Fanfic / What Goes Around Comes Around (Miraculous Ladybug)

Marinette arranges a party for her classmates before vacation. But Lila has other plans, convincing most of their class to join her on a jaunt over to Versailles — and naturally, Marinette and Chloé aren't invited. Once again, Adrien reminds Marinette that she's got to stick to 'the high road' and ride things out...

Unfortunately for Adrien, Hawk Moth has other plans. And Gabriel has ulterior motives for letting Lila take so many guests over to Versailles — he's learned Ladybug's Secret Identity and intends to strike while she's isolated and alone. But he dramatically underestimates just what his teenaged adversary is capable of... and in the aftermath, it's time for everyone to reap what they's sown for themselves, good and bad alike.

What Goes Around Comes Around is a Recursive Fanfiction by cornholio4 that explores an alternative take on the events of The Karma of Lies. Has become a series, with a sequel titled Truth & Journalism released.

See also Tales of Karmic Lies Aftermath, another recursive work by the same author that explores the same universe as The Karma of Lies.

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Tropes:

What Goes Around Comes Around

What Goes Around Comes Around contains examples of:

• Abusive Parents: Both of the Agreste parents were Control Freaks, and regard their son as nothing more than an extension of their will.
• Adaptational Heroism:
  • In a Downplayed example, Juleka and Rose start their redemption arcs much faster compared to The Karma of Lies, skipping the Versailles party entirely and bringing Luka to visit Marinette while they apologize for going along with the rest of the class.
  • Sabrina gets her own redemption arc, joining Juleka and Rose when they attend Marinette's party and apologizing as well, along with a deeper Heel Realization upon learning that she helped Chloé bully Ladybug.
• Adaptational Intelligence: Downplayed. It's implied that Gabriel plays things a little smarter due to his wife's influence, such as having Mayura spy on Ladybug until he discovers her secret identity. Yet he remains fatally overconfident.
• Adaptational Nice Guy: Amelie is much warmer and nicer to Adrien than she was in The Karma of Lies.
• Adaptational Villainy:
  • Of a sort; in The Karma of Lies, Chloé goes through Adaptational Heroism and Character Development following a Heel Realization. Here, she has no such moment, and instead tries to seize the Miracle Box for herself... so, she's actually closer to her canon counterpart.
  • In canon, Emilie is said to have been a loving mother and kind woman; here, it's revealed that she's just as much of an Abusive Parent and villain as her husband.
• All for Nothing:
  • Once Lila's true nature becomes clear, Nino laments that they ignored Marinette's warnings and kept upsetting her for nothing.
  • What all of Adrien’s attempts to help his parents, Chloé and Lila be shown leniency end up as: Chloé and Lila end up happily working with the villains AGAIN in order to get revenge on Marinette and on Paris, while his mother ends up manipulating him into handing over his ring, allowing her to break out his father and set up one last attack to obtain the Earrings.
• Alternate Universe:
  • To The Karma of Lies, exploring a What If? where Gabriel played things a little smarter thanks to his wife's influence and acted first.
  • Aside from the obvious divergences from Canon, the events of "Lies" played out, but not those of "Truth", so Marinette and Luka never broke up, while Adrien and Kagami did.
• Asshole Victim: Averted; when Marinette hears that Adrien and Felix were kidnapped, she immediately notes that while she's upset with them, that doesn't mean they deserve anything like that.
• Bad Boss: Both of the Agrestes. Emilie doesn't even bother with the slightest pretense of treating Chloé and Lila as though they're anything more than disposable pawns, berating both girls. They're also dismissive towards Nathalie, and treat their own son like nothing more than an extension of their will. All four betray them as a direct result of this mistreatment, though only the latter two do so effectively.
• Bad Liar: Played for Laughs with Kagami; when Rose gushes over the kwami and asks her if she can believe their superheroes were granted powers by such adorable creatures, Kagami nervously feigns ignorance in a way that has Marinette mentally sighing that she needs to look into acting lessons.
• Berserk Button:
  • Insulting Luka, insisting that he is just a second choice rebound for Marinette has quickly become one for her.
  • Juleka also reacts this way when Alya declares that Luka isn't anything special, kicking her in the shin and coldly reminding her that she's talking about her brother.
• Big Bad Wannabe: Chloé and Lila. Neither has the influence or skill they believe themselves to, particularly Lila, who finds that as far as the Agrestes are concerned, she's an Unwitting Pawn just like Chloé and Nathalie. On top of this, both attempt to become The Starscream, but are swiftly thwarted.
• Blackmail: In order to ensure Lila's compliance, Gabriel intended to blackmail her if she ever rebelled by threatening to reveal how much school she skipped with all her fake 'trips around the world'.
• Bittersweet Ending:
  • For Adrien: He's able to redeem himself during the final battle with his parents, and has taken full responsibility for his actions both as Chat Noir and as himself. And while was able to get back into Marinette’s, Plagg’s and Nino’s good graces, some still believe he was an accomplice to his parents, whom he's lost in more ways than simply seeing them jailed. The rest of his former friends (apart from Nino at least) apparently still distrust as well. Finally, he has to leave for London with his cousin and aunt, but he is now on better terms with them.
  • Nathalie also faces an uncertain future. While she got a reduced sentence, her status as a Sentimonster is now known not only by the police, but by her original counterpart's family, who are facing the Awful Truth that she was replaced years ago. While her relatives have extended a tentative offer to try starting anew after she serves her time, she isn't certain whether it would be fair to accept it.
• Break the Haughty: Adrien goes through this throughout the whole story: First, he ends up missing the final confrontation with Shadow Moth, and has to deal with the revelation that he is his father. When he finds out Ladybug is Marinette, he tries to hook up with her and to get her to forgive Chloé and Lila, to no avail. Then he foolishly breaks Emilie out of the hospital, and is tricked into handing over his Miraculous, finding out too late that she is also a supervillain. Then, when he tries to recruit the class and Marinette into giving his parents leniency for their crimes, not only do all of them flat out refuse, but he also accidentally reveals the fact that he had known about Lila’s lies, destroying their trust in him and getting him questioned by Roger. Finally, he is kidnapped alongside his cousin, is told by his own mother straight to his face on how naive he is and how she hates his desire for freedom, and learns that Felix is the ‘ideal son’ Emilie created with the Peacock Miraculous and they now plan to merge them both to make him the perfect son. Sufficient to say, Adrien is CLEARLY shattered by all this.
• Broken Pedestal:
  • Upon finding out that Marinette is Ladybug, Chloé is furiously convinced that Marinette 'tricked' her into idolizing Ladybug.
  • Marinette admits that learning her favorite designer was Hawk Moth came as a bit of a blow, though so much else has happened that she's had little time to dwell upon that.
  • Adrien gets one after the Internal Reveal that he was Chat Noir coupled with his lack of regard for everything his friends endured thanks to Hawk Moth and Lila.
  • Adrien’s rose-tainted view of his parents is finally shattered after learning how much his parents look down on him and what they intend for him and Felix.
• But Now I Must Go: Adrien leaves for London at the end of the story with his aunt and cousin.
