Queendom 《Norway x Reader》 [SEQUEL TO THE TROLL HUNTER]

Chapter 7: Blockage

Osaka was finally coming into a slow slumber. The streets were clearing up and the people who were lingering around were either out smoking or on their way home. The autumn air was finally getting to you as you can finally feel the cold after all of the bullshit you had to go through since Kyoto. You never realized how cold Japan can get in the autumn. Your nose scrunching and itching from the cold while your ears were a bit red. The streets weren't exactly filled with trees, but the few that came into view were either all red or had some golden color to them left. The streetlights were very bright, but the alleys in Osaka were much darker than the alleyways you have seen in Tokyo. The brightness of the streetlights were powerful, and were also very powerful enough to help alleys look darker in the shadows. And to be honest, you were thankful that the shadows were deep and dark-

-because Lukas was coughing out blood.

When you both exited the station earlier, on the topic on remembering your memory gaps, he started to feel sick-not the uneasy kind of sick, but sick sick. Once he started mentioning a few things like a roadtrip and a place up north in Norway, he started choking back a few coughs. At first you thought it was just the weather or his throat was dry-or probably the fact that you both were smokers because you were kind of feeling the itchiness from the running earlier, but it wasn't from any of those. He told you about the RV you both stayed in, what kind of person you were with him before (he can tell that you've changed), and how much determination you had to finish your thesis. The little information he shared caused him to cough uncontrollably.

"ACK!"

You gently patted Lukas' back as you both hid in the dark alleyway. With the few passerbys lookung at your alley occassionally, you really had nothing else to worry about besides the people who were looking for you. Lukas had his hand on his knee, bent down and a little shaky while covering his mouth with your hankerchief. His first priority was to avoid any droplets of blood as he knew that they could be easily tracked if any of his blood were to be smeared on the floor. Tears were forming in his eyes, but he could feel the worst of his fits of cough coming to an end. He no longer felt the dizziness, or did he feel like throwing up.

Lukas looked straight at the dull building wall, trying to figure out what the hell that was. The sudden outburst of feeling physically ill was new to him. He has never encountered something like this since his own torturous training in Romania during his isolation. He has trained himself to be more efficient and disciplined with the raw power of his own magics. Yet how his body was reacting as to telling you the truth had a chokehold on him, and it felt quite literal. He held his fingers againts his throat-breathing in deeply and grunting from the itch.

"Here." Without any hesitation, Lukas graciously took the bottle of water from your hand and began to drink it all down like a glass of beer.

You looked outside of the alley. People were getting scarce now. The nearby Lawson and Family Mart held the most people, which barely contained any besides the cashier and a couple of people. The tourists that walked by made you feel uneasy, silently praying that they weren't the people after you.

"I think," Lukas croaked, "I think I'm cursed."

"What?!"

You rushed to his side and began checking for things that could be a sign of his curse. You held his face and bobbed him side to side to check if there was any marks. You looked at the small backpack he had and the rest of the luggage, and nothing felt out of the ordinary. You took your hand out of your glove and pressed your palm against his forehead, but there was no fever or even sweat. Lukas looked healthy, with the color of his cheeks coming bacl. You were no magic expert, but you knew that if there was a curse on him it would take its effect through afflictions. One of those afflictions was him coughing out blood when he spoke about the past.