Chapter Text
Felix Huxley was a rational young man.
He was a strategist, someone who formed perfectly executed plans and spoke in the formal, clipped way that only proper businessmen could. He was intelligent, placed amongst others who could build bombs or make pills at the age of five, and he was wealthy . Being the heir to Applesoft had its perks, and his seemingly endless supply of money was one of them.
His social standing and abundance of wealth was something that Felix did not hesitate to use to his advantage. He fit in perfectly to the mould of an ideal future executive, cold and logical and willing to do whatever necessary to ensure that he profited.
Teddy, on the other hand… Well, he hardly knew his four times tables.
Felix’s brother was naive, innocent to the point of obliviousness, and less suitable than anyone else Felix had met to run a company. The fact that he and Teddy were co-heirs was ludicrous when Felix was obviously the better choice– his parents had admitted so multiple times, after all.
Still, nobody did anything about it, so Felix decided to take matters into his own hands.
He used his rationalness, his strategies, his logic, and his cunning to form his riskiest plan yet. Felix would have to be careful, to ensure that absolutely nothing went wrong, but he was certain that Teddy’s foolish adoration of him would cause his twin to turn a blind eye to what Felix was orchestrating.
Teddy was stupid, hoping to find ‘the best in people’, like there was any good in them in the first place. The inferior Huxley likened others to himself in that he wanted to believe that they cared. Nobody cared, not really, not unless it benefited themselves. That was something Felix had learned a long time ago, but Teddy hadn’t gotten a grasp on the truth quite yet.
At that rate, Felix was positive that his brother never would, so Teddy would have to be taken care of. Felix wasn’t about to murder him, not by any means! No, no, no…
He was going to get someone else to do it for him.
The plain-looking new student was one that Felix had heard a lot about, so kept an eye on him to see if he lived up to the whispers his parents exchanged about corpses and kidnappings. Plenty of it was utter rubbish, of course, and the new boy seemed to be spending more time around Teddy than anyone else, which was suspicious in itself. Who would want to spend time with Teddy ?!
(Felix was an exception. He did not want to spend time with his brother, but Teddy was a Huxley, so the only acceptable company in school. He was going to relish being alone.)
Felix brushed aside both Teddy and New Boy’s strange behaviour, dismissing it as just the two being idiotic (and oh , what a mistake that had been–), going about his business as normal. He spent his time in the smart class completing an assessment and formulating the final step of his plan: Teddy’s death needed to be fitting and untraceable, so he had to think about how to go about pulling it off for a fairly long while.
He decided on something eventually, as he always did. He was going to bury Teddy in a pit and drop spiders on him. A pit because Teddy was worth no more than the dirt which Felix walked along (goodness knows that Teddy let Felix walk all over him , too); spiders because of all the unneeded anguish Teddy had caused him.
Felix was a master of deception, having convinced his parents that Teddy was to blame for any of his unintentional wrongdoings countless times. (He had also desensitised himself to the sound of Teddy’s sobs, which would be incredibly helpful, too.) So, it was laughably easy to convince Teddy that he wanted to dispose of Ozzy , even enlisting his brother’s assistance!
If nothing else, Teddy was a useful pawn, but in the grand scheme of things, he had to be sacrificed. It was what was best for everyone, really.
Teddy was a follower, a sheep, someone who trailed after Felix and would be lost on his own. Teddy was seemingly incapable of doing anything himself, flailing at the first sight of a challenge and hiding behind Felix wherever possible. Teddy was weak .
Perhaps that was why it was so surprising when Ted admitted what he– or rather, what the New Boy– had done. Felix had nodded amicably, forcing an amiable smile even as a dreadful feeling settled in his stomach.
Because Ozzy was dead , and there was no bringing back those who had passed away.
If Teddy had died, the world would have just continued on as normal. There would have been a funeral, people would have pretended to mourn him, but that was all. Teddy was insignificant, unlovable. Not like Felix.
Not like Ozzy , who had a mother and a family and friends. (Even if said mother was a wimp, said family was never spoken of, and said friends were unlocateable after the 'transfer'.)
The transfer. In all honesty, Felix found it incredibly suspicious. If it had warranted a great deal of new students swapping with Madison and Ron, where had the latter two gone? The new students' kindergarten had been shut down, so there was not so much a possibility for a switch as there was an addition. Madison and Ron shouldn’t have needed to leave, so where were they now?
…Those sorts of questions were irrelevant, none of his business. He needn’t concern himself with the matter as it in no way involved him.
But Ozzy’s death did , and Felix couldn’t get the thought out of his head. Was he a murderer? It was curious to think about. If Teddy had died, he wouldn’t have cared. If Teddy had died, everything would be fine.
However, Teddy was alive and proud , and Felix felt… Not guilty , because this was not his fault. As Teddy himself had said, the murder was carried out with none of Felix’s help– because Felix had never wanted it to happen in the first place. He could bring to light Teddy’s part in it now, but nobody would care but Ozzy’s mother, and while her business was doing rather well, her lawyers would be nowhere near as good as Applesoft’s.
When push came to shove, Ozzy’s death didn’t matter either, but the fact remained that Ozzy hadn’t needed to die. Now, a woman was grieving, seemingly having lost the closest person to her to an asthma attack , and wasn’t that a way to go?
Felix didn’t think that Teddy had it in him, really. Deliberately stressing the redhead out to the point where he could handle nothing more– that was nothing short of wicked . Felix might not be the most moral person, but he didn’t promote unnecessary suffering (apart from Teddy’s, but Teddy deserved it). He wanted things done quickly, cleanly, promptly; and dying from a lack of air was something that Felix could envision far too clearly for his liking.
He could imagine Ozzy's face, slack and pale, his lips a bluish purple as his head lolled. He could imagine the body being left to Danner, skin cut open by a scalpel and organs examined with intrigue. He could imagine Kid watching unemotionally, staring uncaringly as Ozzy suffocated before him.
Teddy's actions had been... Out of the ordinary, to say the least, and Felix felt sick. It was childish, and wrong, but that didn't stop hypocritical nausea from swirling in his stomach as a heavy weight settled on his shoulders.
This wasn’t supposed to happen .
But it had, and Felix could ignore that. (He hoped he could, because his thoughts were getting even less pleasant than usual.) He could continue with life, carry out his plans of fratricide, and stop his insides from squirming uncomfortably.
This was not his fault, so Felix requested that his brain stop telling him that it was as he spoke to the New Boy. Teddy could receive justice for having killed someone without just cause, and Felix would be the one to tighten the noose.
In due time, Teddy would be dead, because that was what was supposed to happen. Felix was doing the right thing, he knew he was.
…Wasn’t he?