Two updates in one day? Impossible. (I'm really sorry for this. Hanahaki is one of my favorite things to write.)
It was a Thursday when it started. Gray entered the guild with a smile. The weather outside was just perfect and he was taking a quest today with his team. It was a nothing-can-go-wrong kind of day. He sat in the corner of the guild so he would easily be able to see his nakama when they would enter. Mira passed him a beer and he accepted it with pleasure.
Gray took a few sips of his beer before he felt a pain in his chest. It wasn't a went-down-the-wrong-pipe kind of pain, it was a burning-hot-like-the-depths-of-hell kind of pain. He coughed violently into his hand and, to his surprise, something came out. The ice mage hid it in his palm and waved off Mira, excusing it as he accidentally chocked.
He opened his palm to find a deep red rose petal. Gray was confused at first, but then it came to him. The Hanahaki Disease. A disease that originates from unrequited love. Gray brought a hand to his chest as he felt the stems with unforgiving thorns wrap around the base of his lungs. It was frightening to him. The fact that he could die because someone he loved didn't love him back.
The sad thing was, he knew who it was. Erza was just a crush before, and it had stayed since when he met her as a child. Her hair was so red and she was so beautiful, it surprised him it had remained a crush for so long. But now it had blown up to full on love, something that would never go away.
Gray threaded his hands into his hair and thought in shock for a while. A tap at the shoulder got his attention.
"Gray? Lucy and Natsu are waiting at the train station already. We have to go."
The person Gray wanted to see last and most at the same time. Erza stood before him with her arms crossed. The ice mage fixed his hair and stood up. "Sorry, I thought we were meeting here."
"It's alright. I told everyone too, but Natsu thought he was going to be late and rushed to the station first. Let's just go. The town isn't all that far away."
Gray roughly swallowed and nodded his head. He prayed to every god there was above that he would not throw up any flower petals in front of anyone. Even though he knew that someone would eventually find out.
•
Out of all people Gray expected to find out first, Laxus was far down on his list. The master had scheduled a meeting with him about incoming requests that personally asked for him, but Makarov had an urgent appearance at the Council to attend. Instead, Laxus was the one who met him.
"Alright Gray, I'll be right back to go get the quests. Gramps told me to give them to you so you can sort out all the unreliable ones."
The dragonslayer had left Gray for only two minutes. In that time, Gray had started to cough violently again. The pain in his chest and throat brought tears to his eyes. Two handfuls of petals fell onto the ground. Red roses as always, the flower never changes.
Gray began to hate red roses. Of course he never actually meant that since the flower was always a reminder of Erza's beauty, but for him to cough them out day after day was getting tiring. Right when he was about to clean up, Laxus came back into the room.
Laxus stared at Gray and the flower petals, clear shock on his face. Gray clenched his fists still full of rose petals. "You can't tell anyone alright? I can't let them know. It will become a big deal and I don't want that. I don't want to worry them."
The dragonslayer wordlessly nodded. He helped Gray clean up the petals and throw them away. "Who is it?"
The raven weakly smiled, even though it wavered. "Come on Laxus. It doesn't take a genius to put two and two together."
Laxus thought for a few moments before replying quietly. "Erza..."
"Bingo. Don't tell anyone. I can handle this. It's not that bad. Anyways, what were you saying about those quests?"
That was a lie and they both knew it. The Hanahaki Disease was known for being painful, especially with the thorns from roses piercing Gray's lungs every time he breathed. But, Gray did not want the surgery. Not yet anyways. The thought of loving Erza taken away from him was almost as painful as whenever he threw up petals. He would hold out for a bit longer. He had to.
•
Wendy finding out wasn't all that much of a surprise. Gray was in the infirmary because of a large cut on his arm and the small dragonslayer was healing him.
The ice mage felt a familiar pain in his chest and managed to get out a few words. "Wendy... Step back..."
The blue haired girl did as she was told just as Gray coughed out the red rose petals. There were so many of them. They littered the white infirmary bed and the familiar wooden floors. Gray took a sharp breath in that he knew sounded painful before coughing once more.
