Marcel Witsel lived with his parents in a small house very close to the Haydar family and the Dautt brothers. He was the youngest and only boy of 4 siblings. The family environment was hostile, there were constant arguments over money or the addiction of his father, Lucas - to gambling and drunkenness. His 3 sisters were between the ages of 18 and 22, each with their own issues to deal with; dysfunctional relationships, low-paying jobs, and one of them even had a 6-month-old girl that Marcel sometimes had to take care of.

The mother, Eleanor, was a housewife and Lucas's second partner, that is, she wasn't the biological mother of Elsa, Sara and Clara, Marcel's sisters. She considered that she didn't have the slightest possibility of living alone with her son - she hadn't worked for a long time and she was a woman over 40 - and justified in an erratic way that she had to put up with the behavior of her husband.

Although this shouldn't have been the reason Marcel got violent with his classmates, it became the perfect excuse. He never directly had any problems with his father, but he witnessed what Eleanor had to endure.

Lester initially became his best friend when they got the chance to play a baseball game at school. Marcel was an excellent receiver and Lester, on the other hand, a skilled pitcher; the perfect partner.

What Lester didn't know was that this boy became obsessed with him, wanting to spend most of his time with young Haydar to the point of becoming a suffocating person. Lester innocently took it as a nice gesture on his part, but being so condescending towards Marcel, he didn't realize how much his classmate wanted to keep that "friendship".

When Marcel stopped being the king of the school due to the influence of the Dautt brothers, he felt that the only world he could have at his feet was no longer his.

He was a young man lacking in empathy, he didn't care in the slightest about the feelings of others, with a mother unable to do anything for herself. Being just a boy, he knew very well that he would never make Eleanor's mistakes. He didn't want to be like her.

But because he found someone as much like his mother as Lester, he experimented on him through his false solidarity: controlling him.

Lucas was a sergeant in the Marines and his grandfather, a fisherman. He frequently took his family on vacations to visit various resort islands, including Hephaistos. He always suggested that they be careful when the birds flew lower than normal, as they were good meteorologists and could predict bad weather.

But Marcel didn't like those kinds of family activities, since he didn't see any point in them. His mother convinced him that his only goal was to be an actor. From a very young age, she took him to several castings so that he could be selected and accepted to work in commercials or supporting roles and also to be a model on catwalks for children's clothing.

He worked almost every day, went to school, complied as he should with the demands of his parents. But perhaps, he felt tired of that life and perhaps, although it was not a justifiable reason, he took out his anger on other people; he didn't know or didn't want to understand how else he could express what he felt.

***

A few years later and with a plan in mind, Marcel followed Victor Dautt to the school library and challenged him to a fight in an old abandoned factory.

Victor initially refused, but Marcel had a condition that the guy had no choice but to accept.

“If you don't come with me after school, I'm going to make Lester's life hell. I have friends, you know?” Marcel affirmed.

Lester, for his part, was waiting for Victor inside the cafeteria to go home together, but after about twenty minutes, he thought that he had already left. Benxamin happened to see him and asked what he was doing.

“Victor told me to wait for him, he offered to help me with my grades. If I don't do this, I'm in serious trouble with Mom.”

“Well, he's gone with Marcel,” said Benxamin.

“Did you see him? But,... why with Marcel?”

“I don't know. Do you want to find out?”

Both guys asked their classmates what was going on and quickly headed to the factory. Lester hated watching this kind of entertainment and it never crossed his mind that his friend and his bully were the stars.

Victor didn't make a single move and tried to fix this situation he got himself into peacefully since he knew full well that his opponent was at a huge disadvantage. Anaís, his mother, inherited together with her sister Stella, innumerable properties of incalculable value. With all that money, the woman led a luxurious life but she always thought about the well-being of her children, to the point that both brothers learned everything their vast minds could, that also included self-defense.

Marcel, tired of Victor doing nothing, began to disrespect him, even making fun of his freckles. Lester felt useless about it, clenching his fists and swallowing several times. Many guys from different schools witnessed what seemed to be a fight between two titans.

Everyone waited to see who would make the first move.  Benxamin looked at Lester laughing at his attitude at first and then asked wryly.

“If you don't like what you see, why don't you step in to stop them?”

“Me? But, are you crazy?! There are a lot of people... and they… ” Lester said

“You caused this, remember? If it hadn't been for you, Victor wouldn't be in this situation.”

“I don't…”

“You… yes. You never faced Marcel from the beginning. You let yourself be humiliated and these are the consequences of your actions. You are a very sweet boy, but a coward. You can't go on like this when you're an adult. You have to become the best version of yourself.”

Then Lester put his hands to his head thinking about what to do.

“And well, are you going to let Marcel hit my brother?” asked Benxamin.

“Never! You opened my eyes and,... Victor too. You're right, I caused this. I'm scared, but if I can do something about it, I will.” 

“Don't worry. I'm here with you. We'll go together.”

Both boys tried to get as close as possible to Victor and Marcel due to the large crowd. But suddenly, everything turned into chaos. Marcel hit Victor in the abdomen, then in the chest, and followed up with a right hand to the nose.

Victor asked him to stop, using his sinister gaze technique but Marcel ignored him trying to attack him again. Then, fed up with the situation, Victor grabbed the hand of his assailant and flexed Marcel's fingers to his sides, causing him a lot of pain; though that wasn't enough to stop Marcel from hitting him.

At that moment Lester yelled at the top of his lungs.

“ENOUGH, YOU TWO! THIS MAKES NO SENSE! SHIIIIIT! MARCEL, STOP ACTING LIKE AN IDIOT. AND YOUR VICTOR, WHY DO YOU LET HIM HIT YOU?”

The angry public approached Lester to demand an explanation for his meddling. Then, a loud whistle was heard from Benxamin.

“Hi! The fight is over. It was a draw.”