The world dropped out beneath Crystal.

She rapidly scrolled through all of the horrid possibilities of her own brother's statement; she was put in place of the real princess, who had been kidnapped, or the princess had died and she'd been put in her place rather than everyone adjusting to the lack of an heir, or maybe Green was lying…

But no. He wasn't lying. He wouldn't joke with her about this, and his eyes were serious and grave. She watched, as if separated completely from the scene, as Green's guards formed ranks with the Resistance. They formed a circle, all defending one another, and Green pulled Crystal within its bounds. He tried to bring Blue in as well, but she shook him off and rushed to the side of her brother and sister-in-law.

It was idiotic, the fact that Johto soldiers fought right before them, and Green probably could not take hold of the situation if he tried. Crystal wondered if Green would rather back down for peace than see the war through. He probably would prefer peace, but he was a king now, and he had to think of what was best for his kingdom. If they could not reason with the other nations, all of Johto leaving the fight would seem like a surrender, or like they were abandoning their ally.

Crystal forgot the war as Green pressed papers into her hands. She forgot the shouting and the shooting and the clanging of metal. It was all feeble to her ears, which only heard Green's voice: "Read it."

It was King Samuel Oak's script.

My Only Granddaughter,

I've written this letter in fear that you will never hear these words from me. It is my wish to tell you this myself, but should I be injured, dead, or even too cowardly, this letter should serve as my harbinger. I only hope that somehow this shall fall into your hands, and that you will not be cross with what I have kept from you these long years.

I could have asked for no greater grandchildren than you and Green. But there are things you must know about our family, things that you must understand. I have lied to you and Green for a long time. I'm certain you two have noticed that you look nearly nothing alike. It is because you are not siblings. Green is still your kin, still my grandson, but he is your cousin, not your brother.

While I raised you from a young age to believe that Green was your brother, and his parents were yours, that is not the case. You are truly the child not of my son, but of my younger daughter; the woman who you thought was your aunt. I regret to inform you that she has passed away. Your name is not Crystal Oak—that was a false identity we bestowed upon you when you were young.

Your mother did not give you away. She brought you to Johto in an attempt to keep you away from your father. When your mother and father married, your father was a young man interested in politics. No one could have foreseen just what dreadful lengths he and his brother would go to so that they could gain power. Even before they achieved their goals, your mother found out and tried to leave her husband, but to no avail. He had become a controlling, manipulative man. When she discovered that she was pregnant, she hid you from your father. I'm not sure how she managed it; wearing flowing clothes, feigning ill, hiding you with maids, leaving and saying she was traveling to Sinnoh.

When you were nearly a year old, she brought you to Johto under the cover of a blizzard. On one snowy night, your grandmother and I received her and brought her into the castle. There, we agreed that your grandmother and I would raise you in the castle as the princess you are, under the pretense that you were the daughter of my son and his wife. We renamed you Crystal, but kept your true identity as your middle name. Your mother returned, then, to Unova. She wished desperately to have raised you herself, but she knew that you would be safer if her husband knew nothing of his stolen child. She did still love him, even if he had become corrupted by greed.

And when, years later, she found out that she was with child again, she was unable to keep it from her husband. Her son—your brother—was born and raised without any knowledge of his sister. At that time, you were already a young princess learning your duties. You always took your studies so seriously.

Although she tried, your mother could not find a way to bring your brother to Johto. When he was still a child, your father finally discovered that you were his child, and very much alive. There was nothing he could do about it, though. He had no real proof, and Johto soldiers would defend you to their last breath. He knew better than to cross me. So instead, he controlled the things he could; he murdered your mother.

I've only ever heard of your brother through letters; those written by your mother, as well as spies I've sent to watch over him. It seems he shares not the same bloodlust as your father and your paternal uncle.

I understand that I have asked too much of you in the past as a princess, and I ask too much of you now when I ask that you accept who you are. You are the unforeseen bridge stretching across the PaxSeas. You have every right to be furious with me, as well as all the other people who have lied to you.

It is my deepest regret to have lied to you. You have done nothing wrong, but have been born into an eternally complicated family. Your father and uncle were two of the men who took Unova for their own.

If there is one thing that I know, I am certain that you will rise above your family name. You will abolish the things that your father has done. I know that you have the ability to change the tides of these Seas, this war. You have a fighting spirit within you; you are intelligent and determined, and no name can change that. You would have made your mother very proud. Although though your name is not Crystal Oak, you are no less my granddaughter, and no less a sister to Green. You have become your own person, regardless of your name. Unfortunately, I am only able to tell you now your true name: Andromeda Harmonia. I hope with all of my heart that your heart does not change due to this.

