"I can't believe you Zeno, are you a stalker or what?? What kind of maniacal creep installs tracking devices in gifts he gives to a person."
"Stop making it sound like I'm some kind of perverted creep, alright. It's not like it's a camera or microphone. It's just a tracking device."
"Since when have you been doing this?"
"I don't know, I think when she was about ten, maybe…"
"So you've been giving her tracking devices as birthday presents for the past thirteen years? That is sick man… even for you."
"Tracking diamonds… not just tracking devices. There was always diamonds in it. Diamond necklace, diamond bracelets, diamond rings. Don't make this sound bad. It's not like I spend all my time monitoring Luna. I have other things to do. I only use it when she's gone on one of those her angered rounds. Or when she decides to run away from home. That's all."
"Man, you are obsessed with Luna, I'm just realizing this now. Insanely obsessed. You've been obsessed with her for a very, very, very long time. You've been obsessed with her since you were both kids, now I know... I always thought you were just protective of her, but it was just plain creepy obsession... Luna will flip when she realizes this."
"Don't you dare say a word about this to her, she might just end up throwing out every gift I ever gave her."
"You're not even denying it, that you're obsessed with her…"
"What's there to deny? I mean, I might not really call it obsession, just a strong will and desire to keep her safe and make sure she's okay…"
"Zeno, that's just a longer phrase for obsession." Marco deadpans.
"Is it? Well, shouldn't you be grateful? How would we locate them so quickly if not for this."
"I'm so grateful, I'm oozing with gratefulness" Marco mockingly says.
…
Following the instructions that Luna had given her, there was a zip on both side of Luna's trousers, it ran from her waist down to her ankle, like a simple harmless design, as it was not wide enough to hold even a pencil, but was flat and spacious enough to hold a blade that was flatter than a scalpel but sharp enough to cut.
"Hurry up, the blade is at the end of the zip, so just unzip it all the way down." Luna instructed in a whisper, and it wasn't that easy as her hands were tied together, but she did it. "Got it" she chortles.
"Now cut me loose." she says, and Mea quickly does as she was told, "Hurry up…" Luna pressures.
"Why did they tie yours in the back, and tie mine in front, why did they chain your legs together, and just tie mine?"
"Because it's obvious that you are too dumb… no offense,"
"None taken…"
"Good, but you're too dumb to cut yourself loose even with the rope tied in front, whereas for me, it would have been a piece of cake if my hands were tied in front and my legs were unchained… Now would you please hurry up."
"Done." Mea whispers with a smile, feeling rather proud of herself. Now set free, Luna quickly opened the zip on the other side of her trousers, and brought out a very tiny purse. It was like a thin paper folded in two. Inside the purse were a variety of needles.
"OH, I've seen this in movies, you're gonna unlock the padlock on your ankle with that right??" Mea beams.
"You know, for someone who wasn't willing to partake in this escape plan in the first place, you seem to be enjoying this, and you ask an awful lot of questions. Now please shut up so I can concentrate." Luna hushed her with a finger on her lips. Then focuses back on the pins, trying to figure out which would be best for the lock. She decided on one that was like three inches long.
Luna was the one with the needle, and the one trying to unlock the padlock, but it was like the whole pressure was on Mea. The way she focused, and watched Luna with wide eyes, the way she prayed and silently swallowed her own saliva. Luna could just roll her eyes at the lady, also wondering where in the world Marco found her.
"OHH!" Mea screams, and Luna instantly slaps her palm over her mouth to shut her up on time. "Are you mad?" Luna asks in a whisper.
"Youppmm__mmppp" She muffles into Luna's palm, causing Luna to quickly remove her hand, cleaning her palm on Mea's shirt. "You did it, you opened it. I didn't think you could do it, but you opened it." She beams as she could now speak.
Luna didn't have anything to say to the woman, she just chuckled in amusement. Then scoots over to Mea, quickly untying her wrist, and ankles. Now both ladies were set free.
Luna tries lifting herself up, but the pain weighed her down back…
"F*ck, I think I broke something." she cursed, taking in heavy breaths, trying to remember her training. It wasn't easy to do, but she knew she'd have to try her best to put the pain behind her. She had to try and shift her focus.
"the more you focus on your pain, the more it will weigh you down. So get the pain out of your head, think of something that calms you." Edoardo had told her. Now all she had to do was focus on something that calmed her. "Damn, this is so hard… It hurts so much." she breathed.
"Are you sure you can do this?" Mea asks worriedly, but Luna just hushes her with a finger on her lips.
"Something calming… something calming__Something calming" She repeated like a mantra, her eyes closed, her breathing slowly syncing.
She could see it, a smile curling up the corner of her lips. As she could see him smiling back at her, telling her she was strong, and fine, and that everything was going to be alright.
She could see him lifting her up when she fell down, and the two of them walking hand in hand, laughing as she made fun of people and their walking styles… "It just has to be him, all the time." she hissed as she suddenly flips her eyes open, much to the shock of Mea who was staring right into her face.
With a new determination, she looks up at Mea. "
Would you help me up?" and Mea lends her hand, and pulls her up to her feet… "urgh…" she breathed in, holding in the pain, "I'm strong… I'm the strongest girl there is." Mea was not sure what was happening right now, but she just watched on with a mixed feeling of both concern and amusement.
"There's no one as brave as Luna DeFalco. Not even Zeno compares to me. I'm ten times better than him. I'm faster, and I'm way shorter, which has a lot of advantages." Mea chortles, but a death glare from Luna seals her lips.
" I'm smarter, and I'm way, way much more beautiful than him." With those words said, she puts in a lot of pressure on her hurting leg, biting hard on her lower lip so as not to scream out loud, her palms clenched in a tight fist, She stood up straight… "Argh!" She groaned as she was now on her feet.