History Fanfic / OpenMyEyes

** Ladybug becomes this after [[spoiler:confessing that Gabriel was Monarch, plus what really happened during the final battle, and it only gets worse after he discovers that she is Marinette, which means that his own girlfriend had been keeping secrets about his own life and family from him. In chapter 12, he admits that while he still loves her, he doesn't trust her]]. It starts to become a RebuiltPedestal after [[spoiler:she reveals all of the other secrets she had been keeping from him]].

* TraumaCongaLine: ''Oh boy'', this fic is '''''not''''' kind to Adrien. First he discovers that Ladybug lied to him, that his father, whom he thought gave his life to defeat Monarch, ''was'' Monarch all along, that Gabriel had actually ''won'' the final battle, and that he was dying from the Cataclysm Chat had inflicted on him. Then he learns that Ladybug is ''Marinette'', meaning ''his girlfriend'' has been lying to his face about his own father. ''Then'' when he snatches Felix's Miraculous to try and get answers from Duusu, it quickly leads to him discovering that he is a sentibeing. And it just keeps on going. Near the end of the story, the poor boy is so beaten down and fractured from everything that you could believe that he really was better off not knowing anything. And yet he ends the fic in a better place, emotionally and mentally, and with an even better and healthier relationship with Marinette.
* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: While Marinette genuinely believed Adrien couldn't handle the truth, ''Gabriel'' is this due to asking her to keep his identity as Monarch from his son before summoning Gimmi, not knowing the hell it would unleash on the poor boy, both mentally and emotionally. [[spoiler:It even nearly gets him akumatized by the new Butterfly villain]].

** All the lies Ladybug told of how Gabriel helped her defeat Monarch just so Adrien would never be burdened with the knowledge that his father was a supervillain are rendered meaningless when she tells Chat Noir the truth, unaware at this point that he ''is'' Adrien.

* AesopAmnesia: Initially, Ladybug seems to have forgotten the lesson she learned in "Strikeback" about the the consequences of keeping Chat LockedOutOfTheLoop, although she obviously feels incredibly guilty about lying to him. Later, however, [[spoiler: when the new Butterfly villain starts texting them about how she knows the truth, Ladybug realizes that continuing the charade will only make things worse in the long run and comes clean to Chat about what really happened in the FinalBattle]].
* BittersweetEnding: Despite the mental and emotional wringer Andrien goes through, he manages to come out of it happier and healthier than he has been in a long time. His relationship with Marinettte, which had been strained nearly to the breaking point by all of her lies and deceptions, is also mended and stronger than before now that there are no more secrets between them. However, the new Butterfly villain is still at large and likely to step up her game now that her initial plan has failed, and Chat Noir's HeroWithBadPublicity status [[spoiler: from destroying Gabriel's statue]] remains unresolved, with very few people knowing the truth of why he did it. The fic ends just as [[spoiler: Adrien is about to reveal himself as Chat Noir to Carapace/Nino, who has just been brought into the loop about Gabriel being Monarch after spending most of the fic hating Chat for his actions]].

*** Likewise, Nathalie has lost all goodwill for Gabriel at this point, regardless of how his wish may have saved her life. [[spoiler: When Chat Noir insists that Gabriel saved her because he loved her, Nathalie outright declares that the only thing he ever loved was his own selfish delusions.]]
** Ladybug becomes this after [[spoiler: confessing that Gabriel was Monarch, plus what really happened during the final battle, and it only gets worse after he discovers that she is Marinette, which means that his own girlfriend had been keeping secrets about his own life and family from him. In chapter 12, he admits that while he still loves her, he doesn't trust her.]] It starts to become a RebuiltPedestal after [[spoiler: she reveals all of the other secrets she had been keeping from him.]]
* CannotKeepASecret: [[spoiler: After Alya tells Nino that Gabriel was Monarch, he immediately goes to tell Adrien.]] While he's already known this for days and has forgiven those who kept it from him, Adrien is nonetheless overjoyed to know that he has at least one friend who would never lie to him.

