Madeleine's phone buzzed around in his hand, and Espresso's once again did the same on the desk, only with much more loud obnoxious blaring. He quickly flicked on the screen and breezed over the words on this new emergency alert.
Emergency alert
This is an Upper City emergency alert. Within city borders has been issued a flood warning for everyone including those on high ground. Floods are reaching dangerous levels in the area. Everyone in this area must evacuate via boat to any areas unaffected by the flooding. Take your pets and important documents, do not take the time to collect valuables.
Madeleine stood from where he sat and quickly took his sword and shield, which were resting against the wall, in hand. He was only just about to make it out the door when he realized he hadn't heard Espresso do the same. He turned to see his friend still writing. "What are you doing? Get your stuff, let's go." He said desperately.
"This is ridiculous, I'm not leaving this work for a scare." Espresso spat back frustratingly, his eyes not leaving his paper.
Madeleine took his friend's hand and made an attempt to urge the small man out of his seat. "This is not ridiculous, this is real. There's no way your work is worth more than risking your life!" Although the scientist didn't move, only retreated his hand defensively.
"This-" Espresso motioned towards the pile of papers at the edge of his desk. "-is my research written on the soul jams. Who else has had that opportunity? Nobody. I can't risk these papers getting ruined."
"Just put them in a bag, let's go." Madeleine pressed, his foot tapping nervously against the ground. Rain pattered harder and harder against the window, wind going so fast the water droplets now fell nearly vertical. He could almost hear the water rising, even if it wasn't really doing so.
Espresso's tone was much too calm for the situation. "Just leave without me." He said simply.
"What?" Madeleine looked taken aback. "No! I'm not leaving without you!" An impatient pause. "But I'm leaving with you. Hurry up."
Finally Espresso rolled his eyes after a very brief moment of consideration and stood, grabbing a bag and carefully putting the papers on his desk in it. "This is ridiculous." He muttered to himself while Madeleine stood with his foot tapping quickly. "The elders are overreacting."
Although his friend seemed to be taking much more time than it felt like they had, Madeleine didn't say anything to rush him on. Only stood there, and once it looked like all the papers were placed in the bag, he grabbed it and opened the door to the hallway, letting Espresso lead first. He shut the door tightly and followed his friend to the elevator.
Espresso pressed the button, but no regular bell ring noise was made to signify the elevator receiving the message. He pressed it again, and still, nothing. "The stairs." He said simply, and the two continued down the hall with one having a little more urgency in his step than the other. Flinging open the door to the stairway, Madeleine took the lead now and descended first, holding his sword and shield tightly each in a hand with almost no struggle despite their weight. He stopped, just above the staircase that would lead to the bottom floor, and from what Espresso could see, was just staring downward. Finally Espresso turned the corner to the bottom staircase and stopped too.
It was flooded. Not like on the ground flooded, but more like reaching the roof flooded. Water stood perfectly still above the 12th step, until it just touched the platform which divided the two staircases. Madeleine took an uneasy step backwards, staring down at the greenish water which blocked their way. The fluorescent light shining brightly above them stung his eyes and only helped a growing migraine. His heart jackhammered inside his chest, his head pounding in sync with every heartbeat. There was no way the water had already gotten this high. That wasn't possible. How could it be? The flood had only started just more than an hour ago. Not much earlier that day Madeleine was standing outside the Institute of Thaumaturgy with Espresso staring up at the sky, commenting on the strange weather. This wasn't possible. And there would be no way he could swim. Firstly, his precious armour would drag him to drown, and he wouldn't be able to take his sword and shield with him, which were, undoubtedly, two of the most important things in his life. Secondly, there would be no possible way to keep Espresso's papers safe from the water. So, then what?
Espresso took a pen from his pocket and bent down over the platform, then drew a thick line just at the water level. Afterwards he stood back up and started for the fifth floor again, ascending the stairs without a word. He knew, too, that they wouldn't be able to swim. And there was no balconies in the whole building, or even windows that opened properly. Checking each floor, the two found no one else in the hallways. They opened every door they could without speaking a single word, until, finally, their search led them through the employee lounge room on the fifth floor and back into Espresso's office.
They sat silently at his desk. Waiting, perhaps, in terror of what might happen. And Espresso knew what he had done- what his ridiculous procrastinating had done. The dark brown walls of the room illuminated helpfully by a yellowish glow, it felt trapping. Like, perhaps, the walls were soaking in the water and slowly leaning in until there would be no where left in the room to stand. Then the lamp flicked off with no one touching it, and, along with the now blue light of the dark room, the entire building slowly cooled down.
Espresso looked blank. His racing heart slowed. "I'm sorry." He said quietly, staring at where the light of the lamp had died. His brown eyes held no look of apologetic expression while he sat with his hands folded neatly in his lap.
