Fanfic / Volpimania

Volpimania is a Miraculous Ladybug Fanfic by Gaussiansphere on Archive of Our Own.

When Volpina is akumatized again, the battle against her drags on and on, as the five main heroes of the team are all activated and called in. A few hours in, she covers Paris in a heavy illusory fog and scatters the heroes, who are now on the back foot as they are each hunted down, one by one.

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Volpimania provides examples of:

• Abandoned Warehouse: Volpina's base of operations is revealed to be a secluded warehouse in the middle of Paris, filled to the brim with notes and other information she's gathered on the heroes.
• Accidental Murder: Carapace kills Rena Rouge, thinking she is Volpina.
• Action Girl: Ladybug, Rena Rouge, and Queen Bee more than know how to fend for themselves and fight on through the weary night.
• Action Hero: Among the heroes, Chait Noir and Carapace are more than prone to combating their way to victory.
• Adaptational Villainy: Lila can get pretty nasty in canon, but she takes it to a whole new level in Volpimania, to the point where she has meticulously prepared and practiced with her akumatized powers in order to take down Ladybug and the other heroes.
• All There in the Manual: The tags pretty much give away numerous plot elements, such as the ending being a bad one. Part of the ending's vagueness is cleared up in a comment: "Carnivore has the two miraculous for now, but only Gabriel knows the incantation to activate the wish. Definitely a sticky situation—we'll see how it goes in the sequel!"
• All for Nothing: Both the heroes and Hawk Moth. The former lose their lives, bar Nino, and the latter loses his son and the sought-after Miraculous.
• Alpha Bitch: As the central antagtonist and local psychopath, Lila is the walking definition of one. On the heroes' side, it is a debate if Rena Rouge or Queen Bee is the bigger one.
• Ambiguous Ending: The story ends on an open note. Carnivore's last scene is saying Cataclysm to Ladybug and Nino going home upon waking up next to his girlfriend's body. What will Lila do with the Miraculous? How will Hawk Moth deal with her betrayal? Will Nino give up and accept his fate, or fight back?
• Anyone Can Die: Given the nature of the setting, this quickly becomes apparent. By the end, four out of five heroes are gone.
• Backstab Backfire: Hawk Moth trying to block Volpina from suceeding. He's too little, too late.
• Batman Gambit: Lila's defeat plan for each miraculous wielder accounts for their private lives, powers, and state of mind, and gambling on predicting their actions.
• Batman Grabs a Gun: Carapace is pushed to the breaking point where he gives in to his darker emotions.
• Big Bad: Originally Hawk Moth, as with all akumatized villains, but it switches over to Lila by the time she becomes Carnivore.
• Black-and-Gray Morality: While Hawk Moth may have given Lila her powers and been fine with murder, he still has some heart left for his son. Yet he tries to kill Lila when depowering her, while Lila lets Nino live, albeit for selfish reasons.
• Blinded by Rage: Chat Noir, in particular, gives in to Lila's goading after so much stress.
• Bound and Gagged: This happens to Rena Rouge; she is used to catch Chloé by surprise.
• Citywide Evacuation: Between the fog and the longevity of this akuma attack, this happens to Paris, with some gruesome results. Chloé comes across a subway car turned over. Dead citizens surround it due to it having gone over capacity.
• Combat Pragmatist: Unlike the heroes, Volpina is willing to do whatever it takes, not caring that she is hurting all of Paris.
• Complexity Addiction: Some of Volpina's moves are needlessly risky and done for the sheer thrill, such as baiting Carapace to where Rena Rouge is being held captive in order to pull off a cruel stunt.
• Cruel and Unusual Death: Alya's Shield Bash death. It becomes a bloody, gruesome scene. To further rub it in, her boyfriend Nino is set up to wake up next to her cold corpse after being knocked out.
• Cruel Mercy: Lila kills all the heroes except Nino, leaving him to suffer, knowing she won and that he's only alive because he let her.
• Damsel in Distress: Rena Rouge, when taken out of the equation by Lila, is restrained to a bed.
• Dark Action Girl: Volpina is quite a devilish lady.
• Dead Guy on Display: Done with Chat Noir's cadaver for Ladybug to come across, hanging from the warehouse ceiling.
• Deducing the Secret Identity: One reason Lila manages to win is because she managed to figure the heroes' out through months of detective work..
• Defiant to the End: Ladybug gives it her all until her defeat.
• Desecrating the Dead: Lila hangs Adrien's body to perturb Marinette when they finally meet.
