Fanfic / Waiting for a Miracle (Miraculous Ladybug)

Waiting for a Miracle is a Miraculous Ladybug Fanfic by Apathetic_Abstract_Apotheosis, the same author who wrote the RWBY Fanfic series, The Wandering One

It is a retelling of the events of the third season through the perspective of Chloe, though things soon branch out when she and Marinette grow closer, in more ways than one.

There is also a sequel called Paying for Your Mistakes, which centers around the fallout from Chloe's time as Miracle Queen and subsequently becoming the next Guardian.

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Waiting for a Miracle provides examples of the following tropes:

Waiting for a Miracle

• Adaptation Expansion: The reason for Chloe's initial hostility towards Marinette is due to misunderstanding minor things Marinette does like being late to class or missing a homework assignment being an attempt to spite her.
• Adaptational Heroism: While Chloe was far more antagonistic to her peers in canon due to her elitist mindset, her initial behavior in this fic is more the result of her belief that things have to be "orderly", and that making the class dynamic neat and organized is "for their own good". In addition, while Chloe still betrayed Marinette and worked with Hawkmoth as Miracle Queen, instead of being defeated by Ladybug and Chat Noir and later trying to steal the Miracle Box on her own, Chloe breaks free of Hawkmoth's control, and then becomes the next Guardian after Ladybug relinquishes authority of the Miracle Box to her.
• Adaptational Gender Identity: Adrien, or rather Adrienne, comes out as transgender, and starts using she/her pronouns.
• Adaptational Intelligence: In canon, as a result of forcing Sabrina to do all of her schoolwork, Chloe is borderline illiterate. Here, she's far more intelligent than Marinette initially believes, being very skilled in subjects like math and science. However... see Brilliant, but Lazy below.
• Adaptational Jerkass: Alya is far more standoffish in this story, and isn't as willing to trust Chloe as Marinette is.
• Adaptational Sexuality:
  • Marinette comes out as bisexual in this story, when she showed no interest in any girls in canon.
  • Later on, Chloe realizes she has feelings for Marinette, much to her initial horror.
  • Alix nonchalantly tells Chloe she's a lesbian, assuming she already knew, as a way to reassure her that she won't be judged for being gay.
• Ascended Extra: Alix, someone who was part of Marinette's friend group, becomes a more prominent character in the story, acting as one of Chloe's confidants who even helps her realize she's a lesbian who has feelings for Marinette.
• Brilliant, but Lazy: Chloe believes that since she already knows most of the subject material, she doesn't see the point in doing the homework, so she has Sabrina do it instead, believing the practice is good for her. Marinette mentions that Chloe used to hate science, and Chloe explains that she only picked up her grades after her father threatened to cut her allowance.
• Closet Geek: Chloe usually keeps her love of Princess Yuri a secret, as does Alix.
  Chloe: Girls like me aren’t supposed to like manga or anime. We’re supposed to be fashionable and gossip about boys and other wishy-washy things.
• Control Freak: Chloe is very keen on maintaining order in class, and whenever things aren't perfectly organized, she says it feels "wrong". The very sight of Marinette's messy room is enough to make Chloe visibly uncomfortable.
• Disabled in the Adaptation: While it's not outright stated in the story, Chloe's obsession with order and schedules, coupled with it being listed as one of the tags, are signs she is somewhere on the autism spectrum.
• Hidden in Plain Sight: What Marinette's plan to make Chloe the next Guardian at the end amounts to. Because Chloe worked with Hawkmoth (at least, initially), he believes Ladybug would never trust her with a Miraculous again, making her the last person he would suspect to be the next Guardian.
• Oblivious to Love: Despite all the hints that the two main characters in Princess Yuri are in love with each other, Chloe firmly believes that they're only close friends. The in-universe Relationship Upgrade is what gets her to realize her own less-than-platonic feelings for Marinette.
  Chloe: I’m going to stop you right there. What lesbians? None of these books are about lesbians, other than the school council president and secretary in Princess Yuri, there are no lesbians or bisexuals in these. What’s that look for?
  Alix: Um, maybe try any of the protagonists of these manga and their best friend? Maybe try Akiko and Mariko?
  Chloe: [snorts in derision] Come on, they aren’t gay. There was a whole arc where Akiko was trying to gather the courage to ask out Satoshi, remember?
  Alix: I do remember. I also remember how Satoshi was almost identical to Mariko except for being a boy, and that at the end of the arc, Akiko decided to stop pursuing him because she didn’t want anything to get in the way of her ‘friendship’ with Mariko.
  Chloe: They're just really good friends.
  Alix: *sarcastically* Yes, my really good friends and I kiss each other on the cheeks as thanks and regularly cling onto one another and give out hugs like they were candy. The series is called Princess Yuri.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Invoked. When Chloe invites Adrien to come over with the intent to tell her about Lila, Adrien is aware something is up because her schedule is normally set up so Adrien can only come over to hang out with Chloe on weekends.
• Politically Incorrect Hero: Heavily downplayed. Chloe is less bigoted against the LGBT community, and is more confused by the concept of things like Yuri manga or being transgender, and needs those to be explained to her.
• Politically Incorrect Villain:
  • When talking about Princess Yuri (see Show Within a Show below) with Chloe, Lila attempts to get a rise out of her by describing the series as "being about a couple of dykes". It doesn't work because Chloe has no idea what the slur even means.
  • While she isn't necessarily a villain, Alya doesn't take Marinette coming out to her as bisexual all that well.
• Show Within a Show: Chloe is a huge fan of the manga series, Princess Yuri. The two female leads confessing their love for each other is what made Chloe realize she has feelings for Marinette as well.
• The Stations of the Canon: The fic starts around the events of "Chameleon", and other events in canon still happen, though with Chloe being closer to Marinette, key events change the course of the narrative.
• Smarter Than You Look: Marinette is very surprised at how smart Chloe really is.

