#the one where they reveal identities and Adrien’s bald??

[rwsdarw]

pretend this is a good caption

[princess-of-the-corner]

Gods, I just remembered but I figured out how to do a "Crack taken seriously" version of "All the Holders Know" AU.

1: The Quantum Mask does not work on other Miraculous Holders.

Why would it need to, they are all tied to the order after all! Marinette & Adrien's uniforms compensate with fully face covering masks at first, but they don't have the time (Or in Adrien's case) patience to do much else, so Gabriel recognizes his sons voice.

For reference this is also why known famous person Gabriel adopted a flamboyant costume, a face covering helmet that makes him look bald, deepened his voice and talks like a cartoon villain.

2: Kwami Holders can also be bound like Kwami but by choice.

What I mean here is that a Kwami's name being known gives the one with said name power over them. In this case, if the Users offers up their name in an oath they too can be bound.

3: Once Kwami are bound to someone getting them away is hard as hell.

Not much to add to this one, it mostly just means Fu can't withdraw them on a whim or without the mutual permission of both user & Kwami.

4: Gabriel refuses to concede the wish cannot work as he wants it too.

IE Gabriel is so damn stubborn, so damn proud and so damnibly obsessed with control. That the idea he cannot force the wish to do as he wants, the idea he cannot be clever enough to make it do as he wants. The idea he needs concern himself with the consequences at all when obviously Emilie means the world to him...

Yeah no, he is basically just refusing to accept it.

Story:

Thus, Origins goes mostly the same but Gabriel recognizes Adrien & basically throws the fight and even gets rid of the Akuma. He thinks he can just ask Adrien for his Miraculous and get a "Of course father."

Instead Adrien flips out, argues & when Gabriel tries to reveal the truth he just fucking bolts out the nearest window. Calls Chloe (The only person Gabriel could/would use as a hostage against him) & runs.

Gabriel is so flabbergasted it takes a minute to transform and then transform Nathalie into a tracker. This, and Chat calling Marinette (Cos of how the masking works secret IDs weren't as bug of a deal so they exchanged numbers but with no names) to tell her. Tikki contacts Fu who uses the Horse to get them all together.

Thus we get to how this AU is justified!

Namely, both sides have a Mutually Assured Destruction method.

Fu can just call on all the Miraculous and though it will kill him, basically blitz Hawk Moth or even all of Paris into oblivion.

However, Hawk Moth has the Peacock and can force Doosoo to make Sentimonsters without transforming, basically disgorging an apocalyptic swam of horrors on Paris.

Neither side backs down, Adrien cannot trust his fathers confidence given the Peacock that killed Emilie was his idea, so they are at stalemate.

Thus, negotiations.

Notes:

(Plagg refuses to leave Adrien without protection cos Gabriel both "Has our friends" and "The kid bolted rather than get an explanation. I do not trust this guy at all!") (Chloe is probably there & may get a Miraculous early out of grim necessity. Marinette is low key confounded the nice & cool Chat knows Chloe, or that Chloe's shouting insults at a supervillain)

Basically, they form a mutually assured destruction style deal where neither side will take "X actions" such as targeting one's families or utilizing hostage scenarios to force surrender of Miraculous.

Identities will be kept secret and up held (Because they cannot prove Gabriel is Hawk Moth anyway & he has all the money) but any and all battles will be, if not schedule, then at least structured to follow rules.

& other things that are meant to turn a near apocalyptic scenario into basically an elaborate and ongoing proxy war/duel. Though be it one with both high stakes and legitimate danger.

Also avoiding ambushes, or otherwise targeting people in their sleep and such and so on. Also translations of the spell book are in the deal too for its return as Fu needs it, but Gabriel has it, so shared.

It sets up a dynamic similar to the early seasons in terms of danger & scale. Chat's very cavalier with his life in general but especially because he doesn't think his father will kill him.

As it is, Gabriel did have enough bargaining power to get some of these concessions, hence it happening at all. & like with how he messed with Chloe's head and recruited Lila in canon there are loop holes.

Also Gabriel probably has to straight up move out (Though be it in secret) or Adrien moves elsewhere with Gorilla as Nathalie is onboard if feeling kind of bummed about it.

Adrien also refuses to give up as he deems what his father is doing as his responsibility to fix/stop. Marinette won't quit because she's gonna this far and wants to reward Chat's faith in her. If Chloe's involved its mostly survival, (& secret desire for heroism) and spite.

Its both more and less angsty than you'd expect.

The rules and such give a sense of fairness and safety. Adrien is viewing this as a sort of quest to enlighten/redeem his father. & Fu seemingly has 'a' trick up is sleeve for if things get bad.

