Chapter 4: Kleos
"I wonder just how many there are." Nathaniel muttered to himself as he sketched out some rough body shapes in his sketchbook. "I've been a Dragon, a Rooster and a Snake, and I think she mentioned there being more. If I create a design beforehand, will I be able to control what my next costume looks like."
Nathaniel filled out three of the body shapes with rough sketches of Ladon, Phoenix and Krait, working his bottom lip with his teeth as he worked.
It wasn't like he didn't like the costumes, but he probably wouldn't have designed them like that if he'd had a choice.
Then again, Marinette was the fashion designer while he was just a comic artist, so his designs might not have translated well into real life like some live-action superhero adaptations.
Nathaniel picked up his phone, already open to the Ladyblog's discussions page, opening up one of the threads about the temporary heroes. This specific one being theorising for possible future heroes.
The thread was mostly dominated by discussions about Ladon, Phoenix and Krait being the same hero, and whether future heroes would still be him underneath the costume. Though, there were still people theorising possible animals, since all heroes and villains so far had been animal themed.
One comment in particular caught Nathaniel's eye.
'Something that has caught me as odd is Phoenix, as in the animal he's themed after. It's easy for a lot of people to not realise, but unlike his hero name suggests, he's not themed after the mythological animal, he's a Rooster. You can vaguely hear Ladybird mention it in the recording of Phoenix's fight.
And a Rooster is such an odd animal to be themed after. Unless you look at the Chinese Zodiac that is, which the dragon and snake are also a part of by the way.
So, I wonder if the hero Ladybird keeps bringing in has the power of the Chinese Zodiac behind him.'
There were both people siding with an arguing against the comment in the following replies.
Some said that it made sense so far. Others argued that the ladybug was also an odd animal to be themed after, and the both the ladybug and the cat weren't in the Chinese Zodiac.
There were further disputes and discussions after that, but Nathaniel decided that he wasn't interested in reading them anymore.
"The Chinese Zodiac." The artist mused.
With only three Miraculous so far, it could just be a coincidence. But it was also a possibility, especially considering the Rooster wasn't really an animal-theme used all that often for heroes outside of the Chinese Zodiac.
Nathaniel began to fill out the other blank bodies in his sketchbook with basic designs themed after the other animals of the Zodiac, not coming up with any serious designs just yet.
"I'll have to ask next time she comes to me." Nathaniel mused to himself. "Then maybe I could just name myself Zodiac. Nah, that's not a good hero name, at least not for me."
As Nathaniel sketched, he accidently knocked another once of his pencils, sending it rolling to the floor.
"Ah." Nathaniel noticed and reached for his falling pencil, not wanting the lead inside to possibly snap on contact with the ground.
Thankfully, the pencil was caught by someone else before it could have its unfortunate meeting with the ground.
The pencil was then offered back to Nathaniel.
"Thanks, Casey." Nathaniel thanked the older girl.
Perpetually lidded eyes looked over to Nathaniel's work as he took back his pencil.
"What're you drawing." Casey asked in slight interest.
"Well, ah…" Nathaniel suddenly realised that he'd been drawing his current and possible future hero forms out in the open for anyone to see and possibly figure out the truth. "It's just some rough doodles, not really much meaning. You know? Workshopping ideas for my next comic." He made up his excuse.
Casey looked at the doodles again with a raised eyebrow, causing Nathaniel to panic slightly, before she shrugged and went back to reading the book she held in her hand.
Nathaniel sighed in relief as he went back to his sketches.
He was lucky that it was Casey who'd seen his sketches, considering the girl isolated herself even more than he did before the start of the school year. The older teen spending most of her time with her nose buried in a book, sometimes accompanied with headphones, or occasionally working on her own art to warrant being in the art room to begin with.
Nathaniel had asked why Casey didn't just spend her time in the library instead. Apparently, it was because the library didn't allow her to eat her lunch as she read.
