Holy crap, this story is almost over. Only an epilogue after this. Thanks to everyone who's been reviewing and reading. It really means a lot. Updates have been slow because I've had a busy summer, but it's almost over. By the way, my other story should be expected to receive updates because this one is almost over. They probably won't be as frequent as I like though, mostly because school is starting soon and I have some summer homework to finish that's really long. Anyways, thanks for reading and don't forget to review :)

Len's POV

I sat quietly on the horse, my mind completely blank. The guards around me also rode silently, but all seemed to be in good spirits. Perhaps, they felt joyful that I was returning to the palace, but I highly doubted that. I couldn't lie to myself any longer. I knew that I was hated.

A bit later, Dell rejoined the party. He was also quite happy and eager to return to the palace. "Don't worry," he told me. "I explained the situation to your… friends." I simply nodded, and pretended to be content with this. However, Rin's face was still etched in my mind. It would go away, and was plaguing me. It was a harsh reminder of how much I had hurt her.

The ride back to the castle seemed quicker than the time it had taken me to arrive at the village. We arrived back at the palace before midnight, but the ride still felt extremely long. When we arrived, no one was outside the palace, aside from a few guards. The party seemed to slip onto the castle grounds, under the cover of darkness. Everyone seemed to be silent now, even the horses. It was like we were sneaking back in. But that would be ridiculous. Why would we have to be snuck into my own palace?

"Be quiet," Dell whispered to me, as the horses were being sent to the stables. "If we make too much noise, we could alert some rebels that could be infiltrating the castle," he explained. It sounded a bit farfetched, but I agreed to keep quiet. No point in taking any unnecessary risks.

Dell quickly led me back into the palace. We entered through a side entrance. Inside, it seemed to be much colder than the outside. No fires were lit, and there was no way for the summer air to get inside. "I shall return to my room now," I told Dell, miserably. "I'm very tired, and need some sleep."

"Your room isn't safe," Dell said, though he didn't sound frightened at all. "I know for sure that there are traitors within this castle that are planning your demise. The guards haven't been able to 'remove' them, because of the search for you."

"So what are we going to do?" I asked, not really caring though. At this point, if someone killed me, I don't think I would be upset. It would probably please everyone in the village, especially Rin. In fact, everyone in the country would probably celebrate in the streets. For Dell's sake though, I would stay safe. It would be awful to lose a family member you cared about.

"Follow me," Dell said. I followed him, along with four extra guards. I followed him through the throne room, and towards the Western side of the castle. There wasn't very much there, just a few miscellaneous rooms and the kitchen. However, at the very end, there was a large tower. In years past, it had been used to lock up political prisoners. There was no escape, aside from jumping to your death. It had been very effective in the past, but it hadn't been used in years. Most people were locked up in the dungeons near the castle. They were much bigger, and it was easier to handle the amount of prisoners in a large area.

I thought back to what Rin had said about her brother. He was locked up there, somewhere. I decided when day came; I would personally go the dungeons and release him. It was the least I could do for her, after all the pain I put her through. I continued to follow Dell through the West end, and we arrived at a door that was the entrance to the tower.

"You will hide in here," Dell explained. "It is the safest place to be right now. There will be guards stationed at this door and the upper door to ensure your safety. I too will be on watch." Dell motioned at his sword, which looked sharp enough to kill a man with one swing. It would be awful to be caught on the other side of that thing.

Two guards stayed at the door, while the rest of us walked up the stairs. It was no easy trek, but eventually we made it up there. At the top, there was another large door that led into the cell area. Dell pulled out a key and opened the door. He handed the key to one of the guards, and led me inside. The two guards remained at the door to stand guard.

"I apologize, but you'll have to hide here for the night. It is in no way acceptable for a prince, but it'll have to do," Dell said. I walked into the cell. It was by far the largest, and was probably reserved for prisoners that were a part of the royal family. Treason like that had happened in the past. There were some dark stains on the floor, which frightened me a bit. Someone had been hurt here.

"Where will you be staying," I asked Dell. He smiled at me devilishly. "Right here of course." He reached for his sword, and pulled it out. The moonlight that came out of the cell's small window reflected of the sword, making it seem even deadlier.

"I've been waiting for this for a long time," Dell laughed. "You've been a pain in my side for long enough, you little brat. It's time for a new king in this kingdom." Suddenly, it seemed like the few good things left in my life where gone. The one person I had left in my life was gone. It all made sense though, looking back on everything. I could understand why he hated me. Everyone did.

