Hazel Levesque || ANGST

Hanahaki

Basic info: Hazel x Reyna (one sided), set after ToA
TW/CW: mentions of abuse

"Sis, if you only told me who..."

Nico's voice trailed off, and Hazel weakly held up a hand to halt his speech as she hacked up almost a full, red rose. Her chest tightened and contracted, and she groaned with the exertion of suppressing the cough.
"N-no... just- give me a minute..."

Hazel knew that telling Nico who she loved enough to suffer the Hanahaki disease wouldn't end well. For the disease to get this bad, the sick person would have to be certain that their love was unrequited. Her mind went back to a year or so before, on the day she became praetor, watching the Puerto-Rican hero join the hunters of Artemis. If Nico found out that it was Reyna who she loved, who was unknowingly killing her, blood would be spilt, and Hazel was terrified to find out what he would do.

The pain in her chest never fully went away, but it had lessened since she had coughed up that last red rose, the tips of the petals tinged with a dark, sticky blood. The flower stared back at her, and Hazel looked at it sadly. She couldn't even be mad about all of this, and that was the worst part. She simply loved too much, it wasn't Reyna's fault. The daughter of Bellona deserved happiness. And if that wasn't Hazel's place to make sure she got that, if it was Artemis and Thalia and the huntresses... so be it. As long as Reyna was happy. With or without Hazel.

Hazel whimpered quietly, and Nico's grip on her shoulders tightened protectively. He himself had suffered from Hanahaki, but got better when it turned out that Will had loved him back all along. She took solace in the fact that he understood how it felt - however there was always hope for him. Reyna would forever be out of Hazel's reach.
"Sorellina, just tell me. Maybe there's some hope after all... and there isn't much time left," Nico murmured. He didn't know. He could never know.
"Nico, let it be? She- there's no hope. I'm going to die." Hazel tried to deliver the blow gently, Nico had already lost his other sister. But there was no point sugarcoating it. "I'm sorry... I'm really sorry..."

"No, there's still hope," Nico insisted, tears threatening to spill down his cheeks. "Hazel, you're so loveable... don't give up, you're not going to die. You can't- you can't die- don't leave me..."
Her heart felt like it was shattering all over again, and she leant against the toilet weakly. She was just about to respond when the air around them shimmered, and Reyna's face popped into view via iris message.

"Di Angelo!" Reyna called cheerfully, waving. "Oh, and hi Hazel! How are my friends doing today?"

At the word 'friends', Hazel coughed, and Nico stiffened beside her.
"Reyna, it's great to see you, but we're a little busy at the moment. Is there something you wanted to say?" he asked, trying to contain his emotions in a strained voice as Hazel lurched away from him and out of sight from the Iris Message to throw up, two bloody roses, and she coughed weakly. Her chest stung and throbbed with agonising pain and she groaned again, her voice cracking with tears.

"Is Hazel okay?" Reyna's voice echoed. Like she cared. Hazel knew that was probably being unfair - Reyna did care, just not the way Hazel wanted her too - but as of that moment, she felt so sad it was impossible to let any clear, logical thoughts through her brain. She felt faint, and she slumped across the floor, whimpering slightly. How could she be loved like this, anyway?

It wasn't her first experience with the Hanahaki. When she was little, and her mother first started distancing herself, Hazel coughed up flower petals almost daily. There was nothing Sammy not the kind, dark-skinned doctor could do to stop it. But she had died with her mother before he disease got to develop fully. The pain was nothing like this. This pain, it was horrific. Agony day and night, it never went away. It was like it got worse as the flowers in her lungs grew.

Nico sighed. "Hazel's... can you come over, Reyna? I need some help."
No! Hazel wanted to scream. But her breath was too shallow, and she coughed painfully, a loud hacking sound that caused Nico to flinch.
Reyna paused as if to consider this. "Not today. But in a week or so, I'm coming."
Nico nodded. "Hurry, I'm not sure how long we've got left."

~~~

Hazel tried to carry on as normal. Unfortunately, Frank had noticed her state of wear and dismissed her from praetor duties - Gwen would stand in for her until she got better. The thought had made her sob into Frank's chest, and despite his confused worries she couldn't tell him that she wasn't going to get better.

~~~

Reyna was late, and Hazel was choking. Nico sat crying by her side as she coughed up rose after rose, each becoming more bloodstained than the last. She didn't have long at all, and part of her was relieved. No more pain. No more flowers. No more unrequited love.

Blood spattered the white sheets of the barracks at New Rome as Hazel tried to maintain some dignity.
"I am not afraid to die," she whispered sternly, more to herself than to Nico. Nico's grip on her hand tightened, and Reyna came flying through the door, dropping herself by Hazel's side and scooping the daughter of Pluto's head onto her lap. This wasn't a bad place to die, Hazel thought weakly.

"Hanahaki?" The huntress asked Nico, who nodded mutely. "Who?"
"She won't say." Came the hushed response. "If I only knew..."
"Respect her wishes. She probably is scared of what you'll do to them."
"S-she's right," Hazel coughed weakly. "I- I don't want you to hurt her, or force her..."
Nico hushed her. "Don't tire yourself, sorellina."

The pain in her chest flared as Reyna ran her warm hands gently through her cinnamon curls, gently braiding Hazel's hair. Hazel coughed once more, and another red rose, this time soaked in blood, appeared. She couldn't hold on any longer.

"Rey- Reyna," She wheezed softly. Reyna leant her head down so that Hazel's lips just brushed her ears. "I believe I was always, sort of, in love with you."
Reyna gasped, and met Hazel's golden eyes one last time as the light faded from them for eternity.