A Petal for my Thoughts

Hydrangea

Everyone at the round table froze as the small blue petal fluttered delicately from the blue paladin's mouth. His eyes widened in horror as it landed in his palm. Little beads of dark red dotted the petal. No one moved for a few moments, all eyes drawn to the flower petal sitting in Lance's hand. The first to move was Shiro, always the father figure to the paladins.

"Lance, are you alright?" He asked, voice low as he crouched by Lance's side at his chair.

Lance was still staring at the petal, questions whirling through his head. What was that? A flower petal? Why did he just cough it up? Why was it covered in blood? What the hell was wrong with him? Allura got up as well, moving to Lance's other side. She checked his forehead, and squeezed his arm a bit.

"Lance?" her crisp accent cut through the haze sitting over Lance.

He jerked into reality and looked up at all the concerned faces around the table. Hunk and Pidge were whispering to each other, trying to figure out what had just happened. The king and queen of Junipet sat confused, looking revolted but curious. Lance's eyes fell on Keith in the chair beside him. Keith had his arms crossed, brows drawn in, and a small frown on his face as he looked back at Lance.

"Lance!" Shiro called out, finally getting the boy's full attention, "What just happened?"

"I-I don't..." Lance mustered, his voice dry. He licked his lips, tasting iron.

"Did you eat anything strange? Any foreign foods?" Allura asked, catching his stare in hers.

Lance shook his head, "No... I didn't..."

Shiro and Allura gave each other a look but didn't say anything. Shiro nodded at the princess and she stood up properly, turning to the foreign royalty.

"You'll have to forgive us King Calhar, Queen Surce. Our blue paladin isn't feeling well. We must take him back to the castle immediately." Allura says diplomatically.

Lance wanted to protest, but he began coughing again. Shiro rubbed his back soothingly.

"That seems to be an understatement Princess Allura. Please do take him away." King Calhar said, "I do not wish to have my people catch whatever that  is." He gestured to the blue petal.

Gritting her teeth to not say more, Allura bowed and motioned for the other paladins to stands up. Shiro helped Lance to stand, with the younger leaning more into the older.

"Keith, could you come help me?" Shiro asked.

With a nod, Keith dipped under Lance's other arm and slung it over his shoulders. Together, team Voltron returned to the castle. 

"I can't believe how rude they were!" Pidge fumed. 

"It may seem like rude behavior, but it is for the good of their people." Allura replied, watching Lance closely. 

By now, he had coughed up one whole flower. 

"Hey, that's a hydrangea ." Pidge pointed out.

"A what?" Allura shot her a confused look.

"A hydrangea. It's a type of flower from Earth." 

"Still doesn't explain why he's been coughing them up." Keith interjects.

"Did you like, eat a bunch of flowers?" Hunk asked, looking at Lance.

"Why would I eat flowers...?" Lance replied, shaking his head.

"Dunno dude. But there's no other explanation." Hunk patted his shoulder.

"Let's get him to Coran, maybe he'll know something." Shiro said.

With a mutual agreement, the group set out to find Coran. The old adviser was standing on the bridge, looking through some stuff.

"Coran!" Allura called.

"Oh princess? You're back earl-" Coran stopped at the sight of Lance hanging between Shiro and Keith, "What happened!?"

"Well, Lance stared coughing up.. erm...hydrangea flowers... while we held our meeting." Allura explained.

"Coughing up!?" 

"Yes?"

"That's bad... it couldn't be..." Coran muttered.

"What is it?" Hunk inquired nervously.

"It could be a rare disease... Hanahaki..." 

"Hana-what?" Hunk tilted his head.

"Hanahaki." Pidge answered, taking the liberty to explain with a dark look, "I read about it. It's an alien disease that causes flowers to grow inside of someone when they fall in love until they suffocate."

Lance paled, recoiling. Keith's grip on his arm subconsciously tightened.

"Is there a cure?" Shiro asked, a slight waver to his voice.

"There are two," Coran responded, and everyone sighed in relief, "There is a surgery that will remove the flowers. Or the one infected can confess to their love, and if the love is reciprocated they will live."

"And if they don't like me back...?" Lance inquired, scared for the answer.

"You'll die."

"Sign me up for the surgery!" Lance yelped.

"There's one thing about the operation though..." Coran started, "After it, you won't be able to love ever again, and you will forget everything about the person you had feelings for."

Lance's eyes widened. Everyone went quiet.

"He has to do the surgery!" Keith broke the silence, "It's too risky otherwise!"

"No." Lance stated.

"What!?" Keith looked at him, exasperated.

"I refuse to forget them, and I refuse to never love again." he said rigidly, but Lance was shaking.

"Then you'll confess?" Pidge pressed. 

"I don't know..."

"You don't know!?" Keith roared.

"Keith, that's enough!" Shiro interrupted, "Let Lance think it over. This is a big decision." 

The red paladin huffed a 'whatever'. Lance looked down, hiding his face. He started hacking again, petals and blood falling to the ground.

"We'll give you a day to think it over." Allura told Lance, who nodded.

"I'll take you to your room." Shiro offered.

Lance nodded, "Thanks Shiro." 

With that, the black and blue paladins left. Everyone looked at each other silently.

"I wonder who it is that Lance likes..." Pidge mumbled out loud.

"He's an idiot." Keith grumbled, leaving the room with a huff.

Coran and Allura looked at each other sadly. Pidge went off to her room, while Hunk went to the kitchen to bake something. 

---

"If you need anything, just call for someone. Alright?" Shiro asked after making sure Lance was secure in his room.

"Yeah." Lance nodded and Shiro left.

Lance sat down on his bed, running his hands through his hair feverishly. What was he going to do?