The One Where Max And A Tiny God Have A Heart-To-Heart

Featuring: One exhausted teenager, some uncomfortable truths, and an emergency Dr Pepper.

Hey guys! Heres the next chapter, this one was actually longer but it was split into two. Hope you like it!

If you're wondering what it's like to steal an ancient magical artifact and run away to Los Angeles in the middle of the night, don't. Just don't. Especially if you're already dealing with amnesia and the whole 'Greek gods are real' revelation. Trust me on this one.

I took another sip of my Dr Pepper, watching the city lights fade beneath the clouds. It was past midnight, and our red-eye flight was cruising somewhere over middle America. The cabin was dark except for a few reading lights, and most of the handful of passengers were already asleep. Lucky them.

My window seat gave me a perfect view of absolutely nothing except my own reflection, a tired-looking kid with messy hair and dark circles under his eyes. Some hero I'm turning out to be.

My mind kept drifting back to that dream - the stormy beach, the fight between the leather-clad giant and the boy with the bronze sword, that strange purple butterfly appearing in the lightning. The way the shadows had wrapped around him like armor...just what was that?

"Six hours to Los Angeles," the flight attendant had said with way too much cheer for this hour, recommending I get some rest with a genuinely warm smile.

Six hours. Six hours to either come up with a brilliant plan or realize I'd made the biggest mistake of my life. It was just enough time with my guilt and second thoughts. Awesome.

Nooroo was hiding in my jacket pocket, probably sensing my mood. I couldn't blame him, my emotions were all over the place. Every time I started to feel confident about my decision, I'd remember Fu's face and my stomach would twist into knots. The Dr Pepper wasn't helping.

But then I'd think about Percy, about that storm on the beach, about the war Chiron mentioned, and I knew I couldn't just sit this out. Something big was coming, and somehow, I was mixed up in it whether I liked it or not.

Nooroo poked his tiny head out of my jacket pocket. "Are you alright, Max? Your emotions are...turbulent."

Great. I thought. Now Nooroo's worried. Having a magical being that can sense your feelings is both cool and incredibly awkward. Like having a mood ring that actually works and talks back to you.

I kept my voice low, fiddling with my drink. "Just trying to figure out if I'm being brave or stupid. Maybe both?" I gave a quiet laugh. "I mean, who flies across the country to help someone they've never met? Especially when they can barely remember their own name?"

"Sometimes the heart sees what is invisible to the eye," Nooroo said, sounding like a fortune cookie, picking it up from Fu or vice versa. Then he brightened. "Here's an idea, would you like to learn more about the Butterfly Miraculous? It might help clear your mind."

While I did remember the basics about the Miraculous, hard not to when it was a TV show in my world, but seeing how Nooroo was trying to cheer me up, I figured a refresher couldn't hurt. Plus, hearing it from the actual magical butterfly spirit probably beat whatever Wikipedia could tell me.

"Hit me with it," I said, then quickly added, "Not literally," when Nooroo looked confused.

The tiny kwami floated in front of my face, suddenly all business. "The Butterfly Miraculous grants the power of Transmission, the ability to create Champions."

"Right." I nodded. This part I remembered, kind of. The black butterflies that Hawk Moth would send out to transform people. That image was pretty clear in my scrambled memories, even if a lot of other stuff was still fuzzy.

"This is done through Kamikos," Nooroo continued, "magical butterflies imbued with power that seek out people with strong emotions."

"Wait, Kamikos?" I frowned, that wasn't ringing any bells. "But I thought they were called Akumas. You know, like that scary dude from Street Fighter?"

Nooroo's expression was priceless, imagine trying to explain video games to a thousand-year-old magical butterfly. "I…don't know what a Street Fighter is."

"Never mind," I said, fighting back a laugh. "Pop culture reference fail."

Nooroo's wings drooped slightly. "The term 'Akuma' is actually a corruption of their true nature. Only those who misuse the power call them that. The proper term is 'Kamikotization', not Akumatization."

"Let me guess, Hawk Moth wasn't exactly following the user manual?"

"No," Nooroo said, and man, he looked like someone had just kicked his puppy. "Based on what you said about him, it sounds like he twisted the Miraculous's purpose. It's meant to inspire and empower, not corrupt and control."

"So how do they actually work?" I asked. "The Kamikos, I mean."

"Well," Nooroo brightened a bit, clearly happy to explain the non-evil version, "first, the Kamiko merges with an object that's meaningful to the person, something that represents their emotions or desires."

