That morning in late May, in North City, Carly stood in line in front of the convenience store in the company of some elderly ladies; it was almost 7, soon the gate would rise. Carly would go about her business and then run off to the university.
She thought it stupid not to take the exam first, the rest would create a distraction; but perhaps, having to wait for the exam to be over and postpone would be an even greater distraction. There was nothing worse than grilling in the absence of an answer.
Carly hesitated before the shelf, heart pounding, then she heaved a deep sigh and grabbed that box. When she brought it to the cashier, along with a bottle of Coke Zero and a bag of crisps, the cashier smiled at her. Carly shrugged, a little uncomfortable; she paid quickly and shoved her purchases in her bag, running to her car, impatient to lock herself in a toilet on campus.
/
Meanwhile in the Satan City district, an ethereal blonde figure wandered among the spires and the flying buttresses of an ancient abbey. It consisted in a handful of stones in the middle of a very flat and very green lawn. Stones and grass overlooked cliffs that were not too high but benefited from the right light.
"In a church ... I've never thought about it."
It wasn't a real church, but that was the awe it evoked. There was something magnificent about that dilapidated building, only a shadow of what it had been.
Eighteen had thought of doing everything at the beach, the ceremony, the party. But now, walking up that aisle broken by nature that had been reclaiming its space over the centuries, she clearly felt that the moment she would swear her eternal love to Krillin, for the first time in front of all who mattered to them, must happen in a more suggestive place.
-It won't cost anything,- Krillin smiled, taking her hand and walking with her the rest of the aisle, to an altar that wasn't there, under a rose window without glass.
-I know,- Eighteen winked at him, fully understanding what her husband had meant.
-What will you ask him? I will at least have him repair the walls. And not let policemen or anything else come in.-
Krillin didn't know whose ruins they were, he and his bride could be in trouble.
Eighteen mused: there was so much they could ask for. She carried on contemplating what must have been a balcony, -An organ.-
Krillin raised his eyebrows, "Yeah ..."
Wedding music was no joke: the moment when Eighteen, the bride, would enter was not a moment to forget.
She had to amaze them; the music had to be great. Everything had to be over the top.
Maybe Krillin was already imagining it, -Organ and trumpets, Eighteen?-
Eighteen jumped to the top of the empty circle of the rose window, gazing at the magnificence of the ruins, -A pipe organ, the proper one; and trumpets.-
It would be a dream, a fairytale moment: something they could never get from a beach alone.
/
Carly was done with school.
There was still the graduation to go, but the exam was over and her studies had come to an end.
Once the last line of the paper was written Carly drove up the valley, she had an appointment with the group home at The Pine Grove camping. They would take the path to Niaz from there.
It was perhaps one of the best days of her life, Carly couldn't stop smiling: she was suffering from a severe case of cloud nine.
She had had to be careful driving up the winding roads, as wild as she was she didn't want to risk a head-on with a bus.
Euphoria gave wings to her feet: she parked at the entrance of the camping and started running on the dirt road, on her way to meet Lillian, Anna and the children. She didn't spot Robbie.
-You're early,- Anna smiled, looking at the time on her cell phone.
-Let's wait for Robbie, then. How is he?-
When Carly had gone to see him only yesterday he had looked limp.
Lillian spoke louder than Anna, -We're going without him, he stayed in Viey. He's got chickenpox.-
-He and Teresa, a colleague; can you believe that Teresa didn't have it as a child?-
Anna invited the children to gather, placing a small flag in the hands of the older girl,
-You coming along, Carly?-
Carly followed the group toward the fringes of the camping, a puzzled look on her face.
-You're finally a free woman,- Anna placed a friendly hand on her shoulder, vividly recalling her student years. -How did the test go?-
-Huh, which test?-
-The exam...the final exam.-
Anna's question had given her cold sweat, -Positive; I mean, I kicked its ass.-
It took a moment for Carly to realise what she was told about Robbie. And when she finally processed it, all the joy that had first overcome her seemed to reabsorb and then expand into an equally powerful and all-encompassing feeling.
However it was no longer joy, nor a benign "emotional stomach ache": it was a bloody panic attack!
Carly had generously kissed and cuddled Robbie before Lapis took her to the clover field; she felt like suffocating, like dying.
