Sorry for taking so long to update, but, well, things happened. A few things however gave me the right push... Including the insanity of season 5. On whose retcons I will NOT be compliant, though I will take a few ideas from that season. So here's my story, back for you.
Chapter 02: Working on Assigments
Lila had been caught by surprise by the assignment, but she could work with it. She hoped that this ploy from Mme Bustier (Lila had actually demanded to see her ID before believing she was actually named that) would work at least in part, she didn't want to stay in conflict with Marinette. And if they and Raincomprix became actual friends… Well, she wouldn't complain. But there were things she wouldn't stand for.
"Was that a joke, or you just watched a movie based on the book?" she demanded to Raincomprix.
"No, I read the book!" Raincomprix replied.
"Then why did you call Dantes the hero?"
"He's the protagonist, and he has any right to seek vengeance."
"And that justifies him calling himself an instrument of divine justice and going after the children of those who wronged him and quoting the Bible to justify it, and by extension said children's great-grandnephews?"
Raincomprix had nothing to say to that. Marinette, however, had: "I thought you would sympathize more with him."
"I'm Italian, vengeance is my cultural heritage – and it should be quick and precise, limited to the actual wrongdoers and those who knew and choose to do nothing. I can cut Dantes some slack over the cruelty of his vengeance given what they did him, but the moment he went after Albert, Eugenie and Valentine, especially Valentine, he had crossed into villainy. Sympathetic, but still villainy."
"I can't believe I agree with you…" Marinette whispered in Mandarin. Rumors about her were that she couldn't speak Chinese or that she was fluent in Mandarin but had trouble with Cantonese, and now Lila knew which one was true. Good for the diplomat's daughter she could understand them both, even if her pronunciation was closer to a drunk fox' howl than actual words.
The work proceeded well after that, at least until they stopped to pause and eat some cookies. With Marinette's own plate having a few she told them not to eat, as they were filled with chili peppers.
Lila didn't believe her, but decided it was her house and thus her rules. Raincomprix instead snatched and bit one, and the following shout of pain revealed Marinette was telling the truth. Either she had weird tastes, or she was doing interesting things for someone living in a city with active Chinese magical treasures.
"I warned you." their host said as she gave the redhead some milk.
"What the hell?!" Raincomprix protested. "Are you trying to kill me?!"
Lila was starting to think she had been assigned to them to keep them from killing each other. Refusing to grab the bag of raisins she had in her pocket and start eating while enjoying the show she looked at the back-and-forth between the class' idol and the minion of the class' bully, enjoying the show and noting mentally what they were saying while ready to intervene if things got physical, up until Marinette made a weird remark, one that made Raincomprix flinch as she'd been slapped: "Who did remind Chloé my birthday?!"
Lila blinked for a moment in puzzlement. As expected from a filthy rich girl she often threw parties to flex her dad's wealth (and they were reportedly amazing and more tasteful you'd expect from a teen, even if one resulted in an Akumatized teddy bear), but it made no sense for her to throw a birthday party for her worst enemy. Then she caught on: "Wait, did Chloé throw a party on your birthday and invited everyone but you?"
"Two years in a row. It would have been three, but somehow Chat Noir found out and told Alya."
Lila knew exactly how Chat had found out: Chloé must have thought to invite the Heroes and he, being smart enough to have utterly foiled Volpina, had thought to check if the bully was pulling something. And being Chat Noir he insured that Adrien, the official Chloé wrangler, would know through an Alya blow up. Still…
"Didn't think Chloé would be capable of pulling off something so astute."
"WHAT?!"
"It was evil, but smart. She invited everyone else on your birthday and they, in the excitement, forgot it was your birthday, and you, being you, didn't point that out… But, being human, still resented them and ended up isolating yourself from everyone until Alya's arrival and Ladybug's example restored your confidence, am I right?"
She was. And Raincomprix apparently had no idea what she helped her friend doing, if the look of horror on her face was any hint. Sweet summer child…
"Maybe we should all go home and get back to work tomorrow?" Lila suggested. After all, how were the others supposed to concentrate on the assignment after this?
The following day at school Lila made a beeline for Adrien, being friends with both Marinette and Bourgeois he was her best chance at an unbiased explanation and warnings about further landmines. And the explanation was horrifying.
"Let me get this straight…" she said to make sure she had understood. "You're telling me they were childhood friends until Bourgeois, in a misguided attempt to earn her abusive mother's love, became a royal pain to almost everyone in general and Marinette in particular for calling her on the attitude?"
"Pretty much." Adrien confirmed. "There's a few other things, like a transfer student from somewhere, her weird hatred for the name Zoe, and Father saying he hopes he gets plausible deniability with her mother, but that's the important part."
"Madò… Per forz'è 'na stronza…"
"She simply has too much to deal with and nobody to help her doing it healthily. I got lucky there."
Lila wasn't sure what was more interesting, the fact Adrien could understand Italian vulgarities (with Milan being a fashion capital she had already guessed he understood the basics, but cussing was another matter entirely) or that the cinnamom roll believed he could have turned as bad as Bourgeois without a certain someone's help. Before she could ask more, however, Adrien looked to the side and took a similar expression to Chat Noir's every time Mr Pigeon was reakumatized. Only, the Cat didn't look as constipated or wishing to be anywhere else.
"STAY AWAY FROM MY ADRIEN!"
"Not again…" Gabriel said as he felt the brat's anger right as he was checking the new fashion trends with Natalie.
"Who's the target this time?" Natalie asked.
