Fanfic / Nymph and the Corrupted Miraculous

Nymph and the Corrupted Miraculous is a complete Miraculous Ladybug fanfic written by Asexual Individual.

Marinette suffers an accident and is confined to a wheelchair as a result. One day, she encounters a butterfly-shaped brooch, awakens the Kwami inside it, and comes to the revelation her predicament can't stop her from being a heroine.

Meanwhile, someone steals the Miraculous jewels from Master Fu and corrupts them for their own twisted purposes. Master Fu is then forced to grant the remaining Miraculous to a new wielder.

The story can be found on FanFiction.Net here and Archive of Our Own here.

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Nymph and the Corrupted Miraculous provides examples of:

• 11th-Hour Superpower: As the Parisians began to fight back the Null Warriors, the massive surge of positivity allows Marinette to undergo metamorphosis, cashing in on the little bits of magic she left in everyone. She emerges with wings and the ability to fly as part of an Equipment Upgrade. She also gets the Power-Up ability to send out multiple butterflies, which promptly go to the other heroes.
• Absurdly Sharp Claws: Adrien's weapon as Catastrophe, instead of the staff he uses in canon.
• Adaptation Deviation: Master Fu's Tragic Mistake is not the same as it was in canon. Here, after Xue Ying was kicked out of the Order of the Guardians, she manipulated him into helping her destroy them in revenge.
• Adaptational Gender Identity: Marc, implied to be a cis boy in canon, is genderfluid in this fic.
• Adaptational Heroism:
  • The premise of the fic is that the Butterfly Miraculous ends up in the hands of the heroes, so Nymph is this in comparison to Hawk Moth. Later on, the heroes also find the Peacock Miraculous, meaning Oiselle Blue is this in comparison to Mayura.
  • Gabriel Agreste is still a raging jackass but in this continuity, neither he nor his assistant Nathalie are supervillains.
  • Due to Nymph's heroic intentions, Lady Wi-Fi not only gets a mildly-tweaked design to demonstrate her hero status but she is in full control of herself, receiving her power to rescue Chloé from Catastrophe. Similarly, all of the canonical akuma who appear in this fic are agents of good and occasionally get tweaked designs.
  • Belle Aube turns out to be Chloé Bourgeois, who in canon is an unrepentant Alpha Bitch and eventual traitor to the team.
• Adaptational Intelligence:
  • Zigzagged due to Marinette and Ladybug being two separate people in this fic. When Lila makes her first appearance, Marinette uses logic to disprove her more outlandish claims instead of irrationally going after her in her superhero identity. However, Belle Aube (the equivalent to Ladybug) does angrily confront her on the spot.
  • The canonical classmates fall for Lila's paper-thin falsehoods repeatedly. Here, Lila's lies are much less convincing, Nathaniel in particular noticing that she refers to Nymph as just "Nymph" and not "Lady Nymph" like all of her actual champions. This leads to Lila deciding to take more care with her falsehoods and rely more on half-truths.
• Adaptational Name Change:
  • Adrien goes by Catastrophe as a supervillain instead of Cat Noir as a superhero. When his corruption is purified and he becomes a superhero, he goes by Chat Noir.
  • Marinette calls the butterflies she sends out "天使" (tiānshǐ, the Chinese word for angel) instead of Akuma. In addition, as the wielder of the Butterfly Miraculous, she goes by Nymph instead of Hawk Moth.
  • The wielder of the Ladybug Miraculous goes by Belle Aube instead of Ladybug.
  • The wielder of the Peacock Miraculous goes by Oiselle Blue instead of Mayura.
• Adaptational Nice Guy: Besides the Took a Level in Kindness mentioned below, Chloé, as of chapter 7, has had a Heel Realization and is working towards changing with Marinette's help. She's also the wielder of the Ladybug Miraculous as Belle Aube, making her a case of Adaptational Heroism.
• Adaptational Sexuality: Chloé is bisexual in this fic when no hints of that have been shown in canon.
• Adaptational Superpower Change:
  • Instead of receiving the ladybug Miraculous by Master Fu, here Marinette stumbles upon the Butterfly Miraculous in an abandoned mansion.
  • Chloé's Akuma/tiānshǐ form is also different from canon; while originally she was a Palette Swap of Ladybug seeking revenge, here she's a phoenix-themed hero with flight and fiery arrows, fueled by her desire to save her father from Catastrophe.
  • While Kim's villain-form Dark Cupid uses his arrows to turn all forms of love into hate, here his hero-form Guardian Amour fires arrows that briefly uncloud the corruption from Adrien's mind.
  • While Mylene's villain-form Horrificator was a fear-feeding monster that spat an amber-like goo, here her hero-form Monster Hunter is a Utility Belt Badass Normal with a back-strapped soaker-gun that shoots goo.
  • In canon, Juleka and Rose are separately turned into the Clone by Conversion Reflekta and mind-controlling Princess Fragrance; here they are turned into Yue-Lien, a Handy Cuffs Battle Couple.
  • In canon, Marc is Reverser, a paper-themed villain who rides a paper airplane and can "reverse" things with his paper airplanes. Here, they are Playwright, a paper-themed hero who has the power to compel paper to do whatever they write it to do.