Casey was the type to just ignore everything around her and get lost in her own world, despite attempts by the other art club members to include her. Though, she did seem to be speaking to Nathaniel more lately.
"Hi, everyone."
Nathaniel looked up as Marinette walked into the room.
Everyone gave their own greetings in return.
Casey even looked up from her book to offer a monotone "Hey."
"You've made progress." Nathaniel joked to Casey. "You actually said hi back when someone enters the room."
Casey didn't look away from her book as her hand shot out and gave Nathaniel a light whack on the arm.
"Ah." Nathaniel complained as he rubbed his arm, pouting.
Marinette walked over to Nathaniel.
"Are you alright?" She asked.
"Yeah, Casey just doesn't care to control how hard she hits." Nathaniel directed his comment towards said girl, who completely ignored him.
Marinette then took notice of Nathaniel's drawings.
"These look good." She complimented.
"Well, they're just rough sketches for a possible future comic." Nathaniel used the same excuse he used for Casey. "I don't even know if I'll end up using them."
"Well, I'd love to see them fully conceptualised. They already look good as just sketches." Marinette said.
"Thanks." Nathaniel said, blushing slightly.
Marinette then looked at the empty seat next to Nathaniel.
"Where's Marc?" She asked.
"Off sick." Nathaniel gave his comic partner's location.
"I'll have to make some comfort food for them and we can take it to them later." Marinette suggested.
"Yeah." Nathaniel said. "So, how's your apprenticeship going?"
"Great." Marinette grinned. "I've been learning a lot." Her hand then drifted to her chest. "Mr Agreste has actually moved me onto some new training."
The teen didn't go into any further detail.
"Anyway." Marinette said. "You know a lot about heroes, right?"
"Yeah." Nathaniel raised an eyebrow.
He sort of had to with his profession.
"What do you know about real heroes?" Marinette asked next. "I mean, outside of Ladybird, Chat Noir and their ally."
"Well, I know a few heroes, and some more in-depth stuff. But it's generally hard to find information on most heroes, since the information gets redacted from the media from some reason or another. So, most people only know of the current, high profile heroes." Nathaniel revealed.
"Many heroes have had themselves removed from the media, to help protect themselves and their families." Casey spoke up, looking up from her book. "While others get forcibly removed to force protection onto them, or because of 'unsavoury behaviour'."
"But a few still can be found with a quick search." Nathaniel reiterated. "You'll have heard of Majestia from Alya, and there's also Nightowl and Sparrow, as well as some of their other teammates, in America. There was the Quantic Team from here, in Paris. You just need to look."
"See if you can find anything on the Queen's Legion from the United Kingdom. They were around a decade back." Casey suggested.
"Okay, great. Thanks." Marinette said, writing the names and suggestions down.
"Why the sudden interest?" Nathaniel asked.
"Oh, no reason." Marinette waved off. "I just thought I might look into superhero fashion, that's all."
Marinette then left to go to another corner of the art room to set up her own area.
Nathaniel went to continue his sketches, only to notice Casey eying him over her book.
"What?" He questioned.
"Is it just me, or does Marinette look very similar to that 'La Couturière' character of yours?" Casey said pointedly.
"What? N-how do you even know about that character?" Nathaniel spluttered.
He had never shown off that particular character to anyone, not even Marc.
"You should be careful where you leave that sketchbook of yours open, otherwise Marinette might be the one to find it next." Casey teased.
At least, Nathaniel guessed she was teasing. It was hard to judge with how Casey spoke sometimes.
"Don't go through my sketchbook." Nathaniel quickly went on the defensive. "And I don't have feelings for Marinette, if that's what you're thinking. Well, okay, I did have feelings for Marinette, but I don't anymore, she's just a friend now. And just because I based one of my characters on Marinette doesn't mean I still have feelings for her, it's not a crime to base characters off your friends. Besides, that character is old, from when I did have feelings for Marinette, which I don't anymore, to repeat-"
Nathaniel cut off his rant when he noticed that Casey had gone back to reading her book at some point.
