Zeno stood on his island, alone, looking out into the sea. For some unexplainable reason, he had this feeling that he was waiting for someone, like he was trying to call out to someone far, far beyond his reach.
He could feel a certain ache in his chest as he watched the smashing tides beat against each other, he awaited someone, but he had no idea who was causing this unbearable feeling of yearning in his heart, he couldn't figure out who it was that he longed for.
But then suddenly, it was like some kind of force pulled his attention towards a different direction, like the sun was suddenly shining on only that part of the sea, everywhere around him turned darker, like a rainy storm was coming, the only place that shined bright was that spot where the sun shined upon the water.
And then he saw her, emerging like a nymph from the sea, hair and shoulders glistening underneath the rays of the sun that shined only for her…
"Dan-a?" he thought, because of the blonde color of her hair, but then he creases his brows, and slowly, the length of the hair seemed to magically shorten, and then the more she stepped out of the water, the more the hair color changed.
To black, at first, raven black, beautiful and… it was changing again, changing to blue, the same blue that coated his beguiling eyes.
And then he saw her "L__Luna" he gasped.
It was her, at first it looked a lot like Dan-a, but as she moved closer, it was clearly his Luna, shining beautifully as always, it was his little devil, he missed her, even though he tried to deny it...
He yearned for her, and he wished to call out her name, to call her his Piccola, to wrap her up in his arms, and bury his head in her hair that smelt like candy, and just caress her cheeks in his palms, to hold her close and take her lips, and suck on them till he drained out all that sweetness that she gave, and just kiss her over and over and_ No! This is wrong, this is wrong, it's just lust…
"Zeno!" He was jolted out of his conflicting dream by Marco's loud cry. He opens his eyes to find himself fully submerged inside his bathtub, he remembered going in for a soak after he got back from the raid on Frankie's hideout, but he had no idea when he drifted to sleep.
"What the hell were you thinking, falling asleep in a tub full of water, you wanna drown in your own bathtub?!" Marco scolded, reaching out to his arm in an attempt to help him up, but Zeno hauls his hand away from him and steps out of the tub by himself, taking a bathrobe and wrapping it round his naked figure as he strode into his room.
"Have the girls been sent back?" he asks as he walks over to his bedside shelf where a bottle of whiskey rested and pours himself a drink.
"They're all on their way back as we speak" Marco replies with a sigh, it was clear to him that Zeno was not the same, his attitude now was exactly how he was when Dan-a died, if not that he has not tried to kill himself since, Marco would even say this was even worse than that time.
Although this stunt he pulled just now could be counted as attempted suicide from Marco's point of view… What would have happened if he hadn't walked in at that time?
"Anything else?" Zeno raised a brow as he took a sip of the drink, the hotness spreading evenly throughout his lungs, still waiting for a response.
It was clear that he missed her, so Marco could not understand why he wouldn't just go see her, it was that simple. What was it, Pride, Fear, Cowardice, Anger, Ego? What was it that was holding him back, why wouldn't he just end his own misery and go see the solution to his problems?
"What are you still…"
"Why don't you just go and see her?" Marco blurts out, and he sees some things flash on his face… First he saw shock, then he saw confusion, and now it was slowly transposing to anger.
"If you miss her, just go and see her, it won't kill you to go and see her personally, if it's eating you up inside, and you're aching to know how she is doing, then just go and pay her a visit personally. Creating this distance between you two will not help you in any way. So just go and… "
"Enough!" He sent the glass in his hand crashing into the wall, the white of his eyes had quickly turned redder than glowing embers.
Briskly walking closer to Marco, and every muscle and bone in him itched to punch the man in the face… "This is all your fault! You and Papa, you're both older than Piccola, you should have talked her out of that foolishness, but instead you not only encouraged her, you plotted with her and tricked me, you all made a complete fool out of me!"
He was doing it again, drifting away from the main focus. The point here was not that they tricked him, it was that he wasn't the same without her, he missed her, and Marco just couldn't understand why he didn't want to acknowledge that fact.
"Fine, we made a mistake, but that doesn't mean you should make it hard on both of you. You know you're not normal without her, can't you look at your own self in the mirror?? Luna isn't doing okay either. She hasn't left her room for weeks, she barely eats, she doesn't talk to anyone, all she does is…"
"I don't want to hear it!" He seethed, "Get out,"
"Zeno…"
"I said get the f*ck out!" He roared into his face, and Marco just watched him with clenched Jaws. "The occasion starts at nine tonight, I reckon you don't need me as your chauffeur tonight, so I'll be going on my own, or I might decide to just not go at all ." He says between gritted teeth before walking away.
Angrily, Zeno walks over to the bedside and picks up the whole bottle of whiskey, and takes a long burning gulp, "Ahhh! F*ck!!" He sends the bottle crashing into the ground again in anger, moving back and forth, not even feeling the stinging pain of the broken pieces piercing his bare feet. ``She still hasn't left her room, why the hell would she not eat? She's so tiny already, and she likes food, so why won't she eat? What the hell is she doing locked up all alone inside her room?! He tried not to, but he couldn't help but dwell on Marco's words.
Back and forth, his fingers trailed in his hair. He couldn't help worrying about her. "She's so tiny already, she shouldn't skip her meals" He really hurt her, he knew it, she wasn't the type to skip meals for any reason, she didn't like being in one place too much, she was someone who hated the idea of being in one spot, you could call her restless.
But his restless little devil was locked up in her room, and wasn't eating. She was hurt, really hurt, and it hurt him that he was hurting her, but what could he do, he was doing this to protect her from himself.
He just wasn't right for her.