  • In canon, Nino has been akumatized as Bubbler (a soap bubble villain), Shell Shock (an evilized Carapace), and Oblivio (a memory-wiping villain). Here, he's Freewaver, a super-DJ who can create light constructs with his music.
  • In canon, Alya uses the power of the Fox Miraculous. Here, she becomes the Peacock hero.
• Adaptational Villainy:
  • Adrien/Catastrophe, thanks to a corrupted Cat Miraculous. He also acts more like a Jerkass outside of his villain form, though so far this has mostly been limited to him being Innocently Insensitive towards Marinette and harshly, though rightfully, calling out Chloé for her controlling behavior.
  • After Fu, Marinette and Nathanial successfully purify the Cat Miraculous, Xue Ying uses her regained reserve of dark magic to corrupt the Bee Miraculous, Lila giving it to Sabrina and turning her into Drone.
• Adapted Out:
  • Gina is not present during Marinette's birthday, where she was introduced in the canon show. The author's notes Hand Wave her absence by stating that she visited her family last year and worked out her issues with them.
  • The Zodiac Miraculous are not in this story. The fic was started before they were revealed in canon, and the premise of the fic, that the villain stole the entire Miraculous box, means retconning them in would have made her far too powerful. The author's Hand Wave here is that they were all destroyed.
• Ambiguously Bi: When Marinette cements Lila as a part of her group with the hope of reforming her and becoming real friends, Lila seems to be much more interested in Marinette than their studying. Adrien, who is established as having a crush on Marinette, picks up on her intensity and only grows to hate her more.
• Amnesiac Hero: Plagg finally gets out of the Cat Miraculous in chapter 17, but his memory has been totally wiped.
• And the Adventure Continues: After the heroes formally announce their retirement to the people of Paris once Nihilumbra is defeated, Fu goes back to China to face the newly restored Order of the Guardians and to give them the Null Miraculous for safekeeping. With the villains all defeated, the heroes all return their Miraculous to the Miracle Box...all except for Marinette, whom Fu entrusts the Miracle Box to as its new guardian, trusting her to guard them and distribute them should the world ever need saving again.
• And Then What?: Trixx asks Lila what she's planning to do after she gets the Ladybug and Butterfly Miraculous jewels. She has no answer.
• Anti-Hero: Discussed when a person who seems to be Belle Aube (actually Volpina in disguise) steals a painting; Plagg notes that some people will use their power both to fight villainy and for their own selfish gain.
• Anti-Villain: Catastrophe is Brainwashed and Crazy to make him feel dependent on the ring for his sense of freedom, but even as a supervillain, he tries to limit collateral damage and avoid hurting innocents, especially Marinette (who he has a massive crush on).
• Armor-Piercing Question: Marinette's pretty good at this.
  • She gets in a good one on Alya when she falls for Lila's lies.
    Marinette: What evidence do you have to back up your claims?
  • She gets another one when Catastrophe keeps questioning her period excuse.
    Marinette: Do you have in-depth knowledge of how periods work or something?
  • She gets another good one when Lila tries to claim she can get her fashion show tickets and proceeds to tear apart her entire character.
    Marinette: Lila, let me ask you something? Where do you think this will all end up?
    Lila: Huh?
    Marinette: Because here's how I see things playing out. At some point, people are going to find out about your lies, with or without my friends and I exposing them. And then no one will believe a word you say ever again. No matter how honest you're being, no matter how much you're hurt, people will believe that you're lying and believe the lies of others over your truths.
• Artistic License – Law: Marinette is allowed to inherit the entirety of Jenny Ridge’s estate, due to it being given to her in the latter’s will. In reality, French law includes “forced heirship,” which automatically reserves a certain portion of the deceased’s estate for their children, and excluding them would lead to the will being declared invalid.
• The Atoner: After being purified of his corruption, Adrien joins the heroes as Chat Noir to redeem himself and defeat Xue Ying.
• Badass Bystander: During the Final Battle, many ordinary Parisian citizens grab improvised weapons and venture out onto the streets to attack the Null Warriors.
• Badass Teacher: When Catastrophe attacks the art club, Mr. Haberkorn physically interposes himself between his students and the supervillain.
  Mr. Haberkorn: You will not touch my students.
• Bait-and-Switch: In Chapter 27, it seems as though Gabriel is going to be given the tiānshǐ to combat Adrien, only for it to instead go to Nino.
• Battle Couple: Rose and Juleka are turned into a champion together, becoming one of these as Yue-Lien.
• Being Tortured Makes You Evil: How the corrupted Black Cat ring drives Adrien to do a Face–Monster Turn. Think of the One Ring being a slightly watered-down version of it as instead of tempting him, it simply Mind Rapes him into insanity by a horrific torture that isn't outright shown, but leaves Marinette and Nooro in agony just from the second-hand echoes they get due to being The Empath. Having your Miraculous corrupted is an even worse experience for its Kwami.
• Berserk Button: When fighting alongside Jalil/Pharaoh, Tikki has an internal aneurysm every time he butchers Egyptian mythology.
• Better as Friends: After going on a date with Nathaniel in chapter 13, Marinette friend-zones him. He takes his rejection with grace and honor.
• Big Bad: Xue Ying, a former guardian who is corrupting the Miraculous jewels for their own goals.
