Imagine de aged!Celine, she has her memories but also has the emotions of a 3 year old, and she’s playing with Rumi pre pattern reveal. They’re having fun and just messing around until Celine pulls her hair harder than she meant to, she’s 3 she’s just having fun, and Rumi’s demon fangs or voice show up.
Imagine Mira and Zoey seeing them and not even thinking, just jumping in to protect Celine from this imposter because one of two things is happening. The first is that Rumi was replaced by a demon at some point and they never noticed (how could they not notice?! How long has she been gone?!?!). The second is that Rumi is a demon and just lied to them for months/years. They honestly don’t know which one is worse.
Imagine Celine, still with young emotions, seeing Zoey pull her back and Mira unleash her weapon on Rumi. She doesn’t strike but it’s close enough that Rumi is clearly terrified. Celine can feel Zoey’s trembling arms and see Mira and Rumi shaking each for a different reason.
Imagine little Celine, she knows them, she has her memories, pushing past her fear and jumping in between Mira’s weapon and Rumi because de aged or not, she has to protect Rumi. She made a promise and the thought of anything happening to Rumi is something Celine can’t bear to see.
Imagine Rumi vanishing in a puff of smoke with Celine.
Most days Jeju Island was an incredibly peaceful location. Although the island did contain two cities, it never felt as crowded or busy as Seoul did. The cities felt more like they were there to add to the quiet life of the island rather than take away from it. Even the various animals that roamed the island appeared and disappeared without a single disturbance. For both Mira and Zoey, who had come from more active cities, life on Jeju Island was amazing—and that wasn’t including the secret truth that they were demon hunters who were days away from debuting as K-Pop Idols.
“You can’t do that!”
Normally amazing at least.
“Rumi! I didn’t raise you to yell at me when you didn’t get your way!” Celine fired back.
“I’m only yelling because you aren’t listening to me!”
Zoey, who had arrived late to the argument, pressed herself close to Mira, “What’s going on?”
“Rumi suggested we leave for Seoul a little early to get some freedom in the city and Celine told her we couldn’t because we had to finish the last few days of training.” Mira replied.
“Wait, Rumi is advocating for us to speed up training? Rumi?” Zoey asked. They’d been in training on Jeju Island for the last two years now and, in that time, Zoey had never known Rumi to go against a chance to train or practice. Rumi had once stayed up all night running laps and then spent the following day training as if she had slept peacefully all night, “Is she sick? Dying?!”
“I don’t think so, but I haven’t ruled out the possibility.” Mira said.
“You, eomma and imo Eun Ji all went to Seoul before your debut! There are pictures of eomma hanging off a tower!” Rumi yelled.
“We were young and stupid. You girls are free to walk around Jeju all you wish, but you cannot just disappear for days into the city.”
“But we wouldn’t be disappearing for days!” Rumi cried, her voice gaining an almost begging tone, “We’d only be in the city for a few days and then we’d debut at the Jamsil Olympic Stadium like we planned on Friday night. We would contact you every night, Celine, please. Don’t you trust us?”
“I trust you three very much.” Celine nodded, “But one mistake could ruin your debut and that would destroy everything you’ve been worked for for years. What if one of you breaks a bone? Gets arrested? Gets in any kind of trouble? On Jeju, that’s less likely to happen.” Or, if it did, Celine had enough pull that she could erase it.
“Why does it matter!? We’re going to go live in Seoul after our debut anyway! What’s the difference in showing up a few days earlier?”
“The difference is your debut. If you go early, you’re tempted to drink, to run wild, to mess around with your skills because you believe you still have a few days before the country knows who you are. If you go after, you’re less likely to do so because you now have an image to uphold and people who will recognize you and take photos if you try to do anything stupid.” Celine crossed her arms over her chest, “I’m sorry, but the answer is no. You three have been here for two years. You can survive a few more days.” She was already walking away towards her garden before Rumi could argue further.
Grumbling something under her breath, Rumi stormed off to her room, falling onto her bed. Although Rumi did always have the attitude and dignity of their leader, there were times when Mira and Zoey got reminded that Rumi was only a year or two older than them. Zoey was 19, Mira was 20 and Rumi was 21 and while both of them trusted Rumi to be their leader without question, it was funny sometimes to see just how much Celine could get under Rumi’s skin.
