AN: The idea for this one came from a guest review on here . I'm a little surprised I didn't think of it first!
To yellow 14: Yeah, there's a reason Emilie gets along far better with Chloe than with Audrey!
To Lyger 0: That was rather fun to write!
To Butterfly: There's definitely more Emilie could say. And yeah, she did want to turn Gabriel to glitter for snubbing her, but somehow I can see her taking the Style Queen outfit as even more of a personal insult!
To Rose Tiger: She is a bit of a hag, isn't she? I considered trying to work in a way for her to kick a puppy to up her "villain cred," but I didn't think Bee-atrice would approve!
To Cesar848: Emilie was definitely thinking that!
To StarDaPanda225: That's certainly a possibility with the Akumas. It is interesting how different Emilie and Audrey are, particularly when it comes to Chloe.
Emilie was reading in the sanctuary of her suite, working her way through the final novel in one of her favorite book series from before the accident, when she felt it. A tight bundle of guilt, fear, and anxiety, all wrapped up together. Not someone she recognized immediately, but still vaguely familiar – certainly one of the Heroes of Paris, at least. She set her teacup on the end table and sat up, looking curiously at the door.
On his shelf next to the door, Duusu frowned, his plumage drooping. "Ooh, it doesn't feel like she's having a good day," he observed, cocking his head toward the door. "That's so sad…"
"We'd better see what she wants," Emilie agreed as whoever it was rapped hesitantly on the door. "It's open," she called brightly. The door opened, and a blonde in a pink shirt poked her head inside. Emilie had seen her once or twice before, but couldn't quite place it. But seeing the pink Kwami on her shoulder, she nodded in recognition, smiling warmly. "Ah! Good afternoon, Rose!"
Rose frowned, worried, hesitating with her hand still on the door handle. "I'm sorry to bother you, Mme Agreste," she squeaked, looking down at the book in Emilie's hands. "I should have called ahead; you're busy. I–I can come back later."
"Sweetie," Emilie interrupted her gently, "I promise you aren't interrupting anything. Have a seat." She gestured toward the couch opposite her, setting her book aside and pulling another teacup off the shelf under the side table where her teapot sat on a warmer. "Do you like sugar in your tea?" she asked. "I only brewed it a half-hour ago or so, so it's still good."
"Sugar would be nice…" Rose agreed, accepting the cup awkwardly and clutching it in both hands, staring down into its depths.
"Normally that kind of tea tastes better when you actually drink it," Emilie pointed out after watching her sit for a minute without moving.
Rose chuckled humorlessly, her emotions roiling within her before raising the cup to her lips and taking a polite sip.
Emilie sighed. "I don't need my miraculous to know that something is wrong," she observed delicately, raising an eyebrow at the girl. "So: what can I do?"
Rose sniffed, and Daizzi patted her cheek consolingly. She opened her mouth, but nothing came out. Emilie could sense her reluctance, but watched her quietly. She had extended the hand; now it was up to Rose to choose whether or not to accept it. Finally Rose let out a heavy sigh. "I was on patrol with Chloe last night," she admitted quietly. "I thought I was okay – or at least that I was hiding it okay – but Chloe saw through me right away. She said I wasn't as bouncy and cheerful as normal."
"It's been like that for a while," Daizzi reported sadly, hugging Rose's cheek.
Rose tensed, sniffling. "So Chloe told me to come and talk to you," she finally continued. "I told her I wasn't sure if I really wanted to. But then Chloe said it wasn't a suggestion: either I come on my own, or she gets Marinette and Juleka to make me come. And if they wouldn't do it, she would just tie me up in her yo-yo and drag me here herself."
Emilie sighed and rubbed her forehead. "Oh, Chloe," she muttered. While she appreciated Chloe's enthusiasm, forced help was rarely as beneficial as when it was sought willingly. But she could work with this. Louder she told Rose, "I'm sorry for the way it happened. At the same time, just from what I can see, I do think Chloe was right to send you here. So why don't you tell me what has you so upset? If it's enough for other people to notice, then it's not something you should ignore."
Rose stared into her teacup and sniffed sadly. "It all started back in the spring," she began. "It was only a month or so after Ladybug recruited me – I didn't even know who she was yet, or even how… expected it was for the heroes to know her identity. Rena Rouge showed up at my window and asked me to come with her on a mission. It was the same week we were all running around and trying to find Chloe, so of course I jumped at the chance to help. She wanted me to keep Lynchpin's attention focused on me so that she could arrange things elsewhere for the next part of her plan. She pointed me in the right direction, and I started planting a hedgerow maze in front of one of Lynchpin's warehouses waiting for him to react. When he did, he sent people with flamethrowers to clear out the bushes, which gave Rena Rouge all the time she needed to finish her thing. All good, right?"
"It certainly sounds it," Emilie agreed, nodding. She could feel Rose's guilt and anxiety growing. "But from your tone I take it that it wasn't all so good?"
Rose shook her head, staring down at the teacup in her trembling hands. "I didn't find out until a month later, but my 'distraction' actually killed a woman," she whispered. "And Lynchpin used that to recruit the woman's husband into becoming Tyran-X." She sighed heavily. "So I managed to create a super-villain, and I hadn't even been a hero for two months."
Emilie examined the girl in front of her quietly, sipping her tea pensively. "That is a terrible burden for you to bear," she observed sympathetically. Rose nodded, stifling a sniffle. "With something like that, I would be surprised if you weren't feeling overwhelmed by guilt – at least occasionally."