• Big Good: Marinette/Lady Nymph becomes this to the entire miraculous team as a whole. She starts out as the first and only hero, acting as a symbol of hope and guardian of the city, even gaining the title of "Mother of Paris". When more heroes begin to emerge, she acts as Mission Control through her champions, leading them and the other miraculous heroes from afar, with the Sanctuaire de la Dame (which is technically her property) acting as their base of operations. As Marinette, she acts as a positive influence in the lives of the people around her, giving good advice to people who need it and turning Chloé from an Alpha Bitch Hate Sink into a woman worthy of wielding the ladybug Miraculous.
• Blinded by Rage: In Chapter 27, Adrien goes completely and utterly ballistic when Gabriel grounds him for losing the Miraculous grimoire and the Peacock Miraculous. This costs him any sense of reason he has and leads to his identity being publicly revealed.
• Bruce Wayne Held Hostage:
  • Happens in Chapter 19 where Catastrophe demands that Nymph's Champion face him, unaware that Marinette is one of his hostages. She gets around this by faking a period.
  • In Chapter 24, Volpina takes Marinette hostage in a jealous rage over Adrien getting a date with her. This time, she is able to slip away when Belle Aube arrives and activate a Champion.
• Brutal Honesty: In canon, Chloé was insensitive to the point of malice. This incarnation of Chloé (due to Marinette's positive influence) uses her blunt, in-your-face personality for good, helping Alya get out of her funk after she was beaten by Catastrophe and pushing Nathaniel to act on his crush and ask Marinette out.
• …But He Sounds Handsome: When Alya accuses Chloé of being Belle Aube, she briefly starts rambling about how she couldn't be someone as amazing and pretty as Belle Aube before giving up and admitting it.
• Calling the Old Man Out: Both Marinette and Andrien do this to Gabriel in a few different chapters.
• Card-Carrying Villain:
  • The mysterious Big Bad has no problem referring to themself and their allies as villains.
  • In contrast to Adrien as a Tragic Villain, Lila was hand-chosen specifically to work with Catastrophe using the Fox Miraculous because she is a sociopath with a grudge against Lady Nymph.
• Cartesian Karma: Downplayed. When the dust settles, Sabrina is cleared of all charges for her actions under Xue Ying's sway as Drone. However, her father is forced to pull her out of school due to the backlash she will inevitably face, especially since she doesn't have a support network of friends like Adrien does.
• Character Development: In Chapter 35, Chloé finally earns her mother's approval but decides it means nothing to her now.
• The Chooser of the One: Feeling impatient, Nooroo sent out butterflies from the brooch to find the brooch’s new owner, which led Marinette to him.
• Clingy Jealous Girl: Of the platonic variety. Chloé is very possessive of Marinette and her well-being, becoming jealous and vindictive towards Alya before she even officially becomes Marinette's friend. This also applies to Adrien, Chloé chasing away everyone that approached him claiming that they "weren't good enough."
• The Conscience: Trixx tries to act as this to Lila, with little success.
• Corporate-Sponsored Superhero: By Chapter 21, with all of the superhero activity occurring in Paris, various toy companies have approached many of Lady Nymph's champions (since Nymph herself and Belle Aube are inaccessible) with deals to have toys and merchandise made of their Champion personas.
• The Corrupter: The mysterious mastermind corrupts the Cat Miraculous with a magic ritual. The ring itself ends up having this effect on Adrien.
• Cover-Blowing Superpower: Marinette, due to being wheelchair-bound, finds herself in several such situations throughout the story.
• Crazy-Prepared: Marinette carries a spare tiānshǐ in her Miraculous in case Catastrophe attacks while she's on the go.
• Damsel in Distress: Chloé becomes one in chapter 10.
• Dating Catwoman: As of Chapter 23, Marinette and Adrien are officially dating despite both being unaware that they are mortal enemies in their double lives. This is also a rare example where the hero in such a relationship is the woman.
• Deducing the Secret Identity: When Marinette is turned into a champion, her friends can easily figure out it's her because A) her hairstyle remained the same; B) the champion's outfit had French and Chinese elements much like Marinette has French and Chinese heritage; C) Marinette can't walk, and the champion never used their legs the whole fight.
• Didn't Think This Through: When Alya gets her hands on the Miraculous Grimoire, she immediately decides to post a report on it on the Kaleidoscoop. Marinette has to remind her that Catastrophe and Volpina could read her blog and find a way to get a leg up on Lady Nymph and Belle Aube.
• Disabled in the Adaptation: Marinette ends up paraplegic after saving Chloé from a car accident in the prologue.
• Disc-One Final Boss: Catastrophe is taken out of the fight in Chapter 29, leaving Xue Ying/Serpentina, Lila/Volpina, and Sabrina/Drone to carry Team Evil for the rest of the fic.
• Drama-Preserving Handicap: The mysterious villain destroying the Miracle Box has been used as a Word of God Hand Wave for the lack of the Zodiac Miraculous (in real life, they hadn't been introduced when the fic started and plans weren’t changed accordingly to fit them).
• Drinking Game: Meta-defied in chapter 8. "Warning, do not attempt to make a drinking game out of how many times this chapter says, 'Royal Phoenix' or 'Catastrophe', you will be dead."
• The Empath: Much like Hawk Moth in canon, Nymph is able to sense the emotions of others to find a suitable candidate to bestow powers onto. When Catastrophe is able to destroy Lady WiFi's tiānshǐ, the severed connection affects both Alya and Marinette emotionally, Nooroo flat-out calling it a "trauma".
