History Fanfic / LiesOfAttrition

* DeconstructionFic: To Ladybug's tendency to keep others LockedOutOfTheLoop. While the rule on knowing each other's [[SecretIdentity identities]] is understandable and important, her tendency to keep everyone out of the loop on ''literally everything'' does more harm than good, and results is some ''very'' detrimental PoorCommunicationKills. And the whole conflict of this fic [[CouldHaveAvoidedThisPlot could've been avoided]] if [[ForWantOfANail she'd just talked to Chat Noir]].

* DramaticIrony: Chat Noir has all but declared civil war on Ladybug, however, he goes to [[SecretIdentity Marinette]] later, and confides in her his motivations for turning on her. There's also the irony that they're newly-declared enemies as Ladybug and Chat Noir, while dating as Adrien and Marinette. Along with the fact that Ladybug covered up Monarque's Wish from everyone including Chat Noir to protect Adrien from the AwfulTruth, while being [[IgnoranceIsBliss blissfully unaware]] that Adrien ''is'' Chat Noir.

* ObliviousGuiltSlinging: Chat's conversation with Marinette in Chapter 10 is full of this, as Chat admits to [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone Marinette]] that he feels like Ladybug has never really trusted him and sees him as a risk rather than a partner.

* SecretKeeper: Alya serves as this to Marinette, serving as TheConfidant to her, and being the one most in the loop out of all the heroes.

* ObliviousGuiltSlinging: Chat's conversation with Marinette is full of this, as Chat admits to [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone Marinette]] that he feels like Ladybug has never really trusted him and sees him as a risk rather than a partner.

* VillainousCrush: Chrysalis seems to have one on Chat Noir, with much of her dialogue being rather flirty with him. She even calls him [[AffectionateNickname "Chaton"]] at one point. Although, WordOfGod (specifically Missnoodles) has suggested that this could be partially to [[{{Troll}} grind Ladybug's gears.]]

* HeroAntagonist: Interestingly, both Chat Noir ''and'' Ladybug count as this, as they're both invested in the common good of protecting Paris, but resort to some rather questionable means to do so. They just happen to have been pushed onto different sides by PoorCommunicationKills. Indeed, if it weren't for the fact that they both undertake a good number of questionable actions [[WellIntentionedExtremist in the name of good intentions]], this would've been a straight case of WhiteAndGreyMorality.

* EvilIsPetty: Chrysalis ''could've'' [[spoiler: tried to take Ladybug's Miraculous herself while the latter was winded from her fight with Chat Noir, but why spoil the fun of letting ''Chat'' take it off her instead?]] There's also the fact that, VillainousCrush aside, she also gets a kick out of angering Ladybug by flirting with Chat Noir.

* HeroAntagonist: Interestingly, both Chat Noir ''and'' Ladybug count as this, as they're both invested in the common good of protecting Paris. They just happen to have been pushed onto different sides by PoorCommunicationKills. Indeed, if it weren't for the fact that they both undertake a good number of questionable actions [[WellIntentionedExtremist in the name of good intentions]], this would've been a straight case of WhiteAndGreyMorality.

* BrokenPedestal: Ladybug becomes this to Chat Noir when he learns that she lied about Gabriel Agreste's death and the success of Monarch's Wish. [[spoiler: The pedestal breaks even further when she tries to lie about his motives, which quickly erodes his remaining sympathy for her]]. [[spoiler: And by exposing her lies to the other heroes, he breaks the pedestal for several of them, causing some of them to join him]].

* DramaticIrony: Chat Noir has all but declared civil war on Ladybug, however, he goes to [[SecretIdentity Marinette]] later, and confides in her his motivations for turning on her.
** There's also the irony that they're newly-declared enemies as Ladybug and Chat Noir, while dating as Adrien and Marinette. Along with the fact that Ladybug covered up Monarque's Wish from everyone including Chat Noir to protect Adrien from the AwfulTruth, while being [[IgnoranceIsBliss blissfully unaware]] that Adrien ''is'' Chat Noir.

* AesopAmnesia: The stress of everything that happened in the FinalBattle and her fear of how it could affect Adrien have caused Marinette to relapse back into her ControlFreak tendencies despite having learned her lesson in Strikeback.

* AesopAmnesia: The stress of everything that happened in the FinalBattle and her fear of how it could affect Adrien have caused Marinette to relapse back into her ControlFreak tendencies despite having learned her lesson in Strikeback

* ExactWords: Both Ladybug and Chrysalis use these to describe Gabriel's death. And both are MetaphoricallyTrue. Ladybug says that Gabriel sacrificed himself to defeat Monarch, and Chrysalis says that Monarque sacrificed Gabriel to perform the wish.

