Chapter Text
"Let's go over the basics again, boys," Philza says, opening a book in one hand and he grabs his wooden staff, which blooms with orange blossoms, in the other. Tubbo gets up quickly, readjusting as Tommy groans before sitting up fully, "Tubbo, go easy on your one leg, Tommy, focus on your skills, not your emotions."
"Okay!" Tubbo shouted, despite being the shortest in the group, the boy was full of energy and drive. Philza smiled and began to read from his book as Tubbo swung his staff at his teacher.
"All humanoid people within this world can focus their soul energy into magic. Magic is not something most are born with the ability to control easily, the users themselves have to work long hours to hone and improve magical abilities. This part of the magic journey has been dubbed the Magical Indoctrination." Philza blocked three hits from Tubbo and kicked Tommy off to the side, both boys tumbled before restarting. Tubbo having to use his staff to stand back up, "The only exceptions to that rule are Homunculi, Elementals, Fae, Angels or Demons. They are born with different levels of magic depending on their bloodline and other variables."
Philza kicked Tommy to the side again and scowled at him, tossing his book in the air as Tubbo charged. He grabbed the youngest boy's arm and twisted him onto the ground, before lifting him and throwing him towards Tommy. The blonde panicked, attempting to catch his friend, but he stumbled and fell back under the sudden addition of Tubbo's weight. Philza wiped his hands off and turned to them, holding out one hand which perfectly caught the book he had thrown earlier, "What species are exceptions of Magic Indoctrination?"
Tommy hums in confusion and Tubbo rubs his head as he mutters, "Homunculi, Fae, Angels, Demons and..."
" Elementals !" Tommy finishes Tubbo's sentence and Philza nods, his eyes gazing at the two on the ground from underneath the brim of his hat.
"Correct, but would you have known that on your own , boys?" Philza chucks the book as hard as he can at Wilbur, who catches it with one hand before he makes his way over to the group.
"No..." Tommy sighed, getting up before he helped his best friend to a standing position as Wilbur handed him a crutch.
"I was gonna figure it out!" Tubbo complained, "but Tommy stole it!"
The two begin to argue and Philza sighed, looking over at Wilbur who hands him the book back. Wilbur then smiles slyly at the two kids before kicking his leg out to hit Tubbo's knee, which causes the boy to collapse into the dirt below him. Philza immediately whacks the back of Wilbur's head and leans down to help Tubbo up.
" Wilbur! God, the poor kid already has problems walking with his one leg, leave him be." Philza complains, wrapping an arm under Tubbo's to keep him stable, "Cmon, that's enough fight training for today, Tubbo. You should go read and study with Niki."
"But I suck at reading!" Tubbo complained, "the letters get all jumbled and then nothing makes sense!"
"I know, son, I know. But you have to at least try, if it gets challenging ask Niki to read it aloud, okay? Wilbur, take him Miss Nihachu, okay? And help him study, don't bully him anymore." With a playfully angry look at Wilbur, he passes Tubbo onto the other, who simply picks him up and nestles him on his back.
"Will do, Daddio." Wilbur laughs gently and walks into the small cabin with Tubbo, who's already starting babbling about something.
"Tommy. Walk and talk, okay?" Philza simply begins to walk off, letting the leaves crunch under his feet. Tommy jogs to catch up, Philza nods back at him once he sees him in the corner of his eye. Clarifying something secretly.
"You have to start taking your studies more seriously, Tommy. Tubbo is excelling in work that should be a breeze for you, but you simply do not care enough to put in the effort to learn and to grow." The older man turns to the boy beside him and smiles, it doesn't quite reach his eyes as a normal smile would, but it gets pretty close, "there's something... unique, about you and Tubbo. Something I can't quite place just yet. However, I know the two of you are destined for something great. Son, don't rest until you get that greatness."
"Something great about me ? Cut me some slack." Tommy rolled his eyes, "and the only reason Tubbo is excelling is that he's a total geek about this stuff!"
"Do not speak ill of him," Philza warns.
"I'm telling you the truth, sir!" Tommy groans, smacking his fists against his thighs, "he just, gets this stuff. I don't understand it at all! Plus, why do I even need to study all this magic and fighting technique bullshit? I should just be able to go in and bash shit if I'm supposed to be ' so great ' or whatever."