But then we remember the Chloe & Lila canon and stuff like Akuma Nathalie, as well as Audrey & Tomoe... Yeah things can get a lot more complicated and a lot grimmer over time, or stay more safe and structured.

Those are my thoughts anyway.

Yeah that sounds about right for how to make it less crack-y.

[prodigious-ladybug]

wishmaker thoughts

in terms of it being a single installment in the larger narrative of miraculous ladybug, i don’t have a lot of thoughts on wishmaker other than ‘haha cool someone knows both of their identities at the same time wonder where this will go’ bc like. i am unable to separate myself from the idea that i absolutely cannot judge something (in this case, season- and series-long arcs) until i see it in its Entirety, in its Proper Complete State (which i know doesn’t exactly mesh with television as a serialised art form but jhdfghj wtvr thats a whole other discussion) so i don’t, and won’t, really have an opinion on luka knowing their identities until i see what the show does with it

on the other hand, in terms of its own merits as an episode (as in, the parts of the episode that are self-contained and are supposed to have their own story arc within the 20min) wishmaker was probably one of the weaker episodes of the show? alec’s akumatisation practically came out of nowhere - the show usually does a pretty good job of setting up the through lines that lead to a character’s akumatisation right from the start of the ep (you know, like with actual foreshadowing and good writing and shit) but wishmaker felt more concerned with the interactions between luka & adrien & marinette than having the villain feel natural within the story. which is all well and good, like this episode is about those three and should be focused on luka’s relationship with adrien & marinette if it wanted to have the proper impact of luka finding out their identities, but it just seemed like the episode couldn’t balance being both a run of the mill, monster of the week episode and an Event episode at the same time (that being said, i doubt this episode would’ve been enough to hold its own across a two parter so i get how the unbalance arose). instead of throwing alec’s characterisation out of whack they couldve used his early screen time to lead up to his akumatisation more naturally - surely something about being a tv presenter and having to be fake all the time for a living and not staying true to what his younger self wanted or SOMETHING would like. be putting him down in the dumps or smth. idk. that’s just off the top of my head surely the writers could come up with something more substantial. and yeah this might take away some attention from the emotional core of luka, adrien & marinette but it’d at least 1. tie in with the theme of the episode and 2. set some precedent for his negative feelings instead of him getting akumatised in like. ten seconds hgfdfghjk

the only other thing that kinda rubbed me the wrong way was how wishmaker’s power seemed especially contrived, even for this show? like i Know half of the akumatised powers are to either get ladybug and chat noir to kiss (contrived for the sake of romance which is. generally fine in a romance show and also approved by my shipper brain) or reveal their identities (which actually ties into the plot and the villain’s motivations and therefore makes it...not really contrived) so wishmaker being used to reveal their identities is fine. but um. the leap hawkmoth made in how his powers would do that is. wild. it’s like:

reveal people’s childhood wishes

???

reveal lb & cn’s identities

profit

and again, i know hawkmoth has given an endless list of powers to people that make you think ‘what the fuck was he hoping to accomplish with that?? what did he THINK would happen?’ and i’m all for hawkmoth having dumb plans, being soundly beaten and then having to figure out smarter ways to beat lb & cn, but i guess my problem here is that in this episode he was actually proven RIGHT. like he had no guarantee that lb & cn wouldn’t have childhood wishes a la dino man and mr banana, but he really put out this fairly weak akuma with the immediate assumption that it would reveal their identities and like?? if viperion wasn’t there he’d have achieved it! (well, idk abt ladybug, he’d at least probably hit chat noir, which is. an interesting au to think about). the link between revealing childhood wishes and revealing lb & cn’s identities seemed like a massive leap in logic to me (more than this show usually makes), and idk if anyone else felt that when watching the episode but like kjhdfghjk hawkmoth buddy can you explain your thinking for just a second like i’ll accept what you’re doing i just need to know why the fuck you’re doing it and how you got there