• Calling Parents by Their Name: Adrien does this to Gabriel at the end of the climax to show that he has disowned his parents.
• Calling the Old Man Out: After Adrien manipulates his mother and gets the Ring back from her, Gabriel orders Adrien to give it back. Adrien responds by stomping on his foot, twisting his arm and informing him that he hopes that he and his wife burn in Hell while calling Gabriel by his name.
• Cassandra Truth:
  • Lila finds herself on the wrong end of this when informed that she could face charges for Hawk Moth’s terrorist actions in New York. Though she protests that she honestly had no idea about his plans and was Locked Out of the Loop, the interrogator clearly isn't convinced.
  • Marinette doesn't believe Adrien's claim that he was Chat Noir at first, though Tikki quickly steps in to back him up. Similarly, Nino thought it was an ill-considered joke before realizing he was telling the truth.
  • Marinette doesn't buy Nathalie's story of how the truth is that she is a Sentimonster duplicate of the real Nathalie Sancoeur at first.
• Caught on Tape:
  • Gabriel recorded several of his discussions about Hawk Moth-related business with Nathalie, which provides ample amounts of evidence to the investigators upon its discovery.
  • Lila and Chloé also run afoul of this when they go after the Akuma butterfly Catastrophe sent them, as the whole chase is caught by security cameras.
• The Chain of Harm: Adrien's attempts to get with Marinette are him trying to treat her like his parents treat him. His character arc involves growing out of this.
• Composite Character: Played for Horror when Emilie announces her and Gabriel’s intentions to Wish for Adrien and Felix to be forcibly merged into a more 'ideal son', with Adrien's appearance and submissiveness but more of Felix's intelligence and personality.
• Convicted by Public Opinion: Amelie warns Adrien that some people will naturally assume he was in league with his father, which is why she wants to take him to London. As it turns out, she's correct — even after he comes out as Chat Noir and the role he plays in the final confrontation, several remain convinced that he must have been working with his parents.
• Crazy-Prepared: Before going into her cryogenic pod, Emilie set up a backup plan by supercharging an Akuma butterfly and leaving it locked up in storage for years.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: This is the result of Ladybug using the Mouse Miraculous to wield all Miraculous at once against Shadow Moth.
• Dare to Be Badass: Pollen entreats Sabrina to stand up to Chloé and prove that she never needed her by becoming the new Bee heroine to challenge Antibug.
• Didn't Think This Through:
  • Hawk/Shadow Moth personally attacked Marinette's home in order to get his hands on the Miracle Box. He failed to consider how this was the girl who had repeatedly defeated him due to her ability to think fast on her feet, that she likely had the Miracle Box with her, and that he was providing her with ample reason to pull out all the stops... and exposing himself directly to danger.
  • He also attempts to akumatize Ladybug... sending his Akuma butterfly straight into the path of her yo-yo, allowing her to catch and cleanse it instantly.
  • Chloé legitimately thought that she could barge into Marinette's way at the exit of the hospital and bully her into handing over the Miracle Box, expecting to get what she wanted through force of personality and threats of her father shutting down her parents' bakery. She didn't consider that Marinette might just refuse, much less that threatening the savior of Paris might end up having repercussions for her.
  • Adrien gets a major moment of this when he trusts his mother with the Cat Ring, failing to consider the potential ramifications of the act until after she dismisses his warning that 'Catastrophe' sounds too villainous and orders him to wait for further instructions from his parents.
    • Adrien gets two more in Chapter 11 — first, he reveals he wants Marinette and his classmates to help him ensure that his parents are shown leniency for their actions, ignoring all the damage they caused. Then while trying to win her over, he claims that he 'helped her' with Lila, unintentionally revealing to his other friends that he knew about her scamming them all along. Not only does this destroy their trust in him, he finds himself facing potential legal trouble as well.
  • A key part of what brings the Agrestes down is their failure to consider that Nathalie and Adrien might not appreciate being told that they only exist to serve them, causing both to rebel.
• Discontinuity Nod:
  • Alya complains to Nino that if Marinette had just told her she was Ladybug from the start, she could've convinced her to make Rena Rouge into a permanent hero, referencing how she became her Secret-Keeper and a more permanent hero in Season 4 — both events that never happened here.
  • Near the end of the fic, Nino comforts Alya by outlining how it could be worse, like how Lila could have escaped Paris while ensuring she couldn't be prosecuted for what she'd done. The very scenario he outlines happens in The Karma of Lies, doubling as a Shout-Out to its inspiration.
• The Dog Bites Back: After all the emotional abuse that Adrien had gone through by his parents, he ends up helping Hawkbug by tricking his mother into going into a position for him to take the Ring back and ends up attacking his father, effectively disowning the both of them by calling Gabriel by his name.
• Dramatic Irony: Adrien thinks about how he hates 'unnecessary drama', ignoring how often he turned a blind eye to the unnecessary drama Chloé and Lila were causing with their bullying and manipulation.
• Dramatically Missing the Point:
  • Upon hearing that Lila and Chloé have been arrested, Adrien thinks that this means Marinette will stop causing 'unnecessary drama' in class, and comments to Nino that things should be back to normal after their vacation, wondering whether this will help Marinette finally bury the hatchet.
  • Despite how Marinette is clearly struggling with the impact of her secret identity being exposed, Alya still wants to out herself and Nino, asking for 'their' Miraculous so they can transform live on the Ladyblog for another 'exclusive'.
    • Alya also fails to realize that Marinette’s trust in her had been tarnished due to her actions, and fully expects her to keep her on as Rena Rouge. The fact she had also asked for the Fox and Turtle Miraculouses so she and Nino can reveal themselves on the Ladyblog doesn’t help either.
  • When refuting Adrien's attempts to defend his father's actions, Plagg reminds him of Syren flooding the city, an incident that was also one of Adrien's most infamous moments. Adrien accuses him of being unsympathetic, ignoring how he put his hurt feelings over protecting Paris.
  • Marinette asks Alya if she watched her interview with Nadja. Alya affirms that she did... but everything Marinette said flew right over her head, as she complains about Marinette standing up for herself and her boyfriend and debunking the Ladyblog's lies.
• Earn Your Happy Ending:
  • After everything Marinette goes through over the course of the story, she's able to secure a decisive victory over Shadow Moth, defeating Catastrophe with the help of her parents and True Companions, reconcile with Adrien, and confidently kiss her boyfriend after giving him the Ring.
  • Adrien, meanwhile, puts a more Bittersweet tinge on this. Compared to his counterpart from The Karma of Lies, Adrien winds up in a much better position by virtue of recognizing and making amends for his mistakes. While most of his classmates still despise him after his Betrayal by Inaction, and some citizens of Paris believe he was Evil All Along and supporting his parents' criminal endeavors, he's able to reconcile with Marinette and Plagg, and finds happiness with Amelie and Felix as his newfound family.
• Easily Forgiven:
  • Alya expects Marinette to treat the way she brushed her off for so long as nothing more than the barest blip in their friendship, declaring that she thinks they can move past this before offering a token apology.
