A/N: To answer the comment of the guest reviewer, this was on the crossover section at first under FFVII - FFvsXIII (FFXV is not available on the categories... yet.) but nobody seemed to go to that section, so I transferred it here on the FF7 section. *Wink*
The family photo I'm going to mention in this chapter can be found here:
s32 DOT postimg DOT org SLASH nqc70xo91 SLASH caelum DOT jpg
I Got lazy so I just used my Noctis from the last image but I think it turned out pretty... nice...
Twenty
Denzel had asked Tifa if she could take his picture on the palace so he can send them to Cloud, Aerith and Marlene. The first one was taken outside the main entrance, he was standing in the middle of the red carpet with his hand held in a peace sign, the next one was him standing in front of King Regis' throne, the next one was inside his bedroom. There's one in his game room as well. He also wanted to include a family photo that they took recently.
Denzel was busy writing his letter when Tifa knocked on his room.
"Come in!" He piped without looking up. Tifa carefully opened the door then she smiled when she saw what he was doing, she went inside before she gently closed the door behind her.
"Hi sweetie."
"Hi mom! Look! I'm almost done with my letter!" He said as he pointed on the paper in front of him.
"Is that so? What did you write in there?" She asked with a smile as she approached him. Denzel pulled up the paper to show it to Tifa, who giggled when she started reading. Denzel wrote that Noctis was actually the prince of Lucis, and that they were living a huge palace, and how everyone kept calling him young Lord Denzel, he also wrote that he was going to be a prince when his Mommy Tifa and Daddy Noctis get married soon. He also wrote a description of his bedroom and the gameroom that the King gave him as a gift. Tifa wasn't sure how Cloud and the others were going to take this news, she knew it will shock them, but she wondered if Barret knows about Noctis being a prince from the beginning.
And the fact that Denzel called Noctis his 'Daddy' in the letter was going to hurt Cloud and it will surely make him feel jealous, he was Denzel's father figure after all, originally, he still is but Noctis will be his official adoptive father soon enough. Tifa sighed at the thought, even if she was mad at the man, she was still worrying about him like that.
Well, he'll have his own child now...
"Mom?" Denzel called out when he saw how she was staring off to space.
"Oh!" She giggled. "Sorry about that honey."
"Did you not like the letter?"
"No, I love it, I was just thinking how they are going to react over this." She said with a smile.
"Well, I'm sure they'll be happy. Although Marlene, she's always wanted to be a princess in a castle, do you think she'll be mad at me?" He asked with his face uneasy, Tifa's face softened before she knelt down in front of his knees.
"You know Marlene more than anyone, do you think she'll hate you for this?" She asked, Denzel thought for a while, he stared at TIfa in deep concentration before he spoke.
"Nope, she'll be happy for me." He said with a smile.
"See?" Tifa said before she stood up. "Now, why don't we finish that letter so we can send it?"
"Mmm-hmm!"
Two days have past and it was gloomy day in Edge, like always.
Aerith opened the door when she heard someone knocking on the main door of Seventh Heaven, every AVALANCHE member, except Tifa, were gathered together in one of the tables in the bar, having drinks and deep conversation, even Reeve was there instead of Cait Sith but it didn't feel right because they were missing someone.
"I wish Tifa was here." Yuffie said with a pout while she leaned her chin on top of the table with lazy eyes. Cloud felt a pang in his chest at the mention of the name.
"Yeah, that hot shot Noctis better be takin' good care of our Tifa and Denzel or I'll shove my spear up his fuckin' as-"
"I've known the guy for a while, Am sure he'll do exactly that." Barret said.
"How sure are ya 'bout that punk, eh?" Cid asked whiehe played with the toothpick in his teeth.
"Sheesh, Because if he weren', Tifa and Denzel would have been back righ' now! Just trust me when I say so!"
"Cloud, this came in just now." Aerith handed her husband a large envelope, he furrowed his eyebrows while he eyed it before he took it from Aerith's hand. His face brightened when he saw that it was from Denzel.
"It's from Denzel." He said. Everyone looked at his direction.
"Well, what are you waiting for?! Open it choccobo head!" Yuffie exclaimed impatiently.
