VOLTRON ONE-SHOTS

Lance - Hanahaki Love

Lance clutched his head feverously, his breaths coming out faster as surprise was replaced by panic, and panic ebbed away to fear. He wasn't going to end up like his sister, he wouldn't he-

Against his will, he was brought back to the Garrison hospital, clutching the hand of his older sister, weak and dying on the bed in front of him. A bucket of sunshine yellow flower petals sat at her side, the most recent still sitting on her lap, the bright petals covered in blood.

"Por favor, just tell me who it is Veronica, I'll- I'll hunt them down, make them love you, just- sólo, por favor no te vayas." Lance was sobbing now, he couldn't lose his sister, he couldn't, not after all they'd been through together. They had each other's backs in everything they faced, but now.

He didn't have her back, he couldn't do anything, and it was killing him as much as it was her.

The doctors had proclaimed that there wasn't anything more they could do, it was a natural disease, of course. They couldn't do anything but watch it run its course.

Instead of hearing Lance, the brunette, with shaky fingers, reached out to grab one of the delicate petals, holding it in the palm of her hand. "Yellow's his favorite color, you know," she coughed then, more bloody petals falling from her lips and Lance helplessly watched her heave more and more onto her lap before falling back onto the pillows with a weak sigh, her eyes half-lidded, blood falling from her lips, making a trail down her chin and Lance wiped the spot away, squeezing her hand tighter in an attempt to get her to look at him, to smile, to do something, but she stayed silent, staring off at a spot on the wall behind him with glossy green eyes her wheezing for air growing fainter and fainter with every breath.

The heart monitor beside her bed began to howl.

That was the day he swore he would never fall in love because as selfish as the thought was, he didn't want to die like that, he couldn't.

No, Lance's fingers twisted through his hair, getting pulled back into the present, no, no, no, no, no, no.

He wasn't going to die.

As much as Lance didn't want to even acknowledge the dreaded disease, the Hanahaki disease was one that Lance was all too familiar with, it claimed so many people he had known over the years, including his oldest sister.

The cause of it was about as painful as it was simple. It developed from the tragedy of one-sided love, flower petals would gather in their lungs, choking them of air. The poor soul would fight against it for a little while, suffering massive coughs and occasional vomiting, all in an attempt to get the petals out. But it would never be enough, eventually, it all would be too much and they would eventually die from suffocation. The only cure was if the person they loved, proclaimed that they really loved them back, but that was a rare case all in itself. He was going to die.

But Lance didn't want to die.

He wanted to live.

He wanted to see his mama.

He wanted to go home.

"Lance? You okay, hermano?" Hunk's voice sounded right outside the bathroom door.

Lance all but threw himself at the toilet, hastily flushing the vibrant petals down the drain, he couldn't let anyone know about this, especially Hunk. He knew, same as Lance that there wasn't any way to recover from Hanahaki once it started, and Lance couldn't bear to see his best friend break down after seeing that Lance had the disease.

He was just going to have to keep it a secret.

For now, at least.

The door opened just in time for Hunk to see Lance washing his hands. "Hey, you okay? You kind of ran off back there."