• Entitled Bastard: The Big Bad, in a nutshell. She was kicked out of the Order of the Guardians for being a girl (allegedly), and wants to steal the Miraculous because she feels she's owed that power.
• Epic Fail: In his very first outing as Red Brush, Nathaniel accidentally reveals his secret identity to his boyfriend Marc.
• Et Tu, Brute?: Belle Aube, Nino, and Lady Nymph do not take Adrien being revealed as Catastrophe well.
• Even Evil Has Standards: While Catastrophe is threatening Mr. Haberkorn, Marinette pulls at his tail to get him to stop and winds up getting knocked out of her wheelchair. He immediately drops everything (like Mr. Haberkorn) just to help her back into her chair. He then falls for her Fake Period Excuse without question. While he could have done this because he is not one to pick on the disabled and (being a man) knows very little about menstruation, it is equally likely that he does these things because he actually likes Marinette.
• Even the Girls Want Her: On Valentine's Day, Marinette finds her locker overflowing with cards. Even Adrien — her enemy in costume and neutral player in their personal lives — writes a card for her.
• Everyone Can See It: Everyone assumes Marc and Nathaniel are dating just from their interactions. They do end up actually starting a relationship, though it's not made clear exactly when it started.
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: When Marinette manages to get past Lila's attempts to fool her with her false identity, Lila ends up coming out of Marinette's "Crying Wolf/Friends Like You For Who You Are" speech with the lesson that she should instead use half-truths, splicing her falsehoods with actual charitable activities she could do to make them more convincing.
• Evil Is Not a Toy: Double-subverted. After being defeated the first time by the heroes, Xue Ying decides to seek out the Null, an ungodly powerful anti-Miraculous known for possessing anyone who attempts to wield it and trying to negate all existence. Xue Ying manages to seal it into a Miraculous and wield it in battle against the heroes, but when they damage the Miraculous, it promptly possesses her as usual.
• Fake Period Excuse: When Catastrophe tries taking the students in the art room hostage, Marinette is unable to transform since she is one of those students. To get out of it, she tricks Catastrophe into bringing her to the bathroom by claiming that she is having menstrual cramps. As she predicted, him being a man, he does not question this and gives her privacy long enough for her to transform and release a tiānshǐ.
• Fan Art: By TheGreysman.
• Fish out of Temporal Water: At the end of the story, the old Order of the Guardians is restored. Several characters note that they are 150 years behind modern times, and this factors into Master Fu's decision to entrust Marinette with the Miraculous.
• Frame-Up: Volpina is introduced stealing a painting while disguised as Belle Aube to frame her for villainy.
• Freudian Excuse: While the corrupted state of his miraculous is a giant factor, a majority of the times Adrien takes on his supervillain persona link back to his aloof father (cancelled quality time, broken promises, increased work hours, etc).
• Friend to All Living Things: Butterflies just love Marinette.
• Get Out!: After calling Gabriel out on his abusive treatment of Adrien, Marinette tells him that he needs to leave the Dupain-Cheng bakery.
• Good Weapon, Evil Weapon: Due to his character alignment, Catastrophe trades the staff normally used by wielders of the cat miraculous in favor of Absurdly Sharp Claws.
• Green-Eyed Monster: When Nathaniel successfully asks Marinette out, a jealous Adrien attacks them as Catastrophe out of spite.
• Groin Attack: Chloé, as Royal Phoenix, does this to Catastrophe in chapter 8 to get him off of her.
• Heel–Face Turn: When Nymph and Bella Aube manage to defeat Catastrophe once and for all, they take him to Master Fu at the Sanctuaire de la Dame where they separate him from his miraculous and purify it. After suffering a month-long Villainous BSoD, he joins the heroes as Chat Noir.
• Heel Realization:
  • Chloé has one in chapter 7, realizing how much of a bully she's been towards everyone thanks to Marinette (and Adrien yelling at her).
  • Gabriel has one in Chapter 39, acknowledging how his controlling and emotionally abusive actions planted the seeds of rage that turned Adrien into Catastrophe. While his relationship with his son is still on the rocks, he extends an olive branch and is clearly making an active attempt to patch things up with him by the end of the story.
• Hero with Bad Publicity: As Chat Noir, Adrien is The Atoner, yet his public reception is mixed due to (correct) speculation that he was once Catastrophe.
• Hidden Depths: Chloé in canon wouldn't notice the misery of others if it shouted in her ear, the Chloé here noticed just how hard a time a combination of failing at being Lady WiFi and the negative feedback she has online has really affected Alya in-spite of her protests, even using her Innocently Insensitive personality to give her a pep-talk based on Brutal Honesty.
  Marinette: What just happened?
  Nooroo: Sometimes, it takes someone who's tactless to get through to someone who's stubborn. If someone's clinging onto their self-doubt, they need to be forced to let go.
• Honey Trap: When Lila claims to Adrien that she is Belle Aube, Adrien decides to play along with her romantic advances so he can lure her into a trap and seize what he thinks is the Ladybug Miraculous.
• Hostage For Macguffin: In his first attack, Catastrophe threatens to kill the Mayor unless he gets the Miraculous.
• Idiot Ball: The heroes consider the Big Bad to have picked this up when she brought the Brainwashed and Crazy Adrien to her hideout knowing that he'd almost certainly bring the heroes down on her head if he ever got loose.
