to smother her mouth with his own, slowly pulling and pushing his finger in and out of her. 

“You don’t want to get caught, do you?” Mystery rumbled against her mouth, keeping her spread and positioning a second finger to her entrance. Zoey whimpered, grinding her hips against his now stilled hand. He chuckled, kissing her deeply as he obliged, two fingers now slowly working her underneath him.

Zoey’s hands found her way to Mystery’s back, clutching his skin as he pumped his fingers into her. Mystery’s thumb teased up against her clit again as he curled his fingers inside of her, feeling the ridges of her inner walls around him. Her fingertips gripped the skin on his back as she kissed him harder, commanding him to keep going. He curled his fingers again, pushing up within her as his thumb circled the sensitive bundle of nerves above. 

Zoey moaned again into his mouth, barely able to contain the pleasure radiating from her core. Her hips moved with him, pushing against his hand cupped around her and within her. She gasped for air as he quickened the pace of his fingers within her but maintained the agonizingly slow circling at her clit. Pressure coiled deep in her belly, pulling taut with every pump and swipe of his fingers between her legs. Mystery descended to the crook of her neck, biting and sucking at the skin there before planting heavy kisses on the marks his sharp canines left behind. 

He felt her insides clench around him again as he pressed down firmly on her clit, her tension peaking. He felt Zoey’s back arch up again higher and her muscles wind up tighter and tighter as she approached the limit of her pleasure. Mystery rose to claim her mouth as he curled his fingers once more inside her and she shattered, her nails scratching down his back as her orgasm shook through her in waves. He held her firmly through the shockwaves, feeling the pulsing muscles around his fingers spasm over and over, then begin to relax. He slowly withdrew his hand from her, soaked in the evidence of her ecstasy. His kisses deepened and slowed as she sighed against him, all of the muscles in her body melting as she sunk into the bed beneath her. 

Mystery broke their kiss after a moment, turning his head towards his raised hand as he brought his arm back up. Before he could react, Zoey reached down, bringing his hand to her own mouth. He watched with glowing eyes as she took his dripping fingers into her mouth, swirling her tongue over each finger one at a time and tasting what he had done to her with his hands. Mystery let out a low, gravely moan as she sucked lightly on his fingertips, her gaze locked onto his the whole time. 

Zoey’s eyes gleamed at him, a mischievous smirk on her lips as she kissed the ends of each of his fingertips once. She shifted to move their bodies, Mystery propped himself onto his side next to her and watched as she sat upright. Zoey removed her bunched up shirt over her head, watching as Mystery held her stare even as she turned towards him. She circled her wrists behind his neck and pulled him towards her. Their mouths danced in slow kisses as Mystery settled back on top of her.

Their slow kisses heated again as Zoey’s hands moved from behind his neck, looping underneath his arms on either side of her. Mystery’s arms strained as he felt her hands descend along his ribs, down to his stomach, then down to his hips. She showed no apprehension as she mimicked his prior actions of teasing her fingertips at his waistband. He growled into their kiss, nipping at her bottom lip again, permission granted. 

Zoey palmed her hand down the front of his pants, feeling the shape of him beneath. She felt his body strain above her, his kisses turning fervent and needy, as she tested the pressure of her palm around him. She dragged her hand along the outline of his length slowly once, then gripped him firmly with a rough pump through the fabric of his pants. He hissed against her mouth as she repeated the motion. She felt his hips move against her hand, the fabric there taut over him. 

Zoey gave him another rough stroke, then moved her hand up to hook her fingertips into his waistband where that trail of hair had caught her eyes before. Mystery stopped her hand with his own. He pulled back from her lips an inch, opening his eyes to meet her own heated gaze. She looked at him, desire still burning in her eyes as she looked at him in question.

“Tell me you want this.” Mystery spoke to her softly, his hand squeezing her wrist once.

“I want this.” Zoey breathed, leaning in to kiss him softly once. “I want you.”

Mystery’s eyes flashed once with a fierce golden glow, his pupils thinning to slits once and expanding back to round blown-out pits. He released Zoey’s hand then moved back, sitting up in front of her to her temporary disappointment. Zoey propped herself up on her elbows again and watched through a half-lidded gaze as Mystery hooked his thumbs around the waistband of her shorts and gave a quick tug, pulling both her shorts and underwear off in one smooth motion. She gasped, a small squeal sounding from her throat at her sudden complete nakedness. Mystery chuckled, then removed his own pants and boxers himself. 

He turned back to Zoey, eyes feral with desire. He planted scorching kisses along her body as he crawled back over her. He dragged his lips from the peaks of her hip bones, over her stomach, spending a long while tending to each of her breasts before continuing his path back up to her. His hands reached down to spread her already parted legs wider, settling his hips just over hers. Zoey’s breath caught in her throat as she felt him at her entrance, just barely touching her already hyper-sensitive core. Mystery planted more fiery kisses up her neck then lifted his head to catch her eyes into his. 

“Say it again.” Mystery moved his hips, rubbing himself between her slickened skin.

“I want you.” Zoey breathed, bringing her arms up to loop around Mystery’s neck once more. “All of you.” She pulled him down to her, their kiss stifling their shared moans as he pushed into her. 

He moved, then stilled, allowing her to adjust as her muscles learned the shape of him, before he withdrew slightly, and then pushed deeper again. Mystery continued slowly easing himself into her until he was buried completely within her warmth. Zoey gasped as she took all of him in, breaking their kiss and burying her face into the side of his neck.

Mystery paused again until he felt her lips trail hotly up his neck and she took his earlobe between her teeth. She tugged his hair between her fingers, grinding her hips up at him, begging him to move. He groaned against her, withdrawing and slamming back into her with his entire length more forcefully this time. Zoey brought her hand around the back of Mystery’s neck to cover her own mouth as she cried out in pleasure. She definitely didn’t want to get caught now.

He pumped into her again and again, capturing her mouth with his as she devolved back into breathy gasps and moans. Zoey lifted one of her legs to circle around Mystery’s hips, angling her own hips against his to take him even deeper. She gripped at his muscled arms and the backs of his shoulders, holding steady as she took every inch of him into her. She moved her hips against his in tandem, offering her neck to him when he released her lips from his own to worship her skin with his mouth.

As her head leaned back, relishing the feel of him within her, Mystery trailed his teeth down her neck. Mystery kissed and bit at her beneath him. He held her close as he thrust into her, supporting himself with one arm while the other wrapped around Zoey’s back, pressing her to him so he could feel every dip and swell of her body moving against his own. Zoey clung to him, her grip around him slipping under her fingertips as sweat beaded off of them.

Feeling the tension in her core start to wind tighter and tighter with every thrust between her legs and bite upon her neck, Zoey shifted from underneath him. She braced her leg circled around Mystery, twisting with her hips and using all of her strength to reverse them in one smooth motion. Mystery fell onto the bed below her, his clawed hands coming up to grip Zoey’s hips in surprise as she ground down onto him from above now. She pinned him beneath her on the bed with her hands on his chest, holding him there as she set the pace of their combined bodies. 

Zoey raised and lowered her hips as she rode him, burying his cock deep inside of her with every fall. Mystery’s thumbs rubbed circles along her hips, watching as she took all of him, true to her words. One of his hands drifted from supporting her hips to her front, those slow circles with his thumb reaching towards where their bodies joined. Zoey sat up on him, arching as her head fell back, eyes shut in ecstasy with the addition of his thumb rubbing her clit. Zoey brought one of her hands up to squeeze her own breast, breathing heavy as she felt her muscles tremble around him.

“Zoey.” The throaty sound of her name from Mystery’s lips drew her eyes back towards his, watching her as she bounced atop him and her muscles clenched again. She met his gaze, burning into her as he angled his hips up just as she sunk down on him again. The hand that gripped her hip pulled her forward over him. She bent down on top of him, consuming his mouth into hers as he met her halfway. 

Zoey felt her legs quake, the pressure inside of her building dangerously high once more. Mystery continued thrusting his hips up into her, keeping the pace she set, and pressed his thumb down firmer over the next pass between her legs. She tangled her hands into Mystery’s hair again, kissing him ravenously to muffle her own noises as she couldn’t hold it any longer. She felt herself come with him still inside her, wave after wave of pleasure shaking through her core. Her legs went numb from her orgasm, the only sensation in the world was where he was tangled around and inside her. Mystery groaned into her as he felt his own muscles contract at the clenching pressure around him, reaching his own climax as he spilled himself into her. He moved his hips for a few more thrusts, weakening in strength as the aftershocks of their joined orgasms waned. 

Their bodies stilled at last, panting breaths the only sound in between sloppy kisses and soft touches. Mystery helped Zoey lift herself off of him, her legs too weak to move on their own. He enveloped her into his arms as she settled against his side. She curled her body around his, their legs tangling together as they both took a moment to calm their equally ragged breathing. 

Mystery idly twined one of his hands into Zoey’s loose hair over her back. He heard Zoey take a deep, level breath while she traced each of the patterns across his bare chest. Mystery angled his head to place a gentle kiss on the top of Zoey’s head, his arms around her tightening once. 

She turned her head up to him, a satiated smile on her lips as she stretched her neck to reach up and receive a proper kiss. She raised her hand to cup his cheek as she kissed him tenderly, no longer with the burning fire of their lovemaking, but with the comfortable warmth that bloomed in her chest for him. Mystery loosened his grip around her, dragging his hands up and down the bare expanse of her back. Zoey shivered against him when he touched a spot low along her spine.

“Cold? Or ticklish?” Mystery smiled against her lips. 

“A little of both.” She grinned back. 

Zoey looked up at the demon in her bed. His smile was lazy; his cheeks were flushed and glistening with a thin layer of sweat just as she was sure her own were too. His hair was a tangle atop his head and framing his face, courtesy of her constantly tangling her fingers into his silvery locks. His pupils were still blown as her eyes met his again. The flecks of gold that had burned in his gaze before now slowly swirled in his eyes. She watched as he brought one of his hands up to tuck a loose strand of her own messy hair behind her ear.

“Beautiful.” Mystery muttered, placing a ginger kiss atop Zoey’s forehead. 

Zoey sputtered, the light pink blush on her cheeks darkening into a flaming red. She buried her face into Mystery’s chest, hiding the burning rush of blood that came to her cheeks so suddenly. She failed to keep her face hidden for long as Mystery’s chest shook her loose with the laughter that escaped out of him.

“Just one little compliment is all it takes?” Mystery laughed lightly as he brought her reddened face back up to his with a hooked finger around her chin. He brought her chin up and kissed her tenderly.

“Shush, you!” Zoey grumbled up at him, peeking at him through lowered eyebrows with a gaze that held no anger. She dropped the false expression and smiled, repositioning herself to lay directly atop Mystery, chest to chest. She reached up and began smoothing Mystery’s tangled hair. Mystery sighed contently, wrapping his arms around her waist as she laid on him. His eyes nearly closed as she untangled his hair, feeling her nails graze lightly against his scalp. 

But then Mystery moved to sit upright. Zoey pouted at him, having been quite comfortable laying on top of him. Her pout turned into a surprised squeal as he pulled her back to him, twisting her into a dip over his lap to give her a deep kiss as he looped his arms around her back and under her legs. In a swift movement, Mystery stood from the bed, Zoey carried securely in his arms. She giggled, wrapping her arms around his neck. Mystery smiled as his bare feet padded across the room to her bathroom door, opening it and stepping inside onto the chilled tile.

Zoey raised an eyebrow at him as he managed to open the frosted glass door to her large walk-in shower. He carefully reached in, twisting the handle to activate the waterfall shower head above without splashing the icy cold water on her, still clinging to him in his arms. Mystery looked down at her, smiling coyly at her while the shower heated and the room began to fill with steam.

“You said you were cold.” He said simply, shrugging her in his arms.

“I could have walked myself.” She huffed up at him.

“Could you?” His eyes darkened a shade, the hand under her legs gently squeezed the tired muscles in her thighs. 

Zoey pursed her lips up at him, wrinkling her nose and sticking her tongue out. He chuckled, the vibration reverberating into her body. Once the water was sufficiently heated, Mystery walked them into the shower. He carefully set Zoey down onto her feet. He steadied her with his hands, letting her grip his shoulders as she winced at the weight of her own body standing on its own. 

“Did I hurt you?” Mystery frowned, hooking a finger under Zoey’s chin to search her eyes.

“No” She smiled up at him. “Just a little sore is all.”

“You’ll tell me if I do?”

“Yes, don’t worry.” 

“I’ll always worry.” Mystery leaned down to kiss her tenderly. She sighed against him, looping her arms up and pressing her body flush against his under the soothing flow of hot water from above. Their kisses were slow and gentle, hands wandering innocently over each other’s skin. Zoey turned away from him after a moment, the muscles in her tired legs regaining their strength in the steam.

Zoey grabbed a bottle of her shampoo, about to dispense the product into her own hand. But Mystery took the bottle from her, reaching around and swiping the container. He quickly squeezed a dollop of the shampoo into his own hand and returned the bottle where it came from. He lathered the sweet smelling shampoo into Zoey’s hair himself. Zoey twisted halfway to look at him, surprise flitting across her face. He didn’t speak as he massaged her scalp gently. Her eyelids fluttered closed and leaned back into his touch. 

Mystery rinsed the shampoo from her hair, then added some of her conditioner from a bottle next to her shampoo. He raked his fingertips through the tresses of her black hair, detangling the knots that had appeared from their prior activities. Zoey leaned into him as he worked the product through her hair. He didn’t rinse her hair right away, reaching next for a puffy pink loofah next to a bottle of body wash. 

