The man looked over the city, so quiet and peaceful in the night.

It would not remain peaceful for long.

Stepping away from the window, he crossed the room and opened the box sitting on the table. The hinges gave a protesting squeak as he reached in to retrieve the object inside, a dusty pendant. It glowed faintly blue when he slipped it silently over his head.

When he spoke, his voice was powerful and commanding. "Bewilderbeast, awaken."

The pendant glowered brighter, a short spike of light, and then something small and wispy darted out, forming into a small floating creature. As soon as it was fully aware of its surroundings, it gave a squeak of fear and lowered in the air, staring at the man with wide eyes.

"The time has come," the man growled. "Transform me."

Bewilderbeast hesitated. "But, Drago –" it began, voice timid and fearful.

"Transform me!" the man insisted, taking a step forward and staring at the terrified little creature. Against its will, the Bewilderbeast was pulled back into the pendant with a shriek and a swirl of light. The pendant's glow spread until it covered the man's whole body, and when the light faded, there was something different and something awful about him. The only thing visible were his eyes, glowing bright blue in the darkness.

He stretched out his arm, palm upturned; within a moment something appeared there, something dark and shifting – the silhouette of a creature, small but wild. The man lifted his arm and the creature flapped into the air on silent wings, circling a few times before phasing through the window and vanishing into the night.

"Now," the man said, his voice a deep growl, "the war begins anew."

Somewhere nearby, another figure was lurking in the darkness, searching intently for something she hoped she wouldn't find.

She had only caught a glimpse of something, a something that was horribly familiar, and now she perched on a dark rooftop, leaning on her staff and staring into the night. For several long moments, there was nothing at all, until – there! – a small shadow, silhouetted by the moon and the stars. It was nothing more than a speck, but to the figure, it was unmistakable.

"Drago's back," she whispered, with horror.

Skillfully and silently, she slid down the rooftop and dropped into the cold alleyway below; with a glance behind her to make sure she was not followed, she ducked into a half-hidden doorway and crept down the flight of cold stone steps until she had reached the small, quiet sanctuary at the bottom. Without a moment of hesitation she reached up and pulled a box down off one of the shelves, a box that was dusty and squeaked when she opened it, not unlike the man's. From out of it she pulled two small items, one a soft blue and the other black as pitch.

Another small creature emerged from somewhere behind the figure, floating towards her and staring at the two items with apprehension. "It's happened again?" he asked, voice deep but quiet. "Is it time?"

The woman sighed. "I'm afraid so, Cloudjumper," she said, staring down at the two items in her hands again before lifting her gaze to look out the window at the top of the wall, where she could just barely make out the starry night sky. She sighed once more, but when she spoke, her voice was calm and steely.

"The Deadly Nadder and the Night Fury are going to be needed once more."

yo I haven't written fanfic in... a LONG time but this idea will not leave me alone so I'm finally getting around to fully writing it out and I guess I'll upload it here. I know this first part's really short but I just wanted to get it started

as you can probably tell this has the characters of httyd but the plot/premise of miraculous ladybug so it's kinda a superhero/modern au as well?

anyway, thanks for reading, and enjoy! I have lots of this written out ahead of time so I'll be able to update regularly - probably every three days or so?