"You're so stupid," Dell said, continuing his rant. "I probably could have killed you without sending you out to that stupid village. You're so naïve, you would have trusted me anyways. Though I suppose that makes your death sweeter for me and much more painful for you. I can't wait to savor the moment, when your blood drips through the streets and all the country will hail me as their savior. All the things I have done, you will be accounted for. The hatred upon you will be remembered for all of history, and I will be the hero. " Dell was laughing hysterically now. He seemed to be a madman.

Outside the cells, I could hear some commotion, but I ignored it. This was it. I was dead. There was nothing that was going to save me. The guards must be in on Dell's plan; otherwise they would've saved me by now. Truthfully, I wouldn't mind dying. It would make everything easier.

Meanwhile…

Rin's POV

As the last of the palace officials left, everyone started to freak out. Kaito was in a fit of range, along with all the other men. Luka seemed to be cursing herself. Miku was beside me, comforting me. And I was in awe. My mind couldn't seem to comprehend what happened. It was all too fast. There was no way. It was impossible. I felt salty tears fall down my face. Miku wrapped her arms around me, trying to make me stop crying, but she remained silent. What was there left to say?

I slowly stood up, Miku helping me, and wiped my tears away. I was stronger than this. I was a fighter, and I could not let myself be taken down over something like this. Shouldn't I be happy? My enemy… our enemy, for years will finally be gone. It was something that I had dreamed of for years now, but things were different now. The prince I had always despised was someone that I cared about. He was more important to me now, than anything else in the world. Being around him made me happy, even if he didn't always have the greatest attitude. There was no way I could lie to myself. I liked him, truly liked him. I would be lying to myself if I said that I would enjoy his death.

My thoughts were slowly becoming clearer. I could understand my feelings now, and I knew exactly what I had to do. I wasn't going to let Len die, no way. He might have caused problems for lots of people, but I know now that he didn't do it on purpose. Len just couldn't understand the repercussions of his actions. His personality showed that clearly. He could be cold-hearted and cruel sometimes, but he could be kind and wonderful too.

"Miku, I'm fine," I told my friend. She nodded, and let go of me. I walked up to Kaito, who was still extremely angry. "That bastard!" Kaito growled. "He took us all for fools, and we fell for it. We shouldn't have let him stay here. We should have killed him right away." All the other men nodded in agreement. They seemed to be just as angry as Kaito.

"Stop it!" I yelled. All turned to me, and stopped talking. "You're all ridiculous!" I shouted. "Len was a friend, and you know it. Kaito, you enjoyed teaching him how to swordfight, even if it was frustrating at sometimes. So don't badmouth him, because you know how amazing of a person Len can be. He's a hard-worker and though he can seem cold-hearted, a nice person. Now isn't the time to turn on him, instead we need to rescue him. He's going to die!" By now, there were tears at the corners of my eyes, but they weren't because I was sad. Instead, I was angry and frustrated.

"But Rin," Kaito argued. "He's the one that ruined your life, our lives. He's the reason we're stuck here and have had our lives ruined! Why should we forgive that?"

"He brought us together!" I cried out. "Without him, would we have even met each other? No! Kaito, you'd have never have met Miku. Same with Gakupo and Luka, Meiko and Kiyoteru. Everyone here would be strangers, without Len." Everyone was quiet, as they took my point into consideration.

"That doesn't forgive all the terrible things he's done to us and the whole the country," Mikuo pointed out. "He almost took Miku away from me forever. That's unforgivable." I thought back when I had explained to Len why we all hated the prince and had gathered here. When I explained Miku's almost kidnapping, he was confused. It was like he had never heard of such a thing. In fact, he didn't seem to know anything about why we would hate the prince, aside from people being arrested. Suddenly, pieces of the puzzle seemed to fall in place for me. Could Len not be responsible for all of those crimes? Could he be more innocent than we all thought? But who could have done it instead?

This guess was flimsy, and might not even be true, but it would have to be enough to convince everyone else that Len was worth saving. "Our problems are not Len's fault!" I protested. "He's innocent, and I know it."

"How isn't it his fault?" Kaito demanded. "Who else could have done it?"

"I don't know," I confessed, "but you have to believe me!" Kaito thought to himself for a moment, his anger dimming down. He was thinking about what I was saying. If I was lucky, he would believe me. Still, he seemed doubtful.

"I believe Rin," Miku interjected suddenly. "If she trusts Len, we should too. Besides, in the time he stayed here, he never did anything wrong. He could be a little rude sometimes, but besides that, he was a good person. I support Rin, end of story."

"Fine," Kaito sighed. "Rin, I'll trust you on this, but you'd better hope you aren't wrong." Thank you, Miku. Without your input, Kaito would never have believed in me. "I have one more thing to ask," I said. "Who will come with me to save Len?"

"Save him?" Mikuo cried. "Are you insane?"

