Chapter Text
I coughed. I coughed and I coughed for what felt like hours in mere minutes. I felt light headed.
I was sitting in my room, coughing and retching blood. How did I get here? Why was I so sick in the first place?
I had to get back to the others. They were waiting for me back at the floor 19 lounge to play some card games. If I didn't hurry, then T.J. and Alex would get mad at me if Halfborn and Mallory started making out again. Alex would probably-
I started coughing again, and this time, along with the blood, I could see petals.
Oh.
I am officially an idiot.
I stared blankly as the petals swam in my own blood. They were iridescent, changing colors ever so slightly. Going from a pastel green, to a light pink, then a glowing gold.
Oh no.
How was I going to explain this?
“Oh! I just unexplainably start coughing up blood, rainbow colored petals, and more blood!”
That wouldn't work on them. Would I even die from this? I can't die in Valhalla, but would this kill me when I step out? Who was I in love with anyway? How could I be so oblivious to not know who it was?
My head was pounding, and all I wanted was to just go back to sleep. Maybe that would help me not feel so cold.
I sat there, too tired and stunned to move. I was wondering who it could be. My hands were shaking and it felt like my head was swimming in a lake of acid, being eaten by piranhas. I sat there just staring at my bloody hands until I heard banging on my door.
Alex was on the other side, banging on the door and walls, shouting “Hey, Magnus! Are ya gonna come out anytime soon, or will I have to watch those lovebirds Mallory and Halfborn roll around and share oral fluids all day?”
“Just a minute! I knocked over some stuff.”
“Alright, but you better hurry!”
I spent the next couple of minutes cleaning up the puddle of blood and petals from the floor and myself as I stuffed some clean napkins into my pocket just in case. My hands were still shaky and I was visibly paler. Hopefully they just thought it was the lighting. I tried to get a couple drops of blood out of my shirt, but they only faded into darker spots. Hopefully it just gets chalked up as a stain from some food by the others.
As I walked out of my room, I was met with the glare of Alex, who was sitting next to the couple that had been making out for the past several minutes. She was pissed. T.J. was sitting in a corner eating popcorn, obviously entertained by the ordeal.
I walked into the lounge sheepishly. Alex responded to my arrival by throwing a pack of cards at my face, and flipping me off.
Soon enough, we were playing Go Fish.
We were all sitting in a circle on the floor. So far, Mallory and Halfborn were preoccupied flirting and competing against one another, that eventually they both dropped their cards and were duking it out. Alex took the opportunity to sneak some peaks at their cards, and eventually just ended up taking the majority of their cards. We teamed up to beat her eventually, but we won against her only barely. It should have been illegal to be this good at Go Fish.
Me and T.J. were actually playing by the rules, although T.J. kept thinking that we were playing poker. We eventually got bored, and we were soon playing Mario Kart.
T.J. was pretty decent at the game for being from the 1770’s I would say. Mallory and Halfborn got first place once in a while, and I was horrendous, it should have been illegal for me to play.
Alex on the other hand, was decimating us all. She was a force to be reckoned with and it was honestly impressive. I was contemplating just letting her win to see her smile, but then decided against it, wanting to at least win once. I was starting to feel the petals itch their way up my throat, but I was able to shove it down for now.
We all decided to team up against Alex, finally having enough of her tyranny against us. We still lost. Honestly, we somehow got worse at it.
We all played a few more rounds of Mario Kart, and then decided to see if there was anything interesting happening down in the other lounges and lobbies. On our way down, we were graced with the presence of the song Twinkle Twinkle, Little Star. It was truly a masterpiece.
I was watching Alex talk, and I couldn't help but notice how her eyes sparkled in the light and how her smile caused a slight crease in her eyes. Why was my face suddenly feeling a lot warmer?
That was when it happened again.
I started to cough a little.
Luckily it went unnoticed by the others in the area.
I walked up to T.J. and made some lame excuse about forgetting to water my books.
I dashed for the elevator, trying to hold my breath in the hopes to somehow pause my respiratory system from doing its job. As I stepped into the elevator, pressing the floor 19 button and spamming the close door one, I was fumbling for the rune to my door.
I collapsed onto the floor as soon as the door closed.
My heart was beating as if I was dying.
Was I dying?
It didn't matter, did it? I would get back up in the morning again anyways, right?
I was coughing for sure. Coughing and wheezing. My eyes pricked with tears. I was struggling to see now. My vision was getting blurry.
