TBATE - Brother's Once More

Experimenting

Theodore Maxwell

I didn't know how long I was out. But damn.

The only thing that could describe what I felt like right now was as if my body had been broken apart then put back together by an infant.

The pain that radiated throughout my body was something I hadn't felt in such a long time.

An oddly powerless feeling had overcome me as my eyes slowly opened.

The time it took me to process where I was brought a slow realization that I was bedridden and in the infirmary.

I tried to lift an arm. Even that was tiring.

"So you're finally up," a kiddish voice commented nearby.

My head turned to the direction of the voice.

The familiar head of reddish-brown hair and blue eyes was enough to know.

"Oh. It's just you." I sighed, struggling to bring myself up.

A weightless force pushed me up and I grunted in pain.

"The hell happened to me?" I huffed.

I knew something was wrong now. Even at my weakest, I wasn't like this. My core could be empty and I would still be in better shape than I was now.

"If you mean why you feel so much weaker, I guess you could blame him for that."

Claire entered the room and gestured to Jayden.

My eyes moved to him for an answer. It was like he was accused of a crime as he sighed.

"Alright, I feel shady for saying this, but I kinda made you my guinea pig when we fought last night."

"Kinda? You literally made him the first trial to a study of magic that you read not even a day prior," Claire countered in my confusion.

She came up to me and placed a hand on my arm.

"Don't worry, Theo. This brat here said you'll be fine after a few days of rest, minimum."

I just fell into the mattress again and sighed in my pain.

"Ah, fuck, whatever! I'm too hurt to care and too dumb to understand. If I need to rest then whatever. Just gimme some food. I'm hungry."

Claire smiled and puffed her chest up with a smug look in her eyes.

"Way ahead of you, Theo. I ordered a bunch of food from the café this morning. We're gonna take this time to sit down and catch our new junior up with the going ons in the school."

**

Jayden Leywin

"That'sh bashic'ly it."

Theodore chomped down on an entire half of his sandwich, crumbs falling to the plate on his lap.

With a nod, I took another bite of my chicken wrap.

"Basically, I'm free to do anything I want."

Claire snickered and smacked my arm.

"Nobody thinks about it that way. This is still the most prestigious school on the continent. We still have a reputation to maintain."

I paused between bites, wondering if we were talking about the same Xyrus Academy.

"Reputation? If that's the case, then you've gotta re-establish that point with all of your other classmates."

Theodore grabbed another sandwich and spoke before indulging yet again in his luncheon delight.

"Almost any student you see outside campus grounds are either visiting family, farming merit at the guild or riding the school's reputation like a prostitute servicing the king."

"Theo! Don't say that!" Claire chastised with a smack to his head. She was trying to fight back a laugh, I could tell.

"He's not lying," I countered with a chuckle. "Pretty much all the brats who screw with the vendors aren't exactly remarkable. It's hard to believe you guys even accept Red core mages, let alone Black cores."

Claire rolled her eyes in irritation, groaning. "Ugh. Don't even get me started. Those brats are all just incompetents who got in because of daddy's money. They don't have a semblance of real experience or talent."

I shrugged. "Can I really say I'm surprised at all? I might have been pleasantly surprised that there were actually competent students at Xyrus, but it didn't take me long to learn that people like you two are diamonds in a cave of iron."

Theodore nodded silently in agreement, gobbling down yet another sandwich.

"See? Even Theo agrees with me. I can call you that, right?"

He just shot me a bored glance, chewing away. "Shure. Jush lemme fight you again."

**

"Indulge me for a moment, will you Claire?" I asked, redirecting her wind bullets with mana. They were noticeably quicker, and more powerful than I'd last seen.

"Sure! What's..! up?!" She grunted, unleashing another volley of thrusts. The frequency of her attacks were slower, but the attacks themselves had improved drastically in power.

"Why exactly are we doing this?"

After looking at her attacks properly, I noticed the improvements she'd made.

"To experiment, obviously!" With a grunt, she flashed forward with her rapier, catching me off guard.

I felt a lingering source of wind mana under the soles of her feet, which kind of impressed me.

Maybe she was watching me more intently when I fought Theo than I thought.

"I see that, but why experiment with me in particular? I'm sure my moves are more than enough help."

I dodged another onslaught of thrusts and feints before she plopped onto the ground with heavy breaths.

"Well... I guess my only excuse is... excitement."

"Hm? What's that mean?"

She looked at me and laughed. "Man, for a genius, you're pretty dumb. Your skills kinda gave me a wake-up call. I forgot what creativity felt like. And then you came in like a storm, throwing out all kinds of obscurities."

Sitting down next to her, I chuckled. "It's not that much. Just... perks of seeing more of the world than others."

"Knowing you, I'm kinda concerned that it doesn't sound like a joke," a voice spoke from behind us.

"Hey Leo~." Claire chimed, her arm raising in the air to wave.

"What's up, Leonard?" I turned to him, noticing he still donned part of his plate armor.

"I heard Claire was starting a new magic training experiment with you. Figured I should come by and see what that's all about."

A blur of red hit my face before I could speak.

"Rumors already?! It's been less than an hour!"

With a chuckle, I wiped Claire's hair out of my face. "So you're not denying the accusations?"

She looked at me with a rejuvenated passion, balling her fists. "Of course not! You have no say in this! We're doing it regardless of your opinion!"

I just laughed, standing up. "Of course we are. At least let me get comfortable before we continue."

**

Author's Notes

So. It's been like. Four months since I actually did this.

I'm guilty and have no regrets about my decisions.

Jokes aside, I'm hoping to get back into the cycle of writing and publishing, especially now that my time will be few and far between once I start college in the coming weeks.

I think I owe it to my five(probably less) loyal readers who've stuck with me since the beginning to do that much.

(Shoutout to Shades for almost always getting first vote btw)(yeah I remember who tf you are)

That's that, though. See you whenever.

Bye bye.