Chapter Text
For as long as Ha-eun had been alive, she was surrounded by music. Her mothers and her grandmothers sang and hummed constantly, their voices bringing to life the beautiful iridescent rainbow of lights that shimmered like her mother's patterns--and her own. And when Ha-eun sang, the Honmoon responded just as strongly. Her eommas always looked so full of pride and joy, and yet sometimes she swore they looked just a little sad.
(Later, much later, she'd understand that her mothers had wanted her to have her own destiny)
But the Honmoon loved her like a sibling and through it she could see warm, distant stars.
She was thirteen when one of those stars finally came close enough to touch, fitting for what was the closing of a chapter.
It was Huntrix's final world tour. For over twenty years they'd recorded music and performed it, strengthening the Honmoon they'd created together. They'd fought off grave threats, earned new scars. Her mother had wanted them to retire-- a rare feat for all three members of a Hunter generation to live long enough to retire.
Their fanbase was dedicated and strong, but Ha-eun knew it would be her turn soon. The prospect excited her and terrified her in equal measure. She'd spent her whole life watching the Honmoon react to her mothers and to herself. Had watched the souls of the crowds respond to them at concerts, had felt a sort of contact elation from it all. Ha-eun couldn't imagine directly causing that.
It had been her halmeoni's idea to have her perform as part of the opening at one of the concerts. Ha-eun had readily agreed and her eomma's resistance in particular had melted almost immediately. She'd worked for weeks with all three of them for what was a sort of soft debut.
It wasn't perfect. But she made up for it with natural talent like her mother, dancing skill lovingly cultivated by the best choreographer in the business—her eomma, and she'd once beaten her mama at a rap battle. There was only the music her mother had helped her create and her own voice to back her. And it was intoxicating. The roar of the crowd, people shouting her name, her mothers cheering for her and a sea of souls shining brightly. Her mama hugged her and spun her around laughing and she could barely make out anything her mothers were saying through the crowd and the rushing of her blood in her ears.
And then her eyes locked with those of a girl several rows from the front, soul shining brighter than anyone else around her. She was stunningly beautiful with long dark hair and eyes that Ha-eun could get lost in.
Something slid into place, something that she hadn't known she was lacking, swelling like a song deep within her heart. She almost tripped getting off the stage.
"You were amazing!" Her Uncle Bobby squeezed her shoulder, "How does it feel?"
"Where's my—I need my—" Ha-eun started to hyperventilate, feeling something yanking on her soul with the same sort of desperate need she felt. The Honmoon felt like it wasn't just reacting to her song or to her mothers' performance, but like it was trying to pull her in a specific direction.
Celine took one look at her, glanced at her other grandmothers, then asked, "Where?"
"Third row, on the right, she was..." Ha-eun shook her head, unable to be calm or collected or nonchalant, the Honmoon humming in her ears and her pulse spiking, "I don't know! I just know it's her!"
Bobby clapped his hands together, "Lets review the cameras and we'll find her."
"And then," her halmeoni So-Yi squeezed her arm. "We'll make sure she gets a backstage pass."
Her third halmeoni's arms wrapped around her from behind and then she was cocooned in sunlight as her grandmothers all hugged her. Ha-eun took a deep breath, steadying herself, letting the warmth calm her down. Tentatively, she reached out through the Honmoon, like a little hello and a warm assurance that it would be okay.
The light—so close—seemed to calm as well.
It was still the longest concert of Ha-eun's whole entire life. Huntrix's set was long and they usually did two different extra songs in each city and if she didn't get to see that beautiful girl soon she was going to die.
Perish.
Pass away.
Keeping an eye on her little brother and sister was the only thing keeping her sane, if she was honest.
Her mothers joined them as soon as they could after the final song.
"Please tell me what happened happened?" Zoey asked, bounding up to them in excitement. "I swear we saw the Honmoon react to someone!"
"One of her girls is here, yes," Celine assured her.
"Hell yeah!" Mira wrapped an arm around Ha-eun, "I told you you'd get to meet them soon!"
"This is sooner than me and Mira," Rumi said, smiling at Ha-eun with enough joy to light the stadium all by itself.
There'd always been that joy about that part of being Hunters. When talking about each other, or her halmeonis, or Ha-eun eventually finding 'her' girls. Ha-eun hadn't really understood until now. Now that she'd seen her, now that she'd felt it.
It wasn't the same as that background warmth she felt when she'd regarded those distant stars. It was like something had grabbed onto her heart and poured itself into her, like she'd poured herself into the other girl in some kind of equivalent exchange. Parts of her soul for parts of the other.
"Lets let the girl meet Huntrix first," halmeoni Miyeong suggested, eyes flashing a familiar gold. "Because once she and Ha-eun meet she's not going to be able to focus on anything else."
"Okay," Ha-eun said. "I need to pee anyway." And maybe throw up.
She did the former and managed to avoid the latter, then paced in one of hte dressing rooms while her grandmothers looked at her with varying degrees of amusement.
It always felt a little different being alone with them compared to being with her parents. As the last generation of the old Honmoon, their connection to the current Honmoon was weaker.
But the new one loved them too, exactly as Ha-eun did. Celine with grey in her hair and So-Yi with her prosthetic arm and Miyeong with hair like firelight and shimmering, silver patterns.
"My moms said it was like song burst out of them and they started singing with each other," Ha-eun said, after a moment. "That sounds really embarrassing."
Celine laughed, "You won't care in the moment. But it might be different for you. It wasn't like that kind of explosion of music for us. It was quieter if no less intense. "
Just thinking about her face—it was so gorgeous just look at it— made her throat close up and she hadn't felt like this since her last crush and oh no.
Ha-eun's eyes widened but before she could chicken out, Bobby poked his head in, "Ha-eun sweetie, they're ready for you."
She really didn't want to embarrass herself by bursting into song like one of So-Yi's musicals, but she could feel it. Like an orchestra warming up in her chest and warmth filling her lungs. She stepped out alone, Celine murmuring something to her wives that Ha-eun couldn't hear over her heart racing.
She supposed they were letting her eommas handle recruiting. The Sunlight Sisters era had ended long before she was born and the torch had been passed. In her studies, Ha-eun had realized how rare it was for two generations of hunters to all be alive at once, let alone three.
She hoped she never let them down.
But her trepidation and nerves melted away the moment their eyes met again, Ha-eun's feet taking her on auto-pilot until she was standing in front of the girl. She looked to be almost the same age, maybe a little older or younger, Ha-eun wasn't sure. But the Honmoon wrapped around her like a blanket.
"Hi," she said, her voice plucking the Honmoon's strings and Ha-eun's heart at the same time. "I'm Na-rae."
Unable to help herself and very much her mothers' daughter, Ha-eun held her arms out and Na-rae stepped into them so quickly and easily and it felt like she was always supposed to be there. The Honmoon swirled an explosion of color as if it were overjoyed, "I'm Ha-eun."
There was a lot to talk about, but right now she just let her destiny settle into her heart.