Illustrations and Illusions: Review · 12:05am May 8th, 2017
This Miraculous fanfiction, known as "Illustrations and Illusions" is a beautifully written story that doesn't simply fit into one CATegory. (cat puns are purrfect and pawsome.) It's an action-packed, love-fluff-filled, romance fic about an artist (Nathaniel, with the "Illustrations") who falls in love with a girl nobody else trusts. (Lila, with the "Illusions") It was written by "nobodys pearls" on a website called "Archive of Our Own" which is for fanfiction of any type. Spoilers below the break
In the beginning, Nathaniel, having been evilized before by one of Hawkmoth's akumas, (or "akumatized" as they call it in both the show and the fanfiction) tries to forget about his past and move on with his life. Over time, and with a little help from his friends, (who had only just become friends with him after he opened up to them) he realizes that the only way to truly move on from the past is not to forget it, but to accept it. This realization is made easier when he meets his second crush: Lila. (He once had a crush on Marinette, the main character of the show, but he eventually got over her and became friends with her) He immediately realized how much he had in common with her: How observant they both were, and how they had both been akumatized... it was uncanny. Almost as if they were destined to meet. They shared detailed memories of their pasts, and bonded on a psychological level... then... some time later... he met a strange old Chinese man by the name of Master Fu. Master Fu was, in actuality, the Great Guardian, keeper of the box of Miraculouses. After saving Master Fu's life, Nathaniel was given a Miraculous while he wasn't looking. He didn't know what it was, it looked like just a simple necklace with a weird fox-tail shaped pendant. Little did he know that it would give him the power to transform into the newest fox-themed superhero: Renard.
Over the following week, Nathaniel/Renard saved the civilians of Paris, but not only that. He also saved the other two superheroes, Ladybug and Cat Noir, in their time of need. He revealed his identity as a superhero to them and them alone. His friendship with them was getting stronger, and he told them about his feelings for Lila.
...then Nathaniel said something to Lila that he regretted two seconds later: "Stop lying." It reminded her of her time as Volpina, the supervillain fox whose power was illusions. That two-word sentence made her so upset that her emotions... and the akuma that preyed on them... got the better of her. She transformed back into Volpina, and her fox-themed powers were more than an equal match for Renard's. It took the three heroes (Ladybug, Chat Noir, and Nathaniel) working together, to realize that none of them were strong enough to defeat Volpina and save Lila from herself...
Nathaniel, with a little help from his friends... and his kwami, Yishu, of course... realized that only Lila could save herself from the darkness within her. He unlocked a new power after falling to his near-death and being rescued by his Miraculous. That new power was the ability to see past memories and show them to others. He used this power to show Lila the memory of them meeting, and then a memory of him talking to Alya about his feelings for Lila... and why he had them. Why he loved Lila so much, and why he believed that she was the only one who could save herself.
In the end, the epilogue, after the last cheeapter, it's been two weeks since Volpina was defeated and Lila had been back to normal ever since. Nathaniel founded a group called "Paris Against Hawkmoth" and he was running late for his own meeting. He was inviting two new members to the group: Marinette and Adrien, the only two students who hadn't been akumatized... but the three of them knew exactly why that was the case: Marinette was Ladybug and Adrien was Chat Noir. Oddly, neither one of the two knew the other one's identity until the next morning... when Nathaniel showed them a mural of themselves as the three heroes. When told that Ladybug and Chat Noir would love to see that mural, he simply said "They're looking at it right now" and then Marinette and Adrien had an awkward moment where they both called themselves idiots for not realizing it sooner. They told each other that they didn't have to be perfect to be best friends, and that was about as close to a confession of love that they got. Anyway, the story ended with Nathaniel saying he "can't say [he] cares deeply about [the other two heroes] because Lila might get jealous" but then Marinette and Adrien guess the truth... he does care deeply about them. He simply replied "You caught me." and then he added "I wouldn't have it any other way"
Whoa that was a lot to describe... and I still feel like I left out a lot of details. I know this is all after the break, and I did warn you about spoilers, but... I really thought that if you were stupid enough to click "Read More" before reading the story, you'd want to know everything that happened in it. Maybe I'm stupid for thinking that. Anyway, this has been an interesting review... I hope you keep following my pointless blogs and stuff... and, as always...
Stay fly, my friends.
Sky out.
