Rise of Paonne and Renard Rouge is a Miraculous Ladybug fanfic written by Asexual Individual
/Child_of_the_Fae.
Marinette didn't receive the Ladybug Miraculous, instead someone else did. But Marinette is still destined to be a hero and the universe has a way of correcting itself, but instead of saving the day in spots, she'll save it in feathers. And a certain artist will be soon to join her with a flute in hand.
The fanfic can be read on Fanfiction.net and Archive of Our Own.
In 2020, the author abandoned the fic and rewrote it from scratch to be less Outdated by Canon.The rewritten version “On the Wings of Change” can be read here.
This fanfic provides examples of:
- Adaptational Badass: Because Gabriel is an experienced Retired Badass hero in this continuity, the Collector is a much bigger threat. Ontop of having fighting experience, his legitimate corruption (as opposed to simply acting like a victim of akumatization like in-canon) means that he does not hold back, making him a super-effective fighter against all four heroes. Hawk Moth even remarks that he might be one of the best villains he has created given his effectiveness. It takes the combined efforts of Paonne, Chat Noir and what was left of the original Quantic Team to take him down.
- Adaptational Heroism: Gabriel Agreste was a Kid Hero and wielder of the Peacock Miraculous. Justified, since the fanfic started long before the reveal that Gabriel was Hawk Moth.
- Adaptational Relationship Overhaul: Ladybug and Chat Noir in this continuity only see each other as like siblings. Subverted, as Marinette is not Ladybug in this continuity.
- Agent Peacock: In an ironically literal sense, during his early days as Grande Plume, Gabriel was described as being "bold and eager, constantly showing off to prove you were as good as us, like a true proud peacock."
- Already Met Everyone: Gabriel is a founding member of the Quantic Team, a superhero group that Master Fu is in association with.
- Clone Degeneration: Renard Rouge is able to create illusionary copies of other people, but looking close enough at them allows people to notice imperfections in the illusions.
- Combat Hand Fan: Paonne's signature weapons.
- Creepy Child: Damien is generally considered off-putting due to his anti-social behavior, making dolls in a way to simulate having friends.
- Dance Battler: Since users of the Peacock miraculous are meant to be graceful, Pavo and Gabriel encourage Marinette to take up dancing lessons to help with her clumsiness and improve her fighting skills.
- Dean Bitterman: Headmaster
- Decomposite Character: Marinette is not Ladybug. Instead, a different student received the ladybug earrings while she received the Peacock Miraculous.
- Gabriel and Hawk Moth are two different characters here.
- Distaff Counterpart: Maria Wild acts as this to Master Fu. Whereas Master Fu acts as Guardian to the Miraculouses, Maria Wild is Guardian to the Olympians, a series of magical objects created by the Greco-Roman pantheon to preserve their essence before they faded away, bestowing powers to those who are worthy.
- Divide and Conquer: Volpina's plan involves creating illusions of Paonne and Renard Rouge who plant seeds of doubt and mistrust in Chat Noir and Ladybug's minds.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: After being cleansed of his akumatized state, Damien's father blames his doll-making hobby as the reason why he was akumatized and not the bullies that instigated it, forbidding him from making more dolls from then-on and that he should take up a "normal" hobby.
- Face Your Fears: During their time in the Collector's book, Ladybird is forced to endure a claustrophobia-induced panic attack.
- Fan Art: This untitled drawing by olyollyoxenfree.
- Fighting from the Inside: When his old teammates join the fight agains the Collector, they were able to bring out a part of Gabriel still fighting Hawk Moth's control long enough for him to free Ladybird and Renard Rouge.
- Glamour: Vixx credits the fact that Marinette couldn't tell that Nathaniel was Renard Rouge to “perception magic."
- Hero with Bad Publicity: Having the same outfit and powers as Volpina, Nathaniel/Renard Rouge has to unfairly prove that he is a legitimate hero and not another fake (both to the public and to Ladybug and Chat Noir).
- Heroes Love Dogs: In her civilian life, Ladybird has multiple dogs.