As the conditioner softened Zoey’s hair, Mystery lathered her shower pouf and washed every inch of her skin. He delicately moved the sudsy loofah all around her body, clearing away any lingering sweat. He washed between her legs, gently soothing away the ache she had gained from him. Mystery paused as he washed around her collarbones, noting a handful of small blemishes scattered around her skin and a blooming bruise where her shoulder met her neck. Small pinprick points were visible around the mark where his mouth and sharp canine teeth had claimed the spot on her skin. He brought his head down to gently brush his lips over the small hurt. 

Zoey reached forward and cupped his cheeks in her hands, pulling him to her face as she kissed him gently, silently reminding him of her words that he had not hurt her. She took the loofah from his hands, starting to wash his body in turn. She lathered the bubbly soap around his body, moving in a path along each of his patterns as she gave him the same tender affection he had shown her. There was no heat to her touch roving across his body, just gentle caresses. She turned him to wash the skin on his back, now noticing the red lines there running from his shoulders nearly all the way to his hips. Her mind remembered her own fingernails digging into his skin as he had worked her body with his hands. Her cheeks heated, then she placed soft kisses on each angry line trailing down the skin of his back.

Mystery shuddered under her touch, her lips apologizing without spoken words for any hurt she had given him at the same time. He had been concerned over his markings upon her skin while wearing the brand of her own passion himself. She’ll have to be a little more careful of her nails next time, she thought to herself with a smile. She finished washing Mystery’s body, leaning her own head back under the waterfall showerhead to rinse out the conditioner in her hair. She exhaled deeply as she felt Mystery’s hands return to her hair, combing through until her hair and body were fully clean.

Zoey turned to the shampoo bottle again, her eyes flicking back to Mystery and his wet unwashed hair stuck along the sides of his head. He smirked and shook his head.

“As much as I love smelling that sweet cherry on your head, I don’t think it’s quite my scent.”

Zoey’s face flushed, nodding once. She moved to turn the shower handle off, but Mystery caught her wrist. She looked back up at him and his golden gaze stopped her brain- and her heart- in their tracks. He stepped through the waterfall between them, closing the distance and kissing her slowly. He stepped forward again, pushing her with his body until she was flush with the tile wall behind her. She gasped at him as his hands roved around her hips, his touches and kisses starting to light a fire between her legs all over again.

“You took something from me earlier, don’t think I forgot.” His voice was low as his fingertips grazed between her legs. 

“Took something?” She breathed, feeling her legs part for him as he teased the sensitive area.

“I intended to taste you from my hand. You robbed me of that.”

“Oh, did I?” She smiled at him through heavy eyelids. “I don’t recall.”

“What a shame.” The tenor of his voice dropped again. “I’ll have to fix that.”

“I guess you will.” Zoey felt her hips move against his hand between her legs, a throbbing sensation steadily growing there as he dragged his fingertips along her. She pulled his head down to hers in a needy kiss, the steam in the shower no longer her source of warmth as her blood boiled hot.

Zoey’s brows furrowed as he broke away from her after one more heated kiss and his hand pulled away. But then his head dipped as he lowered himself to his knees before her, taking her thighs into his hands and pressing his lips to each leg. He lifted one of her feet off of the slick tile floor, hooking her knee over his shoulder. Zoey’s face blushed deep red, realizing how exactly he was intending to taste her this time.

Mystery trailed kisses up her raised leg along the inside of her thigh, pausing as he found something. On the inside surface of her thigh was a small collection of white lines that looked like the marks on her wrist. He grazed his lips over the skin, feeling the ridged texture he knew was scar tissue. He heard Zoey gasp as he pressed his lips again over the scars, kissing once for each cut that she had given herself during the hardship of her life before he was there for her. 

Once he was satisfied in his trail of kisses up her thigh, Mystery turned his attention forward. Zoey was already bared for him, her legs carefully parted and her hips angled up from the hiked up thigh that draped down his back. He placed a delicate kiss at the top of her sex, hearing Zoey sigh contently as her back relaxed against the wall. Then he grinned wickedly against her, flicking out his tongue to swipe slowly down the length of her, then all the way back up. Zoey’s back arched, her hands coming down to fist into his wet hair as a loud moan escaped from her lips, just barely muffled by the sound of the running water around them.

He chuckled against her, the vibration of his mouth between her legs setting her core sparking in sensitivity. Mystery brought a hand up to spread her wider, his tongue gliding flat over the dark pink skin between her legs. His tongue flicked up again, gently teasing her clit. Her hips tried to buck against him, but a clawed hand on her hip held her still for him. He lapped at her sensitive skin, tasting her slightly sweet and salty arousal on his tongue as she writhed on him on his next pass down. 

Every moan and panting breath that came from Zoey emboldened Mystery as he helped himself to every swelled ridge and valley before him. He relished every reaction of pleasure she praised him with. The breathy sounds she made branded themselves into his mind as he decided these noises of hers were his new favorite sound in the whole world. He groaned against her again when her hands fisted tighter into his hair.

Her hands pulled at his hair more roughly as he shifted his attention to her clit again, swirling his tongue around the bud once before planting his mouth there, licking and sucking lightly. A throaty moan sounded from above him as he felt her core tighten where he spread her. Her toes curled around the tile and in the air where her leg was looped over Mystery’s shoulder. He swiped his thumb over her swelled, throbbing center. Mystery moved his un-clawed hand against her, slipping one finger into her. Her muscles clenched around him immediately, she was so close already. He curled his finger inside her once, then twice as he swirled his tongue around her clit again. 

Zoey cried out, her head falling to rest back against the shower wall as Mystery rode her orgasm, removing his finger and tasting her greedily as she came undone on his mouth. She trembled around him, the thigh looped around his back clenching around his neck and holding him against her as the waves of pleasure shuddered through her. He gave one last long, agonizingly slow trail of his tongue up her center before he felt Zoey’s leg go limp around his shoulder. 

He carefully removed her leg from around his back and stood, keeping his hands steady on her hips as he leaned in and kissed her deeply. Zoey leaned weakly against him, tasting herself again not from his fingers but from his lips as they slanted over hers in a lazy kiss. He held her pinned against the wall and peppered her with kisses until the water in the shower began to turn cold. 

Mystery broke himself from Zoey’s lips and turned off the water. He turned and opened the shower door, reaching out for one of the soft towels hanging nearby. He wrapped the white towel around Zoey’s shoulders as she watched him with still-hazy eyes. Then he used a second towel to rustle his hair, drying it enough so it didn’t drip all over the floor and then secured the towel around his own hips. 

Zoey returned her attention back to the present as Mystery held his hand out to her, helping her exit the slippery shower. She wrapped the towel that was placed around her shoulders under her arms, securing it above her chest so it would not fall. Zoey retrieved another towel from a cabinet nearby, wringing her hair out and twisting the towel to sit atop her head. Her cheeks were still flushed as Mystery caught her eye again. He grinned at her. 

“Not fair.” She pouted at him. She crossed the bathroom floor to him and leaned herself against his chest, angling her head up to give him a soft kiss. 

“If you say so.” He said to her in a light, teasing voice.

The pair exited the bathroom back into Zoey’s bedroom as their bodies dried in the cool air. They looked at the evidence of their time together. Plushies were thrown from her bed to make room for their tangled bodies, the blanket there wrinkled and crumpled unevenly. Pieces of clothing were strewn about in every direction. Mystery reached down to retrieve his discarded pants and boxers from the floor beside her bed, a sly smile on his lips as he caught Zoey’s seemingly permanently blushed face again. 

Zoey huffed and walked to find his fitted tank top from where it had landed after he tossed it aside. Her eyes glimmered towards him as she picked up the shirt and held it in her hands. She watched Mystery’s eyes narrow at her as she unraveled the shirt and lifted it over her own head. She wriggled her arms through the bottom of the tank top, carefully pushing her toweled head through the neckline. She let her other towel fall from underneath her arms, the hem of Mystery’s shirt coming low enough over her hips that she was mostly covered. She winked at his golden gaze watching after her as she waltzed back through the bathroom and into her closet, returning a short moment later wearing a fresh pair of shorts peeking out from under his shirt. 

“What?” She smiled mischievously at Mystery, now standing shirtless in her bedroom after putting his own pants back on. “You said I could take it if I’d like.”

“You’re not wrong.” Mystery stalked towards her, grabbing at her hips and pulling her to him. “I’m just upset you look so much better in my clothes than I do.” Zoey laughed, pushing his face away as he planted quick kisses along the side of her neck. 

She freed herself from his grasp, moving across the room to pick up her own discarded clothing this time. Mystery walked back to the bathroom, running his hands through his wet hair as he searched for a hairbrush. Zoey picked up her shorts, fishing into the pocket to retrieve her phone. There were unread messages there from Rumi. She swiped open the lock screen, reading what she had missed after she and Mystery had disappeared from choreo.

‘You okay?’ 

‘Everyone else decided to call a break for the afternoon.’

‘Running an errand with Jinu and Baby, lmk if you need anything’

Zoey was about to type a message back to Rumi when a knock sounded from her door. Zoey’s eyes went wide, jumping across the room to stop the door that was now being opened as Mira’s voice sounded from the hallway.

“Zoey, you in here?”

“YEP!” Zoey rushed to the door, stopping the door from opening more than a few inches with her foot as she slid into Mira’s view, the towel atop her head falling down and landing over her shoulder.

“Oh, hey! There you are.” Mira raised one eyebrow at Zoey’s wet hair.

“Hey Mira!” Zoey smiled wide, maybe a little too wide trying to act natural.

“You okay?” Mira’s voice carried an air of suspicion. 

“Yeah I started to feel a little…uh…off after choreo so I…went to go lay down!” Zoey caught movement in the corner of her eye. Mystery leaned against her bathroom door frame, smirking wildly at her. “Then I took a long…hot…shower, but I feel much better now!” Zoey rambled, choosing her words carefully and feeling her cheeks blush at the double meanings.

“Whatever, hurry up and get dressed. Bobby is gonna be here in like 10 minutes.” Mira looked at Zoey curiously, her eyes narrowing slightly.

“10 minutes?!” Zoey nearly shrieked, looking up at the clock on the wall. “I’ll be right out!” She closed the door in Mira’s face without another word.

Zoey looked around her disheveled room again, walking fast to pick up her thrown shirt and bring it to the laundry hamper in her closet. She rushed past Mystery using her towel to dry off more moisture from his brushed-out hair. Zoey grabbed an oversized hoodie that was stitched to look like a turtle shell and put it on over her stolen tank top. She came back into the bathroom, swiping her hairbrush from the counter.

As she started brushing out her wet hair next to Mystery in her bathroom, her eyes caught on his reflection in her mirror as he watched her get ready. He leaned back against the wall behind her, arms crossed comfortably over his chest. He gave her a charming smile through the mirror. Zoey’s hand fumbled as her eyes dipped to admire his bare skin and exposed muscles again. Mystery grinned with a soft laugh.

“I suppose I’ll let you get ready in peace.” He kicked off the wall and leaned over to kiss the top of her still-wet head. “See you out there.” He winked at her through the mirror, then disappeared in a flash of purple light.

___

Chapter Text

Zoey finished getting herself as presentable as she could in the small amount of time she had. She quietly exited her bedroom, closing the door behind her. Her slippered feet carried her into the open living space in the penthouse, hearing the quiet chatter of conversations beyond. She took a breath, then exited the hallway into the living room. She looked around, noticing she was the last to arrive before Bobby would be here any minute.

Mira and Zoey sat at the kitchen island, fidgeting where they sat with either bouncing legs or drumming fingers as they watched the elevator door beyond them. Mystery was in the kitchen, getting something out of the cabinet and walking to the fridge. Zoey looked towards the sectional couch, finding the remaining Saja boys all seated there, chatting amongst themselves. She smiled; it was nice seeing the other Saja boys looking more and more like actual friends every day. 

She walked towards the kitchen island, then noticed Mystery walking in her direction. He had changed his outfit, now in casual day clothes instead of activewear- or half of his activewear. His hair was swept in front of his eyes again, nearly dry with just a hint of moisture on the longest parts of his hair down his back. Her hair in contrast was still mostly damp, left down to air dry since she didn’t have nearly enough time to blow dry her hair properly. Her eyes dropped to his hands, each holding a glass of ice water. He held one glass out to Zoey. 

“Thanks!” She took the glass from him, taking a sip and then realizing how incredibly thirsty she was. She took a long gulp of the water as Mystery just gave her a small smile and then walked away. Zoey went and sat with Rumi and Mira at the counter. She watched Mystery take a seat on the couch next to his fellow bandmates. Mystery even smiled at them and joined in the conversation every now and again.

“You think we’re ready, Zoey?” Rumi’s voice tore Zoey away from watching the boys. 

“I think so!” She turned to her friends with a smile. “At the pace things are going, we could probably start recording the official audio tomorrow!”

“We still need to work out the supporting vocals, right?” Mira asked.

“Yep!” Zoey nodded. “But we need Jinu and Rumi to go first so we can add layers on top!”

“I think we can manage that.” Rumi smiled, looking back at the aforementioned demon sitting in the middle of the rest of the Saja boys. Jinu’s demon skin had slowly been receding a little more each day, though not in the dramatic lightshow that the others had described to her from when she sang to him before. His skin was still uneven and he had to put on gloves and long sleeves to hide the demon claws when they took breaks outside or ran errands together. But progress was progress and Rumi thought it helped him a lot to get some fresh air. He wore his gloves now as they all waited. She was thankful his broken nose had healed unnaturally fast, one perk of being a demon.