With Every Sincerity,
Your Grandfather

Crystal's eyes flicked across the letter again and again, half-doubtful, half-horrified. "This cannot be true." She had not reacted to each of his statements separately. She had read the letter all at once and then decided on her disbelief.

"But it has to be," Green said. "That's Grandfather's script, and everything fits. Why do you think we look nothing alike, Crystal? Why do you think nobody discusses our aunt, Cassiopeia, anymore?"

The boy who had first accused Crystal of being a false princess, now turned from the fighting and stepped up to them. "Cassiopeia?" he said. "Who is she? What does she have to do with this?"

"Cassiopeia Harmonia. She was our—well, my aunt," Green answered.

The boy stiffened. "She was my mother."

Green, shocked and speechless, observed the boy—whom he had ignored previously—now. Dusty brown hair, coffee brown eyes, but, yes, Green could see that some of his soft features were mirrored in Crystal's own face.

Crystal, desperately trying to piece things together, asked, "What is your name?"

"Black Harmonia," he said. "I am the son of Cassiopeia and Ghetsis Harmonia, the president and dictator of Unova. And you, Miss…you look very much like the two of them."

"Cassiopeia was the daughter of King Samuel Oak." Crystal held up the letter. "She was…the princess of Johto."

Black's eyes widened. "Is this from Johto?" He pulled from his pocket his mother's ring, which he had taken from his house before he'd left Unova. It wasn't her wedding ring, which she was buried with, even if she hardly wore it in life—"I don't need such an extravagant piece of jewelry! People will see the ornate ring and rob me!" she'd say. No, the ring he had of hers was a simple gold band with a swirling orange stone set into it. He had never been sure just where it had come from. To his surprise, Crystal showed him the pendant hanging round her neck—it was of the same stone.

"Fire agate," said she, voice hardly above a whisper. "That's the gem of the Johto royals."

"So it's true," he said. "That would explain my father's pure and genuine hatred for Johto. Does that make me a duke or something?"

"I think…it makes you my brother." Crystal raised the letter. "This is from my grandfather, and it, well, it says Cassiopeia was my mother. It says that my name is…Andromeda Harmonia."

"Andromeda," Black repeated. "Of course."

"You realise what this means, right, Crys?" Green cut in suddenly.

"You and I are cousins," she said, startled. "But that's not the way it really is. Because all this time, you've been my brother. You are my brother, and nothing can change that, not even the addition of a new one."

"Yes, yes, we're siblings at heart and all of those sappy things," Green responded, but he was blinking hard. "What I meant was that you are the child both democracy and monarchy. Both Unova and Johto. Just as Grandfather said, you're the bridge that connects these warring nations. You could change this entire war just by saying who you are."

All of this flooded her brain. She knew exactly what to do, and she would do it, even if either or both of her identities killed her. "Yes, and I'll do just that." But how could she get the soldiers' attention?

Black seemed to understand her intentions, because he followed her as she started to leave the protective circle that the Resistance had formed. Black started to try to shout, to take the attention of the armies, but not a soul turned to look at him. Try as he might, even his thunderous voice could not infiltrate the ears of enemies and allies alike.

But in that moment, a strange thing happened. A short figure buried in an evergreen-coloured cloak raised a rifle to the ceiling; the hooded person shot at the tiles high above, as well as the marvelous chandeliers in the hall, which came crashing. The glass splintered and shattered, the metal flew. Five, six, seven, eight chandeliers went down and countless holes on the ceiling bloomed like blood on a cotton shirt. The soldiers and guards and anyone else paused.

"All of you!" Black took this chance and bellowed. "Listen!" The war outside the hall waged on, but inside, they did as they were told, paralyzed for a moment in shock. If Crystal had not begun her monologue right then, they probably would have gone back to brawling in an instant.

"My name is Andromeda Harmonia," Crystal said, hesitant. "I know many of you may recognise me as Crystal Oak, the princess of Johto. But that's not—" she took a shaky breath, "—that's not who I am." Now she had most of the crowd's attention, and gained some confidence. "Yes, I am the granddaughter of the former king, Samuel Oak. But I am the child of his daughter, Cassiopeia, not his son. And she married Ghetsis Harmonia. And so I guess that makes me the daughter of the president too. So I think it'd be a really bad idea for any of you to kill me before you hear what I have to say.

