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On Air Supplena, the island was illuminated by the light of the rising moon. On the rooftop of the island castle’s storage room, three figures held each other as they watched on.
“The moon and stars are so much brighter here,” Suzi murmured. Her head was leaning on Caesar’s shoulder as she stared up at the sky. “Much brighter than when we were alive. I can even see the Milky Way…”
Caesar couldn’t help but agree. No matter how many times night had fallen over the afterlife, the starry sky always felt magical. But if he had to tell the truth, he was paying less attention to the stars than he was to the pair on either side of him. Their warmth was slowly seeping into him, just as it had when they were alive together. But this time, unlike when he was alive, he didn’t try to fight it.
“It’s probably because light pollution doesn’t exist here. I’ve only seen the sky being this clear when my group was crossing the Eastern Desert back then,” Joseph commented, also leaning his whole body weight on Caesar. “This is what the Ancients saw thousands of years ago. No wonder they came up with something like gods.”
At this point, he was used to being their living pillow. He wasn’t naive enough to think it was from the scent of the soap coating his clothing. They all still had regrets from the lives they led, and he knew they had missed him dearly. He didn’t mind his new “job” in the end.
“Hm, it’s strange… All the buildings and things from the current years are in the afterlife, but there’s no light pollution here. I wonder why?” Suzi remarked.
Joseph shrugged. “Divine byproduct? Might be something to not hurt the souls resting here.”
“Or maybe everything’s some sort of illusion?”
“Might be.”
Just listening to their silly bickering made Caesar want to sigh, but the sound stopped in his throat. Even their frivolous ways of thinking had been dearly missed. He had no idea how long he’d spent without them. In order to preserve his sanity and patience as he waited for them, he chose not to count the years.
When Joseph suggested that the three of them stay up and watch night fall from the roof of the castle, his blondes had been eager to agree. Suzi went on a tangent about different constellations and the myths associated with them, and some knowledge of planets and solar systems she remembered Shizuka telling her about. Ironically, considering her surname, the little girl had wanted to become an astrophysicist.
But as for Caesar, he’d only wanted to look at the sunset. For a long time, he hadn’t liked looking at the stars.
Many decades ago, Caesar had been the only one living on Air Supplena on this plane of existence. He’d only seen the night sky as part of the stagnant beauty he’d spent his lonely hermitage in. The only kind of soul-searching and coming-to-terms he underwent didn’t have anything to do with the sky. But as more souls arrived and returned to the island, more friends and family he’d grown to treasure, he no longer felt any loneliness from looking at the starry sky above.
“I think that’s it,” Caesar joined in. “This place creates structures as its inhabitants will it. There’s even places from the distant past, since the souls of its inhabitants are still there.”
Suzi tilted her head to look at him. “Really?”
“Yeah, my grandfather took me to see the Tibetan Empire once. The buildings are amazing,” Caesar replied. “This place is infinite, it’ll just keep expanding with locations from all ages. That’s why there’s no other Ripple students here. Air Supplena is here, but this isn’t the version of the island when it was in its prime.”
He felt Joseph nod against his side, and Caesar suspected that he was only paying half-attention. He was probably falling asleep; Caesar made a note to tease Joseph later if he ended up falling asleep to the sound of Caesar’s voice.
To be fair, he’d fallen asleep just from Joseph’s presence too. It had only been a few decades since Joseph had finally passed on, compared to the many that Caesar had spent without either of his partners – granted, he was happy that they’d lived long, eventful lives. But a small empty part of him was finally filled when Suzi and then Joseph arrived, the last of his loved ones, and Caesar found that he could finally relax.
Relaxing, for the first time since he had died…this must be what “being at peace” meant. He’d heard it being used all the time, but never truly understood what it meant.
His loved ones were within reach and could no longer be taken away, and he no longer had to fight a forever war for the sake of his bloodline. There were still some nights where he woke up gasping for breath, but now his partners were there to soothe him back to sleep. Whenever he completed his training well, his master would pat his head and tell him he did a good job that day. Even when he stood by himself in the island’s courtyard, he could always feel someone’s presence nearby, reminding him that he wasn’t alone anymore.
…At this rate, he was going to be the one to fall asleep first, wasn’t he? It hadn’t been the first time he felt so content that he fell asleep on someone. Lisa Lisa hadn’t yet let him live down the time he fell asleep on her husband’s lap.
Joseph suddenly sat up straight. “You know…” he began, immediately getting the attention of his wife and partner.
Just by the lilt of his voice, Caesar could tell that Joseph was up to something again. His hijinks had ended in disaster enough times that Caesar was immediately concerned just by the sound. On the other hand, Suzi looked at him with bleary yet curious eyes.
“Back then…we only had a private wedding ceremony. Me and Suzi did,” Joseph began to ramble. “Suzi wanted it to be in a church, but didn’t invite her friends because I was from an Allied power. And everyone thought I was dead, so no one on my side came. We didn’t have a big celebration either, because I was still recovering, crutches and all.”
Caesar squinted as he watched Joseph. Was he just reminiscing about his wedding with Suzi, or was this another lead-up to something within Joseph’s brand of crazy?
As if answering, Joseph continued, “So, we didn’t have much of a wedding, and Caesar never really got one at all. And whatever vows we made kinda fell apart after the, err, Japan incident. Plus, there’s that whole ‘till death do us part’ bullshit they keep saying at weddings, and we’re already dead! I mean, what’s the point of that?”
“Yeah, I know it wasn’t really perfect. We made it work, though!” Suzi chimed in.
“Oi, don’t get distracted. You know we don’t need to talk about our relationship status from when we were alive. We and our family acknowledge the three of us to be together already,” Caesar reminded her. He then turned back to Joseph. “Just what are you trying to get at, Jojo?”
Joseph turned to look at him, and Caesar immediately felt his heartbeat kick up a notch. It always seemed to do that whenever Joseph was about to say or do something that would make Caesar feel as if he’s putting his life in his hands, like some sort of sixth sense.
“I think we should hold another ceremony. Granny Erina still gives me grief that we never even got a proper one,” Joseph told them. Upon seeing the confused-slash-stunned expressions of his lovers, he elaborated, “I mean, something like, you know, a vow renewal ceremony. But with Caesar there. Well, he never actually got one, so this would be his first one, wouldn’t it? We could invite our families, including our friends too-”
“Wait, wait, wait!” Suzi interrupted him, her voice rising higher in pitch. “You want us to have another wedding?! But with us three?!”
Joseph looked at her with an expression that Caesar would think was blank if he hadn’t known him so well. “That’s what I’m suggesting, yeah.”
Suzi gasped and put her hands on each side of her face, letting out an excited squeal. Her excitement was contagious, and Joseph dropped his act of indifference as a smile broke out on his face. He looked between Suzi and Caesar with so much adoration in his eyes, but he settled on watching his latter partner.
So in shock he was by the suggestion, Caesar’s first thoughts were him wondering why Suzi was so worked up over a vow renewal. Those had been popular in Italy for decades, hadn’t they?
And then his brain caught up with the reality of what was happening, and he clutched at his racing heart as he mentally lost his footing again.
