✰ The apartment was unusually quiet. You noticed it after dinner. The others had retreated to their rooms, Mira humming softly to herself in the kitchen, and Zoey typing furiously on her phone. But Rumi’s door was shut. Not strange in itself but.. the silence behind it was wrong. Too wrong for someone like her. Then came the crash. It wasn’t loud, just a sharp clatter like something ceramic shattering on the floor. You froze in place. Zoey glanced over at you with a brow raised, but didn’t say anything. She knew it too. Rumi had been off all day. Distant. Pacing. Too quiet. You stood up. You hesitated, then turned the knob. The room was completely dark. No lamp, no window light. Just a soft pink glow.. not from a bulb, but from the girl curled up on the floor. Her back was to you, hunched, arms wrapped tightly around her head. ✰

“Rumi?”

She flinched at your voice. Not in fear but.. in pain. “Turn it off,” she hissed, her voice strained and low. “Your voice. I can’t- It’s too loud. Everything’s too loud.”

You stepped inside. The door creaked shut behind you. Her glowing patterns pulsed along her spine like static. Her hands- no, claws now were pitch black, fading up to her usual skin tone near the elbows. Horns curled from her head, barely brushing the wall behind her. Her tail, long and slick like a whip, flicked once, knocking over a box of makeup brushes with a dull thud.

“Rumi,” you breathed, kneeling a little closer. “What happened?”

She sobbed. You weren’t used to hearing her like this. Not even after the fights. Not even after Jinu died. But tonight… she was breaking.

“It hurts,” she whispered. “My head. My chest. I-I kept it together and then Zoey looked at me like I was gonna break. Mira wouldn’t even- And Celine-” Her voice cracked.

You moved closer, slowly.

“I just— I didn’t want to turn into this.”

Her eyes met yours for the first time. Bright pink and glowing like twin moons. Her fangs glinted behind trembling lips.

You reached out.

But she recoiled, hissing sharply, tail lashing between you like a warning blade. “Don’t touch me!” Her ears flattened. She winced like the very air around your fingers stung her skin. “I can’t… I can’t be touched right now.”