Author's Note: This story is something I've been working on for many weeks. It started with a simple scene that I just couldn't get out of my head... and turned into something that is over 100 pages, 50k words and still growing. I'm uploading it in segments because, in my crazy creative mind, nothing ever seems to be "perfect enough" to post live.

I'm, unexpectedly, hitting every corner of the crazy love-square and loving every bit of it.

I've added my own spin on the Miraculous' powers. And please forgive any character OOC, but this is my own little world.

Let's start this Miraculous tale just like so many others that have come before it. Because our hearts dream a little bigger when you read those four, simple little words.

Once upon a time…

…There was a wondrous kingdom: rich with commerce, trade, crafts, artists, musicians, mathematicians, scientists, engineers, and all other great occupations that made a kingdom both bountiful and a target.

This kingdom was not always so vast. It had very humble origins. Grown from the seeds of a hardworking society.

The Kingdom was ruled over by a powerful monarchy: The Agreste family. Who had held the throne for countless generations.

The current King was a man named Gabriel Agreste. He was a proud and stoic man. He rarely smiled, and seemed to always carry a dark cloud over his head. If the King had ever been a happy person, it was long gone now.

However, his son was the complete opposite.

Price Adrian was compassionate, patient and gentle—even from a young age. As he grew up, he became more confident and courageous: qualities that suited a man of his age and status.

The King had noticed his son's delicate personality early in the boy's life. Taking it for a sign of weakness and frailty, he kept his son to the confines of the lavish palace.

King Gabriel knew how dark and cruel the world could be. He would not subject his son to that kind of life. He kept Adrian close by and protected him: limiting his social interactions and friends. He never allowed the Prince to go outside after dark. And the Prince always had bodyguards with him—there were no exceptions to this rule.

But as Adrian grew into a man, King Gabriel knew that he couldn't keep his son locked away forever. The Prince could only learn so much without actually experiencing life.

And, eventually, he would need to take a wife, of course: the construction of queenship was an integral part of securing kingly authority.

Perchance, Adrian would even love his future queen. A love much like Gabriel had experienced with Adrian's mother—but that seemed like so long ago. And Gabriel's life had darkened because of it.

Perhaps that was why he kept his son so close—he didn't want to lose him too.

However, the thought of losing his only son haunted him like a ghost.

And thus, King Gabriel had become a ghost of himself.