For April Showers Bring M-AU Flowers, Day 3 Prompt: Pollen. Warning for Hanahaki-typical blood.


The halls of Hexside were noisy. The sounds of students chattering in the halls, bells and lockers shrieking in pain, spells being let loose despite the teachers' best attempts to prevent them. Amity had never quite been able to tune out that noise. That was part of the reason she chose to take the longer route between her history lessons and abomination practice. Few students used this hallway when walking between classes, meaning she could hear herself think. The fact that taking this path also suggested she would walk by the plant classroom was pure coincidence.

It was a standard school day. Other than the fact that her history teacher had to leave class early, something about a runaway ghost. Amity knew the abomination classroom was empty this period, so being the diligent student she was, she decided to make the journey early so she could practice more. She was earnest when she made that decision, she had a test that week. Sure she was at the top of her class and would surely ace it, but a little practice never hurt anyone.

It all went wrong when she reached the hall of the plant classroom. For once she wasn't going to grab a peak through the window as she walked. The plan changed when she heard laughter. The loud obnoxious laughter of a certain human, and a much more subdued giggle she knew all too well. She turned her gaze towards the door and noticed it was ever so slightly ajar. She looked around the hall, both back the way she came, and the direction she was headed. If this place was quiet in between periods, it was completely abandoned during them. No one needed to know. Against her better judgment, she walked up to the door and peaked through the opening.

The first thing she noticed was the plants on the tables. They looked like trees but without any branches or leaves. Lined along their crimson trunks were pink buds. She didn't recognize the species, but it didn't look too out of place. Then her eyes started looking around the room at the students. She spotted Amelia at the far right of the room, but other than her Amity didn't know any of the other kids. Until her eyes finally wandered to the desk closest to the door. There they were, a human in a multicoloured uniform, and Willow. The two of them were covered in dirt.

She didn't catch what the teacher said before they walked away from the table, but it was in a tone that sounded like a scolding. After the teacher left, Luz and Willow began giggling again. The sound of Willow's laughter hit Amity like a ratworm. It had been so long since she had heard it. She remembered them making sand castles at Lake Lacuna, riding the Roller Ghoster, and sneaking out of kindergarten to pick flowers together.

And now Willow was having laughs with Luz. Amity couldn't help but feel like she was replaced, and she couldn't even blame Willow for doing so. Amity should be happy that Willow had finally moved on, and found a real friend. But seeing Luz and Willow laughing together. It only made her think of how things could have gone differently if she had stood up to her parents, and remained friends with Willow. She wondered if that friendship could have evolved, and Willow would return the feelings Amity so desperately kept locked away.

Amity was so transfixed on Luz and Willow, and her thoughts, that she didn't notice that the plants the other two girls had been tending to had started twitching, or that its flowers had bloomed. She was only snapped out of her trance when she heard the teacher shouting and saw students rushing to open the windows. Amity closed the door before anyone noticed she was there, and started racing down the hallway. Finally, she made it to the abomination classroom. She entered and started setting up her equipment. Even with the extra 20 minutes, she was sloppy during that class, to the point where Professor Hermonculus asked if everything was alright. She of course lied when she answered yes. The sight of Willow and Luz had overridden all other thoughts in her mind. After the school day was over she ran straight to her room and locked the door before crying.


The two weeks that followed were dull, and Amity was grateful. She didn't see Willow or Luz at school, and the plant hallway was blocked off by the students. Something about a contaminant in the air. Amity didn't ask further questions. She managed to keep what she saw in there out of her mind for the entirety of those two weeks, and managed to ace her test exactly as she was expected to.

That was until she literally bumped into Willow again when she was walking through the halls with Boscha. Her first instinct was to help Willow with her books, but she knew she had a reputation to uphold. Luckily for her Boscha came to her "defence" with her usual snark. "Can't you watch where you're going Half-a-Witch? I thought those glasses of yours were supposed to make your eyesight better. Or is there just not enough there to improve?"

Willow opened her mouth to speak, but Luz came between them. "Seriously, making fun of her eyesight? That's low even for you Boscha!"

Amity just wanted to leave, but Boscha couldn't help herself. "Pft, that's some courage you have picking a fight on your first day back. What did you two do to get suspended anyway? Get caught kissing mushrooms in botany?" she teased.

"For your information, we were in quarantine!" Luz replied with a strange amount of smugness.

Willow agreed with Amity in that regard. "You really shouldn't sound so proud of that Luz."

"What are we all still doing here, this is a waste of time," Amity finally said frustrated as she grabbed Boscha by the arm. She began dragging her friend away, not looking back as she heard Luz and Boscha slinging childish noises at each other.

