Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha.

A/N: Hey guys! I know a few of you expected this to be a bit longer but this is actually the last chapter! Thank you so much to everyone who read this, favorited it, and reviewed. I can't tell you how much your feedback was appreciated. Let me know what you think of the ending.

Now for some shameless self promotion..hehe. Along with this I've posted the first chapter to my next story, A Path Preordained. Check it out if you have the chance, I promise you it's much, MUCH more light hearted than this one.

That's it for me!

The Sorceress and The Prince

The prince walked upward towards his father's chambers with elation. His steps were quick, dawn had arrived and there were many things he had to do. He entered the large chambers and his eyes met with his father's form among the lavish sheets of the mahogany canopy. The first sunrays of the day filtered through the large windows, unto the figure.

"Father!" he spoke hurriedly as he approached the bed, "You have to stop the execution today!" There came no response, and so the prince lightly shook the king in another attempt to arouse him. Still nothing.

In a moment of sudden realization, prince bent down next to the motionless figure of his father, lying among the red satin bed sheets lifelessly. His gingerly placed two fingers unto the pulse point of the king's wrinkled wrist, an odd sensation stirring through him.

The young man froze as he waited for some movement under his fingertips. Painfully, the seconds passed by with no response, each with a dreadful feeling looming up behind him.

Determination eroding, the prince took his fingers from the old king's wrist and clasped his two hands around his father's lifeless ones. His forehead dropped into the satin sheets the king laid upon. The prince remained there for what could have been seconds, minutes, or hours absorbed in the loss. Regrets flew through his head; times he could have spent, things he could have said. There came the sound of an opening door behind him.

The prince turned to see a dark women standing in the doorway. She looked upon the scene curiously and made her way towards the center of the room.

Before she could ask, a strangled voice came from the prince, "He's dead."

At first, the queen said nothing, but her lips and forehead tightened in a thoughtful expression. A moment of silence was exchanged between the two, the prince trying to sort out his mourn-ridden mind and figure out what was running through the queen's.

He didn't get a chance before she spoke. "I came to warn the king of something like this occurring," her eyebrows rose, and the prince seemed to notice the side of her lip curling upward, though only for a split second.

The prince, perplexed, said nothing.

"The king's health has been dwindling rapidly ever since the arrival of that sorceress. A sorceress that seems to have sparked your interest, according to my son, am I not correct?" Her long, thin fingers intertwined in front of her, "It is a rather queer coincidence."

"She's not even-"

"Are you so greedy for the throne that you conspired with the sorceress just to hasten your ascension to it? By making her kill off your dear father?" her voice rose dangerously, as she took a few slow steps towards the princes' kneeling form.

The prince's eyes widened in disbelief. "What are you saying?" He rose to his feet. "If your son has been so acutely following me than he must realize she is not a sorceress at all. Why are you doing this?"

"Guards!" she yelled down the hall before leaning into him. "To place the rightful king on the throne," she whispered as two large men entered the room. "His plot with the sorceress has been confirmed and he has killed the king! Take him to be executed along with the sorceress!"

Abruptly, the guards clutched unto each of the white haired man's shoulders and dragged him out of the room. He could hear the echoing steps of the queen's shoes behind them.

"She's lying!" he told the guards, attempted to break away. "That woman is not a sorceress!"

He was met with no response, only a tightened hold on him as the knights brought him all the way down to the entrance hall of the castle, through the gates of the city and into the town square directly in front of the castle.

The trip seemed unreal to him. It all was happening so fast. His agreement with the songstress, the death of his father, and now this. It was too much to process.

He caste out the several thoughts flying through him to take in his surroundings. Standing before him was a large wooden platform, raised a few feet from the dirt ground beneath it. On one side stood three modest seats, intended for the country's royalty. He looked on as the queen walked around him, up the platform's steps and into the middle chair, one side was her accomplished looking son and the other the prince's horrified fiancé.

The royal guards that held unto the prince followed the queen, up the stairs, where the other side of the stage came into view. There, the gallows stood. Two ready nooses hung from the ominously. The prince could not help but swallow loudly at their sight. He struggled to believe the maddening situation that had arisen before him.