His bag, filled with the papers he had placed in it, rested against the desk. For a moment, it felt like everything was stagnant. Everything but the speeding winds and harsh rain going on outside, and the water lapping innocently against the building and slowly, but not quite so slowly, rising.
When Madeleine didn't respond- although not because he didn't want to speak to Espresso- his friend stood and walked past him to exit the room, leaving the paladin to sit there with only the sounds of the rain and his feelings of dread to accompany him. We're stuck here. He thought pitifully, as if mourning his own life. No way out but swimming, and we can't do that. How much will the water rise? A good question, since, down the staircase out of sight from either Espresso or Madeleine, the water started to go higher up until it submerged the first platform. Past the drawn line of pen, greenish in colour, and completely dark without light to shine above.
Madeleine didn't know how much time passed before Espresso returned holding a folded blanket in his arms, with what looked like towels stacked on top. "It'll get cold." He explained briefly, setting the pile down on the floor beside his desk. "Towels are an extra precaution." He paused, hovering as if he wanted to say something else, before he walked back out the door.
Espresso returned much sooner this time, and in his arms was a collection as such: two flashlights, a chess board, a book (of which the title was unreadable in the light), two water bottles, and a plastic container filled with a crumpled thin white fabric of sorts. He dropped everything out of his arms onto the floor and left the room again.
Madeleine stood and flattened out the white fabric in the container, which was thin and clean. A lab coat. He stuffed it back into the container and looked out down the hall where he had seen Espresso leave, spotting him coming out of a different room with a ceramic plate resting on top of a pillow, making his way back to his office.
Once Espresso got back in the room, Madeleine finally spoke. "What's all this for?" He asked, and glanced at the plain bagels on the plate. He wasn't hungry at all, and at that moment they seemed quite unappetizing.
"We'll have to wait out the storm, since we can't leave the building. Come help me find things in the lower floors." Pause. "In case the flooding gets worse, they'll be gone first."
Madeleine nodded and followed Espresso back to the staircase, somewhat impressed at his friend's ability to keep a cool head and prepare in such a suddenly drastic situation. They descended the stairs until the water reached the soles of their shoes, and they were at the second floor. Madeleine wondered, not so vaguely, how many other people had gotten trapped. And with a stuck throat, how many people hadn't been able to escape the water before it rose above their heads. He swallowed hard and opened the first door he found, letting Espresso go on to the next one. Anything useful. Find anything useful.
The room didn't seem very useful. It was, perhaps, a shower room. Or something like that- Madeleine had no idea, especially since without a light or window the room was pitch black. Although, he thought it was a bit ironic standing in a shower room with water as a flat, splashy layer around the entire floor.
The darkness of the room seemed crawling. The type of darkness that climbs your spine and encompasses you in a sort of thick airy way that wraps around your neck to stop you from breathing. It takes your hair and wafts through it to whisper evil things in your ear- things about the death lurking in the water that you should embrace.
Madeleine stepped backwards and shut the door, moving on in the opposite direction from Espresso to look at the next room.
Five hours later
After searching nearly the entire institute in their small amount of time, Madeleine and Espresso awaited in fear for the water to rise to the fifth floor. In only another four hours since previous, every floor below them had been submerged, and started the slow process of rotting down to soaked nothingness. Madeleine had begun to pray, and Espresso, as esteemed as he was, had begun to accept his fate of death skulking furtively near. Although after waiting long minutes passing what they thought to be their last moments playing an intense game of chess, they came to find the water hadn't yet even reached the final step of the staircase leading up to their shared floor.
Espresso shivered in the cold, made objectively worse by the rain still pattering against the window. Although now, quite thankfully, it seemed to have calmed down to falling vertically. He reached by his desk and picked up the folded blanket beside it to wrap it around himself. "Are you cold?" He asked his friend, who barely seemed affected by it at all.
"No." Madeleine said flatly. "Just bored. I'm over the 'we're going to die' part."
"You could..." Espresso glanced at the floor, which was perfectly clear of all the previous stuff they had collected from the other floors. They had already taken the time to stash it away somewhere in his office, so that they wouldn't trip on it if they needed to get out of there. Not a perfectly good reason, but even in the face of death Espresso wanted to be organized. I'll die happier if I die organized. Espresso had thought to himself, and that was a good enough excuse for him. "Well, we could set up our sleeping arrangements for the night." Pause, as Espresso turned to look at where they had piled all of their collected pillows and blankets, most of which were from the infirmary on the third floor. "Since we have time until night."
Madeleine perked up. "Yes, can we sleep in the employee lounge? Because- you know-"
"The couches. Of course." Espresso finished. He stood from their half-finished chess game and grabbed a pillow from the pile against the side wall, keeping his blanket wrapped around himself tightly with one hand.
Madeleine did the same, only while smiling. "If you think of it less grimly, it's kind of like a slumber party under the worst possible circumstances. We could talk all night, assuming we don't drown, if we want to."
