Fanfic / Smart Adversaries AU

Gorizilla tried to obey, but his hands were both occupied. He helplessly bumped his fists together.
"That was foolish of me," sent Hawk Moth. "Put Adrien down and then take Ladybug's Miraculous."

The Smart Adversaries AU series by RockSunner is a Miraculous Ladybug fanfiction series created by RockSunner on AO3. All stories are also posted on Fanfiction Dot Net (also under the name RockSunner).

Each story is a separate What If? branch from a canonical story, where an adversary makes a smarter decision.

The series is ongoing, with 53 entries so far, all complete.

Story Links

• Antibug Anticipates — What if Antibug had used the decoy cellphone to learn more about Ladybug?
• Backwarder Backtracks — What if Backwarder didn't get caught by Ladybug's trap?
• Befana Blasts — What if Befana had tried harder to transform Marinette at her birthday party?
• Bubble Your Troubles Away — What if The Bubbler went after Ladybug when she hijacked his party music?
• Butterflies Aren't Free — What if Hawk Moth was more subtle when he targeted Marinette with an akuma in the Zombizou episode?
• Charmer Chameleon — What if Chameleon did a better job of impersonating Adrien?
• Christmaster Crisis — What if Christmaster had made a different choice about his toy?
• Collected But Not Calm — What if the Collector captured the Foosball table before Ladybug could use it against him?
• Copycat Cops It — What if Copycat had not suggested Ladybug take Chat Noir's ring, and just took it himself?
• Cupidity — What if Dark Cupid shot Marinette instead of Alya?
• Darkblade And The Diary — What if Chloe tried harder to demonstrate her leadership skills during the Darkblade attack?
• Dark Owl Is Not Deceived — What if Dark Owl saw through the deception at the death trap?
• Despair Bear Scare — What if Despair Bear made a clever switch at the last moment in the fight between Ladybug and Chat Noir?
• Evillustrator Entangles — What if the Evillustrator was more thorough with the death trap he made for Marinette and Chat Noir?
• Fox Among The Pigeons — What if Volpina was more careful when she did the illusion of a crumbling building?
• Frightningale Fixates — What if Chloe took longer to find the perfect revenge against Clara Nightingale?
• Gamer Too — What if Gamer didn't fall for Ladybug's trick?
• Gigantitan Gulps — What if Hawk Moth was more clever in finding ways to control a giant baby?
• Gorizilla Grabs — What if Hawk Moth was more effective in directing Gorizilla when he had Adrien and Ladybug grabbed?
• Horrid Horrificator — What if Horrificator attacked sooner, when Marinette and Alya were in the bathroom?
• Kung Food Processing — What if Kung Food thought like a regular chef when he was preparing his soup?
• Lightning Strikes Twice — What if we knew how Ladybug and Chat Noir defeated Stormy Weather the second time? And what else could happen in an AU?
• The Malevolence Of Malediktator — What if Malediktator was more assertive about getting Chat Noir's ring?
• Mayura Mayhem — What if Volpina did a better job of concealing Scarlet Moth during the confrontation at the Eiffel Tower?
• Mime Time — What if the Mime wasn't fooled into attacking the Eiffel Tower?
• No Bars — What if Lady Wifi had tried to take Ladybug's earrings when she had her hands locked?
• Oblivio Is Not Oblivious — What if Oblivio didn't fall for the trick on the stairs?
• Ominous Onichan — What if Lila took a picture of Marinette among the trash cans and sent it to everyone?
• On Reflection — What if Hawk Moth didn't waste Mayura's powers on creating an ally for Reflekta?
• Party Crusher — What if Party Crasher captured Master Fu before he gave out any more Miraculous?
• Pharoah's Princess — What if the Pharaoh had grabbed back his amulet before flying after the toy earrings?
• Pixelator Picks — What if Pixelator didn't take Ladybug's deal?
• Power To The Pigeons — What if Mr. Pigeon was more ruthless when he had the heroes caged?
• Prime Queen Time — What if Prime Queen didn't take the bait when the TV screen was blocked?
• The Princess And The Peek — What if Hawk Moth had used his chance to learn something when Chat Noir was under the control of Princess Fragrance?
• The Puppeteer Is Prompt — What if the Puppeteer acted faster when she had Ladybug's doll?
• Puppeteer Too — What if Hawk Moth gave The Puppeteer powers that were as strong as the first time?
• Reflekta Is Reflective — What if Hawk Moth warned Reflekta not to transform Chat Noir before getting his Miraculous?
• Reverser Retargets — What if Reverser didn't let himself be distracted by Officer Roger in the park?
• Riposte Lets Rip — What if Riposte didn't let herself be persuaded to delay her revenge against Adrien?
• Robustus Triumphant — What if Robustus got his wish?
• Roger Over and Out — What if Officer Roger saw Ladybug put Chloe's bracelet back in her purse?
• Rushed Rocketear (on AO3) — What if Shadow Moth akumatized Nino sooner over his jealousy of Chat Noir?
• Sapotis Are Suspicious — What if all of the Sapotis didn't fall for the illusion of an amusement park?
• Sentibubbler Super Bowl — What if Shadow Moth saw through Alya's bathroom ruse?
• Silence Please — What if Silencer saw through Ladybug's trick and didn't say what she wanted him to say?
• Simon Slays — What if Simon Says played a different card when he first hypnotized Gabriel Agreste?
• Stilled By Style Queen — What if Style Queen suspected Chloé's loyalty and "fired" her sooner?
• Syren Sinks — What if Syren made better use of her underwater advantage when Ladybug came after her alone?
• Time After Timetagger — What if Timetagger didn't let Ladybug write a note?
• Time Pair Doxxed — What if Hawk Moth spoke to the Timebreaker from the future before creating another one?
• Troublemaker Is On Task — What if Troublemaker grabbed both earrings from Ladybug when she first had the chance?
• The Turning Of A Page — What if Adrien found the Peacock Miraculous? (Adrien is an Anti-Hero here.)
• Weird Dad — What if the former Gigantitan remembered that he wanted his pacifier?

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Examples:

General Tropes

• Alliterative Title: Most of the stories have two words that start with the same letter as the title (for example, Befana Blasts).
• Bittersweet Ending: Most of the endings result in Ladybug and Chat Noir unmasked and intent on returning their Miraculous to Master Fu, but Hawk Moth and his accomplices are usually exposed and arrested.
• Cassandra Truth: Oddly inverted; whenever someone exposes Hawk Moth's identity, they are usually instantly believed despite having no concrete evidence.
• Darker and Edgier: Things can get much worse for the heroes than in the regular series.
• Decomposite Character: The wielder of the Peacock Miraculous. In canon, Nathalie uses it under the name Mayura. In this series, Emilie used it for several years prior to the events of the cartoon and typically retakes the mantle under the name Le Paon (the name used for the character during development), while the canon wielder takes up the mantle as Mayura during Riposte Lets Rip and Lila Rossi does the same in Mayura Mayhem. In Roger Over And Out, Marinette becomes Mayura for a short time.
• Entertainingly Wrong: A couple of times, Gabriel comes back under suspicion for being Hawk Moth, and the question is raised of how he could have akumatized himself into the Collector. The usual deduction is that he had an accomplice do it for him; a perfectly sound conclusion based on the evidence available, but Gabriel actually temporarily renounced the Butterfly Miraculous to pull it off.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Hawk Moth and Emilie initially intend to force both Ladybug and Chat Noir to take Emilie's vampire curse, but relent whenever they learn that Chat is their son Adrien.
• Fictional Province: These stories attempt to describe locations consistently, more so than in the TV series. The fictional 21st arrondissement, where Marinette lives, seems to have been taken from a part of the 16th (near the Seine and the Eiffel Tower). The Place des Vosges has been reduced in size and relocated from the line between the 3rd and 4th to across from Marinette's home, as seen in the show. The Agreste Mansion is a block or two away from the school, as seen in an aerial view in "The Bubbler".^note The buildings are wildly out-of-scale relative to each other, with the school looking bigger than the Place des Vosges and the homes around it. In one story, the short travel time of butterflies is used to pin down the location of Hawk Moth's lair.
• Fix Fic: The premise is allowing the villains to rectify their errors against the heroes, from the understandable mishaps (ex. Volpina not having her illusion disrupted by a stray pigeon) to the incomprehensibly stupid blunders (ex. Lady Wi-Fi just removing the Miraculous instead of waiting for it to time out).
• Irony: The main focus of the series is having Hawk Moth and his villains act smarter, yet only 9 out of the 53 completed stories end with him coming out ahead in the long run^note Puppeteer ends with Marinette retiring as Ladybug to be replaced with someone with less experience, Copycat and Pixelator end with Ladybug and Chat Noir's relationship being severely damaged, Prime Queen ends with Ladybug's identity exposed, Simon Says ends with Chat Noir pulling a Face–Heel Turn, The Turning of a Page ends with Gabriel's stint as Hawk Moth being undone and his wife being returned to him, Reverser ends with Ladybug becoming a public pariah, Kung Food ends with both Ladybug and Chat Noir retiring to be replaced with someone with less experience, and Dark Cupid ends with him learning that Ladybug has feelings for Adrien. while 15 have him break even^note Mime, Pharaoh, Evillustrator, Mr. Pidgeon, Darkblade, Gigantitan, Despair Bear, Troublemaker, Sapotis, Weredad, Christmaster, Silencer, Timetagger, Horrificator, and Puppeteer 2; 14 stories end with him in the slammer or otherwise in the heroes' custody^note Lady Wi-fi, Zombizou, Gorizilla, Reflekta, Befana, Syren, Frightningale, Bubbler, Malediktator, Chameleon, Antibug, Collector, Roger Cop, and Sentibubbler, 1 ends with him losing the advantage of knowing the identity of the temporary holders^note Rocketear, 2 end with him dead^note Robustus and Gamer 2.0, 3 end with his identity exposed to the heroes^note Dark Owl, Backwarder, and Party Crasher, 1 ends with his identity exposed to someone who is known to the heroes^note Mayura 1 ends with him on the run^note Volpina, 1 ends with him neutered for the time being^note Princess Fragrance, 2 end with him comatose^note Riposte and Reflekdoll, 1 ends with the whole world turned against him ^note Stormy Weather 2, 1 ends with both the Ladybug and Cat Miraculous getting lost ^note Oblivio, 1 ends with him on the run and having lost his Butterfly Miraculous in exchange for one of Ladybug's earrings^note Onichan, and Time Pair Doxxed ends with three different versions of him getting screwed in various ways^note Three timelines are created as a result of the fic; the first has Chat Noir and his Miraculous erased and Ladybug gone, leaving Hawk Moth with a big fat nothing, the second has him get an alternate timeline copy of the Ladybug Miraculous, but his identity is exposed to Ladybug and Chat Noir, and the third has Ladybug and her Miraculous erased and Chat Noir aware of Hawk Moth's identity, meaning he's already lost.
• Karma Houdini Warranty: If Adrien finds out about Marinette stealing and hacking his phone, their relationship is inevitably damaged, possibly permanently, because she has stalked him, stolen his things, and violated his privacy.
• Knight of Cerebus: Things get much worse whenever the vampire Emilie Agreste makes an appearance.
• Laser-Guided Amnesia: Usually played straight as in canon but with an exception. If Hawk Moth manually terminates an akuma connection (usually because either You Have Failed Me or You Have Outlived Your Usefulness), the akuma victim maintains full memories of what they did under his influence.
• Locked Out of the Loop: Adrien's bodyguard is not in on Gabriel being Hawk Moth.
• Luke, I Am Your Father: Any fic where Adrien finds out the masked villain Hawk Moth is his own father Gabriel has this trope.
• Luke, You Are My Father: Any fic where Gabriel finds out the masked hero Chat Noir is his own son Adrien has this trope.
• My Greatest Failure: Master Fu's mistake is indicated in this series to be accepting a gold bracelet in exchange for allowing an outsider to try on the Butterfly Miraculous. The outsider accidentally summoned an akuma and Total Party Killed the Guardians.
• Named by the Adaptation: Adrien's bodyguard is given the name Gustav.
• Older Than They Look: Emilie Agreste used the Peacock Miraculous to keep herself looking young and beautiful.
• Our Vampires Are Different: Emilie Agreste was transformed into a vampire as a punishment for attempting to use the Miraculous to become immortal. She is now incapable of moving in the sunlight without the protection of the Peacock Miraculous. Emilie and Gabriel now seek to transfer the curse to Ladybug and trap her in a coffin for all eternity.
• Plot Armor: Marinette and Adrien lose a level of protection and have to find a way to win when their opponents don't play the Idiot Ball.
• Power Source: The Bee Miraculous holder has two energy-related powers. "Honey" recharges a Miraculous user after they use their main power. "Sting" weakens the effects of hostile magic.
• Saying Too Much: Many of Chat Noir's identity reveals occur when he blurts out information about himself that could only apply to Adrien Agreste (ex. that Emilie and Gabriel Agreste are his parents).
• Sliding Scale of Continuity: Level 0. While each story shares a common mythology regarding Master Fu's mistake and (with one exception) what happened to Adrien's mother, they all branch out from different episodes in the canon timeline. (Some stories written later conform to newer canonical details, whether set in an older time like "Roger Over and Out" or newer, like "Sentibubbler Super Bowl" and "Rushed Rocketear").
• Stations of the Canon: Many canonical events remain the same or repeat with a twist.
• Summon to Hand: It is part of Ladybug's powers to summon the object she got as a Lucky Charm into her hand when she is ready for a Miraculous Ladybug charm unless she is too weak or injured.
• The Unmasking: Most often the identities of one or more heroes are exposed. Often Hawk Moth and accomplices are caught and exposed. Losing a secret identity is almost always a bad thing.
• You Monster!: Every single time Adrien/Chat Noir finds out his father is Hawk Moth, he says some variation of "Monster!" Every single time.

