Petals

Your throat felt raw as you coughed up scarlet petals. Your hands on either side of the sink you were over, sweat dripped down your face along with a little blood from your mouth. You look up from the mess of petals at your reflection, you looked like a mess.

Oh the curse of having the Hanahaki disease... You bitterly remember the day it was explained to you. A pesky flower grew inside of your body, slowly growing until it completely fills your chest and lungs. It was absolutely painful to deal with, no matter the flower you had growing in you, there were thorns. They poked at your organs and scraped against muscles.

Its cause? One-sided love.

There wasn't a medicial cure for this illness. There were only three options you could choose from. The easiest and less painful of the two was for the love to be returned.

The painful plan could be removed surgically. Though after it's remove, you will feel no emotions. You will become a blank slate... No love, no happiness, no sadness, nothing at all. That wasn't what you wanted.

The third option was to die from it. A slow and painful death, both physically painful and emotional painful. Dying, knowing that the person you love never returned your feelings. This seemed like the more likely of the three options...

Staring down at the mess in the sink, you let out a dry laugh. The flowers were called Crocosimia, also known as the Lucifer Montbretia. How morbid in the light of things. The flower that grows in side of you and the person you love share a common name:

Lucifer Morningstar.

You cleaned up some of the blood that stuck to your lips before taking care of the mess in the sink. Another day in the life of watching your love flirt relentlessly with Detective Decker. You couldn't help but feel resentment towards her. You didn't want to, she seemed like a nice woman, but she was who Lucifer loved, not you. It was literally killing you, so you somewhat felt your jealousy was reasonable in a since.

You left your apartment for work, feeling tired. You could tell it was going to be a long day.

--

You were organizing some paperwork at the LAPD, as Chloe and Lucifer were looking into the case they were solving. As much as it pains you not to be near him like you usually do, you felt it was best to start distancing yourself from him before the inevitable happened.

You walk to the forensic room to give Ella some forensic papers she should look at.

"Hey (Y/N)!" She greeted with her usually cheery tone. She gave you one of her signature hugs which you returned.

"Hey Ella. I got some forensic stuff you may want to look at." You held out the papers and she took them, thanking you as she shuffled through them.

You were about to leave but you suddenly felt like you couldn't breath. You wanted to get and hid away when bad coughing fits happened, but your body just refused to move. Your knees gave out as you started hacking and coughing into your hands.

"(Y/N)?" Ella rushed to your side, her hands in your shoulder and back. You couldn't respond during your fit, you just coughed up the petals and blood as tears started filling your eyes. You've never had a bad fit like this at work before, and never in front of

Your body stopped shaking as the coughing stopped. You let out a gasp of air and panted, looking down at the small petals and blood splatters in your hands.

"(Y/N?)" Ella called your name. You had forgot she was there for a second. "Are-Are you okay?"

"I would say yes, but you witnessed me fall to the floor coughing up this mess." Your voice sounded course. You struggled to stand up, feeling weak. You felt Ella help you up and to the trash can to dump the red, bloody petals. "Hanahaki disease if your wondering."

"I figured, seen it before with one my brothers. Let's get you clean up in the bathroom, you've got blood on your face." You were grateful for her support and help. You had one arm around her shoulders as she supported you with one of her arms. You kept your free hand covering your bloodied mouth and chin while you both headed to the restrooms as discreet as you both could be.

"(Y/N)? Ella? Is everything alright?" Lucifers voice stopped you and your friend. He moved to the front of you both You glanced to Ella, hoping she would get you didn't want to be seen like this.

"Oh yeah! (Y/N) here is about to puke their guts!" You nodded your head frantically. "Gotta go!" She pulled you along, around a confused Lucifer and straight into the bathroom. She made sure the lock door as you went to the sink, rinsing off the blood around your mouth and on your chin.

You coughed, just one loud cough... And out came a full flower...

"It's gotten bad huh?" You heard Ella asked.

"You could say that." You replied with a scratchy voice.

"You know, my brother had this disease. He um, he had the surgery-"

"I don't plan on doing that. I want to keep feeling."

"Well who is the person?"

You were hesitant to answer her, but you figured she already knew this much thats going. You sigh and look to her, "Lucifer."

"Oh..." Ella's lips pursed.

"It is kind of difficult, especially when he flirts with Chloe all the time. I tried spending the day away from him, but it looks like it made things worse."

"You plan to just ride this out I take it."

"Pretty much." You turn the sink on and use your hands to scoop up some water to your mouth, hoping it would soothe your sore throat. The water didn't do much, though not to your surprise. "Him and I are close, but he just views me as a friend. He is very interested in Chloe."

"You don't know that fully. Have you seen the way he looks at you?"

"And have you seen the way he looks at her? All he talks about is her, Ella. I just want to ride this out as long as I can."

"By the looks of it, not a long ride. I'm really worried about you, (Y/N)." You weren't sure how to respond, so you kept silent. You could feel the plant very slowly killing you each day. Sooner or later more people will notice the plants effects on you; your usual (skin tone) was starting look paler, your eyes more dull than before, and the slow forming eye bags from lack of sleep.

"I need to get back to work, and don't you ever think you can't talk to me about anything! I'm always here for you." Ella gave you soft hug before leaving you alone in the restroom. You briefly collected yourself before leaving the bathroom, feeling a bit better after that coughing fit.

You were walking back to your desk when you spotted Lucifer sitting in your chair. You rose one brow, as he slowly spinned to face you.

"I've been expecting you, (Y/N)." He spoke in a deep voice, making you chuckle.

"Get out of my chair Lucifer." You said, with a playful tone.

"I just wanted to see why my friend has been avoiding me all day." the word friend made you heart clench.

"Didn't you hear Ella? I am a bit sick, literally threw up a bunch in the restroom."

"I don't succumb to human illnesses, you know this." He stood up from your chair and placed his hand on your shoulder. "If there is anything you want to tell me you can." The sincerity in his voice made you feel  almost lightheaded. His sweet tone and kind smile on that stupidly handsome face of his.

You bit your bottom lip and looked to the floor. You could tell the plant growing inside you was coming close to overtaking you, maybe you should get your feelings off your chest. Get rejected, put your two weeks notice, and hide away until the time comes.

"Well there is something I need to tell you. Can we take this somewhere private?"

"Yes, yes of course." He turns away from you to walk somewhere private and you went to follow but pain shot through your upper body. It stopped you in your tracks, it was severely immobilizing pain.

Ah, it seems time is going quicker than you thought.

Your air way seemed to be constricting as you felt the tiny thorns of plant slowly stab you. You tried not to cough but your body convulsed. You collapse to your knees and the coughing ensued, each cough made the thorns hurt you more.

"(Y/N)!?" Lucifer yelled your name. "Someone call for an ambulance!" He was in front of you, his face and voice full of distress. It was then, blood and petals started fill your mouth, and dribbling out of your mouth.

"(Y/N), an ambulance is coming!" Ella's voice came from some direction. Things were starting to sound dull. Your breathing was getting harder and harder.

"Focus on me okay?" You looked to Lucifer, the pain grew more and more. Your vision grew fuzzy and black spots were forming rapidly. "(Y/N)..." His voice echoed off as your body collapsed to the cold floor, your eyes fully shut as you succumbed to complete darkness...

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Hanahaki Disease is fun to write for, and fun to do a full angst story. I was gonna make it a bit happier at the end, but I decided to leave it as is :) so I hope you enjoy!~