She had to get out of there before she passed out.
-Sorry...I'm sorry.-
Anna, Lillian, and all the children watched in perplexity as Carly ran where the dirt road led her.
-Hey, are you okay? ... What's wrong?-
Anna was worried. She had seen Carly's face change.
-I don't know, I'm goin' after her.-
Lillian walked to the only place she found on that little road, where there were fewer trailers: the camping's bathroom.
No vacationer was washing or doing their laundry, there was absolute silence.
-Carls? It's me, open up.- Lillian started knocking on all doors. -I'm worried for you. What happened?-
-Go away …-
A whimpering voice, belonging rather with a frightened kitten than with a human, rang out from behind a door. Carly came out of the toilet and leaned against a sink; Lillian wondered how one could be so pale and so red at the same time.
-Please replace me with Anna and the children.- Carly tried to compose herself, but couldn't start the sentence without melting into tears, -I want to go home.-
-Okay, okay, but first tell me what's up.-
A man innocently walked into the public restrooms to mind his own business and was stared at by the girls, standing by the sinks.
Carly frowned, -I'm ok.-
Ok?
-Fuck, it Carly! Sorry, but don't take me for a fool.-
A few younger girls in bathing suits entered en masse, grouping in the shower area.
Carly swallowed a lump of tears and fear, -It's nothing, Lillian.-
-No. If you want me to help tell me,- Lillian frowned. -You can't expect something from me and don't tell me anything, I'm feeling concerned. Did you flunk your exam?-
Carly shook her head in stubborn silence, like a child.
-Is it because Robbie got sick?-
Lillian knew that unconsciously or not Carly treated that boy as if he were her own child; it was understandable that she was now in pain for him, chickenpox was so fastidious!
-Everyone has had chickenpox and usually you survive,-
-I bloody haven't!- the real redhead sobbed, gasped, hissed, with the fake one trying to comfort her. She was really panicking.
Lillian had a hunch that what poor Carly feared was the disease itself.
-Come on Carly...don't be so afraid of chickenpox! I bet you feel like you have a temperature now because you keep thinking about it. Like when you have a bug on you and you sweep it away, but you keep feeling it creeping everywhere…-
Carly looked around, wary; the girls kept giggling, perhaps she could talk discreetly.
-I can't have chickenpox …- she muttered, not wanting to satisfy Lillian's request.
Of course, no one was dying to have an exanthematous disease that included scratching like there was no tomorrow.
Lillian sighed in exasperation when the gentleman came out of the toilet and Carly became silent as a grave again.
When they were again more or less alone, Carly whispered something in her ear and Lillian stood looking at her incredulous, shocked, totally speechless.
Then, slowly, Carly saw her bring her hands to her face, while her eyes turned red.
Lillian let out a series of moans, with irrepressible joy she hugged that sister, daughter of different parents.
Carly masked her inner storm with sass, -You're barking, Lillian …-
-You just can't tell me this kind of things, how can I not cry?-
Lillian squeezed Carly tighter and tighter, -I love you so much, too much.-
Carly wiped her tears; those minutes of anxiety had drained her of all the irrepressible energy with which she had shown up at the camping, just before.
However, seeing Lillian so happy made her smile again and she remained silent, as her bestie stared at her from head to toe, -Is it me or you're not showing?-
Carly regained her strength and kicked Lillian, ordering her through gritted teeth to shut up.
-I can't wait! We'll go through all the milestones together, won't we? Will you let me come to all the appointments with you?-
Lillian thought back to when they had first met, to the jokes they had exchanged, to all the times when Carly had mourned her lost love and she had wiped her tears; Lillian would be at Carly's side in every moment of that wonderful new chapter in her life.
-I will always come with you and I will ALWAYS take care of everything,…-
There she went again.
-Lillian! Lillian. Stop.-
Carly grabbed her arms tightly to force her to stop moving.
Carly loved Lillian so much that sometimes she forgot her friend was super excitable, a chatterbox, tiring. The pace at which she talked and thought was too much for Carly, exhausted in body and mind by the conflicting emotions of the yet brief day.
-First of all don't make random promises to me, Lillian, you can't follow me like a shadow. Second, you're not the one to 'take care of me'.-
"Ah, yeah."