* YesMan: Chat accuses Rena Rouge of being this to Ladybug when she [[spoiler: ''still'' [[UndyingLoyalty sides with Ladybug after he exposes her]]]].

* EvilCounterpart: There are [[MirrorCharacter many parallels]] between Chrysalis and Ladybug. Both use ExactWords to describe the final battle with Monarch and the death of Gabriel Agreste, each pushing [[UnreliableNarrator their preferred narrative of the story.]] Both are [[ConsummateLiar Consummate Liars]]. Both have an attachment to Chat Noir that goes beyond friendship (Marinette's dating Adrien, but as [[JerkassHasAPoint Argos points out]], she's [[TwoPersonLoveTriangle rather emotionally invested]] in someone she supposedly only sees as JustFriends. And Chrysalis has a full-blown VillainousCrush on him, while having initially had one on Adrien as Lila. And they both use the AffectionateNickname "Chaton" for him). However, Ladybug is ultimately only doing what she thinks is best, Chrysalis is [[ManipulativeBastard using]] Chat Noir for her own agenda.
* EvilerThanThou: Plagg muses that Chrysalis is more worrying to him than Monarch was.

** Chapter 11 has Chat [[LiarRevealed expose Ladybug as a liar]] to the other heroes, [[spoiler: causing Roi Singe, Traquemoiselle, and Pegasus to turn traitor and join Chat to undo Monarch's Wish.]]

* AntiVillain: It's hard to call Chat Noir a villain at all. [[PoorCommunicationKills From his perspective,]] not only did [[BigBad Monarch]] [[TheBadGuyWins win,]] but Ladybug covered up the death of an innocent man (his own father, no less). He's just setting things right.

** There's also the irony that they're newly-declared enemies as Ladybug and Chat Noir, while dating as Adrien and Marinette. Along with the fact that Ladybug covered up Monarch's Wish from everyone including Chat Noir to protect Adrien from the AwfulTruth, while being [[IgnoranceIsBliss blissfully unaware]] that Adrien ''is'' Chat Noir.

After the defeat of Monarch, things have mostly gone back to normal... with the slight issue that the Butterfly Miraculous is still missing, and Ladybug hasn't told anyone. The trust between Ladybug and Chat Noir has been stretched to the breaking point, and one lie too many has pushed Chat Noir to the limit. Chrysalis, the new Butterfly wielder, comes to him to bring new secrets to light; Monarch got what he wanted and made his wish, at the cost of Gabriel Agreste's life, and she wants to undo it, but she needs his help. This sets Paris' greatest heroes on a collision course that risks bringing all Paris down with them.

* BothSidesHaveAPoint: Neither Ladybug nor Chat Noir is truly in the wrong. As Chat points out, the Wish was the very thing they've been fighting for the past few years to prevent, and Monarch performed it, but as Ladybug points out, to undo the Wish would mean re-condemning an innocent person (namely [[HeelFaceTurn Nathalie]]) to death.

* ExactWords: Both Ladybug and Chrysalis use these to describe Gabriel's death. And both are MetaphoricallyTrue. Ladybug says that Gabriel sacrificed himself to defeat Monarch, and Chrysalis says that Monarch sacrificed Gabriel to perform the wish.

* GreaterScopeVillain: [[PredecessorVillain Gabriel Agreste.]] While long dead by the start of the fic due to his canon HeroicSacrifice, his influence is still felt throughout the plot. [[TheHero Ladybug]] is covering up his SecretIdentity to [[IgnoranceIsBliss shield]] Adrien from the AwfulTruth, [[FaceHeelTurn Chat Noir]] seeks to undo Monarch's Wish and bring him back, despite being fully aware that [[AbusiveParents Gabriel's]] resurrection would likely cost Adrien his current freedom, and [[BigBad Chrysalis]] is using his Miraculous.

