Chapter 1: Beginnings

She was on top of a building, almost a couple hundred feet from the ground. As the wind blew her hair back, the girl had looked down and as gravity was tempting her, she accepted its request and made a leap of faith. With the glare of the sunset, only the general features of the woman could be outlined. Average height, long brown hair with black joggers and a matching grey jacket.

Now. . . Just a little longer.

She switched her falling position, cocking her arm back before punching it forward!

Before we get to that. . . we should explain how we got here, right?

A crying child on a lush green field with a breeze adding a vibrance to the lushness of the environment. Soon, a motherly figure, dressed in all white from head to toe, with caramel skin to contrast who soon had picked up the unhappy and sobbing child.

" Now now, It's okay. Show me where it hurts, Louise. "

The child soon showed what was hurting, of course, it was a simple scratch on the knee. She had tripped and fallen while playing tag with another. Of course, it had been a few minutes and that child had already fled the scene to go look for help.

Soon, the woman would start walking the child back home. A wooden abode with three stories and windows in each room, painted a white color. Right next to it would be a simple red barn, of course with those familiar white outlines that every single farm had. Once they reached the wooden home, the little girl would be taken inside, the caretaker would take a left once entering and stepped upstairs.

" Don't be so upset, after all, Mr. Summers is visiting today little Louise. "

The motherly voice of the woman calmed the girl down. What the motherly figure had said cheered her up as well. Mr. Summers was a father figure to her, after all, for all she knew she had been born in this farm. in this farm and she had never really left. . . she got her education here, she gets most of her food from here, she gets everything from here.

This farm, was an orphanage, which comprised of around 15 kids at a time. The youngest are the infants, and the oldest are usually 18 or even 19. Everyone wore similar clothes, of course the girls wore skirts and the boys wore pants or shorts.

Her closest older friend was a girl named Emma, last name Wonder. She took care of every kid out there, she had a soft voice, and was very kind. . . she always helped mother. The girl was 15.

As for herself, she was an average girl, well. . . that was a lie, she's a little below average when it came to learning and memorization. Besides that, she has much more energy than any kid her age! So once the pain on her knee had gone away, Louise had immediately wore her best attire. From her black baseball cap, a royal purple blouse, along with a matching skirt and belt, finally her shoes, generic brand brown shoes. . .

She had ran down the stairs and waited at the front door. The dining room for the children was near the entrance, so she had sat down at the corner chair of the dining table, waiting for the man to come. Her heart was beating quickly, the anxiety rose within her as she started to twirl her long and curly brown hair.

" Oh? Is Mr. Summers coming today, Louise? "

An older child had echoed behind Louise, causing her to turn around. She was looking at a torso. . . so she looked upwards, to see a familiar female face.

" Emma! "

A jovial sound of surprise was made as the child gave the elder teen a hug. Louise buried her face on the soft, white fabric of Emma's clothes for a few seconds before looking up. She had an ear to ear grin, ready to spoil the already known news to the short haired noirette who responded with a soft smile.

" Mmhm! Mr. Summers is coming today! "

As those words were spoken, a knock could be heard on the door, with the dark skinned mother answering the said door, once opened. An older man with curly and slightly messy white hair with a matching beard had come through, wearing a semi-expensive navy blue suit. This caused the young girl to suddenly jerk out of the embrace she was currently inside of, leaving the older girl in a comedic look of shock as she was suddenly thrown into the trashcan by the brunette.

" Mr. Summers, Mr. Summers! "

Like a puppy, the child had made their way to the curly haired man, now putting him through an embrace, despite her barely reaching his torso. Soon a hand landed on the girl's head, petting the small child.

" Yes? "

A simple response, but the proper one which initiated a jovial reply in return.

" Is today the day? "

A mysterious response, towards those who didn't know, but to that curly haired man she trusted, he knew exactly what she was talking about.

" Yes, It is indeed today. . . I'll go talk to Beatrice, and I'll be right back, alright? So stay put, alright? "

The man soon had stood up and turned to his left, calling for the dark skinned caretaker, who was quickly by his side. The two then had gone into a private room to talk, with the mother giving a reassuring smile. While the smile gave a sense of relief of the seemingly swelling anxiety within the small child, she felt irritated, as if there was something. . . no someone behind her, someone annoying.