• Despair Event Horizon: Occurs to both Ladybug and Chat Noir before she kills them, realzing there is no hope for them to win.
• Disposing of a Body: Lila drags Chloé's body to a closet to get it out of the way.
• Disproportionate Retribution: Lila killing nearly everyone just because she doesn't like them.
• Doomed Protagonist: Everyone but Nino is dead by the end.
• Downer Ending: Nothing happens according to plan for anyone. Hawk Moth loses both his son and the chance to fix anything.
• Dragon-in-Chief: While Hawk Moth may be the one giving her powers, Volpina is in charge of the operation in all but name.
• Dwindling Party: The overall strategy for Volpina is to pick the heroes off one by one as they aimless roam the streets.
• Empty Shell: Nino at the end; especially emphasized by seeing a note the now dead Alya left at his apartment before the battle started.
• Evil Counterpart: Both Rena Rouge and Volpina have illusions powers. The difference is their moralities.
• Even Evil Has Standards: This comes into play upon Hawk Moth finally coming to his senses and trying to stop Volpina.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Hawk Moth with Adrien, going so far as trying to kill Lila with the butterfly miraculous’ control powers when he discovers Adrien has been killed as Chat Noir.
• Evil Gloating: Occurs several times mid-battle or as Volpina hunts them down.
• Evil Knockoff: While Volpina was initially a carbon copy of Rena Rouge, she become powerful enough to where she is in her own league.
• Evil Is Petty: Lila doesn't care for the pain she is inflicting on anyone.
• Fallen Hero: Lila gains both the Ladybug and Cat Miraculous. This leaves Nino as the last hero standing, alone with his Turtle Miraculous, and he presumably gives up.
• Fatal Flaw: Lila plots to use the heroes' weaknesses against them. For Queen Bee, she knows Chloé will inevitably go to her father's hotel. The fatal ambush occurs there.
• Five-Man Band: Ladybug, Chat Noir, Rena Rouge, Carapace, and Queen Bee comprise the hero team.
• Flawless Victory: Beyond maybe some bruises, no consquences come to Lila.
• Fog of Doom: Everyone is being hunted in a mist the extends from the ground to even above the Eiffel Tower.
• Fog of War: The fog is the setting for the battle, spanning the entirety of Paris.
• Forced to Watch: Rena Rouge is helpless to stop Chloé's ambush and subsequent death at Lila's hands.
• For the Evulz: Half of what Lila does amounts to this. Queen Bee and Carapace's deaths were solely to inflict mental pain on others.
• From Bad to Worse: Things slowly devolve over the course of the story. The heroes are lead astray and die one by one.
• The Heavy: Lila/Volpina/Carnivore in a big way. Hawk Moth might be the ultimate source of her powers, but she’s the main antagonistic presence throughout the fic.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: The heroes normally aren't like this. They are worn down to be as such, however.
• Hallucinations: Volpina's main method of attack, wearing them down with illusion after illusion.
• Head Crushing: Carapace caves Rena Rouge's skull in multiple times.
• Helpless Observer Protagonist: Rena Rouge is bound and forced to watch as Volpina slits Chloé's throat from behind in the door frame of the hotel suite.
• Heroic BSoD: Twice, first after Carapace realizes that he has bashed Rena to death and not Volpina, and then when Ladybug sees Adrien hanging in Volpina’s hideout.
• Hypercompetent Sidekick: Compared to Hawk Moth, Volpina is doing more in one night than the man has ever managed to do in his entire tenure as the bid bad.
• Hunting the Most Dangerous Game: The entire premise of the fic is the heroes being hunted down by an akumatized Lila.
• I Lied: Volpina telling Chloé she could have a headstart, and maybe live, after stripping her of the Bee Miraculous.
• Inescapable Ambush: Chloé's death is the result of one; she's snuck up on from behind and her throat is sliced.
• Indy Ploy: The heroes are left to their own devices after being separated, and each one of them tries to figure out a way out of the situation.
• Instant Sedation: How Volpina ultimately takes down Rena Rouge.
• I Shall Taunt You: Invoked by Volpina several times in order to poke holes in the heroes' fortitude.
• Instrument of Murder: Volpina and Rena Rouge both fight with their flutes, using them as bludgeoning weapons.
• Involuntary Group Split: This has already happened by the start, with everyone on their own.
• Just Toying with Them: Volpina's war of attrition revolves around this. It's also in effect when she gloats or goes out of her way to inflict personalized damage to each hero's psyche.
