Darkness into Light - Espresseleine

Chapter Thirty One ~ Sour Childhood Memories

Tw: minor mention of past abuse, etc.

"--And that's how Latte almost blinded me with one of her experiments!" Madeleine exclaimed, worryingly enthusiastic.

The pair had returned to the original path walking side by side and had been sharing amusing stories and childhood memories for the past hour or two. Espresso was unusually eager to learn more, his eyes wide with curiosity.

"Latte really conducted a magic fusion without safety precautions or proper equipment?" he raised an eyebrow.

Madeleine chuckled, "Yep!"

"The blast would have been extremely dangerous though! If Latte magic were to be mixed with Light magic it would have created a satisfying chemical reaction but the sixty percent of milk is an explosive amount, perhaps causing a negative reaction which was likely why it had radiated such an extraordinary amount of luminescence..." Espresso could go on for hours and hours like this, carefully analysing every detail of the paladin's stories like he was to write a historical essay on them all.

"That's interesting... last time I had touched your sword it had reacted the same way, why is that..." he mumbled to himself, still ranting about Latte's hazardous experiment. "My magic does not have any milk properties.. hmm..." he frowned at the ground as they continued to walk.

Madeleine smiled at the shorter cookie who had gotten himself lost in thought, staring at him fondly. Espresso noticed he was being watched and glanced at him with an eyebrow raised.

"What is it? Stop looking at me like that." Espresso snapped. He paused when he noticed the familiar glow of light magic dancing around him. "Ah. It's doing it again," he waved his arms around to shoo it away.

The paladin blushed at the sudden confrontation but quickly recovered, pulling out his sword to wave the magic away. The mage's eyes widened as he dodged, missing the swinging blade by a hair. "Agh! Watch where you swing that!"

Madeleine chuckled, "If I wanted to impale you, I would have." He said as an attempt to gloat about his perfect swordsmanship.

Espresso crossed his arms and scoffed, "I.. agree,"

The blond grinned, lighting up at the realisation that Espresso was agreeing to him for once.

"After-all, I speak from experience." he stated with an un-amused expression, glancing quickly to his left arm and back at Madeleine, whose smile had completely faded, his mouth hung open in shock.

He looked absolutely mortified.

"Oh my— You're not still mad about that are you? I'm terribly sorry, I really am! You can stab me back if you'd like!" Madeleine panicked out of guilt and shame, trying to hand his sword to the mage. Espresso pushed the sword away, face full of astonishment that he was seriously suggesting such an unnecessary act.

"Heavens no! I'm not going to stab you, are you insane?"

Get rid of him while you still can.

A voice whispered. From that moment onwards, he definitely knew this voice was not his. Not anymore. Suddenly he felt terribly nauseous, stopping in his tracks, a dazed look in his eyes.

Madeleine stopped soon after, noticing that his friend had become paler, almost as if he was about to be sick.

"Woah, woah. Are you alright?" he hurried over to place a hand on his back to support him, "Do you need to sit down for a moment?"

Espresso wormed his way out of the paladin's grip, not turning to face him. "Fine. I'm fine, just felt a little faint. It didn't last long this time."

"This time? Espresso, is that normal for you?" Madeleine looked very worried.