but other than that! i really really liked this episode and i was hyped up the entire fucking time!! i had to keep pausing it bc i was getting overwhelmed LMAO. i guess one thing i will say so that this doesn’t seem like a wall of negativity (which i swear i didn’t mean for it to be, there were only two (2) things i didn’t like about the episode that i felt weakened it, it just takes me a billion words to get to my point) is that however they handle luka knowing their identities in future episodes, i fucking loved the way they handled it in this episode. for some background, i’ve honestly never cared much either way abt luka, i have zero negative feelings about him, it’s just that he has the unfortunate case of not being a character type i particularly care abt, and the writing hasn’t done anything much to endear him to me. he’s fine, and i certainly like him more than other characters, but i’m pretty much as neutral on him as you could get. UNTIL THIS EPISODE! okay not really, something abt him agreeing to be friends with marinette in crocoduel made me go ‘:) what a nice boy :)’ BUT! THIS EPISODE! i’m proud to announce i’m officially a luka stan. LYING BALD-FACED TO LADYBUG? KING. LYING TO LADYBUG AFTER THE SEASON OPENER OF HIM GETTING AKUMATISED OVER MARINETTE LYING??? i am SO here for internal character conflicts YES! this is what i WANT! set up a character who has a strict line in the sand and put them in a situation where they’re forced to cross it anyway, and see what happens next!!!! i really would not mind a whole character study on luka after this. like....the fucking intrigue.......why did he lie, and how does he feel about it? does he regret it? does he consider it a necessary evil? i’m sure all of this will be answered in like. a single line from him five episodes down the road bc that’s how this show handles shit like this but. those last few minutes were really just straight bangers i’m still not recovered

well this was. longer than i thought it’d be. and again, i liked this episode a lot, idk what compelled me to write all this out. i usually don’t have a lot of formulated thoughts like this after an episode of ml; i think that it was just bc there were a couple things i could actually critique in the ep that it made it easier to pick apart my feelings. but anyways!

TL;DR wishmaker, in its self contained elements, felt a bit weak as an episode bc 1. alec’s akumatisation was mad rushed and 2. the way his powers were used to further the plot felt contrived to me (yes, even for miraculous). but, in the episode’s over-arching elements within the season/show, i immensely enjoyed it, primarily because of the amount of intrigue it set up in 1. luka’s characterisation and 2. the possibilities emerging from luka knowing lb & cn’s identities

[lobotoboy]

Ephemeral Teasers *SPOILERS BELOW*

Okay, so Ephemeral airs in French on the 7th, and we just got a brand new trailer from Gloob, along with a small video from TFOU, and the earlier trailer for Miraculous USA. So now is probably the time I analyze what we have, to see if I can pull anything from it. Let’s go in order: -------------------------------------------------------------

Ephemeral trailer(USA): This trailer has the most to unpack out of all these teasers, so let’s begin with it. It starts with Gabriel and Adrien in the car together, on their way to drop Adrien off at a press conference. It cuts to Ladybug at night, discussing something with Su-Han. Adrien walks into Gabriel’s study, and uses Emilie’s picture to see the crypt. Then, we see a Ladynoir umbrella scene, with a lightning flash transitioning Chat Noir to Adrien. We can see Vesperia, Pegasus, Pigella, Viperion, Tigresse Pourpre, Carapace, Polymouse, Ryuko, and King Monkey, fighting a box villain. It shows Ladybug’s lucky charm being a firetruck, along with Carapace and Vesperia working together. The trailer cuts to a scene where Chat Noir and Ladybug come out of the sewers, to see the lights going crazy, and villains running amok(such as Gamer, Gorizilla, and Captain Hardrock). We finally get a Cosmobug and Astrochat transformation, before they blast off into the air. There is a scene of what appears to be Ladybug vision, before it cuts to the biggest moment of them all; Ladybug running in the cinema, furiously messaging someone, tripping, and detransforming in front of two mystery villains. One looks like Gabriel Agreste with the cat miraculous, while the other may be Ephemeral.

Ephemeral teaser image: In this teaser image, which you guys have probably seen, shows the cinema scene from a different angle. You can see Ladybug mid-running away in the background, while Hawkmoth with the cat miraculous, and what can be assumed is Ephemeral, in the foreground. Ephemeral is purple and black, with a pointed head similar to Timebreaker and The Collector. It can be inferred from the later Gloob trailer, that Ephemeral is indeed Adrien.

Shadow Noir(concept art): A piece of concept art was released recently, of what appears to be Gabriel Agreste wielding the black cat miraculous. Based on the previous image, we now know this to be true. This image reveals that his name is Shadow Noir. He has purple eyes(take note, since Astro Chat in Dearest Family also has these purple eyes), bald head, black baton, and is wielding the butterfly and peacock miraculouses as well. This is interesting, because in Kwamibuster, it is said that wielding more than one for an extended length of time can be damaging.

Ephemeral clip (TFOU): This was a small clip that was released earlier this morning. This clip shows Ladybug fighting the lollipop sentimonster, as Chat Noir leans on his stick and does nothing. This appears to be the cold open for Ephemeral, like the Glaciator fight in Glaciator 2. Nothing really of note here, aside from that.