  • Adrien similarly expects Marinette to forgive his refusal to help deal with Lila, as well as the fact that Chat Noir failed to show up when Shadow Moth attacked her home (she did accept his apology about the last part however, as he was actually apologetic). Just like Alya, he glosses over it with a token apology, more focused on getting what he wants out of her.
  • He also expects his parents to benefit from this, despite his father being exposed as Hawk Moth and his mother supporting his criminal endeavors and breaking him out of jail.
  • By the climax, Adrien weaponizes this, leading Emilie to assume he's forgiven her for her betrayal and Breaking Speech by rushing to her side.
• Entitled Bastard:
  • Chloé haughtily demands that Marinette surrender the Miracle Box to her, insisting that Pollen is hers and that she deserves the rest of the kwami, too.
  • Alya naturally expects special treatment upon learning that her 'bestie' was Ladybug, casually declaring that Marinette owes her extra exclusive interviews after keeping this secret from her for so long. She also sees the Fox as her Miraculous and wants to reveal herself to the world as Rena Rouge, demanding the same privilege for her boyfriend.
  • Nino assumes that being a Childhood Friend means that Marinette will swiftly forgive him for bailing on her so often lately.
  • And while he’s more on the naive side, Adrien wants his father, Chloé and Lila to be fully forgiven for their crimes, expecting Marinette to support him because, since she's obviously his soulmate, she's got to be fully invested in his happiness. It takes getting kidnapped and a Breaking Speech from Catastrophe in order for him to drop this.
• Entitled to Have You: Upon learning that Marinette was Ladybug, Adrien immediately assumes he'll finally get the Relationship Upgrade he's been gunning for.
• Et Tu, Brute?: Nino in particular is hit hard by this once Adrien accidentally reveals he had allowed Lila to fool everyone, thinking back on how he had stood up for Adrien on his birthday.
• Everyone Has Standards: The classmates not in Marinette’s group are taken aback by Adrien asking Marinette to help ensure that his parents are shown leniency. They argue against his claims that there was no damage as they all plus loved ones had been Akumatized before.
• Evil All Along: A Flashback reveals that Emilie wanted to abuse the Peacock's powers to secretly rule the world, and was only held back by how it was damaged and the impracticality of how she wanted to go about it. She also saw Adrien's desire for freedom as 'foolish'.
• Fatal Flaw:
  • All three of the Agrestes share one: arrogance. Gabriel, Emilie and Adrien all believe that their desires supersede others, and that they deserve to get what they desire simply because of who they are. How anyone else feels about this simply doesn't matter to any of them.
  • Alya suffers from Skewed Priorities; her Ladyblog comes first and foremost, and she takes everything else — like Marinette's friendship — for granted. She also places her Adrienette ship over what Marinette actually wants, dismissing her relationship with Luka as an easily discardable 'rebound'.
• Foreshadowing:
  • Alya mentions that her parents reminded her about Marinette's party when she told them about the invitation to Versailles, but that she told them it would be fine. Later on, Marlene reveals that Alya misled them, making it sound as though Marinette canceled so she could attend the Versailles shindig, even though Alya also knew she wasn't invited to that.
  • During one of Nathalie's POV sections, she states that she would help ensure the Agrestes achieved all their goals, as if that was her sole reason for existence. As it turns out, she's a Sentimonster created for just that purpose.
• For Want Of A Nail:
  • Thanks to Gabriel having Mayura secretly tail Ladybug after Akuma battles, Gabriel learned Ladybug's Secret Identity and schemes to ambush her in her own home.
  • In order to ensure Marinette's isolation, Gabriel sets up the event in Versailles and has Lila invite her whole class there, deliberately excluding Marinette from the guest list. This unintentionally ensures that Chat Noir misses out on the fight.
  • The police immediately freeze the Agreste assets, and swiftly discover evidence of Nathalie's involvement while investigating the manor, leading to her arrest.
  • Similarly, Lila's complicity and cooperation with Hawk Moth is uncovered by the police, and she gets arrested as well.
• Forbidden Fruit: Amelie reveals that the Butterfly and Peacock belonged to the Graham de Vanily family for generations. Despite how one of them was rumored to be cursed, Emilie took an interest in them after finding an ancient tome that described the Miraculous and their powers.
• Freudian Excuse: At the end of the day, all of Adrien’s motivations regarding his parents, friends and Marinette were mainly due to his lonely sheltered upbringing, and wanting love and companionship. However, this also makes him make some VERY questionable decisions, such as handing over his Miraculous to his mother. There is also the implication that his parents' abuse of him means he doesn't understand healthy relationships.
• Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: Plagg mocks Adrien's assertation that his father's actions were justified:
  Adrien: Was I just stopping my dad from fixing my family all along when we've been fighting these last three years?
  Plagg: (sarcastically) Oh, yes, it totally justifies everything that he did! It doesn't matter that one of my Akuma flooded the city because I was just trying to help my wife!
• Godzilla Threshold: Getting attacked at home drives Marinette to break out all the Miraculouses, using the Mouse's multiplying powers to create an army of Multimice, each one transforming again with another Miraculous so that she can bring all their powers to bear against Shadow Moth.
• Hard Truth Aesop: Adrien learns several lessons that challenge his worldview in the finale:
  • People are most often NOT going to be the perfect versions you envisioned them as. And expecting them to act the way you want them to is just naive and selfish. And most often, they aren’t going to, no matter what you do.
    • And sadly, this can apply to family as well, as family members can be awful towards you despite your familial ties towards them. If they are abusive to you, just cut ties with them and move on.
  • Bad people don’t need to have a sympathetic excuse to be bad: There are people who are simply bad just for the sake of it, and they can’t be reasoned with.
    • And when you know someone is bad, you have an obligation to keep them from hurting others. Just letting them do as they want is only enabling their bad behaviour and doesn’t magically reform them. And if people are hurt because of the enabling, they are going to blame you as well, regardless of whether you were their friend or not.
• Hearing Voices: Happens to Nooroo as a side-effect of Emilie using the supercharged akuma butterfly she stored on Lila and Chloé.
• The Heavy: Technically speaking, Gabriel Agreste and his wife Emilie are a Big Bad Duumvirate; however, Emilie becomes the most direct threat after she awakens and manipulates Chat Noir into handing over the ring so that she can become Catastrophe. Even after breaking her husband out of prison, she continues to take charge and drive the plot, since he no longer has a Miraculous.
• Heel Realization: Adrien has one after Emilie’s "Reason You Suck" Speech to him, having finally realized his parents need to be stopped.
• He Knows Too Much: In order to protect their plans, Gabriel and Emilie murdered Nathalie and replaced her with a Sentimonster.
• Heroic RRoD: After defeating and unmasking Hawk Moth, Ladybug suffers a Post-Victory Collapse and completely detransforms.
• Hoist by Their Own Petard:
  • Gabriel recorded several of his discussions about Hawk Moth-related business with Mayura, which the police subsequently find while searching the manor. These secret files provide mountains of evidence not just against him, but his assistant, Lila, and Chloé.
  • It's later revealed why he did this: at Emilie's request, giving her a database that would keep her up to date on what was going on outside her pod. Which also makes this an example on her end as well.
