Chapter 16: Forms of Friendship
POV: Adam
Tommy's request came at dawn, delivered with military directness that cut through Adam's post-combat exhaustion. "Teach me."
"Teach you what?"
"Those breathing techniques. If I'm fighting infected, I want every advantage available."
Adam's internal war played out in the silence between heartbeats. Sharing Stone Breathing basics risked exposure—what if Tommy's questions grew too specific, demanded explanations that revealed transmigration origins? But refusing would damage the genuine friendship they'd built on foundations of mutual respect and partial truths.
"Compromise. Teach basics, claim they're from ancient martial traditions. Not entirely false—Stone Breathing does derive from historical combat styles."
"Ancient techniques," Adam said carefully. "Breathing patterns that enhance physical performance through controlled oxygen flow. Military programs studied them for special operations training."
Close enough to plausible that Tommy's military background would accept the explanation. Far enough from supernatural truth that questions wouldn't lead to dangerous revelations.
"Show me."
They spent the morning in abandoned warehouse that had become Adam's primary training facility—space large enough for sword forms, isolated enough for privacy, sturdy enough to withstand Stone Breathing's enhanced impact forces.
"Total Concentration Breathing, constant. Foundation of all techniques."
Tommy attempted the respiratory pattern with competitive determination that reminded Adam painfully of Joel's focused intensity. But where Joel's concentration came naturally, Tommy struggled with rhythm that felt foreign to normal human physiology.
Can't maintain breathing while moving. Accidentally hyperventilates and passes out during third attempt. Recovers consciousness to find Adam checking pulse with medical concern, both of them laughing despite the training accident.
"Real threatening," Adam deadpans as Tommy sits up, still dizzy from oxygen imbalance. "Strike fear into infected hearts with strategic fainting."
First pure laughter in months. Detection showed Tommy's respect deepening—seeing Adam as teacher rather than mysterious ally, recognizing patience and humor beneath supernatural abilities.
POV: Tommy
Four weeks of practice finally produced breakthrough moment. Total Concentration Breathing held stable for thirty seconds, strength surging through muscles like controlled lightning. Awareness sharpened until dust motes seemed visible in peripheral vision.
"This is how he moves. Body enhanced beyond normal limits through techniques anyone can learn with enough discipline."
Questions bubbled up despite Tommy's attempts at respectful acceptance. "How long did you train to master this?"
"Feels like a lifetime." Adam's response carried weight that suggested literal truth despite obvious deflection.
Tommy shared parallel history—military service, guilt over following orders that resulted in civilian casualties, searching for redemption through Firefly ideology that promised meaningful resistance against oppression. Different origins, same drive toward something better than survival for its own sake.
"We both carry ghosts," Tommy observed, settling into breathing pattern that came easier with each session. "Yours from experimental programs. Mine from conventional warfare."
"Brothers in purpose if not blood," Adam agreed, and something in his voice suggested deeper connection than casual camaraderie.
"He knows things about my family. Acts like connections run deeper than random encounter during outbreak chaos. But pushing for answers damages trust we've built."
Tommy demonstrated Stone Breathing basics with clumsy but functional execution. First Form: Serpentinite Bipolar performed with practice sword, movements rough but recognizably correct. Pride radiated through enhanced strength that made every gesture feel more precise than normal human coordination allowed.
"Not bad," Adam evaluated. "Give it another year of practice and you might actually be threatening."
"Only a year?"
"I'm being generous."
The humor carried genuine affection that made Tommy's chest tight with emotions he hadn't felt since Joel pushed him away. Family connection without biological relationship. Brotherhood chosen rather than inherited.
"Whatever secrets he's carrying, whatever experimental past created his abilities—this matters more. Teaching, learning, building something together that makes both of us stronger."
POV: Adam
Marlene's confrontation came with tactical precision that demonstrated why she led Firefly operations despite being younger than most of her commanders. "You're creating more anomalies."
"I'm giving people tools to survive."
"Tools that make them targets for the same forces hunting you." Her voice carried frustration born from strategic thinking that viewed individual benefits through collective risk assessment. "Werner's still out there. Every person you teach becomes potential subject for his experiments."
The argument escalated through factional politics that reduced human relationships to tactical assets. Marlene wanted Adam's powers exclusive to Fireflies—controllable advantage that could tip balances against FEDRA oppression. Teaching Stone Breathing to allies threatened her vision of contained supernatural enhancement.
"Tommy continues training," Adam declared with finality that Detection read as genuine determination. "But no others without your approval."
Compromise that satisfied neither position while preventing complete breakdown of alliance. Marlene's tactical acceptance mixed with continued suspicion. Adam's protective instincts balanced against political necessities.
"She's right about dangers, wrong about solutions. Tommy deserves choices about risks he's willing to accept. But exposing others could create targets I'm not equipped to protect."
Uneasy peace maintained through mutual recognition that cooperation served both their interests despite conflicting philosophies about shared power.
POV: Adam
Evening training session found Tommy achieving Form One's basic execution with growing confidence. Clumsy compared to Adam's supernatural mastery, but functional enough to provide combat advantage against infected that relied on overwhelming normal human reflexes.
Pride radiated from Tommy's enhanced strength and coordination. Detection showed genuine satisfaction at progress earned through disciplined practice rather than convenient enhancement. He was becoming someone stronger through effort and determination.
Adam felt warmth mixed with crushing guilt. Teaching survival techniques while lying about their origins. Building friendship on foundations of deception that could collapse if truth ever emerged about transmigration, about faces that carried impossible genetic markers, about knowledge drawn from fictional futures that had somehow become reality.
"I'm giving him tools for survival while hiding everything that makes me who I am. Is that friendship or sophisticated manipulation disguised as caring?"
From shadows near the training area, Tess watched with complicated emotions that Detection painted in layered detail. Happiness for Adam's connection with someone who understood military background. Worry about consequences of expanded abilities. And something else—jealousy? Concern that Tommy's growing importance might diminish her place in Adam's carefully guarded inner circle?
"Another relationship to navigate. Another person whose feelings matter in equations that grow more complex with each connection I form."
But watching Tommy master techniques that could save his life, seeing genuine pride in accomplishment earned through dedication—the emotional rewards felt worth whatever risks they created.
"Maybe teaching is how I justify the lies. Give people tools to survive, hope that matters more than deception about where those tools came from."
The training session ended with Tommy's successful demonstration of controlled breathing that enhanced strength by approximately twenty percent—significant advantage against infected, negligible compared to Adam's supernatural enhancement, but real progress nonetheless.
"Same time tomorrow?" Tommy asked, toweling sweat from practice that pushed normal human physiology toward its enhanced limits.
"Same time tomorrow."
Brotherhood built on partial truths, but brotherhood nonetheless. Whatever consequences emerged from teaching Stone Breathing basics, whatever dangers grew from expanding supernatural knowledge beyond carefully controlled circles—some things were worth the risks they created.
Tommy Miller deserved the chance to become stronger. Adam would provide that opportunity despite costs it might demand from both of them.
The friendship was worth whatever prices friendship required.
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