Paying for Your Mistakes

• The Atoner:
  • Chloe is this after the events of the previous fic.
  • Alya also wants to make up for her behavior towards Marinette during the previous fic.
• Adaptational Relationship Overhaul: Canon Zoe was willing to put up with her half-sister's attitude, but the Zoe in this fic is initially far more hostile to Chloe. It's justified, because she's naturally angry at Chloe for allegedly siding with Hawkmoth.
• Character Catchphrase: Su-Han's go-to insult for anyone who gets in his way is "insolent child".
• Discard and Draw: Because she can't use the Bee Miraculous anymore, Chloe transforms using the Horse Miraculous when she takes Su-Han to meet Ladybug and Chat Noir, calling herself Pegasister.
• Flat "What": Chloe's reaction to Audrey casually introducing Chloe to Zoe, her half-sister she didn't even know she had.
• Foreign-Language Tirade: While arguing with her mother, Zoe switches back to her native English tongue to swear at her because she doesn't know any curse words in French. Audrey takes offense at the fact that she isn't speaking French.
• In Spite of a Nail:
  • Grandmaster Su-Han still doesn't approve of the new Guardian being a teenager, much less one who uses a Miraculous too.
  • An amnesiac Fu is still akumatized
• Klingons Love Shakespeare: Chloe teaches the Kwamis about television, and they all start watching anime on one of her streaming services.
• Locked Out of the Loop: Marinette never told Chloe about Feast being defeated and the Guardians being freed months ago until they met Su-Han.
• Loophole Abuse: Even though the Guardian isn't supposed to use a Miraculous, Su-Han decides it's okay for Chloe to use the Horse Miraculous when she introduces him to Ladybug and Cat Noir because "she's not truly the Guardian".
• Offscreen Karma: While apologizing to Marinette for not accepting her bisexuality, we learn why Alya and Nino broke up in the previous fic: Alya mentions that she ranted to Nino about Marinette's bisexuality, Nino naturally didn't take it well, and as a result, the two broke up.
• Take That!:
  • The fic opens with Chloe criticizing Master Fu's hands-off approach to mentoring Ladybug and Chat Noir, with the points she makes being similar criticisms fans have against the character in canon. She points out the simplistic Secret Test of Character he employed when choosing Marinette and Adrien, not giving either hero their Miraculous in person, and basically compares Ladybug and Chat Noir to Child Soldiers.
  • When Su-Han first demonstrates his Mira-Kung Fu, Chloe laughs at the ridiculous name it has. Later on, she internally questions why the martial art is useless against people empowered by the Butterfly Miraculous when it's designed to stop rogue Miraculous users.
• You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!:
  • This is basically how Su-Han reacts when he learns that Chloe doesn't know the identity of Cat Noir, who has control over Plagg.
  • Chloe has a similar reaction when she learns that Mira-Kung Fu is used to stop rogue Miraculous users, not people empowered by the Miraculous like Akumas.

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