Previously on AU Oneshots: Kai is possessed instead of Lloyd.
Request: Hanahaki AU
Requested by: TheANIMEArtist02
Warnings: Contains (mild) blood, mucus, and probably vomit
Pairings: Glacier
AU: Hanahaki AU
A/N: What is Hanahaki? To explain it in the words of TheANIMEArtist02: "To explain hanakai, it is when a person has … feelings for [another] person and they are unrequited, which then causes flowers to grow in their lungs. The symptoms of it are coughing while around them and throwing up flowers and blood. There is a surgery that can be done to remove the flowers but will cause all feelings toward the other person to not be present anymore. The hanakai disease slowly kills a person."
A/N: Anyway, so I know I wrote a glacier already. This is fine. I need to write a better one.
Note: Aquilegia Regina is not a real flower. There is no such thing as Princess' Columbine. Aquilegia is indeed the scientific name of the Columbine flower, but the other facts are entirely fictitious.
2nd Note: The Hanakai disease doesn't usually involve mucus and snot, but trying to be realistic here (ha! Realism). It does in this version.
Petals
Cole could pinpoint the exact day it had all started.
He remembered every little detail in perfect accuracy. The morning had been somewhat ordinary. The alarm clock Wu had set before he left to find Garmadon woke the ninja at the crack of dawn for sunrise exercise. Cole had remembered the odd feeling, but he had assumed allergies.
And then everything came tumbling down.
It didn't crash, rather, it just sort of… fell apart slowly.
Kai and Cole went at it as hard as they could, each armed with a training sword made crudely from PVC pipes.
"You ready to lose!?" Kai taunted, swinging his sword about and moving into a power stance.
Cole laughed heartily. "As if!"
They rushed at each other, fighting with the pipes and spinning around one another. For once, Cole was glad he'd gone to Marty Oppenheimer's as a kid. His sense of balance and awareness of his limbs came in handy a lot more than he'd realized.
Kai dodged one of Cole's swings and blocked it, using his fierceness to knock Cole back several steps. Cole pressed back, his natural earthlike strength coming into play. Kai was his favorite to spar with, as he actually knew what he was doing 90% of the time.
Jay yawned audibly from the other side of the deck. He and Zane were waiting for their turn to practice with long-distance weapons. Jay in particular was half-asleep, while Zane, the quiet, calm nindroid he was, was watching them with his deep, curious blue eyes.
Cole blushed as he and Zane made eye contact, allowing Kai to get a hit in on Cole's hip. "OW! KAI!"
"Pay attention!" Kai answered, sounding annoyed he wasn't the center of attention anymore. "What are you looking at anyway?"
Cole shook his head hard and blocked one of Kai's blows. "I was checking on Zane and Jay-" he cut himself off, coughing.
Kai stopped with the fake weapons and froze, watching in confusion as Cole fell to his knees, coughing harder.
"Hey, you okay?" Kai looked over, before waving to Zane and Jay, getting them to come over. Jay and Zane ran over, forming a half-circle as Cole coughed.
After a final cough, he spat out the horrid thing that had impeded his breath.
It was… a flower petal?
Not just any flower petal, it appeared to be from a Columbine plant. The petal was white, but the gradient faded towards a dark blue color. The petal wasn't pretty, it was surrounded by a layer of white phlegm, and was laying in a puddle of saliva.
Jay wrinkled his nose. "Um, why'd you cough out a flower, Cole?"
"I must've breathed it in or something," Cole answered, gagging. Gross. "What kind of flower even is it?"
Zane examined the petal closer. "Aquilegia Regina. Or, by its common name, Princess' Columbine. They grow in the forests, and it is possible that you may have inhaled a petal while we were in the woods the other day. Although, it confuses me as to why you would not have coughed it up immediately."
"Maybe it blew out here on the wind," Kai offered with a shrug. "Isn't that how pollen spreads."
Zane sighed. "I would have to look into it."
"Can Zane and I train now," Jay asked. "Not to be, heh, rude or anything, but shouldn't Cole sit out after coughing up an entire flower?"
