"My name is Ethan. As for my ability..." Ethan hesitated for a moment before continuing, "It's a bit complicated to explain, and it's easy to break things. I'll fill you in later when there's time. Sorry."
"Tch! Boring." Hearing that, John—better known as Pyro—flopped onto his bed, clearly unimpressed, and ignored Ethan.
"Don't mind him," Bobby—who went by Iceman—said with an easygoing smile. "He's always like that. But hey, we're roommates now."
"Oh, is that so?" John scoffed, shooting Bobby a sideways glance. "And what, you're in charge of welcoming the new guy now?"
Bobby let out an exasperated sigh. "Hmph!" He turned his head away, deciding it wasn't worth the argument.
John, however, seemed amused by their little clash. Maybe it was because their abilities naturally clashed—fire and ice had never been a friendly mix. From the moment they met, they'd been at odds. And with John's fiery personality, he never missed a chance to get under Bobby's skin.
"Now that our dorm's full, I was thinking..." John leaned forward with a smirk. "Why don't we pick a leader?"
Bobby rolled his eyes. "Seriously? Who cares?"
"Oh, you'll care in a second!" John flicked his lighter open, and a flame sprang to life. With a flick of his wrist, the fire expanded, rushing toward Bobby in a sudden attack.
"Hey—!" Bobby barely had time to react. The heat singed his hair, and he jerked back in shock. His expression darkened as he ran a hand through the slightly burnt strands. "That's it. I've had enough of you. You want to fight? Fine. You think I'm scared?"
A frosty mist swirled around Bobby's hands as the room's temperature plummeted. Ice crystals formed in the air as the entire space turned colder by the second.
John grinned, the fire in his palm blazing brighter. "Who's scared? This is exactly what I wanted. Let's make it interesting—whoever loses becomes the other's servant."
Heat and cold clashed, warping the air between them. The room swung between sweltering and freezing in an instant. Just as they were about to lunge at each other, Ethan stepped in.
Without hesitation, he reached out and grabbed both their hands at the same time.
"That's enough," Ethan said calmly. "I don't care who's 'boss'—what matters is not wrecking the place or each other."
Both Bobby and John froze, staring at him in shock.
Bobby's icy skin should have given Ethan instant frostbite. John's flames were hot enough to melt glass in seconds. Yet, Ethan's expression remained neutral. His hands weren't burned, nor were they turning blue from the cold. If anything, he looked completely unaffected.
Bobby pulled back first, eyeing Ethan warily. "What... what the hell are you?"
John's confidence wavered slightly as he realized his own hand was trembling.
His flame had been completely snuffed out the second Ethan touched him. "No way... Are you some kind of fire manipulator too? No—your ability is different."
Ethan remained silent. In truth, his power had nothing to do with fire or ice.
What he controlled was vectors—forces that governed movement and energy. Heat, cold, momentum... they were all just forces to be redirected at will.
The second law of thermodynamics dictated that heat naturally transferred from hot objects to cooler ones.
In theory, Bobby's ice should have absorbed the heat from Ethan's body, giving him frostbite. And John's fire should have burned him on contact.
But this theory clearly didn't apply to Ethan. While temperature itself is just a scalar value, heat transfer has a direction.
Through careful manipulation, the heat that should have flowed from Ethan's hand to Bobby was instead locked inside Ethan's body, and the heat radiating from John's flames was effortlessly redirected away.
In reality, even if Ethan just stood still while Bobby and John exhausted themselves, it wouldn't make the slightest difference—he wouldn't be harmed at all.
Watching the two frozen in shock, Ethan chuckled.
"Don't forget, this is our dorm. If we wreck the place, forget about how Professor X will punish us—where are we even going to sleep? You guys really want to risk that?"
John, seeing an easy way out, quickly latched onto it.
"Yeah, yeah, can't go messing up the dorm," he agreed, stepping back. He threw Bobby a quick glare, the kind that said, I'm not scared of you, I'm just being the bigger person.
Bobby rolled his eyes, clearly not interested in John's posturing. Instead, he turned his gaze to Ethan, his expression more serious now.
"You've got a point," Bobby admitted.
"Good. Peace is what matters most," Ethan replied with a grin before releasing his grip.
John and Bobby immediately pulled their hands back, flexing their fingers as if to make sure they still worked. Despite their bravado, the look in their eyes gave them away—Ethan's power had left an impression. If they'd tried to fight back, they knew they wouldn't have stood a chance. A quiet respect had taken root.
The tension in the room thickened until Bobby, sensing the awkward silence, decided to break it.
"Cafeteria's probably open by now. Let's go grab something to eat."
"Finally! I was starving," John said eagerly. Then, almost as an afterthought, he turned to Ethan. "Hey, you probably haven't been to the cafeteria yet. Come with us."
"Sounds like a plan," Ethan replied.
"By the way, just call me Ethan. We're roommates now—no need to be so formal."
And just like that, the mood lightened. The three of them left the dorm, chatting and laughing like old friends.
...
With Bobby and John's help, Ethan adjusted to life at Xavier's School much faster than expected.
Within a few days, he felt like he belonged.
Everything was great—except for one thing.
Ever since he arrived, there hadn't been many classes.
Other than a few lessons, and basic sparring taught in their self-defense class taught by Professor Summers, aka, Cyclops, Ethan's school life wasn't what he expected.
He wasn't even able to use his ability during the sparring session, because, what's the purpose of self-defense if any attack that comes to you will always reflected by his powers.
That's why every time he sparred, he fought like a brute, turning off his automatic vector reflection. He reasoned that it was a good way to obtain battle experience, and he was right.
Other than that, the school seemed to enter an unexpected break, and strangely enough, most of the teachers were nowhere to be seen.
That included Storm, who had dropped him off and then disappeared.
Most students hated class, but after so many days off, even Ethan found himself missing it.
The idea of learning about mutant abilities in a structured way fascinated him.
"Bobby, how long is this break supposed to last?" Ethan asked one evening, lying on his bed.
Bobby looked up from where he was sitting. "Not sure. The teachers are dealing with the Mutant Registration Act.
And I heard Magneto's been spotted. I don't know the details, but classes probably aren't starting anytime soon."
Ethan noticed Bobby's distracted tone. "You okay? You seem... off."
Bobby hesitated. Then, under Ethan's expectant gaze, he sighed and admitted, "Rogue's missing. I've searched everywhere, but she's not on campus."
"Rogue?" Ethan frowned, recalling the girl with the unique power—any skin contact drained a person's life force and temporarily gave her their abilities.
It was dangerous, which meant most people kept their distance.
Most people.
John had once joked that Bobby had a "thing" for Rogue, and from the way Bobby was acting now, it seemed true.
"I wanted to go look for her, but Storm wouldn't let me. She said the teachers are handling it," Bobby said, frustration clear in his voice.
"She's probably right. The professor has that Cerebro thing, doesn't he? Shouldn't take long to find her," Ethan reassured him.
Just as he finished speaking, the dorm door suddenly swung open with a bang.
John burst in, out of breath, eyes wide. "Guys! I just heard something huge. You wanna know?"
Ethan gave him a flat look. "Just tell us."
John smirked, clearly enjoying the attention. "The professor had an accident while using Cerebro. He's unconscious."
Ethan shot up from his bed. "What the hell?! Are you serious?"
John flinched at Ethan's intensity. "I didn't see it myself, but I overheard Scott talking about it. And all the teachers looked really worried."
Ethan didn't hesitate. "I have to check this out. Even for the scholarship he promised me—I can't just sit here."
Without another word, he bolted out of the room.