Antibug Anticipates

• Alternate Universe Fic: A What If? with the change that Antibug takes a little time to investigate the cellphone that Marinette left to decoy her away from Chat Noir, leading to Antibug and Hawk Moth discovering Ladybug's identity.
• Body Double: Marinette, in Chloe's costume, plays Ladybug in the hostage situation, allowing Chloe, using the real earrings, to launch a surprise attack on Hawk Moth.
• Cliffhanger: Chapter 1 ends with Marinette on the line with someone who has apparently kidnapped her parents.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Antibug refuses Hawk Moth's idea of threatening Marinette's parents in a Hostage for MacGuffin scenario because she wants to prove she can beat Ladybug in a fight. Hawk Moth takes his business elsewhere.
• Hostage for MacGuffin: Hawk Moth takes Ladybug's parents hostage to force her to surrender her Miraculous at the end of Chapter 1.
• The Unmasking: Ladybug's secret identity is revealed to Antibug/Chloé, Hawk Moth, and Chat Noir. In the end, Marinette's parents learn her and Chat Noir's secret identities, Hawk Moth and Chloe learn Chat Noir's secret identity, and Hawk Moth is publicly exposed and arrested.
• Unspoken Plan Guarantee: The reader isn't clued in on the heroes' plan to rescue Marinette's parents and bring down Hawk Moth until after the fact.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: Chloe has trouble reconciling the superhero she admires with the schoolmate she bullies, so the two declare themselves "frenemies" for the time being.
• Would Hurt a Child: Hawk Moth attempts to murder Chloé in cold blood in order to maintain the element of surprise against Ladybug's parents. Mercifully, Ladybug saves her.
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Antibug is almost killed by Hawk Moth by pulling her power in mid-swing, because she could reveal that Hawk Moth knows Ladybug's identity.

Backwarder Backtracks

• Alternate Universe Fic: A What If? with the change that Backwarder has a little more time to react, and doesn't fall into Ladybug's trap. Backwarder rewinds the world back in time to the 1940s when the Nazis occupied Paris.
• A Wizard Did It: The anachronistic Simplified Chinese symbol on the brooch Master Fu gave Marianne is explained. He used the power of Foresight from the Rooster kwami to see the new Chinese ideogram for 'love'.
• Bittersweet Ending: Marinette and Adrien have enough clues to determine Hawk Moth's identity, but they are no longer Ladybug and Chat Noir. Adrien will tip off the new heroes in London: Lady Bug and Rumpus Cat. Marinette and Adrien are unlikely to get back together because they live in different cities. Marinette is dating Nino and Adrien may end up with Kagami.
• Enemy Mine: The heroes and Backwarder team up to fend off the Nazis pursuing young Marianne and Fu.
• Evil vs. Evil: Backwarder picks a fight with some Nazis to allow her past self to escape with Fu.
• Fix Fic: There was a logical flaw in the original episode. They didn't account for the time Ladybug took to figure out how to say "Cataclysm" backwards. The extra four or five seconds give Backwarder enough time to escape the trap.
• For Want Of A Nail: Since Master Fu and Marianne went to England together, the Ladybug/Cat hero team is a new pair of people in London, Lady Bug and Rumpus Cat. Since no akumas appeared in Paris, Nino was able to confess his feelings successfully to Marinette at the zoo, and Alya didn't have a chance with him.
• Heroic BSoD: Chat Noir has one for a moment after killing Hawk Moth with a Cataclysm.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Backwarder, in a Heel–Face Turn, sacrifices herself to stop Hawk Moth and let her past self get away with Fu.
• Hitler's Time Travel Exemption Act: Referenced in-universe by Ladybug when the heroes end up in Nazi-occupied Paris; Chat jokes that they could bump off Hitler if they had time, and Ladybug remarks that that never works.
• Long-Distance Relationship: Adrien and Marinette have this after the time shift, with him in London and her in Paris.
• My Future Self and Me: Marianne is convinced, after a bit of Future Me Scares Me, that she should take the advice of Backwarder and go with Fu.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Chat's reaction after murdering Hawk Moth in a blind rage. It shakes him so badly that when all is said and done, he decides he is no longer worthy of wielding the Cat Miraculous.
• Next Tier Power-Up: What happens when all the cracks in Backwarder's clock mask are fixed — she gains the power to turn back time for the world.
• No Place for Me There: Backwarder declares she has no place in the future she has created and commits suicide by impaling herself on Hawk Moth's sword.
• Race Against the Clock: In the past with only a few minutes before they time out, the heroes are worried that they will cease to exist when the magic of the Miraculous no longer protects them. They must defeat the villain before time runs out.
• Ripple-Effect-Proof Memory: Adrien and Marinette are able to remember both timelines. They assume that Hawk Moth does as well.
• Set Right What Once Went Wrong: Backwarder says she will "undo the biggest mistake" of her life. She successfully persuades her past self to go with Fu.
• Shout-Out: Rumpus Cat is one to Cats.
• The Unmasking: Chat Noir sees the face of Marinette when she transforms back, but she instantly vanishes from existence when her Miraculous power is no longer protecting her. In the new timeline, Adrien reveals he was Chat Noir. Together they work out Hawk Moth's identity and Adrien plans to expose him to the new hero team.
• Unstoppable Rage: When Backwarder kills herself, Chat Noir becomes so angry that he Cataclysms Hawk Moth on the spot.

Befana Blasts

• Alternate Universe Fic: A What If? with the change that Befana shoots Marinette at her birthday party instead of toying with her, turning her to coal.
• An Arm and a Leg: The loss of Marinette's right arm is the result of an imperfect healing after she is transformed to coal.
• Bad Boss: Befana finds herself turned back to Gina Dupain for ruining Ladybug's Miraculous.
• Bittersweet Ending: Hawk Moth is captured, but Adrien is effectively an orphan and Marinette is short one arm. In addition, anyone who has read the other works in the Smart Adversaries AU and knows the common mythology behind the series realizes that Emilie Agreste a.k.a. Le Paon is still on the loose.
• Bruce Wayne Held Hostage: Endangering or transforming civilians is always a ploy by Hawk Moth to draw out Ladybug and Chat Noir. This time, the chosen target of his villain is the civilian identity of Ladybug, Marinette.
• Interrupted Suicide: Hawk Moth attempts suicide by overdosing on sleeping pills after thinking he accidentally destroyed the Ladybug Miraculous. He is rescued by Nathalie and arrested afterwards.
• The Jinx: Master Fu is worried that the whole world will be in for bad luck since Tikki has no anchor to the world, but Plagg still does. He warns the team about bad luck around Chat Noir.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Gina has a horrific one when she learns that she brainwashed her daughter-in-law and may have killed her son and granddaughter under Hawk Moth's thrall.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Nathaniel, as Renard Rouge, shows Hawk Moth that he put the Ladybug Miraculous out of his own reach by getting Marinette turned to coal.
• Oh, Crap!: Hawk Moth is so devastated by the loss of Ladybug's Miraculuous (turned to coal along with Marinette) that he attempts suicide.
• Sufficiently Analyzed Magic: Max's approach to helping Master Fu with grimoire formulas. He incorrectly invokes Clarke's Third Law when doing so.
• Suicide by Pills: Hawk Moth attempts suicide by overdosing on sleeping pills after thinking he accidentally destroyed the Ladybug Miraculous. He is rescued by Nathalie and arrested afterwards.
• Super Team: In the absence of Ladybug, Master Fu activates Nathaniel as the Fox hero, Juleka as the Bee hero, and Nino as the Turtle hero to help Chat Noir. A second string (Alix as the Horse hero, Max as the Tiger hero, and Ivan as the Ox hero) were interviewed but not activated for this crisis.
• The Unmasking: Ladybug loses her secret identity to all of her friends. She retires after also losing her right arm when she is brought back to life.

Bubble Your Troubles Away

• Alternate Universe Fic: A What If? with the change that Bubbler goes after Ladybug when she inteferes with his music for Adrien's birthday party.
• Bittersweet Ending: Marinette is able to give Adrien the birthday scarf and get credit for it, and their relationship blooms. Unfortunately, her secret identity has been widely exposed.
• Heel–Face Turn: Bubbler turns against Hawk Moth when he finds out he is really Gabriel Agreste, the "worst parent of all" who caused him to be akumatized.
• Karma Houdini: Averted. Ladybug doesn't get away with abusing her power to change the dance music for selfish reasons. It leads to a very fast time-out, and getting caught by Bubbler.
• The Unmasking: Ladybug's secret identity is exposed to her whole class (including Adrien) and to Chat Noir. Hawk Moth's secret identity is exposed to Chat Noir and to The Bubbler, leading to his capture.

Butterflies Aren't Free

• Alternate Universe Fic: A What If? with the change that Hawk Moth is more careful with his akuma and succeeds in turning Marinette into Zombizou.
• Cassandra Truth: Nobody except Marinette believes Chloe's role in stopping Zombizou.
• Hero with Bad Publicity: Nobody takes Chloe's claim to be a hero seriously because of her past.
• Secret-Keeper: Chloe walks off with knowledge of Marinette's secret identity.
• Swapped Roles: Marinette is the villain and the original Zombizou (Caline Bustier) acts heroically. Chloe also gets a chance to redeem herself as Queen Bee.
• The Unmasking:
  • Ladybug nearly loses her secret identity, except that a clever use of Lucky Charm throws people off track again.
  • Hawk Moth is exposed when the newly restored Ladybug's Lucky Charm creates a cell phone with his instructions to Zombizou on where to bring the Miraculouses and is arrested for terrorism.

Charmer Chameleon

• Adaptational Karma: Lila's lies are exposed to the class, and she is expelled and sent to reform school.
• Alternate Universe Fic: A What If? with the change that Chameleon doesn't super-leap while impersonating Adrien, so Ladybug doesn't suspect a kiss from the fake Adrien.
• Badass Normal: Alya and Nino take on a dangerous and embarrassing mission to help Marinette bring down Chameleon.
• The Bait: Marinette offers herself as bait by pretending to be fooled by Chameleon's Chat Noir form.
• Crazy Enough to Work: When Marinette reveals her plan to have a naked Alya and Nino jump Chameleon and turn her akuma into something easy to break, Nino outright asks "Are you insane?"
• Fix Fic: The exposure of Ladybug's identity allows Marinette to prove to her friends that Ladybug isn't close to Lila.
• Full-Frontal Assault: Alya and Nino attack Chameleon wearing nothing but their birthday suits and a string necklace. Alya manages to kiss Chameleon, forcing her to drop Ladybug and Chat Noir's Miraculous.
• Laser-Guided Karma: Lila's public near-victory against Ladybug and Chat Noir leads her mother to call the school and question why they aren't "still closed" because of akuma attacks and Lila gets expelled.
• Near-Villain Victory: Chameleon actually gets both Miraculous and is en route to Hawk Moth to deliver him ultimate victory. Marinette is forced to come up with a way to stop her with nothing but the junk in her purse and two preteens.
• Revenge Before Reason: Marinette's trap works with her as bait because Chameleon wants revenge before delivering the Miraculous to Hawk Moth.
• Technically Naked Shapeshifter: Played with. By forcing Chameleon to copy a naked person, the akumatized object is forced to become something easy to break — a loop of thread around the person's neck.
• The Unmasking: Marinette's identity as Lady is revealed to Hawk Moth and the school after her earrings are stolen. Adrien is also robbed of his ring in public. Hawk Moth is also caught.
• Unspoken Plan Guarantee: Of the "plan not revealed to the reader until it is put into action" variety.

Christmaster Crisis

• Alternate Universe Fic: A What If? with the change that Hawk Moth persuades Christmaster to keep fighting and not surrender the snow globe, with the result that Ladybug is badly injured by the Ultimate Destructor.
• A Wizard Did It: Ladybug's extra-long time before timing out after using her Lucky Charm is explained as time-stretching magic by Santa Claus (who normally uses it to help himself deliver presents in a single night).
• Badass in Distress: Ladybug is badly injured and requires help from Chat Noir and Santa Claus to finish saving the day.
• Love Confession: Marinette admits the box of presents is for Adrien, to Chat Noir. This breaks through the false impression of her Blatant Lies when she said she wasn't interested in him in that way.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Adrien understands why Ladybug said this when she was able to recite what Santa Claus said word for word about the rules of Christmas. It shocks him and causes a Broken Pedestal moment about Ladybug.
• Never Trust a Title: Christmaster is the titular villain, but he gets taken out in the first chapter out of 3. The rest are dedicated to Chat Noir figuring out Ladybug's identity.
• Summon to Hand: Ladybug can normally summon her Lucky Charm object right before she does the Miraculous Ladybug cure. This time she is too weak from her injuries. Fortunately, Santa Claus has her letter in his pack and he can give it to her directly.
• The Unmasking: Adrien pieces together enough clues to solve the secret identity of Ladybug. Chat Noir also reveals his own identity to her.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Downplayed. Chat Noir expects Ladybug to be remorseful for "killing Santa Claus," but she is Easily Forgiven after they talk it out and take time to mourn for him.
• Willing Suspension of Disbelief: Chat Noir was willing to believe in Santa Claus, but the logic collapses for him when he finds out that this Santa Claus thinks that Marinette is one of his elves.

