A Recursive Fanfiction inspired by The Lament Series, specifically Gabriel's Lament by ChaoticNeutral, Little Kitty On A Roof
explores a what-if scenario wherein Marinette forges a tentative bond with Chat Blanc. Written by Gigi_Bug and part of the Wibbly~Wobbly Timey~Wimey series.
Chat Blanc likes to steal from the customers of her parents' bakery, so Marinette leaves him food in the hopes this will keep him from harassing their customers.
Marinette didn't think about the fact that feeding a stray might mean it'll keep coming back. As of 7/18/2023 it has completed its first act.
This fanfic contains examples of:
- A Shared Suffering: Part of Marinette's bond with Chat Blanc comes from the realization that the Akuma is just as lonely as she is.
- Abusive Parents:
- Getting everything he wanted didn't stop Gabriel from being emotionally abusive to Adrien or trying to isolate him "for his own good". Chat Blanc hates him so much he won't even acknowledge him by name in his thoughts.
- Chloé knows that Audrey hates her, and Zoé as well. She's more concerned about fame than either of her daughters and when Chloé returns after being missing for over a week she uses her to get attention.
- Adaptational Badass: Marianne was the Bee Miraculous holder until her Game-Breaking Injury from Chat Blanc.
- Adaptational Jerkass: Unlike her canon counterpart, Sabrina isn’t a pleasant person to be around even when Chloé isn’t present. Played With in that Sabrina is aware of this and dissatisfied with it, but her reputation is bad enough that no one would want anything to do with her even if she did try to clean up her act. After she has a falling out with Chloé when she thinks she’s not important to her (she’s wrong, but Chloé would have to reveal her Secret Identity to make her realize it), she decides to move out of Paris for a fresh start.
- Adaptational Relationship Overhaul:
- In canon Chloé admired her mother, and that was part of the reason for her Alpha Bitch behavior. In the fic Chloé hates her mother and the similarities in their behavior are unintentional on Chloé's part.
- In canon Nathalie was a family friend, and from what little is seen of their time together Emilie seemed to like her just fine. As revealed in her chapter of The Butterfly Effect, it seems that her relationship with the Agrestes is just the relationship between an employee and her employers, though word of god confirms she knows Emilie has the Peacock Miraculous. Emilie in particular seems to enjoy mocking her when given the opportunity.
- Adaptational Sexuality: Because the story was drafted before Season 5, Miss Bustier had a boyfriend before becoming Zombizou and he is now one of her Kiss Zombies.
- Adaptational Villainy:
- In the old reality Chat Noir opposed Hawkmoth. In the new one Chat Blanc is one of the new Hawkmoth's most powerful enforcers.
- In a way, most people that get akumatized. In the original timeline most people were only akumatized for a few hours, a day at most, and the damage they caused was erased by Ladybug's Miraculous cure. With Adrien turned into Chat Blanc before ever becoming Chat Noir and Marinette not becoming Ladybug, the damage they cause is permanent and several never become de-evilized due to being too much for the new heroes to handle.
- Affectionate Nickname: Seemingly connected to their memories of the original world, Chat Blanc calls Marinette My Lady and she calls him Kitty. The author has said the fact that Marinette is My Lady, Chat's nickname for Ladybug as opposed to Princess his typical nickname for Marinette is significant.
- And Now for Someone Completely Different:
- The main viewpoint characters are Chat Blanc and Marinette. But starting with Chloé there are interludes giving other characters' perspectives.
- This is also the focus of The Butterfly Effect, to explore how characters outside the main cast are effected by the rewritten world. The difference there is they're for characters who lack meaningful interactions with Marinette and Chat Blanc in the main story.
- Animal Motif: In addition to Chat Blanc's very obvious cat motif, Adrien is frequently derided with comparisons to a dog or puppy by Chat Blanc when it comes to his former self's Extreme Doormat tendencies or when people try to convince him to go home.
- Anti-Villain: Chat Blanc destroys public property, beats up heroes who fight him, and serves a villain who wants extremely powerful magical artifacts. He is also an abused teenager who is understandably unwilling to go back to his Abusive Parents, isn't particularly interested in hurting anyone who doesn't go after him first, and desperately desires companionship.
