Second Chances (KPop Demon Hunters)-Chapter 51: Free

A/N: Here's the new Chapter! Which also means the next FIVE chapters are up on
my Patreon
for early access!
Not gonna lie, Free has really grown on me since the first time I saw the movie. Doesn't crack my top three songs, but it did move from fifth to fourth as time went on.
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Rumi tries to hold on to her anger even as Jinu pulls up the memory and they're both transported back to that street in the other timeline. But it's hard to keep the smile off of her face, truth be told. In the end, she gives up on being mad and settles back against the wall next to him, the memory versions of Derpy and Sussie causing Zoey to squeal in giddy excitement.
This song… it feels right sharing it with the girls, in the end. And so, as Rumi feels the moment coming, she takes in a breath… and starts to sing.
"I tried to hide, but something broke
I tried to sing, couldn't hit the notes
The words kept catching in my throat
I tried to smile, I was suffocating though~"
She immediately has the girls' undivided attention. Their eyes are laser-focused on her with an intensity that would probably mess with anyone who didn't have as much stage experience as Rumi did. Once upon a time, she would have been terrified of them hearing this song. Or at least, her Future Self would have been.
But now? It felt good to look Jinu in the eye and speak the words she knew to be true even after his betrayal, even after everything that happened in the other timeline.
"But here with you, I can finally breathe
You say you're no good, but you're good for me
I've been hoping to change, now I know we can change
But I won't if you're not by my side~"
The intimacy they'd all shared together last night comes to mind as Rumi keeps singing, going through the lyrics of Free like they're second nature to her.
"Why does it feel right every time I let you in?
Why does it feel like I can tell you anything?
All the secrets that keep me in chains, and
All the damage that might make me dangerous"
Much like What It Sounds Like, she hadn't known what was going to come out of her mouth until it did. And yet, despite only singing this song once before, its like it's seared onto her very soul, just like the song she and the girls used to defeat Gwi-Ma.
"You got a dark side, guess you're not the only one
What if we both tried fighting what we're running from?
We can't fix it if we never face it
What if we find a way to escape it?"
Finally, Rumi starts the end of her part, staring Jinu right in the eye as if she can make him understand that these words mean something to her even in the present, even in this moment.
"We could be free, free
We can't fix it if we never face it
Let the past be the past 'til it's weightless"
Sure maybe they were already 'free'. Maybe they had already 'fixed it' this time around. But the past clearly still weighed heavily on Jinu. And Rumi didn't like that. She hated how he still blamed himself so much. She hated how he considered himself unworthy of her love. He'd more than earned his redemption at this point.
Jinu's sharp inhale before he starts singing lets Rumi know that he gets at least some of what she's trying to convey. And then it's his turn.
"Oh, time goes by, and I lose perspective
Yeah, hope only hurts, so I just forget it"
Rumi smiles sadly, knowing now what happened to him after they sang this song together. He hadn't always intended to betray her. No, Gwi-Ma had been watching… and he'd made sure to extinguish Jinu's hope until he forgot it again the moment that she was gone. She should never have left him alone that night.
"But you're breaking through all the dark in me
When I thought that nobody could
And you're waking up all these parts of me
That I thought were buried for good"
Zoey's breath hitches as Jinu picks up speed with his vocals. His rapping is clearly good enough to impress their resident lyricist and Rumi grins as the maknae leans forward a bit more, hanging off of every word that leaves Jinu's mouth.
"Between imposter and this monster, I've been lost inside my head
Ain't no choice when all these voices keep me pointing towards no end
It's just easy when I'm with you
No one sees me the way you do
I don't trust it, but I want to
I keep coming back to"
This is where Rumi comes back in, the two of them coming together as they start to harmonize. It really is a duet, just like Jinu said. A proper love ballad, in fact.
"Why does it feel right every time I let you in?
Why does it feel like I can tell you anything?
We can't fix it if we never face it
What if we find a way to escape it?"
Jinu is the perfect background to her vocals. Almost subservient, Rumi is starting to realize.
