(Notice: I carried this oneshot over from my other book. Just a heads-up)
HEX HANAHAKI!
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
(Also, I was running out of title ideas. As you can tell.)
Warnings are blood and vomit, plus panic.
WC: ~1350
Enjoy!
When Xay first started coughing up an assortment of nether roots and fungi, he thought that he was dreaming.
Or crazy.
Maybe both.
It's not possible, Xay told himself. There's no reason. It's not like I've been... eating fungus.
How else could I have gotten it in my system?
Xay glared at the small pile of nether plants. It didn't make sense. A part of him was panicking, but most of his mind was just... annoyed.
Genuinely annoyed.
Sometimes I surprise even myself...
Kicking the pile of plants away, Xay started to consider his options.
Tell someone?
Who?
Hels?
Xay couldn't help but laugh at his own thought. Sure, Hels was the nearest person to him, but...
He would be literally no help.
Xisuma?
Maybe?
...That'll work.
Xanthus sighed and pulled out his rockets before firing off to the Hermit's Nether Hub.
"You've been what?!" Xisuma yelped as Xay explained his situation. "Run that by me again." Xay sighed.
"I've been coughing up plants," he repeated. "And I don't know why."
"Okay," Xisuma mumbled, though Xay could sense something else in his voice.
Complete and overwhelming fear.
"I'm getting Bdubs, Iskall, and Grian," Xisuma said after a moment. "They know more about hanahaki than I do."
Hanahaki?!
But Xisuma had already left before Xay could ask what he meant.
"Hanahaki," Grian explained. "Is a disease caused by unrequited love. It grows flowers inside of your lungs and will make you cough up petals, then blood and thorns. And when you're basically on your deathbed, you start growing flowers out of your skin." Xay stared at him, looking for signs that indicated he was joking.
"That can't be right," he finally replied. "First of all, I don't like anyone. Se-"
"That's what they all say," Iskall offered. "That's what Grian and Bdubs thought, anyway."
"'Thought'," Xay echoed. "I'm not thinking. I know I don't like anyone."
"First stage of grief is denial," Grian offered.
"Who am I even grieving for?!"
"Yourself," Bdubs suggested, earning a glare from Xay, which was immediately followed by a coughing fit.
"Okay, that's bad," Bdubs mumbled, staring at the nether roots.
"No kidding," Xay grumbled. "But I- oh."
The realization hit him like a train.
Anyone but him.
Universe, come on.
...Well...
I'm dead.
"Is there any way to cure it other than, well, if the love becomes requited?" Xay asked.
"You could kill your emotions with a potion," Iskall offered after a beat of silence. "But-"
"Give me the potion," Xay instructed.
"Are you sure-" Grian tried.
"No," Xay replied. "But if I'm sick for who I think I am, then this might be my only option."
And frankly, I'd rather survive emotionless than die to Hels.
It's only him and Xisuma.
Xisuma handed Xay the potion, and then there's silence.
Neither knows what to say.
Until Xay doubled over coughing.
Fungus sprayed out, and the pain flew through his veins like daggers.
When the world clears up, Xay notices a couple of things.
His knees had buckled, and he's crouched on the ground.
Xisuma is supporting him.
And there's blood mixed with the fungus.
"Wha-" Xay managed as Xisuma sucked in a breath.
"Promise me something," Xisuma mumbled as he stared at the pile of plants and blood. "Confess. Get it out of the way."
"I-"
"I can't lose you," Xisuma cut him off, his voice shaking. "I can't lose... anyone else."
Xay knew exactly what he meant.
"Okay," he agreed, although reluctant.
"Thank you," Xisuma replied.
This is a promise...
I' might just have to go back on.
At first, that was what Xay's plan was.
Take the potion.
...Once he mustered up the courage.
He kept telling himself that you have to take it today.
Apparently, 'today' could always wait until tomorrow.
The blood was becoming overwhelming.
And it was a day like any other,
When Xay realized,
Why don't I try to tell Hels?
Xay froze mid-step, and blinked in genuine confusion at the thought. It seemed... so... simple.
It wasn't until Xay approached Hels that he realized why he hadn't done this earlier.
I don't want him to see me like this...
But by then, it was too late.
Hels had already turned to face him.
Waiting for him to speak.
"Hels," Xay was barely able to prevent his voice from shaking. "I need to tell you something."
"What?" Hels snapped back, obviously uninterested.
"I love you," Xay's voice was soft. "And I'm sick. I have hanahaki."
"So, you're going to die," Hels clarified.
"Not necessarily," Xay offered. "I won't die if, well, you like me back."
A beat of silence.
"Then perish,"
It was only two words.
A growl from Hels's throat before he stalked away.
But for Xay...
It was so much more.
It was a wake-up call.
It was a whisper in his ear.
A message.
A realization.
I have no chance.
Xay had the potion.
He had decided it was his only chance after the first mushroom sprouted.
In a blue warped forest.
Alone.
With a bottle filled with a clear but cloudy liquid.
It was sinister in its own weird way.
Xay took a deep breath, uncorked the potion,
And brought it up to his mouth.
He pressed the nozzle of the bottle to his lips.
All he had to was tilt the bottle forwards to drink.
One.
Two.
Three.
And just as Xay started to tip the liquid in his mouth, there was a flash of dark silver, and all Xay could process in that moment was a shattering sound.
Xay jumped back in surprise, only to see...
Hels.
And the shattered bottle on the ground.
Did he-
"Are you crazy?!" Xay screamed, tears in his eyes. "Did you seriously just ruin my only chance at survival?! I knew you hated me, but isn't this a bit much?"
"You actually just did that," Hels sounded... genuinely astonished.
"I actually just did that?!" Xay shouted back. "You're the one who smashed the bottle out of my hands! You've killed me, you know that, right?"
The reality hit harder than his own words.
That's it.
That potion was my only chance at survival.
I'm dead.
Gone.
Or, I might as well be.
Wait, can't I get a new one?
No, Xisuma said that they only had one on hand.
...And that they take weeks to brew.
I don't have weeks.
So that's it.
I could've survived.
If it weren't for Hels.
"You actually have hanahaki," Hels breathed, pulling Xay out of his trance.
"No, duh!" he flashed back. "And now I'm going to perish, just like you wanted. I hope you're happy, you absolute jerk!"
Xay whipped around and was about to take off, when Hels grabbed his arm. Xay flinched, trying to pull his arm out of Hels's iron grasp, and failing.
"Please wait," Hels's voice was softer than Xay had ever heard it. "Oh blazes Xay, I'm so sorry."
"Sorry," Xay echoed, a darkness in his voice. "You... you've killed me. And you're sorry."
"No," Hels murmured. "You're not dead. You're not going to die."
"Well, feel free to explain that to the mushrooms in my lungs," Xay spat.
"Are you deaf?!" Hels finally snapped. "I'm trying to confess to you!"
Silence.
Xay was completely frozen.
Hels sighed, then stepped closer.
And closer.
Only a little bit of distance.
Then Hels closed it.
It was short and sweet, but it was enough.
The mushrooms and fungi were gone.
It was blissful.
Xay exhaled, feeling like it was the first time he could breathe in weeks.
"Why did you say that?" he asked after a moment. Hels didn't need to ask to know what Xay meant.
'Then perish.'
"Let's just say I don't have the best experience with people telling me they love me," Hels replied quietly, although there was an old pain in his voice and fiery eyes.
Xay didn't press it further.
The only thing he did press was his lips against Hels's as he stole another kiss.
It's only here that Xay realized,
I think I would have rather perished than give this feeling up.
But I'm happy I didn't have to do either.
Woo!
-Storm