- Archnemesis Dad: And Mom, though Chat Blanc isn't aware that Emilie is Ménagerie.
- At Least I Admit It: How Chat Blanc views Hawk Moth compared to his parents. Yes, Hawk Moth uses him and occasionally controls him, but he gets freedom the majority of the time and a great deal of power to boot. His parents used him and then filled the rest of his time with things he had no interest in while claiming it was for his own good.
- The Bad Guy Wins: This happened before the story started, with the original Hawk Moth claiming both Miraculous and making his wish. The story takes place in the resulting reality.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: Don't make wishes with the Ladybug and Black Cat Miraculous, just don't. Even if your wish is genuinely selfless you will still suffer karmic punishment in the new reality that results, because you are warping the order of things to your whims. Pollen is quite clear that every Wisher paid dearly.
- Been There, Shaped History: The Sahara is a desert because someone in the past wished with the Ladybug and Cat Miraculous for it to be arable land. He got his wish... until the Black Cat of the time destroyed everything The Wisher had created with his wish out of revenge for the presumed death of his Ladybug.
- Berserk Button:
- For all Black Cats, you should never take their Ladybugs from them. Chat Blanc is actually a rather mild result of what happens if a Black Cat loses their Ladybug.
- Chat Blanc has several:
- Do not suggest he should go home. Ménagerie, Gabriel, and Jade Turtle all find this out the hard way.
- Gabriel is perhaps his biggest. Just mentioning Chat Blanc's father makes him angry, but seeing his father makes him angrier than anything else has managed.
- Don't call him Adrien. His name is Chat Blanc, and that boy is never coming back. He won't usually attack unless provoked, or if Hawkmoth is forcing the issue, but he backhanded Gabriel across a roof and into a billboard when he wouldn't stop trying to address him as Adrien.
- Broken Bird: In the new reality, before becoming Chat Blanc, Adrien was this.
- Bullying a Dragon: Queen Bee challenges Chat Blanc, apparently not stopping to consider the fact that, she is a new hero and he's been an Akuma for months. Or the fact that he's one of Hawk Moth's strongest enforcers.
- Dark Secret: Chloé stole the Bee Miraculous, and then lied that the intended holder entrusted it to her. While she deludes herself into thinking that people actually like her (as Chloé, Queen Bee isn’t loved but people do appreciate her) even she can't deny that no one would forgive her if the truth came out.
- Despair Event Horizon: Ladybugs have a tendency to cross it when they lose their Black Cat. At least one died from grief afterwards.
- Didn't Think This Through: Marinette hadn't considered that once she'd fed Chat Blanc, he'd keep coming back for more food.
- Dramatic Irony: Chat Blanc’s identity is one of the many secrets that Queen Bee and Carapace are not let into. Chloé has no idea that her Childhood Friend has been akumatized for months and nearly cut her superhero career short in their first encounter- she believes the Agrestes’ story that Adrien was sent to boarding school in Switzerland, and thinks that he’s been ghosting her to get a “fresh start.”
- The Dreaded: Chat Blanc is this. Queen Bee and Carapace were given general instructions to avoid confronting the three long-term akuma (Chat Blanc, The Mime, and Mr. Pigeon) when they inherited their Miraculous, but Chloé especially fears Chat for forcing Marianne’s retirement by injuring her through her Nigh-Invulnerable hero suit. This fear was compounded when Chloé’s attempt to avenge her mentor ends with Chat Blanc effortlessly defeating her and only letting her keep her Miraculous on a whim.
- Driven to Madness: Black Cat wielders frequently react this way to the loss of their Ladybug partner. In extreme cases they've turned psychopathic.
- Even Evil Can Be Loved: Chat Blanc's parents want him to be purified and come home. Chat Blanc doesn't care since his father was emotionally abusive at best and his mother didn't help.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: For a given definition of evil. Chat Blanc genuinely cares for Marinette, and resists the temptation to have Hawk Moth Akumatize her because of this.