"Shut it brat!" Cid said before he spit out his toothpick, Yuffie made a loud noise of disgust.
"Can you call Marlene, Aerith?" Cloud asked, his wife nodded before she went upstairs to get the girl, Cloud started ripping the letter to see the contents inside, his eyes widened when he saw the pictures, everyone saw his reaction so they all stood up, except Vincent, who stayed in his position on the wall with his arms crossed, then they all gathered behind Cloud to see, all of their eyes widened as well afterwards.
"What... The hell... Is that?" Yuffie asked as she pointed on the bedroom where Denzel took his picture.
"That's some big ass bedroom." Barret said. "Well, that's to be expected." He said before everyone looked at him.
"What do you mean by that?" Cloud asked. Barret suddenly scratched the back of his head, a gesture similar to Cloud's.
"Well, you see..." He cleared his throat. "Noct, he uhhh..." Cloud raised an eyebrow.
"Spill it." The blond said.
"What is this? A huge ass museum?" Yuffie said as she pointed on the palace entrance. Barret chuckled before he spoke.
"Well, No, that's actually the house they are living in now." He said, everyone's eyes widened again with their mouths agape, except Cloud and Vincent, who maintained their blank faces.
"Who the hell is this Noctis punk? Some kind of super rich mafia kid or somethin'?" Cid asked with his arms crossed in front of him.
"Well... Noctis is actually the crown prince of Lucis." Barret said, everyone grew silent while staring at Barret as if he just announce that he's having a sex change operation.
"A PRINCE?!" They all exclaimed at the same time, with the exception of Vincent, who merely raised an eyebrow and Reeve, who was running his fingers on his goatie with an amused look. Cloud looked down at the letter to grab the piece of paper inside.
"And you know this but you didn't tell us?!" Yuffie exlaimed while she threw her hands in the air.
"Cloud! Aerith said that we got a letter from Denzel?!" Marlene piped as she rushed down the stairs with Aerith trailing behind her.
"Yeah, come here and take a look." The blond said before Marlene happily sat on his lap, he started reading the letter out loud when everyone went back to their seats. He felt a few stabs in his chest, particularly when Denzel called Noctis his Daddy, and when Denzel mentioned the upcoming wedding between his 'parents', the jealousy was both for Tifa and Denzel, but he tried his best to hide it behind his usual blank look. But the fact that the boy suddenly took a huge step in his life was still shocking.
"Denzel... Is going to be a prince?" Marlene asked with a shocked look. Then she smiled while clapping her hands with a giggle which earned her a raised eyebrow from her father, who was drinking his beer. "So if I marry him, I'll be a princess right?!" Barret spit his beer like a shower head all over the table, hitting Yuffie, Cid and Reeve, who all jumped in surprise.
"What the hell?!" Yuffie exclaimed as she stood up to shake the wetness out of her.
"The fuck is wrong with you?!" Cid angrily yelled.
"Did you not hear what my daughter jus said?!" Barret yelled back while his daughter only stared at him with innocent eyes.
"Of course she's dreamin' of becomin' a princess! She's a little girl and every little girl dreams of that kind of shit!"
"Launguage!" Aerith scolded with her hands on her hips, Cid gave her a sheepish smile.
"Fascinating, that's a pretty big step but I'm happy for the boy, he seems ecstatic." Reeve said, who continued to rub his goatie. Cloud was not talking nor listening to his comrades as he stared at the family picture Denzel had included in the mail, he stared intently at Tifa and how beautiful she looked on her black lace dress with a plunging neckline, and her hair was loose with some waves, while Noctis was wearing a dark grey suit, with a darker grey for his shirt and a slivery grey necktie, while Denzel wore a bluish black suit, with dark blue dress shirt beneath and a black necktie. But somehow, he felt happy for them both, that there was someone who was willing to take them in like that, and to think that he was a royal blood, he felt grateful to the guy for accepting Denzel as his own.
"Do you want to write back Marlene?" Cloud asked the girl, who nodded happiky in response.
"I'll go get my crayons!" She piped before she leapt off Cloud's lap to go up her bedroom.