“You okay?” Zoey asked.
“She doesn’t trust us.”
“It’s okay. We can always go to one of the cities on the island and have a night out.” Mira offered.
“I know, but…I had…specific plans in Seoul that I wanted us to be there for.” Rumi grumbled into her pillow. She pulled herself up enough that her chin was resting while her face stared at her wall.
“We could do it after we debut.” Zoey suggested, “I’m sure we’d have at least an hour or two free to do whatever it was you were planning.”
“It’s fine. I just wish Celine trusted us. She talks like we’re some irresponsible teenagers.”
“Well, Zoey is.” Mira snickered.
“I’m 19!”
“And a teenager and I’ve seen you down a whole bottle of cheese whiz in fifteen minutes.”
“You dared me too!”
“You still did it.”
A soft smile fell on Rumi’s lips while watching the two play argue with each other. She opened her mouth to say more, to participate in their friendly banter and maybe get some more laughter, until a vibration from the honmoon stopped her.
A tear.
“Let’s go.” Throwing off any anger or disappointment, Rumi fell straight into her leader mode and rushed for the door. Mira and Zoey were not far behind.
As they hadn’t officially become idols yet, their songs having not connected to the fans, Celine still held the ability to summon her Honmoon weapon—dual swords. When the girls officially debuted, Celine would lose that ability as she wasn’t a hunter anymore. For the last few days that she still had it though, Celine would occasionally join the girls in their fights. She never took over the fight or led them—always leaving the leading to Rumi—but she did act as support on the off chance they found themselves overwhelmed.
“Celine, behind you!” Zoey cried.
Celine whipped around and slashed two demons with her sword, “Good lookout, Zoey.”
“Good enough to handle the streets of Seoul.” Rumi grumbled.
“Do you have something you want to say to me, Rumi?”
“We’re literally fighting demons right now that want to devour our souls. How do you trust us to handle this and not go to the city early?” Rumi demanded, throwing her sword into a demon.
“It’s not about trust. I just don’t believe you need to take any unnecessary risk and, anyways, you’ll listen to me because I am your mentor and guardian. When I say something you listen.”
“I do listen to you! I listen to everything! Training, practice, dancing lessons, everything, everything! And you can’t accept this one thing that I want to do.”
“Rumi!” Mira and Zoey nearly froze when Celine snapped. She rarely got mad enough to yell. More often than not she would scold if she absolutely had to. When Mira first arrived she attempted to test Celine’s boundaries to see if she could get Celine to yell at her. She never did. She scolded Mira but never yelled, “Enough.” Rumi shrank back, nodding quietly.
Mira, who had been keeping her eyes on Celine and Rumi, didn’t notice the demon from behind grab her by the waist and yank her back into the trees.
“Mira!” Zoey and Rumi screamed.
“Zoey, with me. Celine?” Celine just nodded, stabbing a demon in the chest, “We’ll be back as soon as we get Mira.” Thankfully, the demon hadn’t managed to drag Mira off too far before she got the upper hand and broke free. She had bad cuts on her stomach but pushed through to turn the tables on the demon. Zoey, who had rushed into the trees the moment Rumi gave her the signal, came flying out and tossing her shin-kal’s into the demon.
“I had that.”
“But I got it first.” Zoey grinned, “That was a crazy argument, Rumi. Are you okay?”
“Fine. Fine. I’m fine.” Rumi tossed her sword forward to hit a demon that had planned on trying to sneak up on them, “She just annoys me so much sometimes! She thinks because she’s old that she knows everything.”
Mira had to bite back a laugh at Rumi calling Celine old. Normally, Rumi had nothing but respectful things to say about Celine so hearing her call her old was a shock, “She does know a lot.”
“Yeah, you’re right. You’re right. The rational part of me knows you’re right.”
“Nah. Let irrational Rumi out more. She’s fun.” Mira grinned, “Ow.”
“I got you.” Zoey whispered. She pulled a bandage from her arm pack and wrapped it around Mira’s waist. One hand on Mira’s back to support her and the other on her waist, “How’s the pressure?”
