#Gabriel went to his grave never once picked Adrien's happiness and that's just disappointing

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Honestly, I like the idea of Gabriel sacrificing himself to save Nathalie in Season 5’s finale. I think it could’ve worked if Paris didn’t treat him as a hero posthumously and if Chat was present.

(And also if the wish didn’t canonically rewrite the whole universe.)

If the writers had always been consistent with making him sympathetic, it could’ve been a powerful ending for his character.

Thoughts?

I don't disagree, though I would argue for a different sacrifice from Gabriel. So long as the wish doesn't rewrite the whole universe, then I'd fix season five's ending by having Gabriel wish for Adrien's freedom, making Gabriel into a sentimonster while Adrien becomes a real boy.

The reason I'd take this route over the Nathalie one is that saving Nathalie is horribly anticlimactic. Canon didn't build up to saving her, it just randomly happens. The show wouldn't feel incomplete if Nathalie suffered the consequences of her own fully-informed choices. She was only saved because Adrien needed a new mommy and Emilie couldn't come back without outing Gabriel as a villain to Adrien, so he gets Nathalie instead because heaven forbid the wish do something interesting. Five seasons of buildup and all it does is maintain the status quo of Adrien living in the mansion with Nathalie overseeing his life. What an asinine way to end the Agreste arc. This is not how you tell a satisfying story!

To explain what I mean, let's talk about my fix for a bit and how it actually fits the story we've been watching for five seasons.

Two major focuses of the show's first five seasons were Gabriel controlling Adrien and Gabriel choosing Emilie over Adrien. Saving Adrien is how you show Gabriel having a change of heart that demonstrates actual character growth. The sacrifice canon went with doesn't mean shit for Gabriel's character because he still picked his wife over his son without a single thought for what it would mean for Adrien's well being. It is not brave or kind to abandon your kid to your villain partner who never expressed interest in being a mother.

You want Gabriel's sacrifice to feel meaningful? Then it needs to be something that actually costs him happiness or that actually increases Adrien's happiness. Saving Emilie at the cost of his own life would be better than what canon went with because at least that would see Gabriel being willing to be apart from her for the sake of their son! Dying to be with her is not giving up on his goal of being reunited with his wife!

For the curious, here's a rough outline of how you could do this fix while leaving season five mostly intact:

Adrien and Marinette learn each other's identities during Kwami's Choice and start dating.

Gabriel is fine with them dating and even likes Marinette, but views her as a non-serious first relationship. He and Adrien conflict over the fact that Gabriel is not willing to let Adrien include Marinette in major life events. For example, Adrien is banned from bringing Marinette to the Diamond Dance not because of Adrigami, but because Gabriel doesn't think the relationship is serious enough to let Adrien bring her around his rich friends even though Adrien will be miserable without Marinette there. Gabriel is also still planning to ship Adrien off to London in spite of Adrien's protests. In other words, focus the conflict more on Gabriel respecting Adrien and his choices without needless complications like Adrigami. Really hone in on Adrien's personal freedom as the defining theme and let Adrien be the one to fight with Gabriel, not Marinette. Adrienette should not feel like the source of the conflict.

Marinette learns Gabriel's identity from Felix and immediately finds Adrien to tell him and figure out next steps. They decided to face Gabriel together right as the Alliance bullshit goes down.

Chat Noir's identity is outed to Gabriel during the conflict because the sight of Emilie's body gives Chat Noir's identity away. Gabriel immediately uses his newfound knowledge to control Chat Noir, freezing him in place so that he can't help Ladybug. Before Gabriel can think of another command, Ladybug takes the ring of the black cat and becomes BugNoir leaving Adrien to watch the fight between his father and his Lady. He will be watching this fight from his mother's side.

Because Adrien knew his father's identity going into the fight, he's more lucid than he was in Chat Blanc plus the command Gabriel used didn't stop Adrien from being able to say what he's feeling. He's constantly calling out encouragement to BugNoir and begging his father to stop this madness. Gabriel tries to command Adrien to stop, but BugNoir never lets him finish a command.

We get to the scene where Gabriel uses the bee on Marinette, only this time that happens because Adrien is present. It's not his fault, it's just that him being there is why she tries to reason with Gabriel. She can see and hear her boyfriend's pain and it's killing her, making her take a risk she really shouldn't.