"Have you even been listening to me?" He questioned.
"Nope." Casey said bluntly, not looking away from her book.
Nathaniel rolled his eyes at her dismissive behaviour.
"Some friend you are." He muttered.
"Uh-huh." Casey hummed.
Rose piped up from where she was working on song lyrics with Juleka.
"Oh. Lila just sent me a message saying that she won't be making afternoon classes today. Something came up with the charity she's helping out at and they urgently needed her help." Rose reported.
Nathaniel rolled his eyes again, catching Marinette doing the same from her own workstation.
Like all his other classmates, he had initially been taken in by Lila's many claims of knowing celebrities and doing important work.
Then the apathy set in, so many claims falling out of Lila's mouth that Nathaniel just couldn't find it in himself to care anymore, like the rest of his classmates still did.
And with the apathy, came the realisation that Lila almost never gave proof for her claims, and that she was most likely lying or stretching the truth at the very least. But since Nathaniel didn't interact with his classmates all that often, and Lila's lies never affected him, he didn't care to call her out.
Though, since he was closer with Marinette, he was starting to notice that Lila liked to say stuff about her far more than the other students.
…
Simultaneously, the phones of every student in the art room went off with a familiar ringtone.
"Just when I was thinking that we'd be able to go a day without an attack." Alix said as everyone checked their phones.
Iris had struck again, this time with an Akuma themed after plants.
"I'm surprised that it's taken this long for there to be a plant-themed villain." Nathaniel commented to himself.
"Looks like this is going to be a city-wide thing, with how far all those plants are spreading." Marinette said.
"In that case, I'm going to go home." Alix said.
"Do you think that the Seine will be safer?" Juleka questioned quietly. "I mean, would the plants grow through the water."
"Maybe." Rose said, unknowing.
"I guess it depends on exactly how far the plants will grow." Marinette said.
"Well, I'm going home anyway." Juleka said.
"I'll join you." Rose said. "Marinette?"
"We may as well stick together." Marinette nodded. "Nathaniel?"
"I, uh, would." Nathaniel said. "But I want to check on my grandma, I don't want her to be in danger."
"Okay." Marinette accepted. "Casey- and she's already gone."
The bookworm had disappeared at some point after the alert had sounded.
"Okay, let's go." Marinette said. "Before the plants get in our way."
The girls all left, either for the Couffaine houseboat, or home in Alix's case.
Nathaniel's moved as if to also leave the room, only to step back into the art room once he was sure the girls wouldn't notice.
"I really hope that this doesn't bite me in the ass." Nathaniel muttered to himself.
It would be wiser to stay with his friends, but the art room was the place Ladybird would be most guaranteed to find him.
So Nathaniel watched from the window of the art room as plants began enveloping everything outside, trees growing taller, foliage cracking their way through the concrete and greenery covering the buildings, until Paris looked like the land that time forgot.
Nathaniel sat back into his seat and waited, watching Alya's live feed to pass the time.
"I hope I'm not waiting here for nothing." Nathaniel continued to talk to himself after a while.
He had learned along with the rest of Paris that Ladybird wouldn't always need his help. So, he couldn't accurately predict whether Ladybird would come for him, and thus when he'd need to place himself somewhere she could find him.
Since Alya had to navigate around large, and sometimes moving, plants, there were many points in the stream where she lost sight of the heroes. Each time, Nathaniel would bite his lip slightly in anticipation, only for Ladybird to still be fighting Iris and the Akumatised villain, named Thorny Vine, the next time Alya caught up.
Just as Nathaniel was beginning to think that he's stayed in the art room for no reason, Ladybird came diving through the window.
"Wait, what?" Nathaniel startled.
Ladybird had once again disappeared from Alya's sight without him realising.
"Waiting for me, are you." Ladybird raised an eyebrow. "A bit presumptuous."
"Well, you're here, aren't you?" Nathaniel defended.
"I suppose." Ladybird shrugged.
