Hero

Prologue: The Funeral

The funeral was a few days later. Everyone from the Emerald Cities came. You are suppose to come to show sympathy and compassion for the family. Funerals are rare, and when they do happen, it is an unscheduled holiday for everyone. Death is not a regular routine in the Emerald Cities. And no, killings do not get their own funerals. They are only there to keep control of certain people. Again, no one knows how the killings really work, except for the victim's family.

The funeral was beautiful. Instead of planting a block of carved stone like humans used to do, (Jack remembered the recording from his Human History class) they would plant trees. This would help the environment, and it was a nice remembrance. Everyone wore white, and would dance and sing about the person's life. But, the funeral's style would be decided on the family.

His mother's funeral was nice. Everyone was to wear blue, her favorite color, and they would all write something good about the victim on a flower petal, and would place it on the tree. His mother's tree was a noble pine tree, her favorite. There was a silent feast after that, along with warm hearting toasts. At night, they let off fire works, which were scenes of her life. It was if videos were plastered across the sky. Jack found it comforting, but some people found it outrageous. If the videos were not about the government, then they would be illegal. But, it was excused, because we were remembering her wonderful life. It was a form of remembrance.

After many verbal fights over the matter, many people leaved. They were allowed to leave, as long as they attended at least thirty minutes of the funeral, and they were registered as a guest.

In the end, everyone was gone. All of the guests were to leave at the time of the burial anyway.

At the burial, they put his mother in a sturdy wooden box. The family would be the only ones there. Jack, his father, and his siblings were the only ones to bid goodbye. Jack and his brother Jacob, comforted his sisters, Alice and Aurora. But many tears had escaped their eyes. They all crumpled up in a group, crying and hugging each other. But there was one mission body. His father.

They searched everywhere for him. When it was sunrise, they went to the Council of Police and Protection. They filed a missing person report. They stayed there for the rest of the day.

Most of that day was a blur for Jack. He just wanted to sleep and cry. His wailing siblings were crying for the same thing. The council found a nice room in the headquarters for them. They all had one big bed. They all fell asleep instantly.

They had their share of nightmares. The room was freezing, and the bed only had a few thin blankets. His siblings would thrash out and scream for their mother. And once they woke, they would cry, realizing, she no longer existed. They were extremely loud.

Quite a few hours later, the council came in and took the children.

They broke them apart, only making them scream, cry, and fight against them as four police guards carried them away. There were four rooms with four chairs. One child in each room.

The council decided that the pain would take over the children. They would become individuals, who would become insane. They could not have anymore failures than they already had.

They strapped them to the chairs, while restraining them. They screamed for their family. They placed a bowl like hat, connected to the machine, on their head. Once the machine lit up in a sharp blue color, the children's eyes rolled back, and they were unconscious.

They wiped their memories of their childhood, and replaced them with new memories. Like they did to everyone else. Nobody remembered the funeral or abduction at all.

They were given new names. Instead of Jack, Jacob, Alice, and Aurora, they were given the names Lucas, Joseph, Darcy, and Marina.

They were each distributed to a new family, along with other orphans like them.

It was a grand plan, but it didn't work out like they expected. A few days after they woke up in their new homes, Jack (Lucas) found a recording device that had this message:

"Listen, I'm sorry. I didn't mean for you all to have to bear a punishment like that. But I had to go. If they had found me and captured me, there would be harder consequences.
I know you don't understand, but trust me.
Ja- Lucas, don't discard this. Meet at Cassandra's tree. You know, the woman who was just murdered. Her children and husband were relocated to a different part of the Emerald Cities. What a big mess! Anyway...
Bring your friends, Joseph, Darcy, and Marina. I'll meet you at the tree."

And it ended there. Lucas discarded the tape. He guessed it was a stupid prank some imbecile at his school made to try and be the pranker of the year. Lucas couldn't let that happen. HE was going to be the pranker of the year, no matter what.

He just needed an idea.