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Fanfic / The Lament Series (ChaoticNeutral)

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What happens when The Bad Guy Wins? What happens when somebody combines the Ladybug and Cat Miraculouses in order to make their Wish? A Wish powerful enough to warp reality in accordance with their desires...

ChaoticNeutral's The Lament Series explores several such possibilties. In each world, the one responsible learns that they should have been careful what they'd wished for, finding themselves contending with a reality that isn't quite what they had in mind.

Three Alternate Universes have had stories released for them thus far on Archive of Our Own:

  • Gabriel's Lament: Gabriel may have gotten what he wanted, but his Wish caused the play to be rebooted and recast, and the new Hawk Moth reveals the spiderwebbing cracks beneath the façade of his "happy ending".
  • Chloé's Lament: Miracle Queen triumphs, but her inability to accept the reality of the situation spurs to her make an impulsive Wish in hopes of getting everything she feels she rightly deserves.
  • Marinette's Lament: Backed into a corner with only Plagg and Tikki left, Ladybug makes a desperate Wish in order to keep the Earrings and Ring from falling into Hawk Moth's hands.

A handful of other Alternate Universes have been created on ChaoticNeutral's blog but do not yet have official releases on Archive of our Own:

  • Adrien's Lament: Adrien betrays Ladybug and Wishes for his mom to return, figuring that with his mom back, Gabriel would have no reason to be Hawk Moth and all would be well. And he gets his family back, but the new world still has Hawk Moth and is also missing its Ladybug. Worst of all, he discovers that Marinette and Luka are both akumatized Miraculous users who serve the new Hawk Moth, and with their immense strength, this Hawk Moth is on the verge of defeating the heroes for good.
  • Alya's Lament: Alya Wishes to know who Hawk Moth is, causing the universe to rewrite reality such that she is Hawk Moth and knows it.
  • Lila's Lament: Lila Wishes to be rich and famous. The universe grants this wish by having her replace Adrien as Gabriel's Agreste's child, thus making her a member of an immensely wealthy family, giving her a fat bank account, and putting her face in ads and fashion magazines all over the world. But being the daughter of a notorious control freak has its consequences, and Lila quickly learns that all the money and adoration in the world mean nothing when every penny of her cash and second of her time is subject to her father's dictates — and she can't tell even the smallest falsehood without tabloids reporting it and drawing the ire of those who know the truth.

The series also has its own Recursive Fanfiction:

For another, slightly more light-hearted Miraculous Ladybug fanfiction series by the same author, see Miraculous: Tales of Littlebug and Chaton Noir.

Tropes applying to multiple entries in the series:

  • All There in the Manual: Some background information can be found on the author's Tumblr, along with discussing ideas (and potential spoilers) for other characters' personal laments.
  • The Bad Guy Wins: Central to the whole setup: somebody gets their hands on the Earrings and Ring and makes their Wish, twisting reality accordingly.
  • Be Careful What You Wish For: This even serves as the opening line for Gabriel's Lament.
  • Epiphanic Prison: A variant. Nobody can actually escape alternate universes, but there's nothing fundamentally wrong with said alternate universes; the only reason the wishers hate them is because the changes conflict with their character flaws. If they could learn to let these go, they could be perfectly happy and indeed, potentially get their wish without the Ironic Hell.
    • The reason Chloé is in such a bad position in the new reality is because she kept being a bully, despite lacking most of her protection against consequences. If she had apologized and actually tried being nice, she probably would have had a life more like Marinette's- and if she had been kind to Fu, she would have gotten her dream of becoming Ladybug.
    • Alya wanted to know Hawk Moth's identity, and she does, by becoming Hawk Moth, which comes with the additional bonus of being fully capable of bringing Hawk Moth's rampage to a crashing halt by voluntarily refusing to Akumatize people. Her tunnel vision in support of her original idea means that she never even thinks of it, instead trapping herself in a situation she hates because she refuses to see the obvious way out.
    • Lila's situation as Gabriel Agreste's daughter is most of what she wants (except Gabriel being controlling, and even then, she could ditch him when she turned 18), except that she can't lie anymore because people pay attention to everything she says, and her statements are invariably investigated by professional reporters. If she could just stop trying to lie, then her lies couldn't be revealed- and since she has genuine connections to boast about this time, she has no real need to make any up.
  • Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane:
    • While magic is used to grant the Wish and create these changed realities in the first place, it’s questionable just how much the events that follow in those realities are due to magic vs simple cause and effect. Especially notable as the author has stated the Wishers could have ended up happy with their respective Wishes depending on how they chose to respond.
    • Did Chloé lose out on getting the Ladybug Miraculous because of magical consequences or was it simply a natural result of being a jerk to the guy testing people to find someone worthy of being a hero?
  • Pyrrhic Victory: The premise of the series is that each main character gets everything they ever wanted, and chokes on it.
  • Reality Warping Is Not a Toy: Using the Ladybug and Cat Miraculous together will grant the user a Wish which will alter reality itself to give the user what they ask for. But the effects of changing the world are ultimately more extensive than what the user can account for and adding on top of that is that the power being used to do so belongs to two Kwamis who are understandably not pleased with being used in such a way against their will.
  • "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Both villains get theirs from people who are close to those they have wronged and angry at them for hurting people they cared about, who have worked hard to give them second chances and get them to become better.
  • Ripple-Effect-Proof Memory: All of the Kwami have this, as does whoever made the Wish.
  • Role Swap AU: Effectively one of the side-effects of a Wish; it's directly compared to recasting a play, putting new actors into the same base roles, with the precise casting dramatically impacting how the story unfolds.
  • Self-Inflicted Hell: Because Reality Warping Is Not a Toy, most of the Wishers find themselves in a world that serves as such for them.
    • Gabriel got what he wanted by preventing Emilie from falling into her coma, but finds himself Forced to Watch as she endangers herself on a regular basis fighting to defend Paris from the new reality's Hawk Moth.
    • Chloé absolutely refused to believe that others' treatment of her was linked to her own behavior and Wished to switch lives with Marinette expecting to get all her friends. Turns out people like the Nice Girl and hate the Alpha Bitch in any reality, so the only thing she really accomplished was taking away the protection of being the mayor's daughter.

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    Gabriel's Lament 
  • Adaptational Heroism: As part of reality being retconned, Emilie was already a Miraculous-wielding superheroine before Hawk Moth's time.
  • Apathy Killed the Cat: Once he got what he wanted, Gabriel didn’t bother to learn who Ladybug had been and after changing reality, didn’t bother with the Miraculous again despite knowing where it was. This allows someone else to find the Butterfly Miraculous and use it to attack the city, and while he knows the former Ladybug could fix things, he has no idea who she is or where to start looking for her to get her help.
  • Cats Are Mean: Plagg is this to Gabriel. Aside from heckling him, he has been noted to cause some measure of difficulty in Gabriel's day-to-day life. He has refused to work with Gabriel to do anything about the new Hawk Moth and has in fact found humor in Gabriel's horrible failures. Justified since the entire mess is Gabriel's fault in the first place and Plagg has plenty of other reasons to be angry with him as well.
  • Control Freak: One of Gabriel's Fatal Flaws, and a large part of what makes the post-Wish world so hellish for him: he no longer has the ability to control what's happening around him, and his insistence on micromanaging his son's life is what made Adrien so vulnerable to the new Hawk Moth's influence.
  • Didn't Think This Through: As Plagg spells out, Gabriel has a Complexity Addiction, but never thinks through the potential long-term consequences of his plans.
    • Case in point: when he threw Adrien off of a building to see if he transformed into Chat Noir in order to save himself. Not only could this have killed his son, if Adrien had transformed, his Secret Identity would have been exposed to the rest of the world as well... including those who'd be more than happy to target him in hopes of gaining his Miraculous.