"These people that stand with me come from all different nations and all different walks of life. Beside me I have my brother of many years, and the one I've only just found. The king of Johto, and the Unovan president's son. But all of us here want something that no war can solve; we want to restore peace to the PeacefulSeas. We want neither side to win, but for both to sort out their problems and wash away the dishonesty in their governments. And that does not require war. That is not about who's right and who's wrong."

"Yes!" Belle piped up. "We are at the core of this war, and we say to stop it!"

"Who might you be, then, to tell us so?" someone shouted. Other jeers cut in as well.

Belle straightened. "My name is Bianca Haeres." She tugged on Wally's arm for him to stand beside her. "And this is my brother, Wally. We wish only for this mad, mad fight to end. We do not wish for our old titles, only peace to chide these wild Seas."

As she continued to speak, Pearl shook his head from beside Wally. "The bloody princess of Unova," he muttered.

"I think you should know," Wally started timidly, just quiet enough for them to hear, "that she's…not really the princess. I told that to her, and the others, so that maybe she would be a sign of hope for people. But that didn't exactly work out the way I planned. She and I haven't really been able to make a stand."

"I don't know," Tansy said. "I saw the princess, once, back when I lived in Unova. And she looked just like that—just like her. Those green eyes like gems and her golden hair…I hadn't seen her as often as you had, Wally, but judging by her story, I think that she is Bianca."

Wally considered Belle again. She had the confidence and air of a princess, certainly. Was that because she thought she was Bianca, or because somewhere within her, she truly was? He could have very well found his sister.

"But it doesn't matter," Pearl said. "She is the person that she became, and regardless of the past, she's making a stand now. It doesn't matter if she's a peasant's daughter, whose parents couldn't keep her, an orphan, a kidnapped girl, or even the princess Unova. If we never find out which it is, it doesn't matter. She is who she is now, and—princess or not—she has the power to make a change, if only just because she's too stubborn not to get her way."

A slam of footsteps on the floors in response to Belle's words, and then: "It's quite adorable that you still think you can fight." No one had noticed the appearance of Lance Corvus. It was he who now commanded total attention. "But do you really want to listen to these children? These cowards? I, for one, will not stop my forces until the democratic rats have been driven from my home, driven from my city, my kingdom, and from all the Seas!" This was met with shouts, both positive and negative, and like a massive, rolling wave crashing, like the ocean in the midst of a storm, the castle was overtaken by the battle once again. The men still outside had not frozen for a moment, unable to hear the Resistance's speech. It was as if nothing had happened.

"You will never see this through," Corvus said to Crystal and the Resistance as he drew near. They were untouched by the fighting, walls of men around them.

"Aw," gushed a voice that was loud and dangerously close. Crystal whirled to see the short figure in the jade green cloak throw off the hood to reveal her face. The strange girl looked Corvus in the eye with sharp, startlingly pink eyes. "It's quite adorable that you still think you can fight." From behind her stepped a man in a matching cloak, only slightly taller—and this was Emerald, with a grin and a glint in his eyes.

As if the world couldn't spin on any more of a tilted, askew, crazy axis, the ornate castle wall exploded, as violently as if in a fit of rage. Crystal didn't feel herself fall until she'd hit the ground, her ears ringing. Thankfully, the bomb had been tossed far enough away from her than no damage had been done to her, or her friends, or anyone, really. It must have been a weak bomb, detonated solely so that the only thing it wounded was the palace.

As the smoke cleared, the outline of a man charged fearlessly into the castle, followed loyally by a group of men and women, all wearing the same jade green garments. The regal man at their head stopped, glanced around at the stunned soldiers, and said, "Hello. Lovely day, isn't it? Now. Where the hell is my wife?!"

It was none other than King Ruby Berlitz, and behind the unusual group in green was the Hoenn army, waiting at attention outside.

The fight did not just ignite again. No, it was a volcano that erupted and spilled red everywhere, staining and burning the floors and the walls and the people. Emerald lost track of Kanto's king. Now was his time to fight.

But he had not anticipated his own fear. He had been all about Kanto, trying to quell uprisings from Sinnoh or Unova natives, but he had never been directly in the fray. He was out of his place, out of his element, out of his league. Utterly, completely afraid, and that was something he had never experienced before.

"Tourmaline!" Emerald shouted to the fearless girl responsible to the chandelier incident as he struggled with a skilled swordsman. He tried not to let his nerves bleed through his rough voice. "Should something happen to me, go on alone!"