"It's best we don't stay up too late. In the case we need energy, it'll be a disadvantage." Espresso paused to open the door, waiting for Madeleine to go out into the hallway and make his way to the employee lounge room. "That's also why I brought pure caffeine, in case we need a wake-up. Although, truly, take no more than a small sprinkle." Madeleine nodded nonchalantly making his way out the door, but Espresso's tone was coldly serious. "Caffeine will kill you in high amounts."
Madeleine turned to watch his friend close the door behind himself, and started down the hallway towards the employee lounge. "Oh." He replied simply.
The employee lounge, like every other room in the bloody building, was dark with thick clouds which covered the sun, although less dark than the rooms without windows, because one wall of the entire room was a window. It looked out onto what used to be Main Street, and suddenly felt a lot lower to the ground than it was. That happened, of course, because the water reached only a few feet below floor level. Across the dark way, outside soaking in the rain, was the large balcony of what was a very aristocratic man's apartment, which had a canopy that had somehow not blown away in the wind yet. Although there was not much else on that balcony- just the floor, nearly-shattered glass railing, that neutral coloured canopy, and a large table banging against the railing in the wind.
"I suppose the risk of sleeping in here doesn't matter, since we'll die if the water gets much higher anyway." Espresso shrugged, walking over to one of the love seats making a circle-ish sort of area in the middle of the room. He set his pillow down and watched Madeleine claim the largest one by flopping down on it comfortably.
Rain pattered against the large window, wind wavering uncertainly as if unable to decide its speed. Madeleine watched the table on the balcony bang against the railing mesmerizingly. A cold chill ran up his spine, watching it. That wasn't right- the glass was cracked, it looked like it was about to break. He sat up to face his friend. "How long do you think this will take?" He asked simply, watching Espresso stand and stretch, dropping his blanket on his poorly made bed.
Espresso's stretch was very cat-like, in a way. He held both hands together and brought them up above his head, standing on his toes and straightening his body. "Depends on if we die or escape first."
Madeleine had always thought of Espresso as very cat-like. His slit eyes, his very clean living, and even the way he moved. Every single little detail about Espresso seemed similar to that of a cat, other than the fact that his sleep schedule was quite the opposite, being awake for 90% of his life. He walked most often with his hands folded behind his back, trying not to touch anything dirty. That, too. He was quite the germaphobe. In fact, he always carried around at least a small bottle of hand sanitizer in his pocket.
Similarly, Espresso thought of Madeleine as dog-like. Not a small dog, but a large dog with a silky golden coat who was a little too physically touchy. One that got excited easily and had an excessive amount of energy, and seemed to never stop with his sometimes overbearing optimism. He always listened to other people's feelings and was as amiable as someone could bring themself to be. And, of course, he found great pride in his own image.
Although they were quite opposites (and although Espresso hated the magic Madeleine used for its supposed uselessness), they didn't dislike each other. No one could say for sure Espresso's feelings towards the Paladin for his constant struggle to show friendliness, but Madeleine very, very clearly took a high liking to his opposite.
Madeleine made a small noise of disapproval. "If we escape, or wait out the storm. Actually, just wait out the storm."
"Waiting out the storm, perhaps more than a week. Escaping, a day or two less than that." Espresso responded plainly. He opened his mouth to speak, but before he could do so, was interrupted by a pitiful groan.
"Imagine! My beautiful hair will be a mess." Madeleine complained.
Espresso rolled his eyes and flicked on the flashlight he had taken with him into the lounge room. "A least of our concerns." He muttered loudly enough for his friend to hear, leaving the room to Madeleine alone.
Madeleine leaned back nonchalantly in his seat and sighed. He perked his head up to look at the window, although it was just a little too dark to see where the water laid. "I hope we don't die." He muttered to himself, listening to the quiet nothing of the world around him. And then he thought, what were the people of the republic doing now? Did anyone worry about his friend? He didn't doubt for a second that anyone worried about himself- he was a famous paladin and model. But for Espresso...
Did anyone worry about Espresso's life?
He knew he would have worried if Espresso wasn't there with him. Espresso was awfully important to Madeleine- he would go as far as to say more important than his sword and shield, which he held in higher regard than even most other people's lives. His sword and shield were his pride, dipped in blessing and given to him by the order of the divine itself. But, he considered, if it came down to it, how important would his sword and shield seem if Espresso's life was on the opposite end of the scale? And- he paused for a second- why exactly did he care so much about the scientist? More than almost everyone else he knew, and they were completely different.
As Espresso came back into the room holding the plate with bagels on it and shining his flashlight forward, the glass railing of the balcony across from them shattered, and the table it held back lurched forward with another gust of wind, ramming into the large window keeping the room separated from the outside storm. Glass flew everywhere in one explosive moment, water came spraying through what was once a barrier, and Espresso trying to shelter his face with his hands didn't quite work well enough.