• In Spite of a Nail:
  • Despite all of the changes made compared to canon, most obviously with Marinette being permanently disabled, the Butterfly Miraculous wielder's goal is still "get the Ladybug and Cat Miraculous", albeit for more benevolent reasons.
  • The Butterfly Miraculous is on the heroes' side but the most commonly-faced villain is still a normal person Brainwashed and Crazy by the Big Bad granting them powers.
  • Alya's Champion form bears very few differences from her akuma form in canon since Lady Wi-Fi doesn't have an obviously villainous name or Bad Powers, Bad People.
  • Adrien still gets the Cat Miraculous, albeit corrupted this time. Despite this, once the corruption is purged, he still becomes the hero Chat Noir.
  • While Chloé is friends with both Marinette and Adrien in this version, they still meet under mistaken circumstances that makes Marinette hate Adrien (though admittedly it actually was Adrien's own fault this time).
  • Nino still gets the Turtle Miraculous and wields it as the superhero Carapace.
  • Master Fu's ultimate fate is still to pass the Guardianship along to Marinette and leave Paris.
• Innocently Insensitive: Adrien comes across as this occasionally.
  • He acts this way to Marinette when he implies that she can't do things as simple as getting to her seat because she's handicapped.
  • When introduced to Marc, who in this fic is genderfluid, he incorrectly refers to them with male pronouns while Marinette, who knows better, uses "they/them".
• Inspirational Insult: Chloé tells Nathaniel that he doesn't have the balls to ask Marinette out on a date, provoking him into doing just that.
• Internal Reveal:
  • Chapter 20 has Adrien and Lila learn each other's secret identities.
  • Chapter 27 has Adrien outed to the world and the heroes revealing themselves to each other.
  • Chapter 34 has the heroes defeat and unmask Volpina and Drone.
  • Chapter 35 has Nino invited to meet Adrien, leading him to deduce Nymph and Belle Aube's secret identities.
  • Chapter 37 has Nathaniel accidentally reveals his secret identity to his boyfriend Marc on his first mission as Red Brush.
• Internet Jerk: Alya is subjected to this on her blog after her somewhat disastrous stint as Lady Wifi, which ended with Catastrophe killing her tiānshǐ.
• Irony:
  • In canon, Marinette is the one with a massive crush on an unknowing Adrien. Here, it is the other way around.
  • In canon, Marinette is the most hostile towards Lila. Here, she is the closest thing she has to a friend.
  • In canon, Gabriel akumatizes himself into the Collector in order to throw off suspicion that he is Hawk Moth. Here, Marinette turns herself into Bind to help Belle Aube catch Adrien/Catastrophe with Nathaniel finding out that Marinette is Lady Nymph by accident.
• It's All My Fault: Nathaniel blames himself for Alya being drained by the broken Peacock Miraculous, reasoning that she wouldn't have been hurt if he hadn't wussed out and taken up arms in the name of heroism.
• It's Personal: Belle Aube does not take it well when Volpina frames her for grand larceny.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Chloé is definitely far nicer here than she is in canon. While she's still very sharp-tongued and has as high of an opinion of herself as ever, she's unambiguously on the side of good, not only attempting to encourage people out of their funks more than once (though her poor wording does hobble these attempts somewhat) but also being this fic's wielder of the Ladybug Miraculous as Belle Aube, working alongside Nymph and her champions.
• Jerkass Has a Point: Gabriel may not be the best of parents, but he's not wrong to punish Adrien for stealing the Miraculous book and handing it off to a stranger without telling him, and he's absolutely right when he says that the person was manipulating him.
• Karma Houdini Warranty: Lila avoids immediate punishment after she's caught by pretending she was brainwashed like Adrien and Sabrina. Since nobody had any idea that she wasn't doing evil things of her own accord while everyone else working for the villain was, it works. However, the ending states that she is being forced to return to Italy, possibly to face juvie.
• Karmic Jackpot:
  • In her effort to save Chloé from an incoming car, Marinette becomes injured in a way that leaves her in a wheelchair. Mayor Bourgeois rewards Marinette for saving her daughter by paying for all the expenses to make their life easier (like making her house wheelchair accessible) and Chloé decides to be best friends with her (possibly out of guilt), ending her bullying. While Chloé still acts like a brat to others, Marinette is able to tone it down.
  • Marinette's kind nature and imbuing of Champions is what allows her to eventually unlock her 11th-Hour Superpower just as the Final Battle takes a turn for the worse.
• Lampshade Hanging: Xue Hing obtaining The Null upon it's untimely arrival in France relatively soon after all seven miraculous are recovered. Its discussed nature of being their opposite more or less explains the coincidence as destined to happen.
• Ley Line: According to Nooroo, the mansion that Marinette found the Butterfly miraculous in was built over a ley line so that his previous owner could use its power to place various magical protections over it, making it a certifiable fortress against any invading presence.
• Lovable Alpha Bitch: Thanks to Marinette's influence, Chloé has matured into one of these.
• Magic Kiss: How Marinette turns her butterflies into tiānshǐ.
• Meaningful Name: Alya named her superhero blog the "Kaleidoscoop", knowing that there would be more heroes created by Nymph other than Royal Phoenix and that a group of butterflies is called a Kaleidoscope.
