Here it is, ladies and gentlemen. The moment you've all been waiting for. After many months, I present to you the rewritten and COMPLETE version of A Tale of Two Hearts. I left this story without a proper ending a long time ago and wanted to fix it. It took a long time, but I finally did it. :)

"Please," the old man cried, on his knees. His long gray hair draped his face, covering his wrinkles. He looked almost pitiful. "I will find a way to pay this month's taxes, I promise. I just need a few more days," he pleaded. The old man gazed up at his country's prince with a look of helplessness. The prince was a striking figure. He was a handsome young boy, only 13 years old, quite young to be ruling an entire kingdom. His blonde hair was tied back into a neat, small ponytail. His appearance was perfect, except for his cold blue eyes.

The prince's eyes showed his true nature as a menacing, heartless boy who cared only about himself. He leaned back in his golden throne and looked down at the sorry old man lying before him with a look of pure disgust. He despised dirty peasants who groveled at his feet. They all wanted the same thing from him, pity. Something they would never get.

This particular peasant was unable to pay his monthly taxes. The little money he made from his job was used to feed his family. He had made the trip to the castle to ask for more time to come up with the money. He hoped the prince would sympathize with his struggles and agree to give him more time. He couldn't afford to face the punishment for not paying his taxes. He would be jailed for life, leaving his penniless family to starve.

"Please, my prince," the man cried. "Have mercy on me." He clasped his hands together and began to cry. The prince sneered at him. "You disgust me," the prince said coldly. "There is no excuse for your worthlessness. Arrest him and get him out of my sight immediately." Suddenly, a tall, intimidating man appeared from the shadows. His body was covered in scars. The peasant looked at the guard in horror. "No, please!" he shouted, as the guard grabbed his arms and pulled him from the ground.

"Yuuma," the prince commanded. "Tale him to a cell as far away from my chambers as possible. I don't want to hear his pathetic cries. If he doesn't shut up…" The prince paused for a second and then gave a wicked smile. "Kill him." The guard nodded and dragged the man away. As the two went to the dungeons, a man with silver hair emerged, needing to talk with the prince.

"Another one," the man laughed. "This is the 3rd peasant today. You'll run out of dungeon space eventually."

"Your jokes don't amuse me, Dell," the prince sighed. "Don't you have something to be doing?" The prince never enjoyed Dell's company. "Why do you act so coldly to your cousin, Lenny?" Dell whined. "I'm your only family left. You should treat me with more love or I might leave you."

"Please do," Len retorted. "And don't call me that ridiculous nickname. It's childish and pathetic."

"Fine, Len," Dell replied with a hint of sarcasm. Dell sighed to himself. Not only was he the prince's cousin, but also his closest advisor. Despite Dell's importance to Len, the prince still treated him without care. However, this was fine for Dell. Secretly, he despised his cousin, even more than Len did him. In his mind, the prince was a selfish brat drunk on absolute power. Power that should belong to Dell, the older and wiser of the 2 royals.

"I must leave," Dell announced. "There is some urgent business I need to attend to." Dell turned and left the room, where the prince stayed with a bored expression on his face. As Dell left, he cursed the prince under his breath. "That little brat. Someday, I'll be in charge and I'll give him a test of his own medicine." The prince didn't suspect his cousin's treason, but how could he? Though the prince found his cousin annoying, he had complete trust in him. Dell was in charge of tedious tasks Len didn't want to do. For example, Dell traveled throughout the country, collecting taxes. He hired the castle's staff and did other menial tasks. It was a fair amount of responsibility, which elevated Dell to a higher stats. However, it didn't satisfy the amount of power Dell deeply yearned for.

Once Dell was gone, Len signed and laid his head on the arm on his throne. He was bored with hearing people's pointless problems. Were they so incompetent that they couldn't depend on themselves? They complained about so many things. High taxes, crime, poverty, and so much more. How could 1 prince solve all those problems? People were fools, in the prince's opinion, which is why he never showed mercy.

"Excuse me," a quiet voice said, splitting the silence. Len looked up to see a young woman in a purple cloak. Her violet hair fell down her shoulders. To many, she would have been a true beauty, but Len didn't care at all. He wondered what type of problem she came to complain about. Though he wondered, he didn't really care.

"I have a favor to ask," the woman said. Len almost laughed at her audacity. A prince doesn't grant favors. "Please free all the innocents imprisoned in your dungeons." The prince was taken aback by her request. "They aren't criminals," the woman frowned. "They are victims of your abuse of power. People who can't afford to pay your outrageous taxes, people who have to steal bread to survive, people who have been taken from their families because of your whims. They must be helped. Please free them!"

"I will do no such thing!" Len shouted at her. "How dare you ask me to do these things, you wench? I could have you executed for such words." The prince called for his guard, when the woman started to smile.

"You are a cold-hearted, evil boy," she muttered. "Barely even human. I will ensure that your heart will remain this cold and emotionless for all eternity. You don't deserve to feel love or compassion. What a terrible existence you will live, void of emotion. How miserable you'll be…"

"What is this crazy woman doing?" Len thought to himself. It was almost like she was placing a curse, but magic doesn't exist, the prince believed. She must be insane. The woman locked eyes with him and began to chant. The words flowing from her mouth were from a strange language the prince had never hearted before. The prince watched her with amusement. "Let her whisper to herself and wallow in her own insanity," he chuckled.

