5/21/2003 || *dusts off the cobwebs* i hope nothing's been chewing at these pages. anyways, hello :) wonder if anyone out there continues to check this fic out? anyways, here i am - once again in an attempt to reinspire myself to finish the derned thing. i'm looking, again, for constructive criticism from anyone, be it email, commentary, or AIM (kusanagi mamoru). as a special treat (torturous device?) i've also uploaded the unfinished portion of chapter 18.

(*coughs out the corn*)anyways, i beg of you, please please please help this ailing writer out! all those benevolent souls out there, i beseech you!

special thanks to Sarah-Neko and Bambi Eloriaga for inspiring large portions of this story. absolutely wonderful writers, the both of them, so find them here if you can!

- Kus Kus

[ Prologue ]

The Schezar estate, bordering on the Asturian capitol, Pallas, was isolated but envied. The multi-floored blended Asturian sensibility with Daedalian architecture, forming a home that was both simple and elegant at the same time. Surrounding the household were fields, blotted here and there with an ancient tree or two. Unlike their farmer neighbors, the Schezars had always left nature to its course, for their family had long been blessed with men and women who'd either attained good marriages or had found positions ranking high within the royal court. As a result, acres of fauna and flora bloomed, coloring the small, rolling hills with enormous varieties of greens, purples, reds, yellows, and blues. It was both beautiful and dangerous, perfectly suited to the restless nature of the most recent Schezar brood.

For years the house had remained curiously empty. Leon Schezar, a black stain on the long line of honorable and devoted Knights and noblemen was a wanderer, and after visiting Zaibach termed himself an "archaeologist." Often Leon would return from his frequent quests with some strange artifact or another, carting a pouch full of jewels or coins from different lands, therefore supplementing his family in a way that was unheard of. His lovely wife, when the marriage was new, was thrilled to join him on his journeys, reveling in the adventure and the experience that awaited them around Gaea. Then, when their first son and then their daughter were born, loved him enough to endure the loneliness while he was gone.

However, Encia argued with him fervently when he mentioned searching for the ancient, cursed city of Atlantis. This, she argued, was finally madness. She screamed, wept, and begged, and at the last it seemed he agreed. Only the next day, Leon Schezar left behind his young wife, a small daughter, and a boy just taking his first steps into manhood, never to return.

One day Celena, his daughter, entered a game of hide and seek with her brother. Blessed or cursed with the same wayward nature as her father, she often took to the bordering forest, despite the dangers and the warnings. No one found her.

Soon afterwards, Encia wasted away from grief.

Allen, too young to manage the household on his own, gave leave to all but a few trusted family servants whose duty henceforth was to watch over the Schezar estate, and wandered into the forest himself. He blundered about, challenging unwary highway travelers to duels, until confronted by Balgus, one of the Three Swordsmasters of Gaea. Seeing in the young man an untamed, saddened good spirit, he took him under his wing.

Allen became a Knight Caeli, restoring his family's honourable court position. The Schezar estate once more became a home, and the servants were reinstated.

However, after a scandal involving the King's eldest daughter he was sent to the Castelo Fort, remotely located on the border of Asturia and Zaibach, a neighboring country rich in ambitions and technology. The fort was well equipped, but far, and his visits to the family estate became infrequent.

Celena resurfaced as the nightmarish Commander of the Dragonslayers, Zaibach's elite Guymelef force. However, Celena was not Celena anymore.

Dilandau Albatou, a young man who gleefully burned a country to cinders, had taken her place.

Allen, alongside King Van Slanzar de Fanel, the young lord of Fanelia, and Hitomi Kanzaki, a powerful girl from the Mystic Moon, became key figures in a war that spanned all of Gaea.

Van and Dilandau became bitter enemies. The hatred between them consumed Dilandau, and his road to madness was swift and terrible. Van watched as the young boy and his forces murdered and destroyed everything around him. His feet would have traced the same path, but the love of the strange, foreign girl saved him.

Though Allen and Dilandau crossed swords many times, eventually Allen, through both chance and knowledge of the defected Strategos of Zaibach, Folken Lacour de Fanel, Van's once lost brother, discovered the truth.

Eventually they were reunited, Celena and Allen. He took her home, intent on giving her the life she never had.

Folken perished in the war, a victim of his misguided dreams.

Hitomi returned home to Earth and resumed her life as it had been, wiser.

…and Van never forgave Dilandau his sins.