Lila woke up with a heck of a headache. Her head felt fuzzy. What had happened again? She had to think back for a bit… "Does your head hurt? Though I didn't think there would be anything inside your skull that can actually ache." Lila blinked and looked around. She saw white void everywhere. It was not even a white room, just an endless white…thing. She looked around frantically until suddenly she was face to face with a red haired domino-masked wearing woman. "Boo!"
"Gah!" Lila was startled, took a few steps back and tripped. She fall on her flat ass. Lila now could take a good look at the person. Not only she had a domino mask but also a bodysuit and some bunny ears, in shade of light blue and white. She held and umbrella and her pocket watch. Another Miraculous wielder? Ugh! She hated Miraculous heroes.
"Now that you're awake, we can get down to business." She napped her fingers and a desk and a chair appeared for her, alongside a file which she went through.
"Don't I get a chair?" Lila asked.
"No! I know for certain that you don't have arthritis or haven't fallen down stairs so you should be healthy to stand up. And that's the least of your lies." Bunnyx said.
"I do not lie, why do you suddenly accuse me like that." Lila said as she tried to put on some crocodile tears and playing the victim.
"I am going to make one thing clear. I am the keeper of time and space, I've seen the timeline and I know that you lie. You cannot fool me." She doesn't want to add 'again' since she didn't want to let her know she was in fact Alix.
Lila sighed and slumped her shoulders. "Fine, you got me. But I can't be blamed. I just tell people what they want to hear, it's not my fault people are stupid enough to fall for them."
"They eventually fell apart though." Bunnyx noted.
"Because of that meddling of that brat Marinette! She should have backed down like I told her to!" Lila huffed.
"And allow you to continue to lie to her friends?" Bunnyx asked. "Promising them opportunities that may never come so they pass up real ones and don't get to fulfill their goals?"
"Like any of them would get anywhere in life anyways." Lila noted. "May as well make them happy by giving them something to truly admire."
"You don't mean yourself by that? You are just a pretty face whom can spin some words, but you have nothing to bring to the table. You are not as smart as you believe (people only believed your lies because compared to magical superheroes it was not implausible), you have no talents and I don't count that modeling contract with the Agrestes, because it was part of a ploy and you were fired for being a bad model in more then a few timelines."
"You don't know what you are talking about you bunnitch! You are just a goody two-shoes, sickly sweet like Ladybug! I hate her and I hate you!" Lila shouted.
"I don't like you either, that makes us even." Bunnyx said as she looked further down the file. "Oh, willingly working with Hawkmoth to get rid of Ladybug?"
"She deserved to lose! She should have just kept her nose out of my business." Lila noted.
"Lying about a superhero could have had dangerous consequences, have you thought about that?" Bunnyx asked.
"But it didn't!" Lila said as she threw her hair.
"It could have!" Bunnyx said frustrated. She rubbed her bridge of her nose. "Also, lying about celebrities could have damaged their reputations, and your lies about your travels could have gotten your mother into problems."
"Its none of their business." Lila added.
"Not to mention…" Bunnyx went on as if Lila didn't interrupt her. "If Hawkmoth wins all of Paris could have been wiped off the map. Innocent people got hurt!"
"Would be worth it." Lila said. "They're not me, I don't know them so I shouldn't care. And they worship those fake heroes Chat and Ladybug so the deserve it."
Bunnyx sighed. It was like talking to a brick wall. No, the wall would be better to talk to. The Wall didn't say anything stupid at least. "You ever thought about not being a bitch for a second? That if you hadn't lied, Ladybug wouldn't have called you out? If you were honest, the class would actually like you for real instead of having to go through all the effort of thinking of your tall tales? That instead of spinning stories you actually could work to obtain something?"
Lila looked at Bunnyx like she was talking in a foreign language. Maybe simple empathy or moral values were truly beyond her. After deciding that thinking about it was too hard, Lila merely replied: "What do you know?"
Bunnyx sighed. "Hello? Guardian of Time and Space? Remember what I told you? I know you are stupid but you don't have memory problems? I see all possible timelines. And guess what, sausage-hair? There are few where you come out on top!" Bunnyx snapped her fingers and several screens popped up in the void. Each of the screens showed a different future.
