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Izuku, Nooroo, and Duusu talk about new adjustments for how Izuku handles having a second miraculous in his possession. Nooroo is his primary miraculous, but there are new things to consider.
Chapter 17: Peafowl and Butterflies
“So, the peacock miraculous has powers similar to the butterfly?” Izuku carefully added the notes to the miraculous notebook, writing them in the code he and Nooroo had created.
“Yup! But instead of using people’s emotions to turn them into champions, Amokization creates a Sentimonster. It’s a living creature manifested from the emotions of a person that’s anchored to an object that’s been fused with a feather that I or my holder turned into an Amok. Anyone with the amok can control the sentimonster or my holder can control it,” Duusu explained, sitting on the pillow on Izuku’s bed and munching on the little bowl of almonds his mother had gotten for her. She had come out of her shy shell after staying with them for a few days, at first talking more with Nooroo than she did the humans in the apartment. “You can make anyone or anything with it, while Kamiko have to be built from the person who has it. And you can make more than one amok at once! They draw on magic in the air, to help fuel them without putting too much strain on whomever has the main anchor, but they don’t connect back directly to my powers. That also means they’re not as powerful as a Kamiko, since they aren’t really pulling from the miraculous or the universe as a whole. Not unless you specifically build that ability into them.”
Izuku nodded at the kwami’s explanation, continuing his notes as he added a few more thoughts. He could see the applications that could come from that.
“When do you plan to use it? Is there going to be a schedule for when you want to practice?” Duusu’s question made him jump slightly.
He hadn’t really been considering it. He had wanted to learn about the peacock miraculous, of course, but he didn’t really plan on using it himself. He was an informant, not a combatant. He didn’t really need any amoks for his work, his telepathy kamiko worked fine. His setup was already streamlined for just one miraculous and he didn’t really need to add more to it.
Except… Never wearing it would mean that Duusu would be stuck at home most of the time. Nooroo went wherever Izuku did because Izuku never took off his broach. He was always going out and letting his magic stretch when Izuku used it for his work as Sasakia. But if he never used Duusu’s broach, she wouldn’t get the same care.
She wouldn’t be alone! Since his mom did most of her work from home and she would probably take Duusu out with her for chores or even just an afternoon walk if the kwami asked. But she wouldn’t really get to do much else.
That didn’t feel fair to her, though.
Something must have shown on his face, because the kwami’s face turned gentle.
“I know you don’t really need my amoks. But it might be a good idea to learn how to actually use them, even if you don’t plan to send them out where people will see them. Nooroo’s told me about how you’ve been using his miraculous, to share information and lead people around safely. But some of the villains he’s mentioned might realize that something is going on. He mentioned an attack on your school that you had to make a Kamiko for. The villains who led it might try to take revenge. They know someone helped make Erasure Anansi, even if they don’t know who yet.” She flitted up, her face calm and serious as she made herself eye level with him. “Your name has spread in the underworld, even if no one but the person you changed saw what you look like. It may not happen quickly, but there’s every possibility that they may make the connection between your butterflies and the transformation. If you use my miraculous in tandem with Nooroo’s, you can have some extra protection, so long as you only use the power of one miraculous and not both.”
“Which would give me a back-up disguise in case I’m in a place where someone might see me, or if someone tried to back-track one of my butterflies. Or let me make something to distract a villain to get away.” He rubbed at his chin in thought, combing over the powers Duusu had explained to him. There were actually a lot of options at his disposal with it. “I… Could use them to lead people without making it obvious. My butterflies are bright, especially at night. I can darken their colors for a little bit, but I’ve never been able to get it to stick for long. If I wanted to be discrete, an amok might do a better job. Or I could have one follow a person I’m worried about…”
He could feel more ideas starting to build as he considered the idea further. Maybe they could make a test one? He didn’t have any emergency, but if he really did end up in a situation where he might need to rely on one. Using it to better understand the new powers at his disposal.
Maybe a guard that could keep Eri safe?
That Nomu creature still made him nervous, its makeup possessing more than one quirk… He still had no idea how something like that was possible, but Eri had a rare and powerful quirk that someone might try to hurt her for.
He’d promised to keep her safe. The first night she came home, he promised he would never let someone like Overhaul come near her again. An amok body guard would certainly help with that. Maybe something that looked like a cat? Eri said she really liked them, ever since she’d come with him to the local animal shelter to see the new kittens. A guard cat that would change its size based on the scale of the threat trying to take Eri, or could teleport her to a specific place that was deemed safe. Or maybe to a safe person? And maybe something to calm her quirk if she panicked and lost control of it…
He would sit on the thought for now. Maybe discuss it with his Mom and Eri before they go too far into that plan.
“Not right away though! It’s not safe to jump right into using more than one miraculous at once,” Nooroo said from his spot next to the radio on Izuku’s book shelf. “They take a larger magical toll on the person wielding them, especially on someone underaged. Your magic is still growing and figuring out what it needs to be for you, that’s why you still have a time limit as well.”
Izuku nodded, having been given this explanation before.