Everyone in the room hushed and stood as they heard the dull whirr of the elevator platform arrive, one ding chiming before the doors opened.

“You have no idea how excited I am to get back to work!” Bobby’s cheerful voice sounded from the open elevator as he came into the penthouse. He walked straight to Huntrix, pulling them all into a group hug. “Hi girls!!”

“Hi Bobbyyyy!” Each of the girls hugged their favorite manager back, then let him go as they turned to let him walk into the main space of the penthouse towards their other guests.

“Hi Saja boys!” Bobby waved at the cluster of demons that had risen to their feet around the couch, then stopped in his tracks. “Wait. Hi Saja boys?!”

“Uhhh” All five Saja boys waved a hand, speaking in unison and mimicking the girls. “Hi Bobbyyyy?”

“Girls…” Bobby spun on his heel back towards Huntrix behind him and spoke quietly at first but with increasing volume. “What are the Saja boys, your greatest rivals, the reason we didn’t win this year’s idol award, and who I imagine is responsible for nearly breaking you all up, doing in YOUR LIVING ROOM?”

“Heh…So, about that.” Rumi smiled sheepishly as she took the end of her braid between her hands and fidgeted with her hair. 

“Please tell me you didn’t kidnap them and that’s why none of the Saja boys have been spotted in nearly three weeks?!” Bobby’s eyes went wide with panic as he gripped the sides of his face with his hands.

“Kidnap them?!” Zoey laughed.

“I mean, it depends how you look at it.” Mira shrugged, her gaze flicking to Romance briefly.

“No, Bobby.” Rumi shook her head. “We didn’t kidnap them. We invited them here.”

“Intentionally?”

Yes.” Rumi rolled her eyes. “We’ve decided to work with them on a collaboration.”

“Collaboration?” The panic from Bobby’s expression stilled, his face turning between looking at Huntrix and looking at the Saja boys, and back again to Huntrix. “Like a collab collab? Or whatever happened before where you guys took over their last concert?”

“A proper collab. All of us on stage performing together.”

“A COLLAB!!” Bobby shouted with a wide smile as his eyes began to shine so bright they nearly turned into stars. 

“And we need your help to get the concert booked!” Zoey added.

“The concert?!” Bobby’s eyes returned from stars to their normal shine as he took out his phone, immediately tapping away and taking notes, checking calendars and opening a list of arenas. “You know Huntrix always has first dibs on all venues, just tell me when you’re thinking and I’ll make the call! Will this be during next year’s tour?”

“Nope.” Mira smirked. “Before the tour. A special standalone event.”

Bobby’s head whipped up from his phone, his eyes looking all around the room as the logistics of a standalone concert ran through his mind. He looked at Huntrix, then the Saja boys, still awkwardly standing by the couch.

“How soon?” Bobby asked, fully in business mode.

“What are the options?” Rumi asked as Bobby quickly tapped on his phone, swiping tabs closed and opening all new ones to look through the information.

“Two days from now?”

“Not that soon.” Rumi winced.

“Ten days?”

“Better.” Rumi nodded, thinking aloud. “We can finish everything and be ready by then. Honestly, we’ll likely be done sooner, but having a couple days off in there wouldn’t be bad…”

“Leave it to me, girls!” Bobby swiped and tapped a few more times on his phone before turning back to address the Saja boys. “Since this is a collab, I’ll need your manager’s contact info. Honestly, it’s so strange, I should know who your manager is, but I don’t! I know all of the other k-pop managers in all of Korea!”

Jinu stepped forward, about to speak but Bobby kept talking.

“And I’ll need the number for your media team. And whoever you use for your merch, too. Your website isn’t working anymore so we have to fix that immediately. Do you have any more game shows or interviews booked? Is this a surprise collab or are we announcing it? Y’know what, first things first, manager, phone number now.” Bobby handed his phone over to Jinu who had walked to join the group in the kitchen, each Saja boy not far behind him.

“Err…manager?” Jinu winced and looked at the phone sitting in his gloved hand.

“So, funny thing about that, Bobby,” Rumi stepped forward and picked up the phone from Jinu’s hand, giving it back to Bobby. “The Saja boys had a…uh…falling out with their previous manager.”

“Falling out?” Bobby asked. Each of the Saja boys mumbled to themselves and nodded.

“He was…” Jinu frowned. “Not the right fit.”

“Kind of a huge, flaming asshole.” Abby added, crossing his arms.

“So that means the Saja boys…?” Bobby trailed, looking at all of the Saja boys standing in front of him.

“They’re un-signed.” Rumi grinned, watching as Bobby caught on. “Also why we need your help so much right now, Bobby.”

“Me?!” Bobby spun back to Rumi, the panic in his eyes rising all over again. “You want me to manage Huntrix AND Saja boys?! No no no no, I couldn’t do that! Could that even be possible? Would it be a conflict of interest? I’d have to hire more hands. More makeup artists. New backup dancers. Book double the hotels if tours overlap. The media team will be overwhelmed. And then there’s the-”

“We’ll raise your cut to 4%” Mira interrupted.

“For both groups.” Romance added in.

Bobby was silent for only a heartbeat before his demeanor immediately changed.

“Deal.” Gone was the panic as Bobby returned fully to confident, ecstatic manager mode. “We are all engines GO for Team Sajatrix! Huntraja? Saja Hunters? Eh, We’ll get the marketing team on it ASAP.”

Each of the girls laughed at their manager’s antics, pulling Bobby in for another group hug with themselves. They each smiled in relief at their manager’s willingness to jump on board, just needing the right push to get there.

“You’re the best, Bobby!!” Zoey squealed.

“Only the best of the best for my girls!!” Bobby beamed.

“Hey, Bobby,” Jinu’s voice pulled the group hug apart. “Thanks for taking this chance with us.” Jinu’s head bowed towards Bobby, each of the other demons behind him following suit. “I know it was a rough start between Huntrix and the Saja boys, but I hope we can move past our prior rivalry and work together to make this concert the best it can be.”

“Oh, c’mere you boys!!” Bobby lunged forward, somehow pulling all five Saja boys into their own group hug. “I guess you aren’t all that bad after all!” The clustered Saja boys smiled, awkwardly raising their arms into the group hug. But then Bobby’s grip on each of them tightened and his cheerful voice switched to ominous calm. “But if you hurt my girls again, I’ll have the Saja boys’ reputation ruined so horribly that you’ll be nothing but crushed up soda cans tossed in the ditch of a very remote highway. Understand?”

“Loud and clear!” Jinu went wide-eyed, suddenly very afraid of the man who was going to be in charge of coordinating their professional futures. The rest of the Saja boys muttered similar frightened affirmations.

“Wonderful!” Bobby released the boys, spinning back to Huntrix who laughed lightly to themselves from watching the exchange. “Now who’s hungry? All this thought of the mountain of work ahead has made me starved, and I’m feeling noodles!”

—

Zoey tossed and turned in her bed. Dinner with Bobby and everyone ran late into the night as they brought Bobby up to speed on the work ahead. They had to practically kick Bobby out of the penthouse before he could try and crash in one of the occupied guest rooms. It was one thing to tell Bobby they were working with the Saja boys, it was a whole different can of worms to tell him they were living together, even temporarily, and they weren’t quite prepared for that conversation with their manager. Bobby eventually left, saying he would be back sometime in the morning with piles of paperwork and a ridiculous amount of coffee.

Zoey flipped over under her covers again, grabbing her phone and checking the time. A little after midnight and she was still restless. She swiped open her lock screen and paused her thumb over her messages app. She chewed on the inside of her cheek before opening the application and typing a quick message.

“Are you still awake?” She hit send.

“Yeah. Why are you up?” A response came through from Mystery.

“Can’t sleep.”

“Want me to come over?”

“Yeah.” Zoey sent a second message shortly after. “No funny business tho.”

A ripple of air sounded from the foot of Zoey’s bed a few seconds later.

“Funny business?” Mystery’s voice called softly, amusement peeking through his tired voice. “Not quite what I would call it.”

Zoey sat up in bed, smiling to see him there. Mystery walked over, dressed in basketball shorts and a loose t-shirt for pajamas. He raised an eyebrow through his already parted hair at Zoey, still donning his stolen tank top as her own pajamas. Zoey scooted over as Mystery lifted the blanket on her bed and climbed in beside her. He sat up against the headboard of the bed, opening his arms in silent offering. 

Happy to accept, Zoey settled herself inside his shoulder, resting her head on his chest. Mystery placed a soft kiss to the top of her head as she wrapped her arms around him loosely. Zoey took a deep breath, sighing into the quiet space.

“What’s on your mind?” Mystery asked.

“How do you know something’s on my mind?” She looked up at him.

“You get quiet when something’s bothering you.” Mystery said simply. 

Zoey huffed up at him, pouting lightly. She knew he was right. She reached over and grabbed Mystery’s hand, intertwining their fingers over his lap. 

“What if we can’t finish the song in time?” Her eyes fell, settling on their joined hands.

“You said earlier you thought we were ready.”

“What if I was wrong?”

“Even Rumi said it should be ready before the concert.” Mystery mused.

“But what if booking the concert adds too much pressure on everyone? What if we lose momentum and it all falls apart? What if we get stuck again right at the end and it’s not ready? We would let the fans down! And even if we do finish the song in time, what if the fans don’t like it? I feel like it’s the right song, but what if it’s not? What if something goes wrong on stage? What if I mess up the choreo again? What if the microphones de-sync? What if-”

Zoey stopped herself, looking back up at Mystery quietly listening to her ramble.

“Sorry if I’m being too much…” Zoey frowned up at him.

“Too much?” Mystery lowered his eyebrows at her. “You’re never too much.”

“Sometimes it feels like I am when I go on and on like that. I don’t know why I just get going in my own head and I just can’t stop it. It helps to let it all out, but I know people don’t want to hear all of that.”

“I like listening to you talk. What was it again, ‘why did I cover up the colors stuck inside my head’?” Mystery freed his hand from hers to tap a finger to Zoey’s forehead. “Don’t cover up those colors.”

“Even if they’re really loud colors that don’t make any sense?” 

“Especially those ones. I know how it feels to have a voice that won’t stop in your head. You were the one to tell me to talk about those voices.”

“I guess you’re right.” She pouted up at him.

“There’s nothing wrong with the way you are, Zoey. You’re always working on so many things all at once, I don’t know how you keep track of it all. And I know your mischievous, brilliant mind is always plotting something.”

“Plotting?” Zoey raised an eyebrow at him with a smile tugging at her lips.

“You’re endlessly creative. You think of ways to tackle problems I never could. You’re always helping everyone else. You keep finding new ways to make me and Jinu, Romance, Abby, and even Baby open up on their own. You know what questions to ask and you don’t push when we don’t want to talk about something. You’ve spent all this time and energy helping us, but who’s helping you when you need it? Don’t feel like you’re ‘too much’ just for talking. Especially with me.” Mystery leaned down and gave her a soft kiss. 

”You mean it?” Zoey looked up at him, her eyes shining at the rims.

“I want to know everything that goes on in that head of yours.”

“Everything?”

“All of it. I want all of you.” Mystery grinned as he repeated the words she had said to him when they had been in her bed before, though in a slightly different context.

Zoey’s face went red, then she huffed as she buried her face into his chest. She wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug as Mystery rumbled a laugh and hugged her back. Zoey mumbled something into Mystery’s chest that he couldn’t quite hear. He tried to nudge her face out from her hiding place, but she was firmly planted and not leaving so easily this time. 

So instead Mystery just sighed in defeat, moving himself to lay lower on the bed. He carefully adjusted himself off of the headboard to lay down, Zoey still clinging to him. When his head was finally resting on one of Zoey’s pillows, he turned to lay on his side towards Zoey. He buried his nose into her hair. She remained curled up against his chest and used his arm below her head as a pillow. 

As Mystery began moving his hand draped over her waist in soothing circles, he felt the tight muscles in her shoulders start to soften. Her grip around him started fading, loosening with every pass of his palm over her back. His own eyes started drifting closed, breathing the scent of her and feeling the slow cadence of her breath against him. Zoey twitched once as she began to drift to sleep, and Mystery made one last adjustment to their position- tangling his legs firmly around hers so maybe he could get some rest too without being kicked every couple of minutes.

—

It was still dark when Zoey woke from a deep dreamless sleep, still enveloped in Mystery’s arms and legs. She smiled when she realized he was still there with her instead of leaving with another note on her bedside table. Her eyes almost started to drift closed again when she felt him move. She felt the hair on the top of her head rustle and then the arms around her began retreating away. 

Zoey made a noise somewhere between a grumble and a whine as her source of warmth began releasing himself from her. Zoey’s arms reached back out, looping around Mystery’s waist as he moved to sit up and swing his legs over the side of her bed. Zoey wrapped her arms around him, locking her hands at her wrists and smushing her face against his back.

“Nooooo” She gave a sleepy murmur into his back. “Stay just a little longerrrr!” 

“It’s almost sunrise.” Mystery swiveled where he sat, looking down at Zoey still half-asleep and clinging to him.

“You’re not allowed to go yet!” 

“Not allowed?” Mystery raised an eyebrow, amusement trailing along his voice.

“I won’t let you!” Her grip squeezed lightly around him.