"Lila Rossi" came the answer. He wouldn't Akumatize her this time, he had work to do and she wasn't as funny as Mr Pigeon.
"Isn't her mother a foreign diplomat?"
Then again, maybe the fallout of this one would finally do the trick and rid everyone of Mademoiselle du Moralle.
Lila had seen a lot of things, and wasn't easily surprised. But even she hadn't yet met a mix of entitlement and stupidity like the girl shouting at her for talking with Adrien, not at a school. And she had dealt with Eton and Cheltenham students when her mother worked at the embassy in London. Still, she wasn't surprised enough to not move back in such a way to move her sight from Adrien and give him the chance to run. He had just disappeared when the stalker noticed that, and shut up in shock for a moment.
With the silence Lila looked at her. Blonde wavy hair that went slightly past the shoulders, large blue eyes, and for some reason she was wearing a black gakuran jacket with a white silk rose on the chest, black tight shorts, and black sneakers, hand-made if the lack of brand labels was any hint. Who does get hand-made sneakers?! Somehow the looks reminded her of someone.
"Look what you did!" the unknown girl shouted. Right, this warranted the most irritating reply Lila could give. After all, if "Le Papillon" was going to Akumatize her he had already sent out the butterfly, and she knew how to deal with this.
"I'm sorry, but who are you exactly?" the Italian girl politely asked. The fact she had genuinely no idea was a bonus.
"WHAT?!"
"Well, I haven't been around much for reasons, so aside for my classmates I only know the famous and important students. Like Theo Barbot," she had only learned he was her age when she had come back. He really looked in his twenties "or Aurore and Mireille."
"I AM ZOE DU MORALLE!"
For a moment, Lila thought she was why Bourgeois hated the name. But if it had been her, Adrien would have said it. Then Lila realized she had, in fact, heard of that name, and the attitude matched. Even if she was wrong, the speculation would still anger her: "Du Moralle? Like the one rich girl who managed to be thrown out of Cheltenham?"
The look of horror made Lila realize she was, in fact, that Du Moralle. Then the Akuma got in the silk rose, and the girl said yes so fast Lila couldn't punch her out before the transformation.
Lila was stepping back, ready to beat it… Then she saw the Akumatization had given Du Moralle an outfit straight out of Revolutionary Girl Utena. Specifically, Anthy's Rose Bride costume.
"Now prepare to face the righteous wrath of the Rose Bride!" the Akuma Villainess shouted.
"Cazz'è uscito dalla capannina?!" Lila whispered, unable to keep her Roman roots at bay from the surprise.
Then Rose Bride produced the Sword of Dios from her chest, and was promptly sprayed out of the school by the fire hose held by Bourgeois and Raincomprix.
"Get here before the weirdo comes back!" the blonde shouted to Lila, who obeyed immediately and opened her mouth to ask a question.
"No, you don't want to know her deal right now, too much at once will make you stupider." Raincomprix said.
"What's the thing about her getting thrown out of Cheltenham?" Bourgeois asked.
"Well, when I studied in England my school and that posh place had a rivalry, and the head girl mentioned of a du Moralle that tried to harass an Eton guy over his looks one time too many."
A distant thump announced Chat Noir had arrived… And he was posing like Adrien in a photoshoot, with a suspicious rope on the ground near his feet.
"MY LOVE!"
To Lila's utter befuddlement, Rose Bride charged at Chat Noir like a fangirl, missing the rope tensing and tripping her.
"She also thinks Chat Noir is Adrien." Bourgeois explained as Ladybug walked to Rose Bride and did her thing. "Something about him being the only one awesome enough."
"Ma c'ha 'na caccola per cervello e s'è soffiata'r naso." Lila said about the intelligence of the claim. Just because they looked alike it didn't mean anything.
"If it was about her being stupid, you're right, Adrien's puns are worse nowadays, but he makes them more rarely." Bourgeois agreed as the paramedics (the school had enough Akumatizations there were dedicated paramedics) dragged du Moralle away. "As for you, stay out of my relationship with Marinette and Sabrina, got it?"
"As long as their culinary discussions about chili cookies don't impact my homework, sure."
"What?"
"Well, she had those cookies and I snatched one up, and that's how it started." Raincomprix owned up. "Who eats cookies with chili peppers inside?!"
"I do. I'm actually paying her to make those cookies and teach me how to bake so I can make them myself, I guess she liked them."
"You can't stand that much spice."
"Well, now I want to!"
"Come on, Raincomprix, she's free to eat whatever she wants as long as she doesn't try and force it on others." Lila intervened while dismissing her doubts about Marinette dabbling with magic, clearly it was a coincidence that she liked the food Bourgeois needed to improve her use of the Bee Miraculous. Then she realized she hadn't seen a certain thing: "Wait, where are the magic ladybugs?"
"Ladybug stopped bothering with Rose Bride twenty Akumatizations ago just to make sure she pays for something, even just the fake roses. Unless she damages something else before losing." Bourgeois explained.
Lila's hand met her face. The Italian girl just hoped it would be it for the day.
Notes
Lila's guess on Chat isn't completely correct (you can guess who told him when Chloé tried to pull that stunt)… But Adrien/Chat Noir is still the only character to have been able to outsmart and shut Lila down. Giving himself plausible deniability would be easy for him.
Cheltenham Ladies' College is a girls only boarding school in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, catering mostly to the rich. It's considered Eton's counterpart for girls.
Zoe du Moralle, AKA Zoe the Fangirl, one of my ML OCs. I made her as a joke… But now, she's turned out useful. There's a reason she's nearly untouchable, but that will be for another day.