Love Blooms Now - A Hanahaki Olix Fanfic

Chapter 8 - Overthinking

"Huh..." Oli flung his head back, resting it on a tree was a slight thud. Pix had gone to do some building, but Oli had just stayed in the orchid. Well- Pix probably didn't realize Oli was still there. He plucked gently at the coords of his lute, the peaceful music joining the calm environment. Oli thought he spotted Pix on the bridge- a large curved stone pathway that is kinda like a bridge- Oli didn't know what to call it, but he saw a certain archaeologist there.

He slipped the lute on to his back in one swift movement. He was about to fly over to the brunette, but a loud sound seemed to echo out. Coughing. Painful coughing. From the far away view Oli had, it looked like Pix was bent over slightly. Was- was Pix sick? Even if not, that coughing sounded extremely painful, so it was not a good sign.

"Should I go talk to them..?" Oli questioned. Wouldn't Pix have mentioned something? Did he not trust Oli? The bard shook his head at that. Pix must trust him! Right?

"I... I probably should just go. If something is wrong, Pix will tell me themself. He definitely would tell me! They're closest with me, right? Or... maybe something is wrong, and he doesn't want me to know. No- no- Don't think like that, Oli!" Oli shook his head, trying to get it out of his thoughts.

Maybe that was what Scott and fWhip were trying to talk to Pix about? Should he ask them? "Wait- if that's the cast then Pix decided to hangout with me over getting help..." Oli debated it over in his head, "Should I just avoid hanging out so he won't put things over me...? No, they didn't put other activities over me, he just hung out so I would shut up about hanging out! Yep, that must be it... Then... am I annoying Pix?"

The thought loomed over his head. He had been called annoying many times before. Pix one of the people who never did, though it could be that Pix was just trying to be nice?

"I should just leave his empire... I don't think they would want me to still be here."

Pix wiped away the flowers, and scrubbed up a bit of blood. He heard rockets... Was someone flying over head? They glanced up, seeing someone. No wings carried them though... Just something magical. "Did... Did Oli see...?" It was a simple question for sure, but it carried heavy weight.

Pix coughed violently again.

"It hurts... I should talk with Shelby about something to dull the pain..." Pix let out a pained chuckle, "I think I'm going to die before I ever finish this restoration..." Well, Pix definitely needed something to dull the pain. If he was going to be dealing with this for who knows how much longer, they would need it to be less painful.

Why did it have to hurt so much?

He shot a message to Shelby, and really hoped she could help.

Before closing his communicator, he noticed a few notifications. Scott and fWhip...

They knew he had to tell them. They would never stop asking. He sighed. They started on their way to Chromia.

(531 words)