“I don’t think that’s going to work the way you think it is.” Mystery chuckled, but then raised his legs back into the bed.

“Of course it’ll work, I’m a hunter, demons can’t get away from me so easily!” She declared, confidence airing in her tired voice as she watched him come back to her.

Zoey smiled as Mystery sat against the headboard of her bed again and opened his arms to her. She snuggled herself around him, feeling especially victorious as he pulled her body closer to his until she was nearly laying completely on top of him. She settled comfortably against him and closed her eyes as he pulled her fuzzy blanket around them, wrapping the blanket tightly around her shoulders.

“Such a mighty hunter,” Mystery’s voice had a sly edge to it as he circled his arms around Zoey’s blanketed form once she was properly wrapped up around him.

“I am!” Zoey smiled, sighing against him, warm and cozy once more.

“But I think you’re forgetting something about demons.”

“And what would that be?”

Zoey’s brows drew together when she received no response other than a curiously mischievous laugh all around her. Then she felt a markedly chilled breeze brush over her forehead. Confused, she cracked open one eye to peek around. Her eyes opened wide as she pushed herself up off of Mystery, realizing they were no longer laying in her bed. 

“Mystery?!” She nearly shrieked as she looked around at the sudden absence of walls in any direction. Her mind reeled, not knowing when in the last few moments he had teleported them. “Why are we on the roof?!”

“You wouldn’t let go of me.” He smirked down at her and shrugged, now both sitting atop Huntrix HQ a few feet from the edge of the building. 

“Why couldn’t we just stay in bed?” Zoey whined, burying her face back into his neck to hide from the chilly pre-dawn air. She pulled the fuzzy blanket around them even tighter, trapping whatever body heat she could get between them.

“I told you, it’s almost sunrise.” Mystery looked off in the direction of the deep orange and pink hues crawling over the darkened horizon. 

“You teleported me out of a comfy bed to watch the sunrise?” Zoey yawned as Mystery wrapped his arm around her loosely. 

“There was no sun in the demon realm.” Mystery’s tone turned somber. “This was one of the things I always missed. Down there it was always dark. There weren’t even stars or the moon to look up at. It was just so empty all the time. You lose track of the days and weeks and years without the sun. So I like to come up here in the morning to watch the sunrise. It helps me remember I’m not back down there, that the sun will always come back again each day.”

Zoey looked out to the horizon as he spoke. She watched as the first sliver of the sun began cresting over the mountains against the horizon. The bright yellow hue reached up like outstretched arms, as if the sun itself was yawning away its own sleep as it woke the world from its slumber. The clouds were painted in watercolors as the first morning light chased away the stars. Each scattered cloud was rimmed in a halo of white, casting rays of light and shadow across the sky.

Zoey was surprised by how incredibly tranquil it was, just watching the colors in the sky dance and blend as the sun marked the start of a new day. The blanket of sunlight began sweeping over the city below, peeking through avenues between buildings and shining off of glass skyscrapers. She noticed then the first chirps of birdsong sound from the world below, nature’s own good morning greeting to the sun. She smiled with a content sigh, letting the tightly tucked blanket around her fall to her waist as the air began losing its chill.

“Okay fine, that’s a pretty good reason to get out of bed early.” Zoey smiled and looked up to Mystery, his eyes still trained onto the horizon with a peaceful smile upon his lips as the sun completed its arrival, now sitting atop the edge of the world.

“Would you rather stay in bed?” Mystery broke his gaze from the sun and looked back down to her.

“No.” She craned her neck higher and brought one of her hands up to him, gently pulling him down so she could give him a proper good morning kiss. She kissed him slowly, then felt a smile tug at her lips as she pulled away from him and spoke again. “Bring me along again tomorrow?”

“I’d like that a lot.” Mystery smiled warmly. “I’ll get you all to myself before we have to get back to work.”

“I’m sorry I didn’t notice you didn’t like working all together.” Zoey leaned herself back against him and faced the sunrise. 

“I’m fine working with everyone.” Mystery shrugged. “We’ve made so much progress, I can’t argue that whatever scheme you tried wasn’t effective.” Zoey snorted a laugh at his words, of course he picked up that it was her idea. “But I can’t help it if I get greedy for your time, even just a sunrise together.”

“You could have just said something!” Zoey huffed, wondering how many times she’d have to tell the soft spoken demon to use his words.

“I don’t think you’d want me to say something in front of everyone.” Mystery grinned as he watched her cheeks flush from the corner of his eye, recalling how exactly he had voiced his feelings about their working arrangements to her the day before. 

“Well I’ll still be better about it!” She nodded to herself. “Maybe we could have lunch, just the two of us, too. I might get a little greedy myself for more than just mornings, after all.” 

“I’ll take any time you give me. But I know we need to make sure we finish the song before the concert. We can’t get too greedy and sneak off during work, as much as I want to.”

“Sneak off?” Zoey raised an eyebrow up to him with a humorous tone in her voice. “Not very sneaky if it’s always you and I disappearing at the same time.”

“Sneaky if no one knows why.” He joked back to her.

“Do you think we need to hide it from the others though?” Zoey’s voice lost its playful timbre, a trace of worry and apprehension showing as she spoke.

“Hide it?” Mystery tilted his head to the side.

“Hide us. I know this is kind of early; we’re still figuring out whatever this is.”

“I’m happy with whatever makes you happy.” He shrugged, but Zoey caught something in his tone that made her narrow her eyes at him.

“No, don’t do that.” Zoey caught Mystery’s gaze and held it. She stared up at him with lowered eyebrows. “I want to know what you actually want. I want us to be honest with each other.”

Mystery looked down at her, slight surprise running across his features. He hadn’t been dishonest, as he would do whatever she asked of him with little resistance. Seeing her smile or hearing her laugh had turned into the highlight of his days more than he realized. But her selflessness truly knew no bounds and she truly cared about what he wanted too. He thought to himself for a moment what he actually wanted when it came to their relationship. Part of it felt so simple, just being with her felt like enough, but the world was so much more complicated, especially considering who they were. Put them in any situation outside of their shared moments together, and suddenly more and more questions and worries rose into Mystery’s mind.

“Do you think the others would be…okay with it? A hunter and a demon?” Mystery asked.

“I can’t say for the Saja boys, but I think Rumi and Mira would be. I mean really, Rumi is half demon. Her dad was a demon and her mom was a hunter. We certainly aren’t the first.” Zoey smiled softly.

“And it doesn’t bother you? Me being a demon?”

“If you had asked me that two months ago, I would have thrown my blades right at your face before you could finish that sentence.” Zoey winced a little at how her previous self would have never given a second thought. “But now after everything, it’s like I need to start from scratch. When Mira and I first found out about Rumi, we raised our weapons at her too. I didn’t want to, but between feeling so betrayed and what Celine taught us was so far engrained into me that I lost sight that she was still one of my best friends and being part demon shouldn’t have changed that. We can never take that back, only continue to support Rumi and apologize for how we reacted. I’m trying to forget what I was taught about demons and focus on what I know for sure. I guess what I’m trying to say is no, it doesn’t bother me.” 

Mystery leaned down and kissed her tenderly, cupping her cheeks in his hands. 

“Does it bother you?” Zoey spoke again, searching his eyes. “That I’m a hunter? That I’ve been fighting and killing demons for years, too?” 

“Are you going to throw your blades at my face anytime soon?” Mystery smiled, his voice lighthearted.

“Are you going to try to steal my soul and hurt me or my friends?” She joked back at him.

“I’m never going to hurt you, never intentionally.” Mystery’s voice turned serious again as he looked into her eyes. “If I ever do, by all means send me back to the demon realm. If I ever try to hurt you, then I’m glad you’re a hunter so you can stop me before I do something I would regret forever.”

“I would never!” Zoey gasped. “Even if you accidentally hurt me, I’m not going to just stab you for it! We’d talk about it like adults!”

“That works too.” Mystery smiled at her.

“You still haven’t answered my question.” Zoey pouted. “Do you want to keep us a secret?”

Mystery sat up, eyes drawn back to the morning sun as he ran through his thoughts. A gust of wind rustled the hair around his head, setting free his bangs from behind one ear to cover half of his face again. Zoey reached up and tucked the loose hair back in place, her hand gently brushing against his temple over the ends of some of his scars.

“I’ve gotten so used to hiding myself away.” Mystery spoke softly. “I never wanted anyone to see me, to know these things about me, or to point and whisper about what happened to me. It feels easy to be secretive with everyone else. I’ve spent so long trying to hide the worst parts of myself, but I don’t want to hide the one thing that brings out the best in me- being with you. You’ve helped me start to see past the things I hate about myself. I want to keep being open. I want to try and live this second chance at life with you beside me. But if it’s what you want, we don’t have to tell anyone yet.”

“I don’t think I want to keep us a secret either.” Zoey smiled wide, heart warmed by his honesty. “We do have to be careful out in public- the fans can go a little crazy when it comes to idols- but I don’t want to keep this from our friends.”

Mystery pulled his eyes from the horizon to look at Zoey smiling brightly up at him, her features glowing in the morning sun. He reached down to turn her body towards his own. He put his hands on her waist and pulled her up until she was seated straddled on his legs. She raised an eyebrow at him as she wrapped her legs around his hips, hooking at the ankles. He leaned forward to kiss her tenderly. Zoey looped her wrists around the back of his neck, sighing into him as she felt his hands settle low on her back. Their lips moved slowly against each other, a tender show of affection as the relief of their shared feelings cemented into them. Mystery pulled back, opening his eyes to look at Zoey thoughtfully.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” She laughed, a soft smile upon her lips.

Mystery was cast in Zoey’s shadow with the sunrise behind her now. His eyes danced around her face, counting the freckles dotted across her cheeks. Her loose hair was as dark as the night sky but lit with a warm glow at the edges of her silhouette. He reached up to cup her cheek, the motion tucking part of her hair against her neck and extending the glow of the sunshine onto the edges of her face. Mystery forgot all about the sunrise around them, his eyes trapped on the brightest light in his life. 

“No reason.” Mystery smiled at her before pulling her in for another kiss. A feeling in his chest swelled and warmed as he held her close to his heart.

—

Just as Bobby had promised, Zoey exited her bedroom later that morning- courtesy of a drop off teleport- to the smell of hot coffee wafting through the hallway from the kitchen. She wasn’t sure what the agenda for the day would bring with Bobby here but she guessed it probably wasn’t choreo again, so she dressed in casual comfortable clothing. Before walking to the kitchen, Zoey turned to the door where Mystery shared a guest room with Baby, watching as the door opened and Mystery came to her side. She smiled up at him as they walked together to join whoever else was awake.

The pair walked into the kitchen, drawn to the promise of caffeinated beverages and breakfast. There were cardboard drink holders placed on the kitchen counter, each half-full holding a few tall to-go cups of coffee. Next to the coffee were open boxes offering a variety of toasted breakfast sandwiches. 

Bobby stood in the kitchen, flipping through a stack of folders piled high on the countertop in front of him. Baby stood next to Bobby, reading through a packet of paperwork and writing something down with a pen in hand every few seconds. Jinu sat nearby at the kitchen island, tight lipped and looking incredibly uncomfortable as he held his cup of coffee between gloved hands. Once Jinu spotted Zoey, his expression seemed to relax a little bit. Zoey looked around, noticing no one else was there other than those three and themselves.

“Morning, Zoey!” Bobby called up from behind a folder. “Your coffee is the one on the end, two sugars, one cream, and extra caramel drizzle, just how you like it!”

“Thanks Bobby!” Zoey smiled at her manager, happily grabbing her coffee from the counter. 

“Not sure how you take your coffee Mystery, but there’s a couple options depending if you prefer black or sweetened.” Bobby rummaged through his work. “And whenever you’re ready I’ll need some signatures over here.”

Mystery nodded, surveying the cups of coffee in front of him beneath the hair covering his eyes. He gingerly removed one of the coffees with added cream and sugar from its holder, taking a sip and helping himself to a ham and egg breakfast toast. 

“Thank you, Bobby.” Mystery made sure to nod his head towards Bobby before coming up beside Jinu to see what was going on with all the papers on the counter. He sat down on an open stool beside Jinu.

“Where’s everyone else?” Zoey asked aloud, counting the claimed coffee cups in people’s hands and noticing there were more empty spots in the holders than cups in the kitchen. She peeked into the box of sandwiches, noting it was only half full before helping herself.

“Downstairs I think,” Bobby spoke and slid a folder of paperwork and a pen over to Mystery. “Romance and Abby filled out their contracts earlier. I’m surprised you boys beat me back over here. You must’ve all gotten up at the crack of dawn!”

“We’re early risers.” Mystery responded, sending a small smile over to Zoey. 

“Hey, fine by me! I can run on three hours of sleep with enough caffeine and I think that’s gonna be needed to coordinate the lot of you.” Bobby took a swig of his own coffee.

“Don’t overwork yourself, Bobby!” Zoey chastised the man with a smile between bites of food.

“No promises! If anything, I’m behind! You girls had me thinking you were taking an extended break but you were all getting a head start without me!” Bobby looked around Baby’s shoulder, seeing where the Saja boy was at in his contract.

Mystery flipped open the folder in front of him once he finished eating his breakfast toast. He read the verbiage of the contact within, then frowned, re-reading from the top after only a few lines. He raised his head and turned to Jinu beside him who was also trying to read each line of text in his own folder. Jinu shrugged with a small wince, holding a pen awkwardly between his hand and his coffee cup.