She then held out a small wooden box out to Nathaniel.
"Congratulations, you get a new one." Ladybird said. "We need someone who can cut through all those plants."
"What power do I get this time?" Nathaniel asked with an eager grin.
"Camouflage." Ladybird informed.
Nathaniel was almost bouncing on his feet as he opened the box, greeted by a purple light.
A tiger themed Kwami opened her eyes to regard Nathaniel.
"So, you're the guy that Longg, Orikko and Sass have been talking about." The Kwami said. "A little on the scrawny side."
"I am not scrawny." Nathaniel protested in offence. "I am svelt."
"You look like you've hardly got any meat worth hunting." The Kwami added.
"Can we please get to the part where I transform." Nathaniel stomped a foot, pulling the jewellery that the Kwami had come with over his hand.
"Alright, fine." The Kwami huffed. "All you need to say is 'Roaar, Fangs Bared'."
"Roaar, Fangs Bared!" Nathaniel repeated.
The Tiger Kwami was pulled back into her Miraculous, filling it with colour and transforming Nathaniel into his latest hero form.
"Woah." Nathaniel admired his new weapon, three blades fastened to a handle.
"Come on, there's only so long Chat Noir will be able to hold off Thorny Vine and Iris." Ladybird turned to the window, Nathaniel quickly following her out.
…
As Nathaniel ran after Ladybird, he found his mind drifting back to the first time the heroine had recruited him.
It had been during the Sapotis attack, and Nathaniel had been unfortunate enough to be outside at night, having to go buy some milk from the closest open shop that his family couldn't wait until morning to buy.
Said milk had quickly been stolen by the gremlin-like Akumas, leaving Nathaniel to try and navigate himself out of the way, which hadn't been easy with so many duplicates.
Then a few of the Sapotis had decided that Nathaniel tripping over and landing on his hands and knees was an invite for them to have a pony ride, hopping on his back.
Thankfully, the Sapotis didn't get to use Nathaniel as a plaything for long before a yoyo snapped all the fans from their hats and made them all disappear, freeing Nathaniel from their weight.
"Hey…uh…whatever your name is." Ladybird had tried to recall Nathaniel's name before shrugging and giving up. "You like heroes, right?"
"Uh, yeah." Nathaniel had answered hesitantly.
"So, would you save the world if you had powers?" Ladybird had then asked.
"Why wouldn't I." Was Nathaniel's answer.
Said answer had apparently impressed Ladybird enough that she then handed the Dragon Miraculous over to the redhaired artist, with a heavy warning not to misuse it, and that he would have to give it back after helping to defeat Iris and the Sapotis.
Nathaniel's first fight had been exhilarating, fighting alongside his heroes and literally turning into wind.
After the fight, when returning the Miraculous, Nathaniel asked the question that had burning in him the entire time.
"Why me?"
It had been a bit disheartening what Ladybird shrugged and said. "Because you were the first guy I saw that I had an inkling would be a good hero. Honestly, I got lucky that things worked out."
So, Ladybird hadn't seen anything special in Nathaniel that showed her he's be a good teammate, he just happened to be in the right place at the right time.
Still, no matter Nathaniel's lucky origins as a hero, Ladybird clearly did see something in him during his time as Ladon, as she kept coming to him when she and Chat Noir needed a little extra help against Iris and her Akumas. It had been an incredible boost to his ego when Ladybird tracked him down to hand him the Rooster Miraculous.
…
When Ladybird and Nathaniel arrived at the fight, Nathaniel quickly leapt into action, using his new weapon to slice through the vines that had been holding Chat Noir hostage, Iris inches away from taking his ring.
"Cutting it a little close there." Chat Noir grinned at his teammate as they retreated from the villains.
"So, you show up with yet another new Miraculous." Iris looked Nathaniel over. "What's your name this time, Tigger?"
Given that he already had three other hero names, Nathaniel decided that things were getting too confusing for him, keeping track of a different hero name for each Miraculous.