"It was only one petal," Cole snapped. "I'm fine. And by the way, you need to work on your swordsmanship. You and Kai practice."
"What?!" Both of them exclaimed, but Cole grumpily dragged himself across the deck, ignoring the complaints of 'he's going to electrocute me!' or 'how come I have to fight an aimable ball of rage!?'. He sighed, sitting down on the steps.
Zane came over to him and sat down besides Cole. "Are you feeling alright, Cole? You really should rest if you're sick."
"I'm… okay," Cole sighed, covering his face as he blushed hard. He looked up watching Kai and Jay both attempt to murder one another. "Just… a little grossed out because of the flower."
Zane nodded. "I… do not fully understand, but I will try to be compassionate."
Cole sighed, feeling another bout of coughing come on. "Thanks-" he coughed hard. "-Zane-" He closed his eyes, coughing harder. "'Scuse me," Cole scrambled up and ran inside to the bathroom, grabbing a couple tissues and coughing so hard his throat hurt from the sheer force of his coughs.
He groaned, leaning backwards and moaning in agony as he saw another piece of plant in the tissue. This time it was a leaf and a chunk of stem. Why'd this happen? It couldn't possibly be a coincidence, they were on open ocean. He would've Doogled it, but the Ninja didn't have a computer, and he doubted there would even be any good Wifi considering where they were.
Maybe someone had snuck some on board? Maybe Zane could help. He was the unofficial nurse of the Ninja.
"No, that's ridiculous," Cole snapped at himself. "There's nothing he can do, and Wu left you in charge, so you shouldn't burden everyone else with your problems." He sighed, sneezing into the tissue. "Great. I'm talking to myself."
He got up off the floor, tossed the tissue into a garbage can and washed his hands, leaving the room and running straight into Nya.
"Sorry," He answered, moving past her.
"You're good," Nya didn't look up. "Oh, Zane and I are planning on going to the library later today, do you want to come?"
Oh. A library. Full of books and computers. A source of information. Hmm. "Sure," Cole answered, a plan forming in his head. Maybe if he could find someone online with something similar, he could figure out what was going on.
"Cool, we'll expect you," Nya answered, opening the door to her room, separate from the rest of the bounty, and coincidentally, the only other room besides the bathroom with a lock. "Oh," She poked her head outside around the door frame. "Zane's in the bunkroom. He wants to talk to you."
"About what?" Cole asked, his heart beginning to pound. What was Zane going to tell him? That he was straight? That he had a crush on Jay? That-
Nya shrugged. "I don't know, but he seemed pretty worried about you."
Happiness jumped in Cole's heart. Zane wanted to talk to him? Zane wanted to devote attention to talking to him?! Cole practically sprinted into the bunkroom, nearly slipping on a shirt someone (read: Kai) had left on the floor.
Stumbling into the bunkroom, Cole found Zane sitting on his bed. He looked up from The Group of the Circles as Cole came in, his face brightening, causing Cole's heart to jump so hard he was surprised his ribs hadn't been broken yet. He gagged as a clump of mucus rose in his chest, but swallowed it.
"Did you want to talk to me, Zane?" He asked, standing awkwardly, not knowing what to do.
Zane patted the mattress next to him with a slight nod, and Cole came to sit down, wheezing slightly. It seemed like he was out of breath a lot lately.
"Well?"
"Are you sure you are not ill, Cole?" Zane asked, genuine concern seeping through his voice. "It is perfectly reasonable to take a break and rest if you do not feel well."
"No, no," Cole gasped a bit, coughing. "I'm fine, it's… probably just allergies. Are… you okay?" He could've smacked himself later from how absolutely stupid he sounded.
"I am fine, thank you," Zane didn't seem to mind, glancing at his hands with a sigh. "I… believe I have… adjusted to knowing that I am-"
"Unique," Cole interrupted, knowing that if Zane was left the way he was, he might trail off and start talking about how he was a 'weird computer Pinocchio'. Cole loved Zane with all his heart, and it hurt to hear the Ice Ninja think of himself less because of… well, you know. "You're unique."