Thinking of her two best friends, Lillian felt her heart fluttering, -You and Sev, wow, so much beauty. Sev?! The reaction?-
-He doesn't know.-
Lillian would see Seventeen at work later; she wondered if she could interact with him without thinking about Carly.
Carly gave Lillian a short but complicated confession, under her breath.
-No, no, no!-
-Why not?-
-Carly, this is a huge mistake to me. And not because Seventeen is a half-robot who can bench press Mt. Severny,-
Lillian wanted to be objective, -I really don't think he deserves to fall from the sky...haven't you thought about how he'll feel?-
Lillian defending Lapis, unbelievable; how ill she had spoken of him, just two years ago.
Of course Carly had thought about it, indecision had been plaguing her for almost twenty-four hours.
-The fuck, you'll crash him. " has stopped working".-
Carly couldn't help but laugh, -It's just about now or later. In the end, it's my decision.-
-His, too. Good heavens, Sev...Damn right sowing destruction, that wretch who wanted him a Terminator will be rolling over in his grave.-
In truth, Seventeen had sowed also destruction, in the RNP they just didn't know.
In the end, the former top ranger would replace Carly to accompany the group home to Niaz. She had no other choice.
-What should I say to Anna and the others?-
-Nothing,- Carly was utterly serious. -Don't say anything to anyone.-
Lillian was about to ask "Why?", but Carly cut her off.
-Because if you do, I'll bite off your head.-
-How sweet of you…-
/
All the roommates in the Kame House had to be careful where they put their feet. It
was enough to turn around without looking to step on the girl, and if the girl was stepped on they would get beaten. Once Roshi had tripped over her and made her cry, Eighteen had thrown him through the kitchen wall.
She had then refused to fix it.
Marron could almost walk, there was no place in which she didn't slip, she liked to get behind people; Krillin was nailing some new wooden boards in the kitchen, Eighteen picked her up before she slipped between the rungs of the ladder, she watched her kick the air.
-This girl will grow up to be a football player…- Yamcha smiled, impressed by the speed at which Marron kicked her legs.
Her platinum blonde tuft had become long enough to bother her little eyes, Eighteen pinned it with colourful accessories. Mum looked at her baby's five little teeth, her chubby cheeks, her nearly invisible nose, and the adorable little rolls on her wrists and ankles. Her eyes were peculiar, a blue darker than some browns: like all light eyes they changed with the weather, and lashes so long made them appear almost black at times.
The incomparable sensation of feeling loved and needed, which Marron communicated to her with some gazes of hers, made Eighteen satisfied and amazed at being a mother; at having someone hold on to her and call her "Mumumum".
She turned to Krillin, -Can you believe she was in my belly?-
Eighteen always thought about it, seeing Marron grow and develop month after month.
-It's wild! She was so small and now look at her: she laughs, thinks, runs,-
the loving Krillin kissed his blondies, -It still amazes me now.-
Creating other human beings from scratch was truly a miracle.
Hacchan, unlike Sixteen, was able to understand that Marron had come out of #18: he had always been in contact with humans and no longer struggled to see the cyborg girl in that key.
-I shouldn't have known this happiness,- she had told him on the day of the caves; Eighteen had not talked about 19.2 and his warning.
-Because were you a completion for Cell?- Hacchan had recalled.
Eighteen had nodded, almost in shame.
-How did it happen?- Hacchan didn't grasp the mechanics of the Red Ribbon creations. -How is it possible for a person tobecome a battery?-
Sitting in the caves, Eighteen had stared at a natural skylight dripping with damp.
-Only Gero knew. Sometimes when I open a door to a dark room, I'm afraid it will shrink and swallow me alive.-
In that intense period, one month before the wedding, it had happened more often to Eighteen to wake up late at night from nightmares based on that monster. She woke up terrified, not realising on the spot that she was safe at the Kame House, with Krillin and Marron breathing blissfully by her side. And when she realised that the nightmare had not been real, she melted into a cry that scraped her throat and didn't release her.
Eighteen cried with terror.
Krillin then embraced her and only against him, in his arms, Eighteen could calm down.
Eighteen never talked about Cell, how she felt about him. But this new friend, Hacchan, inspired her to do so.
