Kangst one-shots

Petals Part 2

He felt numb.

Empty.

He hadn't expected it to affect him as much as it was, to affect him seemingly more than his teammates. They were rivals, friends as well in some form, but rivals nonetheless. He'd felt...hollow since his meltdown. Shattered since the day of the discovery. In some odd twisted way, the event had made him realize just how much he'd truly grown attached to the red paladin. He cared for him far more than he'd believed. He, even though he'd never admit it, admired him. For his strength, his ability to lead them in Shiro's absence, and his unnoticed selflessness.

The Cuban male can still so vividly remember that day, as though it had been the previous. He could still hear Shiro' agonized cries, remember the way pidge had broken down, a haunting look in her eyes. He had stood there, not quite processing what was taking place. Allura had gasped at the sight, tears streaming from her eyes. Hunk had gone to pidge, both holding onto each other as though their very lives depended on it. Coran had soon made his appearance, he wrapped his arms around the princess, embracing her tightly and letting her sob on his shoulder.

Lance had been overwhelmed by the onslaught of emotions that berated him. Tears quickly welled up in his oceanic blue orbs. His knees had given out, causing him to drop to the ground, but a moment later, clutching his shirt over the area of his chest where his heart lay. He felt an ache so unbearable, he'd nearly lost consciousness. His had begun to tremble, tears bleeding from his still widened eyes as he stared at the ground. His heart, felt as though it someone had torn it from his chest and shredded it to pieces. He couldn't breathe. They didn't know how much time had passed until they'd calmed, as much as they could given the circumstances. Coran, surprisingly the calmest one present gazed intently at the petals that lay scattered on both the ground and the bed. The Altean's eyes landed on the scars that littered his wrists, but he knew suicide wasn't what had taken him, it had been something else, something more. When Coran had asked for permission to run some tests, Shiro had gone feral. His eyes narrowed dangerously, his expression twisting with rage, but he only held onto his teammate's corpse tighter, refusing to let go.

The team, still unstable had had to pry him off, shoving salt into a fresh bleeding wound.

"Shiro, please" Whimpered Allura.

Coran had carefully picked up what once was, carrying him as though he could shatter at any moment. Nothing felt quite the same, not without Keith. Days passed and still no answers, and no one had been themselves, grief pungent in the air. And when something finally did come up, the cause of the crimson-coated petals, it had only complicated things further.

"The Hanahaki Disease, caused by unreciprocated romantic emotions. This disease is split into three stages. the first begins with what at first seems like a cough until the victim starts to cough flower petals. In the first stage, the petals will come in small quantities. Entering the second stage would be vomiting and more violent and frequent coughing fits. The petals will increase in quantity, blood is commonly hacked out along with the petals, as the lungs and throat of the victim are damaged by the constant coughing and the flowers taking root in the lungs. The third and final stage before death when the roots that are digging into the lungs, begin the process of growing thorns. The thorns practically shred the lungs, with all the violent movement of the coughing and vomiting. Blood quickly begins to fill the lungs, and the heart begins to slow. There are two manners to cure Hanahaki. Option one would be to have your feelings reciprocated. The second option would be a surgical procedure performed to remove the flowers before they reach the final stage. Surgery is no longer an option once the final stage is reached." Coran Read.

Keith had died because he had fallen in love.

The revelation had brought closure, but it had also brought questions they desperately wanted answers to but had no way of getting them. The Cuban male had only returned to that room once. he had claimed ownership of Keith's signature cropped jacket and his blade of Marmora blade. There was no longer a night that lance didn't wrap the jacket around himself, taking in the scent of his late comrade. The blade remained wrapped, under his pillow. he may not have been able to activate it, but he refused to give it up. As a child, Lance had been told love was a dangerous thing. That he should be very careful with it, but he never quite knew just how dangerous it was.

Shiro wasn't doing much better than him. Training day in and day out, pushing his body far past its limits. The only time he'd been seen not training, he would be staring at old pictures of the red paladin, reminiscing. He was exhausted, but he didn't care. He felt as though he'd somehow be to blame for what happened to the indigo orbed male. Even though he, along with the others, had been utterly fooled to believe nothing was wrong, or maybe they just hadn't been paying enough attention.

Everyone had been affected by the loss. Pidge had closed in on herself, becoming a husk of her usual confident, mischevious self. Hunk's smiles seemed forced and no longer reached his eyes the way they once did. But no one felt the pain in the same sort of way Lance felt it. They didn't feel the hollowness quite like he did, nor did they have the same bittersweet realizations he did. To Lance, he had something now missing in his life, He was missing a part of himself. Tears slipped past his eyes, every time his smile flashed through his head. And gods, how he missed that smile, that fierce determination that usually came along with it. He had completely fallen apart.

Finding that note had only broken him further.

He had been putting the cropped jacket on when he noticed a small compartment inside. A paper's corner sticking out slightly. He had taken the folded paper and unfolded, his breath hitching as he recognized Keith's handwriting. But the note seemed to have been frantically rushed. The sheet had dry stains on it, stains he recognized as tear stains. Keith had been crying when he'd written it.

He trembled lightly, preparing himself to read whatever was written, but nothing could've truly prepared him for what he was to read.

Hey buddy,

I don't know if you're ever going to read this but I thought I should write it anyway. If you are reading this, then I'm probably dead. I know you're probably going to be upset with me. Not telling anyone what was happening. I'm sorry about that. There wasn't anything that could've been done to save me. Do me a favor? Tell Shiro that none of this was his fault. It was my decision to stay quiet. I just didn't want to forget. I didn't want to not remember that smile, those moments when they let their walls down, showing their vulnerable side. I wanted to remember those moments we shared. All their small little habits, like how they nibbled on their lip when they were nervous, or how their eyes shined like the ocean. Glimmering in a way that stole my breath when the sun reflected against them. Your...eyes, Lance. I didn't want to forget you. I didn't want to stop loving you. This wasn't your fault either, Lance, it was mine. But I don't regret falling in love with you. How could I regret falling in love with the most amazing person I'd ever met?

He screamed.

His heart-wrenching sobs followed by him cursing the universe. Broken confessions and apologies fell past his lips as he trembled. He begged for the ravenette to come back to him, to let him correct his mistakes. But he'd been too little too late in realizing that he too had fallen in love, but was too blind to see it. Keith was gone.

And he was in pieces.

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A/N: Sorry I've been gone so long, life has been getting to me more than usual.

Word count: 1380