Cause of Strife
was a Miraculous Ladybug fanfic written by WeHaveManyNames and had been published on Archive of Our Own and crossposted on FanFiction.Net. Both copies of the story and the author's AO3 account have since been deleted, but you can find an archive of the entire story on a single AO3 page by inputting the link into the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine.
Cause of Strife has examples of:
- Affably Evil: Eris and her minions.
- She has a nice chat with Master Fu at the end of Chapter 1, and isn't hostile to him at all, even revealing she has no intention of serving Hawk Moth. That said, she's still an Akuma and driven to carry out her focus, revenge on those who wronged Marinette.
- Apollo and Prometheus are able to believe Juleka and Nath when they explain why they sided with Lila and manage to convince Eris to let them go into hiding.
- Asshole Victim: Lila Rossi, in spades. Lies to everyone about having great connections to get people eating out of the palm of her hand, and anyone who isn't fooled is painted as a jealous bully, to the point that a boy in Italy was Driven to Suicide. All because Lila believes that, as a diplomat's daughter, she deserves the world, and the boy in Italy deserved to jump off a bridge to his death. Eris has had enough at this point and sends her mind to Princess Justice, and then she lets out her horror at what Lila truly is.
- Blackmail: Nath reveals he tried to oppose Lila like Marinette did, but couldn't risk losing his boyfriend if Lila tried to turn Marc against him.
- Bullying a Dragon: Kim and Ivan try to attack Eris in Chapter 2, and Ms. Bustier tries to boss her around, but Eris herself has none of it.
- Dead Fic: The fic spent the better part of six months in 2021 updating and getting a rewrite, only for itself and the author's AO3 account to be deleted. Suffice to say, more updates will not be coming any time soon. This page only still exists because a backup copy was found so that the story could still be read.
- Defiant to the End: Being tied up by an Akuma and completely defenseless against whatever said Akuma decides to do to her neither fazes Lila nor does it clue her in that she may have screwed up. Instead, she's upset that Marinette got akumatized and took revenge instead of committing suicide.
- De-power: Each of the heroes that get captured or defeated by Eris and her minions is relieved of their Miraculous, which is then given back to Master Fu for safekeeping. The first of these was the Ladybug itself, just in case Hawk Moth tries a Villain Override later. Despite standing down, Nath and Juleka with the Tiger, Ox, and Mouse are no exception, as Eris can't trust them not to try and fight them again later.
- Driven to Suicide: Lila reveals she got a boy back in Italy to kill himself by jumping off a bridge by doing the same thing to him as she did to Marinette. Eris is horrified.
- Entitled Bitch: Lila genuinely believes she deserves the world just because she's a diplomat's daughter.
- Face–Heel Turn:
- Marinette gets akumatized, while Luka, Kagami, and Marc willingly join her side when it comes time to face Cat Noir and his team of new heroes, becoming Apollo, Nemesis, and Prometheus, respectively.
- A case could be argued for Juleka and Nath, who choose to stand down after being captured and relieved of their Miraculous.
- Freak Out: Carapace goes nuts when Rena Rouge is captured and has to be restrained when the heroes are forced to retreat from the second battle.
- Giant Squid: Mayura creates one called Skolopendra to aid Eris and her minions in battle.
- Hand Blast: Eris' main combat ability. Seems to only cause slight damage since Ms. Bustier can get back up, dust herself off, and keep going after taking a few blasts in Eris' No-Holds-Barred Beatdown of her.
- Hero Antagonist: Many of the new heroes are fighting Eris out of loyalty to Lila, that is, what they think Lila is. Cat Noir, on the other hand, is afraid of rocking the boat and the unintended consequences of exposing Lila. They're in the wrong, with Kim and Alya convinced Marinette was akumatized out of jealousy of Lila.
- I Reject Your Reality: Alya refuses to believe Eris isn't doing this because Marinette is just jealous of Lila getting Adrien instead of her, despite (A) Marinette having gotten over Adrien about a month ago, (B) Eris TELLING Alya this to her face, and (C) Adrien pointedly NOT being interested in Lila.
- Literally Shattered Lives: Eris destroys Ms. Bustier's petrified body after sending her mind to "the Court" for judgment by Princess Justice.
- Manipulative Bitch: Hawk Moth tells Mayura that this is how Eris' passive ability was supposed to work, manipulating a small number of people into willingly joining her. Instead, see Not Himself below.
- Motive Rant: Juleka breaks down to Apollo about how she had friends, even a girlfriend, and didn't want to lose that by going against Lila. Apollo realizes she was just scared of losing what she had, and convinces Eris to spare Juleka.
- No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Eris to Ms. Bustier during the former's Roaring Rampage of Revenge.
- Not Brainwashed: Eris reveals to Master Fu that she isn't a Brainwashed and Crazy Marinette, but is instead Marinette's negativity made manifest. She even states that she isn't going to give Tikki to Hawk Moth and gives the Ladybug Miraculous back to Master Fu for safekeeping. Furthermore, she later states that she has no intention of staying an Akuma.
- Not Himself: According to Hawk Moth, this seems to be the case for Eris' minions. Their original personalities are suppressed and Eris creates a new one aligned with her goals. Given their behavior, the jury's out on whether this is really the case.
- Reports of My Death Were Greatly Exaggerated: Master Fu presents the Ladybug Miraculous to Cat Noir, who believes Ladybug is dead. Master Fu does not correct him, saying he was able to retrieve them before Eris could finish off Ladybug.
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Eris reveals herself to the class by basically beating the crap out of Ms. Bustier and Lila, eventually petrifying both and destroying Ms. Bustier's body.
- Shout-Out: Kagami's text name in Chapter 2 is "I Studied The Blade"
- The Starscream: Eris is a variation: She's neither brainwashed, loyal to Hawk Moth*, nor planning to replace him once he's defeated or unmasked.
- Stating the Simple Solution: Eris laments in Chapter 8 that her team is still no closer to finding out where Hawk Moth is. Sabine suggests just asking him once she has the remaining Miraculous, as he would just let Eris bring them all to him once she does. Considering this is the closest he's come to victory in such a long time, he might do just that.
- Then Let Me Be Evil: Marinette is just so done with Lila and how the latter has ruined her school life that she allows herself to be akumatized, not as voluntarily as Lila herself did, but she didn't succumb to the effect either, she submitted of her own volition.
- Unreliable Expositor: The audience is told about how Eris' abilities work by Hawk Moth, but later narration implies Eris might be lying to him about what she's doing and/or how she does it, among other things, in order to throw him off.
- Villain Protagonist: Despite being an Akuma and doing a few villainous things, Eris isn't exactly in the wrong, especially when paired with the likes of Alya and Kim, who are utterly loyal to Lila and are fighting for her sake.
- We Need a Distraction: After Sabine states the simple solution, Eris name-drops this trope and sends Skolopendra to attack Les Invalides.