  • During their assault on Paris, Adrien and Felix are tied up inside the Doomsday Tank as hostages. This backfires against them when Felix apologizes to his cousin and slips him a ring, enabling Hawkbug to use Adrien's positive emotions to turn him into her Champion Shockwave. Emilie even protests that the Tank should have been invulnerable to everything aside from internal electric failure.
  • Following the final battle, Lila learns that both she and Chloé effectively destroyed one of the best defenses their lawyers could have used when they went after the Akuma butterfly Catastrophe sent them. Their eagerly jumping and fighting each other for it was witnessed by both officers and security cameras, making it impossible to argue that they were used completely against their will.
• Horrible Judge of Character:
  • Adrien seems to have completely convinced himself that Lila only lied in order to make friends, sympathizing with her and ignoring how maliciously she targeted and isolated Marinette.
  • He also falls hook, line and sinker for Emilie's sob story, giving her the Cat Ring over Plagg's protests.
• Hourglass Plot: Seen with Emilie and Adrien. In their first meeting, Emilie manipulates Adrien into trusting her with the Ring. Later on, Adrien offers her a hand up, only to wrench the Ring back off her finger, flipping their roles — this time he's the one playing innocent to manipulate her into trusting him.
• Humiliation Conga: Lila undergoes one; her outrage at learning Gabriel kept her Locked Out of the Loop is followed by her interrogation, where she's shown evidence of how he regarded her as nothing more than an Unwitting Pawn, and that he intended to Blackmail her if she ever rebelled against him.
• Hypocrite: Emelie's Breaking Speech to Adrien centers around his naive belief that Marinette will comply with his wishes, no matter how self-centered they are. This is coming from somebody who expects her son to do whatever she demands of him.
• The Idealist: Deconstructed with Adrien: Not only are his views naive and selfish, he also fully expects people and the world to be exactly how he imaged them, and said views also ultimately benefit him in some way on closer inspection (eg: Marinette being the perfect doting girlfriend, Nino always standing by him no matter what he does). While he does drop the selfishness in the end, he does show signs of playing this trope straight, such as wanting to make the best of his new life with Amelie and Felix, who he warmly addresses as his mother and brother.
• I Just Want to Be Loved: Combined with "Well Done, Son" Guy, this is what makes Adrien so willing to believe his parents’ claims and why he wants to help them be shown leniency, as he believes that if he helps them, he will finally have the happy home life he has dreamed of. It takes Emilie’s Breaking Speech before he realizes that it is never going to happen regardless, as his parents don’t really love or accept him for who he is.
• In Spite of a Nail:
  • Chat Noir still misses the crucial confrontation where Hawk/Shadow Moth is defeated and unmasked due to being at a party with his classmates. Though in this case, Adrien isn't the one throwing the party and the final battle had been over by the time that he was aware of it.
  • Marinette and Gabriel still undergo a mutual unmasking at the climax of their confrontation.
  • Adrien still assumes that he and Ladybug can get together now that he knows she's Marinette, despite her constantly rejecting his advances as Chat Noir.
  • Once the class finds out about Adrien's Betrayal by Inaction, they respond the same way, furiously calling him out for letting them get scammed and breaking off their friendships with him.
• Internal Reveal:
  • Mrs. Rossi reveals to Alya and Nino that she and Lila were NEVER in Achu during Heroes Day.
  • Marlene was under the impression that Marinette canceled the party she was throwing for her friends, rather than having everyone cancel on her. She learns otherwise when Alya and Nino can't maintain a poker face after she comments on this.
  • The class finally learns Adrien had known all along about Lila when they overhear him trying to 'coax' Marinette into staying with him by reminding her how he 'stood by her' during her reign. And unfortunately for him, so does Officer Roger.
  • Marinette learns the extent of Gabriel's original plan from Nathalie, along with how his assistant was killed and replaced by a Sentimonster.
• Irony:
  • Lila intended to use the party to actually follow through on some of her promises by making real celebrity connections and using them to assist her classmates, all for the sake of further humiliating Marinette and making her out as the liar.
  • Gabriel notes how ironic it is to Nathalie that she was using the Peacock Miraculous and suffered under it’s effects when the Miraculous itself created her.
• It's All About Me:
  • Lila is such an Attention Whore that she finds Marinette's decision not to visit her in jail and gloat about her downfall to be even more insulting than anything she could possibly say.
  • Similarly, Chloé feels slighted by, of all things, Nadja naming her last while listing off Hawk Moth and his accomplices.
• Jaw Drop: Marinette reacts that way upon hearing that Miss Bustier made a statement to Face-to-Face about how she was a 'model student' and that she expected her to Turn the Other Cheek and forgive Chloé and Lila for their treatment of her.
• Jerkass Has a Point:
  • When Adrien protests Amelie's plan to take him to London, Felix points out that his main counterargument doesn't work: he wants to stay with his Parisian friends, except they just learned about his Betrayal by Inaction and are understandably upset... so much that they may not even consider him to be their friend anymore.
  • As harsh as Catastrophe was to Adrien after kidnapping him, she is ultimately right about the fact that Marinette is NOT going to hand over her earrings to him so he can use them for his supervillain parents and that Adrien was being selfish, entitled and naive to expect Marinette to do such a thing simply because of his belief that she is his ‘soulmate’.
• Karma Houdini Warranty: As in the work that inspired it, much of the plot revolves around these expiring for various figures:
  • Gabriel ensures his own downfall by leaving his lair to attack the Dupain-Cheng bakery, providing Ladybug with the chance to take him down once and for all.
  • Nathalie's expires thanks to her boss keeping security cam footage of their conversations, leaving ample evidence that she was involved in his terrorist scheming.
  • Lila and Chloé have theirs run out for the same reason, as Gabriel gloated about their willingness to work with him.
  • As of Chapter 11, Adrien's expires when he makes clear that he wants his parents to be shown leniency for their crimes. Marinette calls him out on his entitlement and makes clear that he's never going to be trusted with a Miraculous again, and he accidentally reveals his Betrayal by Inaction to everyone, shattering his classmates' trust in him and drawing Officer Roger's attention.
• Kick the Dog: Chloé is legitimately happy to see Emilie again, but gets rebuffed just as nastily as she treats Lila. To say nothing of how Emilie treats her own son...
• Legion of Doom: Used to describe the new group consisting of Catastrophe, Gabriel Agreste, Nathalie Sancoeur, Volpina and Antibug.
• Lethally Stupid: Adrien in some shades due to his naivety, with his worst examples being when he hands over his Miraculous to his mother, and wanting to convince Marinette to hand over hers so his supervillain parents can use them.
• Loving a Shadow: Combined with The Idealist, this is one of Adrien’s flaws when it comes to people, as he expects them to be the idealized people he images them as: He believes Chloé and Lila are just misunderstood lonely girls that should be shown kindness when they act out instead of being punished, he expects Nino and the rest of the class to always stand by him simply because they are friends, he only starts to be interested in Marinette when she is revealed to be Ladybug (who is in turn, is expected to be the absolutely perfect devoted girlfriend to him simply because of the fact the Ladybug is the opposite of the Cat) and believes Gabriel and Emilie are misunderstood people simply because they are his parents and that they truly love him. At the end of the story, his views of Chloé, Lila and his parents are irreparably shattered, and he lets go of his beliefs that Marinette and his class are obligated to act the way he thinks they should due to said shattering.