"If you believe in his innocence," I said, "then yes, save him. We need to bring the real culprit to justice, and save Len. We can do it, we're strong enough!"

"I can't believe that I'm doing this," Kaito said, "but I'll do it. I'm going to put my trust in you, Rin, but if I die you're never going to hear the end of it in the afterlife." I smiled, and readily agreed. "Anyone else?" I asked. Slowly, everyone agreed to help, even Mikuo agreed after a bit of persuading.

"We have to leave now though," I pointed out. "The gray-haired man made it seem like Len's execution will be tonight, so we have no time to waste. Everyone needs to get their swords. And those who can't fight need to prepare all the horses we have, and together some extra supplies." Everyone went off in their different directions to get ready. The only ones to fight would be the men and me, making us a small force.

Within a few minutes, we were ready to go. We only had a few horses, so I would have to ride with Kaito. We gave a few quick goo-byes, and set off. We rode through the night as fast as possible. Kiyoteru was depended upon to take us to the castle, since he was the only one that had ever been. His memory was a little hazy though, and I prayed that we would get there on time.

The entire ride made me nervous. Only now did I realize how serious this thing was. The guards could imprison us for good, or even kill us. I could've just taken away the lives of my friends, so I hope that all this is worth it. After more intense riding, we arrived at the castle. We arrived near a side with a stable. The horses were left there, and the rest of us set of to invade the castle. Kiyoteru showed us a small side entrance that he remembered. We got inside, no problem. It bothered me that there was little security. It appeared that no one cared who got in and out of the castle, like the prince's safety wasn't a priority (which I guess it wasn't).

"Where would he be?" I asked to no one in particular. "Do we even know if he's in the castle?"

"Didn't that man say something about hanging Len's body from the palace walls?" Kiyoteru asked. I nodded and shivered at the thought. "If I wanted to display a body from here," Kiyoteru explained. "I'd do it from the tower, where everyone could see it. I'd kill someone there to, so I wouldn't have to carry the body. That's where we need to check. It's a longshot, but it's the only guess we have." I trusted Kiyoteru, so we decided to check this tower.

As we walked through the castle, there were still no guards. Everything seemed deserted, until we passed by a kitchen. Cheers and hoots could be heard, along with the speech of drunken men. It seemed that there was a party inside the kitchen. That was where most of the guards were and they seemed to be celebrating something. We sneaked around the kitchen, trying not to get any unwanted attention. As soon as we were in the clear, we ran towards the tower entrance.

There were two guards there, but they didn't seem to be taking guard duty seriously. They were goofing around, enjoying themselves. We could probably distract them, and head up the stairs. Kiyoteru and Gakupo volunteered to be the distractions. They ran in front of the guards, swords in hand. The guards looked surprised, but quickly reached for their own swords. Kiyoteru and Gakupo ran off, away from the tower with the guards running behind them.

Kaito, Mikuo and I walked up to the door and to our surprise; there was no lock on it. We quickly ran up the stairs, going as fast as our legs could take us. When we came around the last corner of the staircase, we saw another door, guarded by two more guards. Kaito and Mikuo immediately went on the attack. The guards didn't see it coming. Kaito and Mikuo knocked out the both of them, being careful not to land any fatal blows. After all, the guards were just doing their jobs. There was no reason to kill them.

I checked the door and it too was unlocked. The security in this place is awful. I was about to go into the tower, when Kaito grabbed my hand. "We need to stay here, in case these two wake up," Kaito said. "Can you handle whatever is ahead?" I nodded, and Kaito gave me a smile.

I ran into the tower room, and to my surprise it was bigger than I had expected. It was easily the size of my house in the village. I'd have to do a bit of looking. I could hear a man's laugh from around a corner, and I knew that was where I needed to look. I raced around to see the gray-haired man holding up a sword to Len. He was in the position to strike at any moment. There wouldn't be enough time for me to ready my sword and counterattack. The only way was to block the blow, and just a sword would be able to do that. I would need something bigger. I'm about to do something incredibly stupid, but I'm not going to let Len die while I'm here.

Len's POV

Dell was ready, and I was ready to die. There was no reason to even retaliate. I simply stood there and accepted my fate, but the sword never hit me. Instead, I heard the sickening sound of a sword in a body and heard a thud on the ground. Looking down, I saw Rin, lying there, bloodied. H-how did she get here? This can't be happening? Dell looked down at Rin, extremely confused. It was obvious that he wasn't expecting her either.

Almost as quickly as Rin had appeared, she stood back up again. There was a large wound on her side, and blood seeped through her clothes. She had her sword out now, and was standing in front of me. "Back off!" she yelled at Dell. "You won't hurt him." Dell gave her devious smile and pointed his sword at her face. "You're that pathetic bitch from that village. I don't know what you're doing here, but you'll regret that you interfered with the prince's and my personal matters."