    • Plagg also has to explain to him why his plan to find the girl who once was Ladybug has the potential to backfire horribly: she could wind up akumatized by the new Hawk Moth as well.
  • Doesn't Know Their Own Child: Gabriel doesn't even know that Adrien is/was a fan of Doctor Who.
  • Dramatic Irony: In the original reality, Adrien regarded Chat Noir as a way of escaping his father's influence, and had a bad habit of treating akuma fights lightly, as though they were just a game. In the new reality, the Ring still provides an outlet for him to escape... via his akumatization into Chat Blanc, whom Hawk Moth keeps active as one of their most useful pawns.
  • Entitled Bastard: In addition to his presumption that Plagg appearing before him meant he was going to receive the Cat Ring, Gabriel convinces himself that he needs to find the former Ladybug and get them to fix the mess he's made while preserving the positive effects of his Wish.
  • Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Deconstructed. Not only was saving Emilie from her coma Gabriel's main motivation for his crimes as Hawk Moth, his claims of only ever wanting to protect Adrien ring hollow in the face of his parental abuse and neglect. His proclaimed love for his son didn't stop him from exploiting his loneliness in order to create akumas, putting him in harm's way, or throwing him off a building.
  • Evil Only Has to Win Once: Plagg is very much against Gabriel trying to find and restore Ladybug to her previous powers because it will give the new Hawk Moth a chance to akumatize her and get their hands on both the Ladybug and Black Cat Miraculouses, which they might use to make another Wish and rewrite reality yet again, to unknown ends. Or they might simply decide to keep both, which will make them all-powerful and completely unstoppable. In other words: game over.
  • Fatal Flaw: Gabriel’s is his controlling nature that gives him tunnel vision. Gabriel simply could not let go of Emilie and was willing to go to extremes to get her back. The problem is, he was so focused on his mission of resurrecting her, he never thought of any of the damage he might do in the process, and he neglected his only child while devoting everything he had to reach his goal, to the point where their relationship has been strained. Because of the emotional damage Gabriel thrust onto him, Adrien is akumatized into Chat Blanc. And since Gabriel has become so distant from his son, he is unable to reach out to Adrien. No love in their relationship means Adrien is unresponsive to his father’s desperation and shame.
  • "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight: Gabriel's attempt to utilize this against Chat Blanc backfired horribly.
  • Ignored Epiphany: Played for Drama; Gabriel refuses to admit his mistakes, and only wants to 'fix' the altered reality so that he can hold onto everything he Wished for, with no intention of facing up to what he's done wrong.
  • In Spite of a Nail:
    • A villain wielding the Butterfly and calling themselves Hawk Moth still arises to terrorize Paris. It's just no longer Gabriel cast in that role.
    • Marinette and Adrien still have their respective Miraculouses, though neither has any idea about where they came from or is aware of their significance.
  • Loophole Abuse: While still bound to the Ring, Plagg has avoided being trapped by simply not returning to it after Adrien's akumatization.
  • Love Transcends Spacetime: Plagg theorizes that Adrien, even in the rewritten universe, faintly remembers that he loves Marinette and that she was supposed to wield the Miraculous that partners with his. Which is very bad, since he's now Chat Blanc—and if Marinette becomes Ladybug again, he'll immediately become aware of her existence and become a Yandere to get her back.
  • Mama Bear: One of the reasons Gabriel balks at the prospect of Emilie learning just what he did to get her back: he doubts she'd accept that the way he treated their son was just a necessary evil.
  • More than Mind Control: Thanks to his experiences as Hawk Moth, Gabriel knows firsthand that the behavior of akumas is rooted in how the victim really feels, making it harder to dismiss Chat Blanc's anger at him.
  • My God, You Are Serious!: Plagg finds Gabriel's presumption that he might have been granted the Cat Ring absolutely hilarious.
  • No Sympathy: Plagg towards Gabriel and his constant failures to correct the situation. Justified in that this entire mess is Gabriel's fault in the first place and his idea of "correcting" things mainly involves restoring his family to his idea of normal while ignoring the impact on everyone else.
  • "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Gabriel gets several from Plagg, who takes him to task for being a horrible excuse for a father, completely failing to grasp the concept of his actions having consequences, and refusing to acknowledge any of his mistakes even as they keep blowing up in his face.
  • Point of Divergence:
    • The Peafowl Pin was never broken, and Emilie becomes one of the heroes of Paris, fighting to protect the city from Hawk Moth... along with trying to save her own son.
    • Since he isn't Hawk Moth and no longer benefits from Adrien attending public school, Gabriel yanked him out once the terrorist started attacking. The resulting resentment helped cause his akumatization into Chat Blanc.
  • Pop-Cultural Osmosis Failure: Gabriel has no idea what Plagg is talking about when he says "wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey".
    Gabriel: What does that even mean?
    Plagg: Wait—you mean that’s not a thing here? (suddenly furious) Oh, heaven help you if your screw-up did anything to ruin that series!
    Gabriel: What series?
    Plagg: You know. That series? The one your son used to like before he was TURNED INTO AN AKUMA!
  • Shout-Out: Plagg "explains" how things could play out both similarly and dramatically different by saying "Wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey." When Gabriel fails to get the reference, the Kwami bristles at the thought that the Wish might have "ruined that series."
  • Stating the Simple Solution: Plagg points out that Gabriel could simply tell Emilie, whom he knows is a Miraculous user, the truth about what happened, enlisting her aid. The problem is, Gabriel's not eager to do that, because that would require telling her about the lengths he went to in order to revive her and the truth about how he treated their son.
  • The Unreveal: Who's the new Hawk Moth, how did they get their hands on Nooroo, and why are they terrorizing the city?
  • Well-Intentioned Extremist: Gabriel sees himself as having been one as Hawk Moth, as everything he did was for the singular purpose of getting his wife Emilie back.
  • While Rome Burns: While shocked at the appearance of a new Hawk Moth, Gabriel was perfectly content to ignore the chaos of the city now that he had his life just as he wanted it. At least until his wife became the city’s hero and his son was akumatized.
  • Wistful Amnesia: Played for Drama; while neither Adrien nor Marinette recalls anything about the original world, Plagg suggests that they could subconsciously recall details...such as the notion that they were meant to be partners.

    Chloé's Lament 
  • Adaptation Relationship Overhaul:
    • According to the author, in the new reality rather than marry André and have a fling with Mr. Lee, here due to André's lack of wealth or prestige it was the other way around. Being married to a man with a spine who refused to let her disregard her family and with the aid of a counselor, Audrey has made strides to be a better wife and mother to her husband and Zoé, whom she has grown closer to since she still values merit and personal achievement...however, her relationship with Chloé is even worse now since that same approval of self-reliance makes her disdain her daughter’s desire to be handed everything rather than earn it, and the girl acting like how her mother used to prior to her becoming a better person comes off as insulting.
    • Invoked. Pre-Wish, Adrien originally only saw Marinette as a friend. It took her identity being revealed and Chloé outting her crush on him for him to have a Love Epiphany. In the new reality, Marinette is his childhood friend and has been such a positive influence in his life that he fully has a crush on her by the time the events of canon start.
    • Invoked to dramatic effect for Chloé as a result of her making the Wish. Pre-Wish, she and Adrien had been childhood friends and each other’s only friend for years. This led Chloé to crush on Adrien and for Adrien to regularly excuse and overlook Chloé’s more horrible actions to the point it took her blatantly betraying Paris for him to finally reject her. In the Post-Wish reality, Chloé is no longer his only childhood friend as she now shares that position with Marinette, who helped him to go to school sooner and resulted in him making plenty of other friends besides the two of them. As a result, while Chloé still holds her memories and feelings for him from the previous reality, this Adrien doesn’t have any fondness for Chloé and really only puts up with her out of pity.