His magic was growing and wouldn’t reach its peak until he was an adult, much like his brain and his body. But when he becomes “of age” the miraculous would allow him to bypass the limiters on it, and release the “adult” powers that he couldn’t currently access.
Unfortunately being “of age” was rather wobbly as a term, as he’d learned after asking what Nooroo meant by that. Because it wasn’t any specific age that could be pinned down to define it with. It was different across cultures and time, with some countries deeming 15 as old enough while others believed you shouldn’t be considered an “adult” until you were 21 years old. (In Japan, there was a time when 13 was considered “adult” enough. It was 18 years now, but that hadn’t always been true.)
Instead, for the Miraculous, it was more of a metaphysical line that needed to be crossed. A mental line, an emotional understanding, and an inner magical balance, was needed to cross that threshold so that the full scope of the power could be called on. Of course, sometimes only two out of the three was enough.
Nooroo said that he was very close to that line already. Izuku understood himself, his powers, the kind of responsibility that the miraculous carried, and the world he lived in far better than most people his age would know. Which meant, despite how young he was, it wouldn’t be long until the miraculous deemed him “old enough” to use the broach to its fullest capabilities. As it was, his magic had enough unique traits that allowed him to slide past some of the restrictions without hurting himself. He could recharge his magic faster than he lost it if he had a source of magical or natural light to draw on, and he could heal any strain by just spending time outside on a nice day.
In essence, the very nature of his magic made it easier to handle the powers of a miraculous. He was very lucky to have something like that to call on.
(He was always thanking his luck. It was one of the few blessings he’d had growing up.)
“You can build up to it though! Like working your way up to running a marathon,” Duusu said cheerfully, plopping back down onto the pillow. “You can just wear both our miraculous to get used to the slight pull on your magic. For a little while at a time, like while you’re out shopping or while doing chores here. As long as you take breaks from both and don’t go overboard, it shouldn’t take long until you can use them both easily.”
“I… I think I can do that.” He was already running through his mental design notes for his Sasakia guise in case he did need to appear using the peacock instead of the butterfly.
Ideally, he didn’t want to stray too far from his current costume. He didn’t want people to realize he had something fueling his powers other than a quirk, and a drastically different costume left a risk of someone figuring out that his powers had a source of some kind. Keeping the designs similar would be important for preventing people from figuring out too much. He could probably figure out how to make a peacock version of his costume, and how to merge the two together to make a unified costume for the two. Maybe add a tail to his coat for some tail feather patterns, lengthen the back of his caplet to accommodate some bird-like wings for mobility, he could probably find some places to add some eye spots to the overall design…
(And maybe it was time to update his Sasakia guise, while he was at it. He’d had it for several years now, it would hurt to add some tweaks to it now. He liked the idea of a longer caplet back, maybe shaping the ends to look more like butterfly wings. Shift some colors around to look more like Nooroo’s coloration.)
“You could do it once in an emergency, several guardians have allowed it before. But usually they take the second miraculous back before any kind of long term strain can happen.” Duusu picked up more almonds to nibble on as she spoke. “Since the guardians won’t be taking either of us back right away, you’ll need to be more careful about that.”
Izuku hesitated at Duusu’s comment.
“Do… Do you know why they haven’t come yet?” The question was quiet, barely louder than a whisper in the peaceful room.
It had been eating at him for a while, ever since Duusu had ended up in his care. He felt like they should have shown up by now, but there had been nothing but silence. No sign of the Order of Guardians who’d made it their mission to use the miraculous to protect the world.
Nooroo had said that it was hard to find a miraculous on its own, but the order had been restored at some point (that something called “The Feast” had been defeated?) so they surely should have had time to adjust to the world and start searching for the lost miraculous. So how had he been able to find Nooroo at all? How could he use the butterfly for years now without drawing their attention? How could a second miraculous end up in his hands without it being given to him by a guardian? Where were they?
Duusu hummed for a moment before she answered.
“Honestly? I don’t know. I’m not even sure why I was alone when Jin-kun found me.”
“What do you mean?” Nooroo was looking over at his sibling in confusion. “Weren’t you with the guardian? You had been back with the mother box…”
“Well, I’m honestly not too sure what happened? The Grand Master recalled all of us that could be found. I can’t quite remember why, but he wanted all of the miraculous in the temple. It was after your last holder suddenly stopped, we had been looking all over for some sign of what was going on and why but couldn’t find anything,” Duusu explained, rocking in her spot on Izuku’s pillow. She was staring off into space, her voice soft and thoughtful. “Then the Grand Master appeared and told the new guardian that he needed to bring all of us back to the temple. No one was going to forget about us, not even the new guardian. It was just supposed to be for a little while then he’d bring us back to keep searching. We were all together in the box for a while, then it was split apart and I was sleeping in my transport box.”
“Until Bubaigawara-san found you,” Izuku finished, leaning on his desk in thought. So the Grand Master had gathered them up for some reason before something had happened to split up the box.
