''Chat Noir lost, Papillon hesitated, and Marinette was a minute too slow. A minute is all it takes.
What do you do after you fall?
You get back up.''
What if Weredad had taken Adrien's Miraculous when he had the chance? Seen who was behind the mask and exposed Adrien's identity to Papillon?
After the Fall
is a Miraculous Ladybug Fan Fic by LoganLight, and is complete.
After the Fall contains examples of:
- Abusive Parents: Gabriel already had a foot in this trope before Adrien confronts him about being Papillon. Gabriel proceeds to ridicule and trivialize Adrien's trauma.
- Adaptational Superpower Change: Luka is given the Black Cat Miraculous when Adrien can no longer be Chat Noir. He takes the name of Panthera.
- Ascended Extra: Kagami has a much more prominent role as Adrien's emotional support.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Adrien finally snaps at Chloé after she ridicules Chat Noir for being worse than Panthera.
- Big "NO!": Gabriel gets two of these. The first when he fails to stop Weredad from throwing Adrien off the thorn tower. The second when Adrien confronts Gabriel over his death.
- Bittersweet Ending: Adrien defeats Gabriel and overcomes his personal demons, saving Paris but doesn't go back to being Chat Noir.
Word of God says that he either becomes the new Butterfly wielder or helps the Miraculous holders in a non-powered capacity. - Brainwashed and Crazy: Panthera and Carapace both get hit by the akuma and Ladybug has to fight all of them at once.
- Calling the Old Man Out: Adrien confronts Gabriel in the climax, letting all his pent up frustration loose.
- Death Is Cheap: Adrien is killed and resurrected in the very first chapter.
- Syren is also stated to have killed a large amount of people.
- Lila is temporarily killed.
- Demoted to Extra: As the fic is mostly from Adrien's POV.
- Chloé only has one seen appearance.
- Downer Beginning: After dying and Master Fu keeping his Miraculous (since Papillon knows his identity) Adrien is left traumatized and alone.
- Do You Trust Me?: Said by Nino to get Adrien to open up about why he's avoiding Marinette. Adrien turns it around and asks if Nino trusts him even if Adrien doesn't explain.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Despite Adrien's vulnerable mental state, it's implied Gabriel refuses to akumatize him. It doesn't change the fact that he's abused his son.
- Family of Choice: As the fic progresses Adrien grows closer to Plagg, Kagami and Nino. With the Gorilla becoming his legal guardian.
- Freak Out: Adrien suffers from panic attacks throughout the fic.
- Geas: The kwamis' compulsion to obey their wielders is pointed out by Plagg. Luka accidentally limits the time Plagg can speak with Adrien.
- Glamour Failure: A mundane version occurs after Adrien's worldview is shattered. This allows him to see the heroes' identities clearly. All of them.
- Heroic BSoD: Adrien has one after he's brought back to life.
- Heroic Safe Mode: Downplayed. Despite his anger and disappointment Adrien manages to stay focused long enough to confront Gabriel.
- Hologram: Adrien uses one to trick Nathalie and trap her in his room.
- Internal Reveal: Once Adrien realizes Marinette is Ladybug he immediately deduces who the other heroes are.
- Irony: Luka states that Marinette and Adrien would be a good pair. Unaware that she's already dating his alter ego as Ladybug. Adrien is amused.
- Kick the Dog: Gabriel demeans Adrien in the climax when confronted.
- Kick the Morality Pet: Unintentionally done by Chloé when she belittles Chat Noir.
- Little "No": Adrien says this to Gabriel after he demands that Adrien tell him who Ladybug is.
- Multitasked Conversation: Adrien talks to Nino about being Chat Noir and his trauma while not letting it slip to Kagami that Nino is Carapace.
- Mundane Solution: Papillon has nigh-invulnerability and enhanced strength while transformed. So, Adrien tricks him into de-transforming in order to shoot him with a taser.
- My Greatest Failure: Adrien sees his defeat at the hands of Weredad to be this. Ironically, Marinette also sees it as Ladybug's greatest failure. Neither of them are having any of this self-blaming, however.
- Never My Fault: Even after being confronted by Adrien, Gabriel refuses to acknowledge that he's ultimately responsible for everything that's happened to Adrien.
- No Indoor Voice: Gabriel reacts this way to Adrien talking back to him.
- "Not So Different" Remark: Adrien's motivation for trying to help Lila is that she reminds him of himself. Nino disagrees.
- Not the Fall That Kills You…: Averted. It is very much the fall that kills you.
- Offscreen Karma: Lila's lies and willingness to work with Papillon are exposed to all of Paris. And Oni-Chan killed her. It's also implied that she was expelled.
- Offscreen Moment of Awesome: Most of the akuma battles happen in between chapters.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Everyone can tell that something is wrong with Adrien but as most of the story is told from his point of view we initially only see Kagami's reaction.
- Parental Neglect: Gabriel takes this up a notch (even by Canon standards) by avoiding Adrien to the point where they don't see each other for months.
- Passive-Aggressive Kombat: Adrien lapses into this once when he felt Nino and Alya were questioning him unfairly.
- Plot-Triggering Death: Adrien's in the very first chapter results in the events of the story.
- Secret-Keeper: Kagami and Nino become this for Adrien once he chooses to trust them.
- Secret Secret-Keeper: Adrien becomes this for all the heroes.
- There Are No Therapists: Averted. Adrien does see one in between chapters.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Adrien gives two of these.
- One to Chloé:
Adrien: "A-all you do is i-insult everyone around you. Criticizing e-every flaw l-like you don't have any.[..] That- That's not okay! J-just because you're in pain doesn't give you the right to m-make everyone else as miserable as you!"- And one to Gabriel.
Adrien: "You have the Power of Transmission! That means you empower people with your own emotions! All the rage, all the selfishness, all the apathy, that every one of your akumatized victims have inflicted on this city, all of that comes from you!" - Refusal of the Call: When Ladybug comes to recruit Adrien to be the Snake Hero, he declines as he doesn't feel he is worthy to be a hero again.
- Trauma Button: Tom Dupain is this for Adrien, as he's reminded of Weredad.
- We Can Rule Together: Gabriel gives a variant to Adrien. Tempting him with his mother's return and a complete family in exchange for Ladybug's identity. Adrien rejects his offer.
- "Well Done, Son" Guy: Averted. Adrien's development throughout the story allows him to move past this mentality.
- What If?: The premise of the story follows what would have happened if Adrien's defeat at the hands of Weredad wasn't interrupted.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Nino isn't happy about Adrien keeping Lila's lies a secret and demands an explanation. Prompting Adrien to explain his reasoning on how he's no different from Lila.
- You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Kagami, Nino and Marinette all say this to Adrien at least once. With Adrien returning the sentiment to Marinette.
- You Called Me "X"; It Must Be Serious: Adrien refers to Gabriel by name instead of "father" while confronting the elder Agreste's actions as Papillon.