• Karma Houdini: Volpina is one, stemming from a total victory.
• Killed Off for Real: Ladybug's magical cure is forfeited. Thus, the usually reversed deaths and damage are permanent this time. Of course, this is barring the Wish the creation and destruction Miraculous united can forge. There is pretty much no chance Carnivore will be so selfless, though.
• Lethally Stupid: What Volpina is relying on happening by breaking the heroes.
• Locked Out of the Fight: Volpina prevents the heroes from assisting each other via planned illusions and calculated lures.
• Long Game: Lila has been prepping this attack for many months, practicing handling multiple illusions at once.
• Lured into a Trap: The battle itself was a trap, designed to separate the heroes. It is a success, with several more traps for each member to come.
• Manipulative Bastard: The pillar of Lila's villainy. She even manages to one-up Hawk Moth in the end, having abused his power for his gain.
• Manipulative Bitch: Combine an Alpha Bitch with the mindset of the above, and you get one Lila Rossi.
• Mask of Confidence: One is maintained at all times by Lila, always feeling assured of victory.
• Master of Illusion: Rena Rouge and Volpina, both having illusions-based powers.
• Mercy Lead. Averted despite Volpina giving Chloé ten minutes to get far enough away from her. She was going to kill her one way or another.
• More Despicable Minion: The depths to which Lila will go to win know no bounds, unlike Hawk Moth's more moral methods, as loose as they are.
• Minimalist Cast: Only the heroes, Volpina and Hawk Moth, seven in total, comprise the character roster.
• Nervous Wreck: Each hero is subject to turning into one. This shows when Carapace only checks if the blood he presumes to be from Rena Rouge's dead body is real, after being mentally worn down, and not the body itself.
• Never Found the Body: It's possible Ladybug was entirely reduced to ashes, given the Miraculous Cure is never cast.
• Never Split the Party: Against their best efforts, Volpina manages to single-handedly divide the team.
• Nothing Is Scarier: Block by block, trying to rendezvous at the Eiffel Tower, not knowing what is or isn't out there. Unable to a few feet beyond them, the heroes are on edge. It's no wonder the team falls is able to be shattered.
• Oh, Crap!: Numerous moments count, such as when Chloé realizes only too late Volpina is behind her, seeing Alya writhe helplessly in the bed.
• Ominous Fog: A massive fog covers the entirety of France's capital.
• One-Man Army: With Hawk Moth chilling in his lair, it's Volpina against Ladybug, Chat Noir, Rena Rouge, Carapace, and Queen all on her own.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Volpina knows the heroes well, and tries to get them off their rhythm. When you see the haughty Chloé shaken or the peaceable Nino lose his temper, you know that she’s really getting in their heads.
• Overzealous Underling: Volpina goes above and beyond what Hawk Moth thought she'd do, working out the whole event by herself.
• Powerful and Helpless: Hawk Moth cannot alter the final outcome of what Volpina did. Nor could Rena Rouge have stopped Chloé's death.
• Primal Fear: Illusions are used to create and invoke a wide variety of horrible emotions for the heroes.
• Psychological Horror: Lila's plan is to make the heroes go more or less insane through repeated subjection to their worst fears and scolding taunts.
• Rage Breaking Point: There is only so much the team members can handle. They snap one after the other.
• Reduced to Dust: What is implied to happen to Ladybug as a result of Carnivore using Cataclysm on her.
• Sanity Slippage: Happens to the heroes over the course of night. They see uncountable horrible things cast by illusion magic.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Chloé does this when Lila takes her Miraculous and tells her to do as such.
• Secret Chaser: Done by Lila during her preparation for the battle to figure out their identities.
• Sequel Hook: In a comment, the author promised a follow-up story. One has not come as of yet.
• Serial Killer: Lila, by the end.
• Shield Bash: Carapace frequently uses his shield offensively, landing a blow on Volpina and to disastrous effect against Rena Rouge, when he’s tricked into attacking her.
• Slashed Throat: The fates of Chat Noir and Queen Bee.
• Shattered Sanity: Some of the heroes do not fare well.
• Shattering the Illusion: A plethora are destroyed since Volpina relies on them for attack. Some work better than others despite being destroyed in the end.
• Shoot the Shaggy Dog: Exactly What It Says on the Tin, since Volpina defeats the heroes, her boss Hawk Moth, and Paris is left in shambles.
• Sole Survivor: Nino is the only hero left standing. The rest of the team is murdered one way or another.
• Sorting Algorithm of Mortality: One can tell who will and won't if paying close attention.
