Marinette decides it's time to rethink her life. Her social life is collapsing and she can't handle the massive responsibilities of a heroine anymore.
So she decides it's time to finally quit.
A New Leaf
is a Deconstruction Fic of "Ladybug" by BroadwayCutie16, who also authored Jerk in Sheep's Clothing and Wed Locked.
Contains examples of...
- Adaptational Jerkass: Master Fu is much more abrasive and harsh with Marinette than in canon, albeit not without reason. The tags even lampshade this with the tag "Master Fu Bashing."
- Armor-Piercing Question: Alya replies with several when Marinette accuses her of posting a video of Lila claiming to be Ladybug's best friend without checking if that's true:Alya: If Lila is lying about being her best friend, why hasn't Ladybug said anything? I posted that interview months ago! If Lila really is bluffing, why hasn't Ladybug come forward and set the record straight? If nothing else, she could have at least done so to keep Lila safe from Hawkmoth! So if that interview really is full of baloney, then why has Ladybug stayed silent all this time, hm?
- Armor-Piercing Response: Alya's response to Marinette asking her why doesn't she believe Marinette about Lila being a liar yet she believes everything Lila says:Alya: Because she's not the one accusing someone of being a bitch! You are!
- Because I Said So: Deconstructed. Alya points out that Marinette's logic as to why she should believe her about Lila basically amounts to this, with Marinette claiming that, as her best friend, Alya should automatically believe Marinette when she tells her someone's a jerk. Alya, however, refuses to turn on someone simply because someone else tells her too, claiming she wouldn't even do that for Nino, since she's a firm believer in "innocent until proven guilty."
- Beyond Redemption: Adrien views this of himself after Lila decides to break the news of Marinette giving up on him in the most cruel and manipulative way she can, leading him to believe that Marinette hates his guts now.
- Broken Pedestal:
- Marinette sees Adrien with Lila in a photo shoot and completely loses all feelings for him.
- Master Fu also loses all his faith in Marinette when the latter quits being Ladybug, as does everyone else when they learn the truth.
- Deconstruction Fic:
- Adrien's history of siding with Chloé is brought up. Marinette excused it as Chloé being his Only Friend for so long, but after seeing him with Lila, unaware that he had brokered a deal with her, she comes to the conclusion that Adrien just doesn't care about victims and would rather appease the bullies.
- Marinette realizes that her crush on Adrien is genuinely unhealthy. The questionable actions she's taken when other girls get close to Adrien gave her classmates a serious reason to think that Marinette was acting maliciously toward Lila.
- Like Jerk in Sheep's Clothing, it deconstructs many points common in Salt Fics, especially during the argument between Marinette and Alya:
- When Marinette accused Alya of uploading a video of Lila claiming to be Ladybug's best friend without checking if it was true, Alya points out that Ladybug isn't exactly somebody that's easy to reach. She also counters it further by pointing out that if Lila had lied about that, Ladybug would have refuted such a claim, but given that the video was posted months ago and Ladybug didn't say anything, no one has a reason to doubt Lila's word. Marinette realizes that Alya is right, and that from her point of view, Lila's tales do add up.
- Later, Marinette changes tactics and calls out Alya for siding with a new girl over her best friend. Alya refutes it by claiming that she didn't "side" with Lila, she simply refuses to turn on someone just because somebody else, friend or not, asked her to. Again, from Alya's point of view, Lila has been nothing but kind and sweet, because unlike Chloé, Lila is much more subtle, and never openly bullied Marinette in front of other people.
- Following on the above point, Alya points out that Marinette can be downright nasty to any girl who gets close to Adrien, citing the events of "Animaestro" where Marinette teamed up with Chloé of all people to to sabotage Kagami. So again, from Alya's point of view, Marinette's antagonism towards Lila is purely fueled by jealousy.
- Finally, Marinette constantly leaving when there's an Akuma attack and lying about what she was doing while she was away makes Alya feel she's not completely honest. While the story acknowledges that, unlike the above points, this is in no way Marinette's fault, Marinette realizes that she never stopped to think how her flimsy excuses over disappearing in order to transform into Ladybug may influence how her friends think of her. This last point plays a big role over her decision to give up the earrings.