Suddenly, Len felt a sharp pain in his chest and he started to scream. He fell out of his throne and onto the cold ground. The amusement he felt disappeared and was replaced with nothing. As the pain subsided, Len stood up and looked at the woman with wide eyes. Normally, he would be angry, but he wasn't. In fact, he didn't feel anything at all.

"You're nothing more than a shell," the devious woman smiled. "This is your curse. It will stay with you until you die as punishment for your crimes. Such a shame, you're so young too." The woman turned to leave, but stopped before the door. "The only way to break your curse," she whispered, so quietly the prince almost couldn't hear her. "Is to find the only person in the world that could actually love an evil boy like you."

"Am I doing it right?" a 13 year old girl asked, as she added an egg to the bowl. She looked up at her brother with a big smile. "You're doing it perfectly," the girl's brother, Rinto, said. He was teaching his sister another recipe. Rinto was the baker in town, and his younger sister loved to bake alongside him. He watched as she stirred the batter, her white bow bouncing as she moved the spoon.

"That's enough, Rin," Rinto said. The girl nodded and poured the batter into a small pan. Her brother took the pan and placed it in the fiery oven to bake. "I can't wait to eat it!" Rin exclaimed. "I bet it'll be delicious." Rin loved nothing more than eating her creations with her brother, her only family. Their parents had died when disease spread through their village a few years ago. The 2 siblings depended on each other for everything. They were closer than most siblings.

Suddenly, there was a loud knock on the door. Rinto stood up, and answered the door. He surprised to find one of the castle's guards waiting outside. "Rinto Kagamine?" the guard asked. Rinto nodded, with a wary expression. "You haven't paid your taxes this month. I'm afraid I'll have to arrest you." Rinto looked back at his sister, who was still sitting at the table, smiling. He knew this day was coming. He had been having trouble paying the prince's extremely high taxes for months. And this month, there was barely enough money to keep his bakery open.

The castle guard pulled out a pair of handcuffs and slipped them over Rinto's hands. He pulled Rinto away from the door to join all the other people who were being arrested today. Rin saw her brother leaving with an alarmed expression. "Where are you going?" she cried. She ran out the door after her brother. When she stepped outside, she saw a cart filled with people. They were all wearing handcuffs. They were all being arrested for reasons unknown to the young girl. She searched the cart for her brother. Rin refused to let him leave. She saw blonde hair poking through the crowded cart and she ran to it.

"Rinto!" she cried, tears streaming down her face. Only a few meters away, a young boy named Kaito gave a sigh. He had just seen his parents arrested for tax evasion. It wasn't that his parents didn't have enough money to pay the taxes; they just were greedy and tried to avoid paying. Kaito wasn't sad about his parents being sent to the dungeons. They had never been very kind to their only son. They weren't kind to anyone for that matter. Kaito watched as more castle guards brought people to the cart, heading for the dungeons.

If there was anyone Kaito despised more than his parents, it was the prince. The prince was a heartless bastard who deserved to burn in hell. He arrested so many people, ruined so many lives, and didn't care. Kaito had seen so many lives ruined because of their selfish prince. Kaito took another look at the growing crowd, and a saw a young girl, only a year or two younger than himself, running towards the cart, where a guard was standing.

"Rinto!" she screamed. Her face was red from crying. "What is she doing?" Kaito thought to himself. "They'll arrest her too if she messes with the guards. She wouldn't last a day in those dungeons." Kaito sprinted after the girl, trying to stop her before she made a mistake. As he drew closer to her, he grabbed the edge of her dress and pulled her towards him. "Stop it," she shouted, trying to free herself from Kaito's grip. "They have Rinto!" Kaito could fell the girl's tears fall on his arms. Her voice was pained.

"Settle down," Kaito said gently. "You can't go after him or they'll arrest you too."

"I don't care!" Rin screamed. There was a sudden yell, and both Rin and Kaito looked up. The cart began to pull away with all its prisoners inside. Rin saw Rinto sitting in the back of the cart, a sad expression on his face. "Rinto!" Rin yelled one last time. As her brother disappeared into the distance, she fell to the ground, sobbing. Kaito kneeled next to her, and put his arms around the crying girl. "It'll be okay," he whispered. Kaito felt an urge to help this girl. She needed someone to comfort her.

"You don't know that," Rin snapped back. "I might never see him again!" She buried her head in her hands. "I promise you that you'll see him again," Kaito said without thinking. "The two of us, we'll save him someday. I'll promise you that."

"Really?" Rin said, looking up at Kaito's face. She noticed that he was very handsome and kind. She never thought a stranger would reach out to her like this. Rin felt safe in his arms, almost like her brother was still here. She believed in his words, and decided to take a chance on him. "Really," Kaito smiled. The young boy had an idea. His parents were fairly wealthy and they didn't need that money anymore. He could afford to take Rin away from this village and all its bad memories. Together, they could find a way to bring Rinto back, and maybe, be happy again.