Ephemeral Trailer(Gloob): This trailer aired just a few hours ago, and it’s only a few clips long. The first shot, is of Ladybug and Chat Noir on the Eiffel Tower at night. Chat Noir walks up to Ladybug, and Ladybug notices something. Now this could be entirely unrelated and misleading, but the placement of these shots makes it seem like she’s noticed something about Chat Noir himself. Maybe he’s a sentimonster, since, assumedly, Ephemeral is running around? Anyways, text on the screen says “Identities Revealed”, before showing the same scene, but Chat Noir detransforms into Adrien. Maybe this is when she figures out who he is in this episode. The next scene, is of Adrien, who looks more tired than usual, following Gabriel into his study, and into Emilie’s crypt. Inside, he sees his mom and gets ambushed and akumatized by Shadowmoth. The text reads “Everybody is in danger”. Now, this scene feels weird to me. Over this season, we’ve seen a few scenes of Gabriel and Adrien together, like in Glaciator 2. It doesn’t quite make sense for Gabriel to just nonchalantly akumatize Adrien like that. On top of that, with the exception of Chat Blanc, all successful akumatizations required consent from the akumatized party. Which means that in some degree, Adrien agreed to be akumatized. My question is: How is Chat Noir in this episode, if Adrien is Ephemeral? The Chat Noir we see in these trailers, is either a sentimonster, Copycat, or Ephemeral operates like Gabriel did in Simon Says.

Using these spoilers, along with the script leak and synopsis, my final thoughts on the possible events of this episode. Ladybug and Chat Noir fight a lollipop sentimonster. Su-Han sees what happens, and gives Ladybug an ultimatum: either figure out who Chat Noir is, or pick a different holder. At the same time, Adrien goes to a press conference while the other heroes fight the box villain. He goes home exhausted and sad, where he sees Gabriel enter Emilie’s crypt. He follows him, finds his mom, gets akumatized, and hands over his ring to Gabriel. Ephemeral gains the ability to akumatize multiple villains at once, and then seemingly transforms into Chat Noir. Ladybug and Chat Noir fight the villains, and Chat is revealed as Ephemeral. Ladybug’s identity is found out. She eventually saves the day, finding out Adrien’s identity, but something happens(probably Bunnix), that reverses their findings.

Anyways, I’m really excited for this episode. While it’s a What-If type episode and it seems like a ton to pack into a single episode, it’s shaping up to be one of the best episodes of Season 4. Maybe even the whole show? Anyways, more theory stuff coming soon, especially since Ephemeral seems so substantial. Stay tuned!

[giuliafc]

Betrayal Chapter 15: Caught Dead to Rights

<< 1 -- 2 -- 3 -- 4 -- 5 -- 6 -- 7 -- 8 -- 9 -- 10 -- 11 -- 12 -- 13 -- 14 -- 15: Ao3 || FFN -- 16 >>

Written by: JuliaFC

Beta: Agrestebug

Summary: Everyone has a massive surprise when Lila's plan unfolds even more. Now the question is… how is Chat Noir going to disappear without raising suspicions? (993 words)

Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by (c) Thomas Astruc, TS1 Bouygues, Disney Channel, Zagtoon, Toei Animation. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

Written for the "Snippet July" challenge of the Miraculous Fanworks Discord server @miraculousfanworks AND for LadyNoir July @ladynoirjuly Day 26 — Immaculate/reveal. Let me know what you think!

oOoOoOoOoOo

"I'm sorry, sir," whispered Nathalie as grey eyes met cerulean blue. Her frown showed concern as she kneeled, resting her bottom on her heels.

"You've been reckless. What were you thinking, unifying Miraculouses in your condition." Gabriel's tone was curt despite his softer gaze.

Nathalie flashed him a small smile. "I'm okay. I feel better than I have in a long time."

Gabriel gave a good look to his assistant: her cheeks were much rosier than usual, her hair shinier, her eyes energetic and lively. "The Miraculous Cure… it healed you completely!"

Nathalie nodded. "Yes. I feel like a new per—" But her eyes (and Chat Noir's) widened in shock when Gabriel, very uncharacteristically, rested his head on her shoulder in a rare display of affection.

"I'm glad," he said before looking into her eyes again. "I never wanted you to pay for my foolishness."

Before Nathalie could respond, a voice resounded in the silence of the cave:

"Everyone, hands up!" Gabriel’s face fell into immense shock when Lieutenant Raincomprix and a small team of officers he'd never seen came out of hiding. "I said HANDS UP!" As six different guns were pointed at them, Nathalie raised her hands, and so did the heroes and Su-Han. Gabriel jerked his arms from behind his back to make them understand that he couldn't move.

