Khafra could still hear the Stable Master swearing up a storm as he finally emerged from his hiding place and headed for the kitchens, hoping to score a meal before he had to face his father.

The man had been at it since before the sun had begun to set, ever since High Priest Akhenaden had returned to the palace, having ridden his horse to collapse. From what Khafra could gather, the beast had been one of the best trained beasts in the palace, had been ridden too hard over too great a distance, and now would probably be no good for anything except light duties, if it recovered.

Not that the noble boy really cared, other than the Stable Master's cursing had covered his decent from the rafters and his exit from the building. He was still too angry over what had happened earlier.

Atem had humiliated him. Made him look like an idiot in front of everyone who had been in the training yard. By now his father would have been informed that his oldest son had assaulted the Prince outside of a training match, used dishonorable tactics and refused to accept the loss even after Atem had offered him a second chance.

The boy shuddered as he considered what would happen next.

Even if his father was able to keep him at the palace and the Pharaoh did not just order Khafra sent home, the teen knew he was done. His father would not want to keep an embarrassment around. Not when he could send for Khafra's little brother and have the more capable brother on hand to rebuild some honor in the palace.

Khafra would be lucky if he was allowed to tend to the lands upstream, where his family built the boats that were used by the nobility to move up and down the Nile easily. He fully suspected that he would not even be trusted with that much.

His hand went to his sword as he furiously considered all of his options.

He could throw himself on the Prince's mercy. Beg forgiveness for his earlier attack and see if Atem would allow him to stay, but that would involve more humiliation and he would never be allowed to forget it.

He could stay in hiding for the rest of forever, but eventually his father would find him and there would be hell to pay.

Or he could go to his father, explain his side of the story and take the punishment he knew would be coming.

His hand tightened around the hilt.

None of those options appealed to him. All of them were bad and would make him look weak and pitiful which was not what he wanted.

However, it was not like he could just get rid of everyone who had seen or heard of his mistake.

He let out a frustrated snarl and punched the nearest wall. It was not his fault that the trainer had been so impatient with him. Or that his father had insisted on so many lessons for him that he had no time to practice. Nor was it his fault the Prince had been such a brat. He denied that what had happened today was anything to do with him.

His head rested against the warm sandstone brickwork, as his shoulders sank. Anger fading to upset.

He could deny it all he wanted. The truth of the matter was that he was too weak. He had allowed himself to lose control of his emotions and it had been his own wager that had gotten him kicked out of training.

If he had been smarter, stronger, faster, he could have easily avoided the whole situation.

Khafra did not see the dark purple and black butterfly that swooped towards the pain filled young man, but as it was absorbed by the hilt of his sword, his head snapped up as a purple mask, shaped like the creature that had just vanished, settled over his face and a voice echoed in his head.

"Hasad, I am Farasha." The low sly voice penetrated his mind, "I can give you the power to strip others of their abilities and strength. Through me, you can prove yourself and take what is rightfully yours. Even the place of Prince, should you want it. In exchange you will listen to me and follow my orders."

"I am yours, Farasha." Khafra could not resist the honeyed words, or the temptation and with his permission, the transformation started. Dark purple and black bubbles climbed his frame and engulfed him. When they faded, it was to reveal the young man was completely different.

His dark skin had turned green, of a similar shade to bronze when it had been out in the sun and weather for far too long, his shendyt was no longer a pale cream, but a dark and vibrant red, his hair shifted several shades, to a dark green that matched his eyes, which shone with an internal light as his expression took on a dark and twisted smirk.

"Remember, Hasad, as long as you follow my command, you can keep this power but I will let you test it out, before I expect you to do anything."

"I know just what I want to do with this strength." Hasad's voice, as he turned away from the kitchens and towards the noble quarters, was full of vindictive mirth, "And just where to start. I think I'm going to pay a visit to father."

"Ni hao…" Heba frowned at the scroll he was trying to read from. When his grandfather had started him on Chinese so he could translate for Atem when traders from the Silk Road came to court, he had not been putting the most effort in. It was so rare for someone to come this far that Greek and Persian had seemed much more important.

Knowing what he did now, that he had started on Chinese about the time Shimun had returned to the palace after first meeting Jie, and that there was going to be a woman whose first language was that of the Silk Road traders, made him wish he had put more effort in.

He had the first two words down. They translated to 'hello'. It was the next one, 'welcome', that was giving him trouble.

"Ni hao, huaniy… hauna…huanynng…"

"Huanying." Heba startled at the sound of a pain filled female voice. He turned to look at the speaker to find that Jie was trying to sit up and look around. Her hand went to the bandages wrapped around her head, covering her damaged eyes and Heba let out a sharp breath.