-Even now at night I dream of Cell catching me with his tail, spitting me out of his mouth...-
Eighteen hadn't been conscious when that had happened, but it was a disturbing thought that upset her on so many levels.
Hacchan's pupils dilated in dismay, -I'm not a full human, but I think it's impossible not to be scarred by such a thing.-
An experience like Cell was impossible to forget.
-Cell is dead, he won't come back for you.-
Hacchan had smiled with that ugly sweet face of his; he had pointed to Dende's scroll, in Eighteen's hands.
-The list of all enemy androids doesn't add up: it goes from #1 to #7, from #9 to #20 with the exception of you and Sixteen: but one is missing, #17.-
-Ugh, him; he's harmless.-
-No, Eighteen, none of them are harmless; we mustn't take any of them lightly!-
Hacchan's dedication was admirable:
Eighteen told him that #17 could hurt in other ways, but he wasn't interested in conquering Earth.
-Is he an infinite energy type? Have you met him?-
-Hacchan...Seventeen is my brother. And he's the only one of my kind.-
/
God forbid the brat came first to Saint-Nicolas and closed the Solway Solvents matter without her!
Before, Lillian always had that satisfaction; now, almost never.
Seventeen hadn't been very lucky in his patrols, he hadn't caught anyone red-handed.
As soon as the tour with the group home was over, Lillian drove to the rainwater catchment basin and, with good luck and her immense pleasure, she spotted a suspicious woman nearby. She was dressed as an office worker and was photographing the artificial lake. Lillian straightened her hat and snapped her own photos, -Solway Solvents has come to do shit in the wrong place.-
Lillian snatched the compact camera from her; the woman might have been dressed neatly, but her attitude was that of a thug.
-Ah-ah: you don't wanna do that,- warned the Olympic deadlifting champion, when the woman showed intention to attack her.
-Who are you?-
-The Queen in the Royal Nature Park.-
-No, she's just someone pretending to be me.-
The woman saw a boy appear; he must be half her age, devil-may-care attitude and headphones around his neck.
Seventeen had overheard Lillian arguing with the Solway Solvents employee despite being listening to music.
Lillian ignored the taunts, -Hi Seventeen. How are you?-
She stared at him so hard it made him feel uncomfortable. -Naff off, Lill.-
Lillian didn't give up, -I'm fine AND YOU?-
-I have to do this chore.-
His best friend was studying every angle of his face, -Aren't you feeling a little wired? No, not your circuits. Aren't you...nervous?-
-Er...no. Why?-
Was Lillian wishing him to feel nervous?
The wrongdoer let them quarrel and tried to escape, but the boy tripped her and pinned her to the ground with his foot.
"Oh, honey..." Lillian sighed.
The top ranger turned dryly to the woman, -Disposing of toxic waste here is unconscious, illegal, harmful, in short, never show up again.-
His gaze didn't feel reassuring to the woman, -You're hurting me...I'll sue you.-
-You were having better luck with me than with him,- the girl chuckled, before tossing the compact camera to the other park ranger.
-Give me back my stuff!-
Sev smashed the device with a clap of his palms, softly mimicking the sound of an explosion.
He let the woman get up, and she began to yell, -You treat me like that because my skin colour is different from yours! Racist bastards.-
Actually, Lillian and Seventeen had different skin tones themselves and hadn't noticed the woman's.
-You son of a…- Lillian grabbed her by the collar, unceremoniously; that kind of people made her feel like spoiling for a fight.
-How dare you! Racism is real, we treat you as you deserve because you're an imbecile!-
Lillian was a masterpiece.
The wrongdoer stared at the boy fiddling with his headphones and opening his mouth wide to laugh in her face.
She didn't like his laugh.
/
Elliott was waiting at the North City airport. The plane had just landed and Defiance only had a hand luggage, they could immediately go home and have a quiet evening.
The automatic doors in the "arrivals" section hissed on their hinges and Defiance's tall, dark silhouette stood out against the crowd. Elliott waited for her with his arms outstretched, embraced her on his chest.
-Hello Mr. Gontier!- Defiance crossed her legs around her waist and kissed him.
-Here she is! My little gypsy,- Elliott sought her lips.
