Fanfic / Archenemies to Superfriends

Archenemies to Superfriends is a Miraculous Ladybug fanfic by Unmasked Again.

Lila Rossi is a ruthless and competitive girl who prides herself on overcoming the most powerful opponents she can find. When she moved to Paris she identified Marinette Dupain-Cheng as the most popular girl in school and set out to defeat her, using every underhanded trick in the book to steal her friends and triumph over her. But when Marinette's classmates offer to let her do something truly evil to Marinette, Lila finds herself torn. And then, following a subsequent conversation with Marinette herself, Lila embarks on an unexpected journey that may bring the two of them closer than Lila would ever have thought possible.

---

Tropes in this fanfic:

• Adaptational Nice Guy: Lila is given much higher moral standards than is typical for Salt Fic fare; the story opens with her deciding to sacrifice her own sketchbook in order to save Marinette's work from being destroyed.
• All for Nothing: The whole reason Lila singled Marinette out in the first place was because she'd swiftly pegged the "everyday Ladybug" as one of the most popular and beloved students at Francoise Dupont. She was also convinced that Marinette saw her as a rival as well, given how she challenged all of her claims. Learning that Marinette legitimately didn't realize why she'd targeted her and had only called her out because she didn't like liars causes Lila to scream in frustration. Making this all the more frustrating to her is the realization that her "prize" was effectively worthless, as her newfound "friends" were anything but.
• Armor-Piercing Question: When Alya takes offense at Ladybug calling her blog a tabloid, the heroine retorts "Yes, tabloid. Why do you think I stopped working with you?"
• Armor-Piercing Response:
  • After her first outing as the new-and-improved Volpina, Lila remarks to Ladybug that Chat Noir's been sexually harassing her. When Ladybug defends him by simply stating that they're partners, Lila's reply causes the heroine to visibly wilt.
    Ladybug: He's my partner.
    Lila: He's not acting like it.
  • After Alya finally looks into Lila's claims and outs her as a liar, she's stunned when Marinette coldly replies to the revelation by declaring "And yet she's a better friend than you ever were."
• Befriending the Bullied: Chloé was the only one who stood by Marinette when the rest of the class turned against her, even seeking out her friend. Alya and others took this as "evidence" that Marinette was just as bad as Chloé:
  Alya: Of course. Bullies belong with bullies.
• Bully Turned Buddy: Chloé decided to pull a Heel–Face Turn and side with Marinette after Alya and the rest of the class Easily Condemned her; Lila later follows suit.
  Chloé: She got you too, huh. It's the eyes. Don't look her in the eyes.
  Kagami: Yes. I, too, had declared Marinette my rival. Now I wear bunny pajamas and adorn avocado oatmeal face masks.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Lila might be underhanded and manipulative, but there are lines she outright refuses to cross, including the destruction of private property.
  Lila prided herself on still being able to look at herself in the mirror at the end of the day. Despite all she had done and would be willing to do; Lila was firm on what she wouldn't do. Destroying someone's life work; something they had spent months and months on, something that had nothing to do with Lila, was going too far.
• Even the Girls Want Her: After Lila steals Adrien away, Marinette gets fifteen invitations to the school dance — including three from other girls.
• Fair-Weather Friend: Lila notes that she didn't even tell the class anything bad about Marinette. She just pretended to have celebrity connections so the class decided to pick her over Marinette, and then they convinced themselves Marinette was a bully in order to feel better about shunning her.
• The Friend Nobody Likes:
  • In an inverted example, Lila makes lots of 'friends' in the class but quickly grows to despise them when she learns just how easily they'll forsake Marinette, whom they had previously claimed to care about.
  • Marinette later reveals that there were times when she couldn't stand the class either and went to hide in the library just to get away from them.
• Heartbreak and Ice Cream: The turning point in Marinette's burgeoning friendship with Lila comes when Mrs. Rossi cancels plans with her daughter. Lila shows up at the bakery to complain and ends up eating ice cream while watching reruns of Doctor Who, which turns into an impromptu sleepover.