"Are those…my classmates?" Lila asked.
"Ok, you have one functioning braincell." Bunnyx said sarcastically. "Yes, this is them, each of them in the future, when not being held back, when allowed to pursue their passions…They thrive. Nino in as a DJ and movie director, Alya as a top journalist, Kitty Section as band would be the next big rock group with a long successful career, Marc and Nathaniel with their comic books, Mylene with her charities, Kim and m-Alix as Olympic-level athletes…"
Bunny waved her hands, some screens moving aside and another screen enlarging. "But out of all of them, both Adrien and Marinette thrive the most. Adrien after becoming his own man, cutting ties with an abusive father and thriving with his own business…and Marinette as the fashion icon that would knock Chloé's mother and Gabriel Agreste of their thrones."
"No! Not her! It shouldn't be her! W-what does she got what I don't got?" Lila roared in rage.
"She is kind, sweet, empathic, she is good at organizing stuff, she is honest, she works hard, she has actual design talent, she is a loveable dork, she is good at crafting…" Bunnyx said as she counted down on her fingers.
"Whom asked you?" Lila huffed.
"You did you airhead!" Bunnyx replied. "Now, I could go on for hours, but you get the drill. Anyhow, it shows that every one of your classmates has talents that you don't have. They will do great for yourself, but you, you crash and burn. Your stupidity, your arrogance, your overconfidence, your inability to understand basic human decency, would always be your downfall in every timeline."
"No! I refuse to believe that. You earlier said 'almost every timeline'. There must be one where I'm on top!" Lila ranted, nearly foaming at the mouth.
"There is…and it was a difficult one to find as there were few were…you know what, I can show you." Bunnyx said as she snapped her fingers again. The other screens vanished, aside from the largest one, which showed a different timeline.
Lila smiled with maniacal glee, if she figured out how her alternate self thrived, she could apply to that for herself too. She was eager to see how the other Lila lorded over others and got everything going her way and…huh, it seemed normal so far. Her other self smile sweetly as she said bye to her mother. Lila could do a sweet smile, to fake, but this one seems genuine. The other Lila also continued this all the way to school. No maniacal grin that would suggest she has something devious in mind, she was just going to school happily. Maybe she was just doing so great she could allow herself to relax. Ah, she enters school. And the classmates. Wait… "What are they doing?" Lila asked.
The classmates greeted Lila kindly. The other Lila didn't make a grand entrance, she greeted like how a normal happy person greeted their friends. No fake hugs and kisses to appease the masses, the affection she showed was genuine. She even was chummy with Dupain-Cheng. Did she managed to fool Marinette or convince her to play along. Wait, Marinette was holding hands with Adrien but the other her was okay with it? What was wrong with the other her? "This can't be real!" Lila muttered.
"Oh it is. A real possibility. It took me a while to find this particular timeline because at this point it seems so unlikely. Not impossible, just unlikely." Bunnyx said, with a smug grin on her face. "This is what I tried to tell you either. In this timeline, you decided to not be a bitch. You didn't lie, you didn't attempt to hurt other people, in this timeline, you learned how to be a nice person. And that's why you thrived."
"No, this cannot be. Nice guys finish last! The other me has nothing." Lila argued.
"Oh no?" Bunnyx grabbed Lila's head and turned it back to the screen. This time Lila saw her alternate self. She was…playing soccer? Lila hadn't done that since they moved out of Italy the first time. It was just too much work. But this Lila…enjoys getting her hands (or feet) dirty? But everyone in her class was on the sidelines, cheering her on. Her mother was also in the crowd…The other Lila was in her element. She was enjoying herself. It ended with the match being won by the alternate Lila's team, and being carried, a medal around her neck, by her classmates.
Lila looked…not mean at least, just genuinely confused. She quickly returned to her usual scowl. "So big whoop she kicks balls into nets and she has the love of her classmates…" she stopped mid-sentence. The admiration her other self was shown was not due to her accomplishments, they were just genuinely happy for their friend. She didn't know how to finish her sentence. "I don't get it…But she could do better then this. Isn't she with Hawkmoth?"