"Just call me Kleos from now on." Nathaniel told the villain. "For all the forms I use to kick your ass."
Iris did not look impressed by Nathaniel's, now Kleos', comment, but he didn't expect her to be.
"Thorny Vine's plants don't let us get close enough to grab her object, which in the flower on her head." Ladybird informed Kleos.
"And Miss colour clash is also proving to be a very annoying lookout." Chat Noir added.
"Alright, I'll see if I can get us though." Kleos said, attacking.
The tiger-hero's weapon was the best for dealing with Thorny Vine's plants. While Ladybird and Chat Noir's weapons could do damage thanks to the magic that created them, they just weren't as effective.
Still, despite the extra hero, things were still proving difficult, as the heroes still couldn't get close enough to Thorny Vine to grab her item.
"Lucky Charm!"
Kleos and Chat Noir watched as a grabber stick fell into Ladybird's hands.
"Well, this is a thankfully more obvious thing." Ladybird said as she pulled the trigger to snap the jaw open and shut. "I don't know how much an extra metre of reach will give me though."
Thorny Vine attacked with her plants, vines shooting out from the ground and walls to try and grab at the heroes, while Iris also added in her own attacks.
Despite her extra Miraculous allowing Iris to fight alongside her Akumas more efficiently, the villain still usually kept her distance, apart from delivering attacks she thought she could get away with, as both her Miraculous were in a far more grabbable location than the heroes' Miraculous.
"Ugh, I think I'm getting hay fever." Ladybird complained with a sniff.
As far as she was aware, she wasn't allergic to anything, but all the plant matter in the air from Thorny Vine was really messing with her nose.
Avoiding a joint attack from Thorny Vine and Iris, the heroes hid behind a wall.
"I could Cataclysm the plants when we go for her, but she could just summon more." Chat Noir frowned, trying to find a way to the Akumatised item.
"Could we lure her into a trap?" Kleos questioned.
Ladybird hummed in thought.
"Actually, I think I have an idea." She said, handing the temp' hero her grabber stick. "Kleos, go stand right in front of our statue, then activate your power and wait for an opportunity. Chat, we'll need some cover so that the villains don't realise Kleos has disappeared.
Chat Noir's fake ears perked up in understanding.
"Right." He agreed. "Cataclysm!"
He hit the ground right underneath them, sending the heroes right into the waterways beneath Paris.
Kleos and the heroic due quickly split in opposite directions as Thorny Vine followed them in, Ladybird and Chat Noir making sure to create noise as they ran so that the villain would follow them.
Kleos quickly found another manhole cover and climbed out to ground level, cutting through plant roots to lift the lid and looking around to make sure that Iris wasn't there to spot him.
The temp hero then ran over to the statue of Ladybird and Chat Noir and stood in front of it.
"Camouflage!"
The stripes on Kleos' costume glowed before his entire form rippled and became see-through, including the grabber he held.
It didn't take long for the real Ladybird and Chat Noir to make their appearance, chased by Thorny Vine and Iris.
A small distance from the statue, Ladybird and Chat Noir stopped running, turning to face the two villains.
As they fought, the heroes concentrated on luring Thorny Vine into just the right place.
By the time the villains had realised that the heroes had set up a trap, Kleos had already used the grabber stick to snatch the Akumatised item from Thorny Vine's head, dropping and crushing it underneath his foot.
As soon as the Akuma was released, Ladybird quickly caught it in her yoyo before turning to Iris as flute music played.
"Mirage!"
Iris' favourite illusion, many duplicates of herself, appeared, running around randomly before going off in different directions to confuse the heroes.
Kleos dove at one of the Iris', only for it to disappear.
Similarly, any of the Iris' that Ladybird and Chat Noir attempted to catch also disappeared, proving to be just duplicates.
"Well, she's gone." Chat Noir frowned after the heroes had attempted to catch every Iris that they could, only for them all to be duplicates. "Again."