** As anyone could have guessed, Lila [[spoiler: (here operating under the alias Cerise)]] proves that she would absolutely use her knowledge of Monarch's true identity to sabotage Ladybug, doing so by using the Butterfly Miraculous to send messages to both her and Chat Noir, taunting them over the secrets Ladybug is keeping from her partner. [[spoiler: This forces her to tell Chat Noir the truth, breaking his trust in her and driving a wedge between the two of them, just as their new enemy had planned]].
** Marinette's willingness to keep secrets from Adrien just to spare his feelings is similarly picked apart. [[spoiler: When she confronts Chat Noir as Ladybug over him cataclyming Gabriel's memorial statue, she tries to defend her decisions by claiming that learning that his father was Monarch would destroy Adrien, and she refused to let that happen on account of her love for him, subsequently revealing her secret identity]]. [[spoiler: Unfortunately, Chat declares that Gabriel was his father and that he had the right to know what really happened to him, revealing himself to be Adrien and effectively tearing Marinette's argument apart]]. [[spoiler: To make matters worse, now Adrien knows that his own girlfriend has been keeping secrets about his family from him, further damaging their relationship]]. Ultimately, all Marinette's efforts to shield Adrien from the truth did was create more problems in the long run.
** Even hiding his true nature as a sentibeing created by the Peacock Miraculous from him proves to be a disastrous mistake. When Adrien [[spoiler: punches a metal window pane out of rage and frustration, he accidentally damages the rings containing his amok, putting him in a painful near-death state and would have ultimately killed him if Nathalie hadn't had the rings repaired]]. [[spoiler: Later, after stealing the Peacock Miraculous to interrogate Duusu, he discovers the amoks in his and Felix's rings and naturally assumes that his cousin had secretly created two new sentimonsters. Felix is forced to use Adrien's rings to make him return the brooch before he snaps them both out of existence, leading to Adrien making yet another shocking discovery under less than ideal circumstances]].
** On a more lighthearted note, the story also deconstructs the idea that Adrien simply cannot handle the truth. He spends most of the fic is a very bad mental state, as would just about anyone in his position. However, the constant love and support of his friends and family sees him through it all, and by the end he is in a much better place than he was even before he learned the truth. Granted it helps that the only time the new butterfly villain tries to akumatize him is when he's surrounded by heroes ready to stop it, but it is nonetheless shown that a proper and sincere support system is far more effective than some pretty lies.

* IgnoranceIsBliss:
* InLoveWithYourCarnage: A non-romantic example; when Felix [[spoiler: realizes that Adrien is Chat Noir, he gleefully admits that he is a ''huge'' fan of him for destroying Gabriel's statue, and urges his cousin to keep letting it out.]]
* LikesClarkKentHatesSuperman: Nino quickly comes to absolutely '''''despise''''' Chat Noir after he [[spoiler: destroys Gabriel's memorial statue,]] seemingly upsetting his best friend Adrien, unaware that the two of them are one and the same. After Adrien [[spoiler: defaces a school mural of his father and signs it as Chat Noir,]] Nino is pratically howling for his blood, forcing Alya to tell him the truth about Gabriel before her boyfriend could do something incredibly stupid.
* ManipulativeBastard: Cerise immediately capitalizes on [[spoiler: the distance between Marinette and Adrien after everything is revealed to try and isolate him from Marinette]].

** It also provides one for Marinette. Her ''very'' questionable decision to keep Adrien in the dark about his father may have done far more harm than good even before the truth came out, but she ultimately proves that she is willing to do right by him by revealing ''every'' other secret that she had been keeping from him up tp that point, no matter how painful it is for either of them.
* TraumaCongaLine: ''Oh boy'', this fic is '''not''' kind to Adrien. First he discovers that Ladybug lied to him, that his father, whom he through gave his life to defeat Monarch, ''was'' Monarch all along, that Gabriel had actually ''won'' the final battle, and that he was dying from the Cataclysm Chat had inflicted on him. Then he learns that Ladybug is none other than Marinette, meaning that his own beloved girlfriend had been lying to his face about his own father. ''Then'' when he snatches Felix's Miraculous to try and get answers from Duusu, it quickly leads to him discovering that he is a sentibeing. And it justb keeps on going. Near the end of the story, the poor boy is so beaten down and fractured from everything that you could believe that he really was better off not knowing anything.
* VillainousCrush: Cerise has one on Adrien, dedicating lots of effort into [[spoiler: isolating him from his friends and making him spend time with her]].

* TraumaCongaLine: ''Oh boy'', this fic is '''not''' kind to Adrien. First he discovers that Ladybug lied to him, that his father, whom he through gave his life to defeat Monarch, ''was'' Monarch all along, that Gabriel had actually ''won'' the final battle, and that he was dying from the Cataclysm Chat had inflicted on him. Then he learns that Ladybug is none other than Marinette, meaning that his own beloved girlfriend had been lying to his face about his own father. ''Then'' when he snatches Felix's Miraculous to try and get answers from Duusu, it quickly leads to him discovering that he is a sentibeing. And it justb keeps on going. By near the story's end, you'd be forgiven for believing that he would have been better of necer learning the truth.