Prologue
King Van Slanzer de Fanel missed Hitomi. What was worse is that the more time passed, he missed Hitomi more. He had more pressing matters to attend to, like the hunting down of the war criminals. Dilandau was still out there, and Dilandau was a dangerous young man. Celena had no idea where Dilandau was, and his brother Folken had no idea, either. It's not that Folken didn't care- it's just that Folken was too busy with Eriya and their new baby. Van was surprised to hear the news; after all, he would be an uncle at twenty-two years old.
Dilandau, however, was like a cobra waiting to strike. Ever since Hitomi had used her psychic powers to separate Celena Schezar And Dilandau Albatou into two separate beings, he was constantly worrying that Dilandau would come back for him.
Spending time with Allen seemed to help. Although Van had stolen Hitomi's heart away from Allen, and now that Hitomi was gone, their friendship was strong again. But Allen wasn't himself lately.
Allen was fine after the war with Zaibach. But then he got bitter over Millerna leaving him for a young army general from another kingdom. Ever since, he stopped his male chauvinistic ways and became rather cynical when it came to love and matters of the heart. He hated the whole concept of two people getting together for the sole purpose of spending their lives together. Van set him up with blind date after blind date after blind date, but it would take an exceptional woman from Gaea to make him forget Millerna, one of Allen's choosing, and not Van's.
But what of Merle? Merle was older now, not the cute kitten she used to be, but was now becoming a beautiful young woman. She still had her quirks, and she constantly tried to cheer Van up. Van and Merle's friendship was now stronger than ever before, but Van seemed not to notice Merle's sudden transformation into her late adolescence, not to mention her more intense romantic interest in him.
His brother Folken had married Eriya, much to her sister Naria's chagrin. Naria seemed unhappy all the time, and was constantly depressed. Meanwhile Folken and Eriya had a child, and they named him Bren.
Things were returning to normal. Fanelia was being rebuilt into a wondrous country, one that would be more beautiful than any other country on Gaea.
With some of the ideas Folken brought back from Zaibach, Fanelia was becoming more technologically advanced. But the changes became a shock to the Fanelian people, and often had problems with the new technology. Regardless, Fanelia was becoming a great country.
The Alliance was prospering, too. The three kingdoms of Fanelia, Asturia, and Freid all were becoming strong economically. But something wasn't right…