"We need a way of keeping track of which Iris is the real one." Ladybird released the butterfly in her yoyo and walked over to Kleos, taking the grabber off him.
Iris' rarely used her Mirage ability in combat, usually reserving it for her escape when her Akumatised villain was defeated.
"Miraculous Ladybird!"
Ladybird threw the grabber into the air to activate her healing magic, cleaning up all the plants and returning everything to normal.
Everyone's Miraculous' then beeped, reminding them of their timers.
"Let's go." Ladybird said to Kleos.
Kleos nodded and the two heroes left together, Chat Noir watching them go with a pout before running off to detransform himself.
Finding an isolated location, Kleos transformed back into Nathaniel.
"That was a hard fight until the end." Nathaniel noted as he took off the Tiger Miraculous and placed it back in the box it came in.
"Yeah. We're lucky that Iris and her Akuma didn't realise it was a trap." Ladybird agreed as she took back the Miraculous.
"Hey, Ladybird." Nathaniel stopped Ladybird before she could swing off. "If you have so many Miraculous at your disposal, why don't you bring someone else onto the team? Fights would be easier with more than just me helping out."
"It's…" Ladybird tried to find an answer. "A matter of trust. I have to be sure that the person I give the Miraculous to will actually work with us and won't try to keep the Miraculous afterwards."
"And there isn't anyone other than me that you can trust?" Nathaniel asked.
Ladybird shrugged.
"I…don't know people very well." She admitted. "So, there's no one in my life that I know to trust. Honestly, the only reason I chose you is because I knew you vaguely in my real life and remembered that you liked heroes, so I took a gamble on you being a good person because Chat and I needed an extra hero. I was just lucky that you did turn out to be a good hero."
"You need to reach out then, make connections and find people that you can trust." Nathaniel advised.
He understood where Ladybird was coming from, he'd been alone himself and reluctant to make friends only the year prior. But Ladybird was the hero of Paris and couldn't afford to isolate herself when she needed teammates to call on.
"It's easier to be alone." Ladybird muttered.
"The best things are never easy." Nathaniel repeated the advice he's once been given.
"Yeah." Ladybird nodded.
Her earrings beeped urgently, signalling that she had less than a minute left.
Without another word, Ladybird cast out her yoyo and swung off.
Nathaniel sighed and then checked his phone.
"Afternoon classes are still on?" He groaned at the message he was met with.
With another groan, Nathaniel began to walk his was back to the school, still feeling tired from the fight.
"Hopefully, Ladybird can find someone else she trusts soon." He said to himself as he walked.
Author's Note: Please Comment
Unlike canon, Ladybird doesn't really follow the one-person-per-Miraculous thing, she prefers to give them all to the person she already knows can function as a hero and teammate, but that's going to lead to its own issues down the line.
Readers of my original story will notice that I'm introducing Casey much earlier and having her interact with characters, that's because Ladybird started off as a literal nothing character who only served to fill a spot, and then evolved to an actual character over the course of the original story. So, I'm having this story include her from the beginning.
I'm basing Casey heavily on what I remember being like as a teenager, but at the same time, trying to keep her as her own character, rather than a self-insert.
In my original story, Nathaniel got the Fox Miraculous (it's right there in the title), but since season 2 revealed that the other heroes are temp' and the Zodiac Miraculous, I decided to change things up. And I wanted the villain to have a Miraculous fusion, and the Fox ended up being my best choice for villain Miraculous, meaning that Nathaniel could no longer be "Renard Rouge" anyway.
…
And I'll explain here that they'll be no potion power-ups in this story, since they're already not used that much in canon and it's easy to write them out in this story. (And also to cut down on the amount of character art that I'll be making to go along with this story, which there's already going to be a lot of with the multiple forms of the temp' heroes [I made over 30 pieces for my Nymph story].)
Speaking of which, find a concept design for Tiger-Nathaniel on my DeviantART at DreamVixen2511 or my Tumblr at Asexual Individual.