Mira was 14, and she was devastated.
She had spent most of her life fighting, breaking noses, jaws, and even the occasional arm or leg when she felt it was called for. She had been chosen by the universe itself to protect the innocent from those who would seek to harm them, and while that mission called for her to kill demons, she had decided to get some early practice in on the human bullies of the world.
Most of the time, those bullies targeted the weak and helpless, and while Zoey was neither of those things, she was the one who Mira had spent most of their childhood protecting. She had, however, helped Rumi, on occasion, when she was sparring with Celine, putting her own weight behind one of the half-demon’s punches to make sure it really landed. They didn’t always come out unscathed when she stepped in, but ultimately, her fists had only ever been used to protect them from harm.
That was why she was sitting on the bathroom floor right now, sobbing her eyes out, her knees drawn up to her face. Rumi was perched on the ledge of the bathtub, clutching her bleeding nose. Zoey rushed back and forth between them, treating each of their injuries delicately, bandaging cuts and putting ointment on bruises. Mira could see her flexing her right hand, and unconsciously reaching up to cup her nose, even though they were unharmed. It didn’t matter; she could feel Mira’s aching fist and Rumi’s throbbing nose like they were her own, the same way they could feel each other’s injuries.
That was her fault, too, she knew. They wouldn’t have to be feeling any kind of pain at all if Mira hadn’t punched Rumi in the face.
Her guilt must have passed through the connection, because Rumi sighed, her voice nasal from the cotton ball in her nose, “Mira, it’s fine. You didn’t do anything wrong.”
Mira hiccuped, letting out another sob, “Yes, I-I di-id. I hu-urt you.”
“We were sparring! Accidents happen when people are sparring. I’ll be fine; the Honmoon accelerates healing for us anyways.”
“But I’m-I’m suppo-osed to prote-ect you guys,” she wailed, “Not be-e the one who-o causes you pa-ain!”
“Hey,” Zoey kneeled down and cupped her cheeks, kissing them gently, “Baby, breathe for me. I need you to breathe for me. Okay?”
Mira sniffed, but she nodded. She took a few, shuddering deep breaths. In the meantime, Rumi got up from the bathtub, and made her way over to where Mira was, plopping down next to her. When she laced a hand through one of Mira’s own, all of the breath seemed to return to her.
It was still astounding to her just how incredible it felt to be actually, physically touching both of the other members of her cluster. It was so different from when they had to do it through long distance visiting.
It didn’t exactly heal any physical wounds, but it sure did a hell of a job soothing most emotional ones.
She sighed, and leaned into the touch.
Rumi’s head dropped to her shoulder. “Listen, we’re training right now, which means sparring, which means sometimes, one of us is gonna get hurt. Or two of us!” She glanced at Mira’s knuckles. “This won’t be the last time we’re in here patching ourselves up. Most likely, it’ll be far from it. It’s only a matter of time before I’m the one who lands a hit on you-“
“Yeah, right,” Mira half-heartedly jested, sniffing and rolling her eyes.
Rumi scoffed, shoving her gently, “Or one of us gets Zo-“
“You’ll have to catch me first!” Zoey exclaimed. It was true; Zoey wasn’t the fastest between the three of them (that was Rumi), but she was the smallest and she was wily and responsive, making her the hardest to catch.
“Or she gets a hit on one of us.”
At that, Zoey’s shoulders dropped, and her face fell. “I don’t wanna hit you guys!” Her left hand, which had been on Mira’s right cheek, moved to Rumi’s cheek to caress it. The physical connection between the three of them now complete, with each of them touching one another, lessened the slump in her stance, and made the purple haired girl sit up straighter.
“No, but you’ll have to,” Rumi explained, her head bumping the side of Mira’s, “You have to do it eventually, so that you can get better at landing hits, and we can get better at dodging.”
Zoey pouted, “It still sucks.”
“It does, yeah. And it won’t exactly feel nice to hurt one another, especially with the pain traveling between us. But hey! That’s why the Honmoon only chooses sensates!” She squeezed Mira’s hand, and kissed Zoey’s palm, “To ensure our connection will be as deep as possible and make us more aware of our surroundings, yes, but also to keep us on our toes, to encourage us to avoid getting hurt at all costs, and to protect each other as much as possible!”
“And,” Mira began, “To not sacrifice ourselves at all.”
Rumi was silent for a moment, and when she spoke again, her voice was uncertain, “Yeah. To not sacrifice ourselves.”
It wasn’t exactly reassuring. “Rumi,” Zoey’s voice shook, “The Golden Honmoon…”
“Is our ultimate goal,” Rumi interrupted, firmly. “So we can seal off the demon realm once and for all.”
The smaller girl whimpered, “But you’re-“
“Certain of this. Once it’s sealed, we’ll be free to live our lives however we want. Just the three of us.”
Mira wasn’t convinced, at least not fully. But it did sound nice, getting to live the rest of her life with her two soulmates (that’s what they were to her, as far as she was concerned) in whatever way they chose.
Still…
“Rumi…”
Rumi shook her head. “Look, I’ll be fine. We’ll be fine. Everything will be fine. We won’t have to worry about that for a few years, anyway.”
Uncertainty filled the air between them. Zoey looked as though she had a thousand protests on her tongue, and Mira wasn’t feeling much better about the whole thing.
But Rumi stood up, and she put on her leader face, which was their signal to listen. “C’mon, now that we’re all cleaned up and bandaged, we can go take a nap in my room.”
Mira decided to let her have this out for now, the guilt from having hit her earlier still weighing on her mind. She raised an eyebrow, “Oh? And you’re sure our oh, so kind caretaker won’t have any issues with us taking a nap together?”
Celine seemed to have an issue with any behavior she deemed more than strictly platonic, and while the three of them sleeping in the same bed might read to a stranger as nothing more than friends cuddling, she knew them well enough to know that (to be fair) it wasn’t.
Mira had been at least somewhat in love with her girls as long as she could remember. The feelings had only intensified in the last few years as hormones began to run wild. Now, she knew she was devoted to them in all aspects of her very being; her mind, through their sensate connection, her soul, through their Honmoon connection, and her heart, through her love for them.
It would be terrifying, if she didn’t know the feelings were mutual.
“Celine doesn’t have to know. And besides, we’re not doing anything bad! We’re just snuggling together. For warmth, y’know.”
“For warmth?” Zoey asked, amused. There was still apprehension echoing from her, but it had waned with the distraction and promise of cuddles.
“Exactly!” Rumi grinned, “For warmth!” She reached her hands out to them. “Now, are you coming?”
They didn’t hesitate before taking them.
(Draft of a section from the upcoming second chapter of Our Voices All Combined, my Polytrix Sense8 AU)
