It was midnight, the king and his ministers returned from Seirin. They entered Rakuzan and everything seemed to be normal and peaceful. Who knew what was waiting for them ahead in the palace.

The Kings chariot came to an unforseen stop when the charioteer noticed that the palace gates were ajar. There were no soldiers around. They finally rode in, and the king helped himself out of his chariot. They walked into the palace hoping to find a single human.

Nobody knew what happened, but then everybody knew something was wrong.

The king himself walked around the halls of the palace, he passed a few tall marble pillars, statues and reached his Queen's chamber. He gasped at the sight of Akashi leaning on the wall, covered in blood.

" Akashi? " he spoke.

Akashi looked up at him, and smiled. The king was  taken aback. He slowly moved closer to his son.

" What happened son? " he questioned.

But as expected, he got no answer in return. Instead, Akashi pointed his finger towards the room next to him. The king turned to walk into the room.

The sight before him made him stop in his tracks right when he entered. He was beyond terrified.

Blood, broken blades and corpses. It was ghoulish and ominous. The king walked in further, but regretted it immediately.

He shut his eyes tight, as he caught a glimpse of his dead wife on the bed. He walked out of that blood curdling room, and tried his best to calm himself down.

He looked down at Akashi who was still leaning against the wall.

All the other ministers and a few soldiers assembled, and they gulped, when they noticed Akashi.

" Why?" the King whispered.

"Why would you do this? " screamed the king.

Horror was evident on everybody's face except for that of Akashi's.

"  So you think I did all that? " asked Akashi, rather recklessly.

This angered the king further. He bowed down a bit, grabbed Akashi's Jabot and pulled him up onto his feet. Akashi looked into his father's eyes. His hetero chromatic eyes terrified the king much more than he already was. It was clear that Akashi had changed dramatically.

The king took his hands off Akashi, and took a step back and almost tumbled on his own feet.

" Son? No.

You are not him! Who are you? " asked the monarch.

Akashi looked up at his father and gave him a faint simile." It's me. Akashi Seijuro. Who else? "

Akashi looked at himself and the smile on his face widened. The king was upset, confused, petrified and broken. There was one emotion that dominated all other,  he was frightened. His arms trembled, and his legs went ductile.

He quickly turned his back towards Akashi.

After moments of silence, he uttered "Leave! "

Everybody looked at him wide eyed. Was he asking Akashi to leave? What did he mean?

The king took a deep breath before repeating himself,  " As the emperor of Rakuzan, I banish you from my palace. If you are to be spotted anywhere within my castle, you'll loose your life. Now leave." . The king walked away before anybody could question him.

One of the ministers ran after him,

" Sire? Your majesty. Please do not take decisions in anger and haste. I'm sure Akashi San would never do such a thing. Please let's hear him talk sire. " said he.

The king stopped on his tracks and looked at the minister over his shoulder, and spoke " He killed my wife! He is not my son anymore. Make sure he leaves. ", the king begins to walk away.

"  But my lord,... "

" My decision is final.".

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" Akashi kun, please apologize to his majesty! He might change his mind. "said one of the ministers.

The others agreed too.

" Now that my mother is not here anymore, I have no business in this hell hole.

I'm leaving.".

Everybody is left speechless. Akashi grabbed his sword and went into his chamber. After a few minutes, he walked out of his room. He was dressed like any other normal citizen. A simple linen white shirt, and black pant. His sword was in his right hand and he held a black cloak in his left.

He walked out of the castle and called out to his horse.

" Yoinmaru?? " he yelled.

The horse neighed out loud, and came running towards its owner. Akashi pat it's back, before he jumped onto it and sat. He looked back one last time , before throwing his cloak over his back. He tugged at both the reins, and the horse neighed and raised its front legs up, before it ran at its full speed.