  • Adaptational Badass: It's heavily implied that the new Ladybug hero Red Queen is Sabrina, and confirmed in side materials.
  • Adults Are Useless: Largely Averted in the new world.
    • Played With through Miss Bustier, who originally excused Chloé's misbehavior just like she did in the original world and advised Marinette to "lead by example". Other adults, however, were more than willing to step up to the plate, forcing Bustier to do the same and actually make an effort to deal with her most troublesome student herself.
    • Averted with Tom and Sabine. Sabine is noted to be a competent Mayor who takes steps to better the city and work with the heroes to counter Hawk Moth. Tom runs the Grand Paris Hotel with efficiency and a positive atmosphere for both workers and clients which helps make it more popular and successful than it was in canon. Add to that how both stepped in to intervene with Chloé’s bullying before the events of canon even started and it’s pretty clear the two are substantially more useful than they were in canon.
  • Affluent Ascetic: Despite now being the rich heiress, Marinette doesn't define herself by her wealth like Chloé did. She doesn't dress in the latest and most expensive fashions, prefers to make gifts for others by hand, and helps out cleaning in the hotel. The author even said that Marinette's family in this world are even wealthier than Chloé's had been because they live more modestly note , treat their workers wellnote , and don't have to spend a fortune catering to a spoiled brat's desire for the most expensive of everything.
  • All for Nothing: Chloé realizes too late she basically handed her fabulous wealth and influence to her most hated enemy and lost the only two people who ever called her a friend in exchange for literally nothing.
  • Alpha Bitch: Chloé was this in the old reality, but she assumes Marinette will become this after being reborn as the Mayor’s daughter. She’s wrong. Chloé retains the attitude of one in the new reality but soon finds out there are consequences to acting like you're the queen of the school when you don't have the means to back it up.
  • Always Need What You Gave Up: Chloé's Wish strips away the privileges and perks of being the Mayor's daughter; without that protection, she finds herself facing actual consequences for her behavior with no way of squirming her way out of them.
  • Armor-Piercing Question: Tikki staggers Chloé when she asks whether she ever even talked to Pollen once during their partnership.
  • Awful Truth: Adrien informs Chloé that the big party that was supposedly held to celebrate her becoming Queen Bee originally began as everybody celebrating the idea of her leaving.
  • Bastard Bastard: According to invokedWord of God, Audrey married Zoé's father in this new timeline, while André was the fling. Meaning it was Chloé who was born out of wedlock and... well you've seen her personality.
  • Belated Child Discipline: Chloe essentially does this to herself; because she switched lives with Marinette, it means that Chloe no longer has access to her father's money or connections, meaning that she's now suffering actual consequences for her bad behavior.
  • Believing Your Own Lies:
    • Chloé tries to justify her betrayal by telling everyone, herself included, that Marinette/Ladybug is a Bitch in Sheep's Clothing who only pretends to be good to get everyone to fawn over her, and that she took away Chloé’s Miraculous to snub and stick it to her. Therefore, Chloé deserves to be an adored hero more than she does. Even when faced with a hundred signs that say otherwise, Chloé only doubles down and insists to herself that Marinette is out to get her and that she is getting the short end of the stick.
    • Adrien has defended Chloé over and over again to everyone who rightfully hated her under the justification that she had Hidden Depths, that she was a good person deep down, and that he knew who she really was. Seeing her betray him and Ladybug to Hawk Moth and dismiss everyone else in favor of her own selfish desires finally shatters his illusions, and he admits that he was just making excuses and deluding himself.
  • Break the Haughty: Chloé was a Rich Bitch who always got what she wanted and could get away with anything, and had even successfully taken over Paris and defeated the heroes at the start of the story. But making the Wish lost her all of that, all for what she didn't realize was only a chance at becoming Ladybug that she lost almost immediately without even realizing it. By the end of the story, she’s left crying about the unfairness of it all.
  • Broken Pedestal:
    • Chloé's regard for Ladybug was already damaged by the heroine informing her that she couldn't safely become Queen Bee anymore. Once she learns that her former idol was none other than Marinette Dupain-Cheng, she's absolutely furious, deciding that she must have been tricking her the whole time.
    • She's also horrified to discover Adrien's Secret Identity, immediately wondering why he didn't stand up for her or give her the Bee.
    • Adrien is finally forced to recognize that his childhood friend is a selfish Spoiled Brat who never once appreciated any of the kindness or compassion he or anyone else showed her.
    • After the Wish, this is finally the case for Chloé's view of Adrien after she hears him admitting that he doesn't even consider her a friend and only puts up with her because he has to.
  • Bullying a Dragon: Marinette and Chloé's dynamic remains the same in the new world, except here, Chloé is the daughter of a mere baker note  while Marinette belongs to a very wealthy and powerful family, so most people think Chloé is downright crazy for harassing Marinette instead of settling for a more low-key target, and the story stresses that, if Marinette were a vindictive person, she could have (rightfully) ruined Chloé's life several times over. Which while she is willing to overlook the mistreatment, her parents are not as Mr. Bourgeois is strapped for cash having to pay for his daughter's mistakes, and Chloé herself is on probation with possible expulsion hanging over her head.
  • Call-Back: Adrien uses the "No one is useless" line on Chloé. In canon, he gave this line to Marinette on Chloé's behalf, which resulted in Marinette trying to make amends with Chloé. He seems to be trying the same thing here but Chloé completely disregards it, which is part of what causes Adrien's realization that Chloé is an unrepentantly horrible person who genuinely sees everyone else as being beneath her.
  • Cassandra Truth:
    • Tikki warns Chloé that it's her personality that causes people to dislike her, not her fortune. That nothing would change even if her and Marinette's positions were switched, and people wouldn't like her anymore, or like Marinette any less. Chloé refuses to believe that and makes her Wish to prove her wrong. Lo and behold, one alteration of reality later, and Chloé is even more hated and Marinette even more loved.
    • Played With; Chloé tries to use her knowledge of the future to her advantage but is unable to convince anyone to listen to her... mainly due to her abrasive nature and victim-blaming.
  • Childhood Friend Romance:
    • Adrien and Marinette in the new reality. Because the Dupain-Chengs are now rich and powerful, they are family friends with the Agrestes, and Marinette is Adrien’s second childhood friend after Chloé. Because of her, he knows sooner what a real friend is, and thanks to her parents’ influence, he gets to go to public school earlier. Her kindness and positive impact on his life, plus the fact that she is no longer a nervous wreck around him, makes him develop a crush on her.
    • Chloé has always believed that she and Adrien would become this. Though it was obvious he never felt the same way in the original reality and it’s even less of a case now. As Marinette being his childhood friend taught him what a real friend was it showed him that Chloé wasn't one. So now he doesn't tolerate her behavior out of a misguided sense of friendship. He tolerates her because he feels sorry for her.
  • Class Princess: Marinette was this in her old life, and being reborn as the daughter of the Mayor does not change anything in the slightest. If anything, her new position and influence actually enhance her "Princess" status in the class, as she uses her clout to organize activities and workshops instead of abusing it to bully everyone and weasel out of any repercussions.
  • Comically Lopsided Rivalry: For Chloé to Marinette as of the Post-Wish aftermath.
  • Conspicuous Consumption: Averted with the post-Wish Marinette, who doesn't really enjoy flashing around her wealth unless it's for others' sake, prefers to design her own clothes, and much prefers to both make and receive handmade and meaningful gifts rather than want anything simply because it's expensive. At most her parents will buy her rare and costly materials for her designs, but only as a reward rather than a gift. In contrast to Chloé who only likes something if she knows it was pricey. The author even tells us how much her diamond phone case would realistically cost.