What a privilege it was to smell the sunny scent of her skin, to hold his hands on her butt to keep her from falling. Defiance clung to him, fitting her "extra" 13 cm around his frame.
She was wearing waterproof shoes and a long down jacket, 15°C on a late May afternoon felt like Midwinter to her.
From the car, Defiance studied the pure but at the same time gentle light of the North, the coniferous forests, the mountains so high.
How different it was, the RNP: it was not an explicitly enclosed and demarcated area like Monster Island, without simple signs on the side of the road ( "Welcome to Royal Nature Park") one did not even know to be inside it.
Driving up to Saint-Paul, Elliott was slowed by other cars driven calmly, until he was appended to a three-wheeled buggy carrying hay.
Going home was taking longer than it should.
-Come on, roll on!- Defiance murmured. -It's very slow and doesn't let you pass!-
They weren't out of North City yet: Elliott explained to her that almost everyone there worked in the primary sector and that those slow wagons were a common sight.
Monster Island was a more remote place than the RNP, yet it felt more cutting-edge.
Defiance smiled at that rurality. "Welcome to the North!"
/
Seventeen had delivered the wrongdoer to the Saint-Nicolas police, taking her by air.
-Did you see her face?- Lillian laughed; she had made that journey clinging to Seventeen's back and was now sore from the effort of holding herself steady, but also from laughter.
The woman from Solway Solvents had spent the short flight screaming like a baboon, Seventeen had chosen to go airborne for the fun of scaring her.
After ditching the thug, he went with Lillian to get his car.
-So tomorrow is your turn, Sev? The five swamps.-
At the dawn of June, finally.
The dashboard screen of the Z4 lit up with Carly's phone call, Seventeen put the headphones back on.
"Hi love, are you coming home tonight?"
Seventeen certainly wanted to spend the night with her, and she wanted him to pass by the supermarket.
"Carly, I'm still up in Saint-Nicolas...what do you need?"
"Basil ice cream, they sell it in the superstore out of North City; I've tried it once and I want it again..."
She also wanted Coke.
"Look, we have Coke at home. No it's not zero. Come on, don't whine. See you soon."
-What's the matter,- Lillian inquired, seeing him irritated.
-Carly wants some weird ice cream.-
-And aren't you going to get it?-
Carly could also go to the supermarket herself.
-I'm fucking going home; dealing with idiots gives me the munchkins. Like when you're coming down, you know.-
Lillian grinned, -Enjoy being so light-hearted while it lasts...wait, are you high?-
-Light-hearted and proud,- the cyborg clapped a hand on his chest. -And no I'm not high. It was a metaphor.-
Seventeen thought he was being rude, but for once he wanted to think about himself.
Lillian glared at him and walked to her jeep, muttering, -If that's what Carly wants, you'd better fuckin' go and get it.-
-Excuse me?-
-Ahh rascal, go and get Carly's ice cream!-
Lillian stared at him, pointing her finger, as if the fate of the entire universe depended on him. She remained in that pose until the brat gave up; Seventeen snorted and returned a mental insult, yet set the roadster in motion and skidded towards North City.
/
The slow wagon and a red light had blocked Elliott for a reason: Defiance would be staying with him for two weeks, and the paleontologist wasn't sure if his flat was adequately supplied.
-We have my place to ourselves. Brent went to his girlfriend's...or whatever Lillian is for him.-
-Lillian Dahl? That Lillian?-
-The only Lillian I know. Can you believe she and Brent haven't done it yet?-
Even Elliott had conquered that base a long time ago...
"I'm in no hurry, the last one who got in her bed is still that bastard, Joel." said the unsuspecting Viking.
-I still don't know what foods you prefer,- Elliott confessed, holding Defiance's hand between the aisles of the supermarket.
Defiance had fairly simple tastes when it came to eating at home.
She grabbed a packet of pasta and smiled happily, -Spaghetti soup. Comfort food, since it's cold.-
-Like, ramen?-
-No, Elliott, spaghetti soup.-
After shopping, it was time to go home.
Elliott found no nearby place to store the caddie.
-Oh, no...I'll be right back.-
It was 8pm and the supermarket was about to close, Elliott wondred how far he would have to go with the caddie. Defiance remained leaning against the car, texting her mother about the North. While she waited, she went off to throw away her empty bottle of water and her attention was drawn to the revving of an approaching engine.
