Fanfic / Scarlet Fever

Papillon Écarlate has managed the impossible. He's akumatized Marinette. Now with an army of supervillains and no Ladybug to stop him victory seems inevitable.

Unless Adrien can stop him. But will he be enough when his own mentor doubts him?

Scarlet Fever is a Miraculous Ladybug Fan Fic by LoganLight, and is complete.

Scarlet Fever contains examples of:

• Abusive Parents: Gabriel finds out Adrien's identity in chapter 9. It doesn't change his plans.
  • And it gets MUCH worse in Ch. 12!
• Action Mom: Sabine gets the Dragon Miraculous and joins the fight against the army of Akumas.
• Adaptational Superpower Change: Adrien has to use the Ladybug Miraculous in order to purify the akuma. Meanwhile, Kagami is given the Black Cat Miraculous and takes the name Maneki-neko.
• Adults Are Useless: Subverted, with both Sabine and the Gorilla proving very effective with their respective Miraculous.
• Angry Collar Grab: Luka does this to Adrien after being exposed to Princess Justice's dust.
• Antagonist Title: About half the chapter titles are named after villains.
• Armor-Piercing Question: Roi Bug asks Princess Justice if Luka or Kagami deserved the way she treated them, in an attempt to break through to her.
• Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking:
  • Princess Justice criticizes Adrien's skills as Chat Noir, Mister Bug and a model.
  • When the Guilty start floating into the sky some of the sins Adrien sees are adultery, theft, and tax evasion.
• Ascended Extra: Kagami, Luka, Sabine, all have a greater roll than in canon. Each one is given a Miraculous to help Mister Bug.
• Batman Gambit: Adrien tricks Princess Justice into leading the heroes to Papillon Ecarlate by sacrificing the Fox Miraculous and having Kagami place a tracker on her. It works perfectly.
• Believing Their Own Lies: Not surprising considering she's akumatized, Princess Justice makes several claims about the guilt of the people of Paris. Especially the heroes. Maneki-neko points out that none of it is true.
• Berserker Tears: Downplayed with Adrien in chapter 12.
• Big "SHUT UP!": Adrien has a variation of this after being temporarily overwhelmed by everyone's emotions.
• Blinded by Rage: Princess Justice uses this against Mister Bug in chapter 9. He manages to snap out of it in time.
• Brainwashed and Crazy: Par for the course with akuma victims. Including Princess Justice, Verity Queen, Gorizilla, The Bubbler, and others.
• Call-Back: How the heroes beat Gorizilla.
• Calling the Old Man Out: Multiple.
  • Sabine criticizes Master fu for how he handled the two heroes.
  • Adrien gives one to Gabriel.
• Can't Take Criticism: A staple of akumatized victims and Princess Justice is no different.
• Cathartic Scream: Adrien let's... "one" out in Ch. 10 after realizing his father is Papillon and has been attacking him and his friends all along.
• Continuity Cavalcade: The fight scenes filled with scarlet villains the heroes have to fight.
• Character Title: All the chapter titles take their name from the heroes or villains.
• Child Soldiers: Sabine alludes to this while scolding Master Fu for choosing such young wielders.
• Climactic Battle: In Ch. 12 Papillon fights Mister Bug directly while the rest of his team keeps Princess Justice and the rest of the akumatized villains occupied.
• Disproportionate Retribution: Princess Justice whenever she "Judges" someone. When she hits someone with her whip it's always unpleasant for her victims.
  • Righteous Fury takes it even further with the Judgment of Paris. The sentimonster's power petrifies anyone Guilty of something and their body then floats into the sky, proclaiming their greatest sin to whoever sees them. But since everyone is guilty of something then everyone is judged Guilty.
• Downer Beginning: As stated in the summary, Papillon successfully akumatized Marinette.
• Emotion Control: Princess Justice has two variations of this.
  • Her whip makes her victims experience every emotion they've ever invoked in someone else. Most are quickly overwhelmed and pass out.
  • The effect of her dust, however, is a side effect of not letting her victims lie. Not even to themselves, which keeps their emotions close to the surface.
• 11th-Hour Ranger: Bee!Nora... Not that she does much.
• Empowered Badass Normal: Sabine, the Gorilla, and Nora are all given the Dragon, Horse, and Bee Miraculous respectively.
• Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: Discussed in the battles between Princess Justice and Mister Bug. Under the akuma's influence Marinette states that she has a right to Judge others due to her suffering. Mister Bug points out that she isn't the only one who suffered.
• Gone Horribly Right: Depending on how you look at it Mayura's plan in Ch. 13 worked perfectly.
• Heroic BSoD: Averted. When Adrien realizes his father is Papillon he flies into the sky in order to scream.
• Heroic Safe Mode: Mister Bug manages to control his emotions (mostly) every time he fights Princess Justice.
• Kaiju: Righteous Fury is the largest sentimonster Adrien has ever faced. Made from Princess Justice's emotions it looks like a giant butterfly-ladybug hybrid
• Kick the Dog: Papillon Ecarlate purposefully tries this on Mister Bug in an attempt to akumatize him.
• Manipulative Bastard: Gabriel Agreste. To the surprise of no one and the turmoil of Adrien.
• Manly Tears: Recuring, due to the amount of emotional turmoil Adrien goes through in the story.
• My Greatest Failure: Adrien views his offscreen akumatization into Chat Blanc as this. Princess Justice throwing it in his face doesn't help either.
• No Sympathy: Downplayed. Sabine calls out Master Fu for this in regards to Adrien.
• Shout-Out: When Mister Bug retrieves Kagami he tells her:
  "Come with me if you want to live."
• The Starscream: Princess Justice in Ch. 13 once Papillon Écarlate's power is diminished.
• Suddenly Shouting: Due to the emotional nature (both natural and magically induced) of the protagonists and antagonists this happens quite often.
• Suppressed Rage: Adrien has a lot of pent up anger and frustration at his father. Roi Bug lets it out in Ch. 12 and Princess Justice indirectly uses it against Papillon Écarlate in Ch. 13.
• There Are No Therapists: Averted in the last chapter where both Adrien and Marinette mention seeing a "superhero therapist".
• Took a Level in Badass: Mister Bug. With Ladybug compromised Adrien steps up as both a leader and tactician.
• The Unfavorite: Non-parental example: Master Fu is called out for favoring Marinette over Adrien.
• What If?: The fic begins with the successful akumatization of Marinette which failed in canon.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Sabine chews Master Fu out for burdening Marinette with responsibilities way above the proverbial pay grade of a young teen, while also expecting Adrien to do everything right and scolding him when he fails despite Fu never bothering to give him any guidance.
  Fu: He is a hero of Paris! Adrien is held to higher standards!
  Sabine: Maybe you should have explained that to him instead of holding him at arms length!
  Fu: I had to train Marinette! I could not stop simply to scold Chat Noir every time he erred! Adrien has made too many mistakes!
  Sabine: Isn't it a teacher's job to correct his students? Maybe you should have trained Adrien too instead of expecting my daughter to do everything herself!
• You Are Better Than You Think You Are: In Ch. 14 Adrien and Marinette both reject the idea that the other is defined by their flaws or mistakes. Both insisting that the other is inherently good.