Sorry it's been so long since I've updated this story! I got stuck on deciding a few things in Nathanael's future that become relevant in this chapter. I guess this counts as a late Christmas/Hannukah present, and since Kwanzaa starts today it can count as a gift for that too! Happy Holidays, everyone!

I'd like to give credit to flautist4ever on Tumblr! She's started beta-ing a lot of my fics, and was a huge help with this chapter and a few subsequent ones as well! Also, she helped me expand on the Prologue a bit-I'm going to update that tonight as well. I'm not sure if it'll show up in email notifications for those of you who follow this story, so if you get two emails about this fic updating just ignore the second one.

With that all being said, I'll leave you all to the story!

~anipwrites

As soon as Nathanael got to his apartment complex, he'd yanked his key out of his pocket and ran inside. He needed to barricade the door. Couch, coffee table, anything he could find made its way to the front of the door. Then he triple checked every single window to make sure it was locked, and closed the blinds.

Chest heaving, he finally realized how exhausted he was. A half-frozen water bottle and a comfortable seat on the floor would do. With his blanket wrapped around his head and shoulders like a shawl, he reached and turned on the TV, only to see the very last thing he was hoping to see.

Police sketches of several clowns filled the screen as news reporter Nadja Chamack's voice said. "A breaking news report, as the police department receives several calls about clowns lurking in the alleys and parks of Paris!"

Nathanael jumped back from the screen and tripped over his blanket, landing on his injured side but barely noticing as he heard the rest of the news story. At least three clowns had been seen and reported by several citizens of Paris, with more reports being sent in by the minute. They were standing ominously, luring people over to them for who knows what reason. Some people had memory lapses between first seeing the clown and 'waking up again,' oftentimes across a street or a few blocks away before something distracted them. If some missing person alerts were anything to go by, some kids weren't so lucky. Any viewers who had a run in with a clown were being urged to call the police with a report, providing the number on the police sketches (which were shown again; Nathanael recognized Clown #3 immediately) if it was the one they encountered, or to provide as detailed a description as possible if it wasn't. Or, if you had any pictures of clown encounters, to send them to the station's email address. With one final warning to not follow any strangers, Nadja closed the report with a verbal hope that Ladybug and Chat Noir would get to the bottom of this, in assumption that they were listening.

'So I'm not the only one who saw a creepy clown,' Nathanael mused, thankful that he wasn't going crazy or something. 'Guess I should call the police,'

He dialed the number and offered up all the information he could offer. Everything was a bit muddled up, the memories of the two encounters mixing together into a confused mess. He didn't feel like he was being much help, but the officer on the phone thanked him anyhow before hanging up. He glanced at the TV screen, only to find that the news story had shifted to talking to the parents about the missing kids. His heart ached at the thought, and he shut off the TV so he wouldn't have to listen to it.

Frankly, he was stressed out now. Stressed, and frustrated with some old man in a Hawaiian shirt. He needed a release. He decided on drawing. Nathanael gathered up the blankets and his belongings and went to his room.

He was greeted by the sight of his drawing desk, and several half-finished paintings on easels. None of them were interesting enough for him to work on at the moment, he wanted to draw something in his sketchbook. Maybe finish that picture he was doing earlier, before painting it on a spare easel. He reached into his bag for his pencils and sketchbook, but instead found something… unexpected.

Nathanael pulled out a small black hexagonal box, decorated with a strange, imperial-looking design on the top. It fit the palm of his hand, but he had never seen something like this before. Why was it in his bag? And, most importantly, what's inside? It seemed like something that was meant to be opened. Technically, he should return it, but curiosity overtook him. He opened it, to find a necklace that looked like a fox's tail delicately seated on red velvet. It was a nice enough, but why-

He threw it across the room as it began to glow, gathering his blankets around him to shield his eyes. He braced himself for whatever. Maybe an explosion or something, maybe the house was about to explode. He wouldn't have to deal with Chloe and creepy clowns if he was dead. The burst of warmth that had come with the light cooled away, prompting him to open his eyes and peek out of the blanket. There was nothing interesting at first. It was just his room, the box, the scattered materials from his bookbag across the floor. He let out a sigh of relief.

Then a blur of orange shot down in front of him.

Nathanael screamed and backed away until his back hit the wall behind him. His breath hitched in his throat as he realized he was cornered with this… this… thing in front of him! Some sort of weird, tiny, flying fox was in his room, and-

"Hey! Calm down! I don't bite!"

It talked?!

Nathanael grabbed the nearest objects he had to defend himself; a pillow and a pencil by his bed. He hadn't realized he was screaming, he was just focused on getting this weird thing away from him! What the hell was in that tea that old man gave him earlier?!

The small creature dodged his pencil as he swung it in front of him, paw-flipper-things up in the air as if trying to appear as harmless. "Hey, hey, calm down, you're hurting my ears! They're gentle…"

"What the hell are you?!"

"I'm Trixx! I'm a kwami! If you put on that necklace, you'll get superpowers and can defend wherever we are from villains and monsters!"

"What the-what?!"

"Yeah! You can be a superhero!" The kwami did a backwards flip in excitement, her eyes gleaming. Nathanael was anything but excited.

"What- I- No, no, I can't!"