  • Crazy-Prepared: Red Queen, thanks to a mixture of Sabrina being highly organized and Tikki and Plagg using their knowledge of the original world to warn her about potential scenarios well in advance.
  • Decomposite Character: Played With; when The Universe reshaped reality in accordance with Chloé's Wish, it split her father's job into two separate roles: the Mayor of Paris and the head of the hotel, with Sabine becoming the former and Tom the latter.
  • Dick Dastardly Stops to Cheat: By all counts, Chloé had won by the start of the story. Ladybug was defeated, the entire city under her control, the Miracle Box was in her hands, and she even took out Hawk Moth. After attaining total victory, she could have just ruled over Paris and lived the rest of her life as the Queen she wanted to be. But then she had to make the Wish...
  • Didn't Think This Through:
    • It never occurred to Hawk Moth or Mayura that Chloé could put them under her control until it was far too late.
    • While she learned who Ladybug and Chat Noir were, she didn't bother unmasking Hawk Moth or Mayura; as a result, she doesn't have the advantage of knowing who the villains are in the new world. She also took for granted the idea that she'd become the new Ladybug, and has no clue who the heroes are.
    • Chloé's Wish fails to take into account that 1) most of her own successes in life were based on abusing the position she was born with, which she's now giving to Marinette, 2) other people have feelings and aren't all assholes deep down, and 3) she doesn't know how Marinette became Ladybug, only that she did- resulting in her wasting the one positive change of her Wish (the opportunity to become Ladybug) by being rude to Master Fu.
    • When she tries to replicate the feathered bowler hat Marinette made for the contest, expecting to be able to then frame Marinette for copying her design, she quickly runs into multiple problems:
      • The biggest one being that, in the original timeline, she only got so far because she used her father's contacts to hire a professional hat maker and copied Marinette's original sketches. Here, while she does manage to get in touch with her mother's designers, not having either the sketch or a halfway decent description of how it looked like, her attempts completely flounder.
      • She then attempts to craft it herself - but she has zero skills and knowledge of how to actually do the part. Since she didn't even bother to learn at least some basic skills, the end result is terrible.
      • And the last one is her belief that Marinette, regardless of the different situation, would run along the exact same path her canon self did to create her hat. Not only does this not happen, in the end, Marinette doesn't even participate, because since she's friends with Adrien, if she won it would look like she used her connections to do it.
  • Diligent Hero, Slothful Villain:
  • Disappointed in You: Adrien honestly believed that Chloé was a good person deep down. Once the full extent of her horribleness becomes clear to him, he can only regard her with deep disappointment... and mounting anger at both her and himself.
    Adrien: I kept telling myself that they don't understand. That I knew who you really were. That other people just didn't know you. But I was just making excuses. It wasn't that they didn't know you... it's that I didn't.
  • Downer Beginning: The story opens with Ladybug succumbing to Miracle Queen's wasps and falling under her Mind Control, with Chloé basking in her triumph.
  • Dramatic Irony:
    • While scheming about all the ways she intends to exploit her (assumed) position as this world's Ladybug, Chloé shoves aside "some old fart", gloating that her destiny awaits. She's blissfully unaware that the "peon" she just pushed past was none other than the Guardian, and that he's silently judging her to be completely unworthy of any Miraculous at all.
    • Miss Bustier pities Chloé, seeing her as the most troubled and least privileged of her students and believing that she would be better if she just had more opportunities. The reader, naturally, is well aware that Chloé used to be incredibly privileged and acted the exact same way... in no small part because she was enabled by Bustier giving her a free pass on all her bad behavior.
  • Easily Forgiven: The author said that the class would in all likelihood quickly, if not immediately forgive Chloé for her attitude if only she apologized for her behavior, and that she could start to make some real friends and find happiness. The problem is that doing so would be admitting she was in the wrong about anything.
  • Entitled Bastard: So far as Chloé is concerned, she simply deserves to have everything she wants to be handed to her on a silver platter and that Ladybug was the one in the wrong for telling her no. Naturally works against her in the new reality, as she keeps expecting to have her desires catered to, and doesn't know how to handle it when things don't automatically go her way.
  • Entitled to Have You: Chloé is this towards Adrien. She took over the city and fully intended to rule it with Adrien at her side. It actually shocks her when Adrien is against that plan, and that it’s even enough for him to despise her completely. Her attempt to retcon this with the Wish doesn’t go any better.
  • Epic Fail: Chloé's attempt to recreate the feather bowler hat was so bad people wouldn't even believe it's supposed to be a hat. They made comments like asking if it was a "gaudy balloon"; saying "It looks like someone tarred and feathered a plastic bag"; or thinking it's "a deflated football".
  • Et Tu, Brute?:
    • Upon learning that Adrien was Chat Noir, Chloé immediately takes offense to how he didn't stand up against Ladybug for her or defend her right to keep the Bee.
    • She's hit with this again when Adrien finally has enough of her behavior and tells her he genuinely hates her.
    • She's similarly blindsided in the new reality when she overhears him admitting to another friend that he doesn't really consider her to be much of a friend anymore, and is primarily placating her both out of pity and for fear of what sort of backlash her tantrums could trigger.
  • Even the Girls Want Her: In a side prompt dealing with how Marinette in this universe would have been able to prevent Captain Hardrock, Juleka reveals to Luka (who just gained his canon crush on her) that literally everyone other than Chloé is in love with her.
  • Evil Cannot Comprehend Good:
    • Chloé's biggest fault; she can understand how events play out, but never why they did- which inevitably boils down to other people being genuinely nice without ulterior motives- and consequently fails to understand how they would turn out differently. She makes her Wish thinking that her and Marinette's social situation was the direct consequence of their different circumstances, so that the new Marinette would be rich, but a pariah like Chloé originally was, while Chloé would be the Class Princess superheroine that Marinette once was. What she fails to realize until it's too late is that these things actually depended on what they chose to do with their lives; Chloé was hated because she used her status to bully others, while Marinette passed a Secret Test of Character to become Ladybug. Chloé's wish thus actually allows Marinette to use Chloé's assets to become even more beloved, while Chloé almost immediately convinces Fu to give someone else the Earrings by treating him rudely.
    • After learning that Marinette is Ladybug, Chloé thinks Marinette is stupid for not abusing her power for her benefit, such as ruining the life of her enemies, boosting her parents' bakery by publicly endorsing itnote , or hell, even withholding the Miraculous Cure for money.
  • Evil Gloating: Chloé tries to rub her victory in Marinette's face, only to find it rings hollow when the girl is completely under her power and unable to respond.
  • Evil Is Petty: After having taken over the city and using the Wish to rewrite reality, Chloé fully intends to use the power and status of the Ladybug hero to ruin Marinette’s life, and her only regret is that Marinette won’t know why she’s doing it. When it becomes clear that things aren’t going to work out as she thinks, she still blames Marinette and tries to antagonize her.
  • Exact Words: Chloé wished for Marinette’s opportunity to become Ladybug, which she does indeed get... but she fails to realize that it's an opportunity, i.e. something that Marinette had the chance to lose if she'd made the wrong choice. Chloé, presented with that same opportunity, unknowingly wastes it by being rude to Master Fu while waiting for the Earrings to fall into her lap like everything else in her (previous) life.
  • Fatal Flaw: Chloé’s is that she lacks any sort of empathy or understanding of kindness. She sees people as servants like Sabrina, victims like her classmates, or trophies like Adrien. She doesn’t understand why everyone else prefers Marinette to her, nor why they think Marinette is more deserving of being a hero than Chloé, never once considering that it’s because Marinette is a genuinely good person who goes out of her way to help others in their time of need and learns from her mistakes, unlike Chloé who treats everyone like garbage and expects them to kiss her feet just for being nice for five minutes. Chloé thinks that just being in Marinette’s old position will automatically guarantee Chloé the latter's popularity and Miraculous, even if she retains her spiteful and entitled personality.
