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It had been a while since Laurance became one of Aphmau’s guards. In the beginning, he had developed feelings for her. For a while, the only thing he wanted was to be with her. That.. started to cease though.
Laurance was well aware of Garroth’s feelings for Aphmau as well. He cared about Garroth and didn’t want to get in the way of his chance. Garroth had been helping her longer, protecting her longer. He knew how much Garroth loved her, and wouldn’t get in the way of that.
For a while, it was him pushing away his emotions for Aphmau, but.. After a while, it wasn’t Aphmau who he ended up loving.
Garroth and Laurance had ended up becoming.. close, to say the least. Friends at first of course. They’d spend time together when they weren’t on patrol or with Aphmau, which, granted wasn’t super often, but it was often enough.
One day, Laurance and Garroth were training together, as they did sometimes. Gotta keep your skills sharp right? Here’s where everything got tricky.
-
Garroth panted as he stopped to take a break “We’ve been here for a while huh. It’s already afternoon.” he said, sighing
Laurance stopped as well “Heh, yea. A few hours at lea-” he started, but stopped when he turned and saw Garroth standing there. His heart beat quickened. He hadn’t noticed, but he started blushing. Was he.. always this pretty? The way his blue eyes sparkled, or how small strands of his golden hair fell in front of his face. Wait-
“Hey, are you okay?” the blonde spoke up, noticing Laurance’s sudden pause, widened eyes, and red face.
“H- Huh??” he quickly snapped back to reality “N- Uh- Ye- s??” he tried responding, still flustered.
“You seem tired, let’s get you some water. You’re face is very red.” Garroth said, it sounded more like an order than an offer.
“R- Right..” Laurance nodded.
-
After a while, Laurance noticed this type of reaction being more.. common. Garroth could glance at him and simply smile, and it would make his heart do back flips.
It was a few months before.. the flowers started. It was sudden, but started small. He woke up in the middle of the night, coughing. And what came out was.. a flower petal. A light blue one at that. He simply ignored it, he was tired and it was probably just his imagination. People don’t just cough up blue flowers.
However, this continued. One petal turned into 3, then 7, then 15, then he started coughing up full flowers. All of which were.. blue...
It started to scare Laurance, but he refused to tell anyone. His feelings for Garroth continued and got stronger by day, but so did the amount of flowers and petals.
Soon the flowers were bloody. Trying not to cough around others was difficult. When it happened he’d have to brush it off and say it was just a cough that would be gone in a few days.
It got bad. Very bad. He decided he’d go to the library when he had a chance and try to maybe find a book about it.
After searching for what felt like hours, he found a book about a disease called ‘Hanahaki’. It was described to be a disease caused by unrequited love, in which the sufferer’s lungs will begin growing flowers until eventually, they suffocate and die. The only way to get rid of it being to.. remove the flowers, or for the love interest to return feelings.
Ah.. that made sense… Garroth loved Aphmau, and Laurance loved Garroth.. so that was what had been causing this. He thought for a moment.. maybe Lucinda would know how to help? She was a witch. Maybe she had a spell that could fix this.
He started by going to Lucinda, telling her the basics, but not telling her who it was he loved. She explained what removing the flowers would do. Stating that doing so would get rid of the feelings for the person.
Laurance considered it.. but... he didn’t want to get rid of the feelings. No, he didn’t want to die, but, getting rid of these emotions.. felt wrong to him.
-
“Then no.” he said, looking at the witch standing in front of him
“What?? Are you crazy? Laurance you’re going to die from this! You said it’s been months? Is this really how you want to die?? How bad is it???” She said back
“It’s nothing I can’t cope with” He responded
“IT IS SOMETHING YOU CAN’T COPE WITH! THIS ISN’T JUST SOMETHING THAT WILL GET BETTER, IT CAN, AND WILL KILL YOU!” She yelled.
“Then so be it.” Laurance said, walking to the door and leaving.
-
Lucinda had promised not to tell anyone, even though it felt wrong to keep it secret.. No, it WAS wrong to keep it secret… but she wouldn’t go against Laurance’s wishes, for now she just hoped he’d change his mind.
The pain from the coughing and the flowers got worse and worse. Within a week, Laurance was barely able to stay standing without getting dizzy.
After another week of pain and suffering, Laurance and Garroth were on patrol, talking and enjoying each other’s company. Garroth was just as handsome as he always had been.. glimmering eyes, pastel gold hair, a smile that would light up a room… the painful realization hit him again, Garroth would never love him back in the same way.
This thought caused pain to shoot through his chest. Then he started coughing, he covered his mouth, trying to continue on without Garroth noticing too much, but it was worse. He moved his hand away from his face, he held sky blue petals drenched in crimson.
Another cough, he was getting dizzy.
“Hey, are you okay?” Garroth stopped and turned around to look at Laurance “Laura- WH- LAURANCE??”
At this point, he fell to his knees, his vision was blurring.. is this how it ends? He hoped it wouldn’t happen in front of Garroth, but the world chose the circumstances..
Garroth ran over and kneeled in front of Laurance “Laurance?? What’s wrong??? You’ve been coughing more and more you-” he stopped as the brown haired male took his hands away. They were covered in blood, with blue flowers and petals laying in his palms
“L- Laurance what is this- why are you- why are you coughing up bloody petals- wh-” the blonde stuttered, confused and terrified as he noticed the pain his friend was in
“Shh.. it’s not something I c- can explain… I don’t have the t- ime..” he responded, tears forming at the corners of his eyes, and slowly beginning to stream down his cheeks
Garroth also started to tear up “What do you mean you don’t have the time.. No… you’ll be fine you.. We just gotta get you back, L- Lucinda can help- Y-” he was shushed again
“No.. we can’t… it’s no use, ok? I've been expecting this.."
"No…" Garroth's voice was breaking
"Promise me you'll take care of Aphmau..?" Laurance said, a cough following after
A hand rested on the side of Laurance's face, Garroth's hand. "Laurance.." he was crying.. this wasn't a normal thing…
Laurance lifted his hand and held Garroth's arm "Hey.. don't cry… it'll be okay.." Laurance's voice was raspy and quiet
"Please.. don't do this… please let me help you.. theres still time we-"
"Garroth stop.. p-lease… just promise me you'll take care of her? Promise me you'll stay st- strong? For me?" His voice was almost a whisper, every word holding pain
"I.. I promise…" Garroth responded softly, his voice cracking and breaking
"Th-ank you.. now… Garroth..?"
"Y.. Yes…?"
Laurance glanced up to meet the blue eyes that he so adored.. to look at who he was dying for… one last time.. the one who was resting a hand on his face… he was in so much pain, but there was comfort.. "I love you"
The light left his eyes, his mouth curved into a small smile. The hand that had been holding onto Garroth's arm dropped limply to the ground…
"I love you too…."