"That's an understatement," Rose muttered glumly. "It's like I can't not think about it! When we first found out, I froze up, and that let Tyran-X get away! I talked to Rena Rouge right after, and she said it wasn't my fault, that I didn't know she was there. This summer I talked to Ryoku after I almost got her killed – that's another thing – and she said that whatever guilt I feel about what happened, I can't let it distract me because the best thing I can do for Tyran-X is not let him actually kill me."
Emilie kept her facial expression impassive but tensed internally. Duusu perked up at the change. "Is that something that you think could happen?"
Rose shrugged. "I mean, I don't want it to happen," she answered. "But I've faced him twice, and both times ended with him hurting me. I just… I can't bring myself to hurt him again, after how much I've hurt him already."
"Do you think you deserve this? That you deserve to let him hurt you?"
"After how I hurt him… I don't know."
Emilie focused her attention on Rose's emotions, watching her carefully. Finally she nodded. "It's good that you can be honest about that." She let out a breath. "Will allowing him to hurt you undo what happened?"
Rose's shoulders slumped, and she shook her head. "No."
Emilie glanced at Daizzi, who wore a worried expression on her face. "Are you going to try to let him hurt you again?"
"No!" Rose insisted. But–" She hesitated. "I don't know if I can't fight him."
"In that case, I would advise avoiding a fight with him," Emilie suggested.
Rose chuckled humorlessly. "Juleka and Kagami both told me the same thing."
"I'm glad your friends are looking out for you," Emilie observed. The mention of Juleka and Kagami had lifted Roses' spirits slightly but done nothing for her emotional morass. "I sense that the guilt and shame have gotten all tangled up inside of you," she finally observed. "Perhaps we can tease some of the strands out. You said you hadn't been a hero for very long when this happened, and now this has become the defining element of your superhero identity."
"Even apart from what happened to him, everything Tyran-X has done… all of it is my fault…" whispered Rose.
"Are you a puppet master, pulling his strings?"
Rose cocked her head and stared at Emilie in confusion. "I'm sorry?"
"What do you mean when you say that it's all your fault? Are you telling him what to do? When he used In-Di-No to melt a hole in the ground large enough to fit a city bus last week, did you tell him to do it?" Emilie asked. Her teacup was empty, so she poured herself some more before offering to top off Rose's cup.
Rose held out her cup and thought. "No…"
"When he helped destroy a football stadium a couple months ago, was that on your orders?"
"No."
"When he nearly knocked the Eiffel Tower into the river, was that your fault?"
"I mean… if it weren't for me, he would never have received the miraculous," Rose argued, frowning.
"Or he would have received it under different circumstances and done all the same things anyways," Emilie pointed out, arching an eyebrow at her. "It sounds to me like Tyran-X is a living, breathing, independent human being who has made all of his own choices. Those choices may have been informed by your actions, and your actions may even have pushed him into it, but they are still his choices."
Rose pursed her lips. The doubt and guilt in her emotions didn't leave much room for critical thinking.
Emilie sighed. "Does your miraculous enable you to control people's actions?"
"No?"
Daizzi scoffed, "Obviously not! That's Pollen's or Apuu's job!"
Emilie hid a smile. "Then what about you yourself: can you force Juleka to do anything?"
Rose blushed. "Well…"
On feeling the girl's emotions, Emilie coughed into her teacup. Clearing her throat awkwardly she clarified, "I mean, anything she doesn't want to do?"
"Oh. Then no."
"What about your other friends? Would Kagami do something just because you told her to?"
"Probably not," Rose allowed.
"So how about me? Could you force me to do something?"
"Well… no."
"Is there anyone at all that you can force to do something they don't want to do?"
"No."
Emilie fixed her with a serious gaze. "Then why should Tyran-X be any different?"
"I–huh." Rose stared at her in surprise, her eyes widening in realization.
"Your actions are your actions," Emilie explained calmly. "Tyran-X's actions are his own. You can't change what he does; it's arrogant to try."
Rose let out a breath; her guilt eased fractionally. "But what about his wife?" she asked, tears in her eyes.
Emilie smiled sympathetically. "That, I think, is the heart of the matter," she replied. "Part of acknowledging that Tyran-X's actions since that happened are not your fault is accepting your part in the piece of this little puzzle that you could control."
Rose snorted humorlessly. "I already accepted that; that's why I'm here in the first place!"
Emilie nodded. "Your actions did result in a woman's death," she agreed. "From what I understand, you didn't know she was there, nor did you give the order to deploy flamethrowers. Nevertheless, you did set the events in motion."
Rose's shoulders slumped. "I'm a monster."
Emilie covered Rose's hand with her own. "You're not a monster; you are a girl who made a choice without knowing the consequences. That you feel compassion for the one who has suffered the most from that choice shows that you are absolutely not a monster," she explained gently.
Tears trickled down Rose's cheeks.
Emilie slid the tissue box across the coffee table. "Sweetie, even without my miraculous, I can tell that you aren't the monster in this situation. You feel remorse. You want to make this right, even though you don't see a way to do it. Those are not the emotions of a monster."
"But what can I do?" Rose whispered, a pleading look in her eyes.
"At the moment?" Emilie asked. "Don't go anywhere near Tyran-X until you know that you can fight him without letting him hurt you. That would be a good first step."
Rose nodded. "And?"
Emilie sighed sympathetically. "And forgive yourself for what happened."
"I'll try."