I am so so sorry for being so late...I hope you all haven't given up on this story...

I was overwhelmed by the hectic stuff happening in my life lately and also by a writer's block the size of Mars...BUT I overcame it a bit and managed to finish this chapter and I hope you like how the story is going so far?

Thank you for all your support and kind words. It reminded me to keep believing and to never give up so thank you so much! Words can not express how amazing you all are...

So this chapter and all the chapters to come are dedicated to all you amazing people (hugs tightly)


Chapter 17

The letter emblazoned with the seal of the Superior Court sat mockingly against the dark brown grains of the oak desk. The red wax seal had been peeled back haphazardly and there were rough crinkles on the pristine white envelope from distressed, restless fingers that gripped too hard. Next to the letter sat a knife; innocuous and plain except for the near invisible symbol engraved on the hilt. The engraved symbol was a symbol that could be mistaken as part of the knife's unique design to the casual observer, but to knowledgeable eyes it represented one of the most notorious clans: the Akashi family. There was a distinct clang of a metal tip against the smooth surface of the desk before a hand reached forwards to grip the knife and slam it through the open letter. Nobody moved in the ensuing silence until it was broken by unsteady, staccato breaths.

Akashi stood behind the desk with such rage, it was terrifying to see. Akashi's grip on the knife did not relax nor did it wane, and in that moment Kuroko saw the cold-hearted killer Akashi could be. Kuroko lifted his head and looked around at others in the room to see if they were as affected by Akashi's anger as he was. Unsurprisingly, all his bondmates were faring no better. Their bodies were coiled tightly and the tsunami wave of rage and frustration sweeping through the bond was staggering. Kuroko felt like his mind was one molten puddle of pure anger. The anger felt monstrous and he felt like his quiet mind was tearing under the weight of such an unrestrained, destructive force. Kuroko felt his palms sweating, his heart rate increased till it felt like it was going to rupture, his breaths came out in erratic pants and the red haze that descended on his vision left him feeling like he was going to pass out. He must have made a pained sound because the crawling consuming anger permeating his mind suddenly abated to a dull hum of anger. When Kuroko looked up, Akashi's eyes met his. In those eyes Kuroko saw emotion that was so raw it darkened Akashi's striking eyes to a dark, stormy crimson. However, the cold, hard look in Akashi's eyes softened when he saw Kuroko flinch.

Silently, Akashi reached over the desk and placed a gentle hand on his cheek, and he felt his heart warm at the implicit apology conveyed in that touch. Kuroko didn't need to say anything because he knew that Akashi could feel his acceptance and forgiveness humming through the bond. The silence in the room became less fraught with tension and stifling anger, instead it settled into the calm stillness found in the middle of the eye of a hurricane.

"What's wrong?...I-Is it..?" The words tumbled out of his mouth and his mind was too full of questions, worry and self guilt to say anymore, but Akashi seemed to understand what he wanted to say.

"It was an invitation from the Supreme Court."

Akashi tore his eyes from the pages, "We were invited to an official council hearing."

"Invited...? Wha- why? We don't have any seats in the Supreme Council..." Kise's puzzled eyes met Akashi's but before Akashi could reply, Midorima voiced his thoughts.

"It's a display."

Crimson eyes shone with approval and Akashi started to elaborate on Midorima's explanation.

"A display for anyone who disobeys the laws they set. That is why we can not refuse this invitation."

"We don't know what will happen or what the outcome will be, but if we don't attend it will be taken as insult to the High Lord and the Supreme Council. We will be seen as a disgrace to our family names and sent to jail for treason. We have no other choice." Akashi's eyes were glued on the invitations spread out on the desk with rapt attention and ran a hand through his hair in frustration.

Akashi looked up, caught their eyes and whispered "Be careful. I-I don't know what I'll do if something happened-...If anything happened-"

The plea fell from his lips so fast it was barely coherent, but the hand that gently reached towards Akashi indicated that the fear and uncontrollable urge to hide away the only people worth saving was mutual.

Aomine met Akashi's hard, unyielding stare head on and whispered back, "Promise us. Promise me that we won't lose you. Promise us that you will think about yourself too."

Akashi squeezed the warm hand encompassing his in a silent promise.

Losing was not an option. They were not fighting for themselves anymore. They were fighting for the people that made up their world, from the moment they found each other losing was never an option.


The rumbling purr of the car drowned out the nervous tapping of Kise's fingers. Kise was too tense and anxious to sit still, his mind was running in circles like an overwound spring and he felt like he was going to throw up. He startled when he felt warmth engulf his hand. Fever bright amber eyes met dark violet ones.

"Ki-chin…" The sound of Murasakibara's fond voice snapped him out of the anxious void his mind was in.

