Parenthood'z Nightmare

Chapter XV - A2ZEDD

A/N - I've been working as an Illustrator for years and am going to begin adding fanart to this story. So please continue sharing and comment on your favourite chapter/scene to see it come to life! Have an idea for a chapter header? Mention it and I might just add it (with honorable mention of course).

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The day remained damp and dreary. Scurrying through the rain Cissnei decided they would have lunch at A2Zedd. The café had been a favourite hangout in their youth... back then Posie had been with them then too but Sephiroth tried to shake her from his mind as Angeal opened the door.

Scarcely anything had changed there, and Sephiroth felt a pang of sad nostalgia as he realised that the only things that had changed in the café was himself and the company he kept.

The cracked plaster on the walls were pea-green, the floor was tiled black and white and the wooden tables and chairs scattered about were as worn down as he remembered them.

"You're back?" The man behind the glass counter exclaimed when he saw them. "It's been ages!"

"Tom!" Cissnei exclaimed. "It's been too long!"

Angeal nodded. "It's about time we came back."

Genesis smiled. "Who knows when we can come again?"

"Uh? You know him?" Zack questioned.

Tom was of average height and had slick black hair. His eyes were dark and the only defining thing about him was his white apron, A2ZEDD printed on the front in large red print.

Something in Sephiroth's mood changed. "Tom, I'd like you to meet my daughter." He freed Alice from the stroller and lifted her onto his hip.

Alice gasped and hid her face in Sephiroth's chest. "She looks just like her mother." Tom kindly stated. "I'm so sorry, by the way! I only heard last week that Posie... that she was..." He struggled and tripped over his words.

Sephiroth agreed with a sad nod of his head. "Say no more." He led the way to the back corner of the room where a table was pushed against a window. The space was sheltered and a little more private.

"You know that guy?" Zack asked.

Angeal nodded. "This was our favourite hangout when we were... your age, I suppose."

"Younger." Genesis recalled.

"And Sephiroth and I grew up with Tom." Cissnei added.

"I didn't." Sephiroth frowned, watching her fuss with the highchair she struggled to unfold. He wondered why Alice couldn't simply sit at the table, but he wouldn't bother arguing with Cissnei about it.

Cissnei shrugged. "You kind of did."

"Are you guy's family?" Zack asked them.

Cissnei shook her head. "No, Tom and I grew up in the same... house," she carefully chose her words, "until Tom ran away, but Sephiroth and Posie used to come back and visit us."

"Posie?" Zack said. "That's Alice's mother's name, right?"

"Yes Zack, it is." Angeal interjected before things could be said that couldn't be unsaid. "Decide what you want. There are a lot of us, it wouldn't be right to make Tom wait."

Zack took the menu. "But isn't he a waiter? Isn't that what they're meant to do?"

Genesis smirked. "I agree Angeal; that is what his job title dictates."