The pair looked over to Baby, still reading through the many stapled together papers and filling out the contract with confidence. Mystery looked back down to his papers, flipping the page and seeing blank lines that seemed to ask for signatures and dates. He tried not to focus on the paragraphs of text surrounding each signature line. He raised his pen, clicking the mechanism to spring forward the ballpoint, but hesitated over the first line that asked for his name.

Mystery looked up to Zoey, happily munching away at her own food. He silently caught her attention after a moment and motioned with his head for her to come over. Zoey raised an eyebrow and walked over to join him and Jinu. Zoey stood between Mystery and Jinu, leaning herself against Mystery’s shoulder as she skimmed the paperwork sitting in front of each of them. 

“Help, please!” Jinu whispered towards Zoey. “I have no idea how to fill this out.”

Mystery nodded, equally as lost in the complicated legal jargon filling the packet of papers before him. 

Zoey looked between the two of them, honestly forgetting each of them were three and four hundred years old. She looked back up to Bobby who was collecting the papers from Baby and making sure each signature, initial, and date prompt were filled. She quietly took out her phone, opening her group chat with Rumi and Mira. She sent a quick text, then tucked her phone back into her pocket. Sure enough, moments later, Bobby looked at his own phone.

“Hey Zoey I’m gonna go to your office real quick, Rumi needs something.” Bobby walked off down the hallway.

“Sounds good Bobby!” She smiled sweetly, waving as Bobby left the kitchen.

Once she heard the door to the office at the end of the hall open and click closed, she looked back down at the paperwork. Zoey flipped through the contract, expertly reading through all of the legal agreements she was already familiar with. Nothing in the contract seemed out of the ordinary. Though after flipping back to the very first page, her lips twisted in thought.

“Do you guys even have IDs?” Zoey pointed to one of the first lines asking for their legal identification number.

“I’ve got ‘em.” Baby piped up from where he stood at the counter.

“You do?” Zoey frowned.

“Picked them up yesterday.” Baby reached into his own back pocket and pulled out a wallet. He flipped open the leather bifold and retrieved two cards. He slid the pieces of plastic along the countertop to land between Mystery and Jinu.

Jinu picked up his card from the table carefully. Mystery started to reach for his card, but Zoey swiped it before he could grab it. Zoey squinted her eyes at the card, turning it around at different angles in her hand. She caught some sunlight to reflect off of the card to see the shimmering colors embedded in the plastic. She read over the information there.

“Minjun Kim?” She looked at Mystery with raised eyebrows. Mystery just tilted his head up to her, a frown on his lips.

“Mystery didn’t text me back, so I picked a name for him.” Baby shrugged from where he stood, turning to face Mystery. “If you don’t like it, sucks, you can deal with it.”

“Baby, are these real?” Zoey looked over with narrowed eyes towards the grinning Saja boy.

“Real enough.” Baby smirked, patting his hand on the stack of folders that contained the signed contracts for each of the other Saja boys.

“Do I want to know how you got these?” Zoey winced, handing the ID card over to Mystery.

“Do you?” Baby’s smirk turned wicked.

“No, probably not, nevermind.” Zoey shook her head.

Mystery turned the ID over in his hand, looking at all of the information captured on the small card. There was a blurry picture of himself printed on it, though he definitely didn’t remember Baby taking his photo recently- at least not when he was awake. There was a string of numbers on the card that he didn’t know the significance of. And then a name: Minjun Kim. Mystery looked back down at the stack of papers and the manila folder that contained them. He reached forward, taking the folder and flipping it over. He copied the name onto the back of the folder, testing his pen strokes as he wrote the symbols that apparently were his new identity. 

Once Mystery felt comfortable signing the name, he flipped the folder back over and turned to the first page of the contract. Zoey watched over his shoulder as he applied the ink to the page, writing out the name on the prompt for legal name. Mystery’s hand moved over the page and paused over a prompt labeled with small letters below, ‘preferred name’. Zoey tilted her head to the side as he filled out the prompt: ‘Mystery’.

Zoey and Baby tag-teamed a basic explanation of the record label contract to Mystery and Jinu. It had almost surprised Zoey that Baby was about as knowledgeable as her with the paperwork, but knowing he had also somehow procured good enough false ID cards for each of the Saja boys through likely unsavory routes, not much surprised Zoey about Baby’s intellect after that. Once all prompts were signed, Bobby still hadn’t returned from the Huntrix HQ office. 

The group waited for a few minutes before figuring whatever reason Rumi had used to distract their manager must have been an actual work-related reason for them to take so long. They decided to go check out whatever was going on downstairs, noting that Mira, Abby, and Romance hadn’t come back up to the kitchen. Coffees in hand, everyone made their way down the stairwell towards the choreo studio.

Baby led the group, swinging open the door from the stairwell into the large open space. Everyone took two steps into the room before spotting the trio ahead. All three pink haired heads whipped over towards the doorway and froze where they stood.

“Oh my god” Baby burst out laughing. “Seriously, guys?!”

“Uhh, it’s not what it looks like?” Abby’s voice carried over from the middle of the room. Zoey’s eyes crinkled with a smile, covering her mouth to hold in a laugh at the interesting situation they had stumbled upon.

Abby was, of course, without a shirt. The muscles of his torso and arms were on display, though Zoey could only really see his biceps and hips as he stood sideways with his hands behind his own back. He stood in between Romance in front of him and Mira at his back. There was hardly an inch of space between Abby and Romance as Romance’s hands gripped a flexible measuring tape that was looped around the back of Abby’s neck and pulled taut. Mira stood at Abby’s back equally as close, her hands seeming to have a grip on Abby’s forearms there.

Mira’s eyes went wide, shoving Abby’s back away from herself forcefully. Abby stumbled half a step forward, bumping into Romance as the sides of their faces collided. Romance flinched only where Abby’s face touched near where his now-faded bruise had been, otherwise he was steady on his feet and able to absorb the impact of Abby tripping into him without falling over.

“What the hell was that?” Jinu grinned. “Do I need to chaperone you guys?”

“NO” Mira’s face flushed as she scowled, her hands balled at her sides.

“Depends, you watching or joining?” Abby waggled his eyebrows and Jinu after he re-steadied himself and turned towards the newcomers to the choreo room. Baby made a gagging sound and continued walking into the room alongside Jinu, each pointedly ignoring their shirtless bandmate’s comment and crossing the room to sit on the chairs against the far wall. Zoey snorted a laugh.

“Everyone done with the paperwork upstairs?” Mira asked Zoey, tensely walking away from Abby and Romance. Both boys' eyes trailed after her.

“Yep, Bobby’s helping Rumi with something in the office, they’ll probably be down soon.” Zoey nodded.

“I’ll go get them. We’ll need Rumi down here anyways.” Mira stalked towards the stairwell, face still bright red.

“Oh I can just-” Zoey started but Mira didn’t stop, slamming the door closed behind her. “-text…her? Oooo-kay then.”

Zoey raised an eyebrow towards Abby and Romance, still standing awkwardly in the room. They gave her a matching shrug, though Abby kept his hands behind his back. Zoey just rolled her eyes and walked alongside Mystery to go sit down on a small lounge couch along the closer wall, each setting their coffee cups down on a side table. 

“I’m just getting measurements, that’s all.” Romance said with an air of innocence. Zoey looked from the tape measure in Romance’s hand to a discarded notebook on the floor that seemed to have numbers written in it. Maybe some of that statement was truthful after all. 

“Measurements?” Zoey asked.

“What better way to make sure our outfits will fit perfectly than to make them all myself.” Romance grinned. “And that means yours, too.”

“Mine?” Zoey sat up on the edge of the couch. “You’re going to make the costumes for all of us? Is there enough time for you to do that?”

“Of course!” Romance twirled the flexible measuring tape around his hand and between his fingers. “I picked up a sewing machine yesterday. As much as I’d rather make them all truly by hand, I’ll admit some of the modern clothier tools are helpful.”

“And you have enough fabric? Thread colors? Fasteners? What material-” Zoey felt a gentle pressure loop around her back as a hand settled on her hip. “-I mean that sounds great! I’m excited to see them!” Zoey felt herself relax a little, giving Mystery a thankful glance from the corner of her eye. He smiled at her, swiping his thumb over her hip once. But then Zoey saw his smile drop.

“Hey Zo, could you help me out with this?” Abby called out. Zoey felt her eyes widen a fraction as Abby sauntered towards her, each well-defined abdominal muscle at eye level with her.

Zoey looked up with an unimpressed look on her face towards Abby’s toothy grin. She watched silently as Abby came right up to her and turned around. Her eyes flicked back down from the back of his head to where his hands rested behind his back. Zoey's eyebrows creased together as she leaned forward slightly to figure out what she was looking at. Abby's wrists were bound, tied tightly together with what looked like another flexible measuring tape. Abby wiggled the fingers on one of his hands, waving to her and straining against the measuring tape.

Zoey raised her hands, about to try and untie Abby but then Mystery’s hand at her hip tightened. Before she knew it, a claw reached out and cut through the measuring tape as if it were no more than a single strand of twine. It snapped easily, falling to the ground in a small pile in front of Zoey's feet.

“Go put your shirt back on, Abby.” Mystery grumbled from his seat next to Zoey.

“Awh, no fun! I didn't want to break it!” Abby pouted over his shoulder, then sulked away to go find his shirt and stretch out his sore arms.

Zoey looked over to Mystery with a curious half smile. Mystery just scowled, his head tracking Abby as he retreated. Once Abby had crossed to the other side of the room and shrugged on his discarded shirt, Mystery’s scowl softened to a frown and he looked back over to Zoey.

“Are you jealous?” Zoey whispered with a grin.

“He was just trying to get a reaction out of you. He could have gotten free on his own.” Mystery pouted.

“Does it look like he got a reaction out of me?” Zoey asked with a humored tone.

Mystery looked at her more closely then. Before whenever Abby had decided to grace the world with his physique, Zoey had always been drawn in, staring with blushed cheeks and popcorn eyes. But now as Mystery looked at her, her face wasn’t even the slightest bit pink. Her eyes looked at where his own were even through his layer of hair. Zoey moved to place her hand on his thigh gently as she leaned in to give him a quick peck on his cheek. 

“You’re cute when you’re protective.” Zoey winked, watching as a bit of pinkish hue creeped across Mystery’s own cheeks from under the edge of his hair.

Mystery grumbled incoherently under his breath and turned his head away to take a sip of his coffee as his grip around Zoey’s back squeezed her lightly. Zoey laughed softly, taking her hand back from Mystery’s leg as Romance cleared his throat in their direction.

“Zoey, if you’d like to come up next?” Romance called over smoothly, looping his measuring tape around his own neck and retrieving his notebook from the floor.

“Sure!” Zoey hopped up off the couch and approached Romance. 

Zoey rocked back and forth on her heels as she waited for Romance. She glanced over to where Jinu, Baby, and Abby sat together, immersed in some conversation with each other. Romance flipped to a new page in his notebook, jotting down a few notes from a pen that had been tucked above one of his ears before turning to her. Zoey stilled her restless legs, lifting her arms from her sides as Romance looped his measuring tape around her back. Romance worked quickly, getting a measurement for the smallest point of her waist, then the widest point of her hips. 

Romance wrote each number in his notebook, moving on to get the length of her legs, the length of her arms, the space between her shoulder blades, and the circumference of her biceps. Then Romance looped the measuring tape around Zoey’s back once more and shimmied the tape up to rest under her armpits. He brought his hands together, pinching the tape in the center of her chest. When the backs of Romance’s knuckles brushed against her chest, Zoey heard a faint, low noise from the couch.

Zoey’s eyes flicked over to Mystery and raised her eyebrows with an amused smile as she saw Mystery’s grip on his coffee had strained enough to dent the paper cup inwards. She could barely make out a glow coming through his hair. Romance looked over his shoulder, seeing the faintly snarling demon staring daggers into his back. Romance quirked an eyebrow up, releasing the tape measure and jotting the measurement into his notebook silently.

“Done!” Romance smiled at Zoey and then turned, sending a sly look over to Mystery. “Your turn!”

Mystery rose to his feet, leaving the mangled coffee cup behind. Zoey walked to return to the couch, smiling sweetly at him. She nudged her shoulder into his as they passed each other, her hand brushing his on the way. She flopped back down on the couch and took out her phone from her pocket, swiping the lock screen open to browse social media.

Mystery stalked towards Romance, only marginally cooled off by Zoey’s touch. He kept his patterns subdued and willed his eyes to stop glowing as he stood in the same spot Zoey had moments before. His head tracked Romance’s every movement as Romance flitted around him with the measuring tape. Romance moved to stand behind Mystery, stretching the measuring tape between his shoulders. Then Romance moved his face close to Mystery’s ear.

“I’m not trying to steal your girl, so calm down.” Romance whispered.

Mystery’s shoulders tensed once, then relaxed. He angled his head to look at Romance behind him, surveying the demon for a moment, then nodded his head.

“While the others are a little more…” Romance drawled to find the right word. “Dense, you’re not being all that subtle, you know.” Romance smirked, moving to stand beside Mystery and measure the circumference of his arms.

“Subtle like the three of you earlier?” Mystery responded back with a tilt of his head and his own roguish smile. Romance’s eyes flashed for a second and then narrowed up to Mystery.

“Well, who said anything about subtlety?” Romance grinned, backpedaling on his own words smoothly.