“Jojo…this isn’t one of your jokes, is it?” Caesar demanded. He could feel his breath coming out ragged, not befitting of a Ripple warrior at all. “You’re really serious…?”
“Of course I am, hundred percent. You really think I’d kid about this?” Joseph let out an exasperated sigh, but still looked at him with a fond smile. “You think too little of me, Caesarino. Haven’t I already proven that I’m serious about these things?”
Unfortunately, he has. Over the course of Joseph being here, Caesar had watched him do a number of sweet things to charm him and Suzi. From small acts like getting them flowers they liked to planning out dates on the mainland down to the last detail (which usually ended up going off the rails halfway through), there was no denying that Joseph was very enthusiastic about making up for the painful years of their trio being separated.
But Caesar wasn’t thinking rationally right now. He was thinking of the dictatorship he’d been raised in at the time, the guilt he swallowed down for several things in his life, the fear of what would happen to the three of them if they were found out, and the heartache of not being able to show his love for them properly and not getting too close to them. He loved them with all of his heart, even back then, and he couldn’t control it. But everything stable that he clung to always slipped through his fingers, from his family to his delinquency to his bisected friend. Even his own life, too.
Joseph began to frown, as if he were reading Caesar’s mind. Even without Joseph’s odd sense of precognition, the three of them were so in-synch that he was pretty sure that he could.
“I know what you’re thinking,” he said, as Caesar expected. “It’s something along the lines of ‘we can’t have a public wedding with the three of us’, am I right? But we’re not living anymore, so who’s gonna stop us? Our families already know, and they can’t. We don’t have to hide ourselves in the afterlife.”
Like so much of his strategic logic, Joseph’s words made sense. He took the threads of Caesar’s own thinking and twisted them into a lifeline that brought him back onto solid ground. Yes, they were in the afterlife, not in a society that would rip them apart if they were discovered. There was nothing to fear, nothing at all.
“You…” Caesar took a deep breath, and he nodded. “You’re right. It’s not illegal here, and your family will be happy for you to have a proper ceremony this time-”
“AND! And we can finally get married to you!” Suzi shouted, wrapping her arms around Caesar and squeezing the breath out of him.
Well, it might have just been the breath knocked out of him from the idea of himself getting married.
“Sounds like a plan!” Joseph exclaimed, as if he wasn’t the one who suggested it in the first place. “Let’s get married!”
Suzi launched herself over Caesar’s lap and tackled Joseph in a hug, where they fell back on the rooftop with squeals and laughter. Caesar watched them with so much warmth in his heart, aware that the heat was spreading across his face and his eyes were starting to burn with tears.
He’d been to weddings before, back in Naples for his father’s friends and neighbours. He hadn’t been to many when he had grown up, but he’d practically been assured the spot as Mark’s best man when he’d gotten the news of the engagement. Although he’d dreamed of a happy family, he’d never thought he’d be the one at the altar. And when he was in a relationship with Joseph and Suzi, he’d been prepared to watch from the audience as they got married, their secret hidden to all.
It wouldn’t have been a bad thing either, to stay in the relationship with them while keeping his Zeppeli surname this way. But the secrecy still hurt, when he wanted to adore them as much as social convention allowed.
Leave it to Joseph to find a way around any problem, and for Suzi to sweep everyone up in her excitement.
The pair giggled as they held themselves close enough to be brushing noses, but as it died down, they turned to Caesar. His voice was caught in his throat; he didn’t know what to say in a situation like this. Or rather, what could he even say?
“Oh, this is your first time actually being married,” Suzi suddenly remembered (and honestly, it didn’t surprise Caesar that she forgot in the heat of the moment). Her smile began to turn to something more cautious, gentle. “Is this something you want? Do you want to properly be married to us?”
Bless Suzi’s heart, she had the intuition to know the hearts of the ones closest to her. She’d been there when Caesar had first started out in his Ripple training too, when he’d confided his frustrations in her. She knew to not push him too far, even if her treating him like a startled forest creature was unnecessary, in his opinion. But she knew when to be gentle when needed.
“Well, I think we’ve been waiting for it forever, so, uh…” Joseph looked nervous as he trailed off. He was quick to regain his momentum, “If you don’t want an actual wedding though, we can elope! Go find a nice, quiet place, disappear for a year or so…”
“Joseph, you and I already eloped, accidentally,” Suzi pointed out. “And everyone already knows about Caesar being with us, so there’s no point.”
“Oh, uh…right. Yeah, I knew that!”
Joseph’s cheeky grin and Suzi’s snickers finally broke through his shock, and Caesar found himself starting to nod.
“I- Yes. Yes, I want to, I will. Sì.” Caesar began to smile as his eyes filled with tears. He quickly looked down in a futile attempt to prevent his partners from seeing.
It didn’t stop either of them, and Joseph's excitement was briefly shadowed by his concern. “Caesar…?”
Happier than he’d ever felt before, with his grip on his second language slipping, Caesar kept rambling on, “Oddio, non pensavo che… Sì, sì! Voglio sposarti! Facciamolo-”
He was cut off by Suzi turning around to hug him, nearly putting her knee in Joseph’s crotch in the process. She reached up and wrapped her arms around Caesar’s neck, pulling him forwards and letting him rest his head on her shoulder. His babbling was choked off into sobs, and he pulled her into a tight hug of his own.
He’d long accepted that he was never going to be married…actually, he probably knew that when he was alive. He dreamed of having a happy family, but he continued seducing many women. When Suzi and Joseph came to the afterlife, having spent a lifetime married without him, they easily accepted him back into their relationship, as if there was an empty slot that was reserved especially for him. He thought that being married after death wasn’t possible, so he was happy remaining their eternal partner.
He never thought he’d fall into a mess, just from the impossible being made possible in the hands of a pair who he really should have expected it from by now. Surely, surely, this had to be what happiness was.
After a small whine about the near-disaster (according to the Joseph Dramatics), Joseph swept the pair up in his arms for a group hug. Suzi let out a squeak from surprise, but she squirmed herself into a comfier spot as she giggled at his sudden actions. Caesar didn’t move or make a sound, but he could feel Joseph adjusting his arms into a better position to hold him.
He could feel teardrops sinking into his sleeves from above. Amid the laughter and happy babbling, he didn’t know whose they were.
Caesar took a few deep breaths to collect his bearings. “I thought a proposal was supposed to be more romantic than that,” he remarked, his voice thick. He cleared his throat, ignoring Joseph’s complaining retorts. His cheeks and the corners of his mouth were starting to hurt. Even so, he decided, this was just fine.
“Alright, so here’s the plan,” Joseph began as he tossed a bag of invitations onto the motorboat.
On the dock beside him, Caesar rolled his eyes. “We already know the plan, remember? We were all there for it.”
“Well, we only decided on this whole thing last night, so it bears repeating,” Joseph argued. “Plus, I don’t want somebody to forget it while delivering messages.”
Standing on the stone ground of the mainland and holding four envelopes in her arms, Suzi looked away and acted more innocent than she needed to.
