Having a magical dragon planning your wedding is a chance that almost no one would let go.

Second time husband and wife, Eighteen and Krillin had given each other a secret high five, running hand in hand along the abbey's aisle, following their guests on a cove tucked between those not too high cliffs covered with green lawns.

The maid of honour had squeezed her best friend's wrist in amazement.

"Oh my, Lazuli! How much did this cost you? "

"The same as for your husband's resurrection."

Eighteen had winked to herself, "You'll never know, Sara."

On the cove stood various structures made of tinted glass, wrought iron and elegant fabric, a cross between art nouveau pavilions and yurts: a decidedly new style of gazebo that was a total surprise even for the newlyweds.

Just like for the Rolls Royce, they had given no directions.

"Shenron wedding planner of the year."

Krillin smiled, sincere; he made Eighteen laugh too.

Under the pavilions, set tables waited for the horde of hungry guests.

"If Vegeta had known about all this food, he would have given a damn and would have come!"

Never had Chi-Chi, eyes still very much alive from the video call through the rose window, illuminated Bulma with wiser words.

"Yeah, we can take something home to dad, can't we?"

The scientist consulted with Trunks.

"All this stuff," Ronan wondered. "Did you pay for it?"

Kate kept on sipping her ice-filled cocktail.

/

A virgin mojito (pretend mojito!) in hand, Carly admired the bar corner; the yurt-pavilion sheltered from the weather an array of carved fruit ready to eat, colourful bottles of liquor, sparkling drinks ready mixed.

"Join me, Carly."

Eighteen appeared behind her, almost startling her. She took a couple of shots of an unknown spirit Carly couldn't touch anyway.

"Let's have another two, together."

"No, Lazuli, thank you."
"Are you saying no to the bride?"

Eighteen wanted to joke, and yet she knew she had made Carly uncomfortable. Carly was the only one who remembered how uncomfortable she had felt before Lazuli, in the early days.

Right now, however, the bridesmaid gave off a certain boldness.

"Eh, yes; I have to say no."

"Do you feel ok?"

"Very ok!" Carly said reassuringly, sneaking away with a bowl full of strawberries, blueberries, and chopped pineapple.

Eighteen reached for a pineapple skewer, shook her head and sighed.

/

An invisible film protected the tables from wind and water, entertaining the revellers with little rainbows at every splash of salt.

People chatted and ate.

Ronan's astonishment had faded between one forkful of carpaccio and the next.

"Wonderful party, Lazuli and Krillin, congratulations. And now, Lapis, you'll have to beat this when you marry Carly. "

Frogman was trying so hard to be nice...

The bridesmaid with the stole looked at him a little confused, methodically chewing her overcooked steak.

"Or even me, when I marry Kathryn. "

"Ronnie ... "

Ronnie got a warning kick under the table.

"What's up, now I can't even fantasize? "

"You two, don't break each other's hearts at my wedding. "

Thundered the bride.

"But seriously," ventured the groom, with a friendly nudge to his brother in law. "Any plans?"

The level of cringe in the conversation had reached thresholds that Seventeen could not tolerate; the cyborg rose sharply from the table of honour, slammed his napkin on the chair and ditched his mother, sister, girlfriend and various frogs.

Nobody could see where he had fled.

"Hey! What did I say? "Krillin started to go after him.

"Mmm, leave him alone, " Kate asserted peacefully, without taking her eyes off her fork.

" I ...he perplexes me sometimes," Ronan mumbled.

" Twenty-three years and counting."

1Kate, who with all her practice as Lapis's mother, never got used to his mood swings: one moment he was light-hearted and easy-going, a cheerful spirit, a moment later he would be wild and provocative, almost aggressive in his ways.

Carly hoped she didn't need two decades; she too wanted to get up and leave, but Lazuli already seemed upset enough and no, she wouldn't be the one to ruin her wedding.

Not after all her great efforts, moreover.

/

As soon as they were full enough, the guests scattered among pavilions and landmarks. The bridesmaids had reserved, with the complicity of the groom and Kate, another surprise to Eighteen:

from a laptop a homemade slideshow had played, various photos of Eighteen as a child, then with Krillin (there was also the selfie with her dishevelled bobbed hair, from the time they had looked for the dragon balls to resurrect Bruno); the guests let out a moan of tenderness when a picture of Eighteen nursing Marron appeared. She was looking at the child with unconsciously adoring eyes, with Krillin looking at Eighteen in that same way.