My heart was beating unbelievably faster as I felt blood rushing to my head. My hands were even more shakier than before, as I tried to cover my mouth with a napkin.
I coughed and coughed, until more petals came out.
I was sure I looked like a paper ghost, with how much blood I was losing.
The petals were clumped together, blood acting as glue.
It was lodged into my throat and I couldn't breathe anymore.
I kept hacking up more blood and flower petals. This time, I couldn't see the vibrant colors as much, most of them being covered in the blood from my lungs.
I could hear a slight ringing in my ear. Hopefully that went away soon.
Who could it have been? I was just watching Alex, thinking about how she looked when she smiled.
Oh-
That would explain it.
I could feel the blood rushing to my face.
This was going to be a mess. How am I supposed to tell her?
I was pretty sure that Alex only saw me as a friend. There was no way that she would like me back. I mean, I'm an idiot. Who would like an idiot like me? I knew that I would have to tell her in order to keep living, but was it really worth it?
How would our relationship change after? I wouldn't be surprised if Alex didn't like me back anyways. The best case scenario is that we just stay as friends.
I cleaned my room again. There was a slight stain left on the floor. This time, there was no point in trying to save my shirt. It was covered in my blood and it made me look like I was murdered.
After finally finishing cleaning up the area and changing my clothes, it was almost time for dinner. I would need to head down soon. I stuffed some more napkins in my pockets.
I wondered if I should confess to Alex, but ultimately decided to just live with it for now, because honestly, food is more important than a life threatening disease.
I mean, Hotel Valhalla will keep me alive for now, right?
…RIght?
.oOo.
Magnus was acting weird lately. As in weirder than usual, which was saying something. He seems to be avoiding me a bit. Every time he makes eye contact with me, he turns the other way and his face turns pink. I don't know why, but I felt pretty hurt by it.
I also noticed how he was taking way longer than usual to get ready for the day. We were going to play a game of Go Fish with the rest of floor 19. It's not like we were preparing for a battle.
The two lovebirds of floor 19 were starting to get touchy again. They really love their PDA, don't they?
Honestly, does it really take that long to just change into a clean set of clothes and brush their teeth?
I walked over to his door, and I could hear someone coughing. Why would Magnus be coughing? Was it possible for someone to get a cold in Valhalla? Whatever. Play Go Fish now, and worry about potentially getting a cold from your floormate later.
I started knocking on his door and walls, and started to shout Magnus’s name.
“Hey, Magnus! Are ya gonna come out anytime soon, or will I have to watch those lovebirds Mallory and Halfborn roll around and share oral fluids all day?” I shouted at him through the door.
Magnus responded soon after, his voice sounding a bit raspy, “Just a minute! I knocked over some stuff.”
I didn't exactly know how knocking over some stuff would result in coughing, but I decided to chalk it up to dust being kicked up. Wait, didn't the hotel staff clean out rooms for us? Whatever.
“Alright, but you better hurry!” I answered back, walking back to the floor 19 lounge and sitting down onto the couch yet again.
I waited, and waited, and wai-
Honestly, there was no way that it would take over 5 minutes to pick something back up after dropping it.
Was this Magnus trying to avoid me?
I pushed that thought out of my mind. I had more important things to deal with. Mainly the fact that the lovebirds stopped their PDA, but were now making out right next to her. Whatever, I would just make Magnus pay for it later.
After a couple more minutes, Magnus finally decided to join us. I decided to throw a deck of cards at his face.
Ok, so I may or may not be cheating at Go Fish and taking advantage of the fact that it was relatively easy to take a peek at other people’s cards.
I still say that it was uncalled for when the others teamed up on me though, that was just rude. We were playing Mario Kart after we started to get bored of Go Fish, and man, Magnus was terrible. How could one be this bad at a video game?
On another note, why did Magnus look so pale? Did he not get his usual sun tan? I bet its just the lighting.
It was pretty funny when they tried to team up against me again, and ended up getting worse than usual. It was fun laughing at them. We got bored of playing Mario Kart after a while too, so we decided that we should just try and socialize for once, so we headed down the elevator.
The song playing in the background on our way down really was a masterpiece.
When we got to the lobby floor, there were a lot more people, and I started to talk to someone I was acquainted with from a pottery class to the death. I started noticing that Magnus was staring at me, and I could feel a slight blush on my cheeks. Why were my cheeks getting pinker?
That was until Magnus bolted for the elevator. Huh, I wonder what that was about.