  • Feeling Oppressed by Their Existence: As someone who seems to define her happiness by the misery of others, Chloé can't be happy as long as Marinette is. She could be happy with her new life even without her fortune or authority if she just let go of her bitterness and apologized. However, that would require two impossible things from her: admitting her own fault, and accepting Marinette not being the same hated Lonely Rich Kid she used to be.
  • Forced to Watch: Adrien finds himself unable to do anything but yell uselessly at Chloé while she strips Ladybug of the Earrings and him of the Ring, followed by her plotting to use the Wish for herself to make the world how she wants it.
  • Friendless Background: Pre-Wish Chloé only had Adrien and Sabrina as friends, but the former only stayed friends with her out of her being his only friend when they were young and out of the mistaken belief that she's secretly a nice girl deep down, while the latter was more of a lackey than a friend. Post-Wish and Adrien also had Marinette as a childhood friend and got other friends years ago all helping him realize Chloé isn't a friend, while the new Sabrina has only ever dealt with Chloé as a troublesome classmate. This means now Chloé truly is totally friendless.
  • Grew a Spine: Faced with undeniable evidence of Chloé's selfishness, Adrien finally stands up to her and calls her out.
  • Hated by All: Chloé finds that not only didn't she gain Marinette's Loved by All reputation, but she's also now even more hated by her classmates. Without her connections or wealth, they don't need to hold their tongue when it comes to telling her how everybody hates her because of her attitude.
  • Her Own Worst Enemy: Ultimately this applies to Chloé in several instances.
    • Chloé’s pride led her to give up her victory as Miracle Queen out of spite after the Kwamis called her out on her attitude and Adrien refused to join her, and because of both the Wish itself being poorly thought out and her own actions in the timeline, ultimately leaves her with nothing.
    • Chloé did indeed get Marinette's chance to become Ladybug... but she immediately wastes it by failing the Secret Test of Character.
    • It has been stated that Chloé actually could still turn things around at any point and make her new life better for herself*, but since that would require her to admit she was wrong and allow Marinette to remain happy in what had formerly been her life (a happiness Chloé herself couldn’t have despite the same position), Chloé just doubles down on her anger, resentment and her selfish entitled behavior.
  • Hidden Depths: Played with. Adrien had convinced himself that there had to be more to Chloé than just what she let people see on the surface. However, it's sadly averted. Breaking his heart, she proves that, no, there is no depth to her. She’s exactly as one-dimensionally wicked as she appears to be.
  • Hoist by Her Own Petard:
    • Chloé's ill-considered Wish lands her in a world where she's no longer shielded from the fallout of her actions, losing all of the perks, pampering, and protection she took for granted.
    • Miss Bustier teeters on the verge of this; even in the new reality, she continued to insist that Chloé just needed guidance and good examples. Now she has to put her money where her mouth is by stepping up to help Chloé herself rather than shunting the responsibility onto her students, with her career potentially on the line.
  • Honorary Uncle: According to the author's supplements, Jean, who is Marinette's butler in the new reality, is treated as a member of the family.
  • Horrible Judge of Character:
    • Adrien in the original timeline realizes too late that he willfully ignored Chloé's cruelty since she was his Childhood Friend, convincing himself that nobody else knew her as well as he did. He's more aware in the rewritten reality.
    • Chloé is so used to others just giving her what she wants that she expects the Kwamis to grant her Wish exactly as intended. She fails to consider why Plagg is suddenly so cordial when he tells her how to get her Wish granted even though earlier he, along with Tikki and Adrien, had been calling her out on her selfish behavior.
    • Mme Bustier remains one in both worlds; ironically, Chloé's lower status offers more Freudian Excuses for her teacher to latch onto.
  • How the Mighty Have Fallen:
    • Chloé inflicts this upon herself, though it takes some time for it to really start sinking in just how much she's lost.
    • Played With through André: in the original world, he was the Mayor of Paris, while post-reset he's merely running his own bakery with an average reputation. Chloé laments this upon seeing her father working in the kitchen, yet he seems mostly content with his lot in life, save for worrying about his troublesome daughter.
  • Hypocrite: Chloé decries how Marinette arranged the work-study program as "free child labor", conveniently forgetting that not only did she do the same but took advantage of it to stick the classmates she disliked into the worst jobs.
  • I Hate Past Me: Downplayed; in the side story Chloé's Lament - Sabrina, Sabrina learns from Tikki what her counterpart in the original reality was like and remarks that she "sounds kind of pathetic". Rather than hating herself, she comes to pity her past incarnation, noting how in an odd way, she's grateful for Chloé for unintentionally giving her a better life.
  • I Reject Your Reality:
    • Chloé ultimately makes the Wish because she can't accept that her own callous attitude is responsible for her own problems, or that Adrien has "turned against her" upon seeing just how self-absorbed she is.
    • After seeing how her wish took effect, Chloé begins to act as though Marinette stole her life, even though the wish was made by Chloé in an attempt to steal Marinette's life (or rather, the perks Chloé assumed she'd get with it).
  • Iconic Outfit: Played for Laughs in a side snippet: Wayzz destroys Master Fu's favorite shirt to lessen the chances of Chloé recognizing him.
  • Ignored Epiphany: Hearing the "new" Adrien confess how even he's grown tired of her throws Chloé for a loop, and she starts to consider that the original Adrien might have been sincerely trying to warn her... before doubling down on her insistence that he's betrayed her just like everybody else.
  • Impossibly Tacky Clothes:
    • Adrien's perspective in the new timeline admits he does this intentionally sometimes, both because it irritates his father and because it gets Marinette’s attention.
    • Chloé's post-Wish clothes in her own opinion, since she's been reduced from being able to buy the latest and most expensive fashions to what the daughter of a baker could reasonably afford.
    • The author has revealed that Marinette's first creation is something that her father absolutely loves... to playfully embarrass his daughter with by showing people the hideous suit Jean wore with pride all day when he got it, then had pressed then framed for posterity so she'll never be allowed to forget she made it.
  • In Spite of a Nail:
    • Despite switching places and social statuses, Marinette and Chloé themselves did not change, retaining their core personalities. As a result, Marinette is still regarded well by all their classmates for her kindness and thoughtfulness, while Chloé remains a bitter bully.
    • The Mayor's family still runs their own hotel, and the Dupain-Chengs still enjoy baking, occasionally helping prepare the breakfast and dining-in options that the hotel offers.
    • Marinette still enjoys designing clothes.
    • Roland Dupain is still estranged from the rest of his family, feeling that Tom "abandoned their family traditions" by working at a hotel instead of a bakery. He also resents the fact that Tom always offers room and board to Gina whenever she passes through Paris.
    • André still dotes on his daughter in the new universe, though he's no longer able to spoil her to the same extent as she's used to.
    • Miss Bustier remains sympathetic to Chloé's perspective, still making excuses for her awful behavior and trying to rationalize it away.
    • The Ladybug and Cat remain as Paris' defenders in the new world, and make their debut taking down Stoneheart.
    • Adrien still becomes the Cat Hero, though operating under a different name with a different costume, and working with a different partner.
    • Gabriel remains Hawk Moth, with the exact same motivation (this is also why Adrien remains in the same position, though both are naturally unaware of this).
    • Despite the difference in their positions when they first meet in the new timeline, Alya and Marinette still become close friends.
    • Ivan still gets akumatized into Stoneheart much like in canon. This is also followed by Marinette helping him to confess to Mylène and the two to start dating.
