OMAKE: It's Okay to be the Villainess
"I'm sorry about all this."
"It's all right."
"Still, I'm sorry. You're always saving me, even though I'm such a villainess… "
"…"
"…"
"Why do you say you're a villainess?"
"Well, look at me. I have a villainess face and evil eyes and a nasty glare… what else could I be but the villainess?"
"… I see."
"…"
"…"
"…"
"But why is being a villainess a bad thing?"
"Eh? Because… well, they're the villain! They're evil! They're always making things hard for the hero and doing bad things and making everyone sad…"
"I see… that sounds like a lot of hard work."
"Um, I guess…"
"A lot of hard work indeed. To pull an example from recent events, Mother Nashandra from the play… would you consider her a villainess?"
"Oh, definitely! She was mean, she insulted Rampion, she made her feel bad, she tried to kill Eugene…"
"But she was also a very hard worker, wasn't she?"
"Um… I guess?"
"I mean, she was able to keep Rampion well fed, clothed and happy all by herself for years. She must have worked really hard, earning money, gathering food, making clothes… and she'd need to carry all that up Brume Tower to Rampion."
"Yeah, that is a lot of work isn't it? Mother Nashandra was very diligent!"
"And that's not counting the time she must have spent making her armor and learning to use a sword, since she used it very well in the end fight…"
"Yeah, learning to sword is hard! And she had to do that in between being a single mother too!"
"That sounds very heroic, doesn't it? Raising a daughter all by yourself, far away from where it was easy buy things, teaching herself how to protect her in case someone broke into their house, all while raising a young girl who was so happy she became selfish. She didn't have to do that if she was just being a mean villain who made people sad."
"Uh… you're right. I feel sorry for Nashandra now. She's only a villain because of the plot! I mean, of course she went after Rampion, who wouldn't worry if they came back home and found their daughter gone when they shouldn't be?"
"So even a villain can be hard-working, diligent, caring and kind. Even in the play, she was only evil sometimes."
"Well, she did take away baby Rampion…"
"Yes. But if you thought you were going to die, wouldn't you steal the only medicine you thought could save you, if you had no other choice."
"Well, put that way, I guess I understand… and actually, wasn't the king and queen really selfish, destroying the magic flower to turn it into medicine when they could have just used it the way it was and healed more than just the queen? I mean, the magic flower was really nice and healed everyone, it wasn't like they had to do that! That was just mean!"
"Yes, the king and queen did a mean thing, and if people would have been sad if it got out they did such a selfish thing. But does that make the king and queen villains?"
"Well, it kind of does, doesn't it?"
"But they got to live for most of the story and find out their daughter was all right. While the woman who raised her and worked hard to provide for her died. So is everyone a villain? After all, Rampion betrayed the mother who worked so hard for her, and Eugene stole things just so he could have an island full of money. And the both used Light Magic to conquer the kingdom by toppling the king and queen. Aren't they villains too, for doing such mean and selfish things?"
"Wait, so the heroes… are also villains?"
"You tell me. How sad did Eugene make the king and queen by stealing the only thing they had of their lost baby?"
"…"
"Maybe… they were the hero and a villain at the same time."
"Huh?"
"It was Rampion and Eugene's story, so they were the hero, even if they did villainous things, sometimes. Not all the time, though. No one can be a villain all the time. If this was Nashanra's story, even thought she was a villain, she'd still be the hero."
"So… what, even villains are heroes in their own story?"
"I wouldn't know. I'm not a hero or a villain."
"No, you're definitely the heroine."
"So you say… but didn't you say you're the villainess?"
"Yes. I don't like it, but that's how things are."
"Even if you don't do mean things?"
"Well, I don't like being mean…"
"…"
"…"
"I am glad I have you as my villainess, then."
"Eh? W-why?!"
"If I'm going to have a villainess, I'm glad it's one who's hard-working, kind, diligent and would prefer not to do mean things."
"…"
"I hope I do not disappoint you, being so unworthy of being a heroine."
"…"
"So continue being a villain all you want. For even the villain is the hero of their own story."
"…"
"…"
"You think… it's okay for me to be the villainess?"
"If Eugene and Rampion can live to the end after doing all those mean things, why can't you?"
"But... what if it's in the script?"
"I haven't seen the script. You can't expect me to stick to a script I haven't memorized."
"…"
"So, I ask of you… will you be the villainess of this unworthy heroine? The villainess only you can be?"
"… okay."
Really, it's always pissed me off whenever a 'fix fic' has the conversation and someone just yells at Bakarina 'You're not the villainess' and expects her to take their word over hers. It means they don't accept her as she is, that they INSIST on overwriting her world view with their own. And while their own may be OBJECTIVELY correct, it is a denial of the validity Katarina's opinions, beliefs and personhood. 'We don't care about your opinion, we're imposing our own because we love you and we want to get our way and fuck you! Literally!'. Is NO ONE ELSE troubled by this?
The correct answer to Katarina saying she's a villain is 'can I be a villain with you? I'll settle for lackey or mini-boss too'.