Murasakibara held out his snack in a silent offer of comfort. Kise popped a piece of candy into his mouth and the flavour of strawberries lingering like a caress on his tongue made him smile. He gripped Murasakibara's hands in gratitude and was rewarded with smiling eyes and a feather-light kiss on his knuckles.

Kise mouthed a silent 'thank you' and turned to focus on the discussion before him. Akashi was sitting next to Midorima deep in thought, whilst Aomine was animatedly talking to Midorima. The sharp and angry gestures were accentuated by the tense lines of Aomine's shoulders.

"- This is a damn trap! They want to demonstrate something. We can't just allow them to walk all over us like-", Aomine's aggravated rant was cut off by Akashi's unexpected interruption.

"Daiki, there's nothing we can do now. We have to wait."

Akashi's voice slowly trailed off and the chess piece in his hands clinked ominously on the arm rest. "Now...we can only afford to defend our most vulnerable pieces, but when all the pieces are ready we will destroy them,"

The statement was met with a wave of morbid satisfaction and bloodthirsty determination from the bond and Akashi smirked. They all had such different experiences that helped made them who they are today but it was amazing how their thoughts were still so similar, it must be why they were destined to become bondmates.

"It was the right decision to leave Kuroko behind," Midorima softly stated.

"Protecting each other is the most important priority and it will always be the most important priority," was Akashi's blunt almost-angry comment.

They didn't take any offense to Akashi's tone because, as the car rounded the corner and came to a stop at the looming council building, they knew that it was the mask that Akashi doned when he faced the outside world.

Before the door opened, they all gave each other one last look, stepped out and was promptly greeted and escorted to the Meeting hall by a pair of soldiers. Walking down the empty corridors was a tense and nerve-wracking affair and the absence of people milling about made it seem lifeless. The presence of the soldiers did not help dissipate the feeling of wrongness in the air, instead it created a clogging suffocating atmosphere that drowned the mind. When they arrived at the doors of the Meeting Hall the soft chatters of voices muffled by the thick mahogany doors indicated how large the event was, and as they entered the sheer number of people there was so large it froze Midorima and Kise in their tracks for a millisecond before they managed to collect themselves. The soldiers that escorted them gave them a sharp salute and then bowed before turning and surreptitiously leaving them amongst the milling crowds of Superiors.

"I feel dirty just standing here with all these sleazy and privileged idiots." Kise couldn't help chuckling at Aomine's barely audible mutter before they found a spot to occupy.

He was glad that they found a hidden spot outside the balconies where they could observe how the Council members mingled with each other while staying away from the crowd as much as possible. Socializing and schmoozing with the rich, powerful and corrupt was something he needed to do to create his current reputation and position in the entertainment industry, but Kise was sick to the stomach at the thought of having to force himself into that facade again. If choices were easy… Kise sighed at the thought but he was snapped out of his musings when the heavy doors opened with a reverberating bang.

A pair of soldiers walked in and in between them was Seto man had a genial smile and a calm, settled expression on his face but the malicious smug glint in his eyes created a subtle dichotomy that's unnoticeable to most people but they all saw it for what it was. A veiled threat. Kise saw the comprehension in the constant fast-as-lightning reactions in his bondmates' body language and expressions, and he knew that this was going to be a very tough event to last through.

As Seto Kentaro passed by to take the main seat at the dais, he turned and Kise felt the full force of a thousand tonnes of pressure in that gaze pin him down, but he was not going to show that damn bastard anything. He returned the gaze steadily, full of ice cold revenge and the promise of death and smirked because hecan't erase the image of Akashi's wrist branded with angry bruises and the pain and fear in Kuroko's body as he held him. He can't forget the tortured feeling of helplessness that flooded the bond until there was nothing but a cold heavy ball of misery in their minds. He will never forgive the bastard for the pain his bondmates have suffered. He will gladly make him pay .


"Welcome to the Supreme Council. Today we are honoured to welcome our new guests whom have so graciously accepted to join us for this Council meeting", Seto Kentaro's voice rung like a bell in the silence of the room.

The polite applause was accompanied by wandering eyes and the Generation of Miracles found themselves in the center of the council's harsh scrutiny. They did not let the judgmental gazes faze them, and in synchrony they all placed their left hands on their chests and inclined their heads in a traditional respectful bow that seemed rehearsed, when instead it unashamedly portrayed that their loyalty stayed with each other. A few heads scrutinizing them quickly turned away whilst some eyes turned hard and flinty in anger. They seemed to have dissuaded any council members who were eager to separate them with lies and illusions, and managed to anger the rest of the Council members with their defiance, but the sound of a gavel snapped everyone's attention back to the most prominent person on the dias. Seto Kentaro placed the gavel down and gestured towards his left where a man in his late forties with black hair speckled with grey sat.