"Er…No? The other you isn't a bitch. But that doesn't mean she is not involved in the Miraculous thing." Bunnyx 'swiped' across the screen, fast-forwarding it to a point in time, where Ladybug stands in front of the other Lila, with a Miraculous box in her hand.
Bunnyx had also turned up the sound for this one. As Ladybug spoke: "Lila Rossi, this is the Miraculous of the Bat, which we have recently discovered and added to our ranks. It will give you the power of Randomness making you an unpredictable opponent for the Akumatized villain. Once the threat is dealt with, you return the Miraculous to me. Can I count on you?"
"Ready, Ladybug!" The other Lila said as she took the box.
"She helps her? No…she is biding her time to backstab her, that must be it?" Lila said, sounding desperately. She had rambled and missed the transformation, but the bat hero that now helped Ladybug and Chat Noir against the Hydra-like Akuma had to be the other her. They defeated the Akuma, and not only the two main heroes, but the temp was cheered for as well. The other Lila seemed to be a bit skittish at the attention.
Lila pulled her hair in frustration. "This cannot be…It must be fake. It cannot be real!"
"It is a real possibility, told you already. The other you has put effort in everything she does: in chasing her passions, in becoming a better person, becoming a hero. All she had to do is open her heart…" Bunnyx explained.
"LIAR!" Lila charged at Bunnyx, but she froze up.
"I froze time for your body, but not for your mind, so you can still hear me." Bunnyx explained. "I am going to be frank. You cannot beat me. I have millennia of experience in combat, time and space are at my fingertips. I can turn you into a baby or an old crone. I can transport you anywhere and anytime to let you die: vaporized in the big bang, crushed under the meteor wiping out the dinosaurs, feed you to a pack of sabertooth tigers in the ice age…" Bunnyx listed. "So are you going to calm down?"
The Frozen Lila was afraid, she was outmatched so much it wasn't even funny. She would be crushed as easily as a gnat. Her head was unfrozen long enough for her to shake her head, confirming she did not want to go through that. She was unfrozen and dropped at the feet of Bunnyx. "I…I do not get it…"
"No surprise." Bunnyx scoffed.
"She could have real power, she could have control, she could…" Lila didn't finish. "Why?"
"There is a difference between having power and deserving it. Having control of something doesn't mean you are worthy or qualified." Bunnyx said. "And you cannot expect everything to you to be handed because spin your words nicely. No, the other you has learned that and thrived. She earned everything instead of leeching of others like a parasite and knocking people down instead of making the climb itself."
"Screw you…" Lila shut her eyes hard. "Screw you!" Her eyes were filling with tears, real ones.
"I already know how you tick before you woke up, time is at my fingertips. I watched you and I see what your problem is. Have you heard this little tale. An aspiring politician and a simple shop owner loved each other very much. They married and had a daughter…" Bunnyx said.
"Shut up!" Lila said softly.
"They loved each other, but the woman dreamt of traveling, but the husband was comfortable in his home country. He didn't like not being able to settle after being juggled around the world. So while still in love, they split up, as they could not give each other what they wanted in life. And one girl, whom couldn't go without her mother, decided to go with her…"
"Shut up!" Lila repeated, louder.
"She often moved, she had trouble making friends since she knew she had to leave them behind. Coupled with a working and busy mother she was alone. Eventually she learned she was good at spinning stories. That way she would get admiration and attention, and since they often moved before those lies came to light, she didn't bear the consequences. At a certain point she started to see how far she would be able to push them."
"I said shut up!" Lila growled.
"She has become bitter at the life that was thrown upside down and the lies became her relief, her coping. As her bitterness grew and lies became all she had, she lied to herself. That these lies are all she needed, as she was afraid of the truth. The truth that she is afraid. She is afraid of confronting her own feelings and is so desperate to keep up her lies, that she would do any dirty trick and would risk everything else, as long as she lived the lie of blissful ignorance, so she could not allow herself to feel hurt…"
"Enough! Please, no more!" Lila collapsed onto her knees, grabbing her head and crying.