"Don't." At his sharp protest she paused, her lips twisting into an expression of consternation.

"Wo zai…" She trailed off and a hand clutched the blanket covering her. "Where?"

The word was hesitant and Heba suddenly realized that she might not actually understand Egyptian well. With his grandfather taking dinner with the Pharaoh, there was no one who spoke her language close by, but he had to try.

"The Palace, in Memphis." When she did not respond other than to clutch the blanket tighter, he tried something else, "Shimun's rooms."

"Shimun, my…things, where?"

"Dinner. And here." Heba collected the box he had been told not to talk about from the table by the door and handed it to the woman, who relaxed as she felt the size and shape of the box before clutching it tightly to her chest.

The sheer relief that hit Jie as she hugged the Mother Box tightly was unmeasurable. She did not entirely remember how she had gotten to where she was now, but she had come around to the sound of a young, male, foreign voice mangling the language of her homeland. Correcting him had been a risk, but the fact he knew Shimun, her one sure-ally in this land, and had returned the Mother Box to her proved that the reward had been worth it.

She felt for the catch and opened the Mother Box, letting out a relieved breath when it opened without issue. Her heart dropped when her Miraculous, the Butterfly brooch, was not within and a memory flashed through her mind of the moment when claws had raked her skin and torn through her costume, ripping the Miraculous from her. It was, most likely, either still where she had been attacked, or had been taken by the man who had summoned those creatures to attack her.

She took a deep breath and picked out a different Miraculous. This one shaped like a fan made of feathers. As she took it from the box, a blue, palm sized, humanoid figure with purple eyes, three tiny feathers trailing from its head and a tail of purple, blue and navy colored peacock-feathers shot from the item in question with a delighted squeal.

"Oh is it my turn? Is it? Oh…" The little creature floated down onto the bed, giving Jie a concerned look before noticing Heba, squeaking and hiding behind the Mother Box.

"Dusuu." At Jie's call, the tiny figure poked its head out from its hiding spot, allowing it to see the woman attach the Miraculous to the tunic she had been put in by the palace healers, allowing her to tap into Dusuu's ability to understand any language, "It's okay. We can trust him."

"Oh." Dusuu came out from hiding and bowed to the young man as the Miraculous took on its camouflaged form, a silver and jade feathered fan brooch, "Hello."

"Hello Dusuu, it's an honor to meet you." Heba stood and bowed to the kwami, who looked astounded and then giggled, "Can you tell Jie that my name is Heba?"

"The Miraculous allows me to understand you, young man." Jie spoke softly as she relaxed, pleased at the respect Heba was showing. "You said I'm in Shimun's rooms?"

"Yes, Shimun is my grandfather." Heba explained, nodding automatically though Jie could not see him. "You're in the Pharaoh's palace in Memphis, where we live. We had the palace healers look at you when you got here."

"And they're the ones who did this?" Heba winced when she touched the bandages, unable to help but wonder how much that hurt.

"Yeah, you got badly hurt and they're worried about your eyes. They'll be back tomorrow morning, so they can explain better than I can, but they said…" When he trailed off and swallowed hard, Jie let out a sigh, trying to suppress her anger.

"So this is until the injuries clear up at least? Possibly longer?"

"Yeah…"

Jie considered her options. She could accept the diagnosis and be forced to rely on others during her recovery. Including for protection of the Mother Box. Or she could use a Miraculous to help herself out.

She knew she should not, her training told her so, but she was pretty sure the Guardians would forgive her this one time.

She hoped.

"I can… I can't fix this right now, but I can do something to make this easier. Dusuu." At her name, the Kwami of Emotions looked at her Bearer. "Spread my feathers."

The little kwami was sucked into the Miraculous, changing the jade and silver brooch to look like Dusuu's tail feathers. Blue light swirled around Jie, changing her tunic into a deep blue cheongsam with a purple feather pattern spreading across it and black edging.

"Can I have a piece of jewelry that you don't mind losing?" The woman, whose bandages shifted colors to match her outfit, turned to Heba who paused to consider then darted into the next room and came back with a gold scarab bead on a string, in time to see her pluck a white feather from the fan that had appeared in her hand.

"Here you go." He handed it over and stood back to watch.

"Thank you." She took the white feather and slid it into the bead necklace, which glowed brightly. In time with it lighting up, a white light appeared on the bed, starting as a ball and slowing taking the shape of a long, narrow-bodied cat. As the light died down, the feline, which had a white body and brown Siamese point markings, looked around with bright, slightly glowing blue eyes, before turning to the woman who had summoned it.