Many photos of simple everyday moments followed one another, for everyone to see; everyone except for Piccolo, he had left on his own.

Piccolo, and someone else.

Leaving the small crowd of guests behind, Eighteen took off her painful sandals and headed for the bar pavilion, which was almost empty.

Slouching in an armchair with his feet on a table, her brother looked at the distant waves with glassy eyes; he had undone his shirt and bow tie, the strands of hair that had escaped his ponytail were glued to his temples.

"You haven't watched my slideshow ..."

"I won't miss its Oscar nomination."

As nice as a kick in the teeth; they had just had the worst fight of their life and he was still like that!

"You really want it."

"Say what."

"To play Operation again."

"I'm laughing so hard I'll split my side."

What a dad/Brent joke...

Eighteen gathered her skirts and sat astride the coffee table, "You know the proverb: don't drown your sorrows in alcohol, they can swim."

Seventeen took a gulp from the bottle of rum in his hand. "It's useless, this doesn't do anything for me."

"Then you have no excuses. Get your ass together, you're embarrassing me."

Seventeen instinctively raised his eyebrows; he watched Oolong hum and drag more and more people into a cheesy conga line but right, he was the embarrassing one.

If Eighteen didn't show on her face even half the emotions she felt, that didn't make her less intuitive in recognizing those of others:

"Poor thing, Carly. She seems to be under the weather, are you guys broken up?"

Woe to Seventeen if he'd allowed himself to ruin HER day with the announcement that he and Carly had broken up.

Chi-Chi and Sara broke into the pavilion, cackling; then the widow approached the male twin with a scrutinizing eye.

"Who are you?"

It seemed to her that Eighteen was even taller, and what had she done to her hair? Then Chi-Chi noticed the smaller, blonde Eighteen, "So many Eighteens!"

Gohan and Sixteen also came: Marron and Amelia sat in the hands of the android as in baskets, a crispy sausage in each hand. Goten and Trunks followed, eating two hot dogs each.

Chi-Chi, who had been jolly up to that moment, suddenly melted away in a sea of tears; a proper sobbing cry, leaning on her eldest son.

"And now I feel so angry! Tell me how it's possible,..."

Sara patiently stroked her back. "Oh, Chi-Chi. It's just a hangover."

"Tell me, how ungrateful! He prefers to stay dead than to come back to his wife and children! "

The twins knew she was talking about Son Goku. And contrary to what the latest events in his love life might have him believe, in the end Seventeen wasn't the worst partner in the world.

"Why are you here alone?" Insisted Eighteen, without however waiting for an answer. "Shit. You guys broke up."

"No, nobody here is breaking up, alright? Not today."

Kate took over, hoping that Lazuli would forget about Lapis's whims and return to Krillin's side, to enjoy her party.

"And now suck it ..."

Seeing that Kate had taken the attitude of a dictator, like the times when they were little and she'd say "We'll settle this at home", she laughed at the thought of what Seventeen would have to put up with; Kate had a gift for twisting words and extorting information.

When the bride was gone, Kate sat down next to Lapis.

"Here comes mama ending the drama," he taunted, with his usual insolence.

But Kate had no patience, or time, to keep up with his whims:

"You know it's stupid to refuse selfless help?"

Lapis didn't want to talk: he preferred to be alone drinking rum, with an invisible curtain of bad mood hanging over him.

It was weird: that was a party, his sister's wedding, Kate would have expected his bubbly nature to overwhelm his obvious negative emotions. Instead, as Kate had already understood from his first years of life, Lapis was just like his father: lively by default but persevering in anger and discontent.

It had to be serious; and she had to shake him.

She stole the bottle from him and looked at his anger-hardened face:

"Listen, I get that you're a cyborg but I'm worried about your health. Now enough with the tantrums, fix yourself up and go keep Carly company. If I were her and you showed up like this, I wouldn't let you get away with it. "

Seventeen sprang to his feet, the leather of his soles making a noise of castanets.

"Great! You're on her side too."

"Are there any sides?"

"I'm being a jerk and I know it, but she was..."

Words failed him; then he spoke instinctively, hoping Kate wouldn't make the situation worse with unsolicited advice and questions.

"Carly is pregnant, did you know? No? Well, for three months she didn't say anything to me, and I fell from the sky like a bloody idiot. I...I can't."

He snatched back the bottle and downed it all.

Green with rage he wandered around the bar holding his fist to his lips, nibbling on his knuckles. Seventeen looked at Kate, who surely didn't know how to feel: so he had felt because of Carly.

