A/N: (Please ignore the absolute irrelevance of this epilogue. Only some parts actually have sense / purpose.)

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokespe or anything else.

Fourteen years later…

A moment in which we learn that "family" doesn't always mean blood relations, cookies are discovered, and frosty hands are held.

Garnet Amarillo Berlitz was sitting, all bundled up, on a hill just beyond her castle's grounds. She knew that guards were lurking just behind her, giving her privacy, but ready to spring into action should any harm come to her. She didn't fight them on it; the view of LillycoveCity was worth the trouble. She adored observing this one little corner of the world, this one city in her kingdom.

There was a certain festive air in the streets that day; he could tell this much even from where she sat. The holidays had just passed, but the early-January day was still important, even after fourteen years. To the nations surrounding, it the anniversary of the day the war that rocked the PaxSeas cluttered to a close. To Hoenn, it was also their young princess's fourteenth birthday.

To Garnet, it was a highly-anticipated reunion.

The chilly wind picked up, playing with her dark, chocolaty curls. She would probably catch a cold from staying out too long, and though she adored Lillycove, she was less than a dainty and fair princess when sick—her face flushed the colour of her name, her nose dripped grossly, and her fevers drove the nurses mad. Unfortunately, her often-poor health led her to too many of these experiences.

But she was a refreshing change from the usual princesses that had graced the seas, and the lands beyond, people said. The truth was, times were changing. Though she knew not of the ordeals of the lands beyond the PaxSeas, she knew that in the monarchies, parliaments had additional power. It was true that nobles ruled, but alongside the people. Everyone had learned from the greed for power that had led to the war. She knew also, though, that new trends were starting. The king of Johto's marriage to a common woman was leading to more marriages for love—not a dramatic increase, but one nonetheless. And Garnet herself was causing a shift; since she was the only heir to Hoenn's throne, her parents had begun working on improving women's rights.

Garnet was just beginning to snuffle, when all of the sudden, someone grabbed her from behind. She let out a shriek, beginning to tumble down the hill, and wondered with dismay how this could have happened. How could anyone have gotten past the guards?

She was terrified, until finally she rolled to a stop, hearing laughter, and saw a familiar boy in the snow beside her.

"Iron!" she squealed and tackled him in a hug. She wished she could have been cross with him—he was but a year her senior and yet thought it was hysterical to tease her!—but she was simply too pleased to see him. No wonder no guards came to her rescue; why would they need to save their princess from her best friend?

"A page told me I'd find you out here." Iron rubbed his arms. "It's positively freezing. What are you doing sitting here in the cold?" Of course, he had all the trouble of his mother with all the caution of his father.

"Just watching the city," she answered, though Lillycove was now completely forgotten. "Has anyone else arrived? Are you the first here?"

Iron laughed. "Slow down. I just got here. Why don't we go inside before we both get sick?" She sneezed and nodded.

Garnet hardly had any real family. Sure, both of her parents had plenty of cousins she could have talked to, but they only bothered with her because she was the princess of Hoenn. The only relatives she liked were her aunt's family, the Schuylers. So those who she considered "family" were often not blood relatives.

Her parents had played a vital part in the war fourteen years before. The force that they had gathered had put a stop to the fighting. They were part of the Resistance that had fought for peace, not any nation or idea. Each year, the people who had played a major role in the Resistancereunited on the anniversary of the war's end. Eventually, they all became such close friends that they saw each other whenever they could, depending on who was in which country at what time. This was Garnet's true family.

As soon as she was inside the castle, Aries swooped in and hugged her. "Garnet! My, how you've grown!" Garnet still wasn't as tall as Aries, the oldest of the Resistance'schildren. "Emerald and Tourmaline have just arrived, and I think maybe someone else. It's too chaotic for me to tell. Oh, this is so fun. I love doing this." Aries beamed. She was rather carefree, much like her mother—too much, if you asked Silver. Aries and Iron both loved traveling, which Silver found worrisome. Of course, most of Iron's roaming ended with him in Hoenn, visiting Garnet.