Collected But Not Calm

• Adaptation Name Change: Previous fics in the series call Ladybug Adrien "Manbug", while the canon name for him is "Mister Bug". This fic gives him the name "Lad Bug".
• Alternate Universe Fic: A What If? with the change that the Collector notices that Ladybug is starting to use her Lucky Charm to make a trap for him and he collects the Foosball table before she can use it. The result is that both Ladybug and Chat Noir get collected into the Book.
• And I Must Scream:
  • Ladybug and Chat Noir face the possibility of being trapped in the Book forever, while still alive and conscious.
  • Emilie Agreste also has an evil plan for Marinette, leaving her dream form Bound and Gagged in Emilie's comatose body so that Emilie can take over Marinette's youthful one.
  • Emilie ends up in a worse mental state, more completely trapped and cut off from her senses. This is the state in which she tried to leave Marinette.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Emilie Agreste is much less sweet and kind than the impression Adrien had of her.
• Bittersweet Ending: Hawk Moth is captured, Emilie gets consequences for her evil, but Adrien is left without parents and Marinette will suffer ongoing physical problems from the backlash of the damaged Peacock Miraculous.
• Calling the Old Man Out: Adrien confronts Gabriel with accusations, some true and some not.
• Continuity Nod: The address of the Agreste Mansion, 1841 Rue Morgue (which is a Shout-Out to Edgar Allan Poe), was first invented for this series in Butterflies Aren't Free.
• Didn't Think This Through: Gabriel did not consider how much being an akuma victim would change his thinking.
• Driven to Suicide: Once Chat Noir realizes using his Cataclysm within the Book would kill them both, he suggests it as a Suicide Pact of last resort rather than being stuck forever.
• Genre Savvy: The Collector has witnessed dozens of akuma battles as Hawk Moth. He is hyper-aware of the danger of letting Ladybug use her Lucky Charm.
• Grand Theft Me: Emilie Agreste's intention with Marinette, youth upgrade style.
• Heel–Face Turn: Nathalie turns against Gabriel after nearly being caught in the Book forever. She also wants to protect Adrien from being the one who wishes his mother's curse on someone else.
• Hero with Bad Publicity: As Adrien expected, his reputation with the class suffers when they find out his father is Hawk Moth. Marinette comes to his defense.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Chat Noir destroys the cover of the Book with himself on it, in order to release the akuma butterfly and let Ladybug do a World-Healing Wave which will restore everything to normal and bring him back to life.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: By using the Peacock Miraculous selfishly again, Emilie receives an incapacitating backlash. In the end, she suffers the same fate she intended for Marinette.
• Imposter Forgot One Detail: Emilie forgot how difficult it is to carry on a conversation when you don't have any of the memories of the person you are supposed to be, or even background knowledge that anyone would know if they hadn't missed a year.
• Logical Weakness: Sentimonsters (the creatures summoned by a Peacock Miraculous holder) are empowered by the emotions of another person. If that emotion is drastically changed, the creature is weakened.
• Mercy Kill: Suggested by Emilie, to Adrien, when Marinette is in her comatose body. Refused by Adrien and Marinette, when Emilie is back in her own body.
• Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal: Nathalie isn't pleased to be stuck in a book, potentially forever, and backstabs Hawk Moth.
• Monologuing: The ploy that Hawk Moth set up to put himself above suspicion instead exposes him when the Collector monologues in front of the heroes he has captured, unaware that they can hear him.
• Ontological Inertia: Erasing an image from the Book does not restore the object to the real world: it vanishes from existence.
• Parental Abandonment: Emilie's plan to hijack Marinette's body would necessitate abandoning her duties as Adrien's mother and leaving him to the tender care of the foster system and the court of public opinion.
• Pyrrhic Victory: The victory of the Collector in getting the images of Ladybug and Chat Noir into his Book comes at the cost of Gabriel losing his wish, the chance to save his wife, and his secret identity.
• Pulling the Thread: Once his suspicions are roused, Adrien asks more and more questions of the impostor Marinette until her lies are exposed. (Too bad he had already given her his Miraculous before he caught on.)
• The Quest: Marinette volunteers for the dangerous mission of getting Adrien's mother out of Dream Land with the help of the damaged Peacock Miraculous.
• Ridiculously Difficult Route: Ladybug and Chat Noir have to move page by page through the Book, as images, in order to escape.
• Shout-Out: The awkward two-dimensional maneuvering that Ladybug and Chat Noir have to do on the pages of the book reminds Ladybug of the book Flatland.
• Split Personality: The Collector's akumatized persona is at odds with Gabriel Agreste's plan. Collecting the heroes contradicts getting their Miraculous for a wish.
• Spot the Impostor: Adrien figures out that the mind of Marinette has been replaced with that of his mother.
• Ungrateful Bastard: Marinette takes up the busted Peacock Miraculous and embarks on a rescue mission to save Emilie purely for her and Adrien's sake. Emilie thanks her by trying to trap her in her comatose body so she can hijack Marinette's.
• The Unmasking: The Collector reveals that Gabriel is Hawk Moth to the heroes during a monologue, Chat Noir outs himself to his father and partner when he blurts out that Emilie is his mother, and Ladybug reveals herself to Adrien to offer him emotional support.

Copycat Cops It

• Alternate Universe Fic: A What If? with the change that Copycat takes the ring from Chat Noir himself rather than suggesting that Ladybug do it. (He realizes that setting up Dramatic Irony is pointless and that it would be safer to have the Miraculous under his own control).
• Bittersweet Ending: Copycat is defeated, and gives up of his own free will. Unfortunately, Adrien breaks up his friendship with Marinette and implies that he's doing the same for Ladybug and Chat.
• Didn't Think This Through:
  • Breaking into someone's locker, stealing their phone, and trying to hack into it because you were embarrassed about a phone call is a really great way to break up a friendship.
  • Related, Marinette attempting to salvage it when Adrien hears the message by suggesting that they use it for a jumping-off point for a real relationship is soundly rejected- it just makes her look worse.
• Heel–Face Turn: Copycat is persuaded to turn against Hawk Moth with the revelation that Ladybug is underage.
• Karma Houdini: Averted; Marinette does not get away with stealing Adrien's phone. It causes a severe friendship break-up and a Downer Ending.
• The Unmasking: Chat Noir's secret identity is revealed to Ladybug and Hawk Moth.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Adrien tells Marinette off for stalking him, stealing his phone, and breaking into it.
• A Wizard Did It: Copycat's trap to handcuff Chat Noir is explained with a superpower to make inanimate objects copy actions.

Cupidity

• Alternate Universe Fic: A What If? with the change that Dark Cupid targets Marinette instead of Alya when she is mailing her valentine, resulting in an Adrien-hating Ladybug.
• Antagonistic Offspring: Marinette hates her parents because of Dark Cupid and she wants to raise enough money through crime to live on her own.
• Anti-Hero: Ladybug under the influence of Dark Cupid has not-nice ideas about how to stop Hawk Moth. She thinks if she kidnaps Dark Cupid and holds him prisoner, Hawk Moth will be blocked from creating more akumas. Fortunately for Kim, Hawk Moth just pulls his power.
• The Bad Guy Wins: Hawk Moth can find out that Ladybug has feelings for Adrien, a strong clue to her identity and a source of leverage against her.
• Call-Back: The voicemail message for Gabriel Agreste from "Oblivio" is used.
• Disability Immunity: Since Marinette was made loveless by Dark Cupid's arrow, he can't make Ladybug worse. His ranged weapon is useless against her.
• Enemy Mine: Averted. Dark Cupid doesn't find a way to offer to help Ladybug. Her worst enemy is her former love, Adrien, not Chat Noir.
• Face–Heel Turn: Ladybug under the influence of Dark Cupid turns to crime, holding Adrien for ransom.
• Fix Fic: In real life, an unstamped valentine with no address would not go through the mail. This fic explains how it could have reached Adrien anyway by getting stuck to another letter (except that Ladybug destroys it).
• Guile Hero: Adrien, without powers and tied up, manages to convince Ladybug :to kiss him and break the spell on her.
• It's Not You, It's My Enemies: Why Ladybug says she and Adrien can't date, after he figures out that she loves him.
• Know When to Fold 'Em: When Ladybug threatens to hold Dark Cupid hostage so Hawk Moth can't create any more akumas, Hawk Moth promptly yanks the akuma and concedes the round to Ladybug.
• Love Letter Lunacy: Everything possible is wrong with Marinette's valentine: no signature, no envelope, no stamp, no address, no return address. Since she converted to hating Adrien, she didn't want him to get it anyway.
• Reverse Psychology: Adrien gets Ladybug to kiss him by telling her it will make him miserable when True Love's Kiss fails. It works and restores her to normal.
• Stations of the Canon: Some events of the original repeat with a twist. Alya still sticks candy apples on Marinette (in self defense). Ladybug still saves Chloé from an arrow shot by Dark Cupid (because Ladybug attacked the gold-framed portrait of Adrien).
• Swapped Roles: In the original, Chat Noir hated Ladybug. In this version, Ladybug hates Adrien.
• Title Drop: Ladybug makes a joke that she has to explain to Dark Cupid. "Cupidity means greed."
• The Unmasking: Ladybug learns Chat Noir's identity but forgets it when Dark Cupid's influence is removed. Adrien has to reveal it again to get his ring back from her.

Darkblade and the Diary

• Alternate Universe Fic: A What If? with the change that Chloe comes up with a plan to show her leadership during the Darkblade attack, and Sabrina figures out a way to use Darkblade to break into Marinette's diary box in order to get pictures of diary pages.
• Bittersweet Ending: Darkblade is stopped, Sabrina is starting to turn on Chloe, and Marinette is elected class president. However, Adrien found out about the phone, and that apparently Marinette has stalked him enough to have copies of his schedule, so he ends their friendship, meaning things are going to be interesting if Ladybug and Chat unmask to one another.
• Heel–Face Turn: Sabrina turns to support Marinette in the class election out of guilt for the diary trick.
• Guile Hero: (Anti-Hero in this case). Sabrina tricks and distracts Darkblade for her own sinister purposes. She is thanked by Ladybug for being helpful.
• Karma Houdini:
  • Averted; Marinette does not get away with stealing Adrien's phone, as revealed in the diary. It causes a severe friendship break-up and a Downer Ending. It's still somewhat played straight, as Adrien chooses not to press charges (as he would be allowed to do for theft of property) or file for a restraining order (which he would also be allowed to do (or have his father apply for one)).
  • While Chloe succeeds in her actions, she isn't punished for taking advantage of the Akuma attack to further her own ends. At best, she loses the class presidency but she's split up Marinette and Adrien in such a way as to burn the bridges between the two.
• Stalking is Love: Played realistically, as Adrien finds it very disturbing when he finds out that Marinette has followed him enough to have copies of his schedule.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Adrien tells Marinette off for stalking him, stealing his phone, and breaking into it.

Dark Owl is Not Deceived

• Alternate Universe Fic: A What If? with the change that Dark Owl is not fooled by the fake Miraculouses that Marinette made of salt dough.
• Death Trap: Dark Owl turns the flow of whipped cream back on when he discovers he was tricked, rather than giving them a second chance.
• Drowning Pit: Filled with melted whipped cream instead of water. Ladybug figures out a different way to escape when Dark Owl reactivates it.
• Human Ladder: Marinette gets on the shoulders of Adrien to buy her time to transform.
• Swapped Roles: Escaping the trap involves temporarily exchanging Miraculouses so that Marinette becomes "Chaton Noir" and Adrien becomes "Manbug".
• The Unmasking: Ladybug and Chat Noir learn each other's identities. They also expose Hawk Moth by following up on a clue: the drone that was going to deliver the Miraculouses to Hawk Moth was programmed with the coordinates of his lair.

Despair Bear Scare

• Alternate Universe Fic: A What If? with the change that Despair Bear made better use of his mind control powers, taking control of Ladybug and forcing her to touch Chat Noir's active Cataclysm hand, killing her.
• Back from the Dead: Chat Noir is able to bring back Ladybug by using her earrings and doing a Miraculous Ladybug cure. Jean the butler is also restored to life.
• Bittersweet Ending: Chat Noir has the horrific memory of seeing Ladybug die at his own hands. (Ladybug herself was controlled at the time and doesn't remember dying.) On the plus side, Adrien and Marinette have a closer relationship and Chloe is somewhat reformed.
• Killer Rabbit: Cute little Despair Bear proves himself to be absolutely deadly. Plagg is also more dangerous than he looks.
• Near-Villain Victory: Despair Bear kills Ladybug and would have taken over Adrien to deliver both Miraculous to Hawk Moth except that Plagg takes an active and violent role against him.
• Papa Wolf: Plagg breaks Jean's neck for the sake of Adrien and Marinette.
• The Unmasking: Ladybug's secret identity is exposed to Chat Noir and Chloe. Chloe also guesses Chat's identity.

Evillustrator Entangles

• Alternate Universe Fic: A What If? with the change that Evillustrator made a more complete Death Trap for Marinette and Chat Noir after she betrayed him, leaving them heavily bound on a sinking ship so that they have to learn each other's secret identities to escape.
• Bond Villain Stupidity: Evillustrator leaves after binding Marinette and Chat Noir. Justified because he wants to bring Chloe to the ship before he sinks it, and to watch them drown after that. He also listens to Hawk Moth and takes the opportunity to steal Chat Noir's ring.
• Bound and Gagged: This happens to both Marinette and Chat Noir. Since Evillustrator can add more bonds with the stroke of a pen he goes wild with it.
• Drowning Pit: Evillustrator's intended fate for Marinette, Chat Noir, and Chloe: getting them Trapped On A Sinking Boat.
• Not What It Looks Like: Ladybug detransforms when she gets home, which restores her bonds as Marinette. She has to call on her parents for help, causing them to think she is into BDSM.
• Transformation Sequence: Played with. Since Marinette is bound in civilian form, she can escape from it by switching to hero form. She doesn't realize that it will all come back when she detransforms.
• The Unmasking: Ladybug's identity is exposed to Chat Noir and her parents. Chat Noir's identity is exposed to Marinette.

Fox Among the Pigeons

• Alternate Universe Fic: A What If? with the change that Volpina is more careful with her illusion of a crumbling building and avoids getting it disrupted by a pigeon, so that Ladybug surrenders her Miraculous.
• Bad Boss: Volpina finds herself turned back to Lila and imprisoned by Hawk Moth just for daring to want to date Adrien.
• Heel–Face Turn: Lila sees the error of her ways and promises to change after her ordeal as Hawk Moth's prisoner.
• Laser-Guided Karma: Gabriel places the stolen Ladybug Miraculous in his safe just after Adrien returned the spellbook there so that Adrien sees him do it and can recover the earrings for Marinette.
• Mind over Matter: Swatch, a cloth-only telekinetic villain, is brought in by Hawk Moth after he rejects Volpina.
• The Unmasking: Ladybug loses her secret identity to Volpina and Hawk Moth, and has to admit it to Chat Noir.