"What's the meaning of this, Lieutenant? It's an invasion of private property and totally uncalled for," said Gabriel harshly, but Lieutenant Raincomprix smirked, moving closer to him.

"Leave that bullshit for someone else, Papillombre." He glanced at Emilie's coffin and shuddered. "Mlle. Rossi was right. You're a monster! What have you done to your son?"

Gabriel eyed Chat Noir and noticed how perplexed he too was. "My son? What has Adrien got to do with this?"

"Mlle. Rossi told us everything. How you kidnapped her after hearing the news that she may be Ladybug and how Adrien let her escape. I don't see Adrien anywhere. Where is he?"

If looks could kill, Roger Raincomprix would be a dead man. Gabriel dagger-eyed the lieutenant as he realised what must have happened. Lila Rossi had told the police to avoid being involved in his arrest after the truth came out. She must've shown the officers the back entrance to the cave. He should never have shared that information with her.

"Leave my son out of this, Lieutenant. He's safe in his room. He's got nothing to do with this."

"We know he had no knowledge of your actions." Raincomprix smirked as he moved behind Gabriel's back and forced him to stand up. "You're under arrest, M. Agreste, for acts of terrorism, necromancy and child abuse. And you too, Mlle. Sancoeur. We know you supported M. Agreste's criminal activities as Mayura."

Another officer approached Nathalie, but before they got close, Ladybug and Chat Noir put themselves in between them.

"Kids, move away. Leave it to the experts!"

Ladybug's gaze hardened. "With all due respect, Lieutenant, you're making a mistake. Mlle. Sancoeur had a vital role in our investigation," said Ladybug. "If it weren't for her double agent skills, we wouldn't have been able to catch M. Agreste. Unfortunately when we arrived he had been robbed already of the Miraculous of the Butterfly, but we have recovered the Peacock, which means that Paris is now free of the plague of Sentimonsters."

"What?" muttered the officer.

"When we arrived someone, we don't know who, took the source of power from M. Agreste. He's now a harmless civilian," said Carapace. Ladybug didn't fail to notice the sad smile that popped on Chat Noir's lips when the hero called his father harmless, and she rested a hand on his shoulder for comfort.

"Unfortunately today isn't as happy a day as we wanted it to be for Paris, Lieutenant. I'm Rena Rouge by the way," added Pégase Marron when the officer furrowed his eyebrows, probably trying to recognise her. "We've worked hard with Mlle. Sancoeur to frame Papillombre, but we've lost his Miraculous again, and... my Miraculous too." She lowered her gaze and clenched her fists. "We fear that a new villain will soon be on the rise. The citizens of Paris should know about it and be prepared."

Roger Raincomprix paled. "That's bad news." He darted his gaze between Pégase Marron and Ladybug, evidently unsure on what to do.

"You're right to arrest M. Agreste," intervened Ladybug. "The crimes he's committed against the city of Paris and against his own son won't disappear only because he lost his source of power. You should drop all charges against Mlle. Sancoeur on the other hand."

The Lieutenant's expression hardened again. "That's not what we have been told. We've interrogated a few of Adrien Agreste's classmates and teachers. Both M. Agreste and Mlle. Sancoeur abused Adrien blatantly."

"Your information is far from correct, Lieutenant," intervened Chat Noir. "Mlle. Sancoeur was only obeying orders, and she had to comply to not raise suspicions. She doesn't deserve a criminal record because of this ordeal. I'm sure that when we find Adrien Agreste, he'll confirm."

Raincomprix's hold on Gabriel's arms didn't falter as he looked the hero in black straight in the eye. "Let's look for him then. You're all coming with us."

"Don't you dare touch me, woman!" shouted Su-Han when one of the officers tried to grab hold of his arms. He looked between the Lieutenant and Ladybug, probably unsure of what to do.

"That's Master Su-Han, a celestial guardian of the Miraculous and my mentor. He's not a criminal," said the heroine, and the officer moved away, but kept a vigilant eye on the bald monk.

"I think Ladybug is enough to deal with the situation, I'll have to s-cat!" tried Chat Noir, but Raincomprix glared at him.

"You'll follow us, Chat Noir. Hero or not, you're involved. We'll all go look for Adrien Agreste."

Chat Noir gulped dryly as Ladybug firmly took his hand. "Okay then. Lead the way, Lieutenant."

To be continued… Day 27

--------------------------

Author's Note

Whoop whoop, day 26 out of the way. I know, people would expect 'reveal' to be something different but… identities were all out of the bag by now so… I had to get original :D Please let me know what you thought of the chapter in the comments! We're close to the end now :)

Until tomorrow, bug out!