" Oh? Is the little kiddy finally leaving? "

A smug male voice had come from behind Louise, causing the young 8 year old to finally turn around and screech.

" Dante! "

Such a screech was met by a simple response.

" What's'up? "

Behind her stood a child, about 2 years older than her, he wore the same clothes as everyone else but had a blue necklace with a simple green emerald encased in gold at the bottom along with a cross even further down, there were beads that surrounded it, yes, it was a rosary.

" Don't sneak up on me like that, idiot, you're gonna embarrass me in front of Mr. Summers! "

It seemed that the boy didn't care for her remarks of concern, as he put his hand behind his head with a cheeky grin.

" Scared that he won't like you anymore because of me? "

The girl pouted even more, expressing an angry looking face towards the older boy.

" I'm not scared that he won't like me, You're just stinky and stupid Dante! "

Even with those insults, the boy didn't seem bothered, in fact he was quite amused by the antics of the little girl he seemed to be bullying, of course, Emma who had been watching them the whole time had chuckled a bit.

" You two sure do bicker a lot, It'll be sad once one of you gets adopted, you know? "

That remark caused Louise to turn around instinctively, pouting even more despite her angry looks. Her arms were crossed and her eyes were even closed, she was shielded from all forms of Dante.

" I don't need this dummy head who bullies me all the time! "

Dante's face didn't falter, however. A smile was still on it as he twirled around, of course, he'd say something cheeky in return.

" Now who would need a little kid like you? All you do is complain! "

Thus more chaos had ensued. . . Now the little Louise had started to fight back, using her fists, throwing them wildly as if she were a spinning top towards Dante, who unsurprisingly stepped to the side every time one came towards him. Of course, through this carelessness for her own safety, it was inevitable that the little Louise would end up intersecting with the leg of a table and suddenly falling. Due to her direction, she was clearly going face first into the ground. A small shriek could be heard before she felt herself get flipped to another side.

I feel fine? She thought.

No, she could feel something on her back, something soft, she looked upwards and had an unpleasant surprise. The indifferent eyes of Dante were right above her, looking down as if nothing happened.

" Whoa, are you okay there? "

He asked this despite holding her. Upon realizing the situation, she got out of the mans arms and back onto her feet.

" Of course I'm fine, you didn't need to catch me! "

They were finally back at square one. Dante had his smile out and it seemed like Louise had just gone back to her state before the fall. Emma just stared in amazement, the two were seemingly a duo that could not be separated.

The two adults came out right after everything had ended, a worried look on the face of Mr. Summers as he heard the screech, same with Beatrice.

" Is everything alright? "

The motherly woman had immediately looked towards the eldest in the room, that being Emma. The girl had nodded, with a thumbs up as well.

" She's fine, after all, Dante's with her. "

This caused a surge of annoyance and irritability within Louise, looking at her friend ith sheer fire in her eyes.

" What's that supposed to mean!? "

Of course, Dante hollered out some laughter right behind Louise. He seemed to be having a jolly old time with all of this, an ear to ear grin.

" You hear that, little princess? I'm apparently your knight! "

With that, Louise finally had enough and suddenly turned around to grab the cheeks of that young boy who's quite the thorn on her side, seemingly. Stretching as the two cheeks as hard as she could.

" Now who would want to be the princess of a little dirty knight like you?! "

It seemed that even with the cheek pulling, Dante couldn't stop laughing, his eyes staring right into Louise's. He was definitely taunting her. Though as this happened, Dante noticed that the curly haired man came towards him, and got on his knees to be eye to eye with him. Once Louise noticed that he was there, she backed off, letting go of the boy's cheeks.

" Now I understand that you're her knight then. . . but I'll be taking her with me now. I'm. . . . "

" I'm adopting her today. "

A look of shock was on Dante's face, despite the jovial look on Louise's. She was excited and happy at everything that was going on. She laughed a bit, as she had went to go hug Emma, and Beatrice. She was practically running around because of all the excitement. She had finally tried to pull Mr. Winter's arm so they could get ready but it seemed that the two men hadn't moved at all. It seemed that there was a stern showdown between the men.

" Do you accept my proposition, Dante? "

Dante looked indifferent, and he gave a sigh before looking at Mr. Summers, with his sharp eyes.

" Nope, not at all. "