“Alright, so: I’ll be heading to my folks at the Joestar Manion, tell them the news, and get them to help with setting up the venue and ceremony. And I’ll get Uncle Speedwagon to send out these invites for our friends and extended family,” Joseph repeated. “Suzi, you pass out those four invites to the people on the island and get Mum to help with wardrobes and rings. Caesar, you tell your family and get them to help with throwing the actual party. Can’t go wrong with Italians handling the food.”
Caesar let out a scoff at his partner’s – no, fiancé’s – use of stereotypes and shook his head. “Half of your family is English and American. It’s pretty subjective,” he commented, truthfully being not much better than him.
“Alright, that’s the plan!” Suzi nodded. “I’ll see you all later!”
“Later, Suzi!” Joseph jumped into the motorboat, nearly rocking it, then motioned to Caesar, “Come on, let’s head out!”
“Ciao, bella!” Caesar called to Suzi, blowing her a kiss while Joseph rolled his eyes and gagged. Then, he got in the motorboat, and it began to move on its own to their intended destination.
Unlike when they were alive, the trip to the mainland took only a few minutes instead of half an hour. The boat was quick to align itself at the docks near the shore, where two buildings could be seen. Joseph jumped out of the motorboat with his comically-large sack of invitations, beginning a sprint to the Joestar Mansion in the distant hills. As for Caesar, he turned to the much closer house by the shoreline.
The afterlife recreated places from a soul’s memory, a “rule” created by higher powers for the comfort of the souls. The small house was the Zeppeli’s family home as they remembered it. His father, mother, and siblings all lived inside, all of them spending the time together that they couldn’t in life.
As he approached the house, Caesar fought down the swelling anxiety in him. Earlier that morning, he’d made a call to his father, saying that he needed help with something but not giving specifics. He also asked him to bring his grandfather over for this talk – both should be in the house now, waiting for him.
Caesar took a deep breath, then knocked on the door.
Footsteps approached and the door opened, and Caesar was happy to see it was his mother who answered it.
“Oh, my dear son. It feels like forever since I’ve seen you!” she warmly greeted, giving him kisses before reaching up to hug him. “Why didn’t you let us know you were coming? I would have made something for you!”
“I told Father,” Caesar replied, hugging her back. He missed her more than she knew, a lingering feeling from her early departure from his life. Between her death and his time in the slums, he never managed to shake the fear he felt whenever someone got sick.
“Mario, that moron,” she sighed, smiling as she shook her head. She looked up at him again. “Come inside. Your siblings will be happy to see you.”
Caesar happily followed her in, where, true to her prediction, he was tackled into a pile by his younger siblings. He laughed and ruffled their hair while they playfully insulted him for taking so long to visit them. He’d just visited them last week, but the Zeppeli children were a tight-knit bunch, and all of them adored their older brother – perhaps even more now, since he managed to become an adult (which, in child terms, meant that he could be used as a jungle gym).
Hearing the laughter and commotion, Caesar’s father poked his head out from a room in the back to see what was going on. As soon as he spotted Caesar, he smiled and went to join them, followed by Caesar’s grandfather. Mario looked how Caesar remembered him too; though the afterlife usually allowed a soul to appear at their prime by default, he knew that his father would have preferred how things were when everyone was happy, hence his current appearance.
Mario went to stand by his wife, and Baron Zeppeli simply took a seat in a nearby chair to watch the rest of the group. For a moment, it felt like everything was as it should be…minus the small details of Caesar being grown-up and his grandfather being there, of course.
It was only after Caesar had been discovered living on Air Supplena Island that he learned some of the unofficial “rules” that the afterlife worked by. Other than this place creating locations for its souls and making transportation faster, another “rule” was that souls will awaken in the place they were generally the happiest in life. Sometimes, it was at a physical location, and the souls would wake up there – like how Caesar woke up on Air Supplena Island. Other times, it was a mental state of being that felt like home, such as with family – like how Joseph and Suzi woke up in the Joestar Mansion.
When he learned about it, Caesar simply accepted it as fact. After all, he was happy with his family back at their Naples home, but he had cherished upholding his family’s pride, taking his training seriously and diligently trying to atone for his misunderstanding years ago. It was a place where, in his eyes, he had redeemed himself in accepting his family’s burden.
It was on that island where he had been absorbed into a small family of his own, most of whom he’d known for years and were preparing to defeat the Pillar Men. He began his relationship with Joseph and Suzi there too, where he’d felt so comfortable with their friendship and companionship that his loneliness’s insatiability was quelled. With the six of them on the island, he was sure that he would be prepared to face the Pillar Men again.
But with nobody else on the island, he never learned about what the afterlife could and couldn’t do. As much, he never left or tried to communicate outside the island. On the mainland, his family thought he was the only Zeppeli still alive.
Despite Caesar’s siblings being taken in by Mario’s friends and neighbours, the Great Depression caused Italy’s already-weakened condition from the Great War to worsen. After Mario had been swallowed by the stone wall, he found himself point blank with his very cross wife and his upset younger children. Many explanations and apologies were given, and they were relieved that at least the eldest child was still alive.
Fifteen years after Mario’s death, Erina Joestar came to visit them when she arrived in the afterlife, accompanied by Will A. Zeppeli. She asked if she could see Caesar so she could give her grandchildren’s greetings to him, and Mario’s father wanted to see what sort of person his grandson was. Erina explained that Caesar died in battle a while ago, only four years after Mario had.
Confusion turned to panic, and Will and Caesar’s mother set off to look for him and bring him back. Mario was left with the children, which he couldn’t contest due to what happened the last time he went off looking for something. But because he wasn’t there, neither party searching for Caesar knew about Air Supplena’s existence.
Fifty years after Caesar’s death, Lisa Lisa arrived in the afterlife and found him while showing her first husband where she’d lived. He was reunited with his family, communication and transportation was reinstated on the island, and Lisa Lisa and her husband chose to live on the island. Caesar chose to stay but visited his family lots, and all’s well that ends well.
Although the small house was where the biggest grouping of the Zeppeli family were, it was always a special occasion when everyone, including Will and Caesar, got together. It made Caesar so content that he almost forgot why he came there in the first place.
Thankfully, his grandfather cleared his throat and looked down at the group. “As lovely as this reunion is, I believe we have something to discuss, no?”
“Ah- That’s right,” Caesar quickly remembered, and carefully removed his siblings from himself while muttering apologies. When he was standing up, he looked to his father. “Were you two in the back room?” he asked, remembering where things were stored in their house.
“Yes, come,” Mario waved him over as he led the way into the room. Caesar waved at his siblings and his mother as he followed, and his grandfather joined them as well.
The door closed, and Will went to sit on a table. The other two remained standing.
“So, you said you wanted our help with something?” Mario asked.
Caesar nodded, taking a deep breath. “I need help setting up the celebration,” he began. “Or, I guess, a party. Maybe the decorations too, if the Joestars need help with that. I was asked to help with the celebration part specifically, and I know you two have friends that could assist our family with this. Joseph is getting his family to help set up the ceremony itself, and Suzi is getting help with the clothing-”
“Caesar, my boy, slow down,” Will cut him off, putting a hand on his shoulder. Caesar felt his face heat up when he realized that he was starting to ramble in front of them, but kept his expression carefully neutral. His grandfather continued, “You gave your father a call, but you never said what you needed help with in the first place.”