  • Internal Reveal:
    • Adrien informs Chloé that the party that was held "in her honor" began as a celebration of her leaving, and that the only reason they changed the purpose was that Marinette asked them to.
    • Tikki also reveals that Marinette was on the train she nearly crashed, something that bothers Adrien far more than it does Chloé.
    • Chloé tells Adrien that Marinette's "so in love with you that it's pathetic", causing him to have a Love Epiphany of his own.
  • Irony: In spite of Chloé scoffing at all of the generous things Marinette does with her new position (such as letting Alya's family stay in the hotel while they looked for a place to live), the author has revealed that the Dupain-Chengs are actually richer than the Bourgeois' were, due to not having to pay for all of Chloé's frivolities.
  • Karma Houdini Warranty:
    • Chloé managed to void hers with the Wish, stripping herself of the very thing that enabled her to get away with being so awful in the first place: her father's status as the Mayor. Without that power and prestige, she no longer lives in coddled luxury and can't back up her threats.
      • Also applies in the new timeline with Chloé able to get away with her antics at first due to her mother, Marinette refusing to misuse her connections, and Ms. Bustier encouraging Marinette to forgive her before her antics became more harmful and destructive.
    • Also applies to Bustier; vouching for Chloé has put her own backside on the line, since Chloé wouldn't be attending anymore if not for her pleading her case. As a result, Bustier has to actually pay attention to what Chloé is doing and work to keep her in line, rather than telling her victims to "lead by example" and let things slide.
  • Lack of Empathy: Possibly Chloé's biggest Fatal Flaw; she's so self-absorbed that she simply doesn't care about anyone else beyond what she gets out of them.
  • Laser-Guided Karma:
    • Thanks to her ill-thought-out Wish, Chloé lost her wealth, her power through her father, and her only friend. Without her wealth and influence to back up her terrible behavior Chloé won't be able to cause nearly so many people to be akumatized as she was before, nor will she be able to get away with anything if she did. And on top of that, with the changes to reality, she’s lost her shared history with Adrien that let them be as close as they had been in the first place. She's lost everything she cared about while gaining nothing in exchange all because she couldn't understand why people don't like her.
    • André Bourgeois spoiled his daughter and used his authority as mayor to shield her from the consequences of her actions. In the new reality, without the power of the mayorship, all spoiling his daughter got him was in trouble with the law.
    • Bustier not only ignored a lot of Chloé’s behavior but also put more effort into pushing her victims to forgive her than she did to encourage Chloé not to bully them. Her attempts to do this in the new reality did manage to help Chloé stay at the school, but because of this, she is now being held directly responsible for Chloé’s actions in her class so she has to keep a closer eye on her and stop any bullying or it’s her own job on the line.
  • Literal Genie: Mixed with Jerkass Genie. Before the Wish, Plagg smirks right before giving Chloé exactly what she asked for. It's not his fault that Chloé thought the being with no reason to like her would grant her wish in the way she intended it.
  • Lonely Among People: Chloé's selfishness and bullying make her a social pariah; in the post-Wish world, this isolation is more overt, as she can't brute force her way out of consequences with her money or her father.
  • Loved by All: Chloé thought that she would take this away from Marinette once they swapped places, only to find that not only does the status still belong to Marinette, if anything her rival becomes more beloved thanks to using her new wealth and status for the benefit of others.
  • Loving a Shadow: More like Befriending A Shadow in this case. Adrien finally realizes that his oldest friend is not the person he believed she truly was deep down. He always believed, despite everyone else telling him otherwise, that she was a good person deep down, but her betrayal of Ladybug finally shatters his illusions and forces him to admit that he was lying to himself.
  • Meaningful Rename: Played With; when Adrien becomes his bearer again in the new reality, Plagg encourages him to alter his appearance and call himself "anything other than Chat Noir". Adrien hadn't even considered that name, and isn't aware of the significance of this, but happily accepts his Kwami's suggestion of the Wonderland-inspired "Cheshire".
    • Cheshire plays off the fact that Plagg is tricking Chloé into believing that Adrien isn't the Cat this time around, and ties into Ladybug's counterpart calling herself Red Queen.
  • Never My Fault:
    • When she makes her Wish, Chloé erroneously assumes that Marinette will be just as despised as she was, thinking that she was hated due to being the Mayor's beloved daughter... as opposed to all the ways she exploited that position.
    • The more she learns about her unfortunate circumstances in the rebooted reality, the more stubbornly Chloé insists that Marinette must be responsible for her woes. Even having the situation repeatedly explained to her does little to break through her walls of denial.
    • She also regards Marinette as having "stolen" her life, despite making the Wish in the first place specifically to steal Marinette's life — or rather, stealing the admiration and regard she'd earned through her actions.
  • Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: While pleading with Chloé to stop, Chat Noir warns her that Hawk Moth will use both Miraculouses to make his Wish. This eventually triggers her decision to make her own Wish. Subverted when Chloé's wish ends up creating a new timeline where Adrien, among other people, enjoy much better lives, with only Chloé and her father being worse off than they were in the original timeline.
  • Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Chloé's selfish and ill-considered Wish kneecapped her own ability to hurt others and led to her classmates being in much better positions than in canon; Marinette is even more beloved because she uses her wealth to help others, Adrien has Marinette as a childhood friend, Sabrina never met Chloé and so didn't have her servile nature constantly reinforced, and Miss Bustier can no longer make Chloé's actions into somebody else's problem.
  • Nominal Hero: Chloé planned on becoming one under the belief that she was destined to be Ladybug in the new timeline, scheming to use her new position to her advantage to humiliate and ruin anyone who crosses her. She also plots to seize the Miracle Box for herself and to withhold using her Miracle Cure unless she's paid to magically repair all the damage done by the Akuma.
  • Non-Idle Rich:
    • Post-Wish Marinette inherited all of Chloé's wealth and power, and instead of using it on herself uses it to help the people around her. To Chloé's utter confusion.
    • Post-Wish Tom. Alya mentioned that when he hired her mother, he let her family stay at the Hotel until they could find their own residence. Tom may be rich in this new life, but he looks out for his workers, includes features in the Hotel that people will enjoy, supports a number of community projects, and still does baking regularly as well as some of the more mundane tasks around the Hotel. It stands to reason that this may be a big part of the reason for Marinette’s With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility stance.
  • Noodle Incident: Kim somehow managed to get the entire class temporarily banned from the pool at the Dupain-Cheng's hotel. It involved a game of Chicken in said pool... and a banana suit.
  • Offended by an Inferior's Success: One of the reasons why Chloé makes the wish is that she can't stand that Marinette, a baker's daughter, being a superhero and Loved by All while Chloé herself is Hated by All despite being rich and the daughter of the mayor, not understanding that people's love for Marinette and hatred for Chloé has to do with their respective personalities.
  • Only Friend: In the rewritten reality, Adrien officially serves this role to Chloé, as she's managed to alienate everyone else, although it's later revealed that he only really hangs around with her because he pities her.
  • Platonic Life-Partners: Unlike the old reality, the new Ladybug and Cat Miraculous wielders are this, having no romantic interest in each other either in or out of costume.
  • Playing the Victim Card:
    • So far as Chloé's concerned, Ladybug/Marinette betrayed her by denying her her Miraculous. She also insists that Marinette went out of her way to "ruin" and sabotage her, as if she were the one bullying Chloé rather than the other way around.
    • She continues to insist on this in the new universe, refusing to accept the notion that Marinette hasn't been abusing her position in all the same ways she did.
  • Politically Incorrect Villain: After hearing that Sabine Cheng is Paris's mayor, Chloé wonders if she's even a French citizen. While Sabine is confirmed (in the Shanghai special) to be a first-generation immigrant, the show has never given any evidence that she isn't a naturalized citizen of France (and since she's been there long enough to be married to Tom for twenty years, she almost certainly is).