• Morality Pet: Marinette is able to tone down some but not all of Chloé's jerkish behavior.
• More than Mind Control: The Big Bad corrupts Adrien by playing to his insecurities and resentment of his father, combined with a little dark magic.
• Muggle Best Friend: Nathaniel becomes the heroes' friend and ally after finding out their secret, despite not having superpowers at first. After he takes up the Fox Miraculous, he accidentally outs himself to Marc, who takes the role in his stead.
• My Greatest Second Chance: Alya gets turned back into Lady WiFi in order help defeat the villains and succeeds.
• Named by the Adaptation:
  • The art teacher is given the name Mr. Haberkorn, sharing his surname with his English voice actor Todd Haberkorn.
  • The final chapter gives the Gorilla a real name: Eric.
• Necessarily Evil:
  • Marinette acknowledges that Adrien's tongue-lashing towards Chloé's behaviour was exactly what she needed in order for her to improve.
  • This is how Xue Ying portrays her request for Adrien to become a villain; she's the rightful guardian and the others have stolen the Miraculous from her, but she'll never be able to find them unless someone acts as a villain to bait them into action. She doesn't bother with this facade to Lila, instead painting working for her as an opportunity for Lila to get one over her classmates.
• Never My Fault:
  • Even when directly called out by Marinette over his abuse and neglect, Gabriel refuses to consider the idea that he had anything do to with Adrien becoming Catastrophe. It's only after the villains are fully defeated that Gabriel accepts his responsibility over Adrien's downfall.
  • When the monks forbade Xue Ying from joining their order, she believed it was because she was discovered to be a girl. The masters claimed they knew the whole time she was female, and the reason she was kicked out was that they could see her lust for the power of the miraculous; Master Fu admits that he doesn't know if they were telling the truth or trying to save face.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain:
  • In Chapter 10, Catastrophe destroys Lady Wi-Fi's tianshi, making it impossible to use it to find Nymph.
  • In Chapter 24, Catastrophe's Pet the Dog moment of allowing Marinette to take cover in an elevator allows her to deploy a tiānshǐ, create a Champion, and contribute to his usual beatdown.
• No Bisexuals: In-Universe, Chloé has to be reminded that bisexuality is a thing after a girl named Zoe asks her out.
• No Sympathy Between Mooks: Even when fighting together, Catastrophe and Volpina do not get along. Since Catastrophe is a Lonely Rich Kid under the influence of his corrupted miraculous, he is much more volatile than the cold, calculated Volpina. When their secret identities are revealed to each other, Adrien has more reason to hate Lila since she lied to him about being Belle Aube and he believes she's interested in his crush Marinette.
• Nominal Hero: In Chapter 19, Lila/Gossamer seizes a tiānshǐ and challenges Catastrophe out of a selfish desire for glory and power. She proves so reckless and violent that Nymph is actually forced to resort to pulling the tiānshǐ.
• The Nondescript: Belle Aube is not given a physical description, because doing so would probably blow her identity for any reader with two brain cells to rub together.
• Not Brainwashed: Xue Ying only has the power to corrupt one miraculous at a time. If she wants more villains on her side, she has to manipulate them the old-fashioned way. Lila works for her as Volpina to get back at Adrien and Marinette (much like in canon), while Xue Ying takes the field herself as Serpentina (using the Turtle Miraculous) to even the odds after Adrien is purified.
• Oh, Crap!: This is the reaction the heroes have when they find out Xue Ying's plan: To find the Null Miraculous, an Evil Counterpart to the regular Miraculous' whose power is equal to all seven of them combined and can take over its guardian and use them to return all of reality back into nothingness.
• Omnicidal Maniac: The Null, an anti-Miraculous that exists to negate all of existence.
• The One Guy: In Chapter 34, it's noted that Adrien/Catastrophe/Chat Noir is the only male Miraculous wielder; Marinette/Nymph, Chloé/Belle Aube, Alya/Oiselle Bleu, Lila/Volpina, Sabrina/Drone, and Xue Ying/Serpentina are all women. This later becomes subverted when Nathaniel/Red Brush and Nino/Carapace join the team, along with Zoe/Sichore.
• Orcus on His Throne: Xue Ying doesn’t tend to go out and help her servants until chapter 31, where she dons the stolen Turtle Miraculous to become Serpentina.
• Original Character: Zoe, a Greek girl who moves to Paris and becomes Chloé's Love Interest.
• Orwellian Retcon: Before the final chapter was posted, quite a few of the previous ones were rewritten to match the author’s current style. Most notably, whereas Marinette originally found the Moth Broach in an abandoned house, along with a will bequeathing it to whoever finds the letter, the new version has Marinette befriending the owner, who dies and gives her the house. Nooroo is still found in an abandoned box, but the owner is unaware of him until told and never gets to see for herself.
• Paper-Thin Disguise: When Zoe is made a Champion, Belle Aube notes that her mask doesn't actually conceal her identity very well.
• Passing the Torch: The fic ends with Master Fu passing the title of Great Guardian on to Marinette.
• Pet the Dog:
  • Chloé and her father are usually jerks, but when Marinette sacrifices her legs to save Chloé, she is extremely grateful and her father foots the bill for appropriate renovations to the Dupain-Cheng residence.
  • Catastrophe is an unrepentant supervillain, but he has a couple of moments.
