Moonlight Sonata

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Sighs and groans were heard throughout the room as Don Feinburg swam up to sing a song on Frankie's behalf. The room was as dull and grim as a graveyard, and so were the residents that were meeting in there. Frankie's death was not one of the harshest things that the mafia had encountered over their years, but it was indeed the hardest. Every one loved him, for he truly was the son of the godfather. Lenny... well, he was a slightly different story.

A line had formed in the left hand corner within those walls, consisting of some members that wished to give some words on the shark's behalf. Lino sat there, looking like a terminally ill patient who only had a few hours to live. He heaved a big sigh as he nodded his head, showing respect to their vows. It was hard to determine whether he was really listening or not. Luca was sitting by his side, listening to them and gazing up at his boss continually, hoping that their words would cheer the moody shark up. It was Guiseppe's turn to speak, and in Luca's opinion his words were strong, even though the part about deeming the murderer to burn in hell was a little too much for his taste.

He looked at Lino once again, searching for a smile after listening to Guiseppe's speech, but his hopes were demolished as the shark was still looking grim. Lino nodded his head as his extended his fin "Thank you for your kind thoughts, Guiseppe." he replied in a dull monotone. Guiseppe kissed the Don's fin. "And may Lenny be safe and sound too. I hope he's okay." The hammerhead said as he started to swim off.

Luca watched him leave, giving him a little wave as he heard Lino's voice.

"Oi, Lenny."

"Don't worry boss."

"I said some things to him, we gotta find him."

"We're searching everywhere. Forget about it, he'll turn up." Luca replied, placing a comforting arm on Lino's shoulder while grabbing a pot of coffee and attempted to pour some while listening to his boss. And since he wasn't paying attention the liquid missed the cup and was lingering away.

Lino spoke up again, placing his head on his fin in a guilty way. "What's wrong with that kid? Why's he gotta be so different? Frankie, god bless his soul he was perfect. Perfect."

Luca listened, stirring the emptiness in his cup.

"Oh, Luca, Who could've done this?" The shark asked as Luca took a sip from his cup, finally realizing that there was nothing there. He turned it upside down and started to shake it, as if the coffee would appear out of the cup. (gotta love Luca Lucaness)

In front of them someone coughed purposely. It was Don Feinburg, leader of the Leopard Shark family, and one of Lino's friends. "Don Lino, at this most difficult time please accept my deepest conduences." "Thank you, Don Feinburg, for honoring my son with your song." Luca nodded, raising his brow.

"I got some news. About the guy who took out Frankie." He said, glancing outside at a lifeboat before he farted, which in turn made the whale behind him faint.

Both Lino and Luca stared at him, before Lino broke the silence. "Let's uh..." He gazed over at Luca, who was currently holding his breath. "Eh, let's talk over here." Lino gestured to the giant pane glass window that stood as a wall. Luca watched them leave, letting go of the breath he had been holding, being thankful that the sulferous smell had disappeared.

He watched Lino And Ira talking by the window, before they kissed each other's cheeks (a sign of respect)and Feinburg swam off, asking for any requests for the next song, which made everyone in a more bitter mood when he announced he was going to wreck the Titanic theme again.

Lino payed no attention as he signaled for him to come over. "Luca." The octopus nodded as he swam to Lino, listening intentively.

"Get Sykes. I wanna now everything about this guy. I wanna know what he eats, I wanna know where he sleeps, he pops a gill I wanna know about it. Who is the Sharkslayer?" Lino said in a growl while flaring his nostrils. Luca nodded to the command as he swam off to hunt down Sykes...

He didn't return until nightfall, feeling exhausted after listening to the blowfish and his babblings. He entered Lino's office, noticing that his boss was sitting at his desk, with his back turned staring at the window. He wanted to try to get to his usual spot by the record player without Lino noticing, but he knew that he would have no luck; the shark was keen.

"So, what did you dig up?" he said in a nonchalant voice while swiveling his chair around to make eye contact at Luca, who was getting into his seat. The octopus looked at his boss, a little startled. He got out of his seat and held out a crumpled piece of paper that he had been carrying. "Sykes really bored me out of my skull (which was untrue for an octopus) after about ten minutes, so I said I was in a hurry so he wrote the info down."

Lino took the paper out of Luca's grasp and unfolded it, scanning it, nodding. "not much, but Sykes is such a wheeze bucket cuz he's afraid that I'll beat him if he did something wrong." Luca shifted in his spot.

Luca retreated back to his seat, watching Lino turn his back once again in the dimly lit room, grumbling under his breath. Luca sat there, pondering. Then an idea came to him. He got up and silently made his way over to the piano. resting himself on the bench he begin to play the song he favoured the most: Moonlight Sonata. The keys were hit with perfection as the notes mingled with magnificent tempo and ease. He continued to play, since this song matched the situation perfectly; dark, grim, and solumn.

If it had been anyone else than Lino in the room then they would have shook their heads and grumbled. But Lino was more appreciative than that. He turned to gaze at the octopus as the song was performed, amazed that he could play so beautifully. Sure, He heard his consigliore play many times before, but everytime couldn't help but secretly marvel as to how amazing it sounded. Luca truly was gifted in the art of music.

After all, isn't life easier when you have eight appendages?

For the rest of the song Lino sat in silence, listening with his eyes closed and fins crossed over his lap. When the final notes were hit and the music stopped the Don didn't respond nor move, and that made Luca worry slightly. But when those ice blue eyes drifted upon his own emerald ones, the assistant sighed in relief.

"That wasn't necessary, Luca." Lino mused, flashing a smirk towards him. Luca blinked, not knowing what to say. He ducked his head low, a grand impression that he messed up. But Lino waved it off with a calm smile. And that made Luca smile.

"You gonna be alright, boss?"

There was a pause. The Don flashed a glimpse out the great pane glass window, observing the moonlight that mysteriously appeared out of the darkened evening. Strange.

"Gonna hurt for awhile, but yeah, I'll be fine."

Fin

Aw, now wasn't that just cute?