Awkward silence followed. Zane took a few deep breaths and ended up leaning on Cole for support. Cole coughed a couple of times, swallowing whatever weird plant matter without looking at it. Zane blinked slowly.
"Cole?" He asked after a long moment. "Did you know that rats can use morse code?"
Cole started to laugh, but it evolved into coughs. Did Zane always do that when he got nervous? Sprout random facts? It was so cute! Cursed realm, it was straight-up adorable. "No," He wheezed. "I didn't know that. What do they say to each other?"
"I do not know," Zane shrugged with a smile plastered on his face. "I would assume something along the lines of, "Hello, rat friend, how are you doing today?""
"Do you know morse code?" Cole asked, considering nudging Zane, but deciding it would be way too awkward.
"I know a little," Zane answered, holding out a hand. "May I?"
May I? May he hold Cole's hand? Cole's palms instantly began to sweat, and he felt a sneeze rising in his nose. Ignoring the sneeze, he blushed hard. "Uh, yeah." He wiped off his large hand and placed it gingerly into Zane's thin, cool one.
Zane started slightly (probably at how sweaty Cole's hands were, but Cole tried not to think about that.) He smiled, then squeezed Cole's hand in a strange succession: …-... "That means SOS," Zane explained. "This is 'Good Morning'" -. - - -.. - - .-. -. .. -. -. More Pressure.
Cole nodded, fascinated by the language that Zane appeared to understand perfectly. "How do you say, um," He blushed, and had to clear his throat. "'I love you?'"
Zane smiled. "That's quite easy, actually." .. / .-.. - ...- . / -.- - ..- He began the pressure, and Cole's heart rate jumped. He tried to ignore it, but there was another round of coughing rising in his chest. Instead, he focused on Zane's cool fingers pressing against his palms, memorising the pattern of the morse code.
Someday, he promised himself, he'd use this pattern to tell Zane how he truly felt. Just not… right now. Cole opened his mouth to say something, but as he did, Kai knocked on the door. Zane and Cole jumped apart, surprised
"Hey, um, Nya is talking about going to the library later today, are you two going with her or… hey, why are you looking at me like that!" The Fire Ninja protested, as Cole glared at him for ruining the moment.
"Oh, yes, we are," Zane answered Kai. "Is she leaving now?"
Kai shrugged, moving to grab a fresh pair of clothes from the drawers, muttering something like: "How should I know?"
Zane smiled at Cole. "Perhaps we should go and speak with Nya?"
Cole snapped out of his thoughts, which were too focused on the way Zane's synthetic skin had felt against his own. "Oh, yeah, we should."
As they left the room to find Nya, however, the experience lingered. Cole's cough had seemed to get stronger when he was near Zane, which means… this might have a reasonable explanation! The flowers, he was sure, were just coincidence, but maybe he was allergic to whatever material Zane's hair was made of, or his skin, or nails, or… you get the point.
Relief rushed through Cole as they entered the bridge. He was fine. This was fine. Everything was going to be fine.
Oh, if only he could've known how mistaken he was.
Ninjago City Public Library was a calm, warm building located in the city center. Zane immediately went looking for books on the history of Androids. Nya returned The Ocean of Creatures, and went looking for The Giant's Spell. Cole waited until they were gone, before he slipped into a seat at one of the library's old dinosaur computers.
Opening Doogle, he glanced around a bit, before, just for fun, and to satisfy his curiosity, he typed in: coughing up flowers.
Immediately, a song popped up, and Cole sighed, scrolling down the page. Most of the results appeared to be about the song, but a few instances of 'disease' caught his eyes.
Confused, Cole went back to his original search and added 'disease' to the web bar. The first thing that popped up was a link to a Quora article.
Confused, Cole opened the article in another tab, and scanned it quickly, certain quotes jumping out at him.
"The Hanahaki Disease is an illness born from unrequited love, where the patient's throat will fill up with flower, they will then proceed to throw, and cough up the petals, (sometimes even the flowers)." (1)
Interesting. Did this have something to do with the excited feeling Cole got around Zane?
