Once Upon a Time

Once Upon a Time is a minor character in the French superhero cartoon Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir, It is a Projector Sentibeing created by Argos from Kagami Tsurugi's desire to tell the truth to Marinette Dupain-Cheng about his betrayal in "Strikeback", his family's origins, and Monarch's true identity.
==Appearance ==
Once Upon a Time is a black projector with a large lens in its center. It has a large ball joint, connected to a purple tripod, which had three black, circular hinge joints that allowed for movement and a triangular base.
==Powers and abilities==
Once Upon a Time is capable of lighting up an area, as well as projecting different backgrounds used in a theater, which were stylized as paintings. It can also project special lights for special effects, being able to mark and color white suits and masks to allow actors to play different characters without the need of changing outfits.
==Biography==
In London, Kagami spots Félix as Argos. Argos then breathes onto the glass pane near the balcony of the hotel room and draws a heart. Kagami joins him and they hop away from the hotel.
At this moment, Félix and Kagami arrive at Paris. Félix asks Kagami if she is wrong about 'it' being Marinette, Kagami says she couldn't believe it either, but it's the only possible explanation, revealing that Kagami and Félix are aware Marinette is Ladybug, from Kagami overhearing her conversation with Alya in Perfection, then informing Félix later. She tells Félix they don't have a choice in trusting her, as she is her friend, and without her help, Tomoe and Gabriel will never allow them to love each other. They share a kiss before Félix jumps down, detransforms, hides his Miraculous and changes his hair, already in costume as Adrien.
The episode continues with Marinette following Félix into the school's art room where she finds instead a drawing from Nathaniel that makes her cry more. Félix and Kagami are listening to this from the rooftop while Duusu cries, but Félix reassures him that they are doing this for a happy ending, just before Félix transforms back into Argos. Then after making sure Kagami is ready, he creates an amok to blow into Kagami's ring, creating a a projector-like sentibeing: Once Upon a Time.
Back in the school's art room, Marinette is curled up crying on the floor, when she hears Once Upon a Time starting to project a light onto a stage, where Kagami and "Adrien" are in white suits, putting on white masks and silencing Marinette. They start to recite a fairy tale esque play, where a king and queen were expecting a child, praising it for being able to continue their kingdom lineage, while zooming in on the ring the king is wearing. They gave birth to twins, both girls. Initially struggling over who they should hand over their legacy to, they decided to hand it to the child who was born 7 seconds earlier, (Emilie Agreste) also giving her the Graham de Vanily Twin Rings.
Continuing the play, Félix explains that the two twins grew up, both quite different. The "firstborn": Emilie was more curious, escaping the life at court at every opportunity she could, meanwhile the "younger sister": Amelile wanted to please her family, becoming well-behaved and staying in the castle. The king and queen wonder if they entrusted their legacy to the right princess, believing she will be better behaved eventually. Due to this belief, Emilie was allowed to leave the castle, where she studied overseas in another kingdom. Here is where she fell in love with a "humble tailor": Gabriel. Marinette realizes who this is referring to. Gabriel made magnificent clothes that revealed the beauty of anyone who wore them. Despite her parents' anger, Emilie gave up her legacy and luxury to be with the him. She takes her ring off, splits it into two, and gives one half to Gabriel, while she keeps the other half herself. Emilie concludes that the only thing left to have a truly happy life is for them to have a child. Meanwhile, to please her parents, Amelile marries a man described to be wealthy, yet heartless and a lord of war": Colt. They also dreamed for a child, to be the heir to their kingdom.
In the play, time passes, neither couple weren't able to have a child. After some time, Emilie resigned herself to the court, to be able to benefit from the remedies her sister did. But this didn't work, until one day, the curious princess was expecting. During this scene, peacock feathers appear behind the couple, shocking Marinette, as she realizes the truth.
