Flashback

================================There were always those evil and hatred-filled  blue eyes piercing coldly through his when he went out to the backyard, every morning he dreaded it when his father demanded he take out the trash bags down to the old dumpster behind the mansion. Felix would always refuse, he would never mention why exactly he hated it so much, but his father wouldn't hear of it and forced him anyways. He must have been around the age of six or coming upon seven, at the time he was more joyful and carefree toward others, especially his brother. His mother was still around and his family was still united. And no, in this situation he wasn't afraid of the garbage truck or anything.. but something rather much more serious.

Often, he'd slug the heavy bag behind him, his eyes darting quickly in all directions while he bit his lip. He didn't even know why he did that, there was absolutely no way he could avoid it. That bitter voice. It often haunted his nightmares, followed him around wherever he went. When this all began? Felix didn't know.

But still.. he'd never forget the one day where it all went to hell.

It was always that girl. In fact, It was the only girl he had ever come into contact with outside of the mansion besides his mother. And he loathed her presence, she would always be waiting on the other side of the fence with her arms crossed and that smug look of hers. Waiting. Waiting to torture Felix with her harsh words.

It didn't only occur when he took out the trash, no, often she'd find him alone outside and get him then, but only when the others turned their heads. They would never know about it.. she was quite sure of it. Felix didn't have the guts to blab off anyways.

She had jet-black hair, usually strung back in a long ponytail. She had to be at least twelve or thirteen at her towering height above him. Felix tried everything to block her out. He tried covering his ears, which never worked, and he tried running, but then he'd only trip and humiliate himself further. He figured out her name a month into the torture. Esther. Only because of that large, disgusting brooch she'd wear pinned on her blouse every day with her name on it.

It was darker that day in October. Darker than normal. Felix hated the dark- he couldn't see anything, which he feared. He wanted to be aware of his surroundings at all times.

At the time, Felix was very self-conscious. He'd believe a word anyone said about him, so he was fairly isolated. Someone called him a rich snob, he accepted it and believed he was. Someone called him an embarrassment or a failure, which sometimes even this occurred, he began to think so too.

So this one girl in particular filled his head with false assumptions, using hurtful words he'd never even heard before until up to that point. And he did nothing to stop her except exclusively scream, cry, and attempt to block his ears from her loud, evil pursuing laugh.

He always kept his mouth shut about it. He wasn't sure, even, to this day why he hadn't said anything. Maybe it was fear- fear of persecution from his own family that he wasn't tough enough to handle what seemed like such a simple situation. Maybe it was just that he didn't want to seem weak off of his own standards, he'd have to live the rest of his life knowing that he wasn't strong enough. So, he'd always tell himself he'd stand up and confront her every time he'd walk out, but on the contrary he'd only end up running away in a mess of tears.

But why him? Why had this- teenager- chosen to pick on, harass and torture such a young and innocent soul?

Felix might've seemed tough, isolated and fearless now, but at the time everything was different for him. And Felix hated how it used to be, which is why things quickly changed and had always remained that way.

The one final day he decided it was time he made his move was about a year into this terrifying tradition when he had finally turned seven. He regained his posture, took a deep breath, and reminded himself he was now a year older, and a year braver. He cleared his throat before casually strolling toward the trash bin, the bag slung over his shoulder.

But, something was wrong. He couldn't find Esther, the source of his nightmares; the spawn of his misfortune. He searched around ecstatically, a small hope inside of him thinking that maybe she had finally left him alone.

But, unfortunately, it was all interrupted by a cackling laugh behind him that he knew all too well, making his blood run cold.

He was frozen with fear.

She had climbed the fence, and was approaching him with dire and alarming speed.

All the young blonde could think was to run as fast as he possibly could. He wanted to scream, but his very own adrenaline silenced him, and kept his goal focused on the task- escaping the clutches of what seemed to him, a demon itself.

But, the toddler's speed was of no comparison to the cross-country champion behind him, who easily caught up. Felix's expression altered to a look of horror and he curled up into a small ball while tears cascaded across his cheeks, hoping he could protect himself, or that someone else would come to save him.

"Stop! Please don't hurt me!" He cried, shielding his head from the blows he anticipated from the immoral figure hovering just inches above him.

But it was too late. The pain came down in an instant, a huge wave of cries and tears as she slammed every limb on him, her fists, elbows knees and feet, whatever would make him scream loudest. And that was indeed what occurred. He screamed, but to no avail due to the ironically placed sound-proof walls that surrounded him. That's what you'd get in a mansion with a father who was anti-social and didn't want to hear any of the neighbors.

"Oh stop being such a baby, you little shit. You think you're so innocent, after what your father did to me?" Was the last thing he heard before the last blow came from the heel of her shoe, which left his vision in small spurs, his sight blurring into only unidentifiable shapes and colors.

She walked away and climbed back over the fence casually as if she had done nothing, leaving little Felix in a small pile of his own blood. He had to have resided there until half an hour later, when his younger brother Adrien came to check on him, and to his horror his brother lay limp in the grass surrounded by an alarmingly dark shade of red. He immediately called for his father, who asked what had happened with a look of similar fear for the safety of his child.

His cold eyes demanded an answer. It seemed in that moment something had altered within his father, but he could not place it. Should he tell his father?