- Most likely Hawk Moth too as when Chat Blanc is being created they ask, My dear sweet boy, have you lost someone too?
- Everyone Knows Morse:
- Chat Blanc does, at least. He'll frequently scratch and tap messages to Marinette after eating. Unfortunately Marinette does not know Morse, so this annoys her at best and frequently scares her.
- Fu and Wayzz do as well, as revealed in Fu's chapter in The Butterfly Effect.
- Failure Hero: At least in comparison to Ladybug and Chat Noir. In the original canon they've bested and purified nearly every akumatized villain to date. The heroes of the new reality have failed to defeat and/or purify several akumatized villains, including M. Pigeon who Ladybug and Chat Noir have bested over seventy times as of this writing.
- Faux Affably Evil: Unlike Gabriel's Card-Carrying Villain approach, the new Hawkmoth acts far friendlier when first trying to akumatize people, talking in a tone of voice that Chat Blanc describes as "syrupy sweet" and offering them the opportunity to have what they want in exchange for paying their kindness forward.
- For Your Own Good: Gabriel tries to convince Chat Blanc that everything he did was for Adrien. This enrages Chat Blanc.
- Forced to Watch: The Wisher who made the Sahara arable was stunned by one of Pollen's past holders and forced to watch as the Black Cat of the time destroyed it utterly.
- Green-Eyed Monster: Chloé's hatred of Marinette seems to be at least partially motivated by this, specifically the fact Marinette has a loving family.
- Hated by All:
- Sabrina lays this out flat for Chloé. No one in their class can stand them. Chloé for being an Alpha Bitch and Sabrina for being her Beta Bitch. Even when Chloé's not around, no one is willing to have anything to do with Sabrina.
- While all of the long-term Akumas are hated even by each other, Pixelator is particularly hated. Other Akumas have an unspoken agreement to keep him contained in the catacombs beneath Paris, which Hawk Moth does not object to as he’s rarely useful.
- Hijacked Destiny: Stolen. It's not yet been said who it was intended for but Chloé was not meant to have the Bee Miraculous. She stole it from someone else, and later claimed that the intended holder gave it to her.
- How the Mighty Have Fallen: Gabriel is in quite a state when he finds Chat Blanc. His hair is messed up, his clothes are dirtied, and he's sporting the beginnings of a Beard of Sorrow. Chat Blanc also reflects that now his father is the one trying to get attention from someone with more power who doesn't care.
- I Just Want to Be Free: Part of what led to Chat Blanc's creation in the first place. After Akuma started to attack Paris, his parents restricted and isolated Adrien even more. The sadness at the futility of his situation and his Wistful Amnesia telling him there's someone he's meant to be looking for leaves him an easy target for Hawk Moth.
- "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight: So far it's known this has been attempted with Chat Blanc and Mr. Mime, neither has ended well.
- I Will Find You: Chat Blanc vaguely remembers promising Marinette that he'd find her and that they'd set everything right together.
- Improperly Paranoid: Master Fu continues to play his cards very close to his chest in the new reality, infuriating both of his “protégés” by just how illogical some of his decisions are. These include limiting the Miraculous in play to the Bee, Turtle, and (reluctantly) the Fox, even when the heroes are outmatched, without a Ladybug, and Hawk Moth had actually had a chance to steal the heroes’ Miraculous before.
- It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time: Marinette's opinion about leaving food out for Chat Blanc.
- Laser-Guided Karma: According to Pollen every person who made a wish with the Ladybug and Black Cat Miraculouses faced karmic punishment in the resulting world. Some thought they could handle the price, but none ever have.
- Legacy Character: Technically the Hawk Moth Chat Blanc serves is one, as Gabriel was Hawk Moth before this timeline ever came into existence.
- Love Transcends Space Time: Chat Blanc is certain he knows Marinette. That he's known her since before they met. It takes him a little while but he eventually realizes with certainty that she's the partner he's been looking for.
- Missed the Call: Nino had intended to give Marinette the Fox Miraculous, seeing her creativity as a perfect fit for the Kwami of Illusion. Since she wasn't there at the time he had to give it to Alya instead.