"Like their phone or a piece of jewelry?"

"Exactly! Then, through that connection, you can offer them power and guidance. But," he emphasized this part like it was underlined, bolded, and highlighted, "they have to willingly accept. No force, no manipulation. But when they do, they gain incredible power."

"That's...actually pretty cool," I said, genuinely impressed. "So instead of making supervillains, you're supposed to make actual heroes?"

"That's right!" Nooroo beamed, looking proud. "The Butterfly Miraculous is about empowering others to be their best selves, not turning them into mind-controlled minions."

"So like a magical life coach?" I joked, but honestly? The idea was growing on me. Being able to help people become heroes instead of forcing them to be villains? That sounded way better than the whole 'give me your Miraculous' routine.

"Much more so. The strength of their emotions affects their power," Nooroo warned, his earlier enthusiasm dimming like someone had turned down his brightness setting. "Positive emotions like joy or courage can create amazing Champions. But negative emotions..." He shuddered, wrapping his tiny arms around himself. "That's dangerous territory."

"That's why Hawk Moth went after angry people," I realized, faintly remembering his vcrims from the show. "Like that weather girl who lost that contest or the guy who got embarrassed in front of the mean girl he likes."

"Exactly. He exploited people when they were vulnerable, clouded by negative emotions." Nooroo's voice got quiet. "They couldn't think clearly, couldn't see past their pain. They were blinded by their own anger and sadness."

I stared out at the dark sky, letting that sink in. I now had the power to either help people or totally mess them up. No pressure or anything.

"So basically, positive emotions are like steady WiFi, reliable but not flashy. Negative emotions are like downloading a sketchy file, might get results fast, but probably going to crash your system?"

Nooroo brightened, his wings fluttering excitedly. "That's... actually a very good analogy! Champions created from positive emotions are more stable and in control. They might not have the raw destructive power of negative ones, but they're far less likely to, as you said, 'crash the system.'"

Okay, so positive vibes equals better heroes. Made sense, you probably wouldn't want someone powered by pure rage watching your back in a fight.

"One more thing," Nooroo said, his expression turning serious. "The Miraculous doesn't just grant you the power of Transmission. It also bestows upon its bearer certain...enhanced abilities."

I perked up. "What kind of enhanced abilities are we talking about?"

"Think superhuman strength, speed, and agility. Plus, the suit generated from the Miraculous protects you from most physical harm."

I let out a low whistle. That explained how Ladybug and Cat Noir could bounce around Paris like they were in some extreme parkour competition and walk away from hits that should've turned them into superhero pancakes.

"So you're saying I'll basically be Captain America minus the shield?" I tried not to sound too excited, but come on, who hasn't dreamed of having superpowers?

"I...don't know who that is either," Nooroo admitted sheepishly. "But remember, Max, these powers aren't for showing off. They're a responsibility."

And just like that, the whole "chosen one with magical powers" thing got real. Like, crushing-weight-of-responsibility real. "Right. Got it. No using butterfly powers to become TikTok famous."

"What's TikTok?"

I smiled at him. "Don't worry about it. Just another thing that would take way too long to explain."

My thoughts drifted back to Percy, the guy who probably had bigger problems than some kid with a magic butterfly pin. "But will it be enough though? I mean, Percy's dealing with actual Greek gods and monsters. How does a magic butterfly stack up against that?"

Nooroo's expression turned thoughtful. "The Miraculous's power is ancient and powerful in its own right. Besides," he added with a tiny smile, "sometimes the best power isn't the flashiest, it's the ability to help others become heroes."

Heroes huh? I Looked down at the brooch pinned to my shirt, trying to process everything. My brain felt like a computer with too many tabs open, everything was loading slowly and the fan was working overtime.

I wondered if this was it, my chance to be something more than just another face in the crowd. Maybe with this, I could finally be someone who mattered. Someone who could make a difference, instead of just being a nobody.

I can be more than that. I have to be.

"Max?" Nooroo's voice pulled me back from my mental blue screen of death. "There's something I wanted to ask you. You mentioned Hawk Moth wanted to combine the Ladybug and Black Cat Miraculous. Do you remember why?"

I stared at the ceiling, fishing through the soup of my memories. "Yeah...it was personal. His wife died using a broken Miraculous, the Peacock one. He thought combining the two would let him bring her back."

Nooroo's eyes went wide as dinner plates. "Ah. He was after The ultimate power then after all."