"But you can! You just have to put on that necklace and-"

"N-No, I can't! I-I can't, I shouldn't, I won't, I don't deserve it! Not after… Not after what happened." Nathanael let out a sigh, letting his hands rest in his lap. Him? Get superpowers? He was a nobody; worse than a nobody, he was a coward, he was a monster. He'd let his emotions take over reason before. He'd let the villain he'd be fighting against- if he took the necklace and accepted this huge responsibility- corrupt him before. He didn't trust himself with whatever powers this 'kwami' claimed the jewel contained. How could anyone trust him as a hero?

"Huh? No no no, you were chosen for a reason! Whatever Master Fu saw in you made you worthy to be a hero!"

"A hero? I'm a miserable coward. I couldn't possibly be a hero, I don't deserve-"

"Here. I have an idea."

"Hm?" He looked up at the strange floating fox, which was now resting on a bedpost. Now that he wasn't focused on the fact that there was some random flying animal in his room, he realized… She was actually kind of adorable.

"You can transform a few times, try it out. No fighting if you don't want to, just try out your powers, see what it's like. Then you can decide."

"No- but I- well- I shouldn't-" Nathanael paused and took some time to think about it. He still really didn't feel like he deserved it. But, someone saw some potential in him. For whatever reason. The opportunity was right there in front of him, in the form of a floating fox intrigued with some old painting on the wall. He would hate it if he rejected it and wanted it later. Plus… it could be fun.

Trixx gave him a knowing smile when Nathanael looked back up at her. "Well? Have you made your choice?"

"Yeah… I want to try it."

"Oh, wonderful!"

"B-but, not right now. I'm not ready yet."

"Alright! You'll need some time to get used to me anyhow, and we'll have to decide on where to hide me and other general maintenance."

"General maintenance?"

"Well, you have to take care of me, and the Miraculous too."

"Um, alright… What all do I have to do?"

"Well, in order to use your powers, I have to be fed. Especially when you detransform after using your special power. I'll need to eat in order for you to transform again."

"Alright. What do you need to eat?"

"Anything that's meat should be fine,"

"Yikes. And I'll have to carry it around with me?"

"Yes."

"Does it have to be raw?"

"Oh, no, of course not!"

"...Here, I have an idea. Come with me."

"Wait, but no one else can see me-" Trixx rushed to the door and hovered in front of it, waving her flippers frantically as if to stop him.

"No one else is home, I promise. It'll be fine." Nathanael cupped his hands to let Trixx land on them, which she did. He opened the door and walked over to the kitchen to root through the pantry. Soon, the redhead found what he was looking for; a bag of bacon bits, intended for salad, but probably good enough to feed a power-granting being. "How are these? I could carry them around in my bag, and it wouldn't smell or make a mess."

"Ooh! Ooh! Open it, please!" Nathanael popped open the bag, and Trixx immediately dove in and ate a few chunks of the bacon. "These are wonderful! This should work just fine!"

"Alright. So, what are my powers"

"Well. Your weapon is a flute, and-"

"Well, shit." Trixx looked mildly alarmed at the curse. "I mean, shucks."

"Iiiis something wrong with the flute?"

"Well, I don't own one. I don't know how to play one either. Lessons will cost money, and I don't have-"

"No worries! I'm sure good fortune will come your way soon." she grinned. "Anyways, when you play a song on your flute, you can make illusions!"

"Like Volpina?"

"Volpina? There was already a- no way, I'm the only fox miraculous…"

"A girl in my class got akumatized and pretended to be the wielder of a fox mir- well, the wielder of you-- and tricked Ladybug and Chat Noir. Oh, god, they're gonna hate me when they find me…"

"I'm sure it will end up okay. But, your miraculous power involves playing the flute; different notes and different speeds give different effects to the attack. Every time you play the flute for an attack, it takes a minute off of your time. After you play five songs, you'll only have a minute left before you detransform. Don't waste it."

Nathanael nodded. "So, are all of my attacks related to playing the flute?"

"Well… no. All of your long-range attacks are, though. You flute is sharp on one side, and its strong, you can use it to fight like a sword or a staff."

"Nice! Like Chat Noir's baton!"

"I'm going to assume yes. Now that that's settled, we'll have to decide where you'll be hiding me."

"Huh… I have a pencil pouch I have in my bag most of the time, you could hide in there? Or maybe my bag itself… or my jacket?"

"Those all should be fine!"

"...wanna watch me draw?"

"Ooh! Sure, if you don't mind!"

Nathan shifted to his desk, got out his supplies, and begun. Trixx shifted around a lot, flitting from the top of his head to the bedpost to his desk to the pillow and back again. It was distracting at first, but he didn't mind too much. He'd need to get used to having her around anyways. Soon he barely even felt her there, barely even felt the pencil in his hand or the desk under him. He just felt his eyelids getting heavy, and his body felt weightless. His pencil was moving in his hand, but it felt distant, unattached. The lamplight dimmed as the word vanished behind his eyelids.

I hope you guys all enjoyed this chapter! Happy Holidays to all of you, and since I seriously doubt I'll update this story before New Years, Happy New Year to you all as well! I wish the New Year goes well for you!

Thanks for reading!