Frightningale Fixates

• Alternate Universe Fic: A What If? with the change that Chloé Bougeouis takes longer to set up the perfect revenge against Clara Nightingale, so that Marinette and Adrien have to put on their costume masks.
• And I Must Scream: The fate of all Frightningale's victims, immobilized but conscious, encased in a nearly unbreakable pink plastic shell. Hawk Moth plans to make it even worse for Marinette by transferring his wife's vampire curse onto her while she is immobilized.
• Clark Kenting: Averted when the masks are put on. Suddenly everyone realizes their secret identities.
• Dramatic Irony: When Chat Noir thinks the Agreste Mansion is a safe place to try to free Ladybug.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: Gabriel and Nathalie are both arrested, and in a departure from the usual endings in the Smart Adversaries AU, Marinette and Adrien decide to remain Ladybug and Chat Noir even after being publicly unmasked.
• Formula-Breaking Episode: Most Smart Adversaries fics have the nail be an action the villain takes. This one has the nail be Chloé taking longer to set up her revenge against Clara Nightingale before Frightningale is akumatized.
• Locked Out of the Loop: Adrien's bodyguard is unaware of Gabriel's criminal dealings.
• Lured into a Trap: Gabriel Agreste in pretended support for the heroes invites Marinette and her family to the Mansion. He has prepared another attack by Frightningale.
• Only the Chosen May Wield: Nathalie is unable to invoke the power of the Ladybug Miraculous without knowing Tikki's name because she is not the proper wielder.
• The Unmasking: In this case, it is masking while in normal identities that exposes their secret identities.

Gamer Too

• Alternate Universe Fic: A What If? with the change that Gamer 2.0 is suspicious of the illusionary Ladybug because the physics of the fall didn't look right to him. He throws a Reverser airplane to dispel the illusion, and then one at the real Ladybug when she attacks from behind. A poorly-worded reversion causes her to become evil.
• The Bad Guy Wins: Marinette bargains for the power of Animaestro, then uses it to destroy Hawk Moth and take over the world.
• Crack Defeat: Dark Animaestro Ladybug is eventually defeated by aliens who trap her in a sphere where she can’t be seen. Everyone welcomes their new overlords.
• Downer Ending: Even the ultimate defeat of Evil Ladybug is less than happy because it comes at the hands of alien invaders.
• Dramatic Irony: Dark Ladybug says she will also take Adrien as a consort if she can find him, unaware that this can never happen.
• Exact Words: Gamer told Ladybug to “change sides”. Didn’t really work out so hot for the people of Earth.
• For the Evulz: Ladybug's motivation after being reversed seems to be this.
• Game-Breaker: Brought up in-universe. Animaestro was left off the playable roster for Gamer's tournament because his abilities are simply too powerful and his one weakness is negated by the fact that the tournament is being publicly broadcast.
• I Have You Now, My Pretty: Max is forced to become the consort of the new ruler of the world, Dark Animaestro Ladybug.
• I Lied: Dark Ladybug offers to give Hawk Moth the miraculouses in exchange for Animaestro's powers. When Gamer complies, she naturally goes back on her word.

Gigantitan Gulps

• Alternate Universe Fic: A What If? with the change that Hawk Moth finds better ways to influence a giant baby.
• Carpe Diem: Marinette is shaken by her near-death experience and accepts a car ride home from Adrien.
• Psychic Link: Hawk Moth finds ways to transmit pain and other sensations to Gigantitan.
• Swallowed Whole: This almost happens to Ladybug.

Gorizilla Grabs

• Alternate Universe Fic: A What If? with the change that Hawk Moth gives Gorizilla better instructions when he has Adrien and Labybug captured. He realizes Gorizilla's scenting power could be used to check if Adrien was Chat Noir. He tells Gorizilla to let Adrien go early, and the fall from the building doesn't happen.
• Back from the Dead: Adrien's bodyguard is revived by the healing charm after being killed by Chat Noir. (He is in a shocked state afterwards.)
• Bad Boss: Gabriel Agreste deliberately exposes his employee to danger by getting him to hurt Marinette in front of Chat Noir.
• Calling the Old Man Out: Adrien is especially bitter in rejecting his father because Hawk Moth got him to kill Gorizilla.
• Heel–Face Turn: Nathalie and (to a lesser extent) the bodyguard turn on Hawk Moth and refuse to carry out his orders to lock up Adrien.
• Heroic BSoD: Chat Noir is horrified after using Cataclysm on Gorizilla and killing him after Gorizilla brutally crushed Marinette. He resigns from being a superhero, intending to give his Miraculous back.
• Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal: Played with. Nathalie turns against Hawk Moth because he deliberately got the bodyguard killed, making her fear him more than prison.
• The Unmasking: Ladybug and Chat Noir's identities are exposed to each other and to Hawk Moth. Hawk Moth is also exposed and captured when his accomplices turn on him.

Horrid Horrificator

• Alternate Universe Fic: A What If? with the change that Hawk Moth encourages Horrificator to start her attacks while Marinette and Alya are still in the bathroom, with the result that both are glued into a stall by the monster.
• Bound and Gagged: In order to protect her secret identity, Marinette leaves Alya not only still stuck in the goo but also blindfolded and with her ears plugged by extra goo transferred by Tikki.
• Bruce Wayne Held Hostage: Marinette is stuck in the monster's goo trap in the same stall as Alya, and may have to expose her secret identity to Alya to come to the rescue of the others. This qualifies for the trope because all akuma attacks are meant to draw Ladybug out so that Hawk Moth can get her Miraculous.
• Claustrophobia: Alya's weakness, which is why being trapped in Horrificator's goo has a much greater effect on her than other dangers, like getting pushed into a portal in the sky by Pharaoh.
• Entertainingly Wrong: Alya thinks the goo on the mirror is due to vandalism, rather than seeing it as an indication that an akuma victim is near.
• Fix Fic: It is absurd in the original episode that Marinette says she didn't find Mylène in the bathroom when she never checked the stalls.
• Logical Weakness: Since the goo hardens when it dries, it is logical for it to soften when it is made wet.
• Nepotism: While the Mayor finds Horrificator as unconvincing as he did in canon, he allows the film into the festival because of Chloe being the star.
• On the Rebound: Alya becomes a rebound relationship for Marinette.

Kung Food Processing

• Alternate Universe Fic: A What If? with the change that Kung Food thinks more like a real chef when he is preparing his soup. This means not dropping Chloe in the soup whole.
• Back from the Dead: This happens to Chloe and Cheng Shifu when the Miraculous Ladybug cure is done.
• Bittersweet Ending: Marinette and Adrien learn each other's identities, and they will start dating after some recovery time. Chloe gets a severe shock and may be more careful around other people. The two heroes are demoralized and intend to quit.
• Comical Overreacting: Marinette is physically sick when she hears the name "Marinette Soup."
• Gory Discretion Shot: The violence happens before the story begins.
• Heroic BSoD: Ladybug is nearly incapacitated by nausea during the battle.
• I'm a Humanitarian: The grim intentions of Kung Food are carried out much further than in the original timeline.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Chat Noir kills Kung Food with his Cataclysm.
• The Unmasking: Ladybug and Chat Noir's identities are revealed to each other.

Lightning Strikes Twice

• Adaptational Jerkass: Played with. The story ends with Marinette fearing that the American superheroes will hunt her down and torture her for her knowledge about the Miraculous in order to make sure that their power never falls into evil hands again. However, the only evidence this will actually come to pass hinges on the idle speculation of her parents, who may be grossly underestimating their moral character.
• Alternate Universe Fic: A What If? with the change that Stormy Weather responds intelligently to a message that Ladybug sends her (which may have happened in the real episode — we don't know how Ladybug really won).
• Awakening the Sleeping Giant: When Hawk Moth nearly wipes out all of humanity, an international task force led by the American superhero team from the comics comes to Paris baying for his blood.
• Bittersweet Ending: The world has turned on Hawk Moth and will bring him down one way or another. Marinette's romantic dreams are crushed — she will have to go on the run or seek witness protection because of the fallout of the massive investigation to come.
• Canon Immigrant: Or about as "canon" as fanfiction can get, anyway. The story ends with the American superhero team, who were introduced in the Miraculous Adventures comics, coming to Paris for Hawk Moth's head.
• Deconstruction: What would really happen if a supervillain showed he had enough power to cause human extinction? The whole world turns on him and starts hunting him down.
• Evil Versus Oblivion: The two heroes speculate on why Hawk Moth isn't stopping Stormy Weather's global apocalypse. They decide it got too cold too fast, and he couldn't focus his power to remove hers.
• Formula-Breaking Episode: Most Smart Adversaries stories have the villain act smarter than they did in canon. This story instead expands on a canonical Noodle Incident, and the nail doesn't come in until after the dust settles.
• Fridge Logic: Brought up in-universe. If Aurore kills everyone on Earth, who will be around to tell her how powerful she is?
• Heel–Face Turn: Faced with the illogic of what she is doing, Stormy Weather gives up her akumatized object.
• Laser-Guided Karma: Chloé, who targets Aurore in hopes of seeing some superhero action, gets nothing but an icy tomb. Restored to life, she will most likely be captured and interrogated by one of the less scrupulous teams of investigators after knowledge about the Miraculouses, because of her public identity.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Displacing the whole Earth and freezing millions of people turns the whole world against Hawk Moth. His goals have become unreachable.
• Noodle Implement: Averted. This story shows how Ladybug and Chat Noir could have won using a marker and a copier.
• Shout-Out: To the Watchmen movie. The American President calls Hawk Moth's endangerment of the planet through Stormy Weather an "act of supreme evil."
• The Unmasking: Marinette realizes the heroes' secret identity won't stand up to an international investigation. She tells her parents the truth about herself.

The Malevolence of Malediktator

• Alternate Universe Fic: A What If? with the change that Malediktator gets the ring from Chat Noir after making him mentally into a cat.
• Bittersweet Ending: The city is saved and Hawk Moth is exposed but Adrien's father and main caretaker are arrested, Chloe and her family are leaving town, and so is Marinette (at least for a while). Marinette and Adrien will give up their superhero lives and have a chance to get to know each other as they really are.
• Cliffhanger: At the end of the first chapter, Marinette and Master Fu are alone against the whole city after Malediktator takes over. Marinette has only the Turtle Miraculous to work with after even Tikki is enslaved.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Hawk Moth is horrified when Adrien is revealed as the "cat" mind-control victim.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Hawk Moth falls victim to the control of Malediktator before he can revoke his power.
• Idiot Ball: Hawk Moth shows excessive concern for his son, and threatens Malediktator to turn him back to normal. This sets off the villain to make the entire city into his slaves.
• The Infiltration: Marinette can only get close enough to Malediktator to attack by acting like she has been enslaved like the rest of the city.
• Mass Hypnosis: This is what Malediktator achieves in Paris and it is potentially deadly as everyone just stands around waiting for orders.
• Power-Up: Marinette gets to try a power-up with Wayzz, as the flying heroine Spotted Turtle.
• The Unmasking: Adrien's identity as Chat Noir is revealed to Hawk Moth after his ring is removed. Ladybug, Chat Noir, and Hawk Moth are all revealed to the world in the end.

Mayura Mayhem

• Alternate Universe Fic: A What If? with the change that Volpina casts an extra illusion to help Hawk Moth ambush Ladybug and Chat Noir from behind, leading to Chat Noir getting akumatized.
• Arch-Enemy: In Chapter 5, Lila has a day in class with Marinette as in "Chameleon" but is much more dangerous because she can escalate with Mayura's powers.
• Bittersweet Ending: Lila inadvertently tips off her identity as Mayura, but Marinette is framed as a bullying attention seeker. Adrien will become closer to Marinette because he wants to help her, but Marinette has lost all of her other friends. Lila suffers from actual tinnitus and a sprained wrist due to her abuse of the Peacock Miraculous.
• Cassandra Truth: Duusu tries to warn Lila of the danger of using a damaged Miraculous, but she cuts him off by invoking the transformation.
• Cliffhanger: Chapter 1 ends with Chat Noir akumatized, Ladybug alone against the villains, and Volpina having a realization that Hawk Moth does not intend to include her in his future.
• Demoted to Dragon: In Chapter 4, Gabriel is forced to acknowledge that Lila has all of the cards in their relationship and consent to taking orders from her for the time being.
• Dragon with an Agenda:
  • Lila has different goals than Hawk Moth when she takes over as Mayura. Her fantasy is to "rule the world by his side," rather than his goal of getting his wife back.
  • After Gabriel is Demoted to Dragon, he becomes this; he intends to give Lila enough rope to hang herself, either by getting her hide handed to her by the heroes or by overusing the damaged Peacock Miraculous.
• Green-Eyed Monster: Volpina makes an impulsive attack on Catalyst out of jealousy. It saves the day for Ladybug.
• Hostage for MacGuffin: Lila does this using herself as the fake hostage of her own snake monster in an attempt to get Ladybug's Miraculous. It fails when Ladybug uses ice water to slow down the creature and rescue (drenched) Lila.
• I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Inverted. Volpina has a crush on Hawk Moth and is not happy to learn that his wish is to bring his wife back to life. Played straight for Catalyst.
• Laser-Guided Amnesia: Volpina loses her memory like a typical akuma victim, even though it happened in an unusual way. Because of this, Lila plays the rescue role as Mayura just as Nathalie did in the original, even though Volpina was responsible for getting Hawk Moth nearly defeated in the first place.
• Laser-Guided Karma: Lila summons a lamia as a fake akumatized Marinette and has it say that Lila's pretended disabilities of tinnitus and a sprained wrist are real. Thanks to the magic of the damaged Peacock Miraculous, it becomes true.
• Made Out to Be a Jerkass: Lila successfully makes Marinette look like a two-faced bitch by framing her for an akuma attack.
• The Masquerade Will Kill Your Dating Life: It will kill Marinette's friendship life in this case. She secures her secret identity at the cost of losing her reputation as a good friend.
• Ontological Inertia: The extra villains and the damage from their attacks count as "akuma damage" that is not undone by simply breaking Catalyst's akumatized object. A Miraculous Ladybug charm, however, does the trick.
• Significant Wardrobe Shift: This story explains why Volpina's costume was orange and white, not red like the others. It was a special akuma just for her that left her with more of a mind of her own. It turned out to be a mistake for Hawk Moth.
• Taking Up the Mantle: Lila gets to become Mayura, after defeating Nathalie.
• The Unmasking: Mayura's identity is exposed to Marinette when her attack fits too perfectly with Lila's goals. It is implied that Ladybug will force Lila to reveal what she knows about Hawk Moth, too.

Mime Time

• Alternate Universe Fic: A What If? with the change that The Mime is not fooled into attacking the Eiffel Tower. He goes after Ladybug, the source of the projection, instead.
• Badass in Distress: Ladybug is critically wounded by The Mime's telekinetic javelin and requires Chat Noir to save her.
• Swapped Roles: Chat Noir is forced to take the role of Ladybug ("Manbug") in order to save Marinette's life.
• The Unmasking: Ladybug loses her secret identity to Chat Noir, and Fred's troupe.