No pulse.

"Hey ma. Did your jaw just drop?"

Surely Kate's jaw had dropped; the women had been watching the bridesmaid in her drapery armour all that time, they had come to a sensible conclusion; in the end, they had all been there before her.

Still, hearing it from Lapis made Kate's heart stop; in a benevolent way, with emotion. Didn't she see him grown-up enough? Did she think, in her mother's heart, that he was still too immature?

Kate was pretty sure he saw red because of pride, Carly not telling him hadn't sat well with him.

She was also sure that Carly had her reasons, but at that moment she was there to do her job as a mum and Lapis was still her baby, even now at twenty-three and a future father.

For his part, Seventeen was grateful to Kate for not having overwhelmed him with a thousand reactions and questions. He finally understood, he was sure, only good could come from his mother.

"Darling, are you happy?"

That was the only thing she asked him.

Lapis answered her with a grave voice and a nervous look. "Yes ..."

"Well, that's all that matters. It's so easy to get a grudge and feed it, but then it becomes toxic. Don't let negative feelings make you forget how privileged you are."

A few, simple words: Kate was a blessing.

Suddenly everything became clear in his heart.

Or maybe his mother's ability to change his perspective in a nutshell made him feel even more idiotic.

Kate giggled, inviting him to just be grateful; she touched his arm, buttoning his shirt on his chest.

"May I?"

She gestured to the still unmade bow tie and took his shrug for a yes.

And she didn't ask if she could hug him, because he would have said no and she would have done it anyway.

Kate held her beloved son until she felt those steel-like muscles relax. Finally.

"And congratulations."

Kate wanted to know if Carly had apologised; she had, she had recognised his mistake.

"Now go: you absolutely mustn't stress that poor girl," Kate warned.

"Do you want to make me feel guilty?"

Men always had to have everything explained :

"Lapis, pregnancy is like running a marathon for nine months. In a woman's life, it's one of the times when heart health is fragile, even for a healthy girl like Carly. Not all of us are superhuman. "

/

In July the sun set late in the Southeast, but by 7 o'clock the light had already changed on the water's edge. Carly had made up a small supply of flat, round pebbles; barefoot, skirt knotted on her thighs she took a run and threw the stones, to make them bounce on the surface of the water.

A man of immense stature and flaming hair, not very different from hers, watched her. Carly ended up making conversation. "What's your name ? "

"I identify myself as android 16. "

The famous Sixteen?

She was Seventeen's human. She was like the Weiss, like the Briefs; not like Cloe Mafia.

Sixteen stepped into the shallow water, observing the dolphins' somersaults offshore.

"Do you like the sea, Sixteen?" Carly smiled. "I do, although I don't like 'beach life'."

"So aren't you bathing with me? "

Bulma had shown up out of nowhere and in total silence had thrown a capsule on the sand: a dressing room had appeared and she had come out of it with the malachite green dress in her hand and a bikini on. "I have swimsuits for you too."

Bulma had equipped the emergency kits with capsules like that. She had also made some available for guests.

"With all this heat and all this sea, it's an outrage not to take a dip. Put on your swimsuit, come on!"

"I have veins and cellulite."

"It's natural."

Bulma motioned for Sixteen to wait. She somehow persuaded Carly to climb onto the giant android's shoulder with her and soon the two bridesmaids found themselves offshore, surrounded by dolphins.

"Geronimo!"

Bulma fell into the dark water. She gave a little cry of joy when she felt the first dolphin touch her arm.

"Sixteen, put her down."

"No, wait!"

The android took Carly from under the armpits and gently placed her in the water as she kicked.

Immersed up to her neck, Carly moaned in annoyance: she knew that the dolphins would find her interesting and that they would rub against her.

She had imagined them smooth and almost rubbery. Instead they were slimy. And they passed by her side and between her legs like torpedoes, one of them pushing her face underwater.

"Oh my God! It's HUGE!"

Carly gasped, Bulma laughed out loud.

/

Back at the cove, Dr. Brief dried herself quickly, and the weight of soaked clothes and hair weighed on Carly. The bridesmaid who had lost her stole off the coast was shivering and feeling feverish, she desperately wanted to sleep, plus a wave of nausea had made her head spin. Was she having a bout of nausea right now?

After all, she was still indebted to her physique, which had begged her to slow down; it was clear that all the anxiety and exhaustion accumulated over the past ten days would have a negative effect on her.

