Arbed House Headcanons

The Flower Syndrome

Kei x Rhian

Warnings: Character death/SGE  Book 6 spoilers

Note: The Flower Syndrome is a fictional trope created by Matsuda Naoko in her comic 花吐き乙女. It doesn't exist in real life and is only used when writing fanfics, so don't worry and don't take it seriously.

Characters belong to Soman Chainani, bad writing belongs to me

~~~Main Text~~~

It all started with a single hyacinth petal.

Kei was hurrying to finish up the task Rhian had given him when his throat suddenly felt itchy. He coughed and felt something soft brush against his lips. He reached up and wiped his lips with the tips of his fingers and checked to see what it was. Nothing was on his gloved fingertips. So he hustled on, not noticing the white petal that fell between his boots.

The second time, Kei noticed them. He had felt a stab of pain and then coughed out, this time, three white daisy petals. His brows furrowed, wondering what kind of trick it was. A bluff from his enemies? A harmless little curse he stumbled upon? Or was he down with some kind of unknown disease? His thoughts were cut short by a pirate asking him: "What's wrong, cap?"

"Nothing."Kei replied, and quickly tossed the petals behind his back. But he made up his mind to check the library when he had time.

When he had free time, Kei spent hours searching the library for books about curses and illnesses. Finally, one night as he was almost going to fall asleep while flipping through seemingly endless pages, he found what he wanted.

"The Flower Syndrome: this syndrome may occur in people experiencing unrequited love. When their yearning and love for their crush can't be delivered, their throats would burn with pain, causing them to cough and then spit out flower petals. When severe, a whole flower blooms out of their mouths. The only cure is to receive a true love's kiss from your crush."

He noticed the edge of this page was curled, up, as someone else had also checked this page not long ago. But before he could think more, the pain came again and Kei coughed. The sound echoed loudly in the empty library. Kei stared at the scarlet begonia petals lying stilly in his palm as if silently mocking him for the feeling in his heart he was aware of but dared not confront. Kei's fist curled around the petals, ready to squeeze them into a pulp. But at the last moment, he loosened his grip and returned to his room to tuck the petals between two pages of a book.

The next day, Rhian called him to the dining room to see if he's made progress on his assigned tasks. When Kei walked into the room, he noticed Sophie was there, too, sitting beside Rhian. A foreign emotion crept up his heart. As he was finishing up his report, he started coughing violently. Rhian was startled and rose from his chair.

"What's wrong?" Rhian asked anxiously.

"I'm fine." Kei shook his head and bowed to Rhian, right hand touching his chest as he dropped the left behind his waist, concealing the yellow petals from view.

"If there's nothing else you want to ask, your highness, then I shall excuse myself."

This time, Kei crushed the petals, leaving an ugly, bruised yellow across his palm.

As his head was bowed, he did not see Rhian pursing his lips and gripping the arm of his chair, his Adam's apple bobbing as if swallowing something.

Days passed. Kei forced himself to focus more on his tasks instead of getting lost in his train of thought. I can't talk to him about it. He thought, at least not now. I'm not worth his attention, not after I've betrayed him. Maybe after everything is settled, after Rhian got what he wanted, I'll go and confess my feelings to him. Maybe——

His reveries were cut short by Rhian's death.

No one knew how Kei felt when he took care of Rhian's body. When he walked out of the room Rhian had died in, He was covered in blood. Kei himself couldn't distinguish if it was Rhian's blood or the blood he'd coughed up. A bloodred rose had bloomed from his throat, rooted to his heart, colored by blood, pain, grief, and love.

The day came for Kei, too. Funny that, he thought as he fell, this was the same sword that had ended Rhian's life. His body hit the ground while his soul floated upwards, till he reached a space of emptiness. Kei wandered about beyond the light clouds and azure sky, not sure why he hadn't lost consciousness yet. Weren't people supposed to just go blank after they die? Why was his soul still here, existing in a gap between worlds?

He sauntered aimlessly for what seemed like an eternity, leaving a trail of drooping sunflowers as he walked.

Then, a smudge of scarlet in the distance caught his eye.

Kei's heart leaped with an aching feeling. He started running towards the touch of vivid color in his blank world.

He stopped a few feet away when he saw the person standing in the blooming red roses. Rhian looked to Kei with his beautiful sea-green eyes and smiled.

A breeze came. Sunflowers bloomed and raised their heads, centering Kei and closing the gap between him and the roses, gently swaying.

Kei's vision went blurry, but he still kept his eyes fixed on the figure in front of him as if he might disappear if Kei looked away for just a second. Kei opened his mouth to say something, anything, when a rose again blossomed from his mouth.

"I know." Rhian reached out to wipe his tears, then leaned in to kiss the rose.

It shattered into a million petals, swirling around them, enveloping them under a crimson canopy.

Their lips meet, their thoughts mingle, and their souls unite. Kei pulled Rhian into a hug so tight nothing would ever separate them.

Their bodies dissolved into petals, red of roses and yellow of sunflowers. They twirled along with the other petals, dancing their first and last waltz, until the breeze slowed, then stopped. A tune over, a story ended.

All that's left, blooming from the same root, was a sunflower and a rose.

~~~End~~~     

Notes: The language of flowers used:

White Hyacinth —— a secret crush

Daisy —— love buried deep in one's heart

Begonia —— a secret crush

Yellow Hyacinth —— jealousy

Sunflower —— loyalty; silent love (I love this one)

Rose —— love

Thank you so much for reading!