"Amity's right Luz, she and Boscha are just wastes of time," Amity heard Willow with a dismissive tone. It wasn't a vicious insult, certainly nothing compared to what Boscha had said over the years, but it was still enough to make Amity stop in her tracks. It was confirmation of what she already knew, Amity didn't matter to Willow anymore. She shouldn't be surprised, that was the whole point of pushing her away. Yet she felt a pain in her chest she had never felt before like her heart was being crushed. Her breath grew shaky, each gasp taking in less air than the last.

cough

"Amity are you okay?" she heard Boscha ask with a tone that sounded more annoyed than concerned. Amity opened her mouth to respond-

COUGH

Then another. Rougher. She clutched her chest.

COUGH

Her knees buckled slightly as she pressed a hand to her mouth and closed her eyes.

COUGH

She could hear more voices, Willow's among them, but she couldn't pay attention to what they were saying as the pain worsened and the coughing grew more violent. Then she heard one voice.

"Amity?" asked Willow with genuine concern. The coughing started to slow, and Amity started to catch her breath again. She could feel something rising in her throat.

cough

The final cough was the least painful. Amity finally felt relieved. She finally opened her eyes and pulled away her hand. She felt faint as she realized it was covered in blood.

"Holy crap, please tell me you guys have a nurse or something here!" she heard Luz say. Amity realized she and Boscha were now supporting her on each side. Willow was in front of her, looking at her with an expression of fear.

"Amity, are- are you hurt?" she asked concerned. Amity opened her mouth to speak, only to feel something in her mouth.

With a tremble, she reached in with her tongue and felt a soft, wet object. She pulled it out and looked at it in shock. It was a flower petal, long and pointy and pink in colour.

She heard Luz gasp. "Oh Titan," muttered Willow, her expression having gone from fear to horror.

"What the heck is that?" asked Boscha. Amity had never heard her so worried before.

"Creeping Heartbreak," Luz said like she was recounting a line from a horror story. Boscha and Amity looked at her blankly, so she continued, "It's a parasitic plant. We were studying them in class two weeks ago when ours bloomed out of nowhere. That's why we were quarantined, in case we were infected by its spores. You must have been exposed, but how did that happen?"

All eyes were on Amity again. Amity felt herself heating up. "I was dismissed from history class early, so made my way to the abomination classroom to practice. The route I took went through the plant hallway," she said. It was technically the truth.

"Great, just great!" Boscha shouted out loud to herself. She turned to Willow. "YOU, Half-a-Witch! Your plant did this to her, so tell us, how do we cure her?" she yelled. Willow looked away in shame. Amity's heart sank. It was far from the first time she stood by when Boscha attacked Willow. But this time Boscha thought she was justified, and Amity knew it was all her fault.

Willow grabbed Amity's hand. She plucked the bloody petal out of it and held it out in front of her. While she was looking at the petal, her gaze was facing Amity, her expression was sombre.

"The Creeping Heartbreak is an emotional parasite. It feeds on bottle-up affection, unrequited love, longing." Amity's eyes widened. Suddenly everything made sense. Why the plant bloom when she spied through the door, why her coughing only started when she ran into Willow. It was feeding on Amity's crush. Her feelings for Willow were killing her.

Willow continued, "The only method of treating it that doesn't leave any long-term complications is to starve it. The feelings need to be resolved, meaning the person the host has feelings for needs to reciprocate, or the host needs to get over those feelings." Willow's eyes shifted, their focus turning from the petal to Amity. "Amity, I know this is awkward, but if you want to beat this thing, you need to confess to your crush."

Her siblings often told her that when she got flustered her face turned red like a tomato. She didn't have a mirror on her, but she knew that's what she looked like right now. She felt like the entire hallway was staring at her, and she knew for sure Boscha and Luz were. But Amity didn't turn to check. Her eyes were fixed on Willow.

Willow gave a small smile. "Hey, Amity, it's alright. You don't have to do this alone. Come on, let me walk you to the nurse's office."

Willow grabbed her by the hand and before Amity knew it the four of them were walking down the hall as if they were friends. But they weren't. Luz and Boscha were playing nice because Amity was sick. Amity knew Willow was just being compassionate, that's who she was. After the years of bullying Amity had put Willow through there was no way she would reciprocate Amity's feelings.

But as they walked, Willow didn't let go of her hand. It was warm and gentle, and Amity felt a strange comfort in the gesture. Amity knew it was stupid, but a small part of her still held out hope.