- Missing Steps Plan: This is what comes of committing terrorism in the process of seeking prizes no one is capable of finding. The new Hawk Moth is doing an excellent job of building their forces as the months drag on. However, even those akuma have no idea what purpose they’re supposed to serve, aside from creating increasingly horrible messes that no one is capable of cleaning up properly; disintegrated landmarks, swarms of kiss zombies, a growing collection of citizens trapped in pictures… Hawk Moth doesn’t seem to realize that Chat Blanc has the Black Cat Miraculous, Ladybug is nowhere to be seen, and even when Chat Blanc had some of the heroes dead to rights, Hawk Moth said that there was no point in taking their Miraculous. So, unless Hawk Moth has a specific mission for them, most akuma spend the days pursuing their own interests, or even causing trouble for each other.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Chat Blanc feels terrible about scaring Marinette when he tried to come in her room, as he had genuinely meant no harm and only sought company. He apologizes to her about it later.
- My Instincts Are Showing: Chat Blanc naps on places with lots of sunlight, purrs when he's happy, and Zombizou was able to lure him, albeit briefly, with the promise of head scritches.
- Non-Malicious Monster: Chat Blanc acts more like a mischievous, if destructive, fun-loving kid most of the time. Unless he's attacked or Hawk Moth forces the issue, he's relatively happy to live and let live.
- Perception Filter: When the Wish created a reality where Marinette and Adrien never became heroes, this was part of the package.
- Marinette isn’t even aware that she’s wearing earrings until Chloé tries to get her in trouble for wearing them during a chemistry final. Afterwards, she decides to put them on again “for safe keeping,” and promptly forgets about them almost entirely. Similarly, Alya was subconsciously aware that Marinette had earrings, but didn’t grasp any details.
- It seems this applies to anything that could cause Marinette to become a hero again. In her chapter in The Butterfly Effect, Marianne cannot remember Marinette's name, no matter how hard she tries, and when she tries to look her up online events conspire to stop her.
- Point of Divergence:
- Because Gabriel isn't responsible for the akuma attacks in this timeline, there was never a reason to send Adrien to a public school to keep him out of the house. Instead Adrien was even more isolated than when canon started. Which lead to him becoming Chat Blanc.
- Because the Ladybug and Black Cat Miraculous went missing Fu works up the courage to approach Marianne much sooner.
- Recursive Fanfiction: For The Lament Series, specifically inspired by ChaoticNeutral's Gabriel's Lament.
- Right for the Wrong Reasons: Master Fu has always had a few issues with being an effective mentor. In the previous reality, his desire to keep his secrets in as few hands as possible led to him keeping Chat Noir as Locked Out of the Loop as possible while burdening Ladybug with a ton of responsibilities. He maintains these flaws in the new reality with Carapace and Queen Bee, even when their desperate circumstances make it even more illogical. That being said, considering Queen Bee is hiding that she actually stole the Bee Miraculous from its rightful owner, there’s actually a very good reason not to trust her.
- The Runaway: Going by Chat Blanc's cat motif and drawing on what her father has told her about cats, and combining that with the fact no one has spoken up as his family, Alya comes to the logical conclusion that Chat Blanc is a runaway. While this is technically true, he became an Akuma to run away as opposed to being a runaway who became an Akuma.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Sabrina and her father leave Paris after she's de-evilized. They're both being scrutinized, her father ruined his career because of becoming Rogercop, and the city is still constantly under siege from Akuma.
- Single-Target Sexuality: After Zombizou is dissuaded from trying to kiss him Chat Blanc reflects there's only one person he'd ever allow to kiss him, much to Hawk Moth's amusement.
- Terms of Endangerment: Hawk Moth calls Chat Blanc "my pet". Chat Blanc doesn't particularly like it, or Hawk Moth.