“Not me.” Mystery shrugged, feeling his muscles and his mind relax at the well-intentioned banter with his friend.

“Regardless, it’s nice to see you happy.” Romance’s smile softened.

Romance took a step away from Mystery, getting his notebook to record the dimensions he had gotten. Mystery looked over to Zoey, sitting curled up on the couch with her legs tucked underneath herself and tapping away at her phone. He saw her smile at the screen, then she looked up to him. She smiled brightly, and Mystery felt himself smile in return. He was more than happy with her. He began taking a step to go back to her, but Romance stopped him.

“Ah ah, one more measurement, then you can go.” Romance came up in front of Mystery, lifting his tape in hand then pausing. “Could you lift your hair, please?”

Mystery nodded absently as he looked at Zoey, bowing his head down briefly to collect his hair into his hand. Mystery straightened back up and looked over to Romance. Romance balked, eyes going wide. Mystery raised an eyebrow, looking back to Zoey. She looked just as shocked. That’s when Mystery realized- he had gathered all of his hair into his hand without thinking.

Baby spit a mouthful of coffee across the room.

“HOLY SHI-” Baby began to shout until his head knocked forward, courtesy of a firm smack by Jinu beside him. “Owww what the fuck, man?” Baby rubbed the back of his head, glaring at Jinu.

“I just meant the hair on your neck.” Romance said softly with a half smile, raising the measuring tape to loop around the back of Mystery’s neck and pinching the tape over his adam’s apple. 

“Oh,” was all Mystery could muster. Mystery stood stiff as Romance looked down at the number on the measuring tape. Mystery felt his patterns itch and writhe just beneath his skin with all of the quiet eyes around the room he could feel staring at him. His hand trembled slightly around his hair, feeling the prick of growing claws dig into his palm. He gritted his teeth, willing the demon in him to stay down. He forced himself to breathe, nostrils flaring once as he looked over to Zoey.

She sat there on the couch still, but had moved to sit up right on the edge. She smiled and looked at him with awe. It hadn’t been his intention to dive headfirst into being quite this open with the others yet, but the way her eyes sparkled at him, maybe headfirst wasn’t so bad. Her smile was bright and proud, but it was also gentle. She of all people saw right through him and knew what he was feeling right now. He wanted to run and hide, but he stayed still with his eyes focused on her until Romance moved again. 

Romance didn’t release the measuring tape from his neck at first, looking up and leaning close to Mystery’s exposed face. Mystery locked eyes with Romance and leaned back as best he could, finding himself trapped against the tape around his neck. Mystery felt his pupils narrow involuntarily before he forced the demon glow away and his eyes calmed. He strained, wincing. 

“Hmm, maybe Zoey was right.” Romance mused.

Mystery blinked, confused. He stared back at Romance, watching as Romance’s eyes didn’t jump around his face- around his scars- like he expected. Instead, Romance only looked straight into his own eyes. A heartbeat later, Romance removed the measuring tape and Mystery released his hair back over his face. His shoulders fell just barely from where they had wound up tight, feeling the small comfort not only from his protections back in place, but from how mild Romance’s reaction had been to seeing his face.

Mystery’s feet carried him to Zoey instantly. She stood from the couch to meet him halfway, wrapping her hand around his and looking up to him with that same gentle smile.

“Right about what?” Zoey looked back to Romance as he picked his notebook up off the ground.

“Us crossing paths, though not directly. There was one time the Paeng family had come to visit mine, a long time ago.” Romance scribbled the last number into his notebook of measurements. Mystery felt any relief he had gained disappear immediately as Romance continued talking.

“They didn’t bring any children with them, which I guess you probably would have been at the time, Mystery. But I still remember each of them, every single member of that family, their eye color was just so distinctive!” Romance tapped the end of his pen next to his own eyes as he stared at the ceiling in thought.

Zoey felt Mystery’s grip around her hand constrict. She looked from Romance back to Mystery beside her. His patterns broke out all over his skin, crawling up the side of his neck and spreading onto the violet skin that started overtaking him. She gasped lightly, reaching her other hand to loop around his arm.

“It was honestly one of the most gorgeous colors, I was so envious! I nearly asked my parents to arrange a marriage into that family, just imagine the beautiful children those would have been with my looks and their eyes!” Romance sighed to himself, closing the notebook in his hand. 

The patterns on Mystery’s skin began to glow violently. Zoey looked up with wide eyes as Mystery’s mouth twisted into a scowl, his canines growing and growing to stick out from his lips like small tusks. She saw his chest heave, the sound of his panting breath coming in short bursts.

“Speaking of, what was your father’s first name? Perhaps I met him.” A ripple sounded in the air as Romance finally turned back towards Mystery behind him, but he found no one there.

Romance spun, looking around the room. He faced Abby, Jinu, and Baby sitting and gawking silently from their chairs.

“What did I do?” Romance frowned at the others.

___

Chapter Text

Zoey squeezed her eyes shut and clutched Mystery’s arm firmly against herself as her body was teleported to a new location. Their trip between planes was longer this time. The sound of rushing air all around her was impossibly loud, or maybe it was the sound of her blood rushing in her ears in the absence of the world around them. She heard and then felt her feet land on solid ground at last. Zoey gasped for air, unsure if she had held her breath the whole time or if there simply was no air to breathe until now.

Zoey looked around the space surrounding her, finding it vaguely familiar. Desks and rolling office chairs were scattered in the dim room, a thin layer of dust covering every surface. Her eyes squinted at the walls around her, each window there was boarded with planks of plywood blocking out most of the sun from the outside world. She had been here once before.

Mystery wrenched his arm out of Zoey’s grip, distancing himself as his feet pounded against the floor with each step away he took from her. His ragged breathing echoed through the quiet abandoned office. He could feel the breath enter his lungs, but the crushing pressure on his chest was just too much. He brought his clawed hands to the collar of his shirt, tugging at the fabric until the seams gave out and ripped the neckline open wide, but it didn’t help. No matter how many times he gulped air down, he felt like he was suffocating.

He swerved, mind clouded and balance off center. His claws flexed and stretched at his sides as he stepped forward and reached out to steady himself on whatever was nearby. His hand caught on the corner of a desk and he raked his claws there, digging into the metal with an ear piercing screech. He scowled, gripping the tabletop and flipping it over singlehandedly. Mystery turned and grabbed a nearby chair and threw it across the room. Any furniture within arm’s reach was quickly flung by demon claws as if they weighed nothing.

“Mystery!” Zoey called out over the clatter of furniture skidding across the room and colliding with other objects in its path.

Mystery paused and turned his head halfway towards her. Zoey took a few steps closer, peeking around to try and look at his face. Her eyes caught on the elongated teeth still protruding from his mouth, then found his frenzied eyes watching her through partings in his tousled hair. Once her eyes locked with his, she saw Mystery’s pupils rapidly alternate between slit and rounded, a war raging behind them. She tried reaching out a hand to touch his arm.

But Mystery teleported to the other side of the room, picking up a computer monitor from a desk and hurling it against the wall. The monitor shattered on impact, broken glass and mangled metal scattering across the floor at his feet. Mystery recoiled, claws coming to grip the sides of his head at the sound. His legs shook and gave out, knees landing hard on the ground and shards of glass beneath him. His claws fisted and pulled at his own hair, nails scratching into his scalp as he curled in on himself and let out a strangled sob. 

Zoey ran across the room to him, her own knees sliding onto the ground in front of him as she kneeled down and wrapped her arms around his hunched over form. She locked herself around him to envelop him as tight as she could. Mystery released his claws from his head and relented, wrapping his arms around Zoey’s waist and pulling her to him. He buried his bowed head into her chest. Zoey felt his hands around her flex and strain, palms flat against her but clawed fingertips hovering as if he were afraid he would hurt her if he let himself hold her.

Zoey lifted one of her hands to smooth the hair on top of his head, finding a warm wet sensation as her hand grazed the bleeding scratches on his own scalp there. Her frown deepened as she leaned her face down to kiss the top of his head gently and squeeze her arms around his shoulders again.

Mystery let out another ragged breath, his whole back shaking and trembling with the effort to breathe. Zoey kept her head bowed over him, face gently resting on the top of his head while she grounded him there. She could feel the racing pulse of his heart inside his chest. Her eyes closed, taking a slow, deep breath through her nose and felt the expansion of her chest press into Mystery head there. She held her breath for a few seconds, then released the air in her lungs slowly through her parted lips, keeping Mystery flush against her.

Zoey repeated her cyclical breathing in silence, in through the nose, hold, out through her mouth. After a few repetitions, she felt Mystery’s irregular breathing start to sync with her own, his gasping breaths starting to level with each exhale. She felt his hands begin to relax around her, his pointed fingertips carefully touching her. Zoey moved one of her hands slowly, trailing up his back and over his shoulder. 

Mystery tensed again as Zoey brought her hand across his neck, coming to the edge of his jaw. She gently pulled Mystery’s face up from where he hid against her. He allowed her to pull his face up. His hair was matted unevenly with sweat and blood, half of his face obscured and half shown. 

Zoey cupped the edge of his jaw. She moved her thumb across his purpled skin there, gently touching one of his long fangs. His upper lip twitched, and his head moved marginally away from her touching his teeth. Zoey maneuvered her hand up to tuck his hair away from his eyes. She gave him a small smile, seeing his eyes were dimmed once more with rounded pupils for her. His eyelids closed as Zoey leaned forward and placed a soft kiss over each of his eyes. 

Mystery shuddered, his breath hitching as his canines receded and he bit down on his lower lip with dulled teeth. His head fell forward again to land on Zoey’s shoulder as he felt hot tears swell against his eyelids. Zoey wrapped her arms around him again, one hand gently rubbing his aching shoulders. 

“I tried, I did. It was just too much-” Mystery’s voice cracked as he sobbed against her.

“Shhhh,” Zoey hushed him, “Don’t talk. Just breathe.”

Mystery’s hands fisted in her shirt as he let himself cry. The sharp points of his claws punctured through the fabric of her shirt as Zoey felt the backs of his fingers brush against the skin of her back. Zoey leaned her head against him resting there on her shoulder as she breathed steadily for him. Her eyes wandered the room, watching as dust particles swirled in stray beams of light that crossed the room from gaps in the boards along the windows. The sunlight criss-crossed along the floor and over the ruined furniture beyond them. 

Zoey heard Mystery’s breath shake in time with his shoulders, holding in the sounds caught in his throat. Zoey closed her eyes and swept her hands along his back in a wide circle. A tune came to Zoey’s mind, and she began humming softly. Her murmuring tone carried into the empty space, just loud enough to muffle Mystery’s weeping as he let himself fall apart. She continued humming as she felt Mystery’s shoulders curl inwards against her and his hands released from the back of her shirt to hold her gently again. 

His sobs settled and calmed minute by minute. Zoey didn’t stop soothing him with her slow moving hands and gentle voice even as his forehead shifted to press into the side of her neck. He sighed against her skin with a slow, level breath at last. She waited as he lifted his head from her, taking his hands back and bringing one of his hands up to wipe across his face, clearing the mixture of blood, sweat, and tears from his eyes. 

Zoey quieted and caught his eyes into hers when he stretched his back up straight. She reached down and held his hands between them. She brought his hands up to her lips and placed a gentle kiss to the backs of each of his hands. Zoey looked into his eyes. They were dusky and desaturated as he looked back at her. She offered a small smile to him but he didn’t smile back. 

Zoey shifted her weight on the floor, moving to stand. Mystery’s arms wrapped around her legs as he leaned forwards toward her. The shards of glass under his knees crunched and he gritted his teeth together.

“Don’t go.” He pleaded softly.

“I’m not leaving you.” Zoey placed her hands on his shoulders, giving a comforting squeeze with her palms. “Let’s get you off the floor though.”

Mystery nodded numbly, wincing as he moved to stand. Zoey frowned down at the smears of blood left behind where his knees had been. She gently intertwined her fingers between his. She tugged him along, spotting the small lumpy couch against one wall set up with a pillow and a ratty blanket. Led by their joined hands, Mystery’s eyes dragged on the floor, pausing at every broken scrap of the monitor he had shattered. Zoey moved him to sit on the couch, gingerly pushing his shoulders down as she stood in front of him.

“Stay, just for a minute.” She spoke softly until she saw his head nod once, then turned from him.

Zoey carefully stepped through the rubble towards a side room. She searched the cabinets of the small break room, finding an unopened bottle of water and a dusty pile of napkins. She brushed off the dust, tossing aside the top few napkins on the stack. She tiptoed back into the room, relieved that Mystery was still right where she left him.

She returned to his side, opening the water bottle and wetting one of the napkins in her hand. She knelt down in front of him, tugging at the torn and bloodied fabric around his knees gently. She heard Mystery suck in a breath when her hand found a piece of glass embedded in his skin there. She looked up at him, finding his eyes were staring in her direction, but not really looking at her.

Zoey delicately freed the shard of glass and then pressed down on the weeping wound with the damp napkin. She methodically tended to his knees, removing any foreign materials lodged in cuts along his skin and wiping the leaking blood away. She held gentle pressure to the cuts until his blood clotted and the wounds began to heal. Once his knees were cleaned, she stood again and brought her hands to cradle either side of Mystery’s head. 

His eyes tracked her movement, looking up at her with an empty gaze. She gently combed his hair with her fingertips, dampened with some clean water. She teased the dried blood from his hair, careful near his scalp. She looked there as the cuts had already scabbed, his accelerated demon healing beginning to stitch the ends of the wounds together again. She wiped her hands clean with the last of the water, then dried them with a few napkins. 

