Butterflies Aren't Free
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 5-chapter work and it is now completed.
This fanfiction series contains examples of:
- Alternate Universe Fic: A What If? with the change that Hawk Moth is more careful with his akuma and succeeds in turning Marinette into Zombizou.
- Cassandra Truth: Nobody except Marinette believes Chloe's role in stopping Zombizou.
- Hero with Bad Publicity: Nobody takes Chloe's claim to be a hero seriously because of her past.
- Secret-Keeper: Chloe walks off with knowledge of Marinette's secret identity.
- Swapped Roles: Marinette is the villain and the original Zombizou (Caline Bustier) acts heroically. Chloe also gets a chance to redeem herself as Queen Bee.
- The Unmasking:
- Ladybug nearly loses her secret identity, except that a clever use of Lucky Charm throws people off track again.
- Hawk Moth is exposed when the newly restored Ladybug's Lucky Charm creates a cell phone with his instructions to Zombizou on where to bring the Miraculouses and is arrested for terrorism.