The princess of Hoenn had plenty of friends in her castle. Still, she gladly reserved the position of her best friend for Iron. The fact that she didn't see him often didn't faze her; in fact, it only made her happier when she took a trip to Kanto. She spoke with him in letters, and he was a rather funny correspondent.

As she was drying her hair, shaking out the wet snow, the Schuylers, in all their abundance, entered the antechamber with much clamor. Diamond and Platinum had already found Garnet's parents and were chattering away. Meanwhile, Garnet's cousin, Gold, was struggling to shepherd all of his children into the room. "Stay in here, kiddies," he was saying. "Look! There's Garnet. Play with her." Garnet took all five children in at once—Citrine, Topaz, Copper, Azurite, and Marigold, and was glad that Cheren and Belle didn't have any children (yet, Garnet noted when she spied Belle's baby bump.) After his short, illustrious political career in Unova, Cheren had returned to Johto recently to take over the bakery with Belle.

Silver was shaking his head at Gold's wife. "You're mad, Crystal." They'd all shed the formalities of their royal ranks around each other years before. "Absolutely mad. I couldn't imagine having five kids."

"Yes," Lyra went on, "two is just enough of a headache for us."

Garnet nudged Iron, knowing he was listening. "Hear that? Your own mother describes you as a headache."

He elbowed her side good-naturedly. "Be quiet, you."

"You're done now, though, right?" Silver asked Gold.

"Um…" Gold glanced over at Crystal, who instinctively put a hand over her stomach.

Silver and Lyra stared at her. "You're not…"

"Ah…well…" Gold tried to explain.

"We're going to name him Beryl!" Crystal suddenly burst out.

Silver rolled his eyes. "Six kids. Stars, Gold, you're insane." Gold shrugged.

One more cousin to keep track of, Garnet thought. She could tell that Crystal was happy with this outcome.

Garnet knew the stories about Crystal, Gold's wife. After the clamour of the war, Crystal could have gone to any place she wanted, and held any occupation. She could have kept her engagement to Red and become queen of Kanto. She could have been a political representative of any nation. She could have stayed in the palaces of Johto or Kanto, or even had her own estate. She did none of this, however. Instead, she married Gold, and settled down in Johto.

Citrine, the oldest of Crystal and Gold's children, was trying to wrangle all of her wild siblings. She was demonstrating her likeness to her mother when the doors swung open again and that serious manner of hers dissolved. A guard hardly had the chance to announce the arrival of the Corvus family before Citrine called out to Orange.

The king, queen, and prince of Kanto had all arrived with smiling faces. Behind them trailed Pearl, Poppy, and their son, Forest, who hardly looked anything like them (Poppy claimed he looked like her brother once did.) Orange was carrying in his four-year-old cousin, Alyssum.

Garnet was surprised to see Poppy pregnant with her third child. "Another bun in the oven?" she asked.

Poppy nodded, smiling softly. "Yes. I think I'd like the name Thistle for him…"

"Thistle?" Pearl asked, recoiling. Clearly, he had heard nothing of this before. "You can't name a child Thistle! Other kids will pick on him. You've got to name him something tough, like…Zircon!"

"Why not Basil?" Garnet asked, saying the first name she thought was suitable for the strange couple. She remembered the story of how Gold had given her the name Garnet.

"Basil?" Poppy repeated it, looking almost confused and not impressed.

"What kind of a name is Basil?" Pearl asked, and turned back to insist on the name Zircon again.

(Not three months later was little Basil Nympharum born.)

Garnet soon stationed herself by Iron, Citrine, and Orange; after all, they were all about the same age. One moment, she was chatting with them, and the next, little Aquamarine Oak was prodding at her.

"Marina!" Garnet hugged her tight. Marina was only about three years younger than her, and a princess as well. Though she was immensely quiet, one soon discovered how much she took after her mother if they spent enough time in her presence. For example, Marina quickly upon her arrival took both Garnet and Iron's hands and slipped them together. Then she abandoned them for the cookies that Topaz had conjured, leaving them blushing furiously. She was fast to drop his grasp.