Caesar’s eyes widened; he didn’t tell them that, but he’d forgotten about that until now.
“It’s…for a wedding. I’m getting married. To Joseph and Suzi,” he told them. “They wanted to hold a vow renewal ceremony to give them a public wedding this time, and since the three of us are together again…”
Caesar trailed off, trying to gauge his father and grandfather’s reactions. He was going to go through with the wedding no matter what, but the flickers of worry grew as he wondered if they’d refuse to help - that is, refuse to accept him. Caesar being in a relationship with Joseph and Suzi wasn’t news, but his grandfather was from the Victorian era and his father raised him and his siblings as Catholic. He told himself that his worries were at least founded.
Of course, because the universe liked testing Caesar’s expectations and worn thread of sanity, he didn’t expect his grandfather suddenly wrapping him in a hug and dragging him over towards them. He let out a squawk as his hair was tousled, but he found himself smiling despite himself.
“Ohohoho! Attaboy, Caesar!” Will laughed. “That certainly is something to celebrate!”
Beside them, Mario watched with a warm, yet exasperated smile. “It certainly is,” he agreed, reaching out to pat his son’s shoulder (as he knew by now that he couldn’t relinquish him from his father quite yet). “But when was this decided? How long have you been engaged?”
“Ah- Just last night. I didn’t hide it, I swear-” Caesar stammered, but his grandfather suddenly loosened his grip and he found himself being pulled into his father’s arms next, while still receiving affectionate gestures to the head.
“I’m not angry, don’t worry. But my son was engaged and I didn’t know!” Mario exclaimed. “It’s only natural for a father to fuss over his son’s wedding.”
“Well, I can't really speak for myself,” Will unhelpfully chimed in.
Skirting around the uncomfortable topic of the Zeppeli Family Tradition, Caesar managed to wiggle out of their arms and step back. “So, could you help us with setting up the party?” he asked.
“Oh, yes, yes! Of course,” Will said, not paying full attention. “I can’t believe it. The Joestars and Zeppelis were always allied, but to think the descendants of Jonathan and I would unite us in this way…quite a funny thought.”
“Grandfather, you know it’s not just me and Joseph,” Caesar pointed out, oddly wondering why that was the first thing he thought of. “I’m marrying Suzi too.”
“Well, isn’t she a Joestar as well? You’re marrying a Joestar couple, boy.”
Caesar couldn’t really find an argument against that.
Mario chuckled and shook his head. Then he took a deep breath and looked up at Caesar. “Those two, do they make you happy?”
Caesar smiled and gave a small nod. “They do. More than they know.” He looked down, a bit embarrassed. He added quietly, “More than I ever imagined.”
“Then I’ll give them my blessing,” Mario replied. “Just remember that the rest of us are here too, if you need it.”
Though his father’s response shouldn’t have surprised Caesar, it somehow managed to do so. He didn’t quite know what his grandfather would think of the marriage, but perhaps his grandfather’s own strangeness made him more accepting of those things despite the era he lived in.
However, his father had been a traditional type, the seemingly ideal model of an Italian man. Things like gay marriage, polyamory, and magic (ironically, for a Ripple practitioner) were forbidden by the church, but unlike most parents, Mario had never touched on those topics around his children. After their mother had passed away, he wanted to raise his children without the fear that their country was spiraling towards.
When Mario had left, he had left behind his vast savings from his carpentry work for the children to support themselves. He didn’t know why the children had all arrived in the afterlife before him despite this, and though he first thought there was a resurgence of the Spanish Flu, the children told him that Caesar didn’t tell them any details before the neighbours took them in. Only when Erina came did he learn that the money was stolen when Caesar reached out for help.
The guilt of the short lives of his children never went away. It only got worse when he was told of Caesar’s lonely life and how he kept losing everything he held dear. Caesar had always been his precious child, the eldest and most likely to follow in his footsteps.
Caesar wasn’t sure if his father’s acceptance of what he did was because he had become more open-minded during his travels or because of his heavy guilt. But he wasn’t going to say anything, not when his father brought him into another hug.
Tears came to Caesar’s eyes as he smiled, tucking the lower half of his face into his father’s grey coat and hugging him back. “Thank you, Father,” he murmured.
There was a moment of quiet as father and child held each other, but it was suddenly broken when Will started running and nearly slammed into the closed door as he skidded to a halt. Caesar and Mario watched him fiddle with the doorknob for a bit, which was as stiff as it had been in life, before he began speeding out the door.
Caesar and his father gave chase, going past his mother and siblings, and were soon outside. “Grandfather! What are you doing?!” Caesar shouted.
“I’m going to find Jonathan!” Will shouted back, his voice growing quiet as he kept running down the path to the mansion. “He and I need to discuss decorations, and find an officiant…”
“But the Joestars are already setting up the venue! We need to handle the food and tables!”
Caesar knew his voice probably couldn’t reach him anymore, and he sighed. Mario gave him a couple pats on the back.
“I’ll try to rein him in,” he promised, and Caesar let out a small laugh. The head of the Zeppeli family was so eccentric that he wasn’t sure whether anyone could really wrangle him.
Without another word, Mario took his hand off his back and walked quickly into the house. The heavy door shut itself behind him, and Caesar could make out the muffled sounds of Mario’s voice. He heard his mother gasp, followed by his siblings starting to shout. Caesar rubbed his forehead, feeling a headache coming on. He had planned on telling his mother and siblings himself, but his father must have been a little too excited.
The rest of the visit was just about what Caesar expected, being tackled by his siblings and his mother questioning him while hugging him. It took nearly an hour to pry his siblings off him, but he stayed the rest of the day for coffee and cookies while answering his parents’ questions. Now and again, his siblings would drag him into playing with them, and he’d keep them entertained with his bubbles. Truly, there was no better thing in the world than a loving family.
As the sun began to set, Caesar said his goodbyes and made his way back to Air Supplena Island. The exhaustion of the day’s events had taken its toll on him, but his heart was fuller than ever. He wondered just how Joseph and Suzi fared in their own tasks.
As the boat docked at the island, Caesar had barely gotten himself out before he noticed Lisa Lisa coming out from one of the buildings. He stepped off the dock and onto the paved stone, where he met his teacher halfway to the building. Before he could say a thing, she reached up and put her hands on each side of his head, pulled him down, and kissed his forehead.
“Congratulations,” she smiled, letting go of him. “I couldn’t be happier for you.”
“Th-Thank you, Master,” Caesar replied, his eyes darting to the side. Despite her personality remaining serious, she was a lot more affectionate to him than before. Even decades later, he still wasn’t used to it.
Lisa Lisa took one look at his haggard state and quietly laughed. “Why don’t you go have a rest, Caesar?”
“I’ll go do that,” he immediately agreed, not fighting that command (a suggestion, but he’d listen to any request from her) whatsoever. “I’ll see you later, Lisa Lisa.”
