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Three bodies lay in the morgue, covered in sheets.
Celine's face was cool. Calm. Collected. Betraying nothing of the thoughts in her head or the agony that swirled inside her chest like a storm.
She didn't have to look, to know.
She had to look, to know.
"Leave me."
The doctor started to protest but she stared at him with the same look she'd reserve for a demon. He held his hands up, and backed out. Only once Celine heard the door, only once she was certain she was alone, only then did the mask crack and the storm on the inside start to creep out, hot tears running down her cheeks.
Her fingers tangled in the first sheet, and pulled it down.
Rumi.
Pale. Even the patterns on her shoulders were dull. Celine's hand started to shake and she leaned over, cupping her precious girl's face, "Rumi, I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry I wasn't there I'm... My baby girl ..."
The report had said gashes, like she'd been mauled by an animal. Celine knew better. Celine forced herself to look to confirm that it had been demons.
Rumi had died like a Hunter, "You did well. You did good. You were the best Hunter I've ever seen."
No hunter was perfect. Not even Ryu Rumi. Celine caressed her face, staring down at eyes that would never open again.
For the first time in her life, she didn't think of Miyeong. Didn't care about failing her.
She cared that she'd failed Rumi, "But you were my daughter. I love you and it's too late to tell you and I—"
Unable to bear to look any longer, Celine pulled the sheet up and stumbled to the next sheet. It was Zoey.
Lifeless.
Struck down like Rumi.
There was none of the energy, none of the light that had wormed its way into Celine's heart from the moment she'd met the girl.
All of that was gone now. Celine felt something like a wail building at the back of her throat and forced it back down.
"The world is darker now," She brushed her fingers through Zoey's bangs. "I never told you, I should have told you how wonderful a person you were... and you were so gifted. And you made our girls smile. I can never thank you enough for that."
It was with some trepidation that Celine approached the final sheet. Even if she knew who it was, even if she already knew exactly how Mira had died— Mira deserved the same respect as her partners. Deserved Celine to have the courage to look upon her.
Celine blanched. Mira looked worse. There were many more cuts and gashes on her face and the rest of her body, indicating a long, drawn out battle.
But the fatal wound was a single stab wound over her heart, too long a cut to be anything other than Mira's own Gok-Do.
A tired, pained sound rippled out of Celine's throat and she pressed her lips to Mira's brow, "The breach was sealed, Mira. I know that it was you, that you destroyed every last one of those bastards. I know you then did the thing I could never bring myself to do. I wish you had not, but I understand. You had to be with your family. I'll see to it you remain with them."
But Celine was family too. And now she was alone.
A mother should never have to bury her daughter. Daughters. Her eyes moved between the three girls, and the Honmoon warbled as she spoke, "The demons will once more learn to fear my name."
It was all she could do. Hold the line once more until the next generation was old enough. Bury them together, near Miyeong. Rumi should be near her mother, but she should be with her girls.
Rumi should be with me. All of them should.
A Hunter was not meant to bear the weight of the world alone and Celine had not realized how much of that weight had been lifted from her these past years until this moment when it returned. Heavy. Inevitable.
Like Atlas accepting the burden, Celine called starlight into her hands for the first time in a decade. It shone, a contrast to the dark, empty vessels that surrounded her.
For now and for always, she mourned.