Chapter Text
Like any person who hadn’t spawned or come from another planet, Lin Ling had one thing he kept from his ‘guardian’.
Notice the word used, guardian, not parent, because even though Lin Ling loved his parents they were all the way back in the countryside living cut-off from everything and everyone.
See, Lin Ling was raised in some rinky-dink rural town in the middle of nowhere, but his parents wanted more for him.
So what more could they do if not send him in some fancy transfer program at the age of thirteen? That was sarcasm, the decision was inherently a bad one and the chances of him succeeding in the conditions of the program were minimal.
Still his parents took that risk, because they believed 110% he would succeed and took the guaranteed gamble.
That decision had led Lin Ling to live in his current path, the one of a University Graduate working his first job and realizing slowly that all trace of his identity was slowly being scrubbed clean.
Lin Ling could barely understand his parent’s dialect anymore, he couldn’t understand the jokes they would tell over the phone, his wardrobe no longer contained any of the handmade, colorful coverings of his little quaint town.
That horrifying realization hit Lin Ling hard, harder than any gut punch ever could. Lin Ling stood at a crossroads, drowning slowly in self-imposed guilt and forced pride.
He was proud of meeting his parents' hopes for him, he was too proud to stop until he climbed up as high as the ladder reached, but he was guilty, guilty of watering down himself into a more digestible member of society.
He choked out tears as he ripped open boxes he’d left hidden and locked away. He ripped the tape like a man ripping off the scabs of old wounds in panic-induced mania. He let out soft sniffles at the sparse objects all old and covered in years-worth of dust.
Most items were faded and ill preserved, their colors fading as the lights of dying ghosts would.
He was a horrible son, the most unfilial spawn. His tears dropped down as he desperately grasped another box.
Through blurred tears the faded pen on the box read in lazy, uncaring, scrawling handwriting.
“Amah..” His voice sounded weak, and so unsure.
He could almost hear her clicking her tongue at him, her old walking stick leaning over as she would try and rise from her chair to scold him.
“Get your head back on your body, eh?! You want me to confuse you with one of Mr. Xiao’s chickens?” She would huff.
The memory faded quickly, the smell of paper gone with it.
All that was left was the box hidden quaint in the small corner.
He opened it as gently as he could, inside were a couple of old charms and bracelets. A small laugh bubbled from his chest, his 13th birthday, the last one he spent with them they had taken a picture with her. The camera was old, a present from her husband, it barely functioned, but it still managed to take a slice of time and imprint it in grainy ink. The same picture was in the box, him grinning next to her and his parents.
He ran his fingers gently on the small image, cradling it like it was made from the finest gold. This was priceless, he needed to make copies and keep the original in a safe place, a place where it would be free from further yellowing and the erosion of time.
Then his eyes landed on the final item.
It was a smaller black box.
The one his grandmother had given to him as his gift. He remembers how he attempted to open it immediately only for her to rip it out of his hands and descend on another lecture.
“Potent stuff! Only use it when all seems wrong.”
He grasped the box. His grandmother had always been more on the mystical side, perhaps it was something she considered a blessed artifact.
“Potent stuff! Only use it when all seems wrong.”
Did he think everything seemed wrong? His chest tightened in response.
Yes
He flicked the top open expecting anything, but the lightshow that blinded him.
“Ugh!” he shielded his eyes until the eye-damaging light display was over.
+++
Nooro opened his eyes for the first time in… too long.
He blinked, as his gaze trailed downward he was met with a young man.
The boy didn’t look intimidating in any way, with soft brown hair and matching bloodshot eyes. Despite that Nooro still flinched, his last 2 masters hadn’t been the best and as much as he knew he was free, his mind and body never truly felt it.
He almost expected to open his mouth only for it to disappear at his master’s want of silence, or for his whole body to grow paralyzed, dropping to the floor like a limp puppet.
“Hello, I am Nooro the Kwami of Generosity-”
“What the h-hell?!” Nooro flinched at the raised voice.
The man scrambled backwards looking horrified.
“Oh sweet god I’m hallucinating. I lost it- its gone- all my marbles gone, there is not a weird floating bug thing in the air.” He rambled eyes wide and startled.
Nooro sighed, right, this was the normal reaction a human should have to his appearance, not plans of world domination or reality-destroying wishes.
“You are not hallucinating, master.” The kwami reasoned, slowly floating closer to the young man.
“I am not dangerous, I come bearing gifts.”
The brunet frowned confused.
“L-like a genie.”
Noroo huffed distastefully.
“No I don’t make wishes for you to regret, I grant you superpowers.”
…
“Okay so this is some late stage delusions of grandeur-”
“Not at all, master.” Nooro shook his head.
“As the Kwami of generosity I give you the ability to create superheroes.”
The man let out a chuckle.
“Look if what you’re saying is true, you should look for a new master, I have no Trust.”