Gabriel goes to make his wish while looking at Marinette, Adrien, and Emilie's body. Before he can make his wish, he sees and hears Marinette and Adrien talking. Marinette is crying and apologizing to Adrien because she couldn't help him. She wants to free him, but the senticommand is still active, leaving him frozen in place as he tells her to run away or some other emotional scene focused on Adrien's lack of freedom. Cue a flashback to a near identical exchange between Gabriel and Emilie from when she was dying from the peacock and he was desperate to free her.

Gabriel suddenly realizes just how messed up Adrien's status is and that is what gets through to him, not some dumb video telling him something he'd doubtless heard from Emilie before. On the heals of this realization, Gabriel is given the option to make a wish. One wish. One change. He looks between Emilie and Adrien and picks Adrien. Adrien becomes a real boy, Gabriel becomes a sentimonster and ascends into the light with Emilie.

Cut to the canon ending. Nathalie and the Gabriel statue are gone, but other than that it plays mostly the same. Everyone is happy, Amelie is Adrien's new guardian, and Adrien is being allowed to stay in Paris because she's willing to live there until he comes of age or because the Gorilla agreed to stick around. After all, being someone's guardian doesn't actually require you to be present

End of outline

There are better ways to do this fix, but those would require larger changes to canon and I wanted to show that canon could have done this fix without massive rewrites. Yes, the love square would be revealed, but so what? Who even cares about that anymore?

The tension around the reveal came from how it impacted the romance, but Adrien and Marinette are happily together on the side that lets them date freely, so the reveal isn't even going to be fun anymore. The most it will bring is depressing complications because of the events of the season five final and I doubt canon will pull those complications off well.

The secrets between Adrien and Marinette should have ended with season five because, at this point, Adrien and Marinette having secrets keeping them from happiness is boring, awkward, and makes their relationship wildly unhealthy. From what I've heard, it's not like the secrets are even getting that much focus in season six. The secrets could be gone, season six could be about figuring out the new team/dating drama, and the show would probably be better for it.

Since it was in the ask, I'll note that saving Nathalie would work if you rewrote the show to make it feel like character growth for Gabriel. As is, saving Nathalie is completely in character and requires no growth. You'd also want it to feel like something Nathalie deserved through a change like actually letting her try to stop Gabriel in season five. Those are some massive changes making saving Adrien the easier fix by far. It's also the only way making him a sentimonster works in my opinion. A big dramatic removal of control is fitting for a kids show with a theme of parental control.

[arty-chase]

A Failed Betrothal /Betrothal AU: Take Two

So here is the second part of the betrothal AU that I decided to name "A Failed Betrothal. This takes place before Part 1 which in hindsight should have been done first. Part 2 got too long so I cut it and started Part 3. I have no idea and nothing planned on how long this will go. Hope you enjoy ❤.

[Masterlist]

(Part 1)

PART 2

Marinette also wasn't having a good day or a good week.

Lila Rossi had been up to her usual tricks. You know, spewing lies from her mouth. How she met these awesome celebrities during this trip and they worship the ground she walks on for her amazing and humbling help. There were stories of these charities, trips and galas that she had been to or was invited to. She has problems with her wrists and can't do simple stuff like carry her own bag or do her homework. She has tinnitus in her ears so she needs to sit in the front where the only seat available would be next to Adrien.

And for the finale.

The desert after feeding the class a banquet of lies.

"Mari...nette..has been bullying me, she...told..me not to tell anyone..*sobs*..that she would kill me if I did.."

Lila dramatically gasped and slapped her hands over her mouth. Turning on the waterworks for a more dramatic effect. They all ate it up, jumping on the ‘let’s hate Marinette, a bad person’ train.

"She is going to kill me now and I am so scared." That snake managed to snuck an evil smirk past her glaring, oblivious classmates.

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Marinette, at this point of her life, had frankly given up caring for them due to the class's lack of brain cells and Agreste's spineless 'High Road' Approach.

For Kwami's sake, she went through a brutal torture that was training in some jungle temple in Asia before Sabine Cheng, former mercenary/assassin, kidnapped her (Little Marinette took a risk. She ran away and followed her around until Sabine begrudgingly accepted that she was now the 6- year-old girl's mother because screw it, Tom said he wanted children.) to raise/train as her own while she settled down with a baker whose mother may or may not have ties with the Mafia and other illegal activities.