"Not in your wildest dreams!" she shrieked in response, very nearly skewering her opponent in her fit of rage. "I gave you my three words long ago, Emerald Nympharum, and I'll not take them back!"

The terror dimmed all at once when she leaped over to stand with him. "You and me, against the world. They don't stand a chance!" she laughed. They closed ranks with their green-clad companions, backed even more by what of the Hoenn army Ruby had scraped together after being overthrown.

"You and me, against the world!"

The Resistance fled in the madness and led Ruby through the castle, far away, to where Sapphire still resided.

"Why is Emerald here?" Belle was interrogating the king. "Who are those people? They're not the army…"

"They're my peacekeepers," Ruby answered with a chuckle. "When we grew wary of the powerful forces surrounding our kingdom, Sapphire and I decided to form a society not of the army, but of peacekeepers not unlike you lot. Though you call yourselves—what? The Resistance, was it?—my troops are known as the Order of the Versipellis—the Order of the Werewolf. It's a silly name, but a werewolf goes through metamorphosis, but always returns to his other form eventually. Sapphire and I fancied that idea; changing, but always having a base that never shifts, on solid earth, so that is what we chose for our Order.

"It's truly a clandestine society of spies, thieves, soldiers, and civilians, all skilled and loyal to Hoenn. Emerald presented himself to the group positioned in Kanto long ago. He originally lived in Hoenn, before he stowed away to Kanto. Not because of war or any dangers, but because he was a castaway looking for somewhere to hide. They have been trying to stop outbreaks all over the five nations, but when my castle was taken over, Sapphire and I spread out to gather these secret forces and what portion of the army we could in other countries, since our Hoenn fighters came with us. I traveled to Sinnoh and Unova, while Sapphire came here, to Kanto, and my sister, Citrine, gathered the Order in Johto and sent them here. And from being in Unova so recently, it is my understanding that—" He stopped short.

They had arrived at the chambers that Sapphire had been resting in, but the guards lay unconscious outside the doors, and she, nor Garnet, were no where in sight.

Black had seen rage.

He had seen the burning fire in his father's eyes. He had seen the quiet, festering hatred within Poppy—a decaying, rotten feeling directed towards herself and her misfortune. He had seen Whitney's high-pitched squabbles, Marlon's rare seriousness, Surge's careless bashing, Drayden's firm disgust.

He had seen nothing like Ruby Berlitz.

The king of Hoenn could have frozen every earthly desert. He called upon his Order, leaving the army behind to fight. He asked no questions, and had one destination: the throne room.

A room many royals barely touched. A room used mainly for show. A room that Lance Corvus used often to display his power, his righteousness, his holiness, his steel grip on Kanto. Every lavish and intricate detail found in the palace was poured all over the room. It was exactly where Corvus would choose to make his final stand—in the room that described how kingly he was so pointedly that it was almost laughable. That image of him on the throne, an image that his own son had seen so many times, was in that moment ridiculous.

Lance Corvus was a man. He was no higher being, no one who had any real power, not an ounce of power more than the Harmonias or King Samuel Oak or Sinnoh's pathetic president had.

The things he did have, though, in that final act of desperation, were men and a hostage. There, in the throne room, handled by soldiers was Sapphire. And by her heavenly side was her pink newborn, more fragile than thin glass.

"You take one more step, and your wife dies, Berlitz," Corvus snarled. "You take two, and the child does as well."

"I wonder if my life was once that expendable," Red said to his father. "I wonder if it still is. You are a sick man, Father, if you think that killing another's wife and child will bring you victory. It will only mean that your bargaining chips will be gone, and we will fight. But if you lay down your bloodstone scepter—if your men set their swords on these tiles—they may remain clean of blood. You know you cannot win. Even if your soldiers outside outnumber us, we are all alone in this hall, in this place with thrones of thorns."

"You think you're wise with your pretty words and your love of life," Corvus said. "But when all is said and done, you are just as much my child as that is Ruby's." He gestured to Garnet. "This poisoned blood runs strong in your veins, and I can see it already. Your need to lead, your need to possess and control a situation in your favour, your need to keep all of your chess pieces alive and unscathed."

Black found himself stepping forward. "No, sir—that is the mark of a king, not of a villain such as yourself. You lead and possess but you expend your pawns and keep your mercy to yourself. It is a pity that this is the nature of men, and that more and more in the future will be just as sinful as the men who rule today, but they will always be stopped."