Into the parking lot she had just crossed the road, when a sports car passed behind her at high speed.
-You jackass! 15 per hour!- Defiance barked in fear, referring to the sign indicating the speed limit.
She watched the car park between two others with a spin precise to the millimetre, doing no damage.
If she hadn't seen it, she wouldn't have believed it: in the North, either they didn't roll or they took parking lots as rally tracks...
Defiance complained to her mother:
I just saw someone parking their car with a drift.
Rikki disappointed her:
Cool! Did you record it?
The world gossiped so much about the South, but at least people behind the wheel were civilized.
But mum, so chav! Welcome to the North.
Defiance slammed the door and from the windshield watched the chav get off and head towards the supermarket, no longer in a hurry.
It was a boy in her age range, on his cell phone; Defiance watched, curious. He didn't have a chav's face.
As if he had noticed it, he looked Defiance straight in the face with an eloquent expression, as if to say "the hell are you looking at?"
He wasn't looking at random, he was looking at her! Defiance refocused on her cell phone, not understanding what had intrigued her.
Meanwhile Elliott had returned from the other side of the parking lot.
Going up to Saint-Paul, Defiance felt strange to him, -...I'm sorry, for keeping you waiting.-
-No, I just saw how to park a car in the North.-
Elliott didn't understand.
-A teenybopper almost hit me with his Lambo, with his freaking piece of junk,- yelled Defiance, as angry as an old lady.
From her description, to Elliott it wasn't a Lamborghini; but a low-set hooligan's car was just a Lambo to her.
-In any case, I wrote down the licence plate, so we can report it to the gendarmes.-
The raiders, the gendarmes; it was fun to have a girl from the South and to dwell on the linguistic differences.
-Sure, that's what we shall do.-
Elliott eyed her notes: the gendarmes would not intervene and that was not a plate from the North, but he obviously had to defend his girlfriend; he had never had such idiosyncrasies, but it's known that girls' minds were complex and that his car was not really a status symbol.
-Defiance, you don't mind if I'm not a fancy-ass Lambo kind of guy?-
She scratched his beard and kissed his cheek; she liked her Elliott lumbersexual.
/
The lady who had served her that time in February was still sitting behind the boutique's counter.
When she raised her head, she found that peplum blonde girl facing her.
-Good afternoon! Lazuli, is that right?-
Whenever Eighteen had to do something legal she used her birth name. That was the one also figuring on her credit card.
-I'm sorry, dear, but we don't have appointments available for another couple of- -
-I'm here for the peplum.-
Eighteen looked at the lady at the counter with an almost feverish look. She hoped no one had taken it away in the meantime.
-I don't need to try it again. Off the rack, remember?-
The woman was impressed by how that future bride in love with her dress had given it up. She lit up at those words,
-It's like it's been here waiting for you all this time.-
Eighteen hadn't stopped thinking about it, that was the dress that made her feel special.
It was going to be her wedding dress, not the bridesmaid dress that had gotten stained with blood. Two dresses, two different roles, two memories: the memory that Eighteen would have of herself in the white peplum would be different from that of the night she had almost lost Marron.
She had made up her mind not to let the memory of that pain overshadow her joy, to claim the right to feel like a princess.
When the lady returned to the counter with the dress of her dreams wrapped in an elegant lining, Eighteen felt her heart beating quicker.
She quickly swiped the credit card in the terminal and sighed internally as the receipt curled on the counter.
-It's yours, Lazuli. I wish you much happiness.-
The woman touched her hand, handing her her purchase.
Eighteen was moved by a rush of absolute joy, -So do I for you.-
/
Thoughts of the author:
How happy I am to have found space for everyone and under 5000 words! I'm happy to have written about Eighteen and Krillin, Defiance and Elliott, and Seventeen and Lillian 😅 joking aside, I love to describe their friendship because they have more chemistry than the periodic table (chemistry for me is also in friendship. There's chemistry every time there's a true connection.)
A little clarification on Marron's eyes: in the anime they are either black or blue, it depends on the saga (his physiognomy changes a lot with her growing) and therefore I found an expedient.