• Luke, I Am Your Father: As it turns out, Emilie used the Peacock to create a son for her barren sister. Due to her self-centeredness, Felix turned out like the son she would have preferred to have, sharing her cunning and deviousness.
• Me's a Crowd: Marinette uses Multimouse and has each of her copies wield a different Miraculous in tandem with the Mouse in order to deal with Shadow Moth's assault.
• Mirror Character: Chloé and Lila, the class bullies, have this dynamic. Both are self-absorbed Attention Whores who believe the world should revolve around their every whim. Chloé is a Spoiled Brat who uses her father's power and influence to threaten and blackmail others into compliance, while Lila is a Manipulative Bitch who tricks others by spinning lies. Both believe themselves to be more powerful and devious than they actually are, and both were manipulated by Gabriel Agreste to his own ends. They also despise each other; Lila resents how Chloé was born into privilege and accuses her of being effectively worthless without that status, while Chloé accuses her of being jealous and not having anything beyond her lies.
• Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal:
  • After learning that she's a sentimonster, Nathalie turns on the Agrestes.
  • Lila and Chloé both scheme to betray the Agrestes after being openly treated as mere Mooks.
  • Emilie's Breaking Speech to Adrien turns him against his parents, and he helps the heroes out in the Final Battle.
• Moment Killer: A heartfelt conversation between Marinette and Luka nearly leads to a kiss, only for both to realize the Paparazzi are lurking outside snapping photos of them.
• Mundane Utility: Tom asks his daughter to let him borrow the Mouse Miraculous in order to provide extra staff for the bakery. Marinette refuses.
• My God, What Have I Done?:
  • While Sabrina was already feeling guilty for helping Chloé bully Marinette, she gets hit by an even harder Heel Realization upon realizing that she was tormenting Ladybug.
  • Downplayed but upon finding out that Marinette is Ladybug, Rose is apologetic once she realises that it meant that they fought each other when she was Princess Fragrance.
• Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Adrien comments on this when Emilie declares herself to be Catastrophe, suggesting that she come up with a less villainous-sounding name.
• Never My Fault: Alya tries to convince her parents that she needs to record the Doomsday Tank attack to repair the damage Lila did to her blog's reputation. Marlena points out to her daughter that she was the one to post Lila's lies without fact-checking.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain:
  • Coming out of hiding to attack the Dupain-Chengs' bakery directly gives Marinette the chance to take down Hawk/Shadow Moth once and for all, revealing his identity to the world and getting him arrested, along with setting in motion the downfall of his allies.
  • Emilie and Gabriel’s kidnapping of Adrien and Emilie’s Breaking Speech to him ultimately backfires on them, as the speech gives Adrien the resolve he needs to fight back against his parents, turning into a Champion by Hawkbug to take down the Doomsday Tank and is able to steal the Cat Ring while Emilie is distracted by his false embrace.
    • Their kidnapping of Felix also backfires, as he apologizes to Adrien for his past behaviour and hands him his father’s ring, allowing Hawkbug to make Adrien her Champion.
• No Sympathy:
  • The agent who reveals to Nathalie the identity of the body buried beneath the Agreste manor smirks cruelly at her clear shock at the news.
  • Felix smugly taunts his cousin about his parental problems, mocking his naivete, along with making light of him losing all his friends.
• Not Helping Your Case:
  • After Adrien learns that none of his classmates are going to support his crusade to save his parents from the consequences of their own actions, he 'reminds' Marinette how he 'stuck together' with her against Lila... letting both his classmates and Officer Roger know that he was aware of her lying the whole time.
  • When Alya's parents refuse to let her go out while the Doomsday Tank is rampaging through Paris, rejecting her insistence that Marinette will need Rena Rouge, she pleads that she still needs to get footage for her Ladyblog, claiming that it's the only way to repair her reputation after posting Lila's claims. This only proves to her parents how skewed her priorities are.
• Nothing Can Stop Me Now: Gabriel gloats that discovering who Ladybug is behind the mask has ensured his victory.
• Nothing Is the Same Anymore: Shadow Moth's final move destroys the Dupain-Cheng bakery and results in both he and Marinette having their secret identities exposed to the world, with Gabriel getting arrested. His co-conspirators are swift to follow, exposing the truth about Lila in the process to her classmates.
• Open Mouth, Insert Foot: Alya says that Luka isn't as special as Adrien, causing Juleka to kick her and remind her that's her brother she's talking about.
• Papa Wolf: Played for Laughs in regards to Roland after he finds out about the events at the bakery, demanding that the police station brings him Hawk Moth so that he could personally make him pay for endangering his granddaughter and their family.
• Playing the Victim Card: Gabriel is furious that Adrien hid the fact he was Chat Noir from him, painting himself as the victim of his son's dishonesty.
• Post-Victory Collapse: Happens to Marinette after defeating Shadow Moth and publicly revealing his identity to all of Paris.
• "Ray of Hope" Ending: For Adrien: He may have lost nearly everything, and has to leave for London, but the whole experience has helped him mature, and he is now on much better terms with Felix and his aunt, who are fully willing to support him in building a new life for himself.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech:
  • Emilie is quick to put both Lila and Chloé in their places, informing both that she knows exactly what kind of people they are and won't fall for their games.
  • Marinette calls out Adrien for lying about having her back and the bulk of her classmates for effectively abandoning her in favor of Lila's false promises.
  • Emilie gives one to her own son, telling him how naive he is to believe things will go his way, how much she hates his desire for freedom, and how much she prefers his cousin, Felix over him as well as revealing she and Gabriel intend to fuse Felix with him to give him his ‘best’ qualities.
• Recursive Fanfiction: For The Karma of Lies.
• Romantic Runner-Up: Played With; Alya and Adrien both regard Luka as this, expecting Marinette to dump him in favor of Adrien without any regard to her feelings on the matter.
• Saying Too Much:
  • Alya is prone to this, blithely dismissing Luka as 'nothing special' compared to Adrien and stressing to Marinette how she needs to give her exclusive interviews and whatnot for her blog.
  • Adrien tries to appeal to Marinette by claiming they need to be in this together like they were with Lila, ignoring how he refused to stand with her or defend her against the other's claims... and realizing too late that he just revealed that he knew all along in front of their whole class. Even worse, Roger hears it as well, and he VERY quickly approaches Adrien for questioning...
• Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!:
  • Lila tries to pull this card when the Versailles party is abruptly canceled, pointing out that Adrien is Gabriel's son while attempting to play up the illusion of her own connections. This backfires, as the Agreste company’s vice president snaps back that he couldn't possibly care less about Gabriel Agreste’s opinion right now.
  • Chloé threatens to have her father shut down the Dupain-Cheng bakery unless Marinette surrenders all the Miraculous to her. Marinette stands up to her and calls out how she's nothing more than a Spoiled Brat who relies upon abusing this to get her way.