“Better. I think I need some sweets though to feel really good again.”
“Oh! You thinkin what I’m thinkin?”
“Bathhouse and hotteok?” Mira asked.
“Bathhouse and hotteok!” Zoey cried, “Yes! I say we stuff our faces first and then relax at the bathhouse until we’re pruny. It’ll be so fun!”
“You have a very odd definition of fun, Zo.” Mira chuckled, “But I’m in. Rumi?”
Rumi’s smile faded just as quickly as it had appeared, “I can’t. If we’re staying on Jeju then I think I should finish up some extra training. I’ll go with you guys later.”
“You sure? You could just come to the bathhouse with us?” Zoey offered.
“I-I’m sure. You guys should—”
“Ah!”
“Celine!” Rumi cried.
Rumi, Mira and Zoey rushed from their spot back to Celine who had two demons on her and another one that was pulling at her hair. Without thinking, Rumi tossed her swords toward so that it hit the demons on Celine, giving her the chance to turn around and slash the demon pulling on her hair. There weren’t many demons surrounding them at the moment but Mira and Zoey both decided to launch forward and attack the remaining few.
“Are you girls okay?” Celine asked, “What happened? Where did you go?”
“Mira got hurt.” Zoey moved to the side so she could see the bandages wrapped around Mira’s stomach.
“Get her back to the compound and replace those bandages with fresh ones. The honmoon should keep it from scarring but we need to prevent any further blood loss.” Celine ordered, “Rumi, stay here a moment.”
The moment Zoey and Mira had moved far enough away, Rumi let out a sigh, “What?”
“I don’t appreciate the tone, Rumi. I’m only trying to help.”
“I know you are. It just…feels like you don’t trust us. Like you only care about…nevermind.”
Celine relaxed her upset expression into a calmer one, setting a hand on Rumi’s shoulder so that Rumi would look at her, “It will all be worth it soon. I promise. Just a little longer.”
“And then everything will be perfect.” Rumi nodded.
“Yes. You’ve come so far Rumi and you’re doing so well. Don’t ruin things when you’re so close to your goal. Please just hold on a little longer.”
“Okay, Celine. I will.”
“Thank you. Now, it’s late. Why don’t we head back to the compound and get some rest? I can make your favorite in the morning.” The smallest of smiles fell on Rumi’s lips.
“I’m right behind you. I just have to grab my sword.” Technically the honmoon would summon the weapon back if she commanded it to but Rumi liked to have eyes on her weapon before releasing it back to the honmoon. She turned away from Celine to go retrieve her weapon, finding it under a brush and still glowing strong, “Just a little longer, huh? 21 years wasn’t enough, I just have to wait a little longer. Golden honmoon could take years and they’ll both…they’ll both…” Rumi stared down at her sword, watching it glow, “I just wish she understood. I wish she wasn’t this strict and all these rules didn’t exist and that she…that she could remember what it was like to be young.”
The moment the words left her mouth, Rumi felt the air around her go cold. She scanned the forest for any signs of demons that were left alive but nothing jumped out at her. Unable to find any demons or any cause of the cold, Rumi shrugged, chalking it up to a breeze, and ran off towards the compound.
The bright yellow eyes that followed Rumi narrowed coldly.
“Your wish is my command.”
——————————————————
When morning came over the compound, the girls were already used to getting up early so the moment the sun peaked through the windows, they were up and out of bed. Normally, Rumi preferred to spend her mornings working out in the gym while Zoey usually ran laps and Mira practiced her dancing. This morning was so different. They worked until the sun was actually raised in the sky and decided to head back into the compound to get breakfast.
“Huh? That’s weird.”
“What’s weird?” Mira asked.
“Celine said that she would cook breakfast this morning. She’s usually up by now.”
“Did she say anything to you after we left? Did she get hurt?” Zoey asked.
“No. Even if she did, you know she’d still be up and walking around.”
“She’s like Rumi in that regard.” Mira said.
“Ha-Ha. Hilarious.”
“You know it’s true.”
“I’ll go check on Celine while you two keep arguing over Rumi not knowing how to relax.” Zoey said.