- The series also deconstructs the common plot point where Marinette transfers to another school to start over. Marinette does briefly entertain the idea, noting how it would allow her to start over by making new friends while avoiding eroding her trust with them, but quickly decides against it because it would mean letting Lila win, since the whole reason she tried to warn her friends about Lila in the first place is because she cares for them so much and couldn't stand letting Lila extort and take advantage of them.
- The idea that directly exposing Lila is the best way to take her down is also deconstructed. As noted above, all trying to publicly expose Lila did was make Marinette look like an awful person — but after she decides to be genuinely nice to Lila, her actions (baking her croissants that account for her supposed allergies, letting her have Adrien, etc.) indirectly start revealing Lila's true nature to the class because Lila genuinely can't comprehend that Marinette is being no-strings-attached nice to her.
- Dramatic Irony:
- Adrien had to bribe Lila to get her to reveal she had lied. Marinette has no knowledge of this and assumes that Adrien is overall apathetic to Marinette's feelings and would rather appease the bullies.
- Adrien's first pick for a new Ladybug is Marinette.
- Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: As part of her plan to become a better person, Marinette starts treating Lila much better, apologizing for being mean to her and making her croissants that account for all her supposed allergies. Lila, meanwhile, suspects that Marinette is still plotting against her, because she genuinely can't comprehend the idea that Marinette is just being nice to be nice.
- Hope Spot: Adrien manages to get Lila to undo Marinette's expulsion... and then he gets the news that Ladybug has quit.
- Hypocrite: Subverted. Marinette accuses Alya of being this due to the fact that she asks that Marinette proves Lila is a liar, when Alya posted a story about Lila claiming to be Ladybug's best friend without confirming it was true (despite claiming that a reporter always verifies her sources). It doesn't work.Marinette: A good reporter always checks her facts? I doubt you checked your sources when you posted Lila's interview about her being Ladybug's best friend! Admit it, you're a hypocrite! You ask me for proof of Lila being a liar, but you never ask Lila to prove she's Ladybug's bestie!
Alya: Oh? Then enlighten me, Marinette. What sources do I check to prove whether or not Lila's claims are true? I suppose I can just look on Ladybug's Instagram or something to check for photos. - Internal Reveal: Kagami finally learns that Ladybug quit in Chapter 9, as do Alya and the rest of Marinette's class in Chapter 10.
- Jerkass Has a Point: Master Fu may have been harsh and unsympathetic regarding Marinette's collapsing social life, but he isn't wrong that Marinette is being extremely selfish, immature and unheroic for abandoning her duties as Ladybug simply because a few things haven't gone her way. Pretty much everyone who hears that she quit agrees that what she did was wrong, with Ivan in particular saying that if Ladybug cares more about living a normal life than stopping Hawk Moth once and for all, they're better off without her.
- Living Emotional Crutch: Ladybug was one for Adrien. He outright admits that she was the absolute best thing in his life at the moment, and her deciding to quit without any explanation, or even saying goodbye to him, greatly worsens his abandonment issues. He becomes convinced that he must have done something to drive her away, which quickly spirals into convincing himself that he must've done something to drive his mother away as well, causing him to adopt a cynical outlook on life and give up on everything but hero work.
- Never Be Hurt Again: After learning Ladybug quit and seeing how his leniency with Lila destroyed his relationship with Marinette, Adrien comes the conclusion that there must be something about him that constantly drives the people he cares about away from. So he decides the only solution is to stop caring, never let himself grow attached to anyone, and start breaking off his friendships because his friends clearly deserve better than him.
- Oblivious Guilt Slinging: Upon hearing that Ladybug quit, Marinette's classmates go on about how selfish she's being... unaware that the former Ladybug is sitting right in front of them.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: After convincing himself that he's inherently unlovable, Adrien becomes cold and distant to everyone to prevent himself from getting close to anyone and risking more heartache.
- Villain with Good Publicity: After her argument with Alya, Marinette ponders over this trope regarding Lila in her internal monologue, and realizes that she has been focusing too much on the "villain" part and not enough on the "good publicity" part; no one believes Marinette's claims about Lila because from their point of view, Lila is an honest, kind and selfless girl that would never hurt a fly, and by openly antagonizing her the only thing Marinette accomplishes is being seen as a bully.
- You Do Not Want To Know: When Kim tastes a croissant and says it "tastes like an old sock", Ivan asks how Kim knows what old socks taste like and is told he doesn't want to know.
