Safety in The Form Of a Knight (Madeleine x Espresso)

16: Losing You

Over the next week, Espresso took good care of Madeleine. He cooked for him, cuddled him when he wanted him to, and checked up on him regularly to make sure he was okay.

Espresso decided he needed to put his work aside, even though he didn't want to, Madeleine was much more important.

One day Espresso woke up and looked over at Madeleine. He was already awake and sitting up in bed, staring off into space. It was dark outside, Espresso guessed it was about six in the morning.

Confused, Espresso sat up as well. Madeleine looked... Uncontrollable. He was much paler than normal, and he was slowly rocking his body back and forth. "Madeleine?"

He quickly turned to look at him. "Yes?"

"Are you alright?"

He nodded. "Oh- Yeah, just thinking."

Espresso was unsure if he was telling the truth or not, but he didn't want to keep asking too much and make him uncomfortable. "Okay... Are you hungry? I can make you some more soup if you like."

"Sure," he said, nodding again.

Espresso left the bedroom and headed over to the kitchen, where he began to prepare the soup for Madeleine and a cup of coffee for himself. He thought it was strange how Madeleine was acting, but he just brushed it off and assumed that it was just him healing.

Espresso brought the finished soup back to the bed so Madeleine doesn't have to get up. It smelt really good. He handed it to him. "There you go." Espresso said. "Be careful, it's warm." He leaned down and kissed him on the forehead.

Madeleine smiled and picked up the spoon about to eat, when... He started coughing up blood... Dark blood, almost black.

Espresso froze, dropping the cup full of steaming coffee, and it hit the ground, shattering into millions of pieces. Oh no. Oh no no no no no.

Afraid, Madeleine lifted an arm to wipe the blood dripping from his mouth and saw how dark the blood was.

"M-Madeleine..." Espresso whispered, reaching for Madeleine's weak body. "Is... Is that..?" He couldn't finish his sentence.

Fear in his eyes, Madeleine turned his head to look at him. "Espresso... I don't... I don't feel..." Before he could say anything else, his head fell back onto the pillow. He had passed out.

Shit. This can't be happening.

Something had happened to Madeleine's soulstone.

But wasn't it safe with Pure Vanilla?!

Without another thought, Espresso grabbed Madeleine's limp body and flung him over his back, rushing out the door and back to the hospital.

It was hard to carry him considering he was much larger than Espresso, but that didn't matter. All the adrenaline was helping him. He could still feel Madeleine's trembling breaths, so that was good. "Hang in there, Madeleine. I'll get you to Pure Vanilla... I promise."

His lungs were burning, and his legs ached, begging him to take a break. Although he tried to ignore the pain and get him to the hospital, his run eventually slowed to a jog, which slowed to a walk.

"Damn it," He mumbled, breathing heavily as he set Madeleine down for a quick rest so he could catch his breath. Espresso quickly checked to see if Madeleine was still breathing. He was, however his breaths had slowed greatly since they had left the house.

He was dying.

Espresso anxiously glanced up. They were about halfway to the hospital. He had only just started to catch his breath, but he couldn't wait any longer. He had to get Madeleine to the hospital. Espresso back stood up and flung him over his shoulder again.