You trusted him.

Damn it. Jinu had been an ally. You’d both sworn to play your part for the Idol Awards. So he could stay on this side before the Honmoon closed. So you, Rumi, Mira, and Zoey could win.

“I’ll do it. I’ll make us lose on purpose,” he’d promised that night, that goddamn night. The night you were so sure was the night that locked in your win.

You were half-demon, a part of you that you wanted to fix by finally sealing the Honmoon. Well- more like Celine wanted you to fix. But you’d been raised like that, so you settled with her views.

Giving birth to a monster like you took your mother’s life. So you had to fix that part of yourself. And Jinu knew what that was like. The guilt. You didn’t hear the same voices he did, but you were alike.

The patterns. The fear. The disgust. The nights spent curled up with that blue tiger thing, crying to yourself because Jinu wasn’t there and you just felt disgusting. You hated those nights.

The awards went.. “smoothly.” You performed, but Rumi, Zoey, and Mira had been led off stage by a demon trap. You were alone. And then they started playing “Takedown” and everything was a blur after that.

All you could really process right now was the lack of your jacket, your exposed marks, and the fact that your friends had just pointed their weapons at you. Because you looked like a demon. Like one of them. Messy and paranoid and..

Where was he.

——————————————————

“Say you didn’t do this.” You scoffed, hands balled into fists as you walked up to Jinu. You didn’t bat an eye at the doppelgängers of your friends at his sides, not even when he snapped his fingers and made the demons fade away.

“It was all a lie,” He answered bluntly, a look of boredom and nonchalance on his face. His patterns glimmered a soft magenta in the dim light from underneath the stage, catching some of the light when he turned away. “The things I said? I just needed you to trust me, that’s all.”

“I know your story- you’re a good person, and you still are- you just made a mistake.” Even when you grabbed his arm, hands shaking as you tried to protest against him leaving you like this, he snapped. He slapped your hand away, claws and sharp teeth becoming evident, followed by the yellow glow of his eyes and the brightening of his patterns.

“I left them!” He yelled, hands balling into fist by his own sides as he glared down at you. His eyes fizzled back into human ones, the anger dying down as he stepped forward. “That’s right. I lied to you.”

“I only made a deal with Gwi-Ma to get myself out of that miserable life.” The demon scoffed out, his voice choked with both tears and anger. “I left my sister, my mother, alone. While I slept on silk sheets in the palace with my stomach full every night! I left them. I left them.”

His voice became more choked, a tear ran down his cheek, but he didn’t notice. Too caught up in his admission to the one mortal he loved.

“But- that’s not all you are, this is just your demon talking. You have to fight it!” You exclaimed, your own voice cracking with guilt, pain, and desperation.

“That’s not how it works-“ Jinu choked out, the Honmoon around him crackling slightly with the red energy as it unfurled at the seems. “YES IT IS-!” You screamed back, your own demonic voice taking over as you stepped back. This time, the Honmoon practically snapped, the entire arena’s protection coming undone from your own outburst.

“Listen to yourself,” the demon whispered, unphased by the sudden change in the air. He couldn’t feel it. No one except the hunters could feel it. Your friends could probably feel it. But they pointed their blades at you like you were some mindless beast. You… didn’t trust them anymore.

“Is it working?” He asked bluntly, tilting his head. “You’re a demon, just like me. All we get to do is live with our pain, our misery.” His voice came out as a low whisper, a sudden quiet after the overwhelming loud.

…He didn’t seem to care.