    • He instinctively helps Marinette when she falls out of her wheelchair and accommodates her when she fakes a period.
    • He helps Marinette take shelter in an elevator lift during a fight between him, Volpina, and Belle Aube.
• Phlebotinum Rebel: Very, very downplayed with Rogercop. He intends to arrest Catastrophe in direct violation of Nymph's insistence that he's being controlled, but she acknowledges that it is proper procedure and they work together regardless.
• Playing with Fire: Royal Phoenix's main power, which she combines with The Straight and Arrow Path.
• Power of the Void: This is the power of the Null Miraculous.
• Punny Name: Catastrophe, which doubles as a Name To Run Away From Really Fast.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: When Gabriel interrogates Marinette on Adrien being Catastrophe, Marinette calls him out on how his emotionally abusive Control Freak behavior is what influenced his son's corruption in the first place.
• Red Herring:
  • Alya is a prime suspect for the true identity of Belle Aube, but it ultimately turns out to be Chloé.
  • When Nathaniel finds the Peacock Miraculous, the fic leads up to him wielding it as a superhero. He ultimately declines, and Alya takes up the role instead.
• Refusal of the Call: In Chapter 31, Belle Aube and Nymph's then-champion Sentinel is overwhelmed by Volpina, Drone, and Serpentina. When Marinette and Master Fu realize that Nathaniel has the Peacock Miraculous, they ask him to take on the mantle of hero and help. Nathaniel is apprehensive at the idea and declines, so Marinette calls Alya for it.
• The Champion: Various characters take the mantle at one point or another, empowered by a tianshi.
• The Reveal:
  • Downplayed in Chapter 18. The author's notes acknowledge the readers' guesses that Belle Aube is either Chloé Bourgeois or Alya Césaire and confirm that she is indeed one of the two, but don't specify which one.
  • Chapter 19 reveals that the Big Bad is a woman, and she introduces herself as Xue Ying.
  • Chapter 27 reveals that Belle Aube is Chloé.
• Riddle for the Ages: Between being started during season two, and never being relevant to the plot, it is unknown how or why Gabriel has the peacock miraculous and the grimoire. Nor do we know who Dussu's previous sick holder was, as Emilie is never mentioned.
• Running Gag: Various characters assume that Marc is Nathaniel's boyfriend when he isn't at least until they actually get together.
• Samus Is a Girl: It turns out that the Big Bad is a woman.
• School Idol: This version of Marinette is as beloved in school as canon Chloé 'thinks' she is. She is even more popular in her school than the canon version of herself, and not because she is Inspirationally Disadvantaged. So much so that Lila upon meeting her decides that becoming friends with Marinette is an excellent way to become popular herself.
• Secret-Keeper:
  • In Chapter 29, Nathaniel discovers that Marinette and Chloé are Lady Nymph and Belle Aube and agrees to keep it a secret.
  • In Chapter 32, Chloé is forced to transform into Belle Aube in front of Zoe to save her from a bus crash, outing herself in the process.
  • In Chapter 33, Marinette is forced to transform in front of a school child, being inadvertently trapped in a storage shed due to the ongoing battle. Luckily, Daniel is an honorable kid.
  • In Chapter 35, Nino is brought to Sanctuaire la Dame to provide emotional support to Adrien, and in the process realizes that Marinette and Chloé are Nymph and Belle Aube.
  • In Chapter 37, Nathaniel derps his secret identity away to Marc when he refers to the event Marc was waiting for as "our date".
• Secret Secret-Keeper: In Chapter 31, Chloé's butler finds out that Chloé is Belle Aube and keeps it to himself.
• Shipper on Deck: Marinette insists that she is trying to get Marc and Nathaniel to work together on a comic to foster their talents. Everyone else looks at it as her really wanting them to be a couple.
• Shout-Out: Alya compares Catastrophe's situation - an innocent corrupted by the source of their power - to Venom.
• So Proud of You: Marinette tells Chloé this when she discovers that she has been altruistically helping save Paris as Belle Aube, has come along way from The Bully Alpha Bitch she used to be.
• Spotting the Thread: Happens repeatedly to Lila in her introductory chapter.
  • When Lila claims to have personally met Nymph, Marinette points out that she has never shown herself in person before.
  • When Lila claims that Jagged Stone wrote a song about her, Marinette points out that that isn't Jagged's style and that Penny wouldn't let him go through with a potential PR disaster like that.
  • When Lila claims to have become a Champion multiple times, Chloé immediately points out that she only makes people her Champion once.
  • Lila refers to Nymph simply as "Nymph". Nathaniel points out that everyone who has been turned into a Champion calls her "Lady Nymph". She continues to do so even after her disastrous time as Gossamer.
• Storming the Castle: Chapter 34 sees the heroes launch a massive assault on the villains' lair.
• Stupid Good: Miss Bustier/Mother Goose is unwilling to throw a punch at Volpina or Drone because they are teenagers, even though the former is The Sociopath and the latter is Brainwashed and Crazy. She also tries to redeem Serpentina, bless her heart, but to no avail.
• Sweet Polly Oliver: It's revealed in the fic's backstory that Xue Ying disguised herself as a boy to join the misogynist Order of the Guardians.