Wendy spoke only after all the flower petals were cleaned up. "The Hanahaki Disease... It's Erza, right? The red roses..."
"Yeah... You can't tell anyone, alright Wendy. This will be our secret. Erza doesn't love me back, she loves Jellal. That's nothing I can change. She deserves to be happy with him. I'll get the surgery if it gets too bad, alright?"
Another lie and Wendy could easily see right through him. She knew that Gray would treat her better than anyone ever could, that Gray could change what would happen, and that Gray would get the surgery once it got too bad. His love and feelings were just that strong.
•
Gray sat solemnly at a booth when Wendy joined him. "You know, Sting and Rouge were throwing up flower petals. They caught each other in the act and found out that the love they thought was unrequited had been returned for the longest time. They just thought that the other didn't love them like that."
"...Where are you going with this, Wendy?"
"Tell Erza. It may be a long shot, but you never know. She might love you back."
Gray gave an amused sigh. "You think that she would like someone like me? Ya, I'll take your advice. She's bound to find out one way or another."
He never got so far as to Erza's rooms. Natsu caught up with him and dragged him to his house, where he proceeded to try to fight Gray. The ice mage sighed deeply. "Natsu, I don't have ti-"
Without any warning, he began to cough up flower petals. He idly wondered at the back of his mind if before the disease killed him, he would cough up an entire flower. The vines around his lungs tightened painfully. It was too much to bear.
Natsu didn't know what to do with Gray on his knees in front of him, coughing out so, so many red rose petals. The petals quickly created a red coating on the floor. Something in the fire dragonslayer's head clicked once he examined the rose petals.
"Gray, I'm bringing you to come tell Erza. She has to know."
Gray coughed a few more times before answering. "No... Natsu..."
Coughs wracked his body and Gray shook his head. "We can't... Don't tell..."
Natsu already had picked up Gray before he could argue anymore and ran to Erza's house. The petals Gray coughed up on the way he was barely able to catch in his hands before they fell to the ground."
•
Erza was sitting peacefully at a table sipping tea when Natsu, who was carrying Gray, burst into her room. "Natsu?! Gray?! How dare you burst into my ro-"
Natsu panicked as Gray started to cough again. "Now's not the time, Erza! Look, Gray is-"
"I have the Hanahaki Disease, Erza. Sorry I didn't tell you sooner."
Gray's throat felt so dry and swollen. He coughed a few more times, dark red rose petals spilling out of his mouth before he was able to stop them.
The scarlet watched in almost horror. The connection was made in her head immediately once she saw the red roses. "Gray... I-"
"You don't love me back, I get it. Don't feel guilty."
Tears built up at the corner of her eyes. "Is there anything I can do? You're dying, Gray!"
Gray shook his head sadly. "There's no way that even you can fall in love with me before this is over."
She was sobbing now. "Why don't you get the surgery?! You'll live! The guild-"
"But then I would have to live a life without loving you, Erza. And I think that's more painful than death."
•
He never really had a choice as Natsu told Master Makarov and he was quickly brought to a hospital. It was so painful to breath, and he knew it sounded that way too. His mind was aching for clear, clean oxygen. His chest was aching for the love he knew was about to be lost. His body was aching for the toll coughing so much had took. His lungs were aching for the thorns were relentless and never ceased to give him pain.
Gray passed out before the surgery could start.
•
A dim light was the first thing Gray saw. It was golden, which told him it was either sunset, sunrise, or he was dead. The sound of his heart beating and the feel of an oxygen mask over his nose and mouth said otherwise to the guess of him being dead. Gray clenched his fists tightly. He reached deep inside his heart for the love that had simultaneously gave him live and gave him death.
His heart was aching for the love he could no longer feel.
•
Erza was the first one to visit him. There was no pick up in his heart rate or hitch in his breathing. Gray no longer loved Erza. He was exhausted and that moment was more painful than any amount of time he was coughing up petals.
Gray turned away and cried. He began to hate red roses, but that was a lie he continuously told himself. Roses so dark in color, so rich in beauty, it was hard to not love them.
But now, he would never feel the same.
A/N: I wrote this within an hour so sorry for any mistakes. I hope you enjoyed!