d5 . hyram mae

There's a moment before you shoot someone where they break. Ninety percent of the time it's always the same, pleading and begging, asking what they could give you to trade for their miserable little lives. There was nothing they had that he wanted. They had no money, no business, no nothing. They were pathetic little creatures that simply needed to be extinguished. He enjoyed the moment before the shot, the complete and utter control he had over their life was euphoric. The second his finger squeezed the trigger he was declaring their life over; they ceased to exist.

Hyram Mae doesn't appreciate the people who sob, his eyes darken, mouth tightening in disgust. He tended to shoot them once in the leg, allowing the pain to explode through their bodies before finishing it with a bullet to the skull. People were tools and he treated them that way. Sold them, bought them, killed them. They were a means to money, a stepping stone for the goals he wanted to achieve. It was how viewed most things; calculated and cold, always analyzing the value of what was in front of him.

It was the same with family. His wife was constantly producing children he didn't need. One after the other, female after female, until he finally got his first son. Even then, he was a sickly child, the value before him was low, but he tried his best to remain optimistic. His pride demanded the first son be the heir, so even though he disliked the weak he would try and grow it into something strong.

He can remember the first time he shot a man in front of Cae. His heir was sitting on his shoulders, one of the days where he was riddled with pain. The bullet had planted itself into one, two, three separate skulls. Cae had laughed, mimicking the movement and repeating the bang, bang, bang with finger guns. It was probably one of the few moments in his life where he had smiled, evidently pleased with how his son had reacted.

From the moment Lysander had been born he had been disappointed. Upset with his wife for letting him down, with the child that stared at him for not being a boy. He was dismissive of his firstborn, uncaring of how he treated her. He hadn't needed her nor wanted her and it had shown in the way he had acted around her. At times he had ignored her presence, shoved her aside when she had tried to bother him whilst he worked in his office. He was not a man to raise his voice, but his words were cold and cutting. They sliced her open and pushed her far away.

It didn't bother him.

When Hazel died he hadn't really felt anything. There had been a point where he had simply wanted to kill the child himself and end her pain. The doctors had said there was no getting better from her illness and it made little sense to him to let her continue living. He had killed plenty of men when they had been too wounded to be carried out or he had believed they would not survive. It was the polite (compassionate) action to take.

With Cae sick as well he had tried harder to get his wife to produce another son. He hadn't known, nor believed, he could rely on Cae to lead his company. Wolfgang had come along and Hyram finally had an opportunity to create an heir that could succeed him. He took advantage of it, pushing his son to work harder, pushing him to enact on his behalf. He watched as Wolfgang shot someone, he watched as the blood splattered all over the ground and onto his face. He said nothing as his son walked away.

You didn't build strength by being kind. You didn't show power and authority by being gentle.

Bambi was different from his other kids. Whereas Lysander had been a disappointment she was softer and gentle. At first, it had angered him, watching her walk around as though the world was kind and sweet (it was not). She spoke like the sun was her friend and carried herself as though there was no evil around her. After a while, he found her gentle kindness endearing. It was a small break from the coldness of his life, a reminder that there could be good in this world. He didn't mind the way she didn't understand what was happening around her.

He quickly learned that it was better this way.

Her softness was also a disadvantage. He could pretend he was simply protecting her naivety by telling her nothing of the world they lived in. But he also worried that her carelessness would allow her tongue to run free if she knew anything about their business. It became habit to switch a topic with Bambi around or shoot glares made of daggers at her siblings if they spoke out of line. In return, he was a little more gentle, tone neutral as opposed to cold, gaze even instead of cold when he was around her.

Lysander shaped up to be every bit of the fool he thought she was. When Lysander volunteered he thought very little of her. The assumption was that she would die, but it wasn't something he ever spoke out loud. His pride forbade him for declaring absolutes when they were not a certainty. She was weak, it was as simple as that. He had two other female children that he didn't particularly need, so the thought of losing her meant very little to him. If it had been Cae or Wolfgang he would have been more interested or invested in their return. In fact, he would have been livid had one of those boys decided to volunteer.

Regardless of what happened to her life would continue. Part of him almost hoped she wouldn't return. The Mae name was sacred enough, marked by shadows and deals made on the black market. Having the family name branded into history like this was not what Hyram had wanted. It was a name that he had carefully designed to be spoken with fear in the shadows, a promise that no good can come from speaking it.

She had slandered it; ruined it. Hyram was a resourceful man, he could work through this new problem. It was just something he had never intended to plan for and he hated being on the wrong side of a surprise.