The ashes before Strife

Episode 0 : Suspense Of Waiting ; 4

Cayde Barbaten POV:

It's now the day my family's big heist starts. I woke up with a somber attitude as the night before all I could think of was what would happen if they get caught? Can I help? What should I do?

Dark thoughts had wrapped around me making it impossible for me to think of what happens if they succeed in the heist. I was eventually snapped out of my thoughts when I could hear two voices slowly getting louder as they approached my room, it sounded as if they were arguing over a boyfriend as they kept going back and forth about who loves who more until finally, the new door to my room burst open startling me "see Sarah you opened the door too heavily, it's no wonder your son is scared of you."

"Your wrong, Alfa, my son loves me regardless of how I sometimes act isn't that right Cayde?" My mother hastily picked me up as if I was some trophy at the end of a race before turning back to Alfa who's hair seemed longer for some reason.

"See? My son isn't even flinching to me touching him." I was then held in the air in front of Alfa's now stern face until a smile tugged at the corner of her lips but I was busy trying to get back to earth as I wriggled my feet asking to be put down but was not let so.

"Alright, since we're getting nowhere why don't we just ask Cayde who he likes more?" My mother then walked out of the room laughing as if she already knew the answer but Alfa kept pursuing the question until my mother finally asked after putting me down on the dining rooms table. What the hell did I do to deserve being the prey of these two mad women so early in the morning?

"Cayde you love mommy more than Alfa right? She hasn't taken care of you as much as I have so the answer is obviously me right?" My mother looked at me with desperation in her eyes.

I then looked over at Alfa who was anxiously waiting in expectation of my answer bearing into me with her yellow eyes.

Hearing footsteps to my right i saw my father along with Gunther, Theo, and Denny all holding ceramic mugs watching from the archway as if there were a live theater right in front of them.

I was scared, no matter how I answered one was bound to be upset so I looked to my father begging for help telepathically if possible but he just shot me a thumbs up in expectation of how I'd solve it causing me to scream internally as I gave them a fake smile.

I was either going to make one happy or neither, in the end, I finally had an idea. "I love mommy and big sister Alfa equally though so how can I choose?" They both took a step back as if their hearts had just been pierced with arrows, now was time for the killing blow.

"But if I had to say who I loved more-" they then leaned in closely a hairs breath away causing me to nervously say the last words of my sentence "I-it would be d-daddy."

He then spat out a brown liquid of surprise while the three men turned to face him in concern. "What!?"

The two women then jerked their heads towards him as if they were predators who just locked onto their prey "now, now ladies let's not go overboard here I'm sure Cayde loves you lots. We have a big day today so let's not do anything Stu-" before he could finish his sentence the two crazed women attacked him and he screamed in agony getting clawed to death, as the three men gave me a look of approval.

After a few minutes of my father getting mauled the group then finally sat down at the table while I played with a spoon trying to dig into the table until I noticed that Yuri was nowhere to be seen so I asked "uncle Theo where's aunty Yuri?"

"Oh, she's taking care of the guard patrols currently so we can have an easier time sneaking the gear onto the manor grounds." He said this with a big smile on his face to keep me calm but I could tell he was more worried about her than I was after I asked.