  • When Mayor Bourgeois attempts to get his daughter exonerated, threatening the careers of everyone involved in her detainment, he gets arrested as well — on orders from the President himself.
  • In an interesting example of this, Ms. Bustier tries to use Marinette's status as Ladybug to ensure Chloé and Lila are Easily Forgiven (despite them being arrested for terrorism) by reminding her how she needs to set an example by forgiving them. Needless to say, Marinette absolutely refuses.
  • Averted by Marlena, who points out that it isn't Marinette's responsibility to help her secure a new job.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Plagg attempts this upon realizing that Adrien is about to give his mother the Cat Ring. Unfortunately, he isn't able to escape in time.
• Selective Obliviousness: Alya demonstrates this in regards to Marinette dating Luka, ignoring how happy and comfortable she is around him while insisting that she has to hook up with Adrien.
• Self-Serving Memory:
  • Chloé accuses Marinette of tricking her into admiring her heroic persona.
  • According to Adrien, he and Kagami broke up because they weren't compatible, and besides, she was his 'second choice'. Plagg even calls this out.
  • Adrien has the audacity to claim that he supported Marinette in dealing with Lila, when all he did was stand by and insist that she should Turn the Other Cheek.
• Sequel Hook: An internet news blogger by the name of Bill ‘Buster’ Brockman is seen typing up a post highly critical of Marinette/Ladybug to set up the sequel Truth & Journalism.
• Shed the Family Name: Adrien adopts his aunt’s family name as his own at the end of the story, as a sign that he has disowned his parents and is willing to start over in London.
• Shout-Out:
  • Marinette directly brings up Spider-Man: No Way Home in comparing her life now to Peter's at the start of the movie. She also muses about his situation by the film's end.
  • Chapter 13 ends with a teenager who's completely oblivious to the drama unfolding binging the Marvel Cinematic Universe watching the scene in Avengers: Infinity War where Stephen Strange remarks "We're in the endgame now."
  • During Chapter 14, Lila thinks of her misdeeds as 'Lies they wanted to hear', noting that she hated most of the musical that line came from, but enjoyed the song 'Wonderful', along with that particular phrase.
  • References to The Lament Series (ChaoticNeutral) are made as Lila and Chloé both think to themselves about what they plan to wish for when they both planned to strike and steal the Ladybug and Cat Miraculouses.
• Shipper on Deck:
  • Despite knowing that she's dating Luka, Alya blithely tells Marinette that she can dump her 'runner-up prize' and hook up with Adrien.
  • Alya's also ecstatic upon learning that Adrien is Chat Noir, gushing about how this means that both of her OTPs are one and the same.
    • However, she very quickly gives up on both ships after Adrien accidentally reveals that he’s been allowing Lila to scam them all out of money and valuables, declaring all of her focusing on them to have been a waste of time.
  • Horrifyingly, the Agrestes decide that they're on board with Marinette marrying Adrien (more specifically their idealized version with mostly characteristics from Felix), and intend to make a Wish that will rewrite the world accordingly. It is also a deconstruction: Trying to decide who their son marries is another way in which they are trying to control his life in ways they shouldn't.
• Ship Sinking: Marinette does this to all LadyNoir shippers during her interview with Nadja, citing that not only is she in a happy relationship with Luka but she doesn’t think she and Chat would have ever worked. Alya and her classmates also give up on it after learning how Adrien let Lila scam them all.
• Shut Up, Hannibal!: During their confrontation, Shadow Moth taunts Ladybug by blaming her for putting her family and friends in danger. She responds by throttling him with her yo-yo's string while spelling out how she won't let him blame her for his wrongdoing, spelling out how he's been repeatedly thwarted by a teenager and that this is the last time.
• Skewed Priorities:
  • When his own father is abruptly revealed to be Hawk/Shadow Moth, unmasked and arrested, followed swiftly by the revelation that Nathalie was his accomplice as Mayura... Adrien fixates more upon how Marinette is Ladybug, and that this means he can finally start dating his partner. Plagg can't help but sigh upon hearing him gush over this.
  • Alya cares more about her blog than she does Marinete's comfort. Despite being asked to give her friend space and time to process her feelings over everything that's happened, she insists that she needs to ensure she gets the first exclusive interview with her, and wants the Fox and Turtle so she and Nino can reveal themselves on the Ladyblog.
    • She also values the blog more than her own safety, as when the Doomsday Tank rampages through Paris, she wants to go out and capture footage.
  • She also prioritizes her ship over Marinette's happiness. Oh, she's happily dating Luka? Clearly he's just a rebound, and their relationship doesn't actually mean anything to her! She angrily renounces the ship once she learns Adrien had been allowing her to be scammed by Lila, declaring the whole thing to have been a waste of time.
  • Ms. Bustier wrote a letter to Nadja calling Marinette a 'model student and attempting to guilt-trip her into forgiving her classmates Chloé and Lila for everything they did, including aiding a terrorist.
• So Proud of You: Tom and Sabine quickly reassure Marinette after she wakes up in the hospital that they're proud of everything she's accomplished.
• Sore Loser: Played for Laughs with Pollen and Sass griping over how they couldn't beat Nooroo and Duusu in the Ultimate Mecha Strike games.
• Spanner in the Works: Downplayed; Gabriel expected that Marinette would be demoralized and alone after all her classmates head to Versailles. However, Juleka, Rose, Sabrina and Luka wind up attending her party anyway. Even if they hadn't been present, Marinette would have still been defending her home and parents from his assault, but their presence further shores up her Heroic Resolve.
• Spit Take: It's noted that the agent who learned the truth about Nathalie Sancoeur would have done that take had he been drinking coffee back then.
• The Starscream: Both Volpina and Antibug once they are Akumatized become this to the Agreste families. Both want to take the chance to both the Ladybug and Cat Miraculous for their own wishes.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: In the story both Lila and Chloé hate each other and them both being recruited by Catastrophe doesn’t change that.
• Tempting Fate:
  • Nathalie reassures Adrien that everything will be sorted out and return to normal in time... right before the police arrive to arrest her.
  • Potentially; while comforting Alya during the denouncement, Nino comments that they can likely repair their friendships with Marinette, unless she transfers to another class. Time will tell whether this is unintentional prophecy on his end.
• The Unmasking: Marinette is revealed to the world as Ladybug when Shadow Moth attacks her home, followed by her detransforming out of exhaustion after she unmasks him and takes him down.
• They Just Dont Get It: Chloé's final scene has her screaming "You Have No Idea Who You're Dealing With" and threatening to have her daddy shut down the whole prison complex and turn it into a spa, showing that she still doesn't grasp how serious her situation is.
• They're Called "Personal Issues" for a Reason: Marinette invokes this when Nadja brings up issues with her classmates as part of a statement by Ms. Bustier, not wanting to bring it out in the open to the public.
• Tomato in the Mirror:
  • Poor Nathalie is hit with one upon learning that they are a Sentimonster, created to replace the original Nathalie.
  • Later on, Felix finds out he is a Sentimonster himself while kidnapped. And even worse, the plan is for him to be merged with Adrien when Emilie and Gabriel recreate the world to create the 'perfect son'.
