Chapter Text
–~🌺~–
The one thing that stuck with Ze how entire life was his love of exploring. When he was a child he’d escape from his present but absent father and explore the land around his home. His favorite place was a small creek in the woods behind his house. In the winter it would freeze perfectly for skating, in the summer it was a perfect swimming and fishing spot, in the spring he’d catch frogs and crawdads, and in the fall he’d watch the leaves pile up and float away. He wished he could float away down the creek right alongside them to escape and leave the horrid life he was living behind.
He found many things when exploring the woods behind his house, abandon structures and buildings, caves, holes in trees that were just his size that he would hide in, wild life, and so much more. He’d spend all of his free time outside, it was his favorite place to be. He especially loved taking a book to the creek or to the willow tree just before the woodline started in his yard to hide away and pretend to be the characters in his books for a little while. He loved playing pretend, to be someone, to get away from the life he was living for a little while, it was freeing in a strange way. He wished he was anyone but himself, and his books were the closest he could ever get.
As he grew, his adventuring spirit did as well. He went farther, going out at dawn and not coming back until dusk. He did everything he could to stay as far from his cage as he could. But his adventuring came to a halt when he was sent off to boot camp at the wrong age of 13. For 5 long years, he wasn’t allowed to go out and explore like he longed to do. He was caged all over again with no means of escape, he didn’t even have the luxury of reading as an escape. Boot camp was a hell with no escape whatsoever.
When he turned 18. all hopes of adventure returned as he ran. He ran and ran and ran until he couldn’t run anymore, and the next morning, he started all over again. He laughed and smiled and whooped and hollared as he ran, finally getting to explore and adventure once again, his cage a memory of the past. After two days of running, he finally stopped and began to truly explore. He found ruins and caves and cliffs and lakes and rivers. He eventually stopped at a small cottage he soon called home. He now had a somewhere to return to after a long day of adventuring.
When he met Moe and Regect, he was worried he’d have to leave his adventuring behind to call these new people his friends, but lucky for him, they, too, loved to adventure and explore, and soon enough the 3 of them went on daily adventures. Whether it be to get coal or to explore an art museum or go camping or just explore in each other’s company, Ze adored every second of it all. Nothing was better than adventuring for him, it was his escape, other than gardening of course, but after a close dance with death, he wasn’t allowed to anymore, which broke him for a while but at least he still had one form of escape.
It wasn't that he needed an escape now, that was never what he needed after he left boot camp, but his escapes were like safety blankets, he liked knowing he was free to do as he please. They comforted the fear that remained from his past, that if need be, he had places to flee to. He had a safe haven, a place to hide when worse comes to worst. He liked having a back up plan.
–~🌺~–
Today was a day like no other. It was mid spring and it was the first clear day after weeks of rain and storms, gotta love the spring am I right? The sun was finally out and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky, so the adventuring trio decided to make the most of it and out they went to search for adventure in the great unknown. They had no plan other than to explore an abandoned village Ze had spotted weeks ago before the endless rain that hit them like a semitruck.
Ze led the way as they walked, bickering with Regect along the way as Moe cut in every now and then to tease whoever she deemed more entertaining. After nearly an hour of walking, they finally came up to the village. It was run down and in ruins, it reminded Ze of the cottage he found forever ago that he used to call home and he felt a slight twist in his guts, but he pushed on.
The trio decided to split up to cover more area as they explored. Moe went into the town square, going forward, while Regect went to the right, and Ze to the left. Moe found nothing but ruin and overgrown buildings, Regect finding pretty much the same, but Ze found the most intact house and inside looked recently lived in. He explored the house, being wary of going upstairs and keeping a hand on his gun in his pocket at all times just in case there was someone in the house.
The upstairs was pretty empty, except for a bedroom with messy sheets, as if someone just left them that morning. The more he explored the house, the more an eerie feeling trailed up his spin. He made his way back down the stairs and into the kitchen where a pot lay boiling over a recently started fire that wasn't there when he entered the house. He wasn’t alone.
Suddenly from behind, he was hit with a potion.
“Get out I say you thief! Out before I do worse!” Hissed what he soon realized to be a witch. He acted quickly, fleeing for the exit as his lungs grew heavy and his throat scratchy. He had no idea what he was hit with but he didn’t imagine it to be any good, so he needed to get a bucket of milk stat.
He kept running until he came crashing into a confused Regect who had been watching Ze run and didn’t react fast enough to move. They both groaned as they hit the ground, Ze on top of Regect. Ze slowly sat up and coughed slightly before realizing how he was sat. He was straddling Regect’s lap. His face turned a dark pink as he scrambled to get up, his throat becoming worse as his chest tightened. He coughed once, twice, before clearing his throat, blaming it on the mysterious potion. He shook his head as he helped Regect off of the ground.
“Hey man,” he winced at how hoarse his voice came out, “Do you have a bucket of milk? Some witch hit me with a random potion that’s messing with me,” he explained as he rubbed his throat to try and soothe it.
“Oh uh yeah, here,” Regect pushed a bucket of milk into Ze’s hand as he awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck, a light dusting of gold covering where his cheeks would be if he had a face. Ze was quick to down the milk, hoping it would work, but it changed nothing. He’s never heard of a potion that didn’t go away with milk, but maybe he just had to wait a little bit for the milk to set in. Yeah, that’s what it was.