"We could be free, free
We can't fix it if we never face it
Let the past be the past 'til it's weightless"
And yet, he looks at her with such love and adoration that it's hard to be upset about it. He's not simply taking a backseat for her; he's propping her up and supporting her. And finally… they're at the end.
Oh-oh, so take my hand, it's open (free, free)
What if we heal what's broken? (Free, free)"
She reaches out like before and Jinu does the same. Except this time things are different. Their patterns glow with the Rainbow Honmoon, lighting up all across their bodies in an iridescent shine that was missing in the other timeline. Proof of their success. Proof of their commitment both to one another and the world.
"I tried to hide, but something broke
I couldn't sing, but you give me hope
We can't fix it if we never face it
Let the past be the past 'til it's weightless!"
With a sigh, Rumi brings it home… and then pulls Jinu into a deep kiss, her hands on his face as his come to rest on her hips. There might be more than a little tongue involved, but to be fair there's a lot of emotion tied up in that song.
Still, she's half-expecting to hear wolf-whistling from Mira or clapping from Zoey. When silent seconds continue to build up with neither of those things happening, Rumi finally pulls away from Jinu and turns to give her fellow hunters a curious look.
Zoey's lower lip is wobbling… and Mira is scowling. The moment Rumi's gaze falls upon them is the moment the dam breaks and Zoey starts to wail.
"THAT WAS JUST SO BEAUTIFUL!!!"
Meanwhile, Mira growls, glaring daggers… at Jinu?!
"You seriously sung that shit with Future Rumi and then went and betrayed her anyways?! What the fuck is wrong with you?!"
Oh. Jinu grimaces and hunches in, ducking his head like a whipped dog who expects and thinks he deserves to be yelled at. Immediately, Rumi lets out a growl of her own, one that reverberates through her chest and makes Mira freeze in place like a deer caught in headlights.
"That's
enough
, Mira."
Scowling a bit furiously, Rumi grabs Jinu so he can't run away. Not that she thinks he would, but the grab also doubles as something possessive, to remind her two girls that Jinu is
hers
… in every way that matters.
"He already told us what happened, remember? We got done singing Free, I left him behind… and Gwi-Ma pulled him back down to the demon realm to
torture
him back into compliance."
She glances at Jinu, worried.
"That's when it happened, isn't it? He saw everything, made you think for a second you got away with it… and then made you think everything pointless again. He ripped away this glimmer of hope to force you back in line."
Jinu exhales slowly… before nodding once.
"… yes."
To her credit, Mira realizes she's messed up.
"Shit. I'm sorry, I hadn't put that together yet. Fucking… I'm the worst, I don't even-!"
But Rumi steps over to Mira and drags her to her feet before she can spiral too much. Zoey too for good measure, even though the younger hunter hadn't done anything wrong. And she pulls them both into a deep hug while tugging them back over to Jinu, who she also pulls into the hug. Out of the three, Zoey is the only one who immediately hugs her back. But then, Zoey has always been a hugger.
"You're not the worst, Mira. And I'm glad the song hit you that hard Zoey, because it means a lot to me too. And Jinu, YOU mean a lot to me as well. You all mean
the world
to me."
Finally, after hearing that, Jinu and Mira join Zoey in hugging Rumi back. And it feels good. It feels really good… but also, it leaves Rumi realizing that as important as her girls and demon boy are to her, there are other people who are also important to her.
One person in particular who she hasn't even talked to today, and who she'd literally forced to come live with them yesterday over fears of self-harm. Letting out an explosive breath, Rumi finally pulls her arms back. She feels warm, like even now the Honmoon is cuddling her.
"… I'm going to go downstairs and let Celine and Bobby know that we've figured out what we're doing for Jinu's debut. And then… I think it's time I told Celine the truth about the other timeline."
Maybe not everything. She didn't necessarily think Celine needed to know about Future Rumi and Future Celine's conversation under the seonangdang tree for instance. But she did deserve to be in the loop like everyone else was. Keeping it secret from her forever was never an option Rumi even considered, and the longer the secret lasted, the more it would build.