(Mother-daughter bonding days became much more fun once she had Guardianship of the Miraculous. Sabine was ,at first, furious at Master Fu for dumping everything on the girl and losing his memories before swearing to help protect the jewels. Adopted or not, Marinette is her daughter and no one should let a child, even one with training, fight a war. A good thing to come out of her reveal was that her mother was a great tiger to have as back-up. But now, her training regime had become harder and challenging.)

The point was that Lila Rossi would be dead and body missing since that first time she threatened Marinette in the bathroom. The Italian was in perfect health despite what she claims otherwise, because Marinette didn’t want to be the person she was raised to be and also she didn’t want to disappoint Tikki, she was fond of the little red kwami. But sometimes, she just wanted to give into the urge to kill.

She had met and dealt with unsavory characters of all types and she can safely say that Lila Rossi was a manipulator that thrives on attention and like a parasite, latches herself onto the fame of others. None of the unsavory people she had met get under her skin like Rossi had.

Marinette had enough self-preservation to drop the nice girl act and sometimes let the dragon underneath to surface. She stopped doing last-minute favors and giving away free stuff which Lila uses to her full advantage to further destroy her relationships with her ‘friends’. It was better than sticking her neck out for classmates that were no longer worth her time. Attempts to expose Lila had backfired due to the denial they are in, believing the liar to be a sweet, nice girl living the high life.

Adrien with his rose-tinted glasses firmly stuck to his eyes was not happy at all with her decision. That may also have to do where she suggested he shove his advice after he tried to reason her to take the high road for defending herself for the umpteenth time. She felt like the biggest idiot to ever have a crush on him. Every time, Rossi blames Marinette for a problem, he would shoot disappointed looks in her direction.

Alya being Lila's biggest guard dog tore into Marinette for her newfound 'bad' behaviour. The rest of Lila's supporters backed her up with "How could you do that to Lila","I can't believe you changed." Nearly all her so-call friends had turned their backs and lost all common sense to the Italian's manipulations.

(Alya was supposed to be her best friend, aren’t you supposed to listen to your ‘bestie’ over a complete stranger)

The designer took it all with a bored expression on her face, used to the lecturing which was a waste of time because her behavior isn't going to change, no matter what, Lie-la will keep up the act of being the bully's (*cough*Marinette*cough*) victim.

Her heart that cracks the tiniest bit at the accusations. A small part of her, she admits, is hurt that they think so low of her.Was she really that worthless to them? All those times and efforts helping them out on last-minute favors and giving them free treats. Were they not enough to earn their friendship? Their trust or at the very least, a benefit of doubt?

The only ones who didn’t join the berating to 'correct' the raven-haired girl’s attitude were Chloe (who had proven herself to have changed after the miracle queen incident and Lila stole the spotlight and Sabrina. There were a lot of apologizes, gifts and ‘making up to do’) Alix (she came to her senses when the supposed bullying started) and Nathaniel (Lila blatantly claimed to be the artist for the Ladybug comic to his face).

“Girl, Marinette, are you even listening to me?”Alya demanded.

“Maybe. Did you say anything that doesn’t have to do with Lila or how I did her wrong or how I am no longer the person you knew?”

Marinette knew that being sarcastic would backfire but nothing she does or says will change what they think of her. One word from Lila and they will turn back on her. As much as she hates to admit it, Lila’s threat has fallen through and she was alone. Mostly.

She still had Chloe, Nathaniel, Alix, Luka and Kagami as friends. The trust-worthy and loyal kind.

“Girl,” Alya says in a disappointed tone, shaking her head,“when I look at you, I don’t see that girl who stood up to Chloe the bully-”, Chloe snorted, she had changed but they were too blind and prejudiced against her to notice her efforts, “-Picking on Lila, threatening and harassing her. This isn’t you and you know it. Just get over your jealousy on Lila being close to Adrien and apologize to her.”

If Alya had talked to her in the past 12 months other than demanding things that took away her time or anything relating to Lila, she would know that her infatuation had turned into annoyance.

Marinette sighed, too tired of this routine, tired of trying to knock heads so the brain cells can work again. Apologizing would mean that Lila had won. She was petty and stubborn enough to allow that to happen. Lila said she will take the class and Adrien. Fine, she can have them but Marinette Dupain-Cheng will not admit defeat. Bigger men had fallen to the ravenette for lesser offences. A year has passed since the expulsion and the class still hasn't regained common senses, so they can deal with the consequences after the inevitable downfall of Lila and Marinette will be there to see them lay in the grave they dug.

