35 mm (Palaye Royale Mafia AU)

Prologue

"Thank you all for joining me in participating in honoring the memory of the parents of the Kropp children and for mourning in their passing. May God bless you all and welcome them into His kingdom of Heaven."

As the priest closed his Bible, the black-clothed guests and family members in the church stood up from their seats and proceeded to pay their respects to the unfortunate sons of the departed parents. Some promised to pray while others quoted words of grief and the process of mourning.

As the oldest at 21, Sebastian wanted to keep the service short. A very traumatic event of him and his brothers' lives, he didn't want it to linger in their memory for too long. He had just completed law school and passed his bar exam when he heard the news of his parents suffering a drive-by when they refused to sell their business to a privately-owned corporation who wouldn't honor their value of giving to the needy.

When they returned home, the atmosphere felt different. Incomplete. Empty though they were people inside. Just not everyone. How would it ever feel the same again?

Remington went up to his room, expressionless as he remained in his state of shock. Hoping and praying this was all a dream and that it didn't feel so empty in the house his family had lived in ever since Sebastian was born.

He then entered a state of conflict in his mind. His parents were the kindest and selfless people in their neighborhood. Why would something like this happen to them when they meant no harm to anyone? Why is there so much evil influence in this cruel and heartless world?

It was at this point that he decided nothing else mattered if it wasn't for other people. The people of this broken city were much too pushed aside by the corrupted government, and he wanted to do something about it. He wanted to quit school and throw away all his plans that were too selfish and too meaningless.

Emerson's reaction to the event was a bit opposite to Rem's though. He was depressed, but he believed his parents would want him to keep moving forward and continue with his life.

As he just finished junior high, he was about to enter high school and as much as he could easily quit, he decided to continue all the way to college and make something of himself that would make them proud of him.

Sebastian was still trying to figure out what he was going to do now that it was up to him to take care of his brothers. Knowing Remington was more vulnerable to give into his negative thoughts and Emerson wanted to make his family proud, he was going to do whatever it took - no matter how wrong or right it was - to protect the rest of his family from this fucked up city and defend what was right.