Chapter Text
The florist was mindlessly walking away from the gravesite he made for his parents.
A few hours ago, Scott Springwell dedicated his time to building an isolated gravesite with two tombstones for his parents—there were already the real ones in Barrowhill, but he couldn't visit them when he's needed here. He wanted to pay his respects, beyond the stars, the wind, the moon, the petals that fly by, the lilies... they would always be with him.
With that said, once his mourning was done, he didn't feel fulfilled or satisfied. The little sprout only felt empty.
Scott snaps back to reality when he recognises a figure. It was Nom, he was walking back from the dungeon or the beach. He had this expression on his face, a steeled resolve with less light in his eyes than before. He was mumbling something with distaste.
"Nom?"
The knight froze in his tracks, halting completely in shock. He turned to the soft voice he heard and to his dismay it was exactly who he hoped it wouldn't be.
"Scott..."
The florist approached, noticing the knight grow uneasy and stiff no matter how hard he was trying to hide it.
"Where have you been? I haven't seen you around the kingdom." Nominal asked a plain question.
"I... I was making something." Scott didn't want to keep things from him or lie, but he couldn't bring himself to talk about it without breaking down.
"I'll tell you later, I promise."
Nom relaxed, he dropped his guard. "That's alright if you don't wanna talk about it now."
"Mhm." The elf nodded.
Nom took a step forward and waited for Scott to walk along with him, they decided to cut through the forest to get to the kingdom faster.
"So, what were you doing?" Scott knew the question would be a touchy one judging by his behaviour.
Nom jolted in surprise. His movements stiffened as he walked with Scott and soon he slowed and came to a stop. "That's.... a long story."
"That's okay, I'm not busy." No matter what, he needed to be there for him. Whatever made Nom feel this way needed to be communicated and solved before it got out of hand.
Nom hesitated to speak, he searched the surroundings briefly before he did.
"Let's... Go somewhere we won't be heard."
Finally, the oathbreaker accepted that he couldn't keep this from his confidant. He wasn't going to break a promise or even risk crossing that line of honesty.
"Should we go to the hill near the gate?" Scott proposed, Nom nodded, it looked like the tension returned to him.
"Yeah."
"Hey, last time we were there you were the monarch." Nom bitterly laughed at the irony of how they had switched positions of power since the last time they were up on that hill.
He wished that Scott just gave that order back when he still could. But this soldier knew that he could never force that upon his friend.
They climbed up the hill together and reached the top.
"Look," The florist pointed at a batch of wildflowers. "It's from our last conversation."
"Ooh, so it is!" Nom hid his anxiety behind a chuckle.
Thinking about it now, he regretted not waiting a few more moments. But it was the right thing to do.
"Well, if you would like to tell me, I'm all ears." Scott smiled at his dear friend. His stance was welcoming and soothing as he always was.
Nom sighed, how does he even begin to explain this... That he made a deal with the Creaking King that may have just cost him his life.
"It's really hard to explain, but..." Nom looked down at the kingdom and then back at Scott who was patiently waiting for him to explain his feelings.
"Ever since I became king, I've been feeling weaker and weaker."
"I... I lost 4c. 4c betrayed my trust and I killed him and then- and then I picked up my mace again."
Maybe that morningstar meant more than turning back into a violent oathbreaker. Maybe it meant he was weak enough to rely on it.
"After that, I found out quite literally everyone has the plague and you're coughing blood and I started to lose hearts rapidly like everyone else I care about and-"
The knight noticed his quickened sharp breaths once the florist laid a hand on his shoulder to comfort him.
"It's okay, it's okay, Nom." Scott's leather gloves ran over the metal plates of armour that the knight wore. "I think it's okay to feel fear and be weak sometimes."
"I mean, you've seen how I was like when I first came here, right?"
He did. He saw him stutter, go silent, turn invisible and he was scared of the war and the conflict but now, he's brave. He's grown to be a powerful mage who trusts himself in his abilities and puts his faith in his allies.
Unlike him, his role model wasn't able to refuse the offer of power given to him.
"That's not what I'm getting at, Scott." Nom's voice broke, leaking the desperation and guilt behind his voice.
The florist was mildly stunned. "...Then, what?"
Negative emotions coiled in his chest, the words he needed to say were stuck in his throat—how was he supposed to tell him? Why is he feeling so horrible about this now?
That's right. He just needs to remind himself.
It's for the greater good of the kingdom. To protect his people, to protect his friends. To be the one weapon that dies along with this neverending war and brings peace to everyone.
So, he took a deep breath in and looked Scott in the eyes with that same hopeless determination he walked away from that beach with.
"The Creaking King offered me extra hearts in exchange for consuming a chunk of resin."
Like he offered stronger magic for himself, the mage assumed. He paused to wonder where this was leading to and made a guess.
"So what did he say after you turned him down?"
Nom flicked his head away from his oblivious eyes. Scott immediately assumed that he turned down the offer. The amount of faith that mage had in him...
"...did he get mad? or?"
The amount of disappointment he would feel...
"Nom?"
Most times, the flower mage's voice would make him feel like a gentle breeze in a breathtaking field of flowers. Now? It felt like pebbles weighing down a glass house.