Steeling herself for the pain that will come with the execution of her plan,

“What if I don’t. I won’t apologize to her because I have not done anything to her or even interacted with her. If I apologize, it would be insincere and a lie. And I hate liars.” The former assassin said evenly.

“Lila is not a liar. I don’t know why you are like this.” Alya said, frustrated.

Marinette knew there would be a small chance of an akuma with Gabriel Agreste having an important meeting to attend on this day that would last for the next hour. This was the small window of opportunity to start the plan and also further confirm the identity of Hawkmoth. Killing two birds with one stone.

“Alya, this has always been me, you just never took the time to get to really know the real me.”, she replied, the last part with an icy tone.

“Well-... I- ..You-, fine, then if you can’t say those simple three words, we can’t be friends. I clearly don’t know what a selfish bitch you are. God, I can’t believe I wanted to be best friends with you. You are now replaced by Lila because unlike you, she is genuinely nice and selfless.” Alya declared. The rest of Lila’s supporters murmured in agreement.

Phase 1, complete. Lure the Lie-la into a false sense of security by making her think she won.

Marinette tried not to show how hurt she was, to be replaced by the scheming bitch. But at the same time she felt relieved, she no longer had to walk on eggshells in fear of losing the friendships of people she used to care about. It felt final as she maintained her stoic expression, hoping they didn't notice the glassy sheen her eyes had.

“Then, it is official. We are no longer friends.”

They haven’t been friends for a long time.

Mme. Bustier finally walked into the classroom to start the afternoon classes, signalling the end of the conversation. After class, Marinette resolves to inform them that she was resigning as class president which she was sure the class will be glad for. She was right.

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Ladybug was, as the Americans say, pissed at Hawkmoth which was nothing new. He had sent out another akuma just as Marinette was back home and trying to relax after the stressful day. The akuma was not any of her ex-friends which she wasn’t sure to be thankful for or not.

Louise Martin was a boy about Luka’s age and mad at his friends who had blamed their fifth loss-in-a-row on him despite the fact that it was his skills that were getting them any progress. They were playing one of those recently released 5V5 skills and strategy battle games. (League of Legends or Mobile Legends. Take your pick, I am going with the latter)

He was akumatized into Hayakuma as proof of Hawkmoth’s lack of creativity. Hayakuma was a bleached out version of Louise’s chosen hero avatar, Hayabusa whose outfit was basically what the media portrays ninjas to look like with some samurai aspects.

Unfortunately, he also had the hero’s ultimate special powers which were making four shadow copies of himself and being able to switch positions with them. Thanks to Rattlesnake’s Second Chance, they know that he can only make a switch once every two minute. Hayakuma also wields a sword, showing off his skills.

Just lovely.

Hydra and Ladybug were the only ones able to counter his attacks with Hydra’s sword and Ladybug’s summoned one. (Let’s go with that headcanon(?)/trope that she can summon weapons for plot convenience and the others can too but just don’t have enough practise yet.)

The others managed to dodge and shield themselves from Hayakuma’s really sharp sword.

The shadows themselves were annoying as they would distract or hinder the miraculous users by grabbing them by their shadows and making them unable to move. Until Bunnix had the brilliant idea of shadow boxing which gave the heroes gain more even ground.

With how strong and handful the akuma was, it was code ‘all hands on deck’. Ladybug, Stinger, Rattlesnake, Hydra, Bunnix, Trickster. Well, nearly every hand. Lady Mǔ lǎoh�� was busy with the bakery. Chat Noir was nowhere to be seen or very late which had been the norm for the last year ever since Ladybug wanted to form a new miraculous team consisting of permanent heroes.

(He didn’t show up for the first few months because the first permanent member was Ladybug’s mother who did not like his attitude towards her daughter. He ran away with his tail between his legs once he found out how she was related to Ladybug. His face when he realized it, was something Marinette will cherish forever)

At least when Lady Mǔ lǎohǔ was around, he would not dare act out of line. When she is gone however, he is back to his old ways.