On the way back to his room, he received congratulations from Loggins, Messina (both of whom also tried giving him congratulatory noogies), and Lisa Lisa’s first husband. Once he opened the door, he saw Suzi already asleep on the bed. He closed the door behind him as he smiled warmly, and he changed into his pyjamas and snuck under the sheets to join her.
A few minutes later, the door was practically kicked down.
“Phew, that was tiring. But it’s done!” Joseph announced, slamming the door behind him. “Sorry I took so long! Lisa Lisa gave me a shovel talk, I swear- That woman’s supposed to be doing it for me, not at me!”
He suddenly went quiet, seemingly just noticing his fiancés sleeping or trying to sleep. He tried to change into his pyjamas as quietly as he could (which was as silent as an elephant trying to sneak around, but at least he was trying) and crawled in on the other side of Caesar.
Reluctantly, Caesar indulged him and turned over onto his back. He made sure Suzi was still tucked into his side as she slept like a log. Grinning like a pleased cat, Joseph moved onto Caesar’s arm and put his head on his chest.
“Everything’s all being set up now,” Joseph quietly told him.
“I heard you the first time,” Caesar grumpily muttered. Joseph raised his head and pressed a kiss to his jaw in apology before settling his head back down.
Oddly, Caesar couldn’t find it in himself to be mad after that.
“Caesar,” Lisa Lisa says. “Let’s go to the mainland today.”
Caesar was surprised by the out of the blue request. Normally, trips to the mainland were for everyone to come along, not just Lisa Lisa and whoever she brought with her. Sometimes, she only went with George, but Caesar knew that was a couple’s thing, like when he and his partners went on a date.
Currently, Loggins and Messina had cancelled their training to let them prepare for the wedding. This would normally be a good time for the three of them to hang out and relax, but Joseph had been on the phone for most of the day. At least Suzi was beside him as took a walk around the courtyard.
“To the mainland?” he repeated.
“Yes, we’re going shopping,” she replied. “I’m going to help you with your wardrobe for the ceremony.”
So that was it, makes sense. “I already have formal wear,” Caesar pointed out.
“I don’t imagine you’ll be wearing your white-and-purple outfit to your own wedding,” Lisa Lisa sharply told him. “If I recall correctly, you used it for picking up girls back then, didn’t you?”
Caesar’s face went red as he scrambled for an excuse, and Suzi began to laugh. Lisa Lisa sighed and waited for them to get their acts together.
Suzi recovered first, and she patted Caesar’s shoulder. “Don’t stand there with your mouth open, you’ll catch flies!” she joked. “But really, you should go! Looking at fancy clothes is always so fun!”
Caesar presumed that those memories were from accompanying Lisa Lisa in life or from after her marriage as a high-class woman. She rarely ever got anything like that for herself when he was alive.
“Right, I understand. I’ll go,” Caesar answered, feeling a bit of excitement in his heart. Truthfully, he enjoyed looking at fancy clothing and buying some on occasion. He wouldn’t say aloud that he was vain, but he certainly wouldn’t deny it either.
“Wonderful. Let’s go.” Lisa Lisa turned around and began walking to the docks without another word. Caesar turned to kiss Suzi’s forehead, then went with Lisa Lisa as Suzi called her goodbyes after him.
A short boat trip later, the pair reached the mainland. Docking at a different shore than the one leading to the Joestar and Zeppeli homes, Caesar followed Lisa Lisa through the streets of a lookalike of Venice’s commercial district. By now, he was used to going down these streets. It became more fun whenever Joseph or Suzi wanted to race up and down them, or even drag him into it, despite there being other people around.
“Lisa Lisa,” Caesar began, “is coming here really necessary?”
Lisa Lisa looked back at him. “What do you mean?” she asked. “Are you nervous?”
“No, that’s not it.” He explained, “The afterlife can create clothes for us. Wouldn’t it be easier to look at a suits catalogue?”
Lisa Lisa turned away, continuing her walk.
“Yes, the afterlife can provide us with everything we need. But it also creates places for the express purpose of us travelling and living in them. Places that existed once, whether in the distant past or the present as we lived it,” Lisa Lisa told him. “It’s better to keep routine from when you were human, rather than borrow the afterlife’s power. If you’re mentally self-reliant, then you can retain your humanity.”
As usual, Lisa Lisa’s words held truth in them. Caesar knew better than to question her or her judgement, even if her most unreasonable commands left his panicking. Since the day he met her, his teacher had never steered him wrong.
Though deep down, he knew that his teacher also just loved fashion and shopping.
He continued following Lisa Lisa until they reached a certain boutique and went inside. Caesar looked around at the clothing racks and shelves, all holding different styles of fancy menswear. Almost immediately, a person came up to greet them.
“Good afternoon! Do you need any assistance?” the man, who Caesar supposed was the owner, asked them with a smile. Caesar wondered why there would be a soul staffing this place, but he wondered if this boutique in particular was a solitary man’s life’s work. After all, souls wake up where they were happiest in life.
“Yes, we’re here for a sizing and colour-based selection,” Lisa Lisa answered him. She then gestured towards Caesar. "He's getting married, and we’d like a full outfit.”
“I understand!” The owner looked between the pair. “Please bring your son to the back, and I’ll take his measurements in a moment.”
“I’m not her son,” Caesar corrected at the same time as Lisa Lisa said, “Thank you, we’ll meet you there.”
Both of them looked at each other with peculiar expressions, but they went to the fitting room at the back without touching on that particular topic.
Just as he said, the owner of the boutique came back to take Caesar’s measurements in record time. Paying for things wasn’t necessary in the afterlife, which could only mean that the owner managed this boutique because he enjoyed doing it. Once all of the measurements were written down, the owner asked Lisa Lisa which colours she had in mind.
“Light pinks, yellows, and oranges,” she answered. “My daughter in-law couldn’t decide on which one.”
“Is it to match the flowers?” the owner asked.
“I believe she was going for a sunset theme.”
Caesar was more willing to believe that Suzi just wasn’t able to make up her mind on choosing the colors. Still though, Caesar loved watching beautiful sunsets - orange was his favourite colour anyhow.
When the owner left to retrieve clothing, Caesar turned to Lisa Lisa. “Suzi decided on a dress code?”
“For the bride and grooms, at least,” she answered.
“She never discussed that with us,” Caesar recalled, frowning. “In fact, we never discussed a theme at all. I tried to ask Joseph about the decorations, but he said he’d wing it and leave it to his family…”
Lisa Lisa raised an eyebrow. “Oh? He told me he had everything planned out.”
Caesar looked away from her, lost in his own thoughts. Something was off here.
Now that he thought about it, Lisa Lisa brought him clothes shopping alone - but, as she said, there were two grooms. Joseph should’ve been here to get his measurements done for a suit too, seeing as they somehow had a dress code, but he’d been making calls to his family about setting things up. He should’ve been here…unless he got his suit earlier, without telling him.
It could be easy to say that he just forgot, or that he was getting it later. But Joseph was taking the preparations seriously…
Caesar resolved to question him and Suzi once he got home.
The owner came back quickly with a small rack of clothing. “Please try these on until you find one you like!” the owner told them before leaving.