Garnet distracted herself from that by going over to Emerald and Tourmaline, who she'd had yet to talk to. They lived in Hoenn, so they visited most often. Both had been employed to the Hoenn war committee after the war. There, they strengthened the kingdom's defenses and even the bonds with other nations by sharing strategies, forces, resources, et cetera. They were part of the cause that brought the nations of the PaxSeas together. Yes, if any outside countries attempted to invade now, they would be in for the nasty surprise that the PaxSeas nations were an allied stronghold.

Emerald was watching the chaos that ensued annually with a look of disdain. "You children are far too wild," he told Garnet gruffly, even though she knew he could be soft sometimes. "Too much trouble. Boy, am I glad we're waiting to have little 'uns, eh, Tourmaline?"

"Oh, about that…" Tourmaline started sheepishly.

Emerald's long eyebrows shot up. "What?!"

"Nothing!"

Garnet fled that scene quickly.

The last to arrive were those from Unova—not because the travel was longer, but because they had gotten sidetracked on the way to Lillycove, somehow. Black and White were quite an energetic pair; they owned a theater in Unova. Black's close friends—Falkner, Marlon, Whitney, and Clemont, if Garnet remembered correctly—were always writing new plays and musicals that made business boom.

On the other hand, Wally and Tanzanite owned a bookstore. Their calm children, Alexandrite and Jasper, were quick to blend in and contentedly talk to their friends. Meanwhile, as soon as White set her son, Gray, down, he bolted over to poor Alyssum and knocked her over. They were best friends. When Garnet saw this, she couldn't help but have déjà vu to earlier when Iron found her. Looking around, though, she didn't see where he went.

Garnet tried to ask Aries if she'd seen where her brother went off to, but she was too busy having an argument with Silver. "It's only Johto! I've been there plenty of times before!"

"Yes, but you weren't gallivanting about with…pirates!" Silver shot back to his daughter. Lyra seemed to be having a hard time as referee.

Aries rolled her eyes. "Turquoise is a good man!"

Garnet backed away from that, not wanting to get entangled in an argument. She was beginning to develop a talent for slipping out of sticky situations.

She scanned the whole area, watching the tumbling children and the adults conversing. It was the reunion she looked forward to every year, her favourite way to spend her birthday, and yet Iron wasn't anywhere to be seen. He was usually in the center of things, showing off to the little kids, as one of the oldest. He was usually by his best friend's side, every year.

Little Alyssum stumbled over to Garnet, trailed by Gray, Marigold, and Jasper. She was awfully shy, and apparently needed all of their moral support to talk to the older princess. She stared up with wide eyes and said, "Iron told us he was going to go watch the snow fall alone, but we don't think he really wants to be alone." From next to her, Marigold smiled sweetly.

Oh, how Garnet adored these kids. "Thank you," she told them, and managed to quit the room unnoticed.

Garnet wandered the halls, looking at every passing window, should Iron be before it. She finally found him down some corridors on a balcony. It was still in the same area as their big party, but far enough away that the loud chatter had become a muffled hum. Wordlessly, Garnet stepped out into the brisk air next to him.

He sighed. "Alright, I know I'm being melodramatic."

"I didn't say anything."

"You were not saying anything very loudly." He clenched and unclenched his fists, a nervous habit. "Sorry, I just—I'm sorry for acting like this on your birthday. I really shouldn't."

"What's wrong?" Garnet couldn't hide her concern, or her confusion. She didn't mind that it was her birthday. She already got enough attention as a princess, she didn't need any more eyes on her just because of what day it was.

"Well, everyone's so happy back there." He gave way to his friend immediately. "But what if, when we're older, we all go our separate ways? Or what if there's a disagreement and another war? What if we change, Garnet?"

She shook her head. "We're not going to let each other. Our parents didn't. No war can hurt us now."

She knew the war had been horrible, but…they had recovered. The people who had been most involved in it had moved on. They had smiled and laughed again, and started families. They would remain friends all of their lives, a friendship that could not be broken, even by distance, time, or war. Something truly beautiful had been formed from something so ugly and awful as war. She herself had been born in the midst of the final battle.

Iron smiled at her. Garnet took his hand and led him back inside the castle, back to where all the people they loved were waiting.

This time, she didn't let go.