  • Post-Support Regret: Adrien defended Chloé against all her haters and victims because she had been his Only Friend for years and he wanted to believe there was more to her than what she showed. It takes her betraying him and his Lady to Hawk Moth for nothing more than petty retribution and satisfaction of her own selfish ends to make him realize and declare that everything he believed about his Childhood Friend was wrong.
    Adrien: I had already enabled you enough, Chloé. And I encouraged others to do the same, thinking it would help you. That if they got to know you — if you had enough support, eventually you would open up and finally be the great person you always seemed to think you were. That they just needed to give you a chance and you would be satisfied and everyone would finally get along. But I was wrong. You're the sort of person who is never satisfied with anything.
  • Princess in Rags: When Chloé makes her wish to have Marinette’s life, the new reality turns her into a baker’s daughter instead of the Mayor’s, therefore revoking all the wealth and privilege that gave her all her clout and power over everyone. Without any of it, Chloé is one step away from being expelled and disgraced, and her father is in debt for constantly paying for her mistakes.
  • Psychological Projection:
    • Chloé accuses Marinette of only becoming a superheroine to soak up everyone's adulation and feed her ego, "pretending you were actually worth something". All were things Chloé expected to have as Queen Bee. Adrien calls her out on it.
    • Chloé seems to take a vindictive glee at the idea of seeing Marinette in her shoes. Not just that she would be hated by everyone, but that she would actually prove all herself to be every bit as horrible as Chloé wanted to believe she was. Even when it’s shown time and again that this isn’t the case, Chloé can’t seem to accept it.
    • When Chloé discovers that Marinette isn't even participating in the hat-making contest to avoid accusations of using her connections to win, Chloé is shocked because she would have used them shamelessly.
  • Pyrrhic Victory: While Chloé triumphs over the heroes as Miracle Queen and usurps control from Hawk Moth, she finds that she's unable to enjoy her success. The ensorcelled Marinette can't react to her gloating, while Adrien completely turns against her, seeing her actions as completely unforgivable.
  • Rage Breaking Point: Chloé ultimately snaps at the Derby Hat Contest where, after an Epic Fail of an attempt at recreating Marinette's design is capped off by the reveal Marinette didn't even enter the contest in this universe and Bustier tries to comfort Chloé by offering to ask Marinette to help Chloé learn how to make her own fashion, leading to a Big "SHUT UP!" and Chloé snapping that Marinette stole everything from her and that she should have used the wish to make Marinette disappear instead.
  • "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Chloé gets called out several times over, as Adrien, Tikki, and Plagg each spell out all of her worst character flaws and how she's responsible for her own problems, no matter how much she tries to deny it.
    Adrien: Of course not. Because you never do, Chloé. You don't talk to people. You don't consider people. You don't look at anyone outside of yourself to even notice the effect you're having.
    Plagg: [laughs] You've caused a good half of the akumatizations in the city! In all our time active here so far, it says something that we have spent more akuma fights protecting you than any other person.
    Tikki: And not once — not once have you ever so much as acknowledged doing anything wrong! Much less apologized!
  • Reasonable Authority Figure: Mayor Sabine does what she can to aid the heroes in protecting Paris, with measures such as an Akuma Alert system, shelters, mandatory training for emergency services on how to handle akuma, therapy programs, and making clear that anyone who pursues or attempts to expose the secret identities of the heroes will be charged with aiding and abetting a terrorist.
  • Rich Bitch: Chloé uses this exact phrase to describe what she believes Marinette would be in this new reality. However, when she actually meets her, she finds that the girl is actually a well-liked and responsible heiress who uses her position to help others.
  • Right for the Wrong Reasons: Post-Wish Marinette says whatever Chloé is going through is the result of the latter's own actions. While Chloé's predicament is the result of her own ill-thought wish, Marinette doesn't know about that and is thinking of the bullying done by Post-Wish Chloé before being replaced by the Chloé who wished that reality into existence.
  • Saying Too Much: After the fiasco at the hat contest, Chloé lets out that she made a Wish to take Marinette's life in front of Mme. Bustier...and one student.
  • Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!:
    • To her horror, Chloé finds that her favorite tactic no longer works in the new reality, as her father is a mere baker rather than the Mayor of Paris.
    • When Gabriel hosts the hat-making contest, Chloé is horrified when Marinette abstains from competing, unable to grasp the notion that she wants to avoid even the impression of misusing her connections.
  • Secret Test of Character: Chloé fails hers without even realizing it, shoving "some old fart" out of her way as she hurries to school.
  • "Shaggy Dog" Story: Chloé teamed up with the Big Bad, betrayed the heroes, stole the Miraculous, and made a Wish to have Marinette’s life, thinking she would get her popularity and Miraculous. When the new reality is created, not only is Chloé still Hated by All and lacking any Miraculous, she has also lost her wealth and connections as the Mayor’s daughter, which were pretty much the only things she had going for her in her old life, making her worse off than when she started.
  • Shaped Like Itself: When Marinette announces that Adrien will work at the hotel's kitchen for the year's work-study (something Adrien wanted), Chloé imagines "Her poor Adrikens, forced to slave away in a room meant for servants like... like he was a servant! Where he could get covered in grime and burn his precious skin!"
  • Shout-Out:
    • Adrien considered calling himself Wild Pussycat as a nod to his current favorite series.
    • When Chloé is waiting to get the Ladybug Miraculous, the narration states "but nobody came."
  • So Okay, It's Average: invoked André Bourgeois didn't inherit the skills from those he traded places with. While Chloé's classmates imply that he's not a very good baker, Word of God is that he's alright, and that he's struggling more due to his daughter's poor reputation; nobody wants to buy croissants from the father of their school bully. This means just like Marinette's family is even better off than the Bourgeois' were, in this new reality even without the lawsuits Chloé's family is worse off than the Dupain-Cheng's had been.
  • Spoiled Sweet: Despite her family being substantially richer this go-around, Marinette in this new reality doesn't get pampered to nearly the same extent as Chloé did in canon. Her parents are noted to teach her to use her position responsibly and the allowance she receives is in exchange for helping around the hotel and other tasks. However, Tom and Sabine aren't opposed to getting her rare fabrics for good behavior, knowing it will be put to good use.
  • Stealing the Credit: Chloé attempts to use her foreknowledge of the hat contest to recreate Marinette's entry without the hidden signature that exposed Chloé as a thief, with the intent of making it appear that Marinette was trying to steal from her instead. Unfortunately for her, without the skills to recreate it, she's nowhere close to what Marinette achieved.
  • Theme Naming: All of the Miraculous holders in the new universe follow an Alice's Adventures in Wonderland theme for their names.
  • There Are No Therapists: Pointedly averted, as Mayor Sabine Cheng pays more attention to mental health than André Bourgeois ever did (a good move in a city besieged by a terrorist who utilizes people's negative emotions). The tags for that post even call this trope out by name.
    Tags: #there are no therapists is NOT in play here
  • They Just Dont Get It: No matter how much things are spelled out for her, Chloé simply doesn't comprehend why her actions and assumptions are so far off the mark.
  • Tranquil Fury: Marinette goes into one when Chloé accuses her of forcing Adrien to work in the hotel's "dirty old kitchen", coldly correcting her about the top-of-the-line facilities.
  • Ungrateful Bastard:
    • Chloé refuses to acknowledge that Marinette had done anything nice for her. Even after Adrien reveals the truth about the Queen Bee party, she only doubles down.
    • Though André is trying his best, Chloé dismisses her father's efforts since he isn't able to spoil her to the same degree that he did in the original world.
