Chapter 1
When Seele had seen Bronya again she noted that she looked more tired than usual. She had heavy bags under her eyes, and skin as pale as a ghost. Her posture –which is normally straight and befitting of a princess- was hunched over. She looked unwell and had begun to worry Seele. “You look like shit princess”
“hm” is the only reply she gets. Now that Seele has thought about it more these past few months Bronya hasn’t been at 100%. Take last week for example they had an encounter with a few people and Bronya almost got hit which was very abnormal given how she always dodges in time, and when Seele had asked all, she got was ‘I haven’t been sleeping well I apologize’ to which Seele babbled on about getting proper rest and how she didn’t need to apologize because it wasn’t her concern or whatever.
Seele sighs and lifts her face up and as she investigates Bronya’s eyes she feels like she’s staring into death itself. She furrows her brows in deep concern and now she’s worried “how much sleep have you been getting at night?” Seele asks
“I don’t remember” she lies. The truth? Bronya has been doing nothing but coughing up Forget-Me Nots and sobbing until dawn. Her love for Seele is ultimately killing her, but she’d rather die than let her know or get the surgery. She doesn’t want to forget Seele nor burden her but what could she do? She was a fool in love. “listen” she coughs to clear her throat “I’m fine I've just been busier than usual. That's all” Seele stares at her with an unfamiliar look in her eye before sighing and letting her face go.
“Whatever you say princess, but after this you are to head straight to Natasha’s clinic and rest you hear me?”
“Of course.”
As Bronya lays down in the bed she can’t help but think of her health and how soon she’d join her mother in the vast sea of stars. She doesn’t want to die but she’d rather die than burden Seele with her feelings and make her feel obligated to return them for Bronya to live. A knock is sounded at the door “Come in” she says weakly. Natasha peaks her in with a small smile and a caring gaze.
“Hello Miss Bronya, how are you feeling?”
“Bad.” she answers, because it’s the truth. She feels fucking awful and wants nothing more than to remove that blasted plant out of her throat. “Natasha, I have a question?”
“Go right ahead.”
“Have you ever treated a patient who threw up flowers?” She suddenly becomes a bit shy. Only Pela had known but that was because she had walked in on Bronya vomiting them up.
“Yes, but I've never been able to treat it due to the lack of resources”
“Right, I forgot” she now feels even worse about what her mother did. Her goal is to reverse it and make sure the underworld and overworld are once again reunited as they once were. “Well, what happened to them?”
“Some died and others lived because they told the object of their affections how they felt”
The thought of telling Seele feels her with both warmth and fear. On the one hand she’d finally be free from these blasted flowers but on the other she’d die if Seele didn’t return her feelings “Do you want my advice Bronya?”
“I guess it couldn’t hurt”
“Tell Seele how you feel before it's too late”
Bronya sputters at the implication “W-What how did you know”
Natasha laughs “Anyone with a pair of eyes would know you’re smitten for that girl” and Bronya looks to the side her face all red.
“Right, I guess you’re right. I love her so much, and I can’t imagine my life without her, but I don’t wish to burden her with my feelings of affection.”
Natasha sighs and sits at Bronya’s bedside. It reminds her of when she’d have a bad dream and her mother would come and read her storybooks. “Bronya you might miss the chance if you don’t act now, but in any case, you do look like you need some rest so I will put in pin in this conversation” she gets up and heads to the door before she looks over her shoulder “but do remember what I said.” and she walks out the door.
“So, Natasha how is she? Is everything okay with her?” Seele says she throws herself into a nearby chair and spins
“Yes, she’s fine just having a small cold nothing to serious. You know it’s cute how much you worry about her just a few months ago you’d come in complaining about how much you hate her”
“Okay! Well times have changed and she...” she trails off with a small blush on her face. It was in fact true that a few months ago Seele could not stand the sight of Bronya, and they often argued but now that she’s gotten used to seeing that overworld princess she’s grown fond of her presence. She sighs and brings her head to rest on her knees. Natasha was right Seele was worrying more about her as of late, but she couldn’t help it. She loved everything about Bronya from her light gray stormy eyes to her fighting spirit to make sure everyone had equal rights both above ground and below ground but that didn’t stop her from worrying about her.
“And she what?” Natasha questions with an eyebrow raised.
“Nothing forget it”
This whole coughing flowers started a few months prior. She had just got into another argument with Seele about something she didn’t care to remember and as Seele stormed off, she began to cough and out came a beautiful blue Forget-Me Not. She was confused at first because Belobog –both above and below ground- could not host flowers due to the harsh winters they experienced, so she believed she was imagining things and went on about her day with a heavy heart.
The next time it occurred she began to grow worried because now she knew she wasn’t just imagining things and that this was happening, so she booked it too the library and searched and searched until she found what she was looking for. The disease she had was called Hanahaki disease and could potentially be fetal if not treated. The book entails that the victim coughs up flowers that their object of affection either loves or represents so it’s no wonder that the Aeon forsaken flower would be a Forget-Me Not because a few weeks prior Seele had off handily mentioned that she loved Forget-Me Nots. Bronya sighs and realizes that she’s completely fucked.
The months after were brutal. To keep it a secret from Seele Bronya had to suppress the urges to cough them out around her and once she was in the safety of her home, she would then vomit them out and cry. Sometimes the flowers would come out to be coated in her blood and she never knew that loving someone could be so painful, but she would do it again in a heartbeat. Loving Seele was an amazing feeling and she’d rather die than forget her.
The one-time Pela walked in Bronya wanted to do nothing more than die on the spot. The way it happened was that Bronya was too busy vomiting bloody flowers that she didn’t hear Pela on the other side, and on the other side Pela heard vomiting so she rushed inside to make sure Bronya was okay but the sight she was greeted with was far worse than anything she’d ever seen and once Bronya was done she collapsed onto the ground with tears in her eyes. She didn’t even notice Pela looking at her with a mixture of horror and fear and she looked up. “P-Pela” she whimpers out. This wasn’t meant to happen. Nobody was meant to know. It was going to be a secret. Pela recovers rather quickly and holds Bronya as she cried in her arms. She tells her that it’ll be okay, and she’ll find a cure to which Bronya shakes her head.
After Bronya calmed down she told Pela everything. How she fell in love with an underworlder but couldn’t confess how she felt and how she had been vomiting flowers for quite a while and how if she got them removed, she’d forget her love for Seele. Pela urged her to at least think about the surgery because they couldn’t lose Bronya not when they just lost Madam Cocolia. Bronya merely sighed and said she’d give it some thought which seemed to satisfy Pela.
Seele stands up after her conversation with Natasha and heads into the room Bronya was resting in as she enters, she quietly pulls a chair up and just admires her beauty. She had to admit that Bronya looked gorgeous while she slept, she truly looked like a princess out of a fairytale and by the Aeons above Seele could not help just staring at her. She never imagined in her entire life that she would fall so hard for an overworlder but then Bronya came and swept her off her feet with her fancy words and way of talk and Seele couldn’t help falling for such a beautiful woman. She reaches out her hand to touch Bronya’s face and she snuggles a bit closer reminding Seele of the many cats she sees in the underworld.
She softly smiles and lays her head in her arms as she uses her other hand to softly caress Bronya’s cheek. Aeons she was so in love with this woman by everything she swears upon. She'd gladly give her life if it meant seeing Bronya happy and smiling again.
Her eyes begin to grow heavy and before she knows it, she’s off to dreamland.