“Let’s go find Moe and get the fuck out of here, I’m not risking another potion attack,” he huffed as they went to the town square to find Moe, once they did they were out of there. Moe and Regect were sharing their lackluster findings while Ze stayed weirdly quiet, just rubbing at his throat as he kept glancing back.
–~🌺~–
As the weeks passed, Ze’s state got worse. His throat was always sore, his lungs were heavy, and he had a slight cough, but the weirdest thing was it seemed to get worse around Regect. Regect would touch him or smile at him or laugh or even just be around him. It drove him made, no way should a potion last this long, especially with the amount of milk he’s drunken over the course of the past few weeks. He was in hell and had no way of escaping.
His sickness truly reached a peak when Regect decided the two of them should go on a solo adventure. Regect wanted to see the newest aquarium that just popped up a few days ago, claiming he loved the oceanic life, so off they went.
They wandered around for hours and eventually stopped at the sea otters exhibit, Regect deeming them his favorite. He went on and on about them, listing random facts here and there. He lit up like a child, he was practically beaming with energy. Ze stared in awe at Regect, never having gotten to see him in this way, and it was truly a slight to behold. Suddenly while Regect had his back turned, his chest tightened and it felt like something was stuck in his throat. He tried to clear his throat to no avail, so he was forced into a small coughing fit, and the results of said coughing fit? A single marigold petal covered in saliva. He had coughed up a fucking petal. He quickly shoved the petal into his pocket with wide eyes as he swallowed sharply.
Okay what the actual fuck was happening to him? First the sore throat, than the tightness in his chest, than the coughing fits, and now fucking marigold petals coming out of him? This obviously wasn’t normal anymore, not that it ever was, but what the hell did any of this mean and why did it only get worse around Regect? Was this the witch’s doing or something else? What was happening to him?
Without thinking, he quietly snuck away from Regect, leaving the aquarium and running, he didn’t know where he was going, but he needed time alone to think. He ran until he came up on a small creek, just like the one he used to run to when he was a child and sat on the creek’s edge. He swallowed sharply as he took the spit covered petal from his pocket and held it in his palm, staring at it like it personally offended him. It definitely wasn’t normal to cough up petals, so why was he doing so? And why marigolds? Why did they have to be Regect’s favorite flowers? Why did it have to come out when he was with Regect? Why does all of this lead to Regect? He had so many questions but no answers to any of them, he was stuck.
–~🌺~–
As the weeks went on, Ze only got worse. The more and more time Ze spent with Regect, the more petals erupted from his lungs, growing from single petals to handfuls upon handfuls of flowers. And soon the petals became coated in blood rather than just saliva. Ze being his stubborn self refused to get help until he coughed up almost a full flower coated in a painful amount of blood. His throat constantly burned, his lungs were heavy, he could hardly breath right, and the obvious coughing bloody flowers, he knew he had to get help before he eventually passed away.
He waited until night time when everyone in the house was asleep to slip away into the night and head for a hospital. He waited for almost 2 hours to be seen, anxiously bouncing his leg as he chewed at his fingers, just waiting to be called back, waiting to be seen, waiting to get the answers he’s been denying himself for months at this point.
When he was finally called back, he followed the nurse back before explaining his symptoms and how he thinks it’s due to a potion he was hit with months ago. The nurse had a look of pity on her face as she excused herself to find the doctor. Ze waited almost 30 minutes before the doctor came in for an exam and almost another hour until the doctor returned with results. He’d been out of the house for nearly 4 hours now and he’s just now getting answers.
“Mr. Ze, was it? I’m afraid I don’t have good news for you,” the doctor started, “Your lungs are nearly completely filled with marigold flowers, if you had waited any longer then he wouldn’t be able to give you solutions, but lucky for you, your sickness has a few fixes!” He explained as he flipped through some papers on a clipboard.
“For starters, what you have is called hanaki disease, a disease where those inflicted develop flowers in their lungs due to unrequited love for another. The flowers are typically-...”
Ze drowned out the rest of what the doctor was saying as he continued to explain what the sickness was. Unrequited love? But he didn’t love anyone, certainly not… Why did Regect come to mind? They were frenemies at best, he had no feelings but hatred toward the entity. Maybe Moe? No, she’s like a sister to him. Definitely not Fante or Captain Dice, he hated them more than he hated Regect. But if not any of them then who? As he spiraled on the who, the doctor kept talking.
“There are cures, as I said, the first is the simplest and least intrusive, simply confess. The act of letting the one you love know you love them with cause the petals to wilt away and allow you to breath freely once again,” can’t do that if he doesn’t know who he loved right? So not that one obviously. “The second cure is one we don’t like doing until it is a last resort. It’s a surgery to remove the flowers, but alongside the flowers, you lose all memories of the person as if they never existed in your presence. I’ll let you think on it, but act quickly, you only have so much time left Mr. Ze.” And with that the doctor left once again, leaving Ze alone with nothing but his thoughts.
Ze gathered his things and headed off, just as the sun began to rise. Confess or surgey to forget. He knew deep down who he’d lose if he went with either of those options, but the alternative is death. Maybe death wouldn’t be so bad, but he couldn’t do that to Moe, he promised her a lifetime and he couldn’t break that. As he walked home, he had a lot to think about. What would he do? He knew what he had to do, and so, he began to plan everything out…