  • Wants a Prize for Basic Decency: Chloé thinks the party the class gave her in "Malediktator" is the least they owed her after saving the city from her dad, even though he was only akumatized in the first place because she threw a tantrum and demanded Disproportionate Retribution for being called out on her arrogance. She thinks she can do the bare minimum and be given everything she wants for it.
  • We Can Rule Together: Chloé naturally expects her "Adrikins" to join her in ruling over the whole world as she forces everyone to become her brainwashed peons. She's sincerely shocked when he refuses.
  • We Used to Be Friends: Downplayed in the new reality; Adrien still cares about Chloé, but admits that he doesn't really consider her his friend anymore. He sticks by her side partly out of pity over how she's isolated herself, and partly out of fear that if he officially broke things off, the resulting tantrum might get him pulled out of Francoise Dupont.
  • What Have You Done for Me Lately?: Chloé questions what Marinette ever did for her, and even after it’s pointed out the number of times Marinette tried to help her, Chloé refuses to acknowledge or tries to discount her involvement.
  • What If?:
    • Since the Dupain-Chengs now own the hotel, they offer for Alya's family to stay there until they can find apartment arrangements of their own since her mother has just started working there. As a result, Alya already knows Marinette and is friends with her before the school year officially begins.
    • Without Chloé being the "Daughter of the Mayor", Sabrina never becomes her follower, and instead ends up being closer to the other classmates and more well-regarded.
    • Neither Marinette nor Chloé is the Class Rep; Sabrina is, being far more confident without being stuck as the latter's Beta Bitch.
    • Rather than Ladybug and Chat Noir, Paris is protected by two heroes wielding the same Miraculouses: Red Queen and Cheshire.
    • While Adrien still works as a model for his father's company, Mayor Sabine strongly encouraged Gabriel to let him have an actual childhood... and reinforced child labor laws so he doesn’t have to work nearly as much as in canon. He's also been attending public school for three years and has made plenty of friends outside of Chloé and his other classmates.
      • Furthermore, since Marinette has been his childhood friend in addition to Chloé, and because he has had better friends for longer, he has a much better idea of what true friendship is, as opposed to when he only had Chloé to go off of. As such, he’s already well aware of how much of a brat she is and is much less willing to defend her, even openly agreeing with someone that he likes the idea of her leaving forever. He's also crushing on Marinette.
    • Since Chloé's father is no longer the Mayor, Chloé couldn't use him to threaten anyone like she could in the previous timeline, resulting in people being far less willing to put up with her behavior out of fear of him retaliating. When Chloé finally wakes up in her new Wish-made reality, she discovers she's already on probation with the school due to her antics and not only widely despised but also completely disregarded by the students.
    • Collège Françoise Dupont has higher regulations than its canonical counterpart; among the differences this makes is that their lockers are more secure. Thus, when Chloé attempted to break into Marinette's locker, it took significantly more time — time enough for her to get caught red-handed.
  • Wicked Wastefulness: In the new timeline, Marinette and her family is actually richer than Chloé's was in the old timeline because unlike Andre, who would buy Chloé whatever she wanted and pay his employees extra to put up with her, Marinette's parents raised her to be well-behaved, meaning they don't have to waste money on her.
  • Wistful Amnesia: One of Adrien's friends mentions having a dream where Chloé announced she was leaving Paris, wishing it really happened.
  • With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility: Contrary to Chloé in the original timeline, now that Marinette is in Chloé's place as the daughter of a rich and powerful family, she has been noted as using her power and connections to help people and make Paris a better place. When Chloé confronts her on the matter of why she isn't abusing her authority, Marinette herself points out that her status means she needs to be responsible and set a good example. Chloé can't understand it.
  • Wrong Assumption: Chloé makes plenty of these that aren't related to her other major blind spots:
    • Since her father was the Mayor, she presumes that Marinette's father is in the same position now, dismissing him as a poor political threat. Turns out that Sabine was cast in that role, and her presumption makes Marinette question if she's feeling alright.
    • Once she realizes that the new world had her switch places with Marinette, Chloé automatically assumes that means that Marinette will be a horrible bully who abuses her power over others just as Chloé had, and it's a struggle for her to acknowledge that's not the case once she actually sees the new Marinette.
    • She figures that Marinette must have become the Class Rep since she originally held that role before Marinette ran against her. Again, that's not the case; Sabrina took the job instead.
  • Wrong Genre Savvy: Once she realizes that she and Marinette have switched places in the new reality, Chloé presumes that means that she will become the new Ladybug, and that Marinette is not just the mayor's daughter, but is just as big an Alpha Bitch as she was and just as despised for it. The problem there is...
    • She’s assuming that it’s a simple role reversal and that Marinette would essentially be Chloé in attitude as well as position. She failed to take into account that the change of positions doesn’t automatically mean a change in personality. She also didn’t consider the multitude of changes that would have to occur for Marinette to have her position and the number of other people who would have to be involved in the setup. Such as Marinette’s parents, who unlike André would not be as enabling of selfish behavior and would raise their child to be responsible and self-sufficient.
    • Chloé thinks that her classmates hate her because she's richer than them, not because she's a major bitch.
    • Chloé assumes that Marinette became Ladybug because she was The Chosen One or somesuch, which by taking her place would mean that now she is The Chosen One and thus will be handed the Miraculous. Marinette actually just happened to be in the right place to take Master Fu's Secret Test of Character, so while Chloé gets the opportunity to be Ladybug just like Marinette had, she wastes the chance by being rude to Fu.

    Marinette's Lament 
  • Better the Devil You Know: When Plagg is trying to get Ladybug to make the Wish, he suggests that she wish that Hawk Moth never found the Miraculous. Marinette considers it but rejects it on the basis that someone far worse could replace him.
  • Despair Event Horizon: Ladybug teeters on the verge of this before Plagg manages to pull her back from the brink.
  • Downer Beginning: Hawk Moth has managed to get his hands on all the other Miraculous, and all that Ladybug has left is her Earrings and the Ring, doubtful that she'll be able to do anything against the empowered villain.
  • Formula-Breaking Episode: Unlike Gabriel and Chloé in the previous two stories, Marinette is aware of the dangers of making the Wish and is reluctant to do so as a result.
  • Godzilla Threshold: Marinette's understandably reluctant to make the Wish, recognizing how high the cost is; however, the circumstances force her hand. As Plagg points out, it's either her or Hawk Moth, and he knows which of the two he'd prefer.
  • In the End, You Are on Your Own: Averted. While all of Marinette's friends and family are missing in action, and Hawk Moth has the rest of the Miraculous, Plagg reminds her that she still has Tikki and him with her, and that she doesn't have to do this alone.
  • Near-Villain Victory: Hawk Moth is right on the verge of victory, smugly and calmly mocking Ladybug for continuing to defy him. Right up until she commands Tikki and Plagg to Unify right in front of him.
  • Pet the Dog: It’s implied that the universe takes far more kindly to Marinette's wish than the others so far. Her wish is compared to the star of a show retiring to pursue other interests, with the universe thanking Marinette for her work and wishing her the best. Compare to Chloé's wish seen as an impromptu recast due to a Prima Donna not liking the script, with the universe giving a harsh lesson to Be Careful What You Wish For. It helps that, unlike Gabriel and Chloé, Marinette didn't want to use the wish until she literally had no other choice and still tried to come up with another way.
  • Senseless Sacrifice: Downplayed; once again, Chat Noir takes himself out of the equation, leaving his partner to save the day without him. Fortunately, whatever took him out left his Ring behind.
  • Take a Third Option: Plagg tells Marinette that she can either have him unleash his full Cataclysmic power or let Tikki use her full power. Their third option is having her make a Wish.
  • You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Plagg comforts Marinette as best he can, insisting that if there's anyone capable of thinking through a Wish well enough to minimize its impact, it's her.

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