Chapter Text
Nathalie awoke to the feeling of being watched. She was in her apartment, a cacophony of shrieks and cries echoing through the walls. Okay, so there was an akuma. She halfheartedly contemplated what kind of villain had been created tonight, when her blue eyes caught on a pair of green ones.
“Emilie,” she breathed, staring at the lovely figure watching her from a dark corner of the room. The woman looked almost exactly the same as Nathalie remembered, delicate and dulcet-faced, but fainter, like a ghost. Her catlike green gaze still held the same weight.
“How are you here?” Nathalie asked, wonder coloring her voice.
“I’m not,” Emilie replied softly.
“How can I get you here?” Nathalie stumbled to Emilie’s side, almost grabbing her shoulder. “Adrien, Ga- Mr. Agreste, they both miss you deeply, perhaps we can find a way to make you less-” she wanted to translucent, but figured that may be a bit insulting. “I need to find a way to bring you fully back.”
Emilie looked at her for a moment, and a sweet smile bloomed on her face. “Is that what you want?”
Nathalie wanted to respond, but something about Emilie’s voice made her freeze.
“Because I don’t think you truly want to bring me back,” Emilie’s honeyed tones turned to brittle ice.
“Of course I do-”
“No, you like being needed,” Emilie retorted freezingly. “As long as I’m gone you can try and fill the roles I played.”
“Pardon?” Nathalie inquired formally, her professional mask raising upon hearing Emilie’s cold voice.
“Don’t pretend you don’t know. As soon as I left you made it your job to take care of Gabriel and Adrien!”
“I’m just trying to help.” Nathalie folded her hands behind her back. She pictured her face impassive like stone. Her stomach rolled.
“No, you’re trying to take my place.” Emilie laughed. She sounded unhinged.
Nathalie felt a creeping cold tangle in her chest.
“You think you can fill the spaces I left in that broken little family. You’re fooling yourself.”
“That was never my intent,” Nathalie assured her. Her voice wavered.
Emilie lifted her chin and glared at Nathalie dead in the eyes. “Do you seriously think you can hold them together?”
Nathalie stared at the floor.
“You are not Adrien’s mother. You are not Gabriel’s wife. Stop acting like you are, you’re a fucking fraud. That is my family, not yours.
Nathalie could feel her hands trembling. She hated herself for it.
“I’m only trying to protect them.”
“They don’t need you to protect them. They don’t need you at all. Without me, they will inevitably fall apart. They will suffer as long as I am gone and there is nothing you can do about it. You will never save them.”
A flash of pink light lit up the room. Nathalie felt a gentle fluttering on her skin. When the ladybug cure cleared her room was empty. Empty of Emilie and her blisteringly cold voice. She returned to her bed, the only proof of the encounter confined to Nathalie’s rapid heartbeat. What a nightmare.