• Trash the Set: The Dupain-Cheng bakery is leveled in Shadow Moth's attack.
• Undying Loyalty: Nathalie is incredibly loyal to both Gabriel and Emilie Agreste, refusing to say anything when being interrogated after being arrested. It is hinted however that there is more to it as she discovers a dead body has been found underneath the manor identified to be Nathalie. She is later revealed to a Sentimonster doppelganger with her loyalty made into her.
• Unholy Matrimony: Emilie and Gabriel Agreste turn out to be a secret supervillain couple.
• Unwitting Pawn:
  • Lila had no idea that her employer had learned Ladybug's secret identity, or that the reason Gabriel proposed that she take all her classmates sans Marinette to Versailles was an attempt to akumatize Ladybug.
  • Adrien is easily manipulated by his mother into trusting her with the Cat Ring.
  • While she was further in the loop than Lila or Chloé, Nathalie had no idea the full scope of her bosses' plans, or that she wasn't the real Nathalie.
• The Villain Knows Where You Live: Shadow Moth reveals his discovery by attacking the Dupain-Cheng bakery, aiming a cannon right at Marinette's room and firing.
• Villain Respect: Both Gabriel and Emilie finds Marinette to be a Worthy Opponent, expressing the desire to make Marinette their daughter-in-law and successor. And unfortunately for her AND for Adrien, they want her to marry a fusion of him and Felix, not Adrien himself.
• Wham Line:
  • Spying on the agents evacuating Hawk Moth's lair, Adrien overhears them discussing his mother, and that there was a coffin with a skeleton hidden under her life support machine.
  • Chapter 9 ends with the revelation that the body belonged to Nathalie Sancoeur... with this news delivered directly to Nathalie Sancoeur.
  • Chapter 10 ends with Alya, Nino and Adrien confronting Marinette about the class wanting to help with Catastrophe leaving Marinette wondering how they know. Adrien replies that he had told them finishing it off with calling her his Lady.
• What the Hell, Hero?: After learning that Adrien was Chat Noir, Marinette calls him out for how he exploited the situation with Aspik, keeping her Locked Out of the Loop while trying to abuse her trust.
• "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue: The final two chapters check in on several of the cast, showing what became of them and where they've ended up. In particular, the very last scene shows that Lila and Chloé have wound up as roommates in the juvenile delinquent centre to their shock and horror.
• Wrong Assumption:
  • Tom and Sabine briefly assume that Marinette really was crushing on Chat Noir, but she admits that she lied about that to protect her secret identity. They're understanding, though Tom notes that he's embarrassed to learn that he got akumatized into Weredad for no real reason.
  • Along similar lines, Adrien arrogantly assumes that Marinette confessed to her crush on Chat Noir because she felt she couldn't tell the truth as Ladybug. Unlike her parents, he refuses to accept the truth when told.
• You Are Better Than You Think You Are:
  • Luka reassures Sabrina that despite all she's done in the past, she can still change her ways for the better, pointing out that she already chose to skip the trip to Versailles in favor of apologizing to Marinette before learning her secret.
  • Similarly, when Marinette is preparing for the final confrontation, Sabrina believes that she's unworthy of helping and tries to slip out while she's distributing the Miraculous, only for her to receive a Dare to Be Badass speech from Pollen.
• You Could Have Used Your Powers for Good!: Emilie is noted to have been a scientific genius whose innovations could have dramatically advanced the medical field, but she preferred the perks and parties of being a socialite, and ultimately cares only about her own comfort.
• You're Just Jealous: Chloé accuses Lila of being jealous of her since she was actually Queen Bee, whereas Lila relied upon Celebrity Lies and other falsehoods to get attention.

Truth & Journalism

Truth & Journalism includes examples of:

• Adaptational Nice Guy: Canonically, Jagged Stone intentionally walked out on their family. In this series, however, they legitimately weren't aware that Anarka was pregnant, courtesy of Bob Roth keeping them Locked Out of the Loop. As soon as they learn the truth, they immediately want to make up for lost time.
• Big Bad Wannabe: 'Buster' Brockman saw himself as the greatest foe that Marinette/Ladybug ever faced with how his news article about Jagged being Luka and Juleka's father affected all their lives. Marinette is more than happy to point how insignificant he truly is compared to other threats she had to deal with.
• Big Brother Instinct: Twisted and played darkly with Jalil, who's convinced that Ladybug was Evil All Along and fears that she might have been manipulating his sister Alix.
• Bittersweet Ending: Leaning more towards the 'sweet' side; Alya finally apologizes to Marinette for her entitled behavior, and while it's clear matters are far from fixed, both acknowledge that it's a step in the right direction. And while Marinette and her friends still have to deal with the fallout from Jagged Stone being exposed as Luka and Juleka's father, they present a united front against the issue.
• Bullying a Dragon: A Gang of Bullies at Francoise Dupont believe they can take down Marinette despite knowing her secret identity; one sneers that without her powers, she's just a 'stuttering weak-willed clumsy nobody'. Marinette swiftly sets them straight.
• Control Freak: Andre the Ice-Cream Man shows shades of this when he outright refuses to serve Marinette and Luka the ice cream they want, glaring Luka down while insisting that Marinette's 'heart' will want ice cream that symbolizes green eyes rather than blue.
• Conspiracy Theorist: Several of these have cropped up, spinning theories about the 'ideal world' Gabriel and Emilie wished to create. To Alix's dismay, her brother Jalil has fallen headlong into that rabbit hole, creating considerable strain amongst the Kubdels.
• Convicted by Public Opinion: The shadow of Gabriel's misdeeds hangs heavily over Adrien, with many of his former admirers dismissing him as a Loser Son of Loser Dad.
• Death Glare:
  • Andre glares at Luka while declaring that Marinette should accept ice cream that represents getting together with somebody else. Luka glares right back, unamused.
  • Marinette and Kagami treat the students hounding them during lunch to a double-barrel version when one asks if she's claimed Chloé's old sidekick for herself.
• Didn't Think This Through: Brockman ultimately confronts Marinette and her friends just to brag about how he's responsible for revealing Luka and Juleka's parentage and declare himself her worst enemy. Not only does he not get the reaction he desired out of her, this gets him arrested for the crimes he committed in the process.
• Everyone Has Standards: Alya hasn't quite caught on her own flaws but she does show there are lines she refuses to cross:
  • Bill 'Buster' Brockman is such a disgraced and unethical journalist that Alya doesn't even want to speak with him and politely asks that he doesn't try to contact her again.
  • When Marlena asks if Alya is trying to get footage from inside a burning building Alya refutes the idea as utterly insane. Cavalier as she was in chasing after Akumas, which her mother notes, that's just utterly crazy for Alya.
  • As much as Alya would like to get interviews and the like from Marinette she recognizes that badgering the girl about it isn't the way to go about things and holds herself back from bothering Marinette.
• History Repeats: Marinette compares the amount of fuss that's raised over her now that everyone knows she's Ladybug to the hoopla that surrounded Adrien when he first started attending their school.
• Innocently Insensitive: A young child asks Black Feline if his dad is a supervillain like Chat Noir's was; awkward enough already without factoring in how Black Feline doesn't even know his own father.