"Because if she allowed herself to feel she would realize the hurt she caused and how she keeps hurting herself because she is afraid of reaching out to others, how she actually realizes what her lies do, but is afraid of owning up to them. That girl is a selfish coward!" Bunnyx continued.
"My life wasn't easy! I…I deserve everything…Please just stop!" Lila sobbed.
"You life was hard no doubt. You know what is hard? Having a missing mother and an emotional distant father, whom treats his son as an employee and asset instead of family. A girl with a spineless father whom throws money at a problem instead of having to deal with her, and a mother whom won't bother to remember her name. Adrien had it rough but turned out to be one of the best people out there. Chloé was a bitch but others have reached out and have learned her to overcome her feelings to be better. You have no excuse!" Bunnyx said.
"Instead of seeking to create something of your own to stand out, you destroy others so you cannot be outshined. Instead of taking faith in your own hands and clawing your way from the pits of despair, you allowed itself to consume you. In your effort to be put on a pedestal you don't realize that you'll be alone on that pedestal and when it crumbles no one will be willing to pick you from the rubble. You helped a madman whom tried to upset the balance in the universe, and expect that to have no consequences? No, you finally have to face whom your truly are, you finally face consequences for your actions, there is nothing you can say or do to make things right." The wielder continued.
"Then end me! Is that what you came to do? Torment me? Get revenge for trying to break the world?" Lila snarled.
"Oh no, you don't get an easy way out. No…" Bunnyx said as she waved her hand and suddenly they were no longer in a white void. They were back in Paris but everything was frozen in time. "You will live. You will live with your actions. You will be like a ghost. You cannot be seen, heard or touched. They cannot notice you, they cannot give you any time of the day. You don't need food or sleep but that means there will be no rest or distraction for you. You won't dare to keep your eyes shut forever, because then you will still see the images of other times, where your failures and your tales of what could have been will keep being played in your head."
"You can't do this to me!" Lila roared.
"I can. I have the power, and I am a hero, but I am not soft. You could have destroyed everything, Lila. That is not a sentence to take lightly. You will remain a ghost, until you stop lying to yourself, when you acknowledge what you've done. Until then, everything will be close…" Bunnyx said as she phased her hand through a random time frozen pedestrian. "But yet so far." With that, Bunnyx vanished.
"Get back here…" Lila jumped at Bunnyx, but crash landed on the ground, having missed her. Time unfroze and the people of Paris went on with their normal life, unaware of the ghost that Lila has become. "Hey you, help me…" she said at someone, but she wasn't heard. "I know Jagged Stone, listen to me and…" she tried to touch another, but her hand went through it. "No, no, no! This cannot be real. NOTICE ME!" She shouted on the top of her lungs but no one even flinched.
In the distance she saw her class. Without her, having a picnic. She ran towards them. She saw Marinette laughing shyly at a something dorkish Adrien had told her. She wanted to move in and strangle that pig-tailed Disney-Princess-esque bitch but…she couldn't touch her. Her hands went through her, Marinette unaware of someone wishing her death, but at this point a gnat has more chance of killing Marinette then Lila.
Everyone around her went on, not noticing her. Not missing her. "Kim, Max, Rose…" she raved. "ALYA!" It was no use. Lila collapsed onto her knees. Tears flowed from her eyes. As she shut her eyes as she was tearing up, the images of the other world, where she had not made those mistakes, in how she could have been part of the group. She jolted up as her eyes opened up. She kept her eyes open but cried even harder still…
If Bunnyx hadn't known whom Lila was, and what she was capable off…what damage she could do, then she would have been sorry for her. But she wasn't. Lila has gotten the harshest punishment. Hawkmoth was the bigger villain, but he was a man torn by grief. Lila was a monster having discarded empathy and was a mad dog.
Maybe there was a small chance Lila would learn. Bunnyx didn't know for sure as that timeline was the least likely outcome. She couldn't keep Lila in forever, even if she didn't learn her lesson, she would be returned to her home timeline eventually but she'd be powerless and too broken to do anything again. If a miracle happens and Lila can change, it would be unexpected, but welcome. But Bunnyx had to keep a close eye out.