"I didn't."
It didn't matter if he felt regret or guilt—this was only to do what he needed to do. He shouldn't let his emotions get in the way of doing the right thing.
"I took the offer, I have 15 hearts now."
Nom shoved all the regret he felt saying those words into a box. Locking them shut and away, he needs to be direct with his intentions.
Scott looked at him with disbelief. "What?"
"I- I needed to do this. I didn't just decide this on a whim—you told me to think before my actions and I did this time." The knight justified his actions.
Scott just kept looking at him, searching for a further explanation, a laugh that led to him revealing this was a joke or for him to say anything about that sentence that was false. Except it wasn't.
"...why would you do that?" The florist's voice lowered, he sounded betrayed.
Nom's breath caught in his throat, he pushed through all the difficult emotions to give Scott an acceptable reason. That was the least he could do.
"I...just thought..." He shook his head. "If everyone is already weak from this plague, if I could just be strong enough to get rid of them while I have the chance to, then I could do it all by myself."
Nom rested the spiked head of his mace on the ground. "If I can do all the damage by myself without the need of getting any of you hurt- then I have to. I need to."
Scott faces the view under the hill, hiding his expression once more.
A dry leaf rides along the breeze and flies by the knight's face. It comes from the decaying tree above the dungeon.
He feels something. Something in his veins, in his tissue, underneath his skin...
Creak.
The sharp rustling noise coming from his dearest friend breaks the mage's silence.
"...what if you don't make it out alive?"
Scott's hands were trembling, he made his figure smaller.
"I don't think I will." Nom admired the kingdom below him for what could be one of his last chances to. "And I'm fine with that."
"You're fine with that?" Scott repeated to him with shock, disbelief and maybe even offensively.
"If it means everyone else will survive? Yes. Yes I'm fine with that." Nom reiterated, he didn't have much to live for besides protecting the people he cared for.
"I mean just- Owain is leaving, so is Graecie I've heard from Mae, which means I'll soon be the only knight left here and 4c isn't here anymore either.”
Nom tightened his grip on his mace.
"If Red Kingdom wanted to, they could come over here and kill us all if they just tried."
His eyes wandered over the houses of the people he cared for.
"You and Mae are already coughing blood, I- I can't risk losing either of you or anyone in the kingdom right now."
Nom released a harsh breath.
"I need to protect this kingdom at all costs, even if it means my own life."
...
"Do you think your life doesn't matter?"
"No, no! Ofcourse not."
Nom observed Scott's face, an emotion he'd never seen on him was welling within him.
"Scott, I know that there are people who care about me and everything but- I'm the only one who can do this."
Creak.
A small piercing sound was made after that.
"Is the Creaking King going to take over you?"
The florist's voice was barely above a whisper—both his face and tone were unreadable.
"If he even tries it..." The gall of that tree infuriated the knight. "I won't let him." Nom assured.
"If that thing tries to take over my body, I'll take my own life before he has the chance to hurt you or Katie or anyone I care about."
He can do it. If he has enough power, he can be unstoppable. No matter what it is. 'When you have skill and power then nothing can stop you.' he'll never forget that phrase from his early days of training.
"What... what did you think was going to happen when you took that deal?" Tears welled up in Scott's eyes, he told himself to stop, that crying wouldn't do anything, he still couldn't help himself.
"I didn't trust it at first."
Ofcourse he didn't. The Creaking King is the most untrustworthy thing he's ever had the displeasure of meeting.
"But, the more I thought about it..."
The offer of eight whole hearts.
"Eight more hearts in this situation would be really useful." he laughed bitterly at how he was easily tempted. But it was to protect everyone he cares for, who wouldn't take that chance?
"And ofcourse I didn't think that I'd just eat the resin and get 8 hearts and that would be the end of it." He thought things through.
"I'm not that dumb." Even if he was atleast dense at times.
"I just thought..." Nom sighed, this was something he accepted long ago but telling Scott this so soon was hard. "Even if it means that I won't make it out of this alive, then I'm fine with that."
The knight stood completely still. His feet felt heavy, this confession wasn't something he could walk away from.
Scott was standing Infront of him with his back to the knight for most of the conversation. He couldn't see the flower mage's expression at all but the sound of his voice conveyed enough, surely.
...
"Did you think we would be fine with that?"
The mage turned his head downwards to his feet.
It was a rare and surprising sight. Considering the situation, it would only make sense for this to happen instead.
Nom knew what to say but to say it to him of all people was hard to do. He had no problem with it, only that Scott wouldn't like it.
"If not, then you'll learn to be."
A bitter, bitter truth that the knight had already swallowed.
The wind whistled as the blacksmith gave his answer. Maybe today was just particularly windy.
Scott balled his fists and grit his teeth to keep his own mouth shut.
Because even if he screamed, cried, scolded, broke down or fought relentlessly, it would be useless.
It would simply be fruitless.
It's not something kind, pretty, useful nor would it bring any kind of relief to him, it would just make him feel worse.
But maybe, just maybe,
When you let a sprout shrivel up in a brittle glass bottle without the burning sun's warm embrace—something breaks.