Celine’s room was on the other side of the compound. According to Rumi, that’s where she, Miyeong and Eun Ji had stayed when they were the Sunlight Sisters and, after Miyeong died and Eun Ji left, Celine couldn’t bring herself to leave and had just converted it into one big bedroom.
Knocking on the door, Zoey called into the room, “Celine? Are you okay? Are you awake?”
From inside the room, Zoey could hear light grumbling.
“Celine? Celine, can I come in?” She slowly opened the door just enough to peek an eye in. The room was completely organized and Zoey could see Celine’s black hair poking out from the bed but she wasn’t moving. She continued to move slowly into the room, trying very hard to make enough noise so that Celine could tell her to leave but also be quiet enough that she didn’t accidentally wake Celine, “Celine? I just need some proof of life really quick, okay? Just enough to tell Rumi you’re not dead.”
Letting out a yawn, Celine sat up, “I’m up. I’m up. Thank you for waking me, Zoey.”
Zoey’s jaw had dropped down as low as it could go and her eyes were wide. All in all, she looked like how someone would draw an animated cartoon character.
“What? Zoey, what’s wrong?”
Zoey’s expression didn’t change.
“Zoey? Zoey!” Celine reached forward to try and shake her arm but froze when her hand came into view. It was small and chubby. Similar to how Rumi’s hand had looked when she was a toddler, “What the—“ Celine reached for her throat.
That didn’t sound like her.
That didn’t sound like her at all.
Staring over the bed, Celine winced and backed up. The floor suddenly looked much further away than it had this morning.
“Zoey? What’s going on?” Finally snapping out of her trace, Zoey grabbed her phone and opened the camera so that Celine could look at herself.
Instead of her normal 48 year old self staring back at her, Celine saw a 3 year old version of herself staring back.
Her scream was loud enough that it echoed through the entire compound.
——————————————————
Rumi and Mira had come bursting into the room the moment they heard Celine’s scream. For what exactly the scream was, they weren’t completely sure, but screaming of any kind got their attention. Bursting in, Zoey was still standing by the bed and Celine was now fully standing on the bed. Standing up, Celine just barely reached Zoey’s height. Had she been on the ground she would have most likely come up to Zoey’s waist.
“Zoey, why is there a toddler in Celine’s room?” Rumi asked.
Before Zoey could open her mouth, Celine launched forward, “I’m Celine! It’s me.”
Rumi was the first to move forward, her eyes narrowing at Celine seemingly trying to piece together if this toddler was telling the truth or not. Her face was different now thanks to her new age but her eyes were identical.
“Celine?”
“Yes! Yes, it’s me! A-A demon must have stung me or something.” She wobbled on the bed causing Zoey to move closer on the chance Celine fell, “That’s why I’m a child.”
“You think a demon stung you and turned you into a toddler?” Mira asked.
“What else could it have been?” Celine asked, “The Honmoon wouldn’t have done this so it has to have been a demon. I just don’t remember being stuck or struck by one of the demons. Maybe I missed a strike.”
“Wait.” Rumi’s eyes grew and shrank within a second and guilt covered her face, “Oh, no.”
“What’s ‘oh, no’? What are you saying?”
“I….may have made a wish after the fight with the demons last night.”
“You wished for Celine to be turned into a toddler?” Zoey asked.
“WHAT!? NO! I didn’t wish for Celine to be a toddler!” Rumi yelled.
“Then what did you wish for!?” Celine demanded, stomping her foot against the bed.
Rumi suddenly went silent, staring at the ground.
“Rumi.” Celine warned.
Rubbing the back of her neck, Rumi replied, “I think I said something about wishing that you…didn’t give us as many rules and could remember what it was like to be young again.”
AU - Prior to the events of the movie, Celine is de aged to about 5 years old thanks to *honmoon shenanigans* and, since she can’t live on her own, goes to stay with Huntrix under the disguise of being a distant cousin. Over a year passes before the events of the movie take place only this time little Celine is there for all of it.
Was inspired by @skyler24834 ‘s headcanon of Celine being really young (21) when Rumi is born and I formed the idea of a story, post canon, where Zoey and Mira make a wish for Rumi and Celine to get along because they see how much stress Rumi is under. They just don’t expect to wake up to a toddler Rumi crying for her eomma and Celine to be a nervous wreck (younger than Zoey and Mira) but an expert at taking care of toddler Rumi.