• Split and Reunion: The heroes do meet each other eventually. However, only when Volpina allows it, unfortunately, just to force them to suffer seeing the others die or already dead.
• Stealth Expert: Who can track who better is part of the game. Rena Rouge is the best of the team, using her illusions to combat Volpina's.
• Super-Empowering: Lila is able to be as good as Volpina this time around via Hawk Moth lending her the power several times to practice with beforehand.
• Survival Mantra: Carapace has one as Volpina torments him with her illusions: “It’s not real, it’s not real.”
• Sympathetic Villain, Despicable Villain: Hawk Moth and Volpina, respectively. Volpina has no reservations about what she does compared to him.
• Sympathy for the Devil: When Adrien's neck is slit and Hawk Moth finds out he is his son.
• The Bad Guy Wins: Everyone but Nino is killed one or another by Lila. Additionally, she manages to one-up Hawk Moth by gaining everyone's Miraculous, save Nino's because she lets him.
• The Chase: It's Volpina against each of them in a long-winded hide-and-seek campaign.
• The Chessmaster: Hawk Moth, trying to utilize Lila and her plans to his benefit.
• The Dragon: Volpina, underneath Hawk Moth, is at first. She usurps him, however.
• There Is No Kill Like Overkill: Rena Rouge is bludgeoned to death while Ladybug is Cataclysmed.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Volpina delivers these to the heroes one by one, calling them out on what she perceives as wrong with them.
• The Trickster: Volpina's entire toolbox consists of creating vivid hallucinations, as well as hiding her true intentions from Hawk Moth.
• The Sociopath: Lila shows no remorse for any of her actions.
• The Starscream: Volpina manages to overthrow Hawk Moth and escape his remote attempt on her life.
• Tonight, Someone Dies: It's all but spelled out by the summary. Sure enough, a few heroes fall.
• Tragedy: Between Hawk Moth realizing too late Chat Noir is his son, and Chloé's throat being slit in front of Rena Rouge, things do not go well for most of everyone.
• Tragic Mistake: Not everything goes well given they're dealing with illusions. Chat Noir's reckless charge at Volpina costs him his life.
• Trap Is the Only Option: Following Volpina to where she leads them is pretty much the only hope the heroes have for defeating her and winning.
• Trash Talk: An integral part of Lila's speeches, especially during the fight with Ladybug.
• Trauma Conga Line: Nino is put through one. First, he's separated from the team, mentally tortured, tricked into killing his girlfriend, and then, last, but not, least, being choked out cold and then arousing right beside her dead body. Furthermore, Lila only let him live out of Cruel Mercy. And to add salt to the wound, a note, written before the battle, talking about playing a game with her later is still at his apartment when he arrives.
• True Companions: The heroes work pretty well together, and care for each other on varying levels. Rena Rouge and Carapce stand out as lovers.
• Unintentional Final Message: The aforementioned note left by Alya.
• Unstoppable Rage: Part of Volpina's plan is to bait them and exploit their anger. It works particularly well with Chat Noir when he rushes at her no holds barred. This allows her to easily take him down.
• Unwitting Pawn: Rena Rouge gets double-tapped for this role. The first time, the sight of her causes Chloé to freeze for a second, allowing Volpina to murder her as planned For the Evulz. Next, she's used as part of an illusion designed to trick Caparace into beating her to death.
• Victory by Endurance: Attempted by both sides, the heroes trying to outlast and rendezvous at the Eiffel Tower, and Volpina trying to survive longer, enough for their mental states to decline drastically.
• Villain Team-Up: Hawk Moth agrees to help Lila realize their mutual desire to take down the good Miraculous users.
• Violence Is Disturbing: Alya's death in a nutshell; it's pretty graphic and she is helpess against it becaus she's tied down.
• Would Hurt a Child: Both villains in the story have no qualms about hurting everyone in Paris, despite Volpina herself being a child.
• Xanatos Speed Chess: Lila's plan revolves largely around confusion and chaos, so she has to be constantly thinking two steps ahead.
• You Fight Like a Cow: Volpina has fun insulting the heroes' skills.
• You Make Me Sick: More or less what the heroes say to Volpina on occasion.
• Your Mind Makes It Real: With so many illusions, it's hard to for the heroes to know what is and isn't there. One instance is when Queen Bee constantly switches between thinking there is and isn't someone following her in the subway tunnels. Another one is Rena Rouge convincing herself she is attacking the real Volpina; she is wrong.

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