Akashi recognized the man immediately, and he gave Kise a knowing glance from the corner of his eyes.

Eiji Sirogane...He was familiar with the man's legendary reputation and the near-impossible feats he had accomplished. Eiji Shirogane's cold personality and efficiency is something that he had to be extremely wary off, and a thrum from the bond showed his mates' agreement.

"The recent reports from various Council members indicated an alarming rise of rebellions in each city. From our estimations the leading faction of rebels- the Uncrowned Kings- have reached 50,000 members over the past 3 years despite the Supreme Council's best efforts to subdue them."

Eiji Shirogane turned his hard icy stare away from the reports in front of him to meet everybody's eyes in a sweeping look.

"More aggressive actions will be taken to neutralize the threat. We must not show mercy or leniency to Inferiors or their sympathizers. Therefore, the Segregation Division will be taking command of all military forces. They will have the highest jurisdiction in all legal matters, under the direct command of the High Lord."

As those words registered Akashi felt the bond buckle in anger and fear. Fear for everyone they love, fear for each other and fear of having to live in this oppressed world for a lifetime, but as fast as the fear came on the heels of that dreaded decree, a cold simmering anger trailed behind those words in even faster speeds, and it left the bond tinged with scalpel-like precision, razor sharp determination and a bitter aftertaste of desperation.

"Seto Kentaro, the right hand man of the High Lord and leader of the Segregation division will address any further doubts you have." Eiji Shirogane inclined his head in respect before gesturing to the man in question.

"Thank you, Mr Shirogane. The position I have been awarded today is very humbling and I will do everything I can to ensure that we will prevail against them" Seto Kentaro's supplicating tone suddenly turned disgusted "...against the inferior race, the things that can barely be called human."

"I assure you that as the Superior race, we have nothing to fear because we are born with bodies that are immune to most diseases, minds that surpass genius levels of intelligence and bodies that are constantly at peak performance. We are the ultimate beings, the ultimate human machines; There is no place for the weak. Their purpose in life is to be our pawns and property. Nothing more. Rest assured, my fellow people, they will never surpass us!"

The speech was met with an outburst of passionate applause that shook the tables and the walls. The applause abruptly died down when Seto Kentaro raised a hand.

"Therefore, today I have arranged a special trial for all members of this Supreme Council as a symbol of the promise I've made." A pregnant pause punctuated the ominous words, and the oily but sweet tone infused in the next few words made Midorima's and Kise's stomachs drop in dread.

"Call it a sign of good faith. My sign of good faith to all Superiors," with this he held up a hand, signaled to the soldiers standing near the entrance and barely a second later the doors slammed open with a bang, revealing a platoon of soldiers decked out in full combat gear.

Among the fifteen soldiers were two people in shackles with chains from the neck, wrists and ankles linked together to form interconnected restraints. On their heads were bags that concealed their identities, both were visibly shaking in abject fear and not even an inch of their skin was visible under the thick filthy layer of dirt, grime and rusty blood they were caked in. It was a grim sight, and the reason why these two were here was clear to everybody present.

The only division that were allowed to oversee the justice system was the Segregation division. They were the group that practically ran all the government agencies; a division with fingers in every pie. They were the silent puppeteers, the people working behind the curtains under the beck and call of the High Lord, and everybody knew this. Today's announcement of Seto Kentaro's close-knit group was a formal PR stunt. There was no such thing as free autonomy in the public sector, and today's Council meeting was a stark reminder to everybody- in any noticeable positions of power and influence- the stakes of disobedience.

Those poor souls they brought in were nothing but disposable pawns for the power-hungry. Akashi knew that his bondmates were all aware that this demonstration was not a fair trial, it is the furthest thing from lawful. He can't help but feel that this demonstration was directed at them and any other opposing Council members.

Akashi took a imperceptible breath to steel his defenses, there was nothing he could do except watch as the soldiers lead the prisoners to the large bullet proof glass dome that rose from under the floor in middle of the room. The rising platform was secured and checked before the soldiers opened the door, led the prisoners in and attached their chains to the link on the floor in the center of the dome.

"You have been brought here today because you have broken the law and courted treason. Your carelessness have cost you everything, and the degree of punishment is fitting for your crime against the High lord and the Council." Seto Kentaro gestured to the soldiers standing inside the dome to remove the gags and head bags so they could answer his next question.

"What is your defense?"

Aomine jerked when the prisoners' face was revealed because it was so familiar to him. Before he realized it, he was looking at sky blue hair in tumbling wavy curls and eyes that were like looking into the sea on a clear spring day. He was looking at a woman who was beautiful and breathtaking like a porcelain doll and a man who had black hair, sky blue eyes and a mouth that was so similar to ones he had kissed before.