“Yup! I really don’t know what went on during that time. I know Tikki got pulled out before the box was split apart, and that Plagg’s holder made a big fuss and might have stolen him? Not too sure about that one, I might be misremembering or getting his holders confused. I was sleeping in my box for a long time and it can get a little hard to tell memories from dreams when I sleep for that long. Other than those, I don’t know much else.”
“Did the Grand Master say anything about why he wanted to bring everyone back?” The butterfly kwami asked. Duusu started to shake her head, then she paused.
“He said that… He could feel something in the universe. A shift of some kind that he was worried about. He didn’t go into much detail, just enough to convince the apprentice guardian to recall us from the holders she’d picked and return the box to him.” Duusu’s words were slow, like she was thinking very hard as she dug through her memories. “I think I could feel it too. Just a little bit. Like- Like everything was getting ready to take a step to the side, but I couldn’t tell which way it was planning to go.”
“Do you remember what year that was?” Izuku asked, an idea forming in his head. A shift in the universe. Something new that the rest of the world wasn’t familiar with…
Duusu listed off the last date she could remember, watching Izuku roll his chair back and start scanning his book shelf. She couldn’t remember the exact date, not anymore, but she remembered the month and decade and that was enough for what he was thinking of. He pulled out a history book, flipping through the pages to find the section he was after. He let out a small “aha!” when he found what he was looking for.
“Izu-bocchan?”
“They might have been sensing the Dawn of Quirks. The luminescent child was born roughly a decade or two after the years that Duusu mentioned. Their birth had been the one to officially signal mankind’s genetic shift at the time, though there had been cases of Meta-human abilities that appeared before then.” He laid the book open on his desk so both kwami could come over and look at the dates themselves. Duusu landed on the page, reading through the (admittedly rather simplified) pages of the history book, Nooroo settling in Izuku’s hair instead of on the desk. “Considering the way some quirks seem to reach beyond the limits they’re supposed to have, like with Ectoplasam-sensei and Bubaigawara-san, some quirks might be partially connected to the universe’s magic as well, while still being considered a quirk. The people with them could have even been pulling from it to cross that distance between what’s described and what they can actually do. That could have been making enough of a ripple to be noticed by the Order at that time.”
The lines between magic and quirks were rather muddied, from what he and Nooroo had been able to tell. The difference was found more in how it was connected to the world and person than some specific strand of power.
Izuku could do just about anything with his magic, so long as he knew what/who it was that he was trying to invoke. Associations played a lot in what he was doing and trying to accomplish, so he often needed to factor that in while he worked. Using things people think of for different elements or seasons influenced the magic he was trying to do. Herbs used to heal made the best medicines, plants that grew in summer or were very spicy were best for fire and warmth related magic, ocean things were best for water magic, and so on. His own magic was at its strongest when he was near a large source of warmth or light, though he always had the easiest time casting spells during nights when you could clearly see the stars in the sky.
Anyone could use magic, but not everyone could use the same quirk.
Quirks were grounded more into the genetics of the person and often limited what they could do without something else in the mix. His mother’s telekinetic quirk let her summon small objects to herself, but just because she had a psychic quirk didn’t mean she could read people’s minds with it or look into the future. She could only levitate things with it, and not very large things at that. (Although, she’d been learning to lift heavier things lately. Mostly to help her move things around the house now that there were two kids living there. Well, two kids and two kwami.)
But some powers did things that the limits of quirks didn’t make sense for. Like where the extra mass (and the transformation of that mass) for Ectoplasm-sensei’s quirk. Or how Toru could see even though, technically, her eyes shouldn’t be able to work if light was only going through her body and not being absorbed by the rod and cone cells in her eyes. Or how Toru’s classmate, Todoroki-san, was able to create ice in such large quantities without drinking huge amounts of water or converting it from moisture in the air.
Izuku’s theory was that they pulled on a minuscule amount of they universe’s magic to fill in the gaps that their bodies couldn’t create on their own. Just enough to work with the basic outlines that were built into their genetics.
That shift in the universe for something like that potentially explained what the Grand Master may have been sensing, but it didn’t explain what happened to the Order and why they didn’t seem to be doing anything any more.
Maybe the history books could give more insight? He knew he probably wouldn’t find an exact answer written out, but maybe he could find something that could point them in the direction of what happened. He could look into ordering some Tibetan history books, Nooroo said the temple was somewhere in the mountains there. Maybe he could find them on a discount text book website?
It looked like he had a new research project to work on.
(The truth was something that drove him. Answers and understanding. This was something he wanted to know, for his own peace of mind.)
Afterword: To clarify, in a more direct way than I did in the original Ao3 post, Quirks are kind of like Sorcerer Magic in DnD while Izuku’s natural magic is more like Wizard Magic. With a subclass in Warlock Magic through Nooroo/The Butterfly Miraculous. All of them are viable powers/magic but the differences are more in the paths/channels and specialties that those powers are tapped into.
Hence how Izuku can use magic while still being 100% quirkless in this story. He had a natural specialty, but it’s not anchored in his genetics the way people with quirks powers are tied to them.