How does 5 year old Celine meet with Derpy + Sussie? Which Huntrix girl is her favorite?
Hello @foodncomfort !!!
Hmmm...Well, if we go by saying that Celine does have her old memories she just has more child like emotions/inability to really hide her true emotions anymore then Celine knows Derpy and Sussie so they aren't a big surprise her when she sees them in the tower. That being said, Celine is riding Derpy all over the tower and no one can tell me otherwise (he would also be pretty protective over her but I think he's protective over everyone in the tower). I can see Sussie as kinda semi adopting Celine. When Celine was an adult she and Sussie had a kind of "you do your thing and I'll do my thing and no one gets hurt" dynamic but when Celine is five and struggling to do her own thing, Sussie decides it's her job to take care of this child. She brings Celine stuff, pecks at the girls if Celine is having trouble, sits on her shoulder whenever Celine is just relaxing in the tower, etc.
I mean, Rumi because it's Rumi, but if we're going with second favorite then Mira. Zoey is amazing at letting Celine play and she recognizes a lot of energy Celine has and is able to match it which is awesome, but Mira is the only one who speaks fluent French and can talk to her in it, she also is naturally really good with kids so when Celine is having trouble Mira is there to help, on top of that Mira is the only member who doesn't treat her like she's made of glass after the honmoon de aged her. She's the only one who will see Celine fall, make sure she's okay and then tell Celine to get up (never in a cruel way and never in a 'I'm never going to help you' way but in a way that tells Celine Mira isn't going to treat her like a baby and is moving back to give Celine that space. If Celine wants Mira to pick her up after a fall then Mira will absolutely pick her up but if she doesn't then Mira won't just hover around her). Plus Mira is tall and Celine likes sitting on her shoulders.
Headcanon - In a de aged Celine AU, Mira speaking French (a special thanks to all the French lessons she probably had to take as a kid) is the only thing that calms Celine down enough to let Mira hold her and talk to her.
I like that de aged Gumiho Celine is the closest with Zoey switching things up. I do think that Rumi would take the longest to connect due to having her view of herself,Celine, the honmoon, and hunters themselves rocked. Gonna take some time and help to process that. Rumi isn’t hostile to Celine just keeping her distance. Mira after she cools down would see an abused child and comfort Celine.
Hi anon!!!
I agree that having Zoey be the one who initially comforts Celine is a good way to shake things up a bit. She doesn’t love the lies either but she’s able to understand that this kid, who sometimes shifts into a shaking and terrified fox kit, does not deserve any kind of coldness right now. If Mira and Rumi won’t ask Celine what her favorite food is to cook her a safe meal, ask if she wants stuffed animals, what her favorite color is to get her drawing material, ask what games she wants to play, or even make sure she’s okay with being in the tower then Zoey will do all that.
I also agree with you that the order would go Mira then Rumi for who’s coming around first. Mira would be more upset at Celine for the lies than Rumi would be, I imagine she’s just more shocked and trying to wrap her head around Celine being a demon, but Mira being mad at the lies and de aged Celine standing right in front of her provides the perfect ground for her to realize WHY Celine lied. Mira’s still not thrilled but she gets what is going on and softens up. It takes Celine time, I think Mira and Rumi would see a lot of Celine’s gumiho form as that’s the form she would feel the safest in, but she eventually warms up to Mira. As far as THE moment goes for when Mira changes her tone, I think it would come when Celine accidentally gets separated from the three and just wails, thinking she’s lost yet another family because she went somewhere she wasn’t supposed to.
For Rumi, I actually do have this cute idea that Rumi is up late one night during a storm while the girls and Celine are back on Jeju Island—not really doing anything beyond cooking some food and watching random videos because she can’t sleep—and suddenly Celine is by her side at like 2 am. Celine admits she can’t sleep because of the thunder and lightning and asks if she can stay with Rumi because Zoey and Mira are asleep. Rumi ends up singing to Celine the same lullaby Celine sung to her and tucking her to bed on the couch.