Dell attacked, but Rin countered it. The two seemed to be in an all-out battle. I could see now that Rin was an extremely skilled swordsman, but with her wound, her stamina seemed to be failing. Dell was a man too, and he would eventually over power her. And here I was, a coward in the corner, letting Rin protect me after all the terrible things I had done to her.

Suddenly, Dell stuck out his foot and tripped Rin. He slashed his sword at her and she fell to the ground. In most fights, that would be a dishonorable thing to do, but Dell had no honor at this point. Rin gave out a groan, and then went silent. Dell kicked her body and then turned to me. "Now that we're done with that problem, it's time for the main event," he smiled.

I noticed that Rin's sword was lying next to her, and I lunged for it. Now I had a weapon too, and it could buy me a bit of time. "Do you really think you can fight back, you pathetic brat?" Dell taunted me. "No one's even ever taught you how to hold a sword!"

Now I became angry. He was taunting me, and he hurt Rin. There was no way I could sit here any longer. I'd protect myself and help Rin, or I would die trying. I ran at Dell, trying to remember all things Kaito had taught me. In my situation, it might be easier to resort to attacking the vulnerable points on a person's body. Dell attacked, but I blocked it with my sword. However, the force of the blow almost knocked me off of my feet. It was clear that Dell's strength was superior to mine. He came at me again, and again I blocked it, but almost fell over.

I would need a miracle to win this fight, but I wouldn't give up. For Rin, I would keep going. After a few minutes of fighting, Dell seemed irritated and I was getting tired. The fight wouldn't last much longer. I decided to give one final push of strength, and risk everything. I stepped back from the fight, which caught Dell of guard. I swung my sword in the air with all my strength, and heard a sickening slice. I closed my eyes and heard Dell's body fall to the ground. He made no more noises, reassuring me that he was dead. I didn't feel guilty in the slightest. Instead, I was too worried about Rin.

I dropped the sword on the ground, and ran over to Rin's body. Her shirt was caked with blood and the wound seemed to be getting worse every moment. I grabbed her hand, and it felt colder than normal. Her face was very pale, and she seemed to be hardly breathing at all. A wave of emotion swept over me, and I did something that I had never done before. I began to cry.

This wasn't fair! Why does she have to die, when I'm the one who clearly deserved it? Why would she come all the way here and risk her life to save me? My tears mixed with the drops of blood on the ground, as I continued to cry. I had never felt this much emotion in my life. It felt like I had lost the most important thing I'd ever had. My first friend and the first person that I ever cared about. I sat, staring at Rin's body, just crying.

Suddenly, I felt a tap on my shoulder and turned to see a young woman wearing purple, standing behind me. She seemed vaguely familiar. Still, I wondered how she had gotten in here. She wasn't there a few minutes ago.

"It's been a while, hasn't it, prince?" the woman smiled. How could she be smiling at a time like this? I completely ignored her, and turned back to Rin. The woman kneeled down next to me, and looked at Rin's body. Then, she looked up at my face and smiled. "Ah, I see," she observed. "It took you long enough to break that curse," she laughed. "It wasn't even that strong of a curse, considering I was only a beginner at that time."

I was surprised that the mysterious woman knew about my curse. Suddenly, I realized why she looked so familiar. She was the "witch" that had cast it on me. "I suppose this is a little too far for the sake of teaching you how to love though," the woman said, looking back at Rin's body. "Even I couldn't have predicted that something like this could've happened."

"Can you do anything?" I asked. She was a witch and could do magic. Maybe she could save Rin. "It's the least I could do," the purple-haired woman smiled. "She seems to be very important to you, and she's a brave girl." The woman placed her hands on Rin's stomach and murmured some strange words. The wounds on Rin's body seemed to close up, instantly, and Rin opened her eyes.

"What happened?" she groaned, showing that she was still in some pain. She looked at me and her eyes widened. "Len, you're okay!" Rin gave me a giant hug, and started to cry. "I was so worried," she sobbed. "I thought you were going to die." I hugged her in return, holding her tightly, so that she couldn't get away.

I wanted to thank the purple-haired lady, but she seemed to be gone. Suddenly, footsteps filled the room and I saw Kaito and Mikuo standing there. "What's going on?" Kaito asked. "We heard something and got worried!" (Now they're here). "We're fine," Rin smiled, as she broke the hug.

"Who's this guy?" Mikuo asked, pointing to Dell's dead body on the ground. I hadn't been paying attention to it before, but now I noticed that I had cut a deadly and deep wound in his stomach, causing him to die almost instantly.

"No one," I explained. "Now, I think we should leave. There are some things I have to do that can't wait until morning."