Red Begonias

Chapter 5: He's Gone

~Keith’s POV~

I sigh. It’s been a whole week since Lance last came out of his room. Frankly. I’m getting pretty worried. I walk to the blue paladin’s room and knock. No response. I frown and open the door, turning on the light to find that his floor was covered in dried blood and… flower petals. The petals were the same ones from his locker. I gasp, seeing him clutching a bunch of whole flowers, his eyes closed with a peaceful look on his face. I feel for a pulse only to find nothing.

“Sh-Shiro… y-you might wanna come here.” I say into my communicator.

“Where are you?”

“Lance’s room.” I say, my hands shaking. Shiro arrived in less than five minutes and looked around the room.

“Oh by the ancients… Lance…” He says, looking at the dead paladin in my arms.

“Don’t let Pidge see this… Call Coran to have him get a pod ready to load his memories onto the ship.” I whisper. Shiro nods and calls Coran. I lift Lance and cover his body with a non-bloody blanket, carrying his limp body to the pod room. Coran met us there and prepared the pod.

“Who is it?” He asks. I pull back the blanket and Coran gasps.

“Lance? How did he die?”

“Hanahaki Disease.” I whisper. “I’ll explain it later, let’s just get this done with.” I whisper, laying Lance in a pod. Coran starts the memory transfer process, staring at Lance. I pat Coran’s back gently and walk back to Lance’s room. Shiro was cleaning the blood so that Pidge wouldn’t see it. I grab Lance’s phone from his nightstand and see three saved videos. One was labeled, ‘K’ I sent it to myself and deleted it from Lance’s phone so the others wouldn’t see it. I also see one labeled ‘For Everyone’.

“Shiro, he made a video for everyone to see… wanna call for a meeting so we can watch it?” He nods and finishes cleaning, calling for a meeting. We all walked to the lounge and sat down. I look at the rest of the group.

“So, what’s the meeting about?” asks Pidge. Shiro takes a deep breath.

“Lance is dead.” He says. Hunk bursts into tears while everyone else tried to hold theirs back.

“H-how did he die?” asks Allura.

“A thing called the Hanahaki Disease. It is a fatal disease caused by unrequited love. The only known cures are either to have the other person confess their true feelings, or have the flowers surgically removed from the diseased person’s lungs. But this also removed the feelings for the beloved. I guess Lance chose to die over getting the flowers removed.” Shiro whispers. Everyone covers their mouths.

“He made a video for us… Pidge could you get it on your laptop?” Shiro asks, handing her the phone. She nods and shakily does it. After a few moments, Lance’s face popped onto the screen and everyone gathered around before she hit play.

“Hey guys… it’s Lance… but you knew that already. If you’re watching this it means that I have finally succumb to the disease. You’re probably wondering how I got Hanahaki Disease and why I didn’t tell anyone. Well… it’s rather simple actually. I fell in love with someone… you know who you are… and h-he rejected me. Not even a week later I was coughing up petals. I thought I had six months left. But I was wrong. Not only did the one I love not love me… he hated me… I guess that accelerated the rate the disease progressed. Red begonias… they mean, ‘beware’... that should’ve been my first sign. It should’ve alerted me to the fact I was going to die sooner than expected. I didn’t tell you guys because I knew you’d try to pressure me into getting the flowers removed. Well… I couldn’t have gotten the surgery. I didn’t want to forget that I loved him. Even if all he did was hurt me… I still loved him. It wasn’t even stupid. I just loved him so much. But I had to see him everyday which worsened the coughing fits. I was soon coughing up whole flowers. I kept one… and I hid it in my beloved’s room somewhere… Just so he could get the measure of how much he truly hurt me.” He pauses his words, coughing violently. Flower petals and blood went everywhere. He coughs, gripping his shirt tightly.

“I-I only have a week left… but it’s too late for me. I’m going to die. I’ve come to terms with that. Don’t let Pidge see my body… not until you manage to get back to earth. She’s too young. I know you’re watching this Pidgeon. Don’t look. You don’t need to see my body. Don’t do it… And Hunk, please take care of Mami. Allura, thank you for giving me this opportunity to be a paladin of Voltron. Coran, thank you especially, you treated me like a son. And I’m sorry I couldn’t be around longer. I hope you like Earth.” He coughs again, more petals flying from his mouth. Tears stream down his face.

“I-I guess that’s it… I’ll see you on the other side.”

I gasp and cover my mouth. I was the cause of this…  He confessed his true feelings and I didn’t share them… and now he’s dead.

“Wh-why? Why didn’t he just tell us?” sobs Pidge as she hugs Hunk tightly. I rub her back and Shiro looks at me. He knew it was me who caused this. But he didn’t seem fazed by that fact.

“E-excuse me.” I stutter, walking out of the room and to my room. I lock the door and start the video on my phone.

“See what you’ve done to me? I hope you’re happy Keith… I’ll be dead when you watch this video but I hope you realise what you have done. You hated me… it accelerated the rate at which the Hanahaki progressed. Red Begonias… I wish I had learned sooner. I wish I had figured it out before I even fucking confessed. I bet you’re jumping with joy now that I’m dead. The ‘useless and pathetic’ paladin is dead. You won’t have to worry about me losing focus during training or screwing up on missions. You won’t have to worry about me anymore. Have a nice life with Shiro. Get married on Earth. Adopt a couple kids. Or whatever.” He coughs violently, coughing up a whole flower. He shows it to the camera.

“See? Look at this shit. Look at this! No one realized I was sick. No one cared enough to ask how I was doing. You didn’t even bat an eye. Burn in hell Keith. I loved you and you killed me. I hope you’re happy.” The video ended and I gasped softly. Then getting up to look for the flower he mentioned in the first video. I found it in the top drawer of my nightstand and picked it up gingerly, seeing all the little speckled of blood on it. I gasp and take a few deep breaths.

“It’s my fault… it’s my fault.” I whisper. I stagger back to the lounge and flop onto the couch. Everyone looked at me, seeing the flower.

“You?!” Everyone but Shiro says. I nod and look away.

“H-he came to me three months ago and confessed his feelings. I… I rejected him because I had just started dating Shiro then… I guess it really got to him… I’m sorry guys… because of me, our friend is dead.” I whisper, staring at the flower in my hands.

“If you knew, would you have been able to save him?” asks Pidge.

“Yes… I-I really did love him… I-I just didn’t know what else to say… I was in my first stable relationship. I didn’t think about the whole Hanahaki thing…” I whisper.

“You selfish little-” Hunk held Pidge back, petting her hair. I sigh and look away from the group.

“I understand if you guys hate me now… I hate me too.” I whisper the last bit to myself before getting up and leaving, holding the flower in my hand gingerly.

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Chapter 5! Hope you enjoyed!

Luv y'all,
Erin Jaeger