** While Ladybug is unquestionably a hero, she also has a bad habit of keeping her allies LockedOutOfTheLoop even when it's more beneficial for them to know what's going on. The resulting PoorCommunicationKills is what turns Chat Noir against her. And as Chat Noir points out, they've spent years fighting to ''prevent'' Monarch from using the Wish, and now she's trying to ''preserve'' it. [[spoiler: This is later compounded by her lying to the other heroes about Chat Noir's motives, trying to paint him as being beyond reason, which almost immediately [[NiceJobBreakingItHero comes back to bite her]] when Chat [[WhatTheHellHero angrily]] [[LiarRevealed exposes her]]]].
* HappyEndingOverride: Adrien considers the return of his ControlFreak [[AbusiveParents Abusive]] ArchnemesisDad to be this, but chooses to go through with it anyway because he thinks it was wrong for Gabriel to be sacrificed for someone's wish. And if he left things as they were, he'd be just like Monarch.

* ManipulativeBastard: Chrysalis is this in spades. First, [[spoiler: she offers Chat Noir the location of her victim's Akumatized object as a show of good faith,]] then when he meets her, she gives him a MetaphoricallyTrue account of the final battle, which he believes because she's able to prove she was there by virtue of wielding Monarch's Miraculous, and plants seeds of doubt in his mind [[spoiler: which [[PoorCommunicationKills Ladybug]] [[UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom unwittingly]] [[UnwittingPawn nurtures]] with her lies and [[LockedOutOfTheLoop secrecy.]]]]
* MetaphoricallyTrue: Both Ladybug and Chrysalis' accounts of what happened with Monarch and Gabriel are this; Ladybug says that Gabriel sacrificed himself to defeat Monarch, Chrysalis says that Monarch sacrificed Gabriel to perform the Wish. The truth, of course, being that Gabriel ''was'' Monarch, and [[HeelRealization came to his senses]], before [[HeroicSacrifice sacrificing himself]] to save [[HeelFaceTurn Nathalie]] and [[MustMakeAmends fix at least one of his mistakes.]]

** Félix and Kagami reluctantly serve as this, as well, although they both disapprove of Marinette's decision to keep the truth about Monarch's "defeat" from the others.

* BrokenPedestal: Ladybug becomes this to Chat Noir when he learns that she lied about Gabriel Agreste's death and the success of Monarch's Wish. [[spoiler: The pedestal breaks even further when she tries to lie about his motives, which quickly erodes his remaining sympathy for her]].

* GreaterScopeVillain: [[PredecessorVillain Gabriel Agreste.]] While long-dead by the start of the fic due to his canon HeroicSacrifice, his influence is still felt throughout the plot. [[TheHero Ladybug]] is covering up his SecretIdentity to [[IgnoranceIsBliss shield]] Adrien from the AwfulTruth, [[FaceHeelTurn Chat Noir]] seeks to undo Monarch's Wish and bring him back, despite being fully aware that [[AbusiveParents Gabriel's]] resurrection would likely cost Adrien his current freedom, and [[BigBad Chrysalis]] is using his Miraculous.

** Chat Noir has lots of reasons to mistrust Ladybug's account of things, especially once he learns that some of the things she told him were BlatantLies. That said, he's still working with Chrysalis, who Akumatizes someone in just the first chapter.

* DividedWeFall: The whole premise of this story. Made ''especially'' prevalent in Chapter 11 where [[Team Miraculous is split down the middle between Ladybug and Chat Noir over to preserve the Wish or to reverse it]].

* LockedOutOfTheLoop: [[DeconstructedTrope Deconstructed.]] Ladybug's tendency to keep secrets and [[BlatantLies outright lie]] to her allies, and especially Chat Noir, is what causes Argos and Ryuko to question her leadership, and outright [[FaceHeelTurn turns Chat Noir against her.]]

YesMan: Chat accuses Rena Rouge of being this to Ladybug when she [[''still'' [[UndyingLoyalty sides with Ladybug after he exposes her]]]].

** While Ladybug is unquestionably a hero, she also has a bad habit of keeping her allies LockedOutOfTheLoop even when it's more beneficial for them to know what's going on. The resulting PoorCommunicationKills is what turns Chat Noir against her. And as Chat Noir points out, they've spent years fighting to ''prevent'' Monarch from using the Wish, and now she's trying to ''preserve'' it.

* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Ultimately, Ladybug's insistence on [[LockedOutOfTheLoop secrecy]] and [[BlatantLies lying]] to her teammates, even about things they should know about, causes Argos and Ryuko to question her ability, and causes Chat Noir to ally with Chrysalis.

* VillainousCrush: Chrysalis seems to have one on Chat Noir, with much of her dialogue being rather flirty with him. She even calls him [[AffectionateNickname "Chaton"]] at one point. Although, WordOfGod (specifically Missnoodles) has suggested that this could be partially to [[{{Troll}} grind Ladybug's gears.]]