"Ultimate power?" The words triggered something in my memory. "Wait...that was the wish-granting thing, right? By combining the two jewels?"

"Yes," Nooroo said, his voice carrying enough warning bells to wake up a small town. "But it's not something to be used lightly."

My heart started doing gymnastics in my chest as the possibilities hit me. "Could it help me?" I whispered like I was sharing nuclear launch codes. "Like, get my memories back? Send me home?" My throat tightened as another thought hit. "Or... if my parents are really gone, could it bring them ba-?"

"NO!"

"Gah?!"

I nearly jumped out of my skin, my Dr Pepper doing a fantastic impression of doing its best impression of Old Faithful. Nooroo vanished into my pocket faster than my allowance at a video game store.

Holy Shit that was loud! I'd never heard Nooroo raise his voice before. The little guy was usually quieter than a mouse in a library.

My eyes darted around the cabin, checking if anyone had heard his outburst. But the other passengers were lost in their own worlds of, magazines, noise-canceling headphones, and competitive snoring to notice.

Oh, thank god, greek or otherwise. That had been too close. The tension melted from my shoulders like butter in a microwave.

As my heart rate dropped from "hummingbird on espresso" to "merely terrified teenager," something heavy settled in my stomach. And no, it wasn't the airline food (I'm not crazy enough to eat mystery meat at 30,000 feet). This was more like the feeling you get when you realize you've just poked a sleeping dragon with a stick.

Nooroo peeked out of my pocket like a nervous submarine using its periscope. "I'm sorry, Max," he whispered. "But please, don't let those thoughts consume you. You mustn't even think about using the ultimate power."

"Why?" I squeaked, sounding about as manly as a mouse at a tea party. (Being twelve years old sucked sometimes) That little spark of hope in my chest was dying faster than a wet firecracker. "What's so dangerous about it?"

Nooroo took a deep breath that made him look like a purple balloon. "The ultimate power doesn't just grant wishes. It reshapes reality itself by destroying the entire universe and recreating it."

Remember that Dr Pepper I mentioned? Yeah, it decided to make another appearance - this time doing its best impression of a lawn sprinkler.

"What?!" I choked out, wiping my chin with my sleeve. I definitely didn't remember THAT part from my Swiss cheese memories.

"Think of it like this," Nooroo said, going full physics professor mode. "Imagine the universe is a massive tapestry, woven with threads of every color imaginable. To change even one thread, you'd have to unravel the entire tapestry and reweave it from scratch. That's what the ultimate power does. It unmakes everything and then remakes it according to the wish. But no one knows exactly what that new universe will be like."

My brain felt like it was trying to solve calculus in Spanish, backwards. Just as I thought I was getting a handle on this whole situation, Nooroo drops this cosmic bomb on me.

"And that's not even the worst part."

And apparently, he wasn't done with the mind-melting revelations of universal destruction. Fantastic.

"Worse than destroying the freaking universe?"

Nooroo nodded with all the cheerfulness of someone announcing the zombie apocalypse. "The universe must maintain a state of balance between creation and destruction. This means there's a price to pay for every wish granted. For every sick person cured, another would fall ill. For every villain defeated, something equally terrible would be created somewhere else. The universe demands equilibrium, and it will take whatever it needs to maintain that balance."

I slumped in my seat like a puppet with cut strings. The airplane suddenly felt way too small, like I was trying to fit the weight of the entire universe in coach class. My mouth went drier than a desert in summer, and my hands felt clammy enough to start their own swamp.

"Holy shit," I whispered, probably looking like I'd just seen a ghost, or maybe the fabric of reality unraveling before my eyes. The power to reshape everything? That wasn't just playing with fire; that was juggling nuclear warheads while riding a unicycle on a tightrope.

I would be playing God.

The realization crashed into me with the subtlety of a freight train. By using this power, I wouldn't just be solving my problems, I'd be shoving them onto someone else. Making them carry the weight of my wishes and my desperation. Playing cosmic chess with other people's lives.

"So, even if I could use it to bring my parents back or get my memories back," my voice came out smaller than Nooroo, "it would mess up... everything?"

Nooroo nodded, looking like he was carrying several universes on his tiny shoulders. "And there's always a price, Max. Always. What you gain in one area, you will lose in another."

I sank deeper into my seat, half hoping it would swallow me whole. The temptation of that power still whispered in my head like a really persistent telemarketer, but the consequences? They screamed like a heavy metal concert. That was exploding.

