is a complete Miraculous Ladybug fanfic written by imthepunchlord, and published at Archive of Our Own and at Fanfiction Dot Net.When one of the two most powerful miraculouses falls into the wrong hands, the Black Cat is awakened to get it back, and gets unexpected help from a once lost butterfly.
The author's concept for a "Butterfly!Marinette" AU was introduced a few months before the first draft of this story was started, in two one-shot fics entitled Oops and Plans and Risks.
This fanfic provides examples of:
- Adaptational Heroism:
- In canon, Gabriel Agreste is notorious super-villain Hawk Moth. While he admits to having once been tempted to turn to the dark side here, he ultimately didn't, and is the heroic wielder of the Peacock Miraculous. While there is a villainous Hawk Moth in the story, it's not Gabriel, but rather a former friend of his who went bad.
- In canon, Stoneheart is a super villain created by Hawk Moth, preying on Ivan's insecurities and corrupting him with his miraculous. Here, Stoneheart was created with Marinette as the butterfly miraculous wielder, with the intention of protecting Mylene from Harlequin.
- In canon, Chloe was turned into Anti-Bug, a super villain designed to be an Evil Counterpart to Ladybug with the purpose of stealing her and Chat Noir's miraculouses. Here, Mariposa turns her into Se Rallier, a princess-esque Champion who converts those around her into her loyal knights with the purpose of fighting off Harlequin.
- Adaptational Superpower Change:
- In canon, Marinette is the holder of the ladybug earrings and uses them to defend Paris as a hero. Here, Marinette instead uses the butterfly brooch. Not only can she grant superpowers to others, but unlike Hawk Moth, she has a pair of functioning wings. It is implied that the wings are a reflection of Marinette as a hero. It is even implied that she still is destined to wield the ladybug earrings and that she will become the new ladybug later on, which comes to pass in the final chapter.
- In canon, Lila was turned into the villain Volpina by Hawk Moth, granting her the power to generate illusions and a fox motif. Here, she finds the ladybug earrings and, without any goading or corruption, uses them to commit crimes.
- Alternate Universe: In which the Ladybug Miraculous falls into enemy hands and the Butterfly Miraculous ends up with Marinette.
- Beethoven Was an Alien Spy: Hawkmoth taunts Mariposa with numerous stories from history of Black Cat holders turning on their Ladybugs, including Hercules' murder of Hippolyta, the capture of Joan of Arc, and Jack the Ripper.
- Early-Bird Cameo: Lila is introduced much earlier (chronologically) than in canon, arriving at Francois Dupont on the same day as Adrien. In addition, in the original draft, she was only introduced by name late in the story when she was revealed to be Harlequin.
- Fan Art: By Z.O.E.
- Forced into Evil: Being the kwami of the ladybug earrings, Tikki is forced to do what Harlequin says as long as she has her miraculous. Because she is mishandling her miraculous for evil purposes (not to mention her rude and condescending attitude), Tikki isn't going to make anything easy for her.
- Good Powers, Bad People:
- Lila finds the Ladybug earrings, magical artifacts with the power of good luck and creation made for making heroes, and uses them to become a super villain.
- It is mentioned that Hawk Moth, the previous owner of the butterfly brooch, betrayed his fellow wielders and misused his powers.
- Hero with Bad Publicity: Chat Noir at first, as people aren't sure whether he was trying to rob a jewellery store or if Harlequin just threw him into it. Even Alya outright calls him a supervillain after he accidentally scratches Marinette when she saves him from drowning, though it doesn't take much from Marinette to convince her otherwise later. By the end of Chapter 5, Chat and Mariposa both have support from the police.
- Hijacked by Ganon: The story builds up Lila using the Ladybug earrings to become the villain Harlequin, with Marinette as the Butterfly Miraculous wielder Mariposa opposing her. Then, in the last third of the story Hawkmoth makes a return and steals BOTH the earrings and the brooch, before Akumatizing Lila into the villain Jinx.
- I Have Many Names: Plagg and Duusu both mention going by other names with previous holders: Plagg's included Jinnx, Maao, Pakka and Quut, while Duusu used to go by Juuno, a Mythology Gag referencing imthepunchlord's stories from before Duusu's name was announced.
- Idiot Ball: When Adrien sees Lila wearing his ring, he approaches her and tells her that it looks like one he lost. He realises only too late that he may have just blown his identity to Harlequin.
- In Spite of a Nail:
- In this version of the scene where Marinette thinks that Adrien put chewing gum on her seat, Lila interferes by outright lying to Marinette that she saw him do it, and Nino isn't there to see what actually happened and convince him to tell her. However, Nathalie ends up filling this role for him, and the umbrella scene goes much the same as in canon.
- By the final chapter, the Butterfly Miraculous has been reclaimed by an adult male similar to the canon Hawkmoth, and Marinette is forced to stop him with the newly recovered Ladybug Miraculous.
- Meaningless Villain Victory: In chapter 7, Harlequin manages to steal the Black Cat Miraculous after it falls off Adrien's finger, but she fails to get Plagg, leaving the ring useless. Tikki takes pleasure in pointing this out to her.
- Plot Allergy: Subverted, in that Adrien is not allergic to Duusu the peacock kwami or his holder, unlike in a few other stories, including a couple by imthepunchlord.
- The Poorly Chosen One: Zigzagged. Marinette's selflessness and heroism is what drew Nooroo to choose her as the wielder of his miraculous. However, the Butterfly Miraculous is a Fragile Speedster at best, and thus is better at playing Support Party Member, avoiding direct confrontation and let the Champions do the fighting. However, Marinette needs to be in the midst of the battle, since she can't stand to do nothing while others fight. Nooroo notices that Marinette would be an excellent Ladybug, who's a Lightning Bruiser.
- Secret Legacy: It is revealed that Adrien's mother and father were miraculous wielders as well, being the ladybug and peacock respectively. This trope is apparently a recurring trend among miraculous users.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Manon steals Nooroo from Marinette's room after mistaking him for a toy, who then ends up in Chloe's hands, and is seen by Lila and recognised as a kwami. When Harlequin attacks Chloe's hotel room in search of him, Chat intervenes and ends up losing his Miraculous.
- Villainous Harlequin: Lila takes on the name "Harlequin" instead of the traditional name "Ladybug."
- Wham Episode: Chapter 7 ends with Adrien losing the Black Cat Miraculous (though not Plagg) to Harlequin, who is at this point confirmed to be Lila.
- Chapter 11: Marinette is attacked by a Hawk Moth (but not the canon Hawk Moth), who manages to reclaim the Butterfly Miraculous and Nooroo. But before he can kill her, Ariel Agreste intervenes.