No Bars

• Alternate Universe Fic: A What If? with the change that Hawk Moth directs Lady Wifi to make the more sensible choice of trying to take Ladybug's earrings instead of forcing her to use a Lucky Charm.
• Awesomeness by Analysis: Marinette enlists the help of Max and his AI robot Markov to crack Hawk Moth's identity with time and distance clues after only five akuma attacks (Stoneheart, Bubbler, Lady Wifi, the Halloween special villain, and Santa Claws).
• Bittersweet Ending: Hawk Moth and Emilie go to jail, but Marinette and Adrien's identities are exposed and they both stand accused of being in cahoots with Hawk Moth in a scam to drive up his fashion business.
• Bond Villain Stupidity: Averted, since Hawk Moth makes a more sensible choice than in the original episode. Ironically it leads to his early defeat by scaring Marinette into more detailed analysis and planning.
• Calling the Old Man Out: Adrien has to confront his father and mother, both evil.
• Elopement: Marinette would like to do this with Adrien after her secret identity is spilled, leaving Chat Noir to hold the fort against Hawk Moth with both of their Miraculouses.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Hawk Moth and Emilie initially intend to force both Ladybug and Chat Noir to take Emilie's vampire curse, but relent when they learn that Chat is their son Adrien.
• Hero with Bad Publicity: Ladybug and Chat Noir find themselves with an undeserved bad reputation when all secret identities come out.
• Our Vampires Are Different: In this case, vampirism results from a curse after using a Miraculous selfishly. Hawk Moth wants to transfer the curse from his wife to the heroic duo.
• Secret Identity: The major theme. Many fanfictions treat the revelation of the secret identities between the two heroes as a pure good, ending the love square and advancing the main ship. Here there are many dangers and complications once identities start coming out, starting with the exposure of Ladybug's identity to Chat Noir.
• Superhero Paradox: It is a real thing in Ladybug's Paris because Hawk Moth created a series of villains to draw out Ladybug and Chat Noir. Once people find out the close connections between civilian identities like Chat Noir being Hawk Moth's son, and Ladybug being Chat's girlfriend, some make the leap to a Meta Origin for both heroes and villains, that they were all created by Hawk Moth for the publicity and profit of Gabriel Fashions.

Oblivio is Not Oblivious

• Alternate Universe Fic: A What If? with the change that Oblivio notices the movement of Tikki in the stairwell, and goes up the stairs instead of being decoyed down.
• Big Damn Kiss: Because the Miraculous cure could not be done, Marinette and Adrien remain in love to the end, and they kiss.
• Bittersweet Ending: Hawk Moth is thwarted because Tikki escapes with both Miraculous. Many people will suffer because of their loss of memory, but Marinette and Adrien will remain in love.
• MacGyvering: Marinette makes additional use of the tape she stuck to Adrien's phone to decoy Oblivio. She uses it to secure the Miraculous earrings and ring to Tikki so she can fly away with them without risking dropping them.
• Near-Villain Victory: Marinette and Adrien are cornered on a high rooftop, with no idea how to activate Ladybug's powers. Only sending the Miraculous away with Tikki prevents Hawk Moth from getting them.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: By causing Ladybug and Chat Noir to lose their memories and rushing them with an effective chase by Oblivio, Hawk Moth causes them to do something they wouldn't think of normally: to send Tikki flying away with the Miraculous jewels and make his plan virtually impossible.
• Shown Their Work: In real life, there isn't an elevator to the terrace roof of Montparnasse Tower. This fic installs one by order of Mayor Bourgeois.
• The Unmasking: Ladybug and Chat Noir's identities are revealed to Hawk Moth, Nino, and Alya. Ladybug and Chat Noir don't forget their own mutual reveal.
• Unspoken Plan Guarantee: The plan to send the Miraculous ring and earrings away with Tikki is not revealed until after the fact.
• Villain Protagonist: Most of the story is from the point of view of Oblivio.
• We Have Ways of Making You Talk: When Marinette and Adrien lie that they hid the Miraculous in the office where they were chased, Oblivio first threatens them with the memory gun to reveal the hiding place. When the couple points out that erasing their memories would defeat the purpose of the interrogation, the villains threaten Marinette with physical violence instead.
• You Have Failed Me: Downplayed. Hawk Moth says this to Oblivio, but just pulls their power in the desperate hope of akumatizing someone else to become a flying villain and go after Tikki.

Ominous Onichan

• Alternate Universe Fic: A What If? with the change that Lila takes a picture of Marinette among the trash cans, showing that she is stalking Adrien. As a result, Marinette becomes a target along with Lila for Onichan, and Marinette is also tagged with a horn.
• Bittersweet Ending: Ladybug's superhero identity is exposed and she loses one of her earrings. Hawk Moth loses his Miraculous, and he is exposed and on the run. Things do not look good for Marinette's prospects with Adrien. Marinette's stalking behavior has been outed by Lila's photo, and Adrien is upset with her. He has left for Japan to stay with Kagami and her family.
• Brick Joke: The fic ends with Juleka calling Marinette to ask where her bike is.
• Cheap Costume: Ladybug is forced to wear a firefighter's helmet in addition to her regular costume, in order to conceal the horn that Onichan placed on her.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Averted; Lila thinks the cheap shot against Marinette is worthwhile, so she takes the picture she didn't take in the original.
• Exact Words: Ladybug gets Onichan to tell her the exact words of Lila's promise about giving up Adrien if Onichan gets rid of Ladybug, and finds a loophole.
• Fix Fic: A plot hole in the original episode is patched because it was never explained why Onichan made the tracking call to the firefighter which got her swapped away. In this version, Ladybug tricks Onichan into getting riled up about Lila again, causing her to place the call by accident.
• Irony: Chat Noir asks Ladybug to tell him about Hawk Moth's identity later, not knowing how big an effect it will have on him once he knows.
• Laser-Guided Karma: Due to an interrupted Miraculous Ladybug cure, Lila is left with an incurable horn that will grow any time she lies again.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Hawk Moth spectacularly screws up when he yanks Onichan's akuma, giving Ladybug the opening she needs to trigger a Miraculous Ladybug.
• Pinocchio Nose: Because she's inflicted with Onichan's horn spell, Ladybug cannot lie as her horn grows with each lie she speaks, forcing her to come clean about her true identity with her father and her partner.
• Summon to Hand: The Lucky Charm can be summoned right before a Miraculous Ladybug cure. This is how Ladybug is able to unbind herself and catch Hawk Moth by surprise.
• That Came Out Wrong:
  Ladybug: Now to find that horny demon! No... that didn't come out right.
• The Unmasking: By going into action with a horn on her forehead, Ladybug is very much at risk of losing her secret identity. She ultimately is caught by Onichan and Hawk Moth, and reveals her identity to Chat and Tom shortly afterward. Hawk Moth is also exposed when Ladybug suddenly unbinds herself and is able to snatch his Miraculous. Chat Noir has exposed his identity to Marinette, but he has given the Cat Miraculous back to Master Fu.
• What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart, Anyway?: Marinette is surprised that the only superpower Onichan seems to have is giving people horns. Tikki warns her there is more to it than that.
• You Can't Make an Omelette...: Both Ladybug and Onichan involve a civilian in their battle. Ladybug lassos the civilian as she gets a swapping call from Onichan, but Onichan had anticipated that and placed the call from a high window ledge, forcing Ladybug to go to the civilian's rescue.
• You Have Failed Me: Hawk Moth pulls the power from Onichan when she is tricked away from getting the Miraculous and he comes to claim it in person. It's also a Villain Ball because he doesn't realize it will allow Ladybug to unbind herself and turn the tables on him.

On Reflection

• Alternate Universe Fic: A What If? with the change that Hawk Moth notices Nathalie isn't up to the task of creating a sentimonster for Reflekta, and decides to work without her. Consequently, Marinette discovers Chat Noir's identity and also Catalyst has the energy to enable a mass akumatization without collapsing.
• Be Careful What You Wish For: Chat Noir combines the power of the Ladybug and Cat Miraculous to get a wish. He wishes for Scarlet Moth to be gone. While this frees Marinette and the other akuma victims from Scarlet Moth, the open-ended wish allows a balancing consequence, and Emilie Agreste revives to become Madame Papillon.
• Big "NO!": Scarlet Moth's reaction when Chat Noir intercepts the delivery of the Ladybug Miraculous is to scream an anguished "NOOO!"
• Bittersweet Ending: Adrien and Marinette have to give up being Chat Noir and Ladybug, but they get together and they will start dating. Hawk Moth is gone, but he will be replaced by Emilie as Madame Papillon, who will be just as bad as he was if not worse.
• Call-Back: The use of an "Aero" power-up, giving winged flight, has not appeared in canon but was first used in this series in "The Malevolence Of Malediktator".
• Diabolus ex Machina: Tikki reveals that if either hero finds out each other's secret identity, both have to surrender their Miraculous completely out of left field. This is an unfortunate case of Real Life Writes the Plot since this plot point had only been introduced the day before the chapter was posted in the canon show.
• Dramatic Irony: Scarlet Moth is pleased when Princess Justice reveals that she knows Chat Noir's secret identity, thinking it will let him threaten Chat's loved ones. When it turns out to be Adrien and the most obvious loved one to threaten is his father, Scarlet Moth quickly backtracks.
• For Want Of A Nail: Marinette figuring out that Adrien is Chat Noir results in Marinette not being as interested in Luka during "Silencer", not bothering to pursue Lila during "Oni-Chan" (leading to Lila getting shanked), and immediately giving Luka the Snake Miraculous in "Desperada".
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Certain that he can control Adrien, Scarlet Moth confronts him, only to have a wish directed against him that puts him into a coma instead of his wife.
• Judge, Jury, and Executioner: Princess Justice and Verity Queen. The latter has the power to force people to tell the truth, which she uses to make Lila admit to her actions against Marinette (as well as the fact that she's willingly worked for Hawk Moth before), and the former can inflict the five punishments of ancient Chinese law on people^note Tattooing, cutting your nose off, cutting your feet off, castration, and finally execution, in case you're wondering which she is about to do to Lila until Scarlet Moth orders all of his minions to go after Chat Noir.
• Love Makes You Stupid
  • There are signs that Ladybug knowing Chat's identity will make her less effective.
  • Marinette confesses to Chat Noir, hoping to get to know that side of her crush better. Unfortunately, this leads to the events of Weredad.
• Offscreen Moment of Awesome: In chapter 4, Chat Noir hijacks the drone carrying Ladybug's Miraculous to Hawk Moth and gets it back, defeating Reflekta and Princess Fragrance who were send along as guards. His victory is foreshadowed when he gives Plagg a flying Power-Up.
• The Reveal:
  • Adrien foolishly decides, since being transformed by Reflekta conceals his identity, that he can ask a random transformed civilian (Marinette) to pop the trunk of the car for him to get his ring. This reveals his identity to her.
  • Marinette reveals her identity as Ladybug to Scarlet Moth immediately after being akumatized into Princess Justice.
  • Lila correctly deduces that Scarlet Moth is Gabriel Agreste based on the fact that he ordered her to bring Marinette down and the scarlet akumas came right after.
  • Princess Justice reveals Chat Noir's identity to Scarlet Moth and the other akumatized villains.
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: In Chapter 4, Scarlet Moth decides that since he has almost reached his goal (Princess Justice has already handed off the Ladybug earrings to him), he has no more use for an untrustworthy minion like Lila, and is about to let Verity Queen and Princess Justice exact punishment on her. However, Chat Noir manages to hijack Dark Owl's drone containing the Earrings, forcing Scarlet Moth to order all of the akumatized villains to go after him instead.

Party Crusher

• Alternate Universe Fic: A What If? with the change that Party Crasher notices Master Fu's presence behind a parked car when he tries to hold back Chat Noir, with the result that Master Fu is captured before he can distribute any Miraculous and both Ladybug and Chat Noir are delivered into Hawk Moth's clutches.
• And I Must Scream: Hawk Moth intends to imprison his enemies in Party Crasher's mirrors forever, fully conscious but unable to move.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Bunnyx and Pegasus sacrifice themselves by changing the timeline so that Party Crasher is never created. This wipes out their own timeline and their own existence.
• His Name Is...: Subverted. Bunnyx and Pegasus are only able to get out that Hawk Moth is in the Agreste mansion before vanishing from existence, but Ladybug and Chat Noir are able to figure out from that that he's almost certainly Gabriel Agreste.
• Hypocrite: In Chapter 2, Hawk Moth chides Adrien for keeping secrets and sneaking out. Three seconds later, Marinette deduces he's Gabriel, and Adrien calls him out for keeping secrets and sneaking out.
• My Future Self and Me: While it's not directly commented on, Max is present at the party when his future self appears to save the day as Pegasus.
• Non-Protagonist Resolver: Kim, by getting critical information to the others about Hawk Moth and Party Crasher, allows Bunnyx to resolve the akuma problem by time travel. Pegasus unknowingly saves Emilie as well, by clearing the party to avoid a panic and getting Markov unplugged.
• Noodle Incident: The Startrain incident is briefly brought up when the bodyguard meets Pegasus. The fic was written before "Startrain" aired, and the author correctly assumed that Pegasus would make his proper debut in that episode.
• Ret-Gone: Bunnyx and Pegasus from the original timeline are wiped from existence after changing the future by preventing Wayhem's akumatization and telling the other heroes about Hawk Moth's location.
• Spared by the Adaptation: Nino, Luka, and Max don't become heroes fighting Party Crasher, and therefore are not captured by him. They are able to get away with the Miracle Box and one of the Miraculous that would have been loaned to them. However, it's subverted with Max from the original timeline, since he and Bunnyx suffer a Ret-Gone after altering the past so that Hawk Moth never creates Party Crasher.
• The Unmasking: Hawk Moth and Party Crasher discover the secret identities of Ladybug and Chat Noir. By his reaction to seeing Adrien, Hawk Moth gives his own identity away. However, in the altered timeline at the end, only Hawk Moth and Cat Noir have their identities exposed.
• We Have Ways of Making You Talk: Hawk Moth puts Marinette back into the mirror ball to break her so that she will reveal where the Guardian is. Ironically, he already has Master Fu in his power without realizing it.