Creak.
"(Again?)" Nom was annoyed by how much more the noise happened frequently.
Creak.
Atleast he didn't feel his body twisting up this time-
Crunch.
That wasn't him.
Nom grunted, he felt a sting on the top of his feet. He felt more and more heavy for some reason-
His eyes widened at the sight of the branches, roots and thorns that surrounded his footing. Pointed bramble grew with haste, wrapping around his legs, rooting him into the dirt, forcing him to stay in one place.
The blacksmith's eyes wandered towards the florist, the ground beneath him was covered in withering foliage accompanied by the flowers that bloomed from their previous conversation which were freshly dead.
"Scott?" Nom called, dread and shock grew into his voice.
The absence of flourishing nature, the very opposite of it instead surrounding the mage... It was the most odd sight to think of, let alone witness.
Needle-thin spikes crumbled under the florist's foot as he gazed back into the knight's eyes.
His lime pupils pierced through the dried blood brown of his loved one kept captive and rooted.
What was brewing, boiling, stewing within the elf influenced the nature of his surroundings. The deceased flowers, prickly thorns, sharp branches and howling wind were indicators of all the emotions the poor mage felt deep in his sorry, damaged heart.
"Nom."
The knight attempted to take a step back, the wood proved to be sturdier than he expected.
"How do you think I would feel?"
Scott turned his head towards his dying companion.
His eyes were wide—like he realized something revolutionary. He didn't have a smile on his face, not anymore. His lips formed a thin line making him look the most serious he's ever been.
A cold, harsh wind blew by swiftly, flapping the cape of the mage like one of the flags in the kingdom. A symbol of all he has left.
Nom braced for the air to settle, he was luckily intact once it passed. An unnatural chill ran down his spine.
Scott approached the rooted knight.
"How do you think I would feel after losing you?"
Scott placed his boot above the bundle of oak forming around Nom's feet.
It really wasn't necessary, he was already taller- what even was this side of Scott was only a tall tale that Nom couldn't imagine before it actually happened Infront of his eyes.
It was hard to recognize Scott, but...
He remembers saying the same thing to Katie.
"I care about you, Nom."
The florist laid his hand on the oathbreaker's shoulder, vines sprawled from underneath his palm. A clematis bloomed from the center.
"I care about you so much-" So why would he betray his trust by offering his soul for a stupid hope?
"...you saw how I felt when I lost my dad."
The climbing vines provided a wavering aura of healing.
"No matter how much I tried to help him, I was useless."
Scott leaned his head towards Nom's shoulder. He watched as tears trickled down like rain from the knight's futile armour.
"I don't want to lose you too, Nom..." The mage wrapped his arms around the third person he wished to never fail.
"You're not going to lose me." Nom put a hand over the back of the sobbing elf.
"I'm not just going to let myself die, I'll try my best to-"
"You don't know that." His voice was unlike the soft and broken tone the knight expected to hear.
The grasp of the climbing vines grew firmer.
"I- Okay, I think we should maybe calm down a bit?" Nom felt bad suggesting that but seeing Scott's reaction so visibly through his magic brought to light alot of things.
In response, the plants rapidly spread around Nom's body and surrounded his armour and skin. Scott brushed his hand against the flower he bloomed, setting off a flurry of healing spells.
While his human counterpart couldn't feel any better and stronger—the other existence inside of him was unaffected by these spells.
Nom felt the pokes of a few thorns that quickly dulled their tips as Scott leaned against the transforming knight.
"See? It doesn't..." He presses his head against the cold metal plating. Nom always warned him of the fact that steel isn't like cotton, yet that never stopped the mage from embracing him.
Scott shot his head up to meet Nom's eyes.
"It doesn't work." He trembled and cried yet anger singed his throat.
"How am I supposed to save you from this if it doesn't work?"
His eyes watered, the same as the knight's.
"You don't need to save me, Scott."
Seeing Scott in this way only reminded him of how stupid being scared of him was.
He could never hurt him.
He has a good heart.
"This... probably only lasts as long as the Creaking King is alive, so I'm just gonna use it to protect you and everyone else the best I can,"
Nom lightly brushed Scott's hair away from his eyes.
"Okay?"
Nom smiled at the florist, which only weakened his heart. Scott sniffled and nodded despite the arguments of disbelief in his mind.
He couldn't bring himself to show any more aggression, not to someone he may be saying farewell to soon.
He hated thinking that but worst case scenarios happen whenever he least wants them to.
Scott embraced the knight again, drowning his sorrows deep within himself, without seeking any kind of help.
He found the flower beside him wilted in seconds, he also found Nom being uneasy and still rooted into the soil.
"Sorry, I'll-" he wiped away his tears. "I'll get rid of these, I'm so sorry-"
"It would be appreciated if you could but don't take it too hard on yourself, m'kay?" Nom patted the blonde hair of the mage as he began to untangle the vines.
Carefully, he snipped the foliage away and broke the bark covering the knight's footing.
Together, they sat underneath the moonlight. Apologies hung in the air as each of them enjoyed the other's quiet company.
If only the flower mage's hope for this to never end wasn't shattered. Perhaps they would have a happier end.