"Maoyan, I am Kongque." The Peacock Bearer informed the feline as she put the necklace on. "You will be my eyes, in and out of this form, for as long as I need you. I will see what you see. In exchange, I have granted you intelligence and the ability to walk unseen."

"Hmm," Heba's eyes widened as the cat made a considering noise then scratched its ear with one of its back paws, "I suppose I can assist with that. When I feel like it."

"Thank you." Kongque's voice shook slightly as she showed her appreciation. Creating a sentient sentimonster, like the feline she had just formed, was not something that was done lightly. She would now be responsible for its care and upkeep.

However she needed the help. She was in a foreign land, where she had been attacked, and could not see. While Shimun and now, possibly Heba too, were allies, she needed to be able to protect herself and the Mother Box.

She knew she could have created a sentimonster with the power to heal, but the costumes the Miraculous created were supposed to be almost impossible to destroy. The claws that had struck her had torn through the fabric like it was paper.

She still hoped she could create something that could heal the damage, but she wanted to know more about her injuries and what sort of power she was up against before she tried. Bai's mis-healed arm had proved to her that even magical healing had its limits and she was worried about the harm she could do to herself if she tried and failed. Not only that but her head was spinning from just creating a set of eyes. Probably because she was hurt. Pushing more power into creating a creature who might not be effective was a bad idea.

For now, Maoyan was the best option.

"Fall my feathers." Within moments the deep blue cheongsam was gone, replaced once more with the tunic she had been wearing and Jie slumped back into her pillow. Her sentimonster considered its options and then started exploring the room, wanting to understand its environment. "This is going to take some getting used to."

"Can you really see everything the cat can?" Heba asked, slightly disbelieving.

"Right now Maoyan is staring at a mouse that's under the bed. I believe she's planning to pounce. There's three scrolls and a half-eaten snack of some kind. The mouse is nibbling on it." When Heba checked, the feline was, in fact, sneaking up on a mouse that was under the bed and the rest was correct. The snack in question was a honey cake.

The scribe decided not to stop Maoyan, instead he stood up and opened his mouth to ask a question, then paused and closed it, unsure how to ask. Instead he moved to retake his seat, only to pause when yelling erupted outside.

Heba rushed to the window and looked down upon the courtyard below to find a green skinned, human looking creature crossing swords with a man Heba recognized as Lord Khufu, while two guards lay prone on the ground, possibly hurt or worse. As Maoyan jumped up on the window ledge next to him, drawn by the sounds of the fight, the humanoid being below managed to parry the Lord's sword and land a slash upon Khufu's face.

Almost instantly Khufu lit up with a sickly green light, which drained into the sword and the thing holding it. The Lord collapsed to his hands and knees as the light died down as the creature crowed something, but Heba was too far away to hear what.

As Khufu slumped to the floor, the thing's face lit up with a purple butterfly shaped mask. It paused in its tracks to start talking, but Heba's attention was drawn by the horrified noise from behind him and the sounds of Jie getting up from the bed.

"Lady Jie?" He turned to look, only to behold that the woman had gone even more pale than she had already been.

"That… that's an Akuma." Jie's voice shook as she wavered on her feet, fighting the dizziness from the blood loss she had yet to recover from. "Someone's using a Miraculous. MY Miraculous. To hurt people. I can't… I have to get it back. Noroo doesn't deserve…"

Her words trailed off into a soft groan as she sat back onto the bed, her right hand going to her head.

"Lady Jie!" Dusuu's concerned cry as the tiny Kwami of Emotion held on to the woman's shoulder, as if she was trying to stop her Bearer from falling further, made Heba bite his lower lip, recognizing the word 'Miraculous' as the same one Kaalki had told him was the name of the jewels from the box.

"Can't the guards handle it?"

"That creature is a human, twisted by someone misusing the Butterfly Miraculous. They have to be purified and the only way to do it is with the Ladybug. That can't happen without a Wielder."

Heba gulped. He was not a fighter. He had learned to fight because he had to, not because he enjoyed it. But he could tell. If he did not do something, his grandfather's friend was going to put herself in danger and Heba did not want that to happen.

"I hate to ask." Maoyan spoke up from the windowsill. "But I don't suppose you know which way he's heading?"

Heba turned back to look and color drained from his face as he realized the Akuma was heading for the oil lamp light and music that was pouring out of the great dining hall, where the Pharaoh, his son and all the High Priests, including Heba's grandfather, would be taking dinner.

