--Guardian Angels--: Marlene did an oopsie.
A/N: This actually happened to my dad last year. We ended up at the mall the day before Christmas with all the last-minute hecklers. Not a pretty sight. I think I did more damage than help to him. One of his veins on his forehead was standing wayyy out. :Shrug: what are daughters for? Anyway, I think Denzel and Marlene needed more attention, so here y'are. And to the readers who wanted Tseng/Elena, this is just the beginning. grin
A/N later: I will be incorporating some of your ideas into later chapters, so be patient and keep reading. (I like the thing about Reno in a Santa outfit... buahaha. I'll fit it in somewhere.)
It had started when Marlene was shaking presents too vigorously under the tree. The shattering sound wasn't a good sign. Marlene froze, and Denzel checked the tag. "To Elena," He read. "From Tseng."
"What'll we do, Denzel? She'll kill us. He'll kill us." Marlene's lip was quivering.
"I dunno… maybe we should just leave it."
"And just let Elena-chan open it tomorrow and cry?"
"Aww, Marlene, she won't cry. She'll just…"
"…Cry. And throw things."
"…Yea. You're right." Denzel rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "She likes Tseng too much. Well… let's open it, I guess."
Marlene gasped. "What?"
Denzel frowned at her. "It's for a good cause, Marlene. Maybe we can replace it."
Without further ado, he ripped open the gaudy red-and-golden wrapping paper and revealed what used to be a delicate glass angel that Elena had ooh-ed and aah-ed over in the store display window last week during snowshoeing. Its body was in four big pieces, and the wings were nothing but glass crumbs among the tissue paper. Denzel gasped. "It musta cost a fortune."
Later, after telling Tifa that he was taking Marlene out to build some snowmen, Denzel and Marlene climbed atop the towering snow and snow shoed—all by themselves—to the store that Tseng had gotten the glass angel at. The two children had fistfuls of their own savings money grasped tightly in their hands. Sliding down the snow banks, they made their way inside where dozens of last minute shoppers pushed and shoved each other.
To avoid being separated, Denzel tightly held Marlene's hand as they looked frantically around the glass displays in search of an angel. There were thousands upon thousands of rows of small, delicately spun glass figures. Denzel instructed Marlene to start at one end whilst he started at the other. "There's got to be another one around here somewhere," He asserted.
Wrong. After about two hours of squinting, the closest thing they could find was a cupid. When they clambered over to the register to ask about angels, the cashier told them they had sold out of angels four days ago.
"Could you make one now, then?" Denzel said, peering over the cashier's shoulder for a miracle. The cashier shook his head. "The glassblower's in bed with pneumonia, and he's been overworking himself this week with special requests. Sorry, kids, no can do."
Even as Denzel and Marlene pleaded with all their might, shoving their money across the counter at him, he merely shook his head, looked apologetic, and went away. Marlene looked crestfallen.
Denzel sighed and took her hand again. "We tried," He told her. "We tried."
"Denzel, what is that?"
Denzel looked over his shoulder to where Marlene was pointing. They were almost back to Seventh Heaven, and Denzel was looking forward to a mug of hot chocolate—he couldn't feel his toes anymore. He followed Marlene's outstretched finger to a small, glittering dent in the snow a little ways away. He shrugged, anxiously turning back to the bar. "I dunno. Hurry up, Marlene."
But the footfalls behind him told him that Marlene was slowly making her way over to the dent. Denzel was getting annoyed at her being distracted by every single thing on the planet, and he jerked around impatiently, almost falling flat on his face and plunging twelve feet below the snow. "Marlene, let's go!" He yelled exasperatedly.
But she had picked up the glittery thing, and was holding it in her hand, brushing the snow off.
Denzel kicked his legs up and ran over as fast as his snowshoes would let him, meaning to wrench the thing out of her hands and pull her back to the bar and get the apologizing to everyone about the angel over with.
"Denzel," Marlene breathed, and she held out the thing to him as he neared her. This time, Denzel would have fallen on his face into the snow if Marlene hadn't caught him and held him upright. Rubbing his eyes to make sure it wasn't plastic, or a hoax, or a dream, Denzel squinted at it.
"Who do you think left it here?" Marlene whispered. Denzel shook his head. "I dunno," He said again.
Marlene broke into a grin. "Elena will be so happy. It's a miracle."
And both of them skipped off, their exhaustion forgotten, to Seventh Heaven with the bigger, more intricately carved glass angel that somehow looked exactly like Elena in their hands.
A/N: Tomorrow's Christmas for them. )