Communication was important. That was something Rumi had only learned over these past few days. She wished she'd known it earlier. She wished she'd tossed the idea that her faults and fears could never be seen by the people closest to her away ages ago.
But she knew better now and Celine deserved the chance to learn that they didn't have to hide from each other as well. She deserved that much from Rumi, at least.
Of course, Mira, Zoey, and Jinu all look surprised by Rumi's declaration.
"Are you sure, Rumi?"
"Yeah, what if she reacts… poorly?"
Jinu doesn't say a word, seemingly content to go along with whatever Rumi wants in the end. Humming, Rumi places her hands on her hips.
"I'm sure, yeah. And if she does react poorly… well then, she reacts poorly. I can only hope I'll explain it in a way that she'll ultimately be able to accept. But either way, I know that lying to her isn't the answer."
Coaching it in those terms gets through to them. Both Mira and Zoey nod in agreement. Mira furrows her brow and asks what they're all thinking.
"You want company?"
Smiling, Rumi shakes her head.
"No but thank you. This… I want to do on my own."
With that and some well wishes from her girls, Rumi makes her way to the elevator and heads down to Celine's office with her head held high. She's feeling energized after the day's events and singing Free again. It was a reminder that not every part of the future that Jinu came back from had been bad before they'd ultimately come together and saved the day.
Arriving outside of Celine's office, Rumi tries the door, only to find it locked much to her surprise. Huh, she doesn't think she's ever seen Celine lock her office door before… shrugging, she knocks instead.
"Celine? Are you in?"
From the other side of the door, there's a sudden clatter that causes Rumi's eyes to narrow. But before she can lift her foot and kick the door in, Celine's voice comes through, albeit muffled.
"Just a minute, Rumi!"
Furrowing her brow, Rumi stays where she is, curious and confused but also respecting Celine's privacy. Eventually though… the door opens. And to her surprise, it's not Celine who opens it.
"Bobby?"
Smiling at her nervously, Bobby nods and gestures Rumi inside.
"Yep, we were just uh, discussing logistics and stuff! And some things fell so had to clean up really quickly!"
Hm, Bobby does look a little disheveled. And so does the office actually. In fact, Celine's desk looks like everything fell off of it and then was haphazardly and quickly put back as fast as possible.
Celine, meanwhile, sits behind her desk looking poised as ever. Perfectly composed, even. Hm… what was that strange smell in the air though?
"What did you need, Rumi?"
Oh right. Rumi beams.
"Well, I just wanted to tell you both that we figured out what we want to do for Jinu's debut. Both his first and second song are pretty much locked in, though we know we're not releasing anything until after the Idol Awards."
Bobby perks up, looking genuinely excited.
"That sounds great! What can you-?"
But before he can start questioning her about the songs, Celine's voice rings out.
"Bobby. Remember what we discussed?"
"Oh! Right, I really need to be going yeah. Lots of work to do, especially to prepare for the Idol Awards! I'll talk to you later, Rumi!"
Rumi nods as Bobby hurries away. She only looks after him for a moment before turning back to Celine. After all, it was perfectly normal to see Bobby rushing off for this or that reason. Though, there was something a little familiar about the smell in her nostrils.
"Was that all, Rumi?"
Huh? Was Celine trying to get rid of her or something? Well, too bad. Rumi shakes her head as she walks further into the office, closing in on Celine and her desk.
"No, there was something else I had to discuss with you as well. Something important."
The smell is stronger now… and it's more familiar closer to Celine than it was to Bobby for some reason. Almost like…
"Oh? Very well, what is it?"
Man, Celine sounds really strained now that Rumi is close enough to hear the stress in her voice. That was- oh.
It hits Rumi then. Why the smell is so familiar. Jinu had told her just the other day when she'd completely missed… oh dear.
Rumi's eyes flicker back the way she came, the way Bobby had just left. Celine's confused, strained voice echoes through the office.
"Rumi?"
… Her adoptive mother and the closest thing that Rumi had ever had to a father were sleeping together.
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A/N: Ehehehehe.
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