"Tommy. You aren't as great as you think. If you actually listened to today's lesson you'd understand why you need to study and practice--"
"--Magic Indoctrination, I fuckin' know." Tommy looks down, kicking the leaves. Philza sighs and takes a few steps to the side before vines slowly start to stretch out to Tommy, who notices and yelps while trying to kick them away.
"Hey! What the fuck!" He screeches, kicking one harshly, but it doesn't stop them. He glances over at Philza, whose eyes are glowing a pure white.
"When I trained, we did not get a warning." He said calmly, his hands pressed together, "You have to knock me down, once , without severely injuring me. Do you understand?"
"Y-Yeah!" Tommy says and slams a fist into one of the vines, grabbing it, he focuses, and slowly but surely a staff begins to rise from what one was a vine. It keeps the look of the vine but has the sturdiness of a normal blade. He immediately begins to hastily slice at the vines and Philza scowls.
" Technique !" He shouts and charges at his pupil, who panics and raises an arm to block the attack. Philza stops mid-way and Tommy stares through his fingers as Philza doubles over and groans. He then stumbles to the side, catching his weight on a tree before his knees buckle and he grabs the sides of his head as he crashes to the floor.
"Philza!" Tommy shouts, kneeling next to him. This is a clear demeanor change, something has to be wrong. He reaches out his hands and gently nudges his teacher, trying to figure out if he was injured.
"Tommy! Stop !" Philza yells and Tommy immediately retracts his hands. He whips his head around, looking wildly for anyone to help. But Technoblade is at work and the other three are in the cabin Tommy can no longer see.
"Philza, please, what's wrong--"
"Get out of my head !" Philza wails this time and lifts his head sharply, white tears pooling down his face. Tommy screams, scrambling back against the leaves. Philza cries again, this time in pure agony, and Tommy wastes no time scrambling to his feet and running as fast as he can.
"Wilbur! Niki!" He screams as he approaches the cabin, "Niki! Wilbur! Hey! Please, someone help !"
Niki bursts open the cabin door before Tommy can even approach it, "Tommy, what's wrong? What's happened?"
"P-Philza! I don't know! I think I hurt him? Or I am? I don't know!" He begins to ramble with tears in his eyes, tugging Niki along.
"Wilbur, keep training Tubbo. I'll be back. I'm sure it's not that bad." Niki nods and turns, running alongside Tommy. When they arrive at where he’s curled against the tree Niki is stunned, not knowing what to do.
"Teacher? Sir? Philza?" Tommy says as they get closer, "are you okay..?"
"Tommy, you need to-" he's cut off by a loud groan, his whole body lurches, " stop using psionic abilities."
"I don't have psionic abilities!" Tommy cries, a heavy blink letting the tears run down his face, "I don't have any magic!"
"There is a magic pull coming from you Tommy..." Niki says, kneeling in front of Philza and cupping his face. She rubs her thumbs along the sides of his head and hums a melody. Philza closes his eyes and leans into her touch and after a few minutes, he blinks his eyes open. They no longer shine with white tears that weren't normal and the white glow that was seen when he charges or uses his magic. Niki turns and grabs Tommy's hands, rubbing her thumbs along his palms and humming a similar but different tune. He starts to notice a draining feeling like he's about to fall asleep. Then he crumbles to his knees and rests his head against Niki's lap.
"There... all settled." She murmurs, combing her fingers through Tommy's hair.
"Niki, you used—"
"—I know. It's fine. The mark wears off in a week." She says, looking down the path where Wilbur is walking alongside a clearly worried Tubbo.
"Is everything alright now?" Wilbur asks, looking down at Tommy who whimpers softly against Niki's skirt. Draining someone’s soul energy and the magic force causes a lot of exhaustion and pain, she can’t even begin to imagine how he feels. Tubbo moves over to him and sits down, rubbing Tommy’s shoulder.
"Yes. Tommy overexerted himself. He also didn't know about having some sort of psionic ability." Niki runs her fingers through his hair again and Tommy closes his eyes.
"Wilbur, can you help Philza back? I'll bring Tommy." She asks. Wilbur nods and kneels beside Philza, helping him to his feet.
"Here we go, Dad. Come on." Wilbur murmurs as he wraps his arm around him to help guide him back.
"Oh Tommy, what are we going to do with you..." Niki whispers.