"One of the only ways for the disease to 'disappear' is if said person returns the feeling (it can't be resolved with friendship, it has to be genuine feelings of love)." (2)
Okay, that made Cole's heart pound. If this did have something to do with his feelings for Zane, then, well, this was terrifying.
"The infection can also be removed through surgery, though the feelings disappear along with the petals. If they choose nether options, or the feeling is not returned in time, then the patient's lungs will fill up with flowers, and will eventually suffocate." (3)
Realization hit Cole like a punch to the gut when training with Kai. He could die. This was serious. If Zane didn't reciprocate those feelings… Cole could die. He could die. He could leave his siblings to try and protect the world without him there to lead them.
And then, salting the wound, was the last sentence.
"The Hanahaki disease is not real; there is no case of anyone ever contracting the disease. Should it had been real, it may have been labeled as an infection rather than a disease."
It's not real? That didn't make any sense, if it wasn't real, then how did Cole have it? Did he contract a fictional disease? How was that even possible?
Cole sighed, closing the tab, going back to the Doogle page. He was about to select "images" when his eyes were attracted by the blue banner on the side of the page labeled 'Health Conditions Related to This Search:'
Cole read over the symptoms, but none of them included flowers in the mix. He sighed, selecting images. Some of them were pictures drawn by romantics on Digressart, of men and women dramatically twisted over, rivers of petals pouring from their mouths. Cole curiously noted how none of these drawings had any of the mucus that he was experiencing.
The other few pictures were people (mostly women and girls) dressed up, holding bouquets of fake flowers or jamming them down their throats. Some had blood (which alarmed Cole, as that hadn't happened to him), but none had mucus or tissue that Cole would expect from-
"Cole?" Zane's voice came from behind him, and Cole froze, scrambling to shut the window, before spinning around to look at Zane. Zane blinked at him. "Is everything alright?"
"Oh, yeah, I um, I was looking for uh… stuff to draw," Cole blushed, reaching over to shut down the library computer. Arrg… why'd he say that!? Zane didn't know that Cole drew, this was so… embarrassing!
Zane, however, didn't notice, and instead, he smiled. "That's actually rather neat, Cole. I would like to see your art sometime."
Cole blushed harder, redness seeping deeper into his cheeks. "You- you would?"
Zane nodded. "Of course."
Cole smiled back, anxiously tapping his fingers against the library desk. "Hey, um, is Nya ready to go, or-" He coughed slightly.
"Oh, yes," Zane smiled. "Nya told me to get you. I asked her to find a book on respiratory illness and infection so we can match your symptoms to see if it's serious enough to see a doctor."
"The infection can also be removed through surgery, though the feelings disappear along with the petals." Popped into his head, and Cole shook his head vigorously. "No, I'm sure it's not serious. It's probably… just allergies."
Zane shrugged. "Well, if you think it may be getting serious, tell me, okay?"
Cole bit his lip but nodded. "Should we go find Nya?"
Zane nodded, and together, they left to find Nya. As they were all leaving the library, however, Cole coughed up a leaf. He stuffed it in his jacket pocket, but anxiety began to rise in his chest nonetheless, as well as a second bought of mucus.
Something was going on, and Cole felt completely helpless to stop it.
Cole was sure he was going to die.
Three weeks after the fight at the library, Cole and the others were entering a Serpentine-attacked village. Running through the streets, Cole couldn't help but cough, feeling a stem in his mouth. Over the last few weeks, the flowers and plant life had begun to get worse. He had begun coughing up roots, tiny pieces of his flesh entangled in them. Blood had begun to emerge as well, and it was getting harder for Cole to, well, not only breathe, but also to hide it from his siblings.
A Constictai warrior exploded through the earth with enough force to knock a regular person off their feet. Cole whipped around, swinging the Scythe of Quakes in a wide arc to fend off the attacking snake.
"Come at me, you slithering fiend!" He shouted, wincing at the odd raspiness of his voice (and the fact he sounded like Kai, but…).