The rack was sorted by style, and then subgrouped by fabrics. At the bottom of the rack was an array of shoes. With Lisa Lisa’s help, he began to pick out his outfit.
“Not that one,” she interrupted once, stopping him from picking out a vest. “Go for a jacket instead.”
“You’re right, the colours are a bit tricky to layer well for a three-piece. Maybe I’ll go for a two-piece instead,” Caesar replied. “Should I wear a bowtie or a regular tie?”
“Caesar, you can’t tie a bow for the life of you,” Lisa Lisa chuckled, and ignored Caesar’s subsequent protests. “Honestly, it’s better if you wear neither. It’ll clash with any accessories on your suit.”
“Accessories?”
“Suzi asked that you and Joseph not match at the ceremony, so I’m helping with that. I think flowers on your breast pocket would suit you better.”
Ah, so that confirmed his theory.
Once his outfit was picked out, he removed his headwear and looked in the mirror. It was a two-piece consisting of a soft yellow shirt and a light pink jacket, with orange and yellow buttons on the sleeve. His pants were light pink with a reddish-pink belt, and his shoes were the same cream-yellow colour as his shirt.
“Here, hold still,” Lisa Lisa told him, and she clipped his feather accessories back into his hair. After another moment, she put fake reddish-pink flowers in his breast pocket, presumably planning to replace them with real ones later. “There, perfect.”
Caesar felt breathless as he stared at himself in the mirror. It was beautiful, more simple and elegant than he’d ever dreamed, and he was going to be married in it. He could see now why people were always excited about weddings, though he admitted that the planning was a lot less stressful in the afterlife than back in the mortal world. He looked like he could just wait at the altar right now.
Needless to say, they took the outfit.
The way back home was tense, with Caesar knowing that he’ll certainly need to have words with his partners. Lisa Lisa said nothing, and she let him go as soon as they returned to the island.
Caesar went to his room first to put his new suit in his part of the closet. He knew better than to try looking for Joseph and Suzi’s wedding outfits, since Lisa Lisa would probably slap him if she knew that he looked at the dress early. He left that alone and went to search through the buildings instead.
He found Joseph and Suzi in the sitting room of Lisa Lisa’s personal building, playfully bickering with each other while playing cards. They turned to Caesar as he entered, and Joseph threw up his hands.
“Finally! Please tell this woman you can’t make pairs in Poker like it’s Go Fish!”
“You said getting matching cards gives you points-”
“Why are you leaving me out of planning?” Caesar interrupted, already starting to fume.
The pair startled, his demand catching them off-guard. “What are you talking about?” Suzi squeaked.
“You’re both keeping me out of the loop of planning the wedding, aren’t you?” he repeated. “What I want to know is why.”
“Wha- Come on, what makes you think we’re leaving you out?” Joseph tried to dissuade. But Caesar could tell that his smile was nervous.
“Suzi’s in charge of deciding the wardrobe and rings, and you’re in charge of getting the venue and decorations organized. You two coordinated on a theme, but you didn’t tell me a thing when I asked,” Caesar explained. “Furthermore, you put me in charge of setting up the party and food - something that doesn’t necessarily affect the ceremony itself, compared to the parts you’re in charge of!”
“Gkh-! How the hell?!” Joseph sounded like he was nearly wheezing as he reeled from shock.
“Didn’t you say it yourself, that I’ve reached the same level of thinking as you, Jojo?” Caesar spitefully reminded him.
Suzi only shook her head, sadly smiling. “Caesar’s always been able to pick up on things quickly.” She turned towards Caesar as her smile fell. “Yes, we were trying to keep most of the planning a secret. We’re sorry.”
Caesar sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose. “So I was right,” he muttered. “You’d better have a good reason for it.”
“We do. We were trying to surprise you,” Joseph answered.
Caesar felt like he was suddenly paralyzed from shock. “What…?”
“Me and Suzi were able to have a ceremony, even if it was a pretty small one. But you weren’t able to marry, or really be part of a family at all. We both knew that, so…” Joseph turned to Suzi.
“So, we wanted to plan out a perfect wedding to make up for it. We gave you a task so you could be involved, but we were trying to plan this as a gift for you too,” she continued. “We only hid it because we didn’t want to ruin the surprise.”
“You-” Caesar felt his lungs seize again, but in a different way than in the boutique. “Our wedding isn’t something you can really keep as a surprise!”
“You’re right. We know you are,” Joseph agreed, his tone serious. “It was a pretty bad idea, but we just really thought you’d be happy when you saw what we had planned. Though we probably should’ve included you from the beginning…”
Suzi nodded. “We’re really sorry, Caesar. We can let you look at the plans, if you want…?”
Caesar felt like he was frozen in place. Their response wasn’t one he was expecting - not them trying to surprise him by planning out the wedding, but them apologizing like this. The Joseph he knew back when he was alive would’ve started an argument, and it would keep going on while Suzi either tried to calm them or scolded them for arguing.
But here they were, sharing looks of guilt while quietly waiting for him to respond. Apologizing sincerely, maturely.
For what felt like the millionth time that day, Caesar sighed. He already felt his anger start to reduce to a simmer.
“No need,” he told them, watching their faces be filled with surprise. “Just- Let me know in advance if you’re planning something big, and I won’t pry.”
Relief crossed the faces of his partners, who shared a glance with each other. Before he knew it, he was being pulled into a group hug with them. Though surprised at first, Caesar relaxed into the hug. They were complete idiots, but they meant well.
Even so, he couldn’t bring himself to look at them, instead closing his eyes. He had been so quick to anger and was ready to ream them out, when a simple talk would’ve been better. And talk they did, resolving the situation as if they were older than their years - then again, they were older than they appeared. Both of them made it to old age.
Another “rule” of the afterlife, a cruel one, was that souls couldn’t mature after their death. They could learn new things, but their personality couldn’t change at all. Suzi and Joseph, having experienced many things and grown old, had changed and grown as people. Even Joseph, who was abrasive and selfish when Caesar had known him in life, had grown compassionate and patient. And though Suzi seemed to not have changed on the surface, she had gained a serious tone underneath.
And Caesar, who died at a mere twenty years old, hadn’t learned anything deep-down like patience or maturity at all. He didn’t even learn it before his death, seeing as his anger and recklessness had a large factor in it. He didn’t know whether to be embarrassed or ashamed as they continued holding them.
A small comfort, one he held dear, was that they had loved him all their lives despite his flaws. He’d heard some people say that they didn’t deserve him, though he’d argue that it was the opposite: he didn't deserve them.
But, of course, he wouldn’t say that aloud. Knowing Joseph and Suzi, they could probably tell anyway.
The planning continued, and the wedding date was set for the end of the week (Caesar wasn’t surprised, Joseph and Suzi liked to move fast). The trio refused to show the others their completed wardrobe, but Caesar made sure the food, drink, and tables were all set up. He never looked at what Joseph and Suzi had planned out, just as he said, but he could tell when they eventually finished their preparations.
Finally, the day of the wedding came.
