Winter vacation had never been a particularly happy time in my life. Though I had enjoyed it more before my mother… in any case my father wasn't a big fan of the holiday. I think the only reason he didn't send me to another country everytime snow hit the ground was because of the winter fashions.

It was just another working day as I was pinned poked and prodded into a thousand different outfits of varying color and sizes. The camera man took a thousand pictures and by the time the flashing lights had finally finished flashing holes which burned into my retina my cheeks felt as if they had gotten a better workout than I did fighting an akuma.

I paused while removing a scarf from around my neck. Strictly speaking it hadn't been me who had fought the akuma. It was Chat Noir. We were the same person strictly speaking. I wore the outfit, I fought the battles, I was the one thinking about every move under the suit. But I still didn't know how much of it was Plagg.

Lifting the ring from my pocket I put it carefully back on my finger. The last couple months I had taken much more care in hiding the accessory while shooting. I didn't want anyone to see it and realize. Though I doubted they would. No one knew about the miraculous' except ladybug, myself and… well Hawkmoth. But he didn't strike me as the type of person who went outside.

Chuckling under my breath I pulled the ring back on and a small black creature appeared in my peripheral.

"Can we go find something to eat?" Plagg whined, dropping on my shoulder. "I'm starving!"

"You're always hungry," I commented, pulling off the legs on the snow suit.

"I've got a high metabolism."

I rolled my eyes.

"We'll go out and find something. I am in no mood to go home and see dad."

Plagg was silly. He was kind of a moron. And most times I didn;t consider him to be an intelligent creature. But he at least knew when something was wrong with me. "Why are you mad at your dad?"

"I'm not mad," I half lied.

Plagg waited, knowing the best course of action to get me to explode and rant. There were times I needed to get things off my chest.

"I'm just frustrated I guess," I walked away from the small filming sight in the park, not feeling the cold wind, warmed by my anger. "It's the winter holidays. Christmas is next week and I haven't seen my dad in forever. He wants me to be his model student, the cover of nearly every magazine. There isn't a single decoration on my house, let alone a tree and it's horrible! Why can't he just walk away from his stupid job for one minute and spend time with his son?" Letting out steam hadn't helped much. I knew felt like pressure was building inside of me, fit to burst. I wanted to scream, I wanted to punch something until my hands hurt. But most of all? Most of all I wanted to cry.

It was lonely and cold in my house. Colder than the biting wind now finding it's way into my system. Plag huddled down into my pocket, pressing himself against my chest. I wasn't sure if this was for warmth or a weak attempt to comfort me. Maybe it was both. My heart warmed a little in any case.

I needed to find somewhere nice, somewhere warm and cozy where I could forget what was going on.

Marinette. Her parents owned a bakery. It always smelled like cookies or cake in there. And her family was so nice. I turned on the street, making a beeline for the shop.

The streets were abandoned as the snow, light and cheerful looking at first began to pour down thick and fast. It no longer looked or felt like snow. It was as if the icy air around me had breathed itself to life. It swirled like a magnificent monster rearing its head, breathing in all warm air and blowing out harsh blots of snow, no longer just flakes, but as daggers.

I felt tiny and helpless and freezing but I pushed on. Why hadn't I brought a coat? Stupid, stupid, stupid. The wind grew louder in my ears and behind me I heard a scream. I spoke without thinking, whipping my hand out of my pocket. "Plagg!" I shouted. I didn't even have to finish my sentence. He knew what I wanted. Without pausing to consider, or wonder if I would even need backup I was one all fours and shooting down to the sound. As I ran I tried to think who someone would scream like that. It hadn't been a scream of fear, not like the noises you make when you trip or run into somebody. This had been a horror movie worthy, ear piercing scream of… rage? I pulled to a stop, or attempted to as my feet slid on the slippery ice. I nearly crashed into a pole, catching myself on the side of a building before my feet would stay under me.

The wind roared in my ears and I whipped my head around, looking frantically for the source of the noise.

"Hello?" I called, a bit more tentatively.

The world swirled in alarming ways and I couldn't see anything past the brick wall to which I clung.

"I heard a scream? Are you okay?"

A hiss came from my right and I squinted my eyes against the sleet cascading from the heavens.

"I'm okay," the voice hissed again. "I'm better than okay."

A figure appeared from the white haze of fog. It was a woman. Her long sleek hair was pulled back into an elaborate braid, while I couldn't see colors I could see the long skirt that lengthened at the back, the edge dragging along the wintry cement. Her shoes clicked loudly, even through the blanket of powder.

The woman came closer and I saw it hadn't been insufficient colors I was perceiving. This woman had no depth beyond shades of gray and silvers. She looked like a ghost, a spirit and If I hadn't known for sure that she wasn't bright enough to be the ghost of Christmas past I probably would have passed out.

Her hand reached to me and I flinched away, slipping on more ice and falling to the ground. Heroic, I berated myself.

"Did you scream? " I managed to unstick my throat.

"That was me wasn't it?" the woman said, her voice silky smooth. "Or the me that used to be me. I think you'll find I am an entirely different me now?"

What was she talking about?

"I've been given a power," she crouched next to me. "I've always wanted to give people exactly what they wanted, to know the deepest desire of their hearts and given them just that. But it has always cost so much. It's never been price dear boy," she pressed an icy finger to my lips.

I was frozen, and not just by the below freezing temperatures of the air. This woman, this beautiful horrific monster straight of a scary movie was all but memorizing. Her eyes danced a pale blue, the only color in her otherwise pale gray form. Her edges faded in and out of existence, making her look like she had formed from the snow itself. And she was beautiful. Under the mask that hid most of her upper face I could see a narrow face, prim lips and long dark eyelashes. This woman could ve been a model.

I had lost track of what she was saying in my wonderment and forced myself back to reality.

"Money has never been the problem. It's knowing the person," her hand traveled lightly down my face, brushing my cheek with the back of her hand. She left tingled trails of ice wherever her skin met my black jumpsuit. "You have to know who you're giving the gift to. You've got to understand the heart." The tips of her five fingers rested but above my frantically beating heart. I felt adrenaline pumping in my veins but still my body wouldn't react. From the first touch this woman, this demon had stuck me as firmly in my place as if she had iced me to the cold cement. "What is in your heart?"

Her palm pressed flat and for a moment it thought she had pushed the very soul from my body. I felt myself falling backward, my eyes rolling up into my head. The cold, so overwhelming now tripled, holding my entire body in a vice like, sharp frigid grip. I couldn't move, I couldn't think, I couldn't see anything but horrible never ending blackness.

For several terrible moments I thought the woman had killed me, pushing my consciousness right of my body, which had to have frozen through and through.

Then I heard that silky voice, that terrible silky voice.

"I know what is in your heart my little Chat Noir. You are tired and lonely. You want to be cared for. Kept safe and warm. And I will do that for you. As long as I am you will remain."

I didn't understand, I wasn't sure I wanted to understand. I felt lonely and afraid and oh so cold.

Consciousness left me and I was only left with the strength to curl up in a helpless lump and wait until something finally happened.