From the moment she saw her, something had felt… off. She's never experienced such a thing.
Was it love? Riven did not know.
It persisted, the feeling growing exponentially every time she saw Irelia.
Eventually, Riven found out what it was. She was lovesick.
Literally.
Hanahaki disease. She's heard of it before during her time in Ionia, and now she had it. It sounded beautiful, and she supposed it was on the very surface. Flowers grow in your chest due to feelings of love. Unrequited love, to be exact. It would kill you eventually. Slowly, painfully. It was a rare condition, but it wasn't without its cures.
The first way to be free of the illness was to have the love be reciprocated. This was the most optimal solution, though it was much more difficult. The second way to survive it was to have the plant surgically removed. It was the easier way out of it if it was truly an unreciprocated love didn't work out.
But the thing was, Riven didn't want to be cured the easy way. She didn't want these feelings for Irelia taken away from her, and the surgery would do just that.
And so she tried to hide her feelings. She had to. She couldn't deal with rejection. She would die, like actually die.
And so she hid as her feelings grew, and the flowers followed.
Irelia was literally going to take her breath away.
She was spending time with Irelia, going on their morning jog like usual when her chest began to ache more so than usual.
Something was wrong. Something was terribly wrong.
She stumbled, falling to her knees. Petals fell from her throat as she coughed them out violently.
Hanahaki disease. It could take anywhere from months to years to kill you. Riven had hoped it would be years in her case, but it was looking more like it was months.
Yes, it looked like it was the end for her now.
She had tried to avoid this, but she couldn't keep away from Irelia. She was absolutely intoxicating to her. She was an addiction.
Riven was regretting feeding this addiction now.
"Riven?! Are those—?! Do you have—?! Who is it?!" Irelia asked in a panicked voice, and all Riven could do was weakly point a finger at her. She was unable to meet Irelia's eyes.
She had her suspicions that Irelia only liked her as a friend. They were confirmed when the pain only grew.
Irelia didn't love her back after all.
Flowers began to rapidly sprout out of her mouth, the roots embedded in her lungs. Though beautiful things were growing in her throat, she tasted bitterness.
Everything began to fade away. Her vision, Irelia's yells and sobs as her friend died in her arms. Everything was going away, but the pain only grew.
She couldn't breathe, she couldn't breathe, she couldn't breathe.
She didn't breathe.