The venue was outdoors, at the front of the Joestar Mansion. A wedding arch filled with red and pink flowers was placed in front of the fountain, with a small box placed in the middle for the officiant. Off to the side, there was a grand piano. The guest chairs were placed from the brick wall surrounding the mansion towards the fountain (since they’d rather not have the guests sit on the steps of the mansion), with fairy lights and small lanterns lining the “wedding aisle” in the middle. Somewhere off to the side, the party equipment was set up.
On one side of the arch, Caesar fidgeted with his sleeves. They agreed for the wedding to be held at sunset, and as the sky started to take on a yellow hue, guests were already starting to trickle in and find their seats. He tried to focus on the sound of rushing water beside him, but all he could hear was his heartbeat in his ears.
“Hey, I can see you fretting. Quit that.”
Caesar was snapped out of his thoughts, and took in his surroundings again. Standing across from him was Joseph, who was smiling like a million bucks, and Mark (who was coincidentally in town with his girl and was offered the role) and Smokey (who ended up being the one Joseph called first) stood somewhere behind them as their respective best men. Erina stood beside Smokey with a pleasant smile, with her role being the maid of honour.
“Don’t act like you don’t feel the same,” Caesar replied in a hushed voice.
“Nah, I’m just fine. Did this once before, remember?” Joseph quickly brushed off, making Caesar certain that he wasn’t being truthful. “Besides, we’ve got this all planned out. Granny went over the plans with a fine-toothed comb too. She said it was alright.”
Caesar let out a chuckle. “Well, if Signora Erina says it’s alright, I’ll have to believe her.”
“Hey, you don’t have to call her that anymore, remember? Well, you never had to before, since you were always part of the family, but now you really don’t have to call her that.”
Caesar tuned out his blabbering and looked at his outfit. His shirt was a light yellow that matched Caesar’s, and he noted that the oaf had rolled his sleeves up. Instead of a suit jacket, he wore a light pink vest with orange straps and buttons, and an orange tie. His pants were light pink, with a reddish-pink belt too.
It looked dashing on him - then again, Joseph did have a way of making things look good on him - and had a business-like feel to it that made him look serious (and, dare he say, cool). Caesar must have been staring, because by the time he snapped back to reality, Joseph was watching him with a catlike grin.
“Oh, you’re back. Like what you see?” Joseph teased.
Caesar hesitated for a moment, then answered, “Yes,” knowing his blunt honesty would mess with Joseph right back.
As he guessed, Joseph’s face went bright red. He began to quietly laugh, looking away from Caesar.
The slight sound of footsteps caught Caesar’s attention, and he whirled around to see his grandfather’s master finally going to his place. His grandfather had asked Tonpetty to be the officiant since they couldn’t find an actual priest (plus one of the Joestar descendants, a young woman, objected strongly to it). Tonpetty got on the small box and stood there like one would a stepstool.
Shortly afterwards, a blonde teenage girl from the audience was brought to the piano by a man with white hair, who went back to his seat afterwards. She pressed the keys a few times as a short warmup, then flexed her fingers and got into position.
With most of the people in the ceremony accounted for, Caesar looked into the audience. He was pretty sure the last of them had arrived.
In the front rows were Jonathan, his son George, and Speedwagon, who was already starting to cry his eyes out. The original George and his wife Mary were behind Jonathan, likely only there for Jonathan’s sake, and Danny lay at their feet. On the other side of the front rows were Mario and his wife and children, the latter of whom were getting impatient for the ceremony to start.
Behind their families were a motley bunch. Joseph’s ragtag group of assholes that he took to Egypt, with his grandson looking both there and not-there…something about reincarnation and different identities; Caesar never got the full story behind that. Staying true to the Joestar tradition of excelling among their peers but dying young, Joseph’s illegitimate son was also in attendance (who, apparently, was salty over not being a best man) with a young kid, a mature-looking young adult beside him, and a middle-aged man beside him. Nearby was a well-groomed blonde man (Caesar didn’t know which side of the family he was from, but he knew he was Italian) and a gaggle of five other people beside him. And finally, the same young woman who objected to using a priest sat there with her jailbird friends, all of which had the same not-really-there feeling to them as Joseph’s grandson did.
Everyone seemed to be in attendance, and everything seemed to be in place. All that was left was to wait.
The front gates of the Joestar Mansion opened, and the attendees looked behind them towards the brick wall. Joseph let out a small gasp at what he saw, and Caesar could feel the breath leaving him too.
Suzi walked through the gates, with one hand holding onto Lisa Lisa’s arm. The other hand held a bouquet of roses, sunflowers, and lavender. As they continued into the mansion’s courtyard and down the makeshift aisle, Loggins and Messina closed the gates behind them. Caesar knew they were both sulking a bit from not being in Lisa Lisa’s role, but no one could really say no to Lisa Lisa.
The blonde girl began playing a slow, classical tune as Suzi walked past the guests, who couldn’t help but stare at her. Caesar couldn’t blame any of them in the slightest.
Her wedding dress was a slim pink one with yellow trimming, and had a lacey train connected to the back with large reddish-pink flowers. She wore a flower crown with those same types of flowers, which her veil was connected to as it fell around her done-up hair. She was smiling like she was going to cry from happiness at any moment.
When the women reached the altar, Lisa Lisa withdrew her arm and gave the men a short nod before going back to find her seat. Suzi stepped closer to them, and she gave her bouquet to Erina to hold for the ceremony. The piano music stopped.
“Fuck, you look beautiful,” Joseph said, already reaching to grab her hands.
When she reached for them, Suzi suddenly paused. “Wait, which side am I supposed to go on?” she asked, looking at the sides of the arches. “The woman’s supposed to go on one side, I think?”
“Fuck, uh…” Joseph turned to Caesar for help.
“I’ll go in the middle,” he volunteered.
The trio rearranged themselves to have Suzi on the left, Joseph on the right, and Caesar in the middle. Standing above the trio, Tonpetty cleared his throat.
“Welcome, family, friends, and miscellaneous people who only came for the wine… Who in the world wrote this?” he muttered the last part as a few chuckles came from the audience. “When two of these people first joined hands in the spring of 1939, they had shared their joy, hardships, and strength with each other for the rest of their days. Though their bond has been challenged and convictions tested, their love has stood steadfast. Before their marriage, their bond had included a third person, someone who was a part of the foundation that made them the people they are today. His sacrifice had made him unable to share his life with his spouses, but their love had not waned in the course of their human lives, nor his when they reunited in the paradise beyond death. Today, we are here to witness Joseph and Suzi renew their commitment in marriage, as well as join Caesar into their union, as a gesture of their unending devotion. A vow of a union unbroken by death in the eyes of heaven, and a resolve to right what once was wrong.”
The light had to be getting in Caesar’s eyes, for them to be stinging so much - he didn’t know who he was kidding at a time like this, but he told himself such to preserve his pride. He wasn’t sure who wrote the lines, but he was pretty sure Joseph enlisted Jonathan for help with them. He was pretty sure his own grandfather had tried helping with it too, knowing him.
Tonpetty turned his gaze to the trio in front of him. “And now, the vows.”