• Swiss-Army Tears: Chloé as Royal Phoenix has these, being able to cry on her wounds to heal them. Perhaps a reference to Harry Potter, where phoenix tears have healing powers.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Adrien and Lila barely get along in either civilian or supervillain life, and Volpina has directly worked against Adrien's interests on occasion.
• There Are No Therapists: Averted; when the dust settles, Adrien checks into some very badly needed therapy.
• Too Dumb to Live: Lila spreads a rumor that she is Belle Aube. The first person she tells is the civilian identity of Catastrophe himself, who would have attacked her for her "Miraculous" (a pair of normal earrings) if the real Belle Aube hadn't shown up at that exact moment.
• Took a Level in Kindness: While Chloé started out as a bully to Marinette, she soon turned around after Marinette saved her from getting hit by a car, crippling her in the process. While she still acts like a bitch at times, it is implied that Marinette's influence has toned down her "Queen Bee" behavior. Getting a talking to later on and then becoming a Champion make her take another level. This eventually turns into full-blown Adaptational Heroism when it is revealed that she is Belle Aube.
• Tragic Villain: Adrien is just a Lonely Rich Kid with a limited social circle made up of either adults that he works with (including his neglectful Control Freak Disneyland Dad Gabriel) and Chloé (who for most of his life was a Spoiled Brat Alpha Bitch). Then suddenly someone comes along and gives him an Ancient Artifact and promises him the freedom he craves, unaware that it has been turned into an Artifact of Doom that (if left unchecked) would slowly corrupt him into a pawn in The Corrupter's machinations. As Catastrophe, all of his internalized loneliness and bitterness are amplified ten-fold, and, coupled with the power of destruction, he is almost a literal Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds.
• Un-person: The Null once took over a Chinese Emperor who'd just ascended to the throne. Said Emperor was killed when the Guardians defeated the Null. To keep the Null a secret, the Emperor was erased from history. Wayzz says even they don't remember his name and Plagg adds that he has a small tomb in the middle of nowhere to appease his family and it doesn't have his name.
• The Unmasking: In Chapter 27, Adrien is publicly exposed as Catastrophe. Then, Lady Nymph and Belle Aube meet in person and reveal their secret identities as Marinette and Chloé.
• Unwanted Assistance: Due to her condition, Marinette becomes annoyed when everyone tries helping her when she does not need it. With the exception of Chloé, everyone backs off when she asks.
• Villain: Exit, Stage Left:
  • The biggest problem in defeating the villains is their tendency to run like hell every time the situation turns against them.
  • At one point, the trope is inverted when Belle Aube is forced to make a strategic retreat; she bitterly lampshades that it's the villains who are supposed to run like cowards, and when she turns the tide in their next fight, takes great pleasure in rubbing it in.
• Vitriolic Best Buds:
  • Chloé and Alya's personalities clash constantly, Marinette being the only thing keeping them from devolving into actual enemies. With that said, they do get along under certain circumstances, Chloé applying her Brutal Honesty onto Alya when her disastrous run as Lady WiFi left her stuck in her own head and both possessing well-deserved vitriol for Lila when they find out that she is a Consummate Liar.
  • Belle Aube/Chloé displays signs of having this relationship with Tikki; when they part ways for good, she jokingly calls Tikki an "annoying voice of conscience".
• Wham Episode:
  • Chapter 10, in which Catastrophe murders a tiānshǐ and (unintentionally) causes Nymph pain.
  • Chapter 23, in which Luka successfully prods Adrien into confessing his feelings for Marinette, and the two officially begin dating.
  • Chapter 27, in which Adrien's identity as Catastrophe is revealed to pretty much everyone in Paris — including his family, his best friend, and the heroes — and Nymph and Belle Aube finally meet in person, revealing that the latter is Chloé.
  • Chapter 29, in which Marinette and Chloé successfully capture Adrien, well on their way to decorrupting him and his miraculous, and Nathaniel becomes their Secret-Keeper.
  • Chapter 31, where Chloé's butler discovers that she is Belle Aube, Alya learns that Marinette is Lady Nymph and becomes the wielder of the Peacock Miraculous.
  • Chapter 32, where Alya and Zoe find out that Chloé is Belle Aube.
  • Chapter 34, where Chat Noir, Lady WiFi and Belle Aube defeat and unmask the villains.
  • Chapter 37 leads to Nathaniel and Zoe become the new wielders of the Fox and Bee Miraculous, Marc immediately discovers that Nathaniel is a hero, Xue Ying gaining the Null miraculous to become Nihilumbra who discovers where Lady Nymph is and discovers that she is wheelchair-bound.
• Wham Line: The ending of Chapter 15. "Tikki, spots on!"
• What the Hell, Hero?: In Chapter 28, Marinette crucifies Gabriel for emotionally abusing Adrien and driving him to become Catastrophe.
• Wouldn't Hurt a Child: As Mother Goose, Miss Bustier is unwilling to fight the teenage villains Volpina and Drone.
• Wounded Gazelle Gambit: Adrien as Chat Noir fakes a breakdown into Xue Ying's arms in order to swipe her Miraculous.
• You Did the Right Thing: After Marinette pulls Lila's tiānshǐ, she begins to have doubts about her actions. Master Fu reassures her that she made the right move.
• You Didn't Ask: Plagg's reason not to tell Adrien his name as soon as he remembered it.
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: A non-lethal example. Xue Ying cuts ties with Lila and leaves her to dry after the villain group is defeated.

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