Adrien isn't coping well with the planned move to London. Things kind of spiral out of control from there.
If Only I Could Break Free is a Miraculous Ladybug fanfiction, created by megetstoread
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The story has 18 chapters and is completed.
Tropes found in this fanfiction:
- Abusive Parents:
- Adrien comes to the painful realization that both of his parents have been controlling him with his amok for years.
- As in canon, Felix's father is this. Unfortunately for Felix, he's been Spared by the Adaptation and thus is still able to abuse him.
- Broken Pedestal:
- Adrien quickly loses his respect for his father after learning he's Monarch. When he learns he threatened to snap Felix out of existence, he's not even surprised, just bitter.
- His trust in both of his parents shatters after they try to control him before they realize they no longer have his Amok. He doubts he'll ever be able to trust them again, despite Nathalie advising him to give them time.
- Adaptational Badass: Void, Cat Noir's new akumatized form. While he's only in that form for about a minute, per Monarch's words, he can destroy thoughts as well as physical objects.
- Cutting the Knot: Discussed and ultimately averted. Marinette, knowing that Monarch will target Chat Noir's bell from her experience with Chat Blanc, considers breaking it before he is fully akumatized in the hopes it will prevent it from happening altogether but fears she'd ultimately do more harm than good and instead just breaks it the moment the akumatization is complete.
- Dull Eyes of Unhappiness: Void's eyes are described by Marinette as "void-eyed".
- Easy Amnesia: Ladybug's World-Healing Wave causes Gabriel's memory to revert to six months earlier. Marinette believes that it's because he damaged his own mind during his time as a villain, and this was a result of setting him right.
- Fantastic Slur: As in canon, Felix sees Sentimonster as one. The heroes eventually settle on "Sentibeings" and "senti-created" instead.
- Heel–Face Turn: Nathalie completes hers, standing by Adrien and keeping his secrets even if it means going against his parents who are her friends.
- I Am a Monster: Adrien says this almost word for word after learning he's a Sentimonster but Marinette talks him out of it relatively quickly.
- In Spite of a Nail: The epilogue confirms that Chloe and Lila are eventually expelled, that Lila's lies are revealed, and that Andre steps down from his position meaning the events of those episodes played out in some form at least, despite Gabriel's defeat happening earlier and differently.
- Possibly intentionally invoked by Timetagger as he steals the Butterfly Miraculous from Marinette to deliver to a person heavily implied to be, and confirmed to be by Word of God, Lila.
- Internal Reveal:
- Marinette tells Adrien about the events of Cat Blanc, or at least what she knows of them.
- Marinette and Adrien learn each other and Monarch's secret identities.
- Adrien and Marinette learn Adrien, Felix, and Kagami are Sentimonsters.
- In the epilogue, Alya learns that Adrien is Chat Noir and Nino learns that Marinette is Ladybug and Adrien is Chat Noir.
- Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: Make no mistake Even Evil Has Loved Ones applies to Gabriel, but having his mind reset to before he was corrupted by his own villainy does not make him any less of a Jerkass to Marinette.
- Loves My Alter Ego: Defied. Realizing their boyfriend/girlfriend is the hero they once had feelings for only makes Marinette and Adrien love each other more. Marinette compares it to seeing half a picture and loving what you saw and then seeing the whole picture and loving it even more.
- Love-Obstructing Parents: Gabriel and Emilie attempt to be this for Adrien and Marinette, but it doesn't pan out for several reasons:
- No longer having his amok means they can't force Adrien to do so, and he refuses to give her up.
- Adrien and Nathalie tell a Half-Truth about Gabriel approving of Marinette in Pretension. Namely by citing his positive comments about Marinette, but without the context that they were given mockingly since Adrien was being sent to London. This convinces Emilie to give Marinette a chance, reasoning that if her husband approved of her once they should give her the chance to prove herself again.
- Once she actually becomes acquainted with her Emilie takes a liking to Marinette, and thus opposes Gabriel's attempts to break her and Adrien up.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Gabriel is horrified to learn he akumatized Adrien.
- Oh, Crap!: Gabriel and Emilie when they realize their rings can't control Adrien.
- Parents as People: Nathalie advises Adrien to give his parents time to get used to being unable to control him, explaining that they never actually had to act like parents until he'd taken both rings. Adrien remains skeptical.
- Point of Divergence:
- Because Chat Noir gets akumatized due to Adrien's distress about moving to London, Marinette decides that she's willing to let him talk about his personal life. This leads to her figuring out his identity, though the fact he unintentionally transforms back in front of her confirms it.
- Because she finds Adrien's inability to defy his father suspicious, once Marinette takes him home, she has Tikki and Plagg spy on Gabriel, leading to them discovering he is Monarch.
- Secret-Keeper:
- Kagami becomes one for Marinette and Adrien regarding their identities.
- Nathalie promises Adrien to keep his and Marinette's identities secret as well as the fact he is in possession of his amok.
- Shipper on Deck: Nathalie and the Gorilla both support Adrien's relationship with Marinette and encourage him to oppose his parents on the matter if need be.
- Shipper with an Agenda: Adrien suspects his parents of this when they insist that he and Kagami are of the same design, alluding to the fact both are senti-created. Adrien muses that they think he and Kagami are supposed to "magically fall in love with each other".
- Spared by the Adaptation:
- Because Emilie and Nathalie are restored by Ladybug's World-Healing Wave, Gabriel doesn't die in exchange for healing them.
- Colt Fathom is alive and kicking as well, much to Felix's dismay. Unlike in canon, he hadn't died and was still in the early stages of his illness.
- Twin Switch: Adrien and Felix do this to get the second ring containing Adrien's Amok from Gabriel.
- World-Healing Wave: Marinette retains her ability to perform them, as in canon, but with all of the Miraculous in her possession, she is able to cast one that heals people who used the broken Peacock miraculous and also heals Gabriel from the damage he did to his mind by becoming a villain.
- You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Marinette assures Adrien of this when he's struggling with how powerless he feels in the face of Gabriel's control over him.