Joseph pulled a small sheet of paper out of his pocket. Suzi had apparently already memorized the vows she’d written. Caesar never bothered writing his down, but he had an idea of what he wanted to say. He turned around and stepped back so that the three of them could properly face each other, as well as let the audience see what was going on. Joseph went first:
“When I first met you in Italy, at that point, I thought I’d be a lifelong bachelor. And by that, I mean I didn’t think I’d live long enough to get married. But just after spending a month with you guys, I didn’t think I’d be getting married to only one of you. But that’s just the hand Fate dealt; Caesar gave me his everything to survive the battles, and Suzi looked after me while I was recovering. I married her shortly after. But through my life, I carried Caesar’s memory and love, and I stayed by Suzi as we started a family and faced whatever happened next together. Including a big fuckup, which I’m grateful she’s forgiven me for since. I’m not sure the rest of my family has, but what can you do? Anyway, I promise to always love you, like you somehow kept loving me - and I’ll try not to have any more dangerous adventures, if possible.”
Joseph’s vows got a laugh out of the audience at some parts, which didn’t surprise Caesar. It wouldn’t sound like Joseph if there was no humor. At the mention of the affair, Joseph’s son nearly stood up (presumably to yell at him or kick his ass), but the older teen roughly pulled him back down. Caesar was able to keep himself composed, even letting himself chuckle a bit at the silly parts.
Joseph tossed the paper behind him and resumed an upright posture, looking between Suzi and Caesar. Suzi and Caesar looked at each other, and Caesar nodded to indicate that she should go first. She smiled, and she recited:
“When we first began our relationship, I was so happy to be with the people I called my best friends. Even with the danger looming over us, I vowed to stand beside you, for better or for worse. You saved my life, and then went off to a place where you respectively changed for the better or made the ultimate sacrifice. ‘To love and win is the best thing. To love and lose, the next best.’ I remember Lisa Lisa telling me that, and those words gave me comfort, knowing in life and death I wouldn’t be alone. I cherished all the time we shared, regardless if whoever I was thinking of was living or dead at the time. I’ll take you as my beloved spouses, again and for the first time. I promise to always stand by your side and keep believing in you.”
Now, Caesar really was in danger of crying after her vows. Joseph wasn’t even bothering to hide his small sniffles at all, and Caesar could hear some hushed cooing from the audience over the vows and the sight. Suzi, for her part, looked proud of herself and was smiling widely.
Now, it was Caesar’s turn to say his vows. For once, he wished they’d gone the traditional method of using a pre-made script, but Joseph had thrown that idea out the window. Swallowing his pride and the lump in his throat, he began:
“Before February began, being with someone didn’t necessarily mean I wouldn’t be lonely. I saw many faces and talked to them, friend or otherwise, but I didn’t understand why it felt so cold, or why my methods of trying to alleviate that were so wrong. But being with people who were like-minded, people who cared, made me feel the happiness I hadn’t felt in so many years. I would’ve given everything up for you, let you open my ribs and take whatever you wanted - and I did, in the end; I gave up the last of my life force so that the people I cared for would survive me and have a future. I wasn’t really honest about my feelings in life, or about things that I probably should have shared, and that’s what ended me. But I kept waiting, and I would’ve waited forever if I had to, and even when you’d built a life together, you somehow chose me again. I promise that I’ll always keep supporting you with everything I am.”
Somehow, he didn’t know how, but he made it through his speech without crying. His gaze had dropped to the floor while he spoke his vows, and he looked up to see Joseph and Suzi smiling with teary eyes. His own tears were probably starting to run down his cheeks, he realized. He smiled back as best he could.
Tonpetty finally cleared his throat. “And now, the rings.”
At the back of the audience, a teenaged girl with pink hair and a brown dog with a ribbon around its neck stepped out and came down the aisle. The girl held a pillow in both her hands, which held three silver rings atop it. The girl stepped to the trio and held out the pillow to them.
Caesar recognized two of them as the rings Joseph and Suzi regularly wore. The third one was for him.
Joseph picked up the smallest ring and gestured for her to give him his hand, and he slid the ring onto her finger (with a couple clumsy attempts that made the audience laugh). Caesar rolled his eyes and took Joseph’s ring, grabbed his hand, and put the ring on his finger. Joseph smiled back in a cheeky way, knowing very well that Caesar was doing it as a silent lecture.
But he was distracted enough that he nearly jumped when his own hand was touched, and Suzi raised it and gracefully slid the third silver ring onto his finger. Caesar drew his hand back and stared at the ring, feeling hot tears spilling out tenfold. He covered his mouth with his other hand, overwhelmed, as not to make a sound.
Joseph placed one of his own hands under Caesar’s adorned hand, and Suzi put both of her hands atop Caesar’s before Joseph put his other one atop hers. The other two’s tears were running down their faces too, and Joseph glanced at Tonpetty for him to continue.
“Now, Joseph and Suzi. Do you reaffirm your love for each other, and will you continue to love, honour, and cherish your spouses and continue to live together in this happy and loving marriage?”
“I do,” they replied at once.
Tonpetty looked down at Caesar next. “And to Caesar, do you take these two to be your spouses, to love, honour, and cherish them, and not even death do you part?”
With a choked voice, he answered, “I do.”
Tonpetty looked back at the audience. “With the power vested in me, I now declare these three joined in love.”
Joseph and Suzi went to Caesar first, and Suzi wiped his cheek with her gloved hand while Joseph gently but firmly pulled his hand away from his mouth. He shared a kiss with her first, and then with Joseph. The pair kissed each other next. The three of them were smiling joyfully, tearfully, as the audience’s applause echoed around them.
They all flocked together into a hug, with Suzi taking advantage of her size to place herself right in the middle. Caesar looked up from the hug to the west, where the sun was dipping beneath the horizon and dyeing the sky orange. In the arms of his spouses, happier than he’d ever felt before, Caesar thought that it was the most beautiful sky he’d ever seen.
“How about we have at those drinks now?” Caesar’s grandfather called from the audience. Laughter and general agreement came from those present, and the guests began to head to the side of the wedding venue to where the tables were set up.
The piano began to play again, and everyone began to enjoy the food and drink provided. Caesar only drank enough for a slight feeling of tipsiness, but was more than content to stay to the side while watching Joseph and Suzi get plastered and dance together. Someone had to be the responsible one, after all.
Many people came by to give him their congratulations, his father and teacher told him of how proud they were, and he got dragged onto the “dance floor” once or twice by Joseph and Suzi. Dancing with them in a clumsy, drunken rhythm to the piano playing, he didn’t mind it if things stayed this way forever. Or perhaps they always were this way, ever since he devoted his eternity to them long ago.
All around them, everybody got drunker and drunker, and the party was in full swing. It continued on all throughout the night, illuminated by the starry sky, the surrounding fairy lights and lanterns, and the full moon.
When the party wound down, the exhausted guests started to find their respective groups and head out. But a mass of confusion rose when no one could find the happy throuple anywhere, and they began to search the grounds of the Joestar Mansion. The search continued all throughout daybreak.
Meanwhile on Air Supplena, the island was illuminated by the light of the rising sun. On the rooftop of the island castle’s storage room, three figures held each other as they watched on.