Of Knights, Damsels, and Mysterious Creatures

Chapter One- Introductions

Queen Emilie was dead, and had been for quite some time now. It had been a tragedy, really, a beautiful woman like her taken in the prime of life. But that was the luck of the draw. Her husband, the high mage Gabriel Agreste, had been able to do a lot of things with his magic. But resurrection was sadly not one of them.

She had, however, left her son Adrien behind, though the young prince had barely been seen since his mother's death. Most figured he was too overtaken with grief to make public appearances. But his cousin and stepfather's closest advisor, Felix, knew better.

Felix was a hard person to figure out. You could never quite tell what he was thinking behind those bright green eyes. And that was just the way he liked it. The less people knew about him, the better.

By this point in his sixteen years, he had come to know every one of the pseudo-king's secrets, and just how powerful each one would be if released out into the world. But he never told a soul, just filed them away, waiting for the perfect time to use them. As he watched storm clouds build up to the east, he had a feeling that time was coming soon. And he was ready.

Marinette Dupain-Cheng had been called a lot of things in her life. The daughter of a foreign mother, many people had been shocked when she'd been allowed to enter the Francois-Duponte Military Academy. A lot of people had been angry about that, too, including the Duke of Legrand's own daughter, Chloe. But, even more than that, Chloe hated Marinette because she excelled. At everything. And failure was not something the Bourgeois girl was willing to accept.

Since the little brat had entered the Academy, Chloe had made it her duty to make the girl's life a living hell. And, so far, she had succeeded, if the crying she heard coming from the closet was any indication.

Chloe laughed to herself as she dragged her squire, a short redheaded girl named Sabrina, along with her. Sabrina had gotten used to all of Chloe's schemes by now, and, though she was starting to get a little sick of participating in them, it wasn't like she had much choice. Squires were supposed to follow their masters around like those damn dogs hunters kept, never questioning any of their choices and feigning lifelong friendship, whether or not they really had any respect for their charges.

"There's a weak spot in every piece of armor," Chloe droned on, though Sabrina was only half-listening. She knew this whole spiel already, had heard all the instructors drill it into the prospective knight's heads a million times: always protect the weak spot. But if the armor was off, that was much less easy to do. And that was Chloe's plan: destroy the weak spot, destroy the halfbreed girl's perfect joust record.

What Sabrina really wanted to do was comfort the crying Marinette, but of course she couldn't do that. Not when she was partially to blame for the young woman's current breakdown. So, she just let Mistress Bourgeois hurry her along, already plotting her next sabotage.

Despite what Chloe and her little pet might think, Marinette was not crying because of the ugly things they'd called her. What she was really upset about was her performance in the ring today. She was disappointed in herself. There were so many moves she could have executed much better. And with graduation just a few months away, there was no time for mistakes. She needed to master everything, and quick, too, or she'd never become a knight. She'd have to go back home a failure, forced to bake bread for peasants the rest of her life. Not that there was anything wrong with her parents' chosen profession. It just wasn't what she had dreamed about for herself. She'd worked her ass off to get into this academy, and she'd be damned if she didn't make it now.

"You shouldn't be so hard on yourself," a voice said. Marinette looked up to meet the gaze of the teal-haired boy standing above her. It was Luka, the bard's son and one of her best friends for most of her childhood.

He sat down next to her and placed a comforting hand on her back. "You're going to get sick if you keep making yourself work like this."

Marinette sighed. "I know. But... it's just... I want so much better for myself. I don't want to be known as 'that halfbreed girl' forever, you know? I want to be somebody. Make a name for myself."

"Please," Luka rolled his eyes. "You already are somebody. Need I remind you who's won every annual tournament for the past six years? Or am I mistaken and that was just someone using black magic to look exactly like you?"

That got a laugh out of her. "Because I'm sure Hawkmoth would want to impersonate a sixteen-year-old girl."

Gabriel Agreste, known as Hawkmoth by many of his citizens, was the now-king of Etserga ever since his wife had passed suddenly two years ago. Everyone knew he was well-versed in black magic. It was the reason why so many citizens had been compliant with his illogical decrees, despite not liking the man. Too much was at stake.

Luka pulled her closer to him and began gently stroking her hair. "Stop doubting yourself. I've known you for ten years, Marinette. You have what it takes. You just have to believe that."

Marinette sighed. Luka was right, she knew that, but for some reason she still wasn't quite ready to accept it. It seemed she would always be plagued with doubts about herself, no matter how well she did in competitions, how high her grades were, and how many good deeds she completed day-to-day.

"What say we head down to dinner?" Luka stood, taking her hand and helping her to her feet. "You've got another long day ahead of you tomorrow."

Marinette accepted his hand, and, with a grunt, let him lift her. Perhaps some food might do her good. A good meal always helped to lighten the mood. And it was usually made better with good friends like Luka by her side.

Prince Adrien wasn't usually the type to show any negative emotions towards another, but there were days when he heavily resented his stepfather. Ever since Queen Emilie had died, he'd become a different person. It was like the old man had forgotten how to grieve, turning his sole focus on learning new magical techniques using books and basically ignoring his stepson altogether.

Adrien spent most days locked in his room, forced to entertain himself with the horribly out-of-tune harpsichord and the same old tomes he'd read a thousand times before. He'd asked Gabriel to be let out of the castle once, but had been rejected in less than a second. The old man claimed it was for protection, though protection from what, Adrien wasn't sure.

He stood at his window, watching the clouds roll in and wondering what it might feel like to dance in the rain again. That was an activity his mother had loved. Queen or not, Emilie Agreste had not been afraid to let her hair down once in a while, and that was something Adrien sorely missed. It was certainly preferable to this current situation, where he was basically a prisoner in his own home.

The first drops of rain began to fall sometime around midafternoon. Lightning struck somewhere far in the distance, and the young prince found his eyes drawn to it. What had that burst of electricity struck? What exactly was out there? And how could he convince his stepfather to finally let him see it?