Pharaoh's Princess

• Alternate Universe Fic: A What If? with the change that the Pharaoh grabs back his amulet before going after the fake Miraculous earrings.
• "Freaky Friday" Flip: A mind swap between Ladybug and Nefertiti (from an afterlife where the latter is the wife of the sun god). It's left open whether there is any way to swap them back, which is a Downer Ending.
• Tomato Surprise: The real Marinette is gone, taken to be the wife of the sun god. Nefertiti has taken her place.
• Unreliable Narrator: The story "Marinette" tells Tikki is not completely true. She leaves out that Marinette's spirit was swapped with Nefertiti's when Labybug went through the portal.

Pixelator Picks

• Adaptational Villainy:
  • In the original series, Théo is never shown to be aware that Ladybug is a teenager when he crushes on her. Here, he is portrayed as an outright hebephile who is dating Mireille, a girl in her mid-teens.
  • Canon Mireille is never shown to be evil in any way. Here, she attempts to murder Ladybug to prevent her from turning her boyfriend in.
• Alternate Universe Fic: A What If? with the change that Pixelator hears Ladybug say, "Yeah, right" and he realizes she has no intention of keeping her deal to let him photograph Jagged Stone, so he simply zaps her with his camera.
• And I Must Scream: Ladybug finds herself in a Blank White Void with only Mireille Caquet and Théo Barbot, with the real possibility of being trapped forever.
• Bittersweet Ending: Everyone is freed and the villain is stopped. Due to learning about Chat Noir's false boast about their relationship before learning his secret identity, Ladybug rejects him both as Chat and as Adrien. She will still work with him as a superhero, so there is a bit of hope she will ultimately forgive him.
• Blatant Lies: Ladybug learns from Théo of Chat Noir's boastful claim that he and Ladybug are "like that." She is not happy.
• Broken Pedestal: Ladybug is not pleased when she finds out that Chat Noir claimed to be dating her and never confessed or apologized until he was caught. She severs her friendship with him in both of their identities.
• Cut the Safety Rope: Théo is forced to drop the yo-yo line Ladybug was using to explore the dark space below their Prison Dimension when Mireille tackles him from behind, since she was worried Ladybug would send Théo to jail for dating a teenager.
• Don't Look Back: Ladybug tells Chloé to cover her eyes and ears because the charm she is about to use could damage her sight and hearing. This gives cover to Adrien to transform to Chat Noir and Cataclysm their way out.
• Great Escape: Ladybug plays the role of a Tunnel King when she uses her yo-yo to make a hole in the floor of the Prison Dimension. It leads only to the next prison, where Adrien and Chloé are trapped.
• I Heard That: Pixelator hears Ladybug whisper to herself that she has no intention of keeping the deal. He acts accordingly.
• Jailbait Taboo: Théo doesn't want to admit his relationship with Mireille, because Ladybug is "unofficially law enforcement." (It's implied that Ladybug will turn him in.)
• Karma Houdini Warranty: Chat Noir lying to Théo about his relationship with Ladybug comes back to bite him in the ass when Ladybug finds out from Théo himself, causing her to break off their friendship.
• Magic A Is Magic A: The apparent exception (in the original "Pixelator" episode) to the in-series rule that releasing the akuma butterfly is the prerequisite to a Miraculous Ladybug charm is explained. (Pixelator being in a different dimension than his akumatized object severed the link just as effectively as a breakage would have.)
• Saying Too Much: Two characters are done in by their inability to keep their mouth shut.
  • Ladybug tips off Pixelator to her intent to deceive him when she mutters "yeah, right" under her breath and he catches her.
  • Mirielle confesses to causing Théo to drop Ladybug to her possible death completely unprompted, instead of keeping quiet and letting her believe he innocently lost his grip.
• Shout-Out: The Sartre play No Exit is referenced by Théo when the situation between him, Ladybug, and Mireille deteriorates.
• The Unmasking: Adrien is forced to reveal himself to Ladybug when they are all caught by Pixelator.

Power to the Pigeons

• Alternate Universe Fic: A What If? with the change that Mr. Pigeon is more ruthless when he has the heroes caged.
• Bittersweet Ending: Marinette is too exhausted and filthy to participate in the hat design contest, and Chloe wins with her stolen design. However, Marinette is able to prove the theft, giving the victory to Rose and Juleka.
• Continuity Nod: The rooftop of Le Grand Paris hotel is the scene for the caging. There is a pool there, which was covered in this episode. The heroes use it to wash Chat Noi's right hand so that he can get them free of the cage with a Cataclysm.
• Death Trap: Mr. Pigeon puts the heroes into a messy death trap.
• Dung Fu: Mr. Pigeon weaponizes pigeon poop far more than in the original.

Prime Queen Time

• Alternate Universe Fic: A What If? with the change that Prime Queen does not take the bait when the TV screen is blocked.
• Bittersweet Ending: Marinette's life will never be the same after her public exposure as Ladybug but it will certainly bring her and Adrien closer together.
• Karma Houdini: Averted. Marinette doesn't get away with messing up her schedule and abandoning her babysitting responsibilities.
• Mama Bear: Prime Queen is lured in to attack when Marinette admits she abandoned her babysitter job (and that, thanks to the kidnapping of Alya, Nadja's daughter Manon has nobody watching her).
• The Unmasking: Ladybug's secret identity is exposed on national TV when she makes a Heroic Sacrifice to save Chat Noir's identity.

The Princess and the Peek

• Alternate Universe Fic: A What If? with the change that Hawk Moth takes advantage of the time Chat Noir is under mind-control to ask him some questions.
• The Bad Guy Wins: Princess Fragrance gets to elope with Prince Ali, and even have a child by him. Hawk Moth however, gets nothing but a brainwashed son.
• Brainwashed and Crazy: Adrien ends up susceptible to control by perfume. Even Marinette takes advantage of him.
• Double Standard Rape: Female on Male: Princess Fragrance crosses the line by mind-controlling Prince Ali to marry her. Marinette also takes advantage of brainwashed Adrien to get him to go on dates with her.
• Elopement: Princess Fragrance manages to do this with Prince Ali, and they escape to the kingdom of Achoo.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: When Hawk Moth finds out that Adrien is Chat Noir, he insists that Princess Fragrance not use a Cataclysm against Ladybug, so that Adrien will not be forced to kill.
• The Unmasking: Chat Noir's secret identity is exposed to Hawk Moth and Marinette.

The Puppeteer is Prompt

• Alternate Universe Fic: A What If? with the change that the Puppeteer was quicker to take control of Ladybug when she had her puppet.
• Near-Villain Victory: The Puppeteer had Marinette on her knees, handing over her earrings. Only the change in her appearance from detransformation, and the availability of a useful Lucky Charm saved the day.
• Reality-Changing Miniature: The Puppeteer's puppets only work if they resemble her victims. Consequently, taking Ladybug's Miraculous and forcing her to detransform made her no longer look enough like her puppet to remain under control.
• The Unmasking: Ladybug's secret identity is exposed to Hawk Moth, Alya, Nathaniel, Roger the police officer, Manon, and Chat Noir. She decides to retire as a superhero and enter her whole family in a witness protection program.
• Wham Line: "Ladybug, come to life!"

Puppeteer Too

• Alternate Universe Fic: A What If? with the change that Hawk Moth takes the risk of giving The Puppeteer mind-control powers through figures, making her as powerful as in her first appearance with her Near-Villain Victory. The risk is that the museum contains a figure of Adrien (and one of Hawk Moth himself).
• Be Careful What You Wish For: Marinette's pretend wish to be a wax statue in the embrace of Adrien's statue comes true when The Puppeteer takes control of the figures of Chat Noir and Ladybug, swapping their places with the real people.
• Blatant Lies: Adrien calls out Marinette for her lie about the "upside-down spades."
• Creepy Child: When The Puppeteer gains control of Hawk Moth and even her mother, she wants to make all her minions play forever.
• Fix Fic: Marinette's heartbreak doesn't last long, because circumstances have made her secret easy for Adrien to guess.
• "Freaky Friday" Flip: An unusual variation. The Puppeteer's powers cause people to change places and clothing with their wax duplicate. The person is also Brainwashed and Crazy to be more like their akuma villain and under Puppeteer's control.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Hawk Moth gives The Puppeteer the power to control people through their wax figures, not realizing that his own wax figure is available to her, so that he can get controlled himself.
• Karma Houdini: Averted. Marinette loses her babysitting job for Nadja Chamack for neglecting Manon, letting her be cared for by irresponsible friends who abandon her, leading to Manon being akumatized. It is implied that Nadja will turn to Lila Rossi as a new babysitter.
• Lower-Deck Episode: In a sense, as Viperion, Pegasus and King Monkey are the ones who save the day and defeat Puppeteer.
• Not What It Looks Like: Marinette wakes up to find herself in the middle of a real kiss with Adrien, with three superheroes and Manon looking on. She has to explain that she thought he was a wax figure.
• Pulling the Thread: Adrien works out that Marinette must be Ladybug because otherwise she would have no wax statue to be controlled. She attempts another explanation, but he points out that her earrings are missing and she finds them in her purse where Viperion put them.
• Pyrrhic Victory: Puppeteer allows Hawk Moth to win by making Ladybug and Chat Noir give him their Miraculous, but they aren't the real ones and it's only one round in the endless game she plans to play.
• Shout-Out: "It's a Good Life" said by mind-controlled Ladybug, is a reference to the short story and Twilight Zone episode about a group of people controlled by an all-powerful child.
• The Unmasking: Ladybug and Chat Noir's identities are revealed to each other and to Hawk Moth, but all memories are forgotten with the Miraculous cure. Later, Adrien works out Marinette's secret and reveals his own to her.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Unlike the original episode, The Puppeteer calls out Alya for breaking her promise to Manon. "You didn't play with me like you said you would. Now I'm going to play with you."]]

Reflekta is Reflective

• Alternate Universe Fic: A What If? with the change that Hawk Moth warns Reflekta not to transform Ladybug or Chat Noir without getting their Miraculous first, so Reflekta uses blending-in trickery to get close to Chat Noir before attacking him.
• Clingy Costume: Due to being caught by Reflekta as Marinette, Ladybug still mostly looks like her when powered up. Marinette has time to ditch her earrings and purse before being transformed by Reflekta, so she can still become Ladybug.
• Death of a Thousand Cuts: How Reflekta's many victims, some (including Adrien) with fencing skills, are able to swarm Reflekta and bring her down.
• Disguised Hostage Gambit: Reflekta pretends to be one of her own victims in order to get close to Chat Noir and yoink his ring.
• Karma Houdini: Averted. Unlike the original, Marinette doesn't get away with breaking into the principal's office to sabotage the photographer's work. Marinette is interrupted by Reflekta before she can get the evidence of her misdeeds away from Chloe.
• They Look Just Like Everyone Else!: Inverted. Reflekta, with the power to make others look like her, blends in with her victims by acting like them, allowing her to get close to Chat Noir and steal his ring before transforming him.
• The Unmasking: Hawk Moth is caught and exposed when he tries to recover the ring Reflekta hid for him. Adrien's identity as Chat Noir also comes out.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Vincent, the photographer, is angry with Marinette for what she did. He gives her an angry speech and doesn't let the class keep the pictures in the park. They had to make do with selfies with Juleka.

Reverser Retargets

• Alternate Universe Fic: A What If? with the change that Reverser doesn't let himself be distracted by Officer Raincomprix, and successfully hits Marinette in the park.
• Artistic License – Physics: Ladybug's plan to use the falling space trash as a weapon against Reverser was absurdly risky, and would probably have gotten them both killed in real life. The Lucky Charm helped Ladybug get the best outcome.
• Bittersweet Ending: The city is saved, but Labybug becomes a Hero with Bad Publicity, thought of as a dark vigilante for her dangerous tactics.
• Disability Immunity: Since Reverser makes Ladybug hated, he cannot also make her clumsy.
• Face–Heel Turn: Chat Noir turns against Ladybug while she is cursed, though he still fights criminals.
• Hero with Bad Publicity: Reverser's curse makes this happen to Ladybug. In the end, after the curse is gone, Ladybug is blamed for risking the city with her tactics against Reverser.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Reverser's magical paper glider is struck and set on fire by the burning trash he caused to fall.
• Irrational Hatred: Marinette/Ladybug gets this as the result of Reflector's curse. Nobody will work with her, even though she is as nice as ever.
• The Unmasking: Ladybug's secret identity is almost exposed when Reverser realizes that Ladybug is hated after he cursed Marinette. In the end, her identity is saved because nobody believes that nice Marinette would carry out such a dangerous plan that risked the city.