• Insane Troll Logic: Played for Drama with Jalil. One of his main arguments about how Ladybug was secretly Evil All Along hinges on how her partner Chat Noir was connected to Hawk Moth as his son, which is somehow a mark against them both when Jalil is also claiming that Hawk Moth and his allies were the true heroes.
• Jerkass: Xavier Ramier is fully on the Pro-Hawkmoth camp solely because he feels entitled to feed pigeons wherever and whenever he feels like and Ladybug taking him down took away his ability to retaliate against any attempt to reign him in as Mr. Pigeon.
• Jerkass Realization: Dealing with Brockman causes Alya to realize just how much of an Entitled Bitch she was towards Marinette.
• Karma Houdini Warranty: While Principal Damocles and Ms. Bustier still have their jobs, both are on thin ice; the main reason neither was fired is due to how much Chloé's father abused his power, as there was a strong case that the Mayor would replace Damocles with a Yes-Man if he hadn't given in to their demands. Both are under close supervision, fully aware that slipping into their usual tactics will get them fired.
• Laser-Guided Karma:
  • Andre's Control Freak attitude bites him in the backside when he's witnessed trying to strong-arm Marinette into what could be considered dumping her boyfriend because Luka doesn't match his 'sweetheart ice cream', causing his business to take a hit. Unfortunately, he blames Marinette for this.
  • Bob Roth's reputation has plummeted to the point that his own son fired him in hopes of salvaging his career with another manager and studio.
• Meaningful Name:
  • The man assigned to monitor Ms. Bustier's class is named Mr. Burner; fitting, given that he's in a position to put a swift end to her career if she'd judged to be crossing the line.
  • The man sent to monitor Principal Damocles and ensure he doesn't abuse his position is named Mr. Dionysius, after the king who offered his courtier Damocles A Taste of Power while stringing the famous sword over his head.
• Moral Myopia: Alya thinks that it's unfair that Ms. Bustier is facing the same scrutiny as their Principal, despite how both were equally guilty of catering to the Bourgeois. It's explicitly noted that she's holding a grudge against Damocles for how he'd punished her for breaking into Chloé's locker, as well as for wrongly expelling Marinette, while ignoring the part their teacher played in the latter Miscarriage of Justice.
• Moral Pragmatist: Downplayed for Alya. Several of her more moral and sensible decisions, such as turning away an infamous journalist with a bad reputation and not bothering Marinette for interviews, are done with the idea that it will help her prospects later on with getting what she wants. Alya does genuinely make the morally correct choices and clearly is trying to be a good person, but her motives stem from how those choices will help her personally.
• Morality Chain: Downplayed with Mr. Burner and Mr. Dionysius, whose presence is meant to help keep Ms. Bustier and Principal Damocles from slipping back into their usual toxic behavior. If they don't behave, they'll lose their jobs.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: The whole class is shocked when Ms. Bustier doesn't start passive-aggressively guilt-tripping them about how Chloé, Lila and Adrien will no longer be part of their class. The reason for this immediately becomes clear when Mr. Burner is introduced: she can't fall back upon her usual tactics for fear of losing her job.
• Paparazzi: Bill 'Buster' Brockman, whom Alya recognizes as a notoriously disgraced journalist.
• Plot Parallel:
  • In the first story, Luka supported Marinette and stood by her side as she dealt with her secret identity being exposed to the world. Marinette returns the favor after Luka learns the hard way that Jagged Stone is his father.
  • Mr. Burner's former friendship with Brockman mirrors Marinette and Alya's story: Both reporters fell for a Manipulative Bastard who used them as a platform to spread their Malicious Slander. When the truth came out, both refused to admit fault, pinning all the blame on Myron/Lila for tricking them. Notably, Alya is shaken when Mr. Burner shares his story with her, and revolves to prove herself superior to Brockman by not falling into the same trap as him.
• Poor Communication Kills: Anarka blamed Jagged Stone for refusing to have anything to do with their children, unaware that Bob Roth had kept the letter confessing her pregnancy from ever reaching Jagged.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: During the denouncement, 'Buster' Brockman smugly confronts Marinette and tries to deliver one of these. He only succeeds in getting her to laugh in his face and show him what a real speech of this nature is like, as she succinctly dismantles all of his delusions — including his belief that he's the greatest foe she's ever faced.
  Marinette: You, the greatest enemy I could ever face? Was this all just a stunt to jumpstart your comedy career?
• Sequel Hook: While Brockman is effectively taken care of, the ending implies that Xavier Ramier may become a problem in their own right, on top of Jamil and Andre both still heavily disliking Ladybug/Marinette.
• Shadow Archetype:
  • Bill 'Buster' Brockman offers a glimpse of what Alya could end up like if she's not careful; right down to having a broken friendship that he refuses to accept blame for failing; preferring to put all the blame on someone called Myron.
  • Just like Alya, Brockman believes that it's his duty as an Intrepid Reporter to expose the secrets of others. However, he takes this to the extreme of believing that nobody who's in the public eye should be permitted any privacy, whether they're celebrities or superheroes. His inner thoughts reveal that he's also Driven by Envy, horribly jealous of others' success and eager to destroy their reputations.
• Shout-Out: Once again, Marinette brings up Peter Parker in Spider-Man: No Way Home as a comparison between their lives, this time when they get back to school.
• Shipper on Deck: In a somewhat odd spin on this trope, Andre the Ice-Cream Man sticks to his original assessment of who Marinette's 'true love' should be, disapproving of her relationship with Luka because he has blue eyes instead of green.
• Take That!:
  • The series takes a shot at Astruc's canonical Self-Insert by noting that the animated Ladybug movie won’t be getting any sequels, due to Adrien's association with the project, critics of the movie becoming more vocal and the director's misbehavior on social media.
  • When students are discussing the unethical and immoral business practices of Gabriel Agreste and his company; it’s brought up that he had started selling NFTs of his designs.
• Tempting Fate: As Marinette's preparing to head to school, she asks the Kwami what the odds are that she'll be able to make the trip without being hounded by reporters. They promptly point out the window to the mob gathered outside.
• There Are No Coincidences: One of the reasons for people to believe Adrien was in cahoots with his parents is that he transferred to school the same day the akuma attacks started and his classmates were akumatized more often than anyone else and people don't believe it to be a coincidence.
• Time Skip: Truth & Journalism picks up on the day before school starts up again.
• We Used to Be Friends: Mr. Burner and Bill 'Buster' Brockman used to be friends; according to Mr Burner, this was All Take and No Give on Brockman's end, and ended after something happened involving someone named Myron. Tellingly, Brockman not only blames Myron entirely for whatever happened, but only wants Mr. Burner back to sing his praises.
• Wistful Amnesia: Played interestingly with Xavier. Like everyone else who was akumatized, he has no real memories of what he did while transformed; however, he recalls a feeling of freedom that accompanied his akumatizations, and actually regrets that Hawk Moth was arrested.
• Worst News Judgment Ever: Nooroo reports that Ladybug's first day back at school is currently the top-trending story in Paris. It is even lampshaded that there would have to be more important stuff to report on.

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