"I fell off the roof, I disrespected your wishes father," Felix quickly lied as he carried him bridal style toward the mansion doctor. "I'm sorry." Tears were strewing down his small cheeks as he bit his lip to contain the pain of all that had happened, the pain that he knew he would have to endure for the rest of his life in order to keep this forever secret.

In those few moments, however, Felix had changed. He was no longer happy, giddy or carefree- but instead treated everyone as if the were Esther. His tormentor. His bully. And, ever since then, he had never been the same as he once was, and probably never would be as far as anyone else was concerned. Things only further worsened when his family separated.

It was an incident that nobody knew the truth about. And according to Felix's conscious, nobody would ever as long as he was alive. Most people might just assume that the prime reasoning behind his newly formed personality was as a result of his mother's death, which I guess you could say was partly true, but not exactly.

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Yesterday at school Felix had seen the uttermost unbearable sight- one that conflicted many emotions. A physical mirror image of his childhood tormentor, Marinette Dupain-Cheng. They were likely cousins.. this he knew. Tied together by both blood, and hatred. And although he had been a little harsh on her, he felt no guilt.. for she resembled the one he truly despised. The one that made him weak and vulnerable. It was true that the young bluenette had nothing to do with it, and Felix knew that what he had done was wrong, but he felt nothing. All he knew was that now he was satisfied, that was all that mattered.

So, yes, on the second day of school Felix stayed as far away as possible from the girl, hoping to avoid conflict from previous events the day before. But when second period arrived fast, it was much more difficult than he had thought. Once the girl had walked into the room, and he saw the look of bitterness and hatred in her eyes when she saw him, that was when the guilt came.

It cascaded over him in a heated wave that sent a thick bead of sweat down his temple. Why did he even care in the first place? Isn't this what he wanted?

Maybe he was right all along. Maybe she was full of evil and nothingness. Maybe that cold gaze she gave him was because she was full of hatred towards him. He could have done the right thing, shutting her down at the first glance..

It was.. definitely possible.

But at the same time it was bullshit.

He had harmed her intentionally- maybe not as harsh as done to him so many years ago, but they had both been equally innocent- and in that moment he realized that either way, he was no different from Esther herself. That was the last thing he wanted to be.

In fact, for the first time in a while, maybe ever, Felix hated his own guts. I mean, he knew that he wasn't exactly the most likeable person, but he'd never seen such coldness in someone's eyes since.. well, you know. And despite what he had said before.. it hurt him. He hated to admit it, but that was something he deeply regretted.

That was final, he decided. He was going to apologize after school. Maybe that would lift his conscious, destroy these thoughts..

The day before, however, things hadn't gone so well with his twin brother. In fact, he kept biting at him every second making his guilt feel ever more surreal than previously, and it only tore at him more. It seemed that Adrien might've had a crush on the bluenette, and honestly Felix could see why, she wasn't bad looking at all. But Felix wasn't into romance, and Adrien kept scolding him endlessly, and still everything seemed rather mixed up to him.

Adrien hadn't spoken to him since last night, and every so often he'd glance at Felix across the room and shoot him a sour expression. I guess the older blonde could live with that, I mean that was pretty much normal conversions between the twins anyways, but one thing he couldn't let down was the guilt.

So, once school ceased, Felix somehow got Marinette's address (he had his ways) and showed up at her door around 8:30. He knocked on it slowly, and when nobody answered he tried it again, a little more urgently then previously.

The door slowly creaked open after a few minutes, revealing Marinette herself, Felix's height nearly towering over her, something he had never noticed before. Upon seeing him, the young girl's face washed over with bitter anger- and once again, hatred.

"What do you want?" Marinette sneered, trying everything in her power to not slam the door in his face. Suddenly, Felix became extremely nervous for some unknown reason, and he cleared his throat to ease his nerves. He must have looked like some kind of idiot just standing there without so much as a word. "Well? What is it, pretty boy?"

Pretty boy?

For some reason, Felix felt his brain shut down. "I-I just, I came t-to apologize," He scratched the back of his head, confused at why he was stuttering. Before he had this in the bag, and now he sounded like a complete idiot. Usually he could talk to people no problem.. that was, if he wanted to to. Why was this so much more difficult then anyone else he came into contact with? Wasn't he angry at her, anyways?

Marinette narrowed her eyes at him in a way as if not fully believing him. Felix kind of understood. She had every right to slam the door at any second now, but the tall blonde was just surprised she was even taking the time to hear him out.

"I just, that was really selfish of me.. I dug into my past and took it out on someone who really didn't deserve it, so well.. I'm," Felix bit his lip, and just barely choked the foreign word out. "I'm s-sorry."

Felix now noticed that the sour attitude was nearly gone from the girls features and she looked up at him, expressionless. He felt himself falling, falling into some sort of daze he couldn't even comprehend himself, some feeling that he'd never even experienced before. But he didn't know what it was.

"Thank you." The girl said sincerely, covering up her expression out of Felix's line of sight, and she waved while she slowly shut the door, hoping to escape the awkward situation.

Felix walked away into the cold night- it was probably later then when he made his journey home, still feeling a bubbling sensation inside of himself.

Little did Felix know, on the other side of that door, Marinette slumped against the back of it, sighing dreamily.

"Did Felix Agreste really just apologize to me?"