Oh god

The only thing keeping on his seat was Murasakibara's hand clamped on his arm. Through the overwhelming feelings of horror and shock only the small trembles from the hand on his arm snapped him out of his stupor, and he pulled his arm out of that shaking hold and gripped his bond mate's hand in comfort. Aomine glanced from the corners of his eyes to check on Akashi, Midorima and Kise, and saw that they were more collected than he and Murasakibara was but he could feel the roiling horror and dread from their minds.

He thought that today was going to be bad but nothing could have prepared him for this. For seeing Tetsu's parents...like this. There was nothing he could do except sit and listen. If he reacted in any way he knew that they would condemn Testu to the same fate. With a mind clamped tightly in desperation he watched helplessly as Kuroko's father spoke,

"My lord, please...release me! I have been your loyal servant since the day I was brought into your service. I would never betray you, My Lord!"

"The Council acknowledges the contributions you have made, but we cannot overlook your status any longer."

"St-Status...? I'm a Superior, there's nothing wrong with my status!"

"We are aware of what you are, but what you are is not the problem, Mr Kuroko. The problem is that the bond that you have to that Inferior is not recognized as legal." The venom in Seto Kentaro's voice was punctuated by a sweeping hand towards the demure, shaking woman kneeling at Kuroko's father's side.

"We have long protected you from prosecution because we believed you could control your family. We believed that you were a valuable asset, but you have betrayed that trust!"

A hand slamming down on the desk accentuated the indignant fury in Seto Kentaro's voice, making the man seem like he was carrying the force of a thousand hurricanes.

"You and your family have betrayed our trust by allowing your children to leave the Council's service. As the Superior responsible for keeping the Inferiors of your family in line, this blunder is utterly unacceptable!"

Seto Kentaro stood up abruptly in anger before turning his burning gaze to meet the all the eyes in the room, "Your actions are treason against the Supreme directive and the High Lord, therefore you shall now be sentenced to death."

In the ensuing silence of the room, there wasn't even a sound or a movement. It was so quiet you could have heard a pin drop, and the tension and fear was so palpable a knife could have sliced through it.

Nobody moved until a scream shattered the silence into a thousand pieces, rendering the air into a living breathing shadow of pain and hatred. The hysterical scream turned into a sobbing laugh, and in the middle of the glass dome Kuroko's mother was hunched over, shoulders shaking uncontrollably and chest heaving with gasping laughter. Sky blue eyes on a face streaked with tears looked up to meet all the eyes outside the glass dome.

The hatred and disgust in that gaze froze everyone in their tracks. That gaze was not a look that belonged to a human, it belonged to someone who had been oppressed for far too long...It belonged to someone who lived and breathed desperation, someone who had nothing left to lose because they never had anything to begin with; it was the gaze of someone who had lost their sanity to the void of pain and suffering inflicted on them.

With a dark smile filled with nothing but hatred and disgust, she spat, "You think I am afraid of death!"

She shook her head and giggled, blue hair flying like a stormy streak of righteous anger and eyes hard and flinty. Her porcelain doll-like beauty melted into a wild, goddess-like beauty that seemed lethal and ethereal.

"You have no idea what you have created, DO YOU?!" She scoffed before her voice turned into an venomous whisper. "You have created monsters, and when we rise there will be nothing but destruction!"

The whisper was soft but in the silence of the room it rang like an ominous bell of death. The words carried a forbidding ring of a prophecy that struck fear in everybody in the room. No one was immune to the instinctive fear it struck in their hearts.

But a shriek of wood against wood broke the echoing silence that the words brought, and all the attention turned to the figure that stood up in rage. Without a word Seto Kentaro stormed from the dais towards the glass dome, opened the door and stepped inside. Burning sky blue eyes met the Councilor's gaze in defiance.

"I am not afraid of what you can do to me!" Her bitter eyes glanced at the man by her side, "Destiny abandoned me when it gave me that filthy, useless scumbag for a mate. I am glad that my son escaped this life, I have nothing left to fight for so I invite you to do your worst- !"

Her words were cut off by a resounding bang and before anyone could register the shot, another one rang out, followed by two thuds hitting the ground. On the glass wall of the the dome, there was a large splatter of blood dripping down in parody of a macabre painting, and on the floor two bodies lay unmoving and lifeless.

There was a click of a gun before Seto Kentaro left the dome, turned around and handed the rifle back to a soldier standing outside the dome. He returned to the dais before ending the meeting with an explicit threat.

"This meeting is now over!"

"...But make no mistake if anyone dares to defy the Supreme directive, swift action and force will be taken to neutralize the threat no matter what their status is. Nobody will be left unpunished!"