The snake warrior hissed her forked tongue. "Withhhh pleassssure!"
She leaped forward, grabbing the edge of the scythe and dragging Cole towards the ground. Cole yanked it backwards and fought back, swinging the serpent into a wall.
Unfortunately, Constrictai bones were at least an 8 on the Mohs hardness scale, so this had the same effect of throwing a sock at an irritating brother.
She got up quickly, shaking off a would-be concussion and leaping at Cole. This time, he resorted to his fists, slamming her in the face as she slid backwards into a display case. Unfortunately, she was almost as strong as him, and hit back with the same force, smacking him in the face while laughing taunts.
"Unlike a ninja to hit a girl," She hissed, chuckling at him.
"Unlike a serpentine to taunt an enemy," Cole snapped back with a cough.
She grinned at him, then whirled around and slammed her tail into his stomach.
I can't breathe, Was Cole's only thought as he was flung backwards into a wall. I can't breathe. I CAN'T BREATHE. I AM GOING TO DIE!
"COLE!"
Thank the First Spinjitzu Master, Zane's voice was like an angel's call across the battlefield. Cole was gasping on the earth like a dead fish as Zane body slammed the serpentine so hard she got up and then immediately fell over.
Zane sprinted to Cole's side, grabbing him. "Cole? Cole! Say something?!" He pulled Cole closer, but the Earth Ninja couldn't get enough air into his lungs to be able to answer him. He was vaguely aware of a red blur and a blue blur running towards them, but everything hurt so, so, so bad.
In a panicked attempt to communicate, Cole grabbed Zane's hand and squeezed out the only thing he remembered from their Morse Code conversation. .. / .-.. - ...- . / -.- - ..-
"Cole," Zane gasped. "I, I had no idea, Cole, I-"
Everything went black.
Bip.
Bip.
Bip.
"Is he gonna be okay?"
"All reports show that he will be fine, Mr. Smith. However, it is strange that a perfectly healthy teenager should collapse like that suddenly. Are you sure he doesn't suffer from allergies or asthma?"
"Not that we know of. He did start coughing a whole bunch a couple weeks ago, though."
"Oh, must've been a respiratory infection though. We'd have to do a deeper swab to see if it was TB."
"TB?"
"Tuberculosis."
Cole opened his eyes inside an ambulance. A warm pressure on his hand revealed Zane watching Kai and Jay talk to a nervous paramedic as he tried to coax medical information out of them. Zane glanced at Cole and started slightly. "You're awake."
Cole nodded, not even trying to talk through the ventilator on his face.
"Cole," Zane bit his lips. "About what you said earlier, I… I feel the same way. I was worried that… if I told you, you wouldn't want to be with a…"
Cole took a breath. "I know." He sighed, surprised by the lack of raspiness in his voice. "I should've told you, Zane. I… I felt so bad about loving you in the first place…" He sighed again, relishing the lack of raspiness.
Zane smiled, squeezing his hand. "I accept your… apology?"
Cole smiled back at him. "Hey, um, since you feel the same, maybe we could… try… dating?"
Zane blinked at him.
Cole tensed. "If that's too fast, we could just remain friends and try to figure out the whole dating thing later."
"Cole," Zane squeezed his hand, getting his attention. Tears were welling in the nindroid's eyes. "No one's ever asked me such a thing before. I'd love to."
Cole smiled back, his cheeks beginning to hurt from all the grinning. "Thanks, Zane."
Zane nodded.
And though no one was ever able to truly realize Cole's infection, as it baffled hospital staff and biological researchers for years, Cole and Zane were happy together. Time went on. Life went on. The Serpentine were defeated, but new threats arose.
But no matter what the Ninja, and more importantly, Cole and Zane as a unit, faced, no one ever saw the Hanahaki Disease ever again.
A/N: This took way too long, and I'm not completely satisfied with it, but anyway.
I still can't spell Hanahaki. I've literally been copy-pasting the word the entire story XD.
Next time on AU Oneshots: A modern Lloya oneshot!
The Quora article Cole looked at is actually a real Quora article.