Smokey Windows

The Politician

I have never been good at comforting people when they're sad. I've never been good at calming people when they're having a panic attack. I can't calm myself down when I'm having a panic attack for Witch's sake! And yet, here I am, walking silently beside Madeleine as he, no doubt, has a mental breakdown in his head. Damn it, Espresso! Why do you have to be like this?

"Espresso? Are you alright, my friend? You've been awfully quiet." I ignore the flash of annoyance that shoots through my thoughts at the notion that I belong to him in favor of comforting him.

"Just fine, Maddie. If anything, I should be directing that question at you. You are the one whose house is halfway burned down." Madeleine hums in response as he picks up debris and moves it. His knightly armor has been cast aside in favor of a tank top and sweatpants he would wear to work out. We continue forward into the debris. The fire has already been taken care of so now our task is to pick through the wreckage and attempt to salvage what we can. We arrive in a large room that seemed to of once been the entrance or the mud room. This room is mostly unharmed, save for a few singe marks along the wall from the fire. When I open the door to the next room, I find the normal bright yellows and blues of Madeleine Manor and smile. It seems we've made it to where the fire stopped.

"Our work is almost done, Madeleine. We can be out of here soon." I say with a smile, turning to walk back toward my companion. My delighted manner quickly fades at the sight of Madeleine. I didn't notice how bad it'd become back in the burned area of the mansion. Now, in the electric light of the nearly unharmed room, I can fully take in the effect the house fire had on Madeleine.

Madeleine is a bright person. With the combination of light magic and a kind soul, he naturally shines. He emits friendly energy. So much it was almost intimidating to some.

However, that's not who I find when I look at Madeleine. His platinum blonde hair is dulled into a dirty blonde with smoke, ash, and dust. His characteristic smile is replaced with a quivering frown. Even his aura, the natural air of magic that every cookie has that - thanks to the magic that runs through my veins and my eye injury from ages ago - I can see, is dull. Madeleine's aura could blind me normally if I moved my hair out of the way of my injured eye: the eye that can only see magic: it's a long story.

"Madeleine?" My voice comes out an almost whisper. Still, I can tell he heard it. "Are you okay?" The question sounds silly. How could anyone be okay after this? Madeleine gives a humorless chuckle.

"I'm afraid I'm not, Espresso." His voice quivers as he speaks. "Cher Divin." He whispers, the words said in a language most couldn't understand, covering his eyes with his hands. He sits on a ruined sofa, facing a fireplace with a portrait hanging above it. The portrait shows a younger Madeleine smiling brightly, the gap in his teeth showing his age was around 8 or 9, at the time. His mother smiles next to him, almost in the same fashion. His three aunts surround him as well, plus a cousin here and there. The Madeleine family is quite large and somehow the portrait shows them all. I walk towards the youngest of the family and sit beside him.

"Madeleine? Tu vas bien?" When Madeleine gets emotional, it's hard for him to translate English, so it's easier to just speak in French for now. "Y a-t'il quelque chose que je puisse faire?" Madeleine takes his face out of his hands and looks at me.

"J'ai oublié que tu parlais français." I shrug. I learned French when we were dating previously. I had wanted to impress his mother and aunts and I succeeded. Since then, I've started to love the language. Plus, it's nice being trilingual. "Et non. Aux deux questions." I move to hug him but hesitate. What about my image? What the hell are you thinking Espresso? Who gives a shit? This is your fucking friend, not some random cookie! Fuck my image. I nearly throw Madeleine off balance with the force of my hug. His aura seeps through my barrier so I can feel his sadness and I sense tears stream down my cheeks and onto his shirt. I hug him tighter and I notice the knight has started to chuckle.