4. Dark Knight

Italy, April 2005...

"What happened? Where is she? Where is Luna?" Edoardo DeFalco panicked as soon as he entered his mansion. He was set to go on a business trip when he received the call that his five year old daughter had gone missing. Instantly he had turned the car around.

"WHERE IS SHE!!" all the maids and nannies who were in charge of her trembled as he could be a real generous boss, but when it came down to matters of the safety of his dear Luna, then not even the devil himself could match his rage.

"s_s_sir, she was just here a while ago, I_ I_I don't know how…"

"YOU DON'T KNOW!!" he was up in Flames, smokes of anger fumed out of his head. "My child is missing and you tell me you don't know!" Everyone present went down on their knees in the wake of his anger.

"W_We are searching for her right now sir." The head nanny, Maria, managed to stutter.

"Then who the hell is talking to me now?" he asks.

"S_Sir?"

"If you're searching for her like you said, then who the hell is talking to me now? Voi polli assolutamente inutili. Why are you here talking to me if you're looking for her? WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU WAITING FOR… LOOK FOR HER!!" staggering and shaking they all scurried away for life, their only salvation now was that Luna miraculously turned up from somewhere, or else all of them would be six feet underground before sundown.

"Little Madam!" they called out. "Luna!... Little Madam… Luna dear." Everyone went crazy looking for Luna.

Edoardo had deployed some of his men to start searching even further outside his mansion; she could have been abducted by one of his rivals. If that was what happened, "I swear I will break those cani sanguinari."

He went straight to the security room to check on the footage.

"There! Stop there." He instantly pushes the man controlling the screen aside, and handles it himself, zooming in closer, and…

"That tiny little Coniglia." He hissed, instantly bolting out of the room, leaving the men wondering what he saw on the screen.

"oddio!!" one man exclaimed, pointing at something on the screen. "Isn't that the little Madam?" he points, and they all lean in, squinting their eyes and turning their heads in every direction just to see what he was seeing. But…

"where?"

"right there." He points again, "on the tree." Now they all looked closer, and now they could see her little figure sitting high up on the tree. Lords! She was small.

Reaching the tree where his daughter sat crying, all he could wonder was how the hell did she get up there in the first place. "Luna, my darling, la mia principessa, the only one for papa, what are you doing up there honey?" oh how he wanted to crack open their skulls for not keeping a closer eye on her.

"Papaa_aaa_a" she cried out louder now that her father stood in front of her, her little mouth opened wide, she wiped her tears with her equally little hands that held her favorite toy gun in hand.

"Yes my love, how did you even get up there?" as if she was waiting for him to ask the question, who knew her voice could go any louder, even him as her father took some steps back, and placed both hands on his ears to save his eardrums. She must be so terrified being so high up there, that's why she's crying so much, he thought.

"Don't worry dear, papa is coming for you."

"NO!!!" everyone flinched as she abruptly yelled, throwing some rocks at them. Where the hell did she get the rock on top of a tree?

"I'm never coming down." She says, and her father blinks in confusion. "Luna darling, I know you're scared, but I will come and get you no need to worry." He said and moved closer to the tree again, but it only earned him a fake bullet in the head from his own daughter.

"d_ d_did you just shoot your papa?" flustered and shocked at her behavior, but not like her tantrums were a new thing though, but today seemed rather peculiar.

"I said don't come here. I don't want to come down!" She firmly states again. Her eyes as dark as her hair, she was beautiful in a weirdly dark way.

"Luna, you can't live on a tree. Who do you think you are? George of the jungle? Or let's make it Luna of the Jungle." the man hissed. She was as stubborn as her mother. Or maybe as he. Or maybe she had taken the bad attributes of both parents and taken a double dose of the potion.

" Okay first tell me why you're up there and crying in the first place. Why are you on a tree?" he asks. This was how it always went if he tried being the sweet-talking dad, and it didn't work, it was negotiation mode next, and it was businessman time. Ask for her problems, and give her the solutions she chooses.

"Why are you on a tree, honey? " By now, almost everyone in the house who was out and about looking for her was gathered there looking at the almost invisible little thing up on the tree. "Please, miss Luna DeFalco, tell me why you're on a tree." He asks again, and she suddenly begins to cry again.

"Papa." She says amidst sobs and sniffles. "Yes dear,"

"He said that… he said that… he said that he won't marry me." She bawled louder. And maybe he didn't hear her correctly, but the man just stood there blinking nonstop. Confused and dumbfounded, and so was every other person watching this scene unfold before them.

"hmm?"

"He said he won't marry me_eeee" now he was certain that's what she said, I mean who is 'he'? What in the world was she talking about? She was too little to take alcohol, or else he would say she was drunk and high or something.

"What are you talking about darling? Who says he won't marry you?" he asks. He had to.

"Dark knight. Dark Knight says he won't marry me."

"d_dark knight? W_Who is the dark knight?" The man looks around him hoping someone would give him an answer to this flustering question.

"Sir, I think she's talking about young Master Zeno." At this revelation, the man just breathed out a weary sigh, pressing his thumb and index finger to the space between his eyes.

"Listen, baby, let me come get you down from there first." How in the world did you even get there? He muttered between tight teeth. "Let's get you down first, and then we can talk about Zeno."

"NO!" She shot at him again, it was a toy gun, with harmless plastic bullets, but it still hurt. Coupled with the fact that she was really accurate with her shots. I can't believe she's shooting at me because of a boy at her age. He hissed.

"I'm not coming down until dark knight marries me." She firmly said, and he had to hold on tight to his nape and back to stop himself from exploding. She was going to be his death, this outrageous daughter of his. But he also knew there was no other way than her way. so…

"Please, where is this dark princess' dark knight?"

In the training fields, an M16 in hand, highly stable and focused, the thirteen-year-old Zeno Silvestri stood there practicing. All the wooden shooting targets had holes right in the middle, not even an inch out of place. Accurate and precise were his shots, even at a young age, he was excellent.

"Young Master Zeno… Young Master Zeno!!" Maria, the head nanny, came running towards him.

"Is that diavoletto troubling you again?" he asks as he knew Luna was the only reason the elderly woman was always running around. "You did good to run from her. That little tiny thing can be really problematic." He hissed, taking another flawless shot, and he wasn't even focused.

"Master Zeno, please you have to come with us this instant… the little Miss… the little Miss is…"