- Terrorists Without a Cause: Somehow the new Hawk Moth manages to be even worse about this than the last. While Gabriel never let on that he was terrorizing Paris to heal his wife, he at least made it clear from day one that he wanted the Miraculous that Ladybug and Chat Noir held. Not only did the new Hawk Moth skip that announcement entirely, but literally NO ONE knows where the Ladybug and Black Cat Miraculous are anymore! Since there aren’t any opportunities to steal the MacGuffin's in battle, Hawk Moth is reduced to sending new akuma in to cause chaos just to keep the pressure on, and occasionally letting the long-term akuma off their leashes.
- That Man Is Dead: As mentioned in Berserk Button do not call Chat Blanc Adrien. Adrien is gone, as far as Chat Blanc is concerned, and he is far happier the way he is now.
- The Unfavorite: Chloé feels like this to Master Turtle, and while Carapace acknowledges that she's right he tells her that things aren't as great for him as she thinks.
- Trademark Favorite Food: After they eat together for the first time, Marinette asks Chat Blanc which pastries he prefers so that she can do her best to supply them for him.
- Troll: Chat Blanc is this as part of his motivation to be completely free from others’ control. He delights in running circles around the heroes and messing with other akuma when they annoy him.
- Hawk Moth and the newly akumatized Riposte once badgered him when he was trying to nap by saying how pragmatic a team-up would be. Chat Blanc demonstrated his opinions on the suggestion by pretending to clean himself, to Riposte’s utter fury.
- At another point, Chat Blanc just sat back and watched while Carapace and Queen Bee battled against an akuma that was basically a gargantuan slug. Once the worn-out heroes had trapped the butterfly, he swooped down and knocked Queen Bee straight into the pool of slime, just because he “couldn’t resist.”
- He also has a great deal of fun messing with photoshoots, especially model photoshoots. Sometimes photobombing or darting out of hiding places to playfully grab at ankles.
- Useless Bystander Parent: Hawk Moth accuses Emilie of this when Chat Blanc is first akumatized.
- We ARE Struggling Together: The heroes of the new world don't cooperate nearly as well as Ladybug and Chat Noir did.
- Carapace and Queen Bee do not get along, and it frequently impedes their attempts at heroics. This lessens as time goes on, but they still don't gel well.
- Ménagerie won't cooperate with them at all unless there's no choice as Fu wants the Peacock Miraculous back and she won't give it up.
- Wacky Marriage Proposal: Done unintentionally. Fu had intended to ask Marianne to join him as a Miraculous holder, but Wayzz pushed the ring he'd intended to propose to her with years ago into his hand, and that was what he offered her when he asked her to join him on an adventure.
- Wistful Amnesia: Chat Blanc and Marinette are both shown to have slight recollections of the timeline before Gabriel made his wish.
- Chat Blanc:
- Even before becoming Chat Blanc he vaguely remembers that he's supposed to find someone.
- When he sees Jade Turtle he has a strong negative reaction to the man - feelings of shame, anger, doubt, and inferiority - despite it being the first time they've met in this timeline. Hawkmoth notes that they stem from betrayal, but Chat Blanc doesn't remember meeting Jade Turtle before. Despite this, he thinks of him as a coward who wields his shield to hide from the consequences of his mistakes. All of this stems from Chat Noir's less than positive relationship with Master Fu in the old world.
- He remembers having a partner, but not who it was.
- He also feels the need to find "blue eyes" (which he eventually realizes is Marinette), a "flash of red" and a "black spot", presumably Tikki and Plagg.
- After hearing Marinette's name for the first time he has more direct recollections:
- He remembers giving her the umbrella which kickstarted Marinette's crush on Adrien.
- He remembers the lucky charm she gave him.
- He remembers slow dancing with her.
- He remembers promising her, presumably as the world is remade by Gabriel's wish, I will find you again, we will set this right-
- Marinette
- She thinks Chat Blanc should have a bell around his neck and wonders where it is.
- Marinette also finds herself more troubled by Chat Blanc's appearance than the fact he's one of Hawk Moth's most powerful enforcers.
- Chat Blanc:
- Wouldn't Hurt a Child: Chat Blanc will harass people or destroy property if he's bored enough, but he won't go after kids.