He shifted away from the gallows and caught a pair of two piercing blue eyes. The sorceress stood in the middle of the platform, as stoic as ever. Her hands were tied behind her back and a group of knights surrounded her.

The prince tried to yell out, to say something to her, but he could barely hear himself over the huge crowd that had assembled to witness the execution. It seemed as if the entire city had come for the long awaited event.

However, they soon fell to silence when the queen stood from her seat and raised her hands into the air, asking for quiet.

"Today, we have the execution of two murderers," her regal voice emanated across the crowd. "One, a sorceress, and the other, the first prince of our kingdom."

Hushed whispered rung throughout the crowd at the mention of the second convicted. They had expected the hanging of a sorceress, but a prince, no.

"Each have committed a fowl crime, be sure of that! They have conspired in the death of our king!"

Gasps were heard at the announcement of the demise of the monarch.

"This greedy mongrel has killed his own father with the help of the sorceress in his thirst for power!" she looked upon her stepson menacingly, and it felt as if the eyes of the crowd were doing the same.

The prince looked upon the sorceress. She had her mouth slightly ajar at the queen's comments. Her head turned down as chants came from the crowd, calling for the death of the two murderers. The queen's word was enough to convince them.

The guards began to carry the prince towards the gallows, and the prince's heart began to beat wildly.

"How foolish you all are!" the sorceress yelled, her voice silencing the excited masses surrounding them. The guards stopped in their tracks and looked on with intrigue. "To be manipulated so easily. To turn against your own prince." She turned, facing said man and began approaching, the knights around her cautiously following.

The young man looked on with confusion, wondering just what was going through her head.

A detached voiced filled the air once again, now from right in front of him. "He is but a mere pawn, I took control of him to do my bidding." She announced, turning her head from the crowd to directly into his eyes. "A quick enchantment to rid myself of the current king and install this 'puppet' in his place." She said it coldly, but her eyes only spoke of sorrow and remorse to the prince. "You give him too much credit. I am the one controlling him, not the other way around. I assure you."

He opened his mouth to say something but was cut off.

"It astounds me how even the queen would turn against her son so haphazardly." The sorceress glared at the dark woman, her mouth falling slightly open at the words of the young woman. Her younger son sat beside her, carrying a grime expression as well.

Then a shout filtered through the astounded crowd, "Hang the sorceress and free the prince from her spell!"

A few grunts of agreement soon turned to a deafening roar as the crowd communally called from the death of the dark haired maiden.

"What are you doing?" He asked in utter desperation, only the accused woman to hearing him among the shrill yells of the onlookers.

She turned slightly but her gaze landed on the wooden planks beneath her feet. "What I have to."

Before another thought crossed his mind, two rough arms grabbed her on each side and led her to the gallows as the delighted cheers of the townspeople accompanied, eager for the long awaited execution.

"Stop!" The prince yelled as he gathered himself to follow them, but was meet with a strong grip around his waist from behind.

As he struggled, a feminine hand lightly touched his shoulder. Caught off guard, he looked to see its owner and was met with a fearful pale face. "You'll be free of her spell soon enough, my prince." His fiancée told him with a sad smile. "The sorceress will soon be dead."

The young man shook his head violently and looked upward towards the opposite end of the monstrous platform, surrounded by the crowd. He could feel his heart stop as the sorceress looked forward emotionlessly, a burlesque man securing a rope around her neck. The man walked away from her, almost surreally, toward a wood lever on the opposite edge of the gallows.

"Don't let him! You don't understand!" he begged at the young woman standing next to him, but was only met with a sad, yet determined glance. With another unsuccessful push against the stone-like grip he was entrapped by, the prince heard a sickening creaking sound accompanied by the sorceress' form dropping downward a few feet.

All at once, the town below cheered and the prince was set free from the knight's grip. An embrace meant to be comforting landed on one of his arms but the sensation was succumbed by a numbness that overtook the soon-to-be ruler.

"You're free now. The spell no longer binds you." The woman standing next to him whispered, arms wrapped around his own with hopefulness.

The prince's eyes didn't falter from the still form that hung on public display. "Yes, no longer."

The End