Broken Kings (House of Cards Series 0)

Primer paso: La memoria

A/N: This story is realistically supposed to be told in Spanish. For the sake of readability, this story is in English though I will occassionally throw in Spanish words and phrases. I am not fluent however so if you speak Spanish and notice a mistake, feel free to point it out in the comments, please and thank you! I appreciate the help and love the authenticity :D

______________________________________________

Getting into trouble in the callejones of Madrid is as easy as getting wet while swimming in the ocean. Malcolm had good parents, he came from a good family and he was raised to be a good boy. And for the first fourteen years of his life, Malcolm lived up to the potential evident in his dark, intelligent eyes. His father was one of the few chemists in the city, and his family made their living running the pharmacy that the entire neighborhood used. It wasn’t the nicest of neighborhoods and as often as not people paid with what they had to spare as opposed to cash. So while Malcolm’s family never had money, they also never went hungry.

As the middle child Mal had the best of both worlds. His sister Adrianna was older and bore the task of being the responsible one. She was beautiful and intelligent and really likely to make it out of the city and to a good college or even university. She was smart enough to get a real scholarship, and unlike several of her classmates whom had fallen pregnant, Adri was abstinent by choice. And Diego was the baby, getting into the most trouble because he was never paying attention. He had the best of intentions but was always a handful to take care of.

Malcolm didn’t mind being a little invisible to his parents and community. It was bad enough that he could sing and play the piano, which often got him beaten up by the other boys when they doubted his machismo, but if he were to actually stick out for any good reason, the others would target him. It was the nature of misery, if they couldn’t succeed, they would sure as hell see that no one else could either. His parents had been careful, raising their kids to be aware of the consequences of their actions and thus far it had served them well. Although Adrianna’s best friend Carlitos was a pure blooded street tough, he wouldn’t allow any of the other toughs to approach the boys and try to recruit them.

Sometimes a good kid would go bad and everyone would be all confused and wonder what happened. No one even questioned why Malcolm went from a sweet, generous little boy to a blood seeking monster. Instead people wondered at how he had maintained any restraint. Despite the best efforts of Carlitos, and in fact indirectly due to the street tough, gang life caught up to the Vega family.

The day started like every other day of the previous fourteen years in Malcolm’s life. Mal listened as his sister Adrianna quietly got breakfast ready for the rest of the family. Just like every morning. In a ritual that had nothing to do with religion and everything to do with a family of five sharing one bathroom, Malcolm waited until he smelled the coffee was almost done brewing before he climbed out of his broken in bed. Diego was still snoring lightly from the other bed and Mal let his baby brother sleep in.

Sitting at the kitchen table, Mal didn’t see his parents but instead Adrianna’s best friend Carlitos. Even to a kid like Mal it was obvious that Carlitos was in love with the beautiful but proper Adrianna. And Malcolm was astute enough to have long ago realized that despite herself, Adrianna returned the feelings. But neither one ever planned to act on it. Carlitos was a rogue, he had no higher education, had a criminal record and had no way to make himself a better man to be worthy of her. The only thing he could do was protect the Vega family as a whole, and even that proved not enough to keep them safe. There were patches in their stucco walls from drive bys that had targeted any ‘affluent’ families. Since Malcolm’s family was by no means rich, it was obvious they were targeted solely because they weren’t the family that toed the line.

“Mama y papa are already at work. I’m going to walk you and Diego to school alright?” Adrianna smiled and set breakfast down in front of Carlitos and Mal.

“Gracias.” Malcolm gave his sister a hug and started to attack the food. He was just starting his growth spurt and was starting to need to eat constantly. Eventually Diego shuffled out of bed and joined them, eyes still puffy from sleep. By that time it was nearly out the door time so Malcolm got Diego's lunch ready while Adrianna turned his breakfast into a sandwich he could eat on the go, and then all four of them were out the door.

School for these kids was different than most North American's would recognize. The age groups were broken down more than just the grade school, high school and finally college that North Americans were familiar with. Even though Diego wasn't much younger than Malcolm, they were in different school buildings, and so Deigo was dropped off first.

If Malcolm had known that this was the day that would change everything, he'd have taken his time, hugged and kissed his sister goodbye. But as Mal hadn't developed precognitive abilities over night, the fourteen year old hurried ahead of Adrianna and Carlitos, grousing about how having his sister walk him to school like he was a hijo killed his reputation. Adrianna was used to Mal's increasing grumpiness, correctly attributing it to a combination of puberty and a brave facade he put on. With the almost overwhelmingly chauvenistic culture they were mired in, it was amazing that Mal had the bad taste to actually respect women.

Unfortunately Malcolm was one of the few young men of the city to respect others and when Carlitos walked straight into his class moments before lunch, Malcolm knew something was horribly wrong. For one, Carlitos had never, ever done this before. Two, he had blood on his hands.

____________________________________________________________________________

A/N: Yes this is a short chapter. In fact, this story isn't gonig to be as long as QoS or KoH, although I think you all suspected that. Sorry I didn't post this yesterday like promised, but I FINALLY got to go see a doc, so now I can focus of getting healthy and writing again :D