After saving one of Louise’s teammates from Hayakuma’s sword, they gathered the rest of the team and hid them someplace safe. Using Trickster’s illusions to trick all the shadows and the original to one place, the heroes were going to surround and ambush them and get the akumatized item. The plan would have been a success if it weren’t for Chat Noir hugging Ladybug from behind, making her miss her cue.

“Hey~ Bugaboo~ Did you miss me~? Your Chaton~?”

Thwack! Smack!

Chat Noir was on the rooftop, groaning pitifully in pain. Especially his crotch area. Ladybug glared at him and looked to the ambush point to see the illusions had disappeared and everyone else gone from their hiding place.

She sighed and turned on the comms, (Thank you, kwamis)

“Sting, did you venomed the akuma?”

“No, he escaped before I could. What happened, LB?”

“A certain cat got me delayed. What’s the status update?”

“Hydra is holding him off and Bunnix found that an umbrella is a good substitute for a sword. The rest of us are keeping track of the shadows. They split up but none of them are getting near where we hid the targets.”

“Where are you? I will meet you later with back-up.”

“Near Notre Dame and tell Mama Tigress I said hi.”

“Tell her yourself.”

She looked down at Chat No-, no he is not worthy of being a hero anymore with the amount of times he had derailed and hijacked the plans to defeat the akumas just so he can ‘earn’ Ladybug’s heart.

She looked down at Adrien Agreste, who was sitting and sulking like a child that was unfairly punished. (Once she got over her crush and started looking at the right things that she managed to piece together her ‘partner’s’ identity by accident. Tikki’s confirmation sealed the deal.)

“Chat Noir, this partnership of ours,” she said, gesturing to the two of them, “ is going to change tonight. Meet me at the ‘spot’ at 11 sharp. Now, go home.”

He left with a small glimmer of hope in his eyes at her words. She felt a little bad about the subtle manipulation but with the way things were now, it can’t go on. He was hindering more than helping and the people of Paris that weren’t shipping ‘Ladynoir’ saw that.

As she jumped towards Notre Dame, she called the bakery with her yoyo.

“Mama, are you free now? I need a little help with the akuma and can you bring the horse miraculous.”

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Chat Noir waited excitedly at what they both dubbed at their ‘spot’, in the good old days when it was just the two of them. Maybe Ladybug was finally open to the idea of dating. Or maybe she must have seen what a great hero he is and was going to get rid of the team. Or realized that having her mother on her team was a bad idea. Parents are the worst and they both can be two rebellious teenagers in love. Like Romeo and Juliet. So romantic~.

He was so deep in his daydream that he didn’t hear his lady land.

“Chat Noir.” Startled, he nearly fell off the roof. No, don’t make a fool of yourself in front of Ladybug.

“Yes, Bugaboo.” Hoping she didn’t know that he was very distracted. His attention will always be hers 100%.

“Don’t call me Bugaboo. Tikki wants to talk to Plagg about Kwami stuff. So you go over and hide behind that chimney. Then, we can talk about why I told you to be here.” Adrien frowned and then smiled. His lady must be very embarrassed about her mistake that must be why she is taking her time. He tried listening to what they were saying but the kwamis were talking in their special Guardian Language. Was it him or did Tikki’s voice sound more like his lady’s voice?

Whizz!

Adrien was tied up with Ladybug’s yoyo. “M’Lady? Bugaboo!? LADYBUG! WHAT IS GOING ON?!! PLAGG-”

Ladybug cut in, “Adrien Agreste, you have been slack in your hero duty and choosing your own feelings over supporting your partner, me, the holder of the Ladybug Miraculous and current Grand Guardian, in the efforts to defeat the enemy of Paris, Hawkmoth. Due to those reasons, you are no longer worthy to be the Holder of the Black Cat Miraculous” in one swift motion, she took the ring off his finger, “As such you are hereby revoked of Plagg’s Ring.”

“NO, YOU CAN’T. YOU CAN’T DO THIS TO ME! I LOVE YOU AND I KNOW YOU LOVE ME BACK. WE ARE SOULMATES, WE ARE MEANT TO BE-”

Adrien went slack at Lady Tigress’s pinch on his pressure point.

“I don’t what you ever saw in the boy.”

“I don’t know either. I think I dodged a bullet here. Can you carry him back to his home? I think I have dealt with enough of him tonight.” Ladybug muttered, as she erased Adrien’s memories of being Chat Noir.

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(Part 3)