Before Corvus could say a word, Tourmaline and another gunner from the Order shot at the men holding Sapphire and Garnet. As they crumbled, disintegrating but not quite dead yet, Ruby gave the command and his wild dogs pounced. He himself ran to his wife and child.

It was not long before the Order of the Versipellis emerged from the throne room and halted the two armies, screaming to the Kantonians that their king was dead, to the Unovans that their president had been imprisoned many hours before. The castle, the capital of the Kingdom of Life was overtaken by blood and death, but there would be no more that day. The pyrrhic war was done, started by death and ended with it, as most wars went.

The aftermath was messy and confusing, startled and quiet. The Resistance remained in a puzzled, frazzled clump, bombarding each other with questions and words and declarations.

Black was asking Ruby, "Just what were you planning to tell us earlier when you were discussing Sinnoh and Unova?"

Ruby considered. "Oh, yes. What I was going to say. It is my understanding that President Ghetsis Harmonia has been imprisoned, but his brother, Drayden, unfortunately fled before my men could seize him."

"What of Drayden's disciples? N, Surge, and Morty?"

"I know not of them, but my guess is that they left with him. I have men stationed all over; and so I believe that they have left the PaxSeas altogether."

Remorse was a thick cloak that each of them war. Black, Crystal, and Red all felt a strange sense of sadness for the cruel men who had been brought down. All of them were immoral people, but the three of them could not find it in their hearts to feel absolute hatred to the people who had been family.

Yellow seemed to sense this, for as she sat on deteriorating stone steps beside the heir of Kanto, she said, "You will be the greatest king that Kanto has ever seen, Red. I know it. I've told you this before, and I'll tell you again that you will be an incredible leader."

"And you will be its finest queen," he said, his heart brought back to life by her rosy blush and shy smile.

Crystal found herself standing, surveying the broken castle that Red would one day piece back together. The damage, the possibilities. The burned past, the uncertain future. She was unsure of what exactly she would do, but something within her stirred—and it felt like hope. Hope that for once, her life could be absolutely anything she wanted it to be.

She glanced at her best friends, her family; Blue, her head on Green's shoulder; Red and Yellow quietly speaking; Tansy and Wally, beaming even after a disaster; Belle and Cheren, finally having a chance to catch up; Pearl and Poppy, so strong after so many wounds; Emerald and Tourmaline, unafraid; Silver and Lyra, who never faltered even when swept into a storm; Ruby, Sapphire, and Garnet, reunited; Black, her newfound brother, and White. Gold, approaching her, pulling her into his arms.

The two of them, a bit apart from the others, watched the sun rise together. She could feel his heartbeat against his chest. Life had prevailed through deathly times. She, and all the love that she carried, had not fallen, not truly. Each time she had fallen, she'd stood again. She'd smiled again. She'd learned and loved, and they all would. Their hearts were unbroken by the war that had raged, the hurricane around them.

A new day had come, a new dawn, and they were alive, alive, alive.

This is the last author's note…don't 'cha wanna read it maybe?

Alright, last author's note…

I don't even know what to say. I should probably stop making characters randomly related in the future, but I wanted that last plot twist to be dramatic. This is my very first novel, and it's consumed a year of my life, and I just am not sure how to react. I just can't believe it! I've been wanting to be a writer since kindergarten, and even though this probably won't ever be actually published, I am so happy to be able to share it with all of you! I love Pokespe and its characters and I'm so glad to have so many wonderful followers and favouriters and reviewers and even ghost readers.

To everyone who is reading this, whether you've reviewed or followed or you're just a ghost reader, whether you're reading this when I've posted it or a long time after, THANK YOU! I'd like to thank you from the bottom of my heart for reading my story, because it truly means a lot to me. I was reading my reviews the other day, and I honestly began to cry because it just mean so, so much to me.

That said…this story is finished! I'm going to post a fluffy little epilogue, which is honestly just my headcannons XD it's a happy ending, and maybe it's too happy and unrealistic, but this is my first novel, and I'm still learning and my writing is still growing. You can ignore it if you'd like. I wanted to use my friend's OCs, but then I thought, "I'll just give the dexholders a bunch of random children instead." So, that's about it.

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU FOR ALL THE REVIEWS AND READS! You are all so wonderful! I hope you join me again sometime for another adventure.
Rant over! Read on!
-Silvia ^-^

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokespe or anything else.