Azure Blossoms [SMG34 Hanahaki AU]

mind echoes

POV: Following SMG3's thoughts

"why am i coughing up flowers"

Three anxiously waited for Google to load with the shitty Starbucks Wifi. But when the first results came up, he couldn't believe what he was seeing.

Hanahaki Disease is a disease in which the victim coughs up flower petals when they suffer from one-sided love. It ends when the beloved returns their feelings (romantic love only; strong friendship is not enough), or when the victim dies.

The Meme Guardian reread the paragraph again and again, this couldn't be what was happening. It couldn't be... He scrolled down, reading more. It can be cured, but...

He would completely forget SMG4?

He blinked. Oh hell no, that was not an option for him. He wasn't going to do that. SMG3 kept reading about the disease.

There are many different types of Hanahaki, and the flowers will grow in either the victim's heart or lungs. They may experience fevers, depression, loss of appetite, hallucinations, or low body temperature. In some cases, the disease may tear the victim's lungs, throat, and mouth as some flowers (such as roses which have thorns) cut their internal anatomy.

The disease will worsen (unless treated or cured) until the victim begins to cough up or vomit larger flowers, causing them to choke to death, or the flowers take root in their heart/lungs, killing them.

SMG3's breathing quickened. This wasn't what was happening. This- this shit couldn't even be real. It wasn't real.

Almost...afraid to try to find out more, the Meme Guardian pulled the small rose out of his pocket. He had rinsed all the blood off it earlier...but at first it had been completely covered.

This wasn't a prank, he thought to himself as he came to the realization that he was incurable. I'm...dying.

~~~

POV: Following SMG3 & 4's thoughts

SMG4 smiled and said goodbye to Three, hoping the latter would recover soon. Bleh...did this mean that he would also feel a little weird? Three and Four had a strange connection since they were a Meme Guardian pair, and they always shared feelings or emotions on some level.

Funny how I didn't notice before, SMG4 thought to himself. When Three was banished to the Internet Graveyard at first, I didn't exactly feel... happy. Huh, it's funny to think about all the times he and SMG3 were emotionally connected and they didn't know it. Rabbit hole...

After a few more minutes, Mario's mess was gone and SMG4 went back to his room to make some memes. But after a minute, he felt...something...

~~~

SMG3's throat hurt, he could feel the blossoms making their way up...

The Meme Guardian gagged, rushing to the sink. Tears filled his eyes and the taste of blood and flowers and bile filled his mouth. Red. Blue. Beige. Red. Blue. Beige. What a fucking mess. Three's sink was unrecognizable. The mirror was clear as day.

Looking at his reflection, Three saw nothing wrong with him. But it felt like he was being strangled by stems and vines and cut by rose thorns and fucking torn apart by the sharp little things. His breathing was too fast.

SMG3 squeezed his eyes shut and tried to think through the tangled mess of thoughts in his brain. Breathe in, breathe out, breathe in, breathe out, this wasn't helping, fuck, why wasn't this-

"Ruff! Ruff!"

Eggdog. "Y-you-" Three turned around to see his sweet little child. "I'm so sorry. You- you weren't supposed to see me like that..." The man fell to the ground and broke into tears, hugging the dog and desperately trying to calm himself down.

Breathe in

Breathe out

Breathe in

Breathe out

Fuck it, that wasn't helping. Well, maybe a little, but SMG3 didn't know how anyone else could just go back to normal by "deep breathing" cAUSE THAT NEVER FUCKIN' HELPED. He wiped the blood off his mouth, spitting out one last blue petal before trying to clean up the sink. He didn't say a word the entire time, not even to curse when a minor inconvenience came up, only stopping to pet Eggdog every few minutes.

Just let this all be over...please...

I want to just wake up from this fucking nightmare already.

~~~

SMG4 couldn't sleep.

Every second he tried to close his eyes, he saw...a horrible image of something. Or someone. He didn't want to keep looking at it long enough to see what it was. There was purple and black, and- Four shut his eyes, and the image didn't come at first, but then more colors filled his mind. -red and blue and beige.

Giving up on sleep, Four opened YouTube and scrolled through his homepage. UNDERVERSE 0.7 Part 1, The Most HILARIOUS Breath of The Wild Mod, Hermitcraft RECAP - Season 9 Week 84...

The videos kept his mind occupied, and all the little thoughts bouncing around like DVD logo screensavers finally hit the corners and stopped moving. Oh yeah, it was definitely time to stay up way too late watching videos and forgetting how fast time moves...

Hours passed, and Four's sleep schedule was now more fucked than a Splatoon 2 team with a disconnect, but the visions stopped. SMG4 sleepily closed his laptop and his eyes began to close. Finally...

As the Meme Guardian drifted off to sleep, the only things he thought about now were the memes he saw...and strangely, blue and red and beige...

...what did that mean?

Those colors haunted both Meme Guardians, but only one knew why. Only one of them, only one half of the whole knew that soon, one of them would be gone forever. And it wasn't gonna be Four.