Bulma gave her some paracetamol from the emergency kit and sent her to the dressing room to change; when she was out she put a large beach towel around her shoulders and made her sit on a rock. Carly sniffed, spitting into a tissue.

Sixteen was troubled to see Seventeen's human uncomfortable,

"What's the matter?"

"She's dead tired and full of hormones: she has a mini human in her belly."

Carly jumped, "Bulma ?! What are you saying?"

The scientist winked and gently brushed a lock of her hair, using the comb from the kit.

"Oh don't worry! We noticed it right away. Besides, Sixteen is so smart, he deserves to learn."

Sixteen was so stunned.

Carly felt her heart make a triple pike once more. Did Lazuli also know?

/

Bulma and Carly hadn't noticed the path carved into the cliff which, like a parapet, offered a view from above on the cove.

Master Roshi and Puar had originally stationed there to look at the view but later, as every time, things with the old man had degenerated and now Puar was looking at his perverted face without surprise.

"Don't tell me you're looking at the bridesmaids' cleavage."

"What bridesmaids! Those are milkmaids."

/

With a clearer mind, Seventeen looked for his sister before even looking for Carly; was he still playing hide and seek or did he need her presence?

Eighteen was not with other guests dancing, playing or bathing; Seventeen found her holed up in the bathroom.

"What are you doing here?"

She was sitting on a toilet, alone, absorbed in who knows what activity.

"Leave me."

She wanted a break from the high social density of the party. Even if it was her party.

"You're facing a skilled opponent. What spell do you use? " Eighteen read, aloud.

Seventeen didn't know if she was talking to him. "Spell?"

Eighteen rolled her eyes.

"It's a stupid game on the internet. Which Hogwarts house would you be in. "

The kind of thing you do when you're bored. Sometimes Lillian and Carly played with those tests on social networks, What plant are you, What your last words will be.

The twins remembered that Lazuli liked Harry Potter; she had all the books at Kate's house.

Eighteen continued to read the options for the answer, "Well you even ask? Crucio."

The spell-torture that causes excruciating pain to those who suffer it.

Seventeen raised an eyebrow, "Why? Disarm them, if nothing."

Eighteen was still the same bully. She almost squeaked in amusement when she read the result.

" 'Slytherin! You would do anything to get power.' "

If there was anyone Seventeen knew and who could belong to that house, it was his sister.

He took the cell phone from Eighteen's hands, he wanted to play.

"I know what you'll get," grinned the bride, going to the mirror to touch up her make-up.

Seventeen took that game more seriously than she expected.

" You catch someone cheating in the final exams. What do you do? " He read the answers quickly. " Give him a high 5, everybody cheats. "

Eighteen looked at his furrowed brow.

"Relax, it's just a game! Do you want me to read you the result? "

Seventeen pressed the screen and let Eighteen take the phone back.

He saw a dodgy smile appear on her face and felt agitated," No! Don't tell meā€¦ "

"Of course you're Gryffindor. You're almost the stereotype." She grinned.

"What ... No!"

Seventeen wasn't crazy about Harry Potter, but he enjoyed it, it was fun. And his favourite house was Slytherin, the ambitious, sophisticated and classy bad guys. Not those do-gooders, always cheerful crowd-pleasers who always won just because they had the protagonist among their ranks.

"Ahh, if only you read the books ..." Eighteen continued to read from the cell phone.

"Seventeen, you are a hothead, brave bordering stupid and you would die for what you love. "

That little game had awakened certain memories that made her heart squeeze.

Why did everything in her life have to bring her back to the horror she had experienced?

Seventeen was fixing his hair in front of the mirror, with a hint of resentment.

"Yeah. But you are a serpent. "

Eighteen had to tell him something important, she stood in front of him until her presence forced him to look at her.

"But today you left me all the glory. You know, because it's my day. "

She laughed sincerely; she appreciated his effort.

Seventeen wasn't sure where she was going.

With natural movements as old as their existence, Eighteen hugged him; a gentle, serene hug as neither of them remembered.

"Thank you, Seventeen."

"For what?"

"You know what."

A hug that meant she was happy for him. Prouder than she had ever been. Although as usual he thought he could fool her, that she wouldn't understand.

She patted him on the arm, "And who knows, maybe a little Slytherin can come out of a Gryffindor and a Ravenclaw."

/

When Carly woke up the morning after the wedding, she realised that Sixteen and Bulma had taken her back to the Ryz hotel before she got too sick.

"I'm going to get Seventeen," had declared Sixteen.

"No, forget Seventeen," she remembered telling him.