Riposte Lets Rip

• Alternate Universe Fic: A What If? with the change that Riposte got her revenge on Adrien when she had the chance.
• The Atoner: Kagami seeks to restore her honor after she soiled it by murdering Adrien under Hawk Moth's influence.
• Back from the Dead: After Ladybug's cure, Adrien. After a wish, his mother.
• Be Careful What You Wish For: Gabriel's carelessly worded wish turns his wife's curse back on himself.
• Berserk Button: Kagami goes berserk when Hawk Moth reminds her of how she used her superpowers to kill Adrien as Riposte. She angrily charges at him and then knocks him unconscious.
• Cliffhanger:
  • The second chapter ends with the cliffhanger of Mayura introducing herself to Ladybug and Kagami!Chat.
  • The story ends with Emilie walking in on her comatose husband, her husband's supervillain assistant, her enraged son, and two handcuffed teenage superheroes.
• Didn't Think This Through: Hawk Moth akumatizes Kagami without considering the fact that she’s angry at Adrien or that akumatization will cause her to kill him.
• The Dog Bites Back: Like in Syren Sinks, Kagami wants to settle the score with Hawk Moth after how he made them villains, with Kagami's case being her killing Adrien as Riposte.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Hawk Moth is horrified when Riposte kills Adrien and takes away her powers as punishment, except maybe he really should've thought it through first.
• Hero Killer: Riposte ends up killing Adrien, meaning that she's killed Chat Noir as well.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Hawk Moth wishes for one of the two miraculous users closest to him (meaning Marinette or Kagami) to have the curse on his wife shifted onto them. What he doesn't realise from the way he worded his wish, is that "two closest" could easily refer to himself. The curse hits him as he has misused his powers the most and ends up comatose.
• Idiot Ball: Hawk Moth's idea to create a lethal akuma whose main target is his son was already a boneheaded decision, but this fic explores the realistic outcomes if she were to actually focus on her goal. There's also how he tells Riposte that she killed "his son" before removing her powers without wiping her memories, giving Kagami information about his civilian identity.
• I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: The reason behind Mayura (Nathalie) having loyalty to Hawk Moth.
• My God, What Have I Done?:
  • Kagami is horrified when she realizes that she murdered Adrien as Riposte. She offers to take up the Cat Miraculous so she can help Ladybug defeat Hawk Moth after what he caused.
  • Hawk Moth is full of grief and cries Manly Tears about Adrien's death, but he brushes those feelings aside when he goes on to fight the heroes.
• Near-Villain Victory: Marinette and Kagami are captured by Gabriel and Mayura and about to be sacrificed to revive Emilie. Then Adrien walks in on them, allowing Marinette to reveal his father's true nature; this catches Gabriel off guard enough to make him panic and make a poorly worded wish that sends him into a coma.
• Offing the Offspring: Indirect example. Hawk Moth stupidly drives a girl with a grudge against Adrien murderously berserk, with predictable results.
• Retcon: Chapter 3 folds canonical revelations about the Peacock Miraculous into the Smart Adversaries series' existing lore. The Peacock Miraculous was damaged by Emilie's constant selfish use of it to maintain her youth and beauty, and Nathalie/Mayura is a separate character from Le Paon (Emilie's nom de guerre).
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Kagami's goal as Chat Noir is to pay Hawk Moth back with interest for driving her to murder a helpless Adrien.
• The Unmasking: Adrien's identity as Chat Noir is revealed after Plagg is forced out of his Miraculous due to his holder's death. Gabriel's identity as Hawk Moth is also revealed to Kagami when he tells Riposte that she killed "his son". Ladybug's identity is revealed to Kagami when they are both caught by Mayura.

Robustus Triumphant

• Alternate Universe Fic: A What If? with the change that Robustus locks the seat belts of his friend Max, preventing him from helping the heroes.
• And I Must Scream: A horrible fate is planned for Marinette, Markov, and Alya by Emilie Agreste.
• Be Careful What You Wish For: The wish of Robustus to become a real boy costs Max his humanity, and he becomes the robot.
• Bittersweet Ending: Hawk Moth and Emilie both get theirs and Markov's ill-thought-out wish is undone, but Adrien is now an orphan and Master Fu is dead.
• Brainwashed and Crazy: Adrien is turned into Emilie's thrall, Marinette is akumatized, and akuma Marinette brainwashes Alya and Markov.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Hawk Moth gets turned into chunky salsa by his own malfunctioning security system, which was hacked by the robot he corrupted.
• Holding Out for a Hero: Ladybug finds herself publicly protested when she can't fix the city after getting her Miraculous spoiled by a wish. Nobody is willing to fix things by hand since her power is supposed to fix everything.
• Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Emilie's fate.
• Near-Villain Victory: Emilie has Adrien brainwashed, Marinette depowered and akumatized, and Alya and Markov under Marinette's thrall. Cue Max, who knocks off her Miraculous and ends up impaling her on a stake.
• Our Vampires Are Different: In this case, vampirism results from a curse after using a Miraculous selfishly. Emilie Agreste wants to transfer the curse from herself to Marinette.
• The Power of Love: To restore the Miraculous, Marinette and Adrien must make a solemn vow to love each other faithfully and marry when they are of age, which comes with a bad-luck curse if they break it. Bad luck can also befall anyone who tries to break them apart.

Roger Over and Out

• Alternate Universe Fic: A What If? with the change that Roger Raincomprix notices Ladybug putting Chloé's bracelet back in her bag, which spoils the easy explanation for its loss and leaves Marinette and Roger still in trouble.
• Bittersweet Ending: Marinette and Adrien both lose the chance to be Miraculous holders again. They have a chance to get together, but it will take a while before Adrien recovers from all the shocks about himself and his family. Marinette gets partial control of Adrien's will, though she will try to resist the temptation to exploit it.
• Blackmail: Ladybug uses the threat of exposing Mayor Bourgeois for poisoning Tomoe in order to get Roger Raincomprix reinstated in his job. She will also use it to protect Adrien from being sent to Japan if she needs to.
• Discard and Draw: Marinette makes a deal with Master Fu, giving him back the Ladybug and Cat Miraculous in exchange for the Dragon Miraculous, for a chance to use the new powers to save Adrien. She also gets to try the Peacock and Butterfly Miraculous.
• Driving Question: A mystery drives the second half of the story. Who poisoned Tomoe Tsurugi?
• Entertainingly Wrong: Marinette finds out that Emilie was interested in the Miraculouses. She concludes that Emilie could be Hawk Moth.
• For Want Of A Nail: Since Chat Noir is more subdued and Marinette is not messing around sending embarrassing phone messages to Adrien, the sculpture unveiling from "Copycat" goes smoothly without producing an akuma.
• Halfway Plot Switch: From Adrien dealing with the fallout of Chloé’s stolen bracelet to Marinette uncovering a decade-old mystery.
• Incapable of Disobeying: Adrien cannot disobey a direct order from his father, or so he believes.
• Internal Reveal: After Adrien's prank, Marinette is nearly akumatized. Chat Noir feels compelled to reveal his secret identity. Marinette is not happy with him. She doesn't reciprocate the reveal, and she gets even angrier that Chat wants to keep it all a secret from Ladybug.
• Invisibility: Marinette is able to use the elemental forms of the Dragon Miraculous to do a recon mission of Agreste Mansion without being seen.
• Never the Obvious Suspect: Zig-zagged. Gabriel is an obvious suspect to the reader, but the person who put the poison in the drink was Mayor Bourgeois, trying to poison him. However, Gabriel suspects and passes the drink on to Tomoe, making her an involuntary poison tester and getting a handle on the Mayor as a result.
• The Pawn: Adrien learns that his parents wanted him only to claim the Prodigious, and that his father's wish was to go back in time to replace him with a regular child.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Tikki goes to consult Master Fu when they get close to finding Hawk Moth. Fu wants to take Plagg back from sentimonster Adrien, but he's willing to listen to Marinette's ideas on how to rescue Adrien instead.
• Self-Poisoning Gambit: Gabriel uses this on Tomoe when he knows or suspects his drink is poisoned. He gets her to switch drinks for an "indirect kiss."
• Shoot the Hostage: A threat is made by Marinette (as the Peacock holder) to release sentimonster Adrien (as Chat Blanc) from existence. Abusive Parent Gabriel doesn't care and calls her bluff, which she would never carry out, of course.
• Shout-Out: The lawyer whom Gabriel hires to defend Adrien should Chloé and her father sue him for stealing Chloé's bracelet is named Saul Bonhomme, and at the end of Chapter 2, Gabriel says that he'd better call him.
• Slave to PR: After admitting to a "prank", Adrien is required by his father to pull new pranks as part of a new "bad boy" image. The implication is that Hawk Moth intends to use him to create new Akumatized villains at the school.
• Snowball Lie: Adrien, in order to maintain his new image, is required by his father to pull another prank, this one on Marinette, and to justify it by pretending to hold a grudge about the feather hat she made. Hawkmoth is ready to take advantage.
• Taking the Heat: Adrien is willing to take the blame for stealing Chloé's bracelet even if it costs his freedom to go to school, to protect the secret of Plagg. However, Adrien's father doesn't end up pulling him from school and instead forces him to take on a new "bad boy" image and pull more pranks at the school, presumably intending to use him to make people at the school upset so he can create new Akumatized villains there.
• Tomato in the Mirror: Adrien learns that he is a sentimonster. He can only get back half his free will, with the rest in the control of Marinette for now, because of the nature of the magic rings that were used as his amok objects.

Rushed Rocketear

• Alternate Universe Fic: A What If? with the change that Shadow Moth acts sooner on Nino's jealousy, akumatizing him right after he makes the video of Alya with Chat Noir.
• Bittersweet Ending: Alya and Nino lose their Miraculous privileges, but harmony is restored between Ladybug and Chat Noir.
• Onion Tears: Onions in a Lucky Charm are weaponized against Rocketear.
• Poor Communication Kills: Averted compared to canon. Rocketear tells Chat Noir the things he told Adrien in canon, allowing issues about secrets to be talked out with Ladybug.
• Shout-Out: "Awkward core superhero hug" is a reference to "awkward sibling hug" in Gravity Falls.

Sapotis Are Suspicious

• Alternate Universe Fic: A What If? with the change that not all of the Sapotis fall for the illusion of an amusement park.
• Explosive Breeder: Only two Sapotis are not caught (the original two), but their numbers quickly build up again when they raid a large grocery store.
• Obsessed with Food: The heroes worry about the Sapotis devouring everything, especially because they might have trouble recharging their kwamis.
• Sibling Rivalry: The heroes defeat the Sapotis by giving some of them ribbons so that they will fight over them.
• The Unmasking: Due to timing out, Alya learns Ladybug's secret identity. Chat Noir does not.

Sentibubbler Super Bowl

• Alternate Universe Fic: A What If? with the change that Shadow Moth is more suspicious of Alya and he does some extra checking, spotting a flaw in her illusions.
• Big "NO!": Alya has one when she fails to save her sisters from a fall.
• Bittersweet Ending: Marinette and Adrien have a mutual reveal and declare their love, but Adrien finds out he is a sentimonster and goes off on a road trip with Sentibubbler to find himself. It's left open if he will ever return to Marinette.
• Butterfly Effect: Marinette fails to anticipate that her absence from Alya's place will change the sequence of events.
• Clone Angst: Adrien feels like less than a person when he learns his genetics were cloned from his "cousin" Félix.
• Fix Fic:
  • This story explains how Kaalki was able to teleport to where Plagg was in "Sole Crusher", without giving her a plot-busting kwami finder power which could have been used to find Nooroo and Duusuu. (Tikki gave Kaalki Adrien's address for emergency use).
  • This story fixes the mistake Ladybug made of continuing to use holders whose identities are compromised.
• Guile Hero: Ladybug uses a fake ring made by a Lucky Charm to stall the Graham de Vanilys.
• Loophole Abuse: Kwamis can't say the names of their current or former holders, but Nooroo and Duusu can give an address, and Nooroo can name Mayura since he was never held by her.
• Ominous Message from the Future: Ladybug prepares to send one to herself when the Fox Miraculous is lost and Alya's position is compromised even further. It contains an exact plan based on knowledge from the future, which is unfortunately discussed with the others in detail.
• The Pawn: Adrien was created as a sentimonster by his parents, in order to have a "perfect" child under their control who could one day claim the Prodigious (from the Shanghai special).
• Re-Power: Shadow Moth loses the Butterfly and the Peacock, but gains the Fox.
• Reset Button:
  • All of the unmasking except for Shadow Moth and Chat Noir's identities being known to Ladybug are undone by the message back in time.
  • Ladybug uses a second message back in time, using Viperion for additional resets.
• Tomato in the Mirror: Adrien is a sentimonster, and Felix gets control of him through a stolen ring.
• The Unmasking:
  • Alya is exposed as a full-time Miraculous holder, which Shadow Moth didn't expect.
  • Ladybug exposes her identity to Chat Noir so he won't have to fight alone.
  • Shadow Moth's identity is exposed when the rescued Nooroo and Duusu are able to provide enough information.
  • Char Noir's identity is exposed by his reaction to the identity of Shadow Moth.
• Unspoken Plan Guarantee: The first plan was discussed, and it was a fiasco. The second was not, and it was an Offscreen Moment of Awesome.
• You Are Too Late: With their timing thrown off by a Butterfly Effect, the heroes fail badly their second time around.

Silence Please

• Alternate Universe Fic: A What If? with the change that Silencer realizes what Ladybug is up to with the fake Lucky Charm object and doesn't say the words "Lucky Charm" in the voice that she needs. As a result, Ladybug has to go to a fallback plan using Juleka.
• Bittersweet Ending: The villain is stopped. Adrien asks Juleka out, under the mistaken impression that she is Ladybug. Marinette turns to Luka, who appreciates her for herself.
• Bring Help Back: This is Ladybug' intention when going to get Juleka. It may feel like abandonment to Chat Noir, and since Ladybug is voiceless she can't explain.
• Calling Your Attacks: Non-verbal. The body language associated with calling for a "Lucky Charm" is so familiar that Ladybug gives away her intention to Silencer even though she can't say the words herself.
• Didn't Think This Through: In the original episode, the carefully-prepared fake Lucky Charm, a lamp painted red with black spots, seems to vanish as soon as Ladybug no longer needs it. In this version, it doesn't. Ladybug drops it, a huge clue to Silencer that it's a fake.
• Entertainingly Wrong: Ivan thinks that Ladybug has come to fight him since he is pretending to be akumatized when she is actually just seeking help from Juleka.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: There's still enough of Luka left within Silencer that he refuses to harm Juleka.
• Heel–Face Turn: Silencer frees the voices of Ladybug and Chat Noir when he thinks that Ladybug is his sister Juleka.
• Mistaken Identity: Thinking that Juleka is Ladybug, Adrien asks her out on a date. Marinette is jealous and decides to give Luka a chance.
• Superpowers For A Day: With no way to use Lucky Charm, Marinette lends her Miraculous to Juleka to defeat Silencer.
• The Unmasking: At the end, Marinette quietly susses out that Adrien is Chat Noir when he acknowledges the fact that Juleka used the Ladybug Miraculous, which he couldn't have known unless he was there.
• Voice Changeling: Silencer has a choice of what voice to use when he says "Lucky Charm." He uses XY's voice, denying Ladybug her Magical Incantation.
• You Have Failed Me: Hawk Moth pulls the akuma from Silencer when the latter frees the voices of Ladybug and Chat Noir.