Colt is furious at this, believing he and his wife deserved a child more than Emilie who abandoned her kingdom. Colt confronts Gabriel and says how it's unfair, whereas Gabriel suggests it's a miracle. Emilie feels bad for her sister and brother in-law, and asks Gabriel if he can let them have a child as well.
Gabriel confronts Colt and says that he has found a solution for him and his wife, but he will have to pay a price: to give his best knight to guard their future child. For this exchange a magic amulet will be lent, one that is able to give life to creations and dreams, and allows the creator to control them: the Peacock Miraculous. Colt refuses to use sorcery; Gabriel says it ultimately up to him whether he decides to use it, but the former accepts and takes the 'amulet,' using the miraculous to create an amok and inserting it into his ring. The jealously he uses comes to life, allowing his wife to become pregnant, once again showing peacock feathers in the background, though unlike Gabriel, Colt is reluctant to touch the belly. A few months after this, both sons were born from their mothers.
In the play, Colt has fallen ill some time after his son was born, believing he was paying the price for using magic the weaker he became. This made his fear morph into hatred for his creation, his son, constantly mistreating and calling him a monster. His son did not understand why his father didn't love him, which is said as 'Adrien' takes off his mask and faces Marinette. Marinette realizes he and the son in the play are Félix, feeling sympathy for him. Felix also did not understand why he felt like he needed to obey his father at every command he gave, even if these commands were hurtful to him. If he became fond of anything his father did not approve of, his father would then destroy it. The lord of war continued to call his son a monster through all this time, partially damaging his ring at some point, causing the child to collapse. Félix soon realized that his life was linked to the very ring that caused him to obey his father. He could only recover the ring, and therefore his freedom, when his father passed away. Félix realizes that 'amulet' that allow his mother to gave him life could also take away it. He went to the tailor's house - who had become a prince - in order to steal the amulet. But this prince was powerful, and the only thing he would trade the amulet for, were other amulets that he desired. Marinette recognizes it as "The day she lost the Chinese Zodiac Miraculouses".
In the play, the son then met a girl like him, which is narrated while both Félix and Kagami take off their masks, the two fell in love, exactly like the curious princess and the tailor, both of the couples just wanted to be free and love each other, but the tailor is trying to stop them, to which they could use someone's help: the help of Ladybug, the only one able to face the tailor, and the only one who can fix things. Marinette realizes they are talking about her, and stands up. The play ends as Marinette turns on the light, still hearing narration in her head, telling her she knows how the son and girl feel, not being able to be with the one you love, having to fight to save the one you love, having to lie all the time, never been able to say who you are. As this last line is said, Marinette unrolls a curtain to see a statue of her alter ego, Ladybug, startling her enough to wake up on the floor, in the exact position she started the play in, revealing that whole sequence to be a dream. She sees a single white feather flying past her and out the window, implying Argos must have released Once Upon a Time from existence. She unrolls the curtain again and just sees a poster of the Ladybug and Cat Noir movie. She closes the curtain, with a determined expression, and looks out the window, accepting to help them, as the feather flies out.
== Trivia ==
*Once Upon a Time's name is a reference to the traditional form of starting a fairy tale or fantasy story, which is connected to the sentibeing's role in helping Félix and Kagami tell the former's family origins.
*Once Upon a Time is the second known sentibeing created by Argos, following Red Moon in "Emotion".
**As well as the first sentibeing to be created for heroic intentions.
**Unlike with Red Moon, Argos created Once Upon a Time with the sole purpose to explain to Marinette the reasons behind his betrayal and to denounce his uncle as Monarch, ending up releasing it from reality moments later.
**Despite his claims to not want to create any sentimonsters, Félix perceived the creation of Once Upon a Time as a necessity to give Marinette the full picture she needed, unlike when he created Red Moon, which he did to enact revenge on his uncle and those he perceived as being a tyrant, Once Upon a Time which he created to help Marinette by showing her the truth of Adrien’s and Felix’s family origins, Félix's betrayal in "Strikeback" and Gabriel’s true identity as Monarch.
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