Nooro felt himself jump back in fear.
“You’re not trustworthy?”
The brunet blinked, his expression shifted to varying degrees of confusion before landing on offense.
“No! I just, my Trust Value is zero!”
Nooro felt his breathing growing more shallow.
Why? Why?! WHY?!
What had he done to deserve this again?
He almost let out a cry, before a forearm was shoved to his face.
Nooro looked at the man’s wrist, a glowing blue zero sparkled lightly on it.
“W-what is this…?”
The brunet shook his head lightly.
“To be a hero one needs the people to believe in them, only those with high Trust Value are capable of getting the job done.” He explained gently.
Ah… this must have been a product of the new age. Only those with high numbers on their wrist had the opportunity to be heroes.
Nooro felt his breathing steady out, so this person wasn’t… a bad guy? Then that number didn’t matter, it must’ve been some weird standard of the time.
No matter, this human was honest, even suggesting Nooro should find another Master. Nooro looked at the man again this time with fresh eyes.
No bias, no fear, just the semi-broken positivity of a potential new holder.
A real holder, not a villain who would twist his powers into a vindictive mockery of greed and selfishness.
The man was young, probably fresh into adulthood, his features were soft even when damned by the high-strung emotions he was obviously experiencing. He wore wrinkled plain clothes and a look of uncertainty highlighted by red-rimmed eyes.
‘He was probably crying before waking me.’
“What is your name, master?’
“Uh, Lin Ling.”
“I see, do you want to be a hero?” Nooro asked, getting straight to the point.
The man-Lin Ling- looked surprised at the question.
“Um, yeah… it’s been my dream since my kid years.”
Nooro narrowed his eyes.
“Why?”
For power? Strength?
“Because I want to save people.” He stated, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
Nooro smiled softly.
Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad.
“Then I’ll make you one.”
Lin Ling looked uncomfortable and uncertain.
Nooro smiled gently, flying to his brooch and pinning it to Lin Ling’s right. It was fancy and out of place on his plain white shirt.
“With the Butterfly Miraculous you can make ordinary people into powerful heroes matching every situation. The only true limit is your imagination and the mental strength of the people you pick.” Nooro turned to Lin Ling, eyes solemn.
“In your hands, anyone can be a hero, ‘Trust Value’ or not.”
Lin Ling looked surprised and a bit embarrassed.
“I’m sorry, but…”
Nooro sighed, this new master of his really needed more assertiveness.
“Give it a test run, if you don’t like you can just put my miraculous back in the box and give me back to the current guardian.”
Nooro focused on his powers, it was risky, a kwami using their powers always was.
5 pure white butterflies erupted from his tiny palms fling wildly all around the room.
Ooops
Nooro cleared his throat.
“It will come naturally, just be careful and ensure you know your own limits.” The kwami warned.
Lin Ling ran a hand through his hair, frustration lining his form.
“Fine, what do I do?”
Nooro smiled.
“Say Nooro ‘Light Wings Rise’ to transform and ‘Light Wings Fall’ to detransform.”
Lin Ling nodded his head and stood up, determined.
“Nooro, Light Wings Rise!” The feeling was instantaneous, he felt himself fusing with miraculous and imparted his power to it.
+++
Lin Ling had no idea why he played along with the delusion.
(That was a lie he knew the reason, it was how tense the ‘kwami’ thing looked)
More importantly he was surprised that playing along paid off, the minute the words were spoken he felt a strange energy permeate from the brooch and spread through his body. A purplish glow wrapped around him forming a tight-knit high-quality hero suit.
He blinked, stared at the cane in his hand, and blinked again.
What? Did that really just happen? How?!
He glanced at his wrist frowning at the glowing zero.
Then his frown deepened as he tried doing a backflip, something he knew he couldn’t do… and succeeded! A gasp left his mouth, then a chuckle, finally a wild laugh.
Oh, he was crazy alright, this was some next level delusion unlocked by repressed emotion. He ran to the bathroom, touching his face rapidly and attempting (in vain) to remove his mask.
When nothing happened, he simply stared at his new reflection.
Lin Ling’s mask was a sharp domino mask dyed white, gold, and purple.
It looks like a butterfly…
His outfit was a skin tight suit that reminded Lin Ling of the things worn by magicians, jesters, or phantom thieves in older anime. A layered tailcoat was shaped so that the top layer of cloth was shorter and shaped like wings. Each layer was dyed with the same three colors.
He felt so over the top, but at the same time who cared?
So what is his hero outfit a walking cliche?! He had a hero suit! That alone was a reason to celebrate.
He ran his fingers down his sides admiring just how natural the suit felt, he didn't feel heavy or hot despite the large amount of fabric.
Finally, he grasped the cane admiring how natural it felt to hold and the slight details of the top knob.
Wait..? Is the top hollow?