• Heel–Face Turn: After becoming Marinette's friend, Lila also becomes a better person. She encourages Ladybug to stand up against Chat Noir's ongoing sexual harassment and refusal to work with her, insisting that she deserves better than a millstone for a "partner".
• Hourglass Plot: Marinette was Easily Condemned by her False Friends, who turned upon her in hopes of currying favor with the seemingly better connected Lila. Lila finds out that their "friendship" isn't worth diddly squat and winds up bonding with Marinette instead. By the time the class finds out about her lies and turns on Lila as easily and readily as they did Marinette, the two have become besties, and Marinette welcomes her to the back.
• Immoral Journalist: Ladybug calls Alya out on having degenerated into just being a tabloid reporter who reports rumors and innuendo about Ladybug and Chat Noir being together even though they aren't.
• Jaw Drop: Lila's jaw goes slack when she realizes Ladybug is presenting her with the Foxtail Pendant.
• Liar Revealed: Alya eventually starts paying attention to all the comments on her blog that called out Lila's blatant falsehoods, and she "exposes" her to the rest of the class.
• Monster Clown: Lila's first mission as (the heroic) Volpina is to fight a clown-themed akuma who turns people into balloon animals.
• Never My Fault: Alya only finds the motivation to research any of the claims she'd made on her blog after Ladybug makes clear that she stopped working with her because of that refusal to put any effort into verifying anything. She then attempts to pin all the blame for this lack of research onto Lila.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Lila set out to overthrow and destroy Marinette, but all she wound up doing was convincing the classmates to abandon her, meaning they're no longer burdening her with endless requests for favors and support. Without them dragging her down, Marinette flourishes and becomes more popular and accomplished than ever.
• Off the Table: The shock of losing "her" Miraculous to Volpina and having her hero denounce her as a "tabloid journalist" pushes Alya to do some research and start taking all the comments on her blog that called Lila out as a liar seriously. While she and the rest of the class immediately denounce Lila, Marinette makes clear that she won't Easily Forgive them for how they turned against her in the first place and would rather stick with Lila and Chloé.
• Secret Test of Character: In order to gauge whether Lila is taking advantage of their friendship, Marinette arranges for all of her friends to spend her birthday backstage during one of Clara Nightingale's concerts. While Lila could have easily used the pictures she took during the event as "evidence" of all her high-profile claims, she honored Marinette's wishes to keep everything secret, unwittingly passing the test.
• A Shared Suffering: Marinette and Lila commiserate over their classmates' All Take and No Give behavior.
• Shout-Out: After becoming closer, Marinette and Lila enjoy Doctor Who together.
• Sidekick:
  • Lila (and Chloé) eventually determine that Marinette should start marketing her designs. They assist her by modeling for her (along with Marinette's other friends) and her design career takes off. Lila also begins helping Marinette by covering for her when Marinette needs an excuse as to why she's not around, or when Marinette has to babysit but doesn't have time.
  • Marinette (as Ladybug) also later lends Lila the Fox Miraculous, allowing her to become Volpina for real and to fight alongside Ladybug.
• Take That!: Lila mentions in a thought that she really hated how Batman V Superman ended.
• Turn in Your Badge: Ladybug fires all the existing heroes, including Chat Noir and Rena Rouge, and replaces them with real friends. Lila gets the fox Miraculous and becomes a new and improved Vulpine.
• Unknown Rival: Lila had set out to overthrow Marinette and become the most popular girl in school, mostly just to test herself. Marinette had no idea Lila even wanted that; she figured Lila was just telling lies and stealing her friends out of hatred. When Lila learns that Marinette hadn't even noticed what Lila was trying to do, she screams in frustration.
• Worthy Opponent: Lila sees Marinette as this.
• You Can Keep Her!: Marinette eventually offers Lila a truce: she'll let Lila keep the rest of the class as 'friends' so long as Lila just leaves Marinette out of things and doesn't lie about her anymore. Lila agrees.

---