Simon Slays

• Alternate Universe Fic: A What If? with the change that Simon Says chooses to make Gabriel Agreste think he is an airplane earlier. This results in Gabriel falling to his death, though it was fixed by the healing charm.
• Back from the Dead: Gabriel Agreste is revived by the Miraculous Ladybug charm.
• Face–Heel Turn: After Ladybug prioritizes stopping Simon over the life of his father, Adrien turns against her and joins Hawk Moth.
• Foreshadowing: Lampshaded when Simon wonders why the association of Gabriel with butterflies came to his mind.
• "Not So Different" Remark: Adrien's comparison of Ladybug and Hawk Moth, when he realizes both would use the Miraculous Ladybug cure to undo collateral damage without regard to the horrific memories left behind.
• The Unmasking: Chat Noir's secret identity is revealed to Hawk Moth, and Adrien joins forces with him.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Chat Noir tells Ladybug off for not letting him go after Gabriel, resulting in his being traumatized by his fatal fall.

Stilled by Style Queen

• Adaptation Name Change: The Bee hero in this AU is named Belle Abeille (chosen by Alya from a French children's song — it means "Beautiful Bee").
• Alternate Universe Fic: A What If? with the change that Style Queen turns against Chloé earlier, making her into a glitter statue before they leave the Agreste Mansion. This changes the timing of events at the Eiffel Tower and Ayla becomes the bee hero.
• Ascended Extra: Alya, who didn't get to do much in the canon episode, here gets to be the Bee, the Bee-Ladybug fusion, and the Ladybug hero to save Marinette. Later she becomes the full-time Ladybug holder.
• Bittersweet Ending: Marinette gets to go to New York to make her dreams come true. Alya and Kim become the new Ladybug and Cat. Chloé and Sabrina will continue Hawk Moth's crimes, in the hope that Chloé can wish for her mother's love.
• Compelling Voice: When Marinette is akumatized into Cerulean, this is her super-power. Anyone who hears her voice must obey her.
• Dramatic Irony: After Style Queen captures Ladybug and places her next to the petrified Adrien, Hawk Moth says that they will force Ladybug to reveal Chat Noir's location. "We'll soon have both of them here, side by side," he says, unaware that this has already happened.
• For Want Of A Nail: Chloé does not get the Bee Miraculous and therefore has no comeback when her mother says she is not extraordinary. She runs off, saying she will prove herself someday.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Because of the change in timing (no conversation on the tower with Chloé), it is Ladybug who blocks a shotn from Style Queen to protect Alya, and Alya gets away with the Bee Miraculous.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Scarabella uses this against Cerulean, allowing her to take away her yo-yo and use it, unaware that Scarabella has added a feature that turned it into a trap.
• In Spite of a Nail: Chloé gets a Miraculous after all, the Butterfly, when she intercepts the hand-off when Gabriel tries to return the Miraculous to Ladybug. She also gets the Peacock and the grimoire.
• Literal Genie: When Marinette is akumatized as Cerulean, she has orders to command Audrey not to leave Chloé behind. They conclude that one simple way to do that is to kill Chloé so she will not exist to be left behind. With the mental link down they get no correction from Queen Butterfly.
• Logical Weakness: When used by a young person Nooroo has to be fed after five minutes just like any other kwami when his main power is used. This breaks the link to the akumatized person.
• Repeat After Me: When Catman gets his power phrase wrong, Cerulean says, "Say Cataclysm, you fool!" and Catman repeats "Cataclysm, you fool!".
• Shout-Out:
  • The idea that Pollen eats chili peppers is from Scarlet Lady.
  • Nooroo prefers marigold flower nectar, another nod to the above webcomic.
  • Marinette and her friends watch the movie The Devil Wears Prada and Marinette's reaction to it gets her akumatized.
• Taken for Granite: Ladybug not only gets petrified by Style Queen but is soon after brought back to life but embedded in a solid glitter block with only her head sticking out.

Syren Sinks

• Action Girl: Ondine gets a chance after losing her powers to finish the fight with Hawk Moth.
• Alternate Universe Fic: A What If? with the change that Syren makes a more effective attack on Ladybug when she comes down after her alone, nearly drowning her and capturing her Miraculous.
• Badass Normal: The final fight between Chat Noir and Hawk Moth/Hawk Bug ends when Ondine outflanks the villain, puts him in a chokehold, and yoinks his earrings.
• Bad Boss: Syren finds herself turned back to Ondine and stabbed by Hawk Moth for letting her hostage be rescued, even though she turned over Ladybug's Miraculous to him.
• Blessed with Suck: Chat Noir finds his water-power flippers less effective when Hawk Moth takes on Ladybug's powers and cures the flood.
• Good Powers, Bad People: Hawk Bug is able to use Ladybug's powers to purify akumas and create World Healing Waves, but he's still the villainous Gabriel Agreste.
• I Have Your Wife: In this case, superhero partner. Marinette is held hostage to draw in Chat Noir; her identity is already compromised to the villains in this case.
• Relationship Upgrade: The fanfic ends with Adrien and Marinette willing to go on a date and find out more about each other.
• Trapped in a Sinking Car: Marinette is stuck in a window grill in a near-fatal deathtrap by Syren.
• The Dog Bites Back: Ondine had her akuma rescinded (keeping her memories of being Syren), then was stabbed by Hawk Moth for failing to meet his standards before taking the earrings and becoming Hawk Bug. When she is revived by Hawk Bug's World-Healing Wave, she is the one who defeats him in the end.
• The Unmasking: Ladybug loses her secret identity to Syren, Kim, and Hawk Moth. She also reveals it to Chat Noir after he rescues her.
• Ungrateful Bastard: When Syren gives Hawk Moth the Ladybug Earrings, he snatches them away and depowers Ondine before killing her because she failed to retrieve the Cat Ring. When she is revived, she bites back against him.
• You're Not My Father: When Hawk Bug tells Chat Noir that he's his father and he should obey him, Chat tells him that he's no longer his father after he hurt so many people, especially Ondine.

Time After Timetagger

• Alternate Universe Fic: A What If? with the change that Timetagger becomes suspicious and doesn't let Ladybug finish her note to herself in the future. Instead, Ladybug has to rely on her own memory to keep track of the correct location.
• Bittersweet Ending: Chat Noir is very happy about their apparent destiny to be married, but Ladybug is just as distressed, if not more, than she was after the end of "Oblivio".
• Ominous Message from the Future: This is how Ladybug takes the news that she will marry Chat Noir in the future.
• Screw Destiny: Ladybug's attitude after she finds out that her future self is married to Chat Noir.
• The Slow Path: Instead of an instantly-transmitted note to herself, Ladybug burns the correct location into her memory for ten years. Chat Noir will also help her to remember.

Time Pair Doxxed

• Alternate Universe Fic: A What If? with the change that Hawk Moth communicates with the Timebreaker who came back to find out how it went the first time around.
• Bittersweet Ending: More bitter than sweet. In the parallel world where Marinette ends up, most of her classmates are dead. So is her own counterpart. She is taken in by her parallel family but it will never be the same. Adrien may come to love her in time, but there are no guarantees since he knows she is a substitute.
• Clone Angst: Marinette is disturbed about being a homeless temporal duplicate with no real identity in the parallel timeline. She believes she cannot live a normal life without exposing the secret identity of her counterpart, since she came over as a duplicate Ladybug.
• Deal with the Devil: Marinette makes a deal with Hawk Moth, her Miraculous in exchange for the power to go back to her world. She cheats him by getting him turned in, and he cheats her by sending her to a different world than she came from.
• Expendable Alternate Universe: Marinette and Alix find themselves as duplicates of people in a world where they don't belong. Marinette is desperate to return to her own world and makes a deal with Hawk Moth to do so, even though it might harm the alternate world.
• Karma Houdini: Averted. Marinette does not get away with abandoning her post at the bakery. She takes the punishment for her counterpart. She also knows that in her original world she vanished, leaving her grieving parents to wonder why she ran off across town and lied about listening to music in her room.
• Meaningless Villain Victory: Hawk Moth wins the Ladybug Miraculous in one world, but Alix calls that world's Ladybug to expose his identity.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Marinette is so desperate to return to her own timeline that she makes a deal with Hawk Moth.
• Replacement Goldfish: Marinette and Alix replace their missing counterparts in their families. Marinette tells them the truth, but Alix does not.
• Temporal Paradox: Averted. In spite of the pun in the title, there are no paradoxes, just branching timelines.
• The Unmasking: Ladybug's secret identity is exposed to the Chat Noir of the alternate timeline. Hawk Moth's identity is exposed in two timelines. Chat Noir reveals his identity to the newly-arrived Marinette and Alix.
• You Have Failed Me: Downplayed. Not fatal, but Hawk Moth does not create a second Timebreaker when he learns how badly the first round went. He also pulls Timebreaker's power.

Troublemaker is On Task

• Alternate Universe Fic: A What If? with the change that Troublemaker takes both earrings from Ladybug when she first has the chance.
• Bittersweet Ending: It may seem like fluff Ladybug and Chat Noir know each other's secret identities, but Hawk Moth knows who Ladybug is, and that's never good in these stories.
• Stations of the Canon: This story stays very close to the canon except for the identity knowledge transfer.
• The Unmasking: Ladybug's secret identity is exposed to Hawk Moth and Chat Noir. Then Chat Noir reveals to Ladybug.

The Turning of a Page

• Alternate Timeline: The result of a wish that changes the past.
• Alternate Universe Fic: A What If? with the change that Adrien Agreste noticed and took the Peacock Miraculous from his father's safe in Volpina.
• Antihero: Adrien becomes an adversary to Ladybug because of partial information learned through the Peacock powers.
• Be Careful What You Wish For: Adrien gets a wish with unintended consequences. Lampshaded with a reference to The Monkey's Paw.
• Big Damn Heroes: Subverted. Adrien as the Peacock hero Le Paon only serves as a distraction to allow the Damsel in Distress to transform into a superhero and save the day.
  • Played straight when Adrien is rescued by Rena Rouge.
• Bittersweet Ending: Ladybug and Chat Noir never existed in the new timeline. Gabriel never became a criminal because his wife was never lost. Marinette has traumatic memories of her kidnapping. Marinette and Adrien will work their way back to a better relationship.
• Evil All Along: Nathalie is a master villain who nearly wins in the new timeline.
• Faking the Dead: Le Paon decoys Befana (and helps preserve Marinette's secret identity) by using his transformation power on a large chunk of coal, turning it into a realistic statue of Marinette.
• Glory Days: Adrien and Marinette are the only ones who remember the timeline when they were superheroes. The desire to talk about old times is what finally gets them back together.
• Hero with Bad Publicity: Le Paon is generally regarded as a villain after Alya catches him breaking into Marinette's room.
• Poor Communication Kills: Chat Noir is Locked Out of the Loop on important secrets by Master Fu, allowing his distrust to build until he makes a terrible decision.
• Ripple-Effect-Proof Memory: Adrien, as the maker of the wish, has memories of the old timeline. Marinette recovers her old memories, too.
• Secret Identity: Adrien juggles two superhero identities (Chat Noir and Le Paon) plus his normal life.
• Stations of the Canon: The chapters follow episodes in release sequence until it suddenly doesn't when a wish creates a new timeline.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Adrien gets a big one from Marinette towards the end for a wish to save his mother that ends up getting Marinette kidnapped.

Weird Dad

• Alternate Universe Fic: A What If? with the change that baby August (the former Gigantitan) cries for his pacifier and Tom Dupain finds it on the roof, exposing Ladybug's identity to Chat Noir.
• Anger Born of Worry: Chat Noir is angry that Marinette lied about being in love with him. Tom Dupain's fear that Marinette is involved with someone who could be dangerous to her is what causes him to be akumatized into Weredad.
• Can't Get Away with Nuthin': Tom and Sabine are concerned when Marinette confesses she secretly met with Chat Noir once on a nearby rooftop. Out of worry that he will come back after being dumped, they want to restrict access to her room with alarms and window bars. Ironically, this would cramp her activities as Ladybug, which would worry them even more if they knew.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: Marinette comes dangerously close to getting her room barricaded by her parents after making herself look untrustworthy and losing Chat Noir's friendship after giving him a false love confession, but she manages to salvage all relationships involved and walk off with the guy in the end.
• Easily Forgiven: Chat Noir forgives Marinette for her false love confession that broke his heart, after realizing that she has real love for him as Adrien. It's justified by the fact that he has been similarly forgiving towards Chloé and Lila in similar situations, a fact Marinette plays to.
• Felony Misdemeanor: Tom and Sabine declare that Marninette has broken their trust after her highly toned-down confessions about sneaking out. They don't realize she has done much more lying and sneaking than she admits to.
• Formula-Breaking Episode: Most Smart Adversaries fics have the nail be an action the villain takes. This one has the nail be August crying for his pacifier before Weredad even shows up.
• Heel Realization: Marinette realizes how badly she has hurt Adrien by lying when he compares her to Lila. She pleads for a second chance like the one Adrien gave to Lila.
• Honor Before Reason: Sabine persuades Chat Noir to do the right thing and help Marinette with Weredad, even though he's unhappy with her and inclined to let her solve the problem herself as Ladybug. His knowledge of her identity allows him to facilitate her escape.
• Irony: Marinette's parents accept Adrien as a new boyfriend for Marinette since he is "much nicer" than Chat Noir and he comes from a "respectable family."
• Poor Communication Kills: Marinette's false love confession is happily accepted by Chat Noir because he thinks Ladybug is finally confessing to him, rather than the ruse it was to protect her identity. Her poor break-up excuses later in front of her parents only make him angry.
• Safety Worst: Marinette persuades her parents not to lock up her room because it would be dangerous in the event of a fire or an akuma attack.
• Shout-Out: To the 1970s TV version of "The Incredible Hulk". Tom tells Adrien, "You wouldn't like me when I'm angry" as part of a If You Ever Do Anything to Hurt Her... speech.
• Snowball Lie: Marinette's lie about being in love with Chat Noir spirals out of control.
• Swapped Roles: In the original, Chat Noir dumps Marinette and she pretends to be hurt. In this version, Marinette dumps Chat Noir and he is genuinely hurt.
• Two-Person Love Triangle: The two-person love square collapses into this when Chat Noir discovers Marinette's secret after she has given him a false love confession.
• The Unmasking: Ladybug's identity is revealed to Chat Noir when the pacifier she took away by accident is found on the roof of her house. Char Noir later unmasks himself to Ladybug at the end of the fic.

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