"The…Pharaoh. And grandfather. They're in that thing's path."

"Then I… have no choice." Jie's words made him turn to her again. The sight of her trying to force herself to her feet made Heba's mind up for him.

"You do." He darted over and offered her support when she wavered again, "Put your trust in me."

He felt her tense up, "You? I barely know you."

"You know who raised me. And I swear to you, I will return the Miraculous once my home and family is safe." Heba promised, determination setting his frame in a solid stance, even as nervousness hid under the surface, "I know you're brave enough to try, you have to be to want to protect people that aren't your own, but you're hurt and you can barely stand. Please, let me help."

Jie still hesitated a moment longer. The Ladybug earrings were one of the two most powerful Miraculous in the entire set. Ultimate creation would belong to their wielder. In the wrong hands, they could create armies, monsters, or worse.

"Please. My family is in there."

Her heart twisted at his words. She had planned to start her own family with Bai Hu upon their return to the temple. She had been stripped of that chance. It was not fair to allow another family to be torn asunder because she was unwilling to trust.

She was not stupid. She knew, in her current state, she was more a liability than an asset. Going out there would just add to the casualty count.

She pushed the boy away a little, wishing she could see the face of the one she was trusting with her own eyes, rather than those of a sentimonster, and took the earrings from the box, offering them out in an open hand.

"Heba, this is the Miraculous of the Ladybug, which grants the power of Creation." Jie's voice was devoid of tremor as she dared to trust the young man in front of her, "You will use them to protect your home and your family and once your duty is fulfilled, you will return them to me. Do you accept this responsibility?"

"Yes, Lady Jie." Heba breathed as he took the earrings from her and switched his golden ones out for the black stone studs. He felt a tingling as they settled and when he looked in a reflective surface, they had shifted color. They now looked like they were made of lapis lazuli, a rare and sacred stone.

Not that he had long to examine them before there was a flash of red light and a small figure, the same height as Dusuu, but a deep red with black spots instead of Dusuu's blue, with two antenna sprouting from its head and four rounded points sprouting from its back, that kind of reminded Heba of an open beetle shell.

"Tikki," At Jie's call, the kwami's blue eyes turned towards the Peacock Bearer, "This is Heba. I know he's untrained, but he needs your help. Please."

Tikki turned back to her Bearer, head tilting as she examined him, her voice hesitant as she asked. "Nice to meet you?"

"It's an honor to meet you, Tikki." Heba bowed quickly, fully aware they were short on time. "Please help me save my family. I'll get you whatever snacks your desire upon our return to these rooms."

There was a pause as the kwami's eyes widened at the offer, then she looked at Jie, "You can explain everything to him?"

"Of course."

"Then," The kwami said as she turned back to Heba, "All you need to do, is say Spots On."

"Tikki, Spots On!"

As the creation spirit was sucked into the earrings, they lit up a bright, vibrant red, with five black spots appearing on their surface. Not that Heba was aware of it as the energy of the Miraculous flooded through him.

A gold wesekhs, a collar that laid over the shoulders, embedded with rubies and onyx gems glittered into existence around his neck, from which trailed a translucent blue material that had a similar shape to beetle wings. Bands of gold wrapped around his upper arms, wrists and ankles, engraved with beetles and reeds.

A sash of red material, spotted with large black dots formed across his chest and tucked into a black belt around his waist, emerging the other side as a translucent material of the same pattern as the more solid material. His shendyt maintained its pale color but his hands and feet darkened to black from knee to toes and elbow to fingers, almost as if he had put on feet and hand coverings. As he raised his hand to his face, able to sense the tingling of change there too, the reflective surface before him revealed a mask of red covering the upper half of his face, except for his eyes, which darted downwards, taking in the full extent of the transformation.

Heba could sense that his outfit was not the only thing that had changed. He felt stronger and his perception of the world was sharper. He was certain that when he left here, it would be at a much faster pace than he could normally move.

"Ladybug Bearer, we do not know who our true foe is. They will be able to see you through his Akuma, should he push the connection. For the safety of your family, you will need another name in this form." Jie spoke carefully, watching him as if waiting to see how he would react to the power he had been granted. "I will fill you in quickly on what you need to know, but what do I call you?"

The new Bearer paused to consider for a moment, taking in the designs on his new jewelry and the faux-wings behind him, then raised his head.

"My name, is Kheper."

Meanings:

Farasha - Butterfly

Hasad - Envy

Maoyan - Cat Eyes

Kongque - Peacock

Kheper - Beetle