Backwarder Backtracks
(on AO3) is an Alternate Universe Fic made by RockSunner, for Miraculous Ladybug. Part of the Smart Adversaries AU for Miraculous Ladybug on AO3, in which Ladybug villains make smarter decisions. The series has a tropes page here.
This is a three-chapter work and it is now complete.
This fanfiction series contains examples of:
- Alternate Universe Fic: A What If? with the change that Backwarder has a little more time to react, and doesn't fall into Ladybug's trap. Backwarder rewinds the world back in time to the 1940's, when the Nazis occupied Paris.
- A Wizard Did It: The anachronistic Simplified Chinese symbol on the brooch Master Fu gave Marianne is explained. He used the power of Foresight from the Rooster kwami to see the new Chinese ideogram for 'love'.
- Bittersweet Ending: Marinette and Adrien have enough clues to determine Hawk Moth's identity, but they are no longer Ladybug and Chat Noir. Adrien will tip off the new heroes in London: Lady Bug and Rumpus Cat. Marinette and Adrien are unlikely to get back together because they live in different cities. Marinette is dating Nino and Adrien may end up with Kagami.
- Enemy Mine: The heroes and Backwarder team up to fend off the Nazis pursuing young Marianne and Fu.
- Evil vs. Evil: Backwarder picks a fight with some Nazis to allow her past self to escape with Fu.
- Fix Fic: There was a logical flaw in the original episode. They didn't account for the time Ladybug took to figure out how to say "Cataclysm" backwards. The extra four or five seconds give Backwarder enough time to escape the trap.
- For Want Of A Nail: Since Master Fu and Marianne went to England together, the Ladybug/Cat hero team is a new pair of people in London, Lady Bug and Rumpus Cat. Since no akumas appeared in Paris, Nino was able to confess his feelings successfully to Marinette at the zoo, and Alya didn't have a chance with him.
- Heroic BSoD: Chat Noir has one for a moment after killing Hawk Moth with a Cataclysm.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Backwarder, in a Heel–Face Turn, sacrifices herself to stop Hawk Moth and let her past self get away with Fu.
- Hitler's Time Travel Exemption Act: Referenced in-universe by Ladybug when the heroes end up in Nazi-occupied Paris; Chat jokes that they could bump off Hitler if they had time, and Ladybug remarks that that never works.
- Long-Distance Relationship: Adrien and Marinette have this after the time shift, with him in London and her in Paris.
- My Future Self and Me: Marianne is convinced, after a bit of Future Me Scares Me, that she should take the advice of Backwarder and go with Fu.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Chat's reaction after murdering Hawk Moth in a blind rage. It shakes him so badly that when all is said and done, he decides he is no longer worthy of wielding the Cat Miraculous.
- Next Tier Power-Up: What happens when all the cracks in Backwarder's clock mask are fixed — she gains the power to turn back time for the world.
- No Place for Me There: Backwarder declares she has no place in the future she has created and commits suicide by impaling herself on Hawk Moth's sword.
- Race Against the Clock: In the past with only a few minutes before they time out, the heroes are worried that they will cease to exist when the magic of the Miraculous no longer protects them. They must defeat the villain before time runs out.
- Ripple-Effect-Proof Memory: Adrien and Marinette are able to remember both timelines. They assume that Hawk Moth does as well.
- Set Right What Once Went Wrong: Backwarder says she will "undo the biggest mistake" of her life. She successfully persuades her past self to go with Fu.
- Shout-Out: Rumpus Cat is one to Cats.
- The Unmasking: Chat Noir sees the face of Marinette when she transforms back, but she instantly vanishes from existence when her Miraculous power is no longer protecting her. In the new timeline, Adrien reveals he was Chat Noir. Together they work out Hawk Moth's identity and Adrien plans to expose him to the new hero team.
- Unstoppable Rage: When Backwarder kills herself, Chat Noir becomes so angry that he Cataclysms Hawk Moth on the spot.