Then she had fallen asleep in the android's arms, she hadn't even woken up when Bulma and the android had tucked her under the covers.

Lazuli's bridesmaid did not attend the cutting of the wedding cake, which was scheduled for eight in the evening.

She was sorry; she felt better, though, so it wasn't real sorrow.

She had really had to sleep, her body had told her enough.

She just hoped Lazuli wasn't offended.

Seventeen had almost quarreled with Sixteen: the android had gone to seek him vehemently, alarmed, repeating Bulma's astonishing explanation.

"Did you know that?"

"Of course I knew, stupid Sixteen, I put the little human inside her."

Peaceful Sixteen had disliked being called a stupid, had loaded the cyborg under his arm and carried him to the hotel.

Seventeen had tried to free himself, to no avail: that effort had cleared him of the anger he had left.

And now late in the morning, seeing her wake up, Seventeen welcomed Carly with her orange juice and iron supplement. And with a softer tone of voice than usual.

"So?"

The lad couldn't stop himself from letting his concern shine through. Now, in the end, he could no longer be cold with her.

Her hair smelling of fresh sheets, Carly snuggled against Lapis's chest.

"Can I hug you?" She begged him.

Seventeen was beginning to feel the pangs of remorse, for ten days he had distressed his beloved; the mother of his child.

While Eighteen and Krillin were cutting the cake, Seventeen had remained motionless beside sleeping Carly; he had whispered "Forgive me", dragging a gentle hand on the curve of her belly.

Now he felt her shudder slightly in his arms, her heart beating wildly.

He placed his lips on top of her forehead; Carly squeezed him tighter and tighter.

"Forgive me, Lapis. Forgive me."

She moved away from him to look him in the eye as he said those words; to look at each of his perfect and perfectly still features.

Lapis was looking for something inside himself; Carly knew him and knew that when the stakes were high, Lapis lost his irreverent aura and tended to want absolute honesty.

"Do you want to be with me or not?"

Seventeen frowned: what a question...

Carly had given him the gift of truth, helping him understand that Gero had not completely distorted him; Seventeen had always wanted Carly, he had always wanted children with her.

"Because if you can't forgive me, we can't be together."

Carly couldn't fathom an idea of being together sprinkled with irritability and resentment. It wasn't sustainable.

She felt an even greater emptiness dig into her chest, she couldn't and didn't want to think about that scenario: she had already cried so much for Lapis, ever since they were kids and she saw him wasting his intellect and energy in shady business.

Carly turned her shining eyes to Lapis's and grabbed his shoulders, forcing him to look at her:

"You are the love of my life and I can't lose you again! It would kill me. I want you to understand that I know I was wrong. If you want to leave, I don't want it to be because of me. I never meant to hurt you."

"But you did."

"And you hurt me!"

Anger could become toxic and turn into daggers with which it was easy to hurt, break. And up until then Seventeen and Carly had kept stabbing each other, trapped in that toxicity.

The cyborg watched Carly standing on her reddened knees, with sweetness written on her face and that other invisible being attached to her.

Seventeen, deep down, knew he didn't want to leave: he wanted to witness, day by day, the miracle he himself had performed.

The creature was another reason he wanted to stay, but the first was still Carly.

For the second time that day (the first for Carly, as she had just woken up) Seventeen timidly touched her belly.

Now he knew how to imagine that little thing in there; he had seen its legs and arms flex.

"I can't wait to feel him kick."

Carly sighed, still looking a little mopey.

But in a moment her breath and gaze stopped in absolute wonder.

"Lapis!'

She shook his hand and saw him turn around fast, hide a light in his eyes that perhaps had come to his cheeks.

They had felt the baby move, for the first time.

/

Thoughts of the author:

I'm back! With a chapter dedicated to the married couple, but in which I wanted to show a bit of the small dramas everyone has to face (Ronan who has not yet conquered the twins, Chi-Chi and her widowhood, etc.).

I also wanted to give space to the minor characters, since they are part of the party and the life of Krillin and now of Eighteen.

I also like to basic human and Z Fighters & co. interact, like with Sara and Chi-Chi.

Kate has the gift of turning words: before having the twins, when she still lived on Amenbo island, Kate was a lawyer a good one.

I picture what wild negotiations she and her children have had in their lifetime togetheršŸ˜‚

And thanks to Kate ... hallelujah, Seventeen makes up with Carly, this time for real!

50 points to Gryffindor.

Ps. I have actually seen some fanarts with the DB characters being sorted by the HP hat!