His eyes widened as the cane clicked open revealing a small area of plush velvet. It kind of reminded Lin Ling of the boxes used to hide wedding bands.
One of the butterflies landed on the velvet, almost as if waiting for Ling Lin to do something.
“Do you want me to close it?”
The little white thing flapped its wings twice as if saying yes.
“Well, I’m sorry, but I’d rather not have a dead butterfly in my cane.”
The butterfly flapped twice again, and flew into his hair, its fellows followed suit.
Lin Ling laughed at their antics, before his face turned serious.
“Time for the moment of truth.” He walked outside the bathroom and walked until he found his apartment’s fire escape.
He looked down, the fall was roughly 20 feet, Lin Ling breathed in a shuddering breath then jumped downwards.
Within an instant his body twisted and he dropped to the ground in a perfect momentum-stalling roll.
It worked, Lin Ling couldn’t help but let out an incredulous laugh.
The butterflies on his hair walked around, burrowing into his brown locks.
Lin Ling looked up at the building wall and wondered.
“Can I parkour up that?”
So he tried, because with Nooro’s help he just might.
With agility and strength that was never in his original body he zigzag jumped up till the rooftop was in sight. It was exhilarating, with light breathing he turned to scan the rooftop.
It was a typical rooftop, bits of trash, faded paint, and an overall feel of city slicker despair.
The view made it worth it, though.
From gorgeous colors of the midsummer’s sunset to the view of thousands of people all milling about painted the world in a warm and bright tone.
Beautiful… thank you, Amah..
Unfortunately, the ground began to shake and Lin Ling knew his peaceful test drive had come to a swift end.
+++
Son of a-
Nice avoided cursing outloud, it would ruin the ‘Perfect’ image Ms. J seemed obsessed with promoting.
However, the situation he was in was less than ideal. The villain he was fighting was the (self-proclaimed) nemesis of the 30th hero Vivid Star, Earthquake.
Like his name suggested, Earthquake controlled the earth all around, but for some reason (Nice assumed stupidity) his main method of attack was shaking the world around them to create numerous accidents for civilians.
He was every EMT’s worst nightmare, a healing hero’s headache, and currently Nice’s ticket to a huge Trust Value plummet.
If a single civilian had even one unrecoverable injury, or worse someone died, his ass was metaphorically grass. Finished, whole career up in smoke.
He flew to the left narrowly catching a large amount of rubble that almost fell onto a public transport unit of tourists. He then dropped and went to save a kid who almost got turned to a headline by a fallen tree.
This was horribly mismatched, Earthquake was true scum, whenever he was in a tight spot he would attack a civilian forcing Nice out of the fight to make an impromptu rescue.
It’s what made him such a hard villain to deal with, he wasn’t the strongest or the smartest, just the most evil. He knew if he kept the heroes running around like headless chickens they would get tired eventually.
Nice felt his frustration and fatigue growing, he couldn’t put his full attention on the fight, backup wasn’t here yet and Vivid Star was overseas.
Why did he pick the one week they’re gone to escape solitary confinement?
Vivid Star you ill-prepared dumbass! You left this for your underclassmen to handle?!
He grunted as he lifted a random statue that almost crushed a teenager and thanked every deity that they didn’t start recording, choosing to run away immediately.
Crack
Nice jumped back narrowly avoiding the sharpened earth spear that almost went through his abdomen and turned his attention back to Earthquake.
This fight was going to leave him pissed and lectured later on, right? He’d found his smile dropping to a frown 3 times already, which was a big no-no according to Ms. J. On second thought, maybe it would’ve been better to have gotten impaled instead.
A shrill scream made Nice’s smile drop completely.
He turned to the source, a young woman was on the floor, the stonehenge of spikes may have missed him, but not a civilian behind him.
There was a major injury-
Nice sidestepped another barrage of weaponized earth.
This was bad.
Really bad.
Then Earthquake’s eyes fell on where Nice was looking at and his expression changed to a wicked smirk.
His fingers made a motion and the ground rippled already targeted at the injured woman-
Crash!
A kick slammed right onto Earthquake’s face making him unsteady, the aimed shot slowed to stop.
Nice let a sigh of relief leave him, backup had arrived.
Earthquake recovered quickly and angrily showered the new opponent with spikes.
The new entry gracefully dodged the spikes and jumped to Nice’s side.
“Are you okay?”
Nice blinked, he didn’t recognize the hero in front of him, had headquarters sent a newbie?
No matter how talented a newbie, Earthquake was by far the worst candidate for a debut villain.
The hero must’ve taken Nice’s silence as a no and looked at the villain with disdain.
“Mr. Nice, I’m going to use my ability on you.”
Nice blinked, realization hitting him.
The newbie must’ve been some kind of support hero, that was much better then the previous theory.
Earthquake struck again, this time more recklessly.
