where the firelight fades (107812 words) by AlexSeanchai

the annotated edition

Chapters: 17/17

Fandom: Miraculous Ladybug

Rating: Mature

Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence

Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Alya Césaire & Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug & Paris, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Gabriel Agreste | Papillon | Hawk Moth

Characters: Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir, Alya Césaire, Gabriel Agreste | Papillon | Hawk Moth, Miraculous Ladybug Ensemble

Additional Tags (Genre): Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Akumatized Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Identity Reveal, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Romantic Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending

Additional Tags (Content Notes): Character Death, Temporary Character Death, Suicidal Ideation, Fire, Lies, Truth Spells, Unreliable Narrator, Queer Het, Queer Themes, Puns & Word Play, Miraculous History

Additional Tags (Characterization): Autistic Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, ADHD Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Demigirl Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Stressed Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Stubborn Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Autistic Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir, Demiboy Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir Has Issues, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir Needs a Hug, Nonbinary Alya Césaire | Rena Rouge, Angry Alya Césaire, Good Friend Nino Lahiffe, Badass Alix Kubdel, Chloé Bourgeois Redemption, Protective Kagami Tsurugi, Gabriel Agreste | Hawk Moth is an Asshole, Emilie Agreste Lives, Master Fu Is Doing His Best, Lila Rossi's Lies Are Exposed, Implied Future Lila Rossi Redemption, Everyday Heroes of Miraculous Paris

Additional Tags (Relationships): Minor Chloé Bourgeois/Kagami Tsurugi, Minor Alya Césaire/Nino Lahiffe, Minor Juleka Couffaine/Rose Lavillant

Additional Tags: Inspired by Fanart, Podfic Welcome, Fanart Welcome

Summary:

Some say the world will end in fire,
   Some say in ice.
 
excerpted from "Fire and Ice", Robert Frost
 
Ladybug's smirk isn't even vicious. Wouldn't even look vicious without the nightmarish argon glow outlining a butterfly mask.
 
"What's wrong, Chat?"
 

chapters 1 & 2: "madness I've seen in her eyes" & "we were both of us betrayed"

content notes

1: nonconsensual kiss. 2: torture, description of burnt flesh.

chapter 3: "a memory I've never known"

content notes

chapter 4: "all of the choices we tried to disguise"

content notes

burn injuries.

chapter 5: "candles on the table"

content notes

vomiting, familial queer-hating attitudes. also dubconéby which I mean implied sexual activity, which is not even dubiously consensual to the author's mind, but the reason readers might consider it dubcon is implicit in the text and the reason the author's certain it's consensual is entirely offscreen.

chapter 6: "something I won't recognize"

content notes

dissociation, trauma responses, selective mutism, blood.

chapter 7: "all of the silence"

content notes

dissociation, mental breakdowns.

chapter 8: "my simple, careless plans"

content notes

discussion of racist behavior.

chapter 9: "for I've been here before"

content notes

chapter 10: "can't quite hold, but can't let go"

content notes

chapter 11: "carry me home"

content notes

vomiting.

chapter 12: "a bitter smile"

content notes

referenced/hypothetical animal death.

chapter 13: "a half-familiar tune"

content notes

chapter 14: "well-loved hands"

content notes

a couple flavors of bullying.

chapter 15: "entwined like voices"

content notes

trauma flashbacks, some of the sort one can wake up from and some not, and other acute stress responses.

chapter 16: "she held the cost"

content notes

police violence, emergency medical treatment, dissociation.

chapter 17: "burning from all the goodbyes"

content notes