"Now you understand why it's so dangerous." He paused, wings twitching. "Max, about the damaged Peacock Miraculous you mentioned, do you remember any details?"

The topic change gave me whiplash, but honestly? After the whole 'destroying-and-remaking-reality' bomb, I welcomed it like a life raft in a storm. I scrunched up my face, trying to catch the memories floating around in my head like soap bubbles. "It's...it's fuzzy, but I think it was cracked. I'm not entirely sure, but that seems right."

Nooroo's eyes went dinner-plate wide. "A cracked Miraculous? That's terrible! Using a damaged miraculous is dangerous for both the wielder and the kwami."

"Dangerous how?" The knot in my stomach was doing advanced gymnastics now, like it was trying to tie itself into a Boy Scout merit badge.

"Well," Nooroo's voice dropped low, "a Miraculous acts as a conduit between the wielder's life energy and the Kwami's power. When it's damaged, this connection becomes unstable. It leaks everywhere. Much is lost and what's left is practically nothing."

This was sounding eerily familiar, and eerily foreboding. "What happens to the person using it?"

His wings drooped like wilted flowers. "They experience rapid energy drain, leading to exhaustion, weakness, and serious illness. To put it simply, a person who uses a damaged Miraculous will ultimately continue to deteriorate. In the worst cases..." He trailed off, but his expression said everything.

A chill ran down my spine like liquid nitrogen. "And the kwami?"

"For us," he continued, "it's like being lost in a storm. Our thoughts scatter, our emotions go haywire. We lose our connection to the world and our powers." He fluttered nervously. "It's...not pleasant."

The air in the plane suddenly felt thick as concrete. "That's messed up," I whispered.

Nooroo nodded solemnly. "It's why Miraculous must be handled with utmost care. The bond between kwami and wielder is sacred. When it's compromised..." He made a face like he'd just bitten into a lemon wrapped in a pickle. "I can only hope Duusu is alright."

"Duusu?" The name pinballed around my brain, hitting something familiar. "The Peacock kwami, right?"

"Yes," Nooroo's expression softened like melting butter. "She's one of my siblings and a dear friend. I worry about her, if her Miraculous was truly damaged. Though I trust Master Fu can find and repair it."

"Yeah." I said, thinking of the kind old man. "Me too."

We fell into silence, the weight of everything settling over me like I'd just downloaded the entire internet into my brain. Between reality-breaking wishes and damaged mgical jewelry, I felt like I'd stumbled into the world's most dangerous pawn shop. My last experience was bad enough.

But you know what? Even with all this cosmic-level crazy stuff, I couldn't shake this feeling in my gut that I was doing the right thing. I had to be. Call it instinct, destiny, or maybe just pre-teen stupidity, but something told me I had to be on this plane. That dream wasn't just a dream, it was a warning. And if I could help prevent whatever disaster was coming, then stealing Fu's Miraculous and running away would be worth it.

Right?

A yawn snuck up and blindsided me, and my eyelids started doing their best impression of lead weights. Right, I forgot normal humans (okay, semi-normal in my case) actually need sleep. The adrenaline from my crack-of-dawn wake-up call was finally fizzling out, leaving me running on fumes like a phone desperately searching for a charger.

"Hey, Nooroo," I mumbled, my words getting mushy around the edges. "I think i'm gonna try to catch some sleep. Wake me if anything tries to eat us or something, okay?"

Nooroo's tiny laugh was like wind chimes. "Of course, Max. Rest well. Your mind could use the break from all this heavy thinking."

I reclined my seat (as much as economy class would allow, which wasn't much) and let my eyes drift shut. The plane's engines hummed like the world's largest white noise machine.

As I started to fade out, I felt Nooroo tucked himself into the hood of my jacket. You know that feeling when a cat chooses your lap to sleep on? That warm, fuzzy feeling of being chosen? Yeah, it was kind of like that. Here was this ancient, powerful being who could probably level a city block if he wanted, and he was curling up in my hood like a tiny purple kitten.

"Thanks, buddy," I murmured, already half-asleep. "For everything."

His quiet "You're welcome, Max" followed me into dreamland, and for the first time since this whole crazy adventure started, I felt like maybe, just maybe, I wasn't completely screwing everything up.

This chapter was mostly exposition on the power of the butterfly miraculous, the ultimate power, and the dangers of using a miraculous, especially when damaged. As well as for Max and Nooroo to bond a bit, since they never really got to know each other.

And this chapter was split into two, so you can probably take a guess what happens next. I hope you all enjoyed it!