Both dodged.
Nice focused on the villain when his vision was caught by a small object flying floating toward him. He narrowed his eyes as the tiny thing, would this actually help?
The thing flew straight at him, landing and being absorbed by the blue gem on his chest
Can you hear me?
Nice jumped at the sound of the familiar male voice.
Ah, good! Nice I will give the power of a… the voice hesitated almost as if thinking.
A paladin! Everywhere your light reaches will be your domain, a domain untouched by pain or evil! Take this power and defeat those who stand in your way!
Nice cringed at the voice’s narration, but this man had been sent as his back-up so might as well take the boost.
The now lilac gem shimmered and its glow spread all over his body.
+++
Lin Ling stared at the hero's new form, his outfit was similar to that of his base form, but it looked like it fused with a fantasy AU fanart.
Brilliant wings made of pure golden light shined down, everything it touched glowed in a soft golden aura. The black hardened earth faded into dust and the land seemed to heal, as if blessed by some kind of nature god.
Just by looking he could tell nothing would leave a scratch on the glowing surfaces, nothing permanent at least.
Lin Ling turned and smiled at the sight left of him, the woman Nice was worried for before was fine now, the thing that had impaled her leg was gone and her wound was closing up.
Amazing…
Lin Ling marveled at the power given by Nooro.
He’d done that and now the fight seemed incredibly one-sided. Nice no longer had to worry about the civilians, every attack made toward them would melt to dust under the glow of the golden domain.
Now that Earthquake’s main strategy was gone he was pathetically easy to beat. Either that or Nice just made quick work of him off skill alone, which honestly Lin Ling wouldn’t be surprised by.
The wind blew as the villain was KO’d, people cheered, and Superhuman Containment Officers got out of their bulky vehicle to handcuff the man.
Lin Ling grinned and thanked his grandmother once more. He’d give Nice a couple minutes to finish everything and then take back his… kamiko.
Yeah, that was the name, he smiled warmly feeling tension leave his body.
“Hey!”
+++
Nice looked up at the drone recording the fight, he looked down at his fists and breathed in out.
He expected a small boost in speed, or for his fatigue to leave, not whatever this was.
He treaded his hand through the golden wings, they were huge, a total of roughly 20 feet wingspan. Despite looking to be made of pure light they were soft and smooth.
As normal wings they were unnecessary, Nice could just float naturally, but everything else they did was unbelievable.
He stared at the drone, he needed to ensure the audience knew the support hero who did this. A support whose power is so potent as to lead to a new transformation was insanely valuable. At that moment he made an executive decision, they needed him on their side, and what better way then by helping his debut?
He turned to find the support hero smiling at him with a softness he didn’t expect.
“Hey!” The man’s smile froze, he blinked, looked behind before pointing a finger at himself.
“Who, me?”
Nice flashed his iconic smile and flew toward him landing right in front of him.
The hero’s eyes widened and he took a step back at the sudden closeness.
“Ah, hi!” The man’s eyes looked wide and confused.
“You did this.” He gestured to his new appearance.
The newbie blinked, suddenly looking awkward.
“Sorry if it wasn’t the best, first time jitters is all, I swear!” The hero scratched the back of his head looking like he wanted to be anywhere, but here.
Nice shook his head.
“No need to apologize, you did amazing!” He grasped the man’s hands.
The man looked at him like he’d grown a second head.
“What’s your name? I haven’t seen a support hero as strong as you before! That kick you gave Earthquake was no joke either!” He rambled, praising and acting like an impressed upperclassman, which honestly wasn’t too hard considering he was one.
The drone was live, all the viewers were seeing everything.
The man looked taken aback at the question, before smiling brightly.
“I’m Metamorphis!” He stated, eyes sparkling.
Oh, he’s natural, people would be calling him a sunshine child within the hour.
Then his smile dropped, he looked extremely awkward.
“Speaking of which… I need you to return the Kamiko..”
Nice blinked.
“Kamiko…?”
Metamorphis removed his hands from Nice’s and poked the gem on his chest.
“I can’t let you keep it forever you know? I-” He looked curious.
“Well I could, but.., I don’t think my mentor would approve.”
Ah! Must be time for the transformation to be revoked.
“I see, don’t hesitate on my part, then!”
Metamorphis grasped at something and the purple energy came out of the gem, in a blink Nice was back to normal.
Nice frowned at the weird feeling, but his gaze stayed on the object in the newbie’s hand.
“A... butterfly?”
“Kamiko.” Metamorphis corrected.
Nice laughed.
“Right.”
The kamiko’s glow dissipated.
“Now it’s a butterfly.”
Nice stared at the fragile thing.
Metamorphis smiled, then bowed politely.
“It was a pleasure working with you.” He turned around and ran off into the night.
Nice kept his eyes trained at the newbie, still smiling.