Zoey’s feet padded a step to the side, lowering herself to sit beside Mystery on the couch there. She placed a hand on his thigh, her thumb moving in a soothing motion there. His head turned towards her then leaned against her shoulder weakly. 

Then Zoey felt her phone buzz from her back pocket. She reached back to retrieve it. The screen lit the dim space, and then Zoey felt Mystery tense up beside her again as his eyes spotted the message on the screen. She set the phone to silent and locked the screen, placing it face down on the armrest of the couch before turning back to Mystery.

“I can’t go back there.” His voice was hoarse. “Not yet.”

“We don’t have to.” Zoey shook her head with a gentle smile. She wrapped her arms around Mystery beside her, tugging him down. Mystery let himself be pulled again, his body numb and weak. Zoey scooted herself over a little father so that Mystery’s head laid upon her thighs as he lifted his legs up onto the small couch. Zoey smiled down at him as he settled onto his back, facing up at her from her lap. Mystery rested one of his hands over his stomach and Zoey placed one of her own hands over top of his.

“But the concert-” Mystery fought his red rimmed eyelids to stay open as he looked up at her.

“The concert isn’t important right now. You are.” She brought her other hand up to gently smooth the hair around his forehead. “Rest.”

Mystery gave in, his eyes finally closing as his head turned towards Zoey and leaned into her touch. She combed her fingertips through his hair until all the knots were gone. Zoey hummed to him again, willing him into a sense of safety and security.

“Zoey?” Mystery’s sleepy voice whispered as he took a slow, level breath.

“Hm?” 

“Thank you” His lips barely moved as his consciousness faded, submitting himself to a deep sleep against her. 

Zoey watched as sleep claimed the demon on her lap. She continued to hum the tune of her childhood lullaby into the air for a few minutes longer. The features on Mystery’s face softened as he drifted into a peaceful slumber. The slight crease between his brows finally smoothed as the last tension his body held onto vanished. 

She quieted slowly, letting her voice fade into comfortable silence. Mystery’s hand on his stomach twitched under her own, his clawed fingertips spreading. She turned his hand over in hers and laced her fingers through his, careful not to let him wake. He settled again, sighing in his sleep. She felt a sad smile tug at her lips as she removed her other hand from his hair to rub her own tired eyes. 

Zoey looked up from Mystery after a while, noting the angle of the sunlight through the windows had shifted as time passed. Her eyes flicked over to her phone still on the armrest. She saw the screen light up through the edge of the fabric it sat on, then darken. The screen lit again as another silenced notification was received.

Zoey sighed soundlessly, slowly moving her free hand to flip the phone so she could see the screen. Her eyes skimmed the constant flow of text messages that had come through different group chats. She scrolled up to read from the top. The Saja boys sent various messages in their ‘Loser Squad’ chat trying to reach Mystery. Between apologies from Romance, blunt questions sent from Baby, general confusion from Abby, and Jinu trying to control the chaos of each of them, it was a mess of a conversation. Mira and Rumi were lost in it all, not able to get any answers from the boys’ incoherent text messages. 

Rumi and Mira texted Zoey in their own Huntrix group chat. Their earlier messages began simply confused, asking where she was after the girls must have come back down to the choreo room after Mystery had teleported them out. Their confusion mixed with concern over time as Zoey guessed the boys must have filled them in on the happenings they missed out on. The most recent texts that came through from Mira and Rumi worried Zoey though. 

“Text us back, please!”

“Just let us know you’re okay.”

“Baby’s tracking your phone.”

“We’re coming to get you.”

Zoey moved to respond, her fingers quickly tapping her message and not caring about spelling. She hit send, her heart rate spiking in her ears.

“Im fine dont coe hrre”

But Zoey’s eyes flicked up as she heard the displacement of air from the center of the room a few seconds later. She sucked in a breath, watching as Abby and Rumi teleported into the center of the room. Abby’s hands were wrapped around Mira’s arms to bring her along.

Zoey’s eyes went wide with panic. But luckily no one immediately called out to her. Mira wobbled where she stood, her hands coming to cover her mouth as she nearly heaved. Abby held Mira’s shoulders, grounding her as her knees wavered. Abby and Rumi spotted Zoey as she pressed a finger to her mouth to tell them to be quiet, sternly glaring at each of them. Abby winced and nodded, supporting Mira as she got her bearings. He mimicked Zoey, the unspoken message to be silent delivered to Mira as her mind caught up to her body and her queasy stomach calmed.

Once Mira stood steady and freed herself from Abby’s hands, she and Rumi turned to where Zoey was seated, Mystery still asleep on her lap. The girls turned to the Saja boy that had helped transport them and nodded once. Abby teleported out of the space, leaving them alone. 

Zoey looked up with a frown and creased brow to Mira and Rumi. Her lips pulled thin as she watched each of them survey the room around them. The hunters spotted the toppled over desks, one marred with deep gouges from where Mystery had dug his claws into the table. Mira looked down at the broken glass and metal shards covering the floor, her eyes catching on blood. She nudged Rumi next to her and pointed.

Zoey caught their eyes again as her friends looked back up in alarm and opened their mouths to speak, but Zoey pressed her finger to her downturned mouth again more firmly. She held their stare, a silent warning thrown between the intense eye contact. Zoey dropped her finger when she saw her friends back down slightly. Zoey mouthed a sentence to them, producing no sound.

‘I’m fine’ She stressed the mock syllables to make her message clear.

Mira drew her eyebrows low, pointing again to the small pool of blood on the floor, then pointing her finger at Zoey. Zoey looked down at herself, finding smears of blood on her own shirt that she hadn’t noticed before. Then she remembered the cuts she found on Mystery’s scalp when he had pressed his head into her chest.

‘Not mine’ Zoey mouthed the words to her friend. Zoey motioned with her head down to Mystery on her lap. Mira and Rumi nodded after a moment, their stares moving to see the pile of bloodied napkins wadded up at the base of the couch.

‘Are you okay?’ Mira mouthed the words from across the room. Zoey nodded back to them.

Rumi and Mira sighed in relief, looking at each other, then looked back at Zoey. Zoey watched her friends’ eyes move down again to Mystery on her lap. They watched the sleeping demon there for a long moment, his skin still tinged purple and dark patterns covering his skin. His breathing was steady and level in his sleep with Zoey’s hand still curled around his hand upon his chest. His head was still facing towards Zoey, but Zoey knew her friends could probably see well enough through the space to see the side of his face unobscured. Zoey frowned as she saw the confusion and questions that must be racing through her friends’ minds.

‘Is he okay?’ Rumi asked wordlessly. Zoey shook her head with a frown. ‘What happened?’

‘Not now.’ Zoey mouthed back to her friends. ‘Later.’

‘Can we help?’ Rumi offered silently.

Zoey thought to herself for a moment, then nodded. She raised her free hand again and made a motion, mimicking bringing a glass of water to her mouth, followed by an imitation of eating something from her fingers. Rumi and Mira nodded back to her. Mira took her phone out from her pocket and sent a text.

A moment later, Abby returned. Mira looped a hand around Abby’s extended arm. The hunters sent one more worried look over to Zoey and Mystery, sending the pair a small frown before they all teleported away. 

Zoey sighed, relaxing herself into the back of the couch now that they were alone again. Her head flopped back, resting against the top of the cushion behind her as she stared up at the ceiling. Even though the time hadn’t even reached noon according to her phone, Zoey felt like she could easily nap the whole day away. Her eyes drifted closed in the near-silence, listening to Mystery’s soft breathing below her and the muffled noises of the world outside. 

A handful of quiet minutes later, Zoey detected another demon arriving with the faint sound of rushing air nearby. Though when Zoey opened her eyes and lifted her head, she didn’t see anyone there. She turned her head, confused at the still-empty space. She looked back down at Mystery still sleeping, then spotted something just in front of her feet.

She sat up slightly, peering over Mystery’s head at the tray placed there on the ground that hadn’t been there before. There were two bottles of water, two cups of Zoey’s hamburger flavored ramyeon, chopsticks, some fruit, and a thermos of what Zoey assumed was hot water for the noodles. She smiled softly, noticing the last item on the tray that was delivered without a word: a single pink rose. 

Zoey allowed Mystery to sleep peacefully for a while longer before gently waking him once she started to lose all feeling below her knees. He reluctantly woke, furrowing his brow. Mystery groaned and turned his body to lay on his side towards her, wrapping his arms around Zoey’s waist and pressing his face into her abdomen. Zoey patted the top of his head, laughing quietly to herself at the reversal from how they woke that morning.

“Come on now, wakey wakey, my Saja boy.” She cooed down at him.

Mystery grumbled against her, scooting himself closer. Zoey giggled, about to pry him away but then froze as she felt her stomach constrict. Her face flushed red as the silence in the room was broken by a loud growl echoing from her hungry stomach. Zoey felt Mystery’s eyebrows rise against her stomach before he began laughing softly against her. Zoey huffed in embarrassment but smiled along with him.

Mystery released her, moving to sit up. Zoey saw him wince as he sat upright, bringing his hands up to massage his own temples as his eyes squeezed shut again.

“Oh, my head…” Mystery mumbled with a frown.

Zoey flexed her legs to return the blood flow there and rid the feeling of pins and needles from the soles of her feet. She scooted forward, reaching down to grab one of the still-cold water bottles there. She handed the bottle over to Mystery. Mystery gladly took the bottle, unscrewing the cap and drinking most of the water in one go. Zoey retrieved the second bottle, taking a sip herself. 

Mystery lowered his water bottle and looked down at it, then back up at Zoey with a raised eyebrow. Zoey just smiled sweetly and picked up the tray from the ground beneath her feet. She set the rose on the armrest behind her as she crossed her legs up on the couch cushion and turned to face Mystery.

“Want some lunch?” She smiled. 

“What the… Where did…” He trailed. Mystery looked down at the tray, incredibly confused. But then Zoey’s stomach made another gurgling sound. He shook his head with a half smile as her flushed cheeks darkened more. “Sure, let’s eat.”

Zoey busied herself with pouring the hot water from the thermos on the tray into the ramyeon cups. She snacked on the fresh fruit during the 3-minute cooking period of the noodles, hoping it would satiate her stomach enough to keep it from growling so loudly again in the meantime.

She kept an eye on Mystery in front of her. He looked down at his clawed hands resting on his lap. Mystery closed his eyes and took a deep breath in through his nose, held it for a moment, then out through his mouth. She watched in mild curiosity as the elongated fingertips of his hands shrunk, the sharp points thinning to become his nails as they rounded off against his human hands. His skin lightened and his patterns faded away, disappearing down to wherever it was he subdued his demon features inside of himself. 

When Mystery opened his eyes again, Zoey handed him his cup of noodles. He smiled softly and nodded his head to her in thanks. The pair ate their lunch in comfortable silence, no more involuntary complaints sounding from Zoey’s stomach as they ate. 

The screen on Zoey’s phone flashed alive behind her as their cups emptied. Mystery angled his head to look at the light shining there. Zoey turned, picking up her phone to read the new message from Rumi telling her that Bobby had left to go scan and file the Saja boys’ paperwork. Zoey sent a thumbs up emoji as her only response and set the phone back down. She looked back up to Mystery.

“Is your headache getting better?” She asked, her voice quiet just in case. Mystery nodded once. “Are you feeling better too? In general?” Zoey asked carefully.

“I’m…getting there.” Mystery gave a pained smile back at her. His eyelids were still a little puffy around the rims.

“Getting there is good.” Her eyes were gentle as she looked at him.

“I’m sorry.”

“Hey now,” Zoey put down her empty noodle cup and reached out to take one of Mystery's hands into hers. “You’re okay. You did nothing wrong.”

“I lost control.” Mystery tore his eyes from her, looking around the room at the toppled desks and settling on the blood stain drying on the ground.

“So?”

“I could have hurt someone.”

“But you didn’t.” Zoey squeezed his hand in her own. “You came here instead.”

“I ran away.” Mystery’s eyes shut tight.

“You brought yourself somewhere where you couldn’t hurt anyone. You didn’t tear up the headquarters. You didn’t attack anyone around you. You didn’t hurt me.”

“I would never hurt you.” His eyes snapped back to her.

“I know.” She smiled. “You stepped away from a situation where you were uncomfortable, that’s all.”

“I thought I could handle it.” He let out a defeated sigh, his head bowing slightly. “I just didn’t expect Romance to actually…”

“You don’t have to talk about it yet if you don’t want to.” Zoey released his hand, reaching up to cup Mystery’s cheek. She moved her thumb against his cheekbone gently. Her fingertip traced one of his scars, a small delicate line that skated in parallel where Zoey knew one of his patterns was when he let them show.

“It wasn’t even that he saw these.” Mystery raised his hand to sit atop Zoey’s own hand against his face, pinning the warmth of her there and focusing himself on that grounding point. “He didn’t even care about the scars. But somehow what he did see was worse.”

Zoey frowned at him, remembering that Mystery hadn’t reacted so severely until after he had put his hair back down. He had held it together while his hair was up, even when Romance had gotten up close to him. It was only when Romance talked about a family with a distinctive eye color that his patterns resurfaced. Zoey tilted her head to the side as Mystery spoke again.

