This next segment is very short. Still, it was an issue I couldn't ignore, and I hope I did it justice.
I warn you now, if you have any issues with capital punishment, read no further.
It was not a public execution. In the wake of the Witch's reign of terror, Queen Lavender had ruled such spectacles barbaric. Still, the executions, themselves were becoming very necessary. With the Tower that had once been the realm's prison demolished, Central City's underground jail was quickly becoming overrun. Thus, one by one, the lives of the most vicious criminals were snuffed out below the city in a private room before the eyes of a representative of the Crown.
It was usually just the Guard Commander. While the Tin Men had finally been re-established and the Chief technically presided over such matters of justice as executions, Wyatt Cain had taken it upon himself to attend every single one. The young men under the Chief's command had taken to watching the war hero carefully during the proceedings, remarking that the man seemed to take each death as his personal responsibility to the Crown. That he sought to insulate the women under his charge from those same deaths.
Thus, the size of the audience at this particular execution came as quite a shock to the attending Tin Men. The condemned was one of the last in a long list of traitors to the realm- a Long Coat who'd gleefully terrorized and brutalized any one in his path. He hadn't spoken since his transfer from a lonely tin suit into a cell, but all the same, most only whispered his name.
Standing tall, hand clasped tightly in her sister's, Princess Azkadellia dared to speak it aloud. "Aiden Zero, you were found guilty of treason, murder, and rape in the court of the O.Z., and have been sentenced to death." On her sister's other side, Commander Cain and his son, a Captain, stood perfectly still, cold eyes trained on Zero. It was only out of respect for those two men that the elder Princess could still stand as her former lieutenant lifted his gaze to her, though only the faintest tremor in her voice betrayed any hint of it. "Do you have any final words before the sentence is carried out?"
He'd only shaken his head. His eyes never left his former leader as the injection entered his system and he quietly died.
Commander Cain's sudden drop to his knees shocked all present but the three surrounding him. As they sank down beside him, forced strength fading now that their nemesis had been vanquished, all that could be heard was the younger Princess's quiet voice. "It's over," she whispered, still holding Az's hand, her other arm wrapped around her Tin Man's shoulder. "It's over."
BTW, congrats to JesSickUh for being the first to correctly guess Nightcrawler from X-Men. My next ficlet will be dedicated to her and her request for fluff.