- I Can't Do This by Myself: After taking her revenge on the bullies that harassed her, Volpina realized that the monsters and villains she creates with her illusion abilities lack any real creativity. Then she remembers Nathaniel's sketchbook and its contents...
- Knight in Sour Armor: With the disappearance of his wife and partner-in-heroism, Gabriel has become cold and aloof, going out of his way to stay retired. He cuts off all ties with his hero allies, refuses to visit his old team's reunions. With that said, he is aware that Paris needs as much help as it can get and chooses someone to succeed him, giving Marinette his miraculous, trains her and even agrees to help her set up a training program for Renard Rouge.
- Knight of Cerebus: Doll Maker is arguably the scariest villain Hawk Moth has created, having the power to attach the threads on his fingers onto an innocent victim and sew buttons into their eyes, transforming them into his doll-minions. It takes four miraculous users to match wits against him and his army and the guy is pure
Nightmare Fuel. - Living Doll Collector: Doll Maker is an akumatized Creepy Child with the power to turn people into armies of giant Creepy Dolls under his command.
- Master of Illusion: Much like Volpina, Renard Rouge possesses this power.
- Meaningful Rename: Halfway through the fanfic, Ladybug is renamed as "Ladybird".
- The Mentor: Gabriel kept an eye on Marinette and thought that she would make an excellent successor as wielder of the Peacock Miraculous, taking it upon himself to train her in the use of her new powers.
- Mood-Swinger: Pavo is commonly prone to mood swings, especially in regards to previous Peacock Miraculous users.
- Mythology Gag: It is revealed that Gabriel and his wife were members of the Quantic Team. In-canon, the Quantic Kids were a superhero team that the canon series was going to be about before the idea was scrapped and settling on keeping only two of them (Ladybug and Chat Noir).
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Hawk Moth akumatizing someone who later attacked Gabriel Agreste prompted the latter into giving Marinette the Peacock Miraculous. The fixing goes even further when the rise of a Peacock hero prompts Master Fu into choosing a wielder for the Fox Miraculous.
- Passing the Torch: Former Peacock Miraculous user Gabriel Agreste decides to pass it to Marinette in a chapter titled "Passing the Torch".
- Plant Person: The plant akuma Thorny Vines.
- Powers as Programs: Seeing the two bicker over Chat Noir's reckless propensity to keep Ladybug out of danger, Headmaster uses his powers to swap all four of the hero's powers and weapons, complete with a full costume change acclimating to their genders and body-types, to teach them a lesson about understanding each other. Ladybug and Chat Noir swap with each other, as do Paonne and Renard Rouge.
- Psychic Block Defense: Despite being akumatized, Hawk Moth is unable to have Gabriel confess (both outloud or telepathically) the identities of Paonne and Chat Noir. Whether or not this is due to some sort of psychological training, lingering magic from the miraculous or some other reason is not given.
- Seers: Paonne's special power is "Oracle Eye"; allowing her to see up to five possible futures to choose from.
- Self-Duplication: The main power of the heroine Tribble.
- Shell Game: Gabriel first training test for "Oracle Eye" is having five cups on a table. One of them has a ball under it and she has to use her power to find it. She correctly guesses that there was no ball in the first place.
- Shout-Out: Chat Noir affectionately calls Renard Rouge "Tails" for his two tails. Rouge insists that he has three tails, but the nickname has already stuck.
- Superman Stays Out of Gotham: A case is made that heroes try and stay out of each others territory, only ever interfering if it is truly necessary. It is mentioned that there is a cosmic balance between good and evil, and if the forces of good (i.e. superheroes) come to tip the scales too far in their favor (like too many heroes coming to fight against Hawk Moth's villains), the forces of evil will force it back into balance with a terrible vengeance. This has also led to many heroes to retire young as soon as their respective Greater-Scope Villains to prevent their activities from creating even more villains.
- Trademark Favorite Food: Pavo has a thing for grapes while Vixx prefers jalapeños.
- You Didn't Ask: In Chapter 21, it's revealed there used to be a real Volpina in the past but Vixx never told Nathaniel before because he didn't ask.