“I never knew his name, first or last.” Mystery’s gaze held onto hers, the gold flecks circling his pupils glinting in the dim light. “My mother refused to tell me who my birth father was. She said it hurt too much to think of him. At one point she said it was too painful to even look at me because I reminded her of him. I thought she meant the scars then, too. I thought she just felt guilty for what happened to me, that she regretted not stopping it. But it was never the scars. When she looked at me, she saw his eyes because they were my eyes, too.”

Mystery closed his eyes and leaned into Zoey’s hand against him. He pulled her hand down his cheek and placed a small kiss on her palm. He laced his fingers through hers and looked back at Zoey watching him silently as he continued on. 

“I had given up trying to learn anything about him ages ago. He’s long dead, along with everyone else I knew. I was stuck in the demon realm, so what did it matter? After all this time, I was finally starting to move past everything. But now somehow, I have one of the answers I thought I didn’t want anymore.”

“Do you still want them? Those answers?” Zoey’s voice was gentle for him.

“Part of me says no.” 

“Why not?”

“I don’t want it to change me.” 

“How would it change you?”

“I don’t know.” Mystery let loose a frustrated breath, his brows creasing further as he pulled his and Zoey’s joined hands down to his lap and looked at them there. “He was my father, but he also wasn’t. I never knew him. He didn’t raise me. If I learn about him, he becomes real instead of just a missing piece. I don’t want him to feel more real than the people that became my family.”

“I don’t think he could ever compare to your family.” Zoey smiled at him. “Even if he’s more than just a name, a name isn’t more than the years of good memories you made with your family. A name doesn’t replace how they cared for you, the songs your Auntie sang to you, or her secret spicy beef recipe- which I’m determined to figure out how to make by the way-, or watching the rain with Scraggle.”

Mystery snorted a small laugh, his frown overtaken by a weak smile again. Zoey smiled wider, squeezing his hand within hers once. She caught his eyes into her again and spoke, her voice carrying a little more conviction now.

“Whether you want to know about him or not, if you choose to learn whatever Romance knows or just leave it be, it won’t change who you are.” Mystery just nodded, letting Zoey’s words sink into him. “You are whoever you want to be.”

“Whoever I want to be?” Mystery’s eyes softened as his smile set more firmly. Zoey watched a peaceful calm settle over his expression.

Mystery untwined his fingers from Zoey’s hand. He moved his hand along hers, wrapping around her wrist and pulling her to him. Zoey shifted in her seat, rising up onto her knees and leaning closer to him. He captured her lips into his as his other hand found her waist, tugging her to where he sat. She moved her knees to frame either side of his hips as she sat over him on the small couch. 

Mystery rested both of his hands on the curves of her waist, kissing her slowly and tenderly. Zoey moved her own hands to cup the underside of Mystery’s jaw and rest her fingertips along the sides of his neck. Her thumbs traced his defined jawline just under his ears. The ends of his tucked hair tickled her fingertips. His lips were soft against hers, gentle and loving.

Zoey sighed into him, her own tension and worry for him melting away as his hands moved from her waist to circle around her back, drawing her forward until they were pressed chest to chest. Zoey wrapped her own arms around him, her fingertips tangling into the ends of his hair at the back of his head. 

“I know one thing for certain.” Mystery spoke softly as he broke their embrace just barely. Their lips hovered an inch apart, each opening half-lidded eyes. “Who I want to be is yours.”

“You already are,” Zoey smiled, resting her forehead against his. “As long as I get to be yours, too.”

“You’re sure?” He whispered to her, his voice wavering in worry. Zoey heard what was underneath his words. He was asking if she was really comfortable with everything that came with being together, being with him. All of the unknowns with their future and the pains of his past. There were still ghosts that haunted him that she didn’t understand yet. Some things were still too painful for him, but it was getting easier with her beside him. He didn’t want to burden her with all of his pain, but it never felt like a burden for her. 

She didn’t see him as broken or damaged. No one is perfect, everyone has scars in one form or another. Some people’s scars are more visible, some can be hidden away, and some people’s scars run far deeper under the surface. He had experienced such sadness in his life on top of spending centuries as a demon that she could never fully understand, but she didn’t need to know everything to know she cared for him more than she ever expected to. 

“I’m sure.” Zoey kissed him again, silencing his worries with her lips against his. 

—

Mystery teleported himself and Zoey back to Huntrix HQ once his emotions settled enough where he felt comfortable facing everyone again. Plus he knew he would have Zoey at his side no matter what he chose or what would happen next. The pair materialized into the kitchen in a flash, their hands intertwined between them. Zoey hardly felt the effects of moving instantly through space. She just smiled up at Mystery warmly before turning towards a voice that spoke as they appeared. Everyone was gathered on the living room couch around scattered plates and bowls of food on the coffee table.

“You’re back!” Rumi called over to them from the living room. Rumi stood from the couch and hopped over the back of the furniture to greet them. 

“Hey, Rumi!” Zoey smiled, turning her body towards where her friend came to them. She let go of one of Mystery’s hands but kept hold of the other between them.

“Everything okay?” Rumi asked as she approached, looking more to Mystery than to Zoey. Mystery nodded to her with a small smile, his eyes obscured behind his hair again.

“Ugh Zoey, how are you not sick right now?” Mira’s distressed voice carried from where she was hunched over sitting on the couch between Abby and Romance, each with a hand resting on her back.

“Why would I be sick?” Zoey kicked up an eyebrow, confused.

“I think she means from being teleported.” Rumi winced, glancing back at the third hunter. “It didn’t sit well with her coming back…”

“That sucked so bad. I’m never doing that again.” Mira groaned, her hands wrapped around her aching stomach.

“It’s not that bad!” Rumi rolled her eyes.

“You can literally teleport yourself whenever you want, Rumi. At least you know where you’re going. Excuse me for not liking the feeling of being dragged along.”

“You get used to it after a while, Mira!” Zoey laughed, squeezing Mystery’s hand in her own once.

“A while?” Rumi stared at Zoey and Mystery. “How many times have you been teleported?” Zoey lifted her free hand in front of her, trying to think back and count on her fingers. Rumi’s eyebrows shot up when Zoey had to keep counting past five fingers. 

Meanwhile, Romance stood from the couch, squeezing his hand on Mira’s shoulder once before walking over to into the kitchen. Mystery tried not to track him with his head but couldn’t help it. Zoey paused her counting when she noticed Romance came up to Mystery. The boys frowned at each other, then Romance bowed at the waist, his head held low.

“Mystery, I’m sorry for how I upset you. I hope you can forgive me for overstepping, but I understand if you don’t.” Romance spoke towards the ground.

Mystery blinked down at the demon in front of him. Romance held himself there until Mystery moved, raising his free hand forward in the space between them. Romance began picking up his head as Mystery spoke.

“It’s okay.” Mystery held his hand out in offering. “You couldn’t have known it was a… sore subject for me.”

Romance stared at Mystery’s hand in front of him, then stood up fully straight again and looked up. His eyes widened as he looked at Mystery in front of him. Mystery had let his hair part just enough to show one amber eye and their gazes locked. Mystery smiled, his shown eye crinkling at the edges just a little.

“Friends?” Mystery asked. Romance smiled back, clasping his hand over Mystery’s and stepping forward to clap lightly along his back.

“Friends.” Romance nodded. 

Zoey let go of Mystery’s hand and walked beside Rumi further into the room, leaving Mystery and Romance to talk quietly amongst themselves in the kitchen. Zoey headed towards her bedroom to go change out of her dirty clothing. Rumi followed Zoey into her room, closing the door behind her. Before Zoey could open the doorway that led through the bathroom to her closet, Rumi cleared her throat.

“Well?” Rumi prompted, standing in the middle of the room with crossed arms and staring at Zoey. “What the hell happened with you and Mystery?”

“Which part?” Zoey winced as she walked through the bathroom to her closet. Her friends were always observant, even more so now after they vowed never to keep secrets from each other since the Idol awards. Zoey’s eyes landed on Mystery’s tank top that was sitting at the top of her laundry hamper. She and Mystery agreed not to hide their newfound relationship from their friends. Maybe Rumi had picked up on them already? 

“All of it, but let’s start with the blood. Were you two fighting?” Rumi’s voice was laced with concern as she called after Zoey through the space between them.

“Us? Fighting?” Zoey snorted a laugh at the silly notion as she changed out of her bloodied shirt into a clean top. “No, definitely not!”

“Then what? If it wasn’t yours then it was his, but you weren’t fighting?”

“Mystery, he…” Zoey frowned, walking back to her bedroom. “Some of it was accidental. Romance brought up some things that ended up really upsetting Mystery, and he needed some space. There was broken glass and he got cut on it.” She paused, absently touching her own arm and rubbed at the scars on her wrist. “But he also hurt himself, too. That’s all.”

“Zoey…” Rumi’s concern morphed into sympathy, knowing why Zoey always rubbed the same spot on her wrist. She stepped forward, putting a comforting hand on the side of Zoey’s arm. “And you’re really okay? Honestly?”

“Yeah.” Zoey gave Rumi a reassuring smile. “It’s complicated, but really, everything is fine. We’re good, more than good.” Zoey opened her mouth to continue talking, but Rumi cut her off.

“Okay, next question.” Rumi nodded, eyes sharpening. Zoey braced. “Did I actually see Mystery show his eyes back there? What’s up with that? He actually has normal eyes?” Rumi’s own eyes were wide with amazement.

“What?” Zoey reeled, not expecting that comment. “Of course he has normal eyes! Why wouldn’t he?” 

“Well I dunno! He always has his hair over his face!”

“You think he’s just walking around blind or something?” Zoey smiled, amused but also remembering that she was previously the only one who had seen beyond his hair. “He can see just fine!”

“Well yeah I know that now! The guys wouldn't give me a straight answer so I had to bully Jinu into telling me what happened downstairs after Mystery kidnapped you-”

“What is with everyone talking about kidnapping??” Zoey interrupted with an incredulous laugh.

“Did you ask to go to that old office building with him?” Rumi deadpanned. Zoey realized it must have looked a little questionable to the others, seeing her be teleported away with Mystery when he had gone full panic demon mode seemingly out of nowhere.

“Well no, but that doesn’t mean I was kidnapped! If anything I forced him to bring me with him! I saw him getting upset and knew what he might do and he would need me there!”

“You knew he would teleport and freak out?” Rumi narrowed her eyes at her friend.

“Lucky guess?” Zoey shrugged awkwardly.

“And he’s teleported you places before?” Her tone turned accusatory all over again.

“Nothing crazy!” Zoey held her hands up, trying to diffuse the conversation. “Just up to the roof a few times, or around HQ, and then there was the time we went out to lunch together in the city!”

“Went out to lunch together?!” 

“Yeah, remember we came back in the middle of you and Jinu fighting?” 

“Oh, I forgot about that…” Rumi winced, having been far too immersed in her own emotions to notice their strange arrival. 

“Rumi, it's really no big deal!” Zoey smiled, her voice lighthearted as she placed a comforting hand on her friend’s shoulder. “I'm not in any danger with him, I promise!”

The pair was interrupted before either could speak again by a sudden shout that echoed from outside the room. The girls alerted instantly, conversation forgotten. Zoey rushed out the door, quickly coming back into the living space with Rumi close behind her. Their eyes darted to each person there and found the source of the noise.

Baby snarled as he stared down Jinu beside him on the couch. Baby glared with gold eyes and glowing patterns at the leader of the Saja boys and gripped Jinu’s wrist in the air with one hand. Jinu scowled back, his clawed hand raised halfway between the two of them.

“If you try to smack me again like I’m some kind of child,” Baby seethed. “I’m going to snap your arm in half.”

“Then stop asking insensitive fucking questions!” Jinu spoke back through gritted teeth, struggling against Baby’s grip.

“Hey, cut it out! Both of you!” Rumi shouted, stomping over to separate the hostile demons from each other. Her own patterns flared when she drew on her demon strength to pry Baby’s hand from around Jinu’s wrist.

Zoey searched the room for Mystery, finding him still standing in the kitchen beside Romance. She breathed a sigh of relief when he saw him quietly laughing at the exchange. No patterns, no claws, no fangs, just him. She made her way to Mystery’s side anyways, catching his eye with a flicker of concern in her own. When she reached him he wrapped his arm around her back, pulling her lightly into his side. 

“What’d I miss?” Zoey said softly to him. Mystery shrugged against her, then Romance responded.

“Just Baby being a menace, as usual.” Romance said in a hushed voice, rolling his eyes.

“Think he’s gonna be a problem?” Zoey chuckled, half joking and half serious.

“I guess we’ll find out.” Mystery mused, watching the others still gathered in the living space argue over what kinds of questions were too ‘insensitive’ or ‘inappropriate’.

“You’re the one who has to share a room with him.” Romance added.

“As long as he doesn’t try anything when I’m sleeping. ” Mystery grumbled, frowning slightly.

“Well,” Zoey’s face flushed at a thought as she smiled. “You could just stay in my room so he doesn’t get the chance to mess with you.”

“How could I say no to that?” Mystery grinned, angling his head to place a kiss on the top of Zoey’s head.

Romance let loose a small laugh, eyeing the couple to his side. He crossed his arms over his chest, leaning back against the kitchen island. His eyes held on Zoey and Mystery for a moment longer, contently leaning on one another as they watched the chaos around them without much of a care. Romance flicked his eyes back to Mira scowling at her arguing companions and Abby still at her side trying his best to soothe her with a hand on her back and a gentle smile. Baby and Jinu were still going back and forth with Rumi trying to diffuse the situation as best she could. It certainly was never a dull day among these hunters and demons.

___