AS PETALS BURST FORTH. ❀ stingue

break

in which sting falls deeper.

Everything was white.

The walls, the ceilings, the light lacrima, the pillows in which his head lay; all white. The only thing dark in the sterile hospital room was the person who had his head pressed to Sting's bed, soft snores coming from them.

"R-Rogue...?" he whispers in a husky voice. He felt strangely weak and he couldn't move a single muscle. Sting had never felt more pathetic in his life.

He was not sure if the Shadow Slayer had heard him, but the silent groan that came from Rogue told otherwise. "Hey," he whispered, lifting his head.

Sting's heart fluttered lightly, and he managed a weak smile. "Hello... you heard?"

Rogue didn't need to ask what he was talking about. "Yeah," he replied, blinking. He reached over to grab Sting's still hand.

"Why didn't you tell me?" His voice is stiff, gentle and silent. Sting shifts his head to the side to avoid looking into Rogue's mesmerizing pools of crimson eyes.

"I... It only started yesterday," Sting replied, not really answering Rogue's question as he let his eyelids flutter shut.

"Don't you trust me?"

The question is sudden and out of the blue, and Sting stiffens. A tear manages to slip down the side of his face and he sniffles, edging his hand away from Rogue's.

"With my life," he whispers softly, still with his eyes closed. His hand feels oddly empty now.

"Then you clearly don't trust me enough," Rogue says, and if you have already heard the sound of a tiny glass figurine shattering, it would describe the sound of Sting's heart.

He whips his head around, his azure eyes widening considerably. He somehow jolts up into a sitting position as the bandages on his chest hurt, and they hurt a lot.

"Y-You - I would NEVER-" he barely manages to gasp out before the bandages bleed, as red as a blooming rose, as red as Rogue's eyes.

He spits out several petals, the angelic form of the white lilies stained crimson as he desperately clenched around the sheets trying to breathe. The white of his clothes, of his blankets, and of his bed quickly turn into a sickening scarlet scattered with tainted petals.

The next thing he knows, a bucket is being shoved under his chin and he vomits out the lilies that accumulated in his throat. The nurses are shouting, his doctor rushes into the room looking frantic, and Rogue is crying, but Sting hears none of it as the blood keeps rushing and the flowers keep falling.

The bucket fills, the flowers stop, and he does, too.

<○~●>

"It's all my fault, I-I'm so sorry, I asked him a question-" is what Rogue keeps stammering, repeating to the Doctor as he sobs. It was the first time the severity of Sting's condition came into the light, and Rogue couldn't bare to see his closest friend in such a weak spot.

He is silenced by a gentle hand on his shoulder. The aged Doctor's touch is fatherly, it gives him a fleeting impression of Skiadrum.

"Rogue-san, we are not blaming you," he smiles, squeezing Rogue's shoulder. "Mr. Eucliffe has already been stressed, even before you were invited in." He leads Rogue to sit on one of the chairs in a hallway.

The Doctor sits down next to him. "I suppose you understand the effects of the Hanahaki Disease?"

"Y-Yes," Rogue replies, wiping his eyes. "We have to find the person who Sting loves and get them to confess, right?"

"Yes, we have to. Do you have any idea of who this person is?"

Rogue starts to grow conscious of the hand on his shoulder. "N-No," he hiccups lightly. "I'm pretty sure it's Yukino, but she started dating the Mistress just a few weeks ago-"

Rogue's ruby eyes widened. "It's Yukino," he gasps out.

Rogue could almost swear he saw a frown flicker from the Doctor's face, but he wasn't so sure as the smile the Doctor gave him was quite bright.

"Then, I assume you can get her to confess to Mr. Eucliffe?" The Doctor finally removes his hand from Rogue's shoulder, instead folding it with his other hand and placing them on his lap.

Rogue ponders about this. "But, she's already dating the Mistress, isn't she? And Yukino's not one to let go of relationships easily... she loves the Mistress.

"Wh-What if we just get her to confess?" Rogue regrets the words as they came out of his mouth.

The Doctor frowns. "And after Mr. Eucliffe is released, what do you plan on doing? Miss Yukino will surely go back to her relationship." Well, Rogue hadn't though of that.

"I... I don't know."

"Rogue-san, please ask Mr. Eucliffe about his loved one. We are not one-hundred percent sure about the identity of such person." The Doctor's smile returns.

Rogue hesitates, shifting his gaze away to stare at a nearby potted plant. "I... I don't think it would do for me to see him after he calms down. Maybe the Mistress, or Lector and Frosch?" He suggests. He doesn't want to see Sting, or wasn't sure that Sting wants to see him. It would be best to let him settle down first.

The Doctor nods.

<○~●>

Contrary to Rogue's belief, Sting wants to see him. He wants to see him badly.

Sure, he knew that Rogue could never love an arrogant, loud-mouthed idiot like him, but he wanted to see his best friend before Sting... before Sting passes away. The time was nearing, and he knew in his broken heart that it would only be a matter of short months.

He already accepted the fact that he would die, and he knew that Rogue would never come to terms with the fact that he was loved by Sting. It was... well... weird. And even now, Sting could feel the flowers bubbling inside his lungs.

The door opens, and Sting jolts up to a sitting position, expecting to see Rogue.

In comes Frosch with Lector.