#temperature of love

And she is done!! Here is the final chapter of “The Warmest Heart of Ice” my fanfic for the TOL comics by @nwarrior777

This is definitely longer than I originally thought it was going to be but I’m really happy with how it’s turned out. 

Hope you enjoy and you can also read it on my ao3 

Chapter 7 

I thought I was going to be fine. That I was gonna be chill, that I was gonna play it cool (no pun intended). I’d made my way to the room I was to be sharing with Brian with full focus and determination that I was going to do my job and not get sidetracked. That lasted about a whole 5 minutes.

At first it was okay. Brian was quiet and gloomy so I tried to make some small talk to lighten the mood as we got to the room and settled in. I definitely wasn’t doing it to distract myself from the fact that I would be sharing a room with a guy I was finding cuter and cuter by the second. Things were going fine as I started to place things around the room, then I heard Brian’s yell of distress.

“DEMIAN!”

I’d turned around in surprise, startled by the intensity of the cry.

“It’s like in the test room!” Brian had whimpered with tears streaming down his face, looking utterly terrified as he began turning more and more red.

My mind had gone completely blank in that moment and I moved by sheer instinct. Before I fully realized what I was doing I’d found myself embracing Brian, channeling my ice powers to soothe the heat that was boiling inside the boy beside me.

Now a few hours later I was lying awake in bed, unable to sleep, going through that moment over and over in my mind. When Brian had asked me if hugs were my method I’d tried to play it off like I’d actually known what I was doing. In all honesty I hadn’t had a clue, this was the first time I was helping someone out with this sort of thing. Somehow my subconscious must have decided that my earlier thought about how Brian looked huggable was a good idea.

I’d told myself I would stay friendly and platonic only to have myself gay panic and hug my crush at the first opportunity. Not only that, I’d somehow dug myself even further as he’d just kept holding onto me by suggesting that I could hug him just for funzies if he wanted to. So much for trying not to catch feels I guess. Of course he just had to go and blush after that which made him look even cuter. Thankfully I’d called him buddy just before so he knew that we were just bros and all that.

Yet somehow I couldn’t quite convince myself that I hadn’t somehow just made things that much more complicated for myself and Brian moving forward. I wasn’t entirely sure what I was feeling just yet. This was all very new to me and I didn’t want to mess things up, especially since my job was to help Brian, not fall in love with him…

************************************

The next day I tried to be careful around Brian, but I couldn’t help but feel like I was constantly finding myself accidentally flirting with him. I had a full blown crush by now and knew I needed help before it got any worse. Problem was that I kinda had to always be with Brian since I was his ‘bodyguard’ and all so it was quite hard to get a moment to myself to try and sort through all my feelings.

Thankfully I managed to finally get away in the afternoon while Brian had an appointment with the doctors. That morning we had gone to his first training session, which long story short had been a bit of a disaster. Given how unstable Brian’s powers still were the staff had wanted him to go do some more tests to make sure there wasn’t any other health issue going on. I took advantage of this to go and find Tamara. I really needed to talk to her before I fully lost my mind.

Going to see her I was able to catch her up about my new job with Brian as I hadn’t really had the chance to talk to her yet about it since everything had happened so quickly the previous day. I had barely gotten past telling her about my first meeting with Brian when she excitedly cut me off.

“Oooh is he cute? Is he nice? Does he like you? Do you like him?!?!” she rattled off the questions so fast I could barely keep up.

“I.. um… uh, well….” I stammered in response.

“Oh my gosh you totally do!!!!” Tamara squealed.

“That’s kinda why I’m here,” I admitted to her, feeling a bit embarrassed. “I think I might have feelings for him but I don’t know how he feels. I also don’t want to make him uncomfortable, I mean he just got here after all.”

“Ah yeah, you have a point,” Tamara replied, pursing her lips as she thought for a moment. “Well why don’t you just wait a few days and see how things go. That’ll give you guys time to get to know each other a bit more and have a better idea of how you feel about this guy.”

“Yeah that sounds like a good idea,” I said, still feeling somewhat anxious about the whole thing.

“Well you just think about it while I go and grab you lovebirds some snacks,” Tamara said with a wink before poofing away and leaving me alone with my thoughts.

**************************************

Over the next two weeks Brian and I got settled into our new reality at the Academy. This included notable moments such as finding out we were both huge musical theatre nerds and Brian and Tamara meeting which led to my practically having a heart attack with her almost blowing my cover. During this time Brian and I got closer as I was able to find out more about his life before his awakening.

While he still struggled significantly with his powers I could also see that he was very talented in so many other ways. Of course he had also had his own fair share of personal struggles. I got to see that he hadn’t gotten to experience a loving and supportive family like I’d had, but somehow he was still such a kind and warm person (no pun intended). All of this was just making me fall for him more and more every day, no matter how hard I tried to keep things casual and platonic.

It was starting to get really intense and I couldn’t help but feel like I kept seeing signs that maybe, just maybe, Brian liked me too. Part of me wasn’t sure however and I was afraid that I just wanted this so badly that my mind was playing tricks on me. Tamara did her best to reassure me and kept trying to convince me to make a move.

I was thinking about all this one evening as I scrolled away on my phone, more or less paying attention to what I was looking at while Brian was at the desk writing in his observation diary.

“Demian? Can I have a hug?” Brian asked, after having shut the diary quite suddenly.

“Sure buddy,” I replied, smiling to myself as I got up to hug him from behind around the chair he was sitting on. “You really love hugs, huh?”

“Sorry it’s just… so nice feeling… feeling safe,” Brian answered, leaning back against me.

I was quiet for a moment, feeling my heart beat faster and faster in my chest as I suddenly got an idea. “You know,” I said, “I can give you something more than a hug.”

Brain was silent for a beat before responding. “What would that be?” he asked, his eyebrows curving quizzically.

“A kiss,” I breathed out, trying not to overthink what I was doing. “But only if you want to,” I added quickly as I pulled away.

“I… I think,” Brian responded, red seeping into his cheeks, “I think I do.”

“Are you sure?” I asked, not wanting to force him into anything after all.

“Yes!!!” Brian answered enthusiastically.

My heart soared as I smiled down at him, suddenly feeling very bold. I grabbed the sides of the swivel chair Brian was sitting in and spun it around so he was facing me. Carefully, I settled myself into his lap, his soft gaze looking up at me. My hand went to cup his chin as I smiled once more before leaning in to press our lips together.

The kiss was soft and warm and gentle as it lingered, my arms snaking around Brian’s neck while he held me close to him. I pulled away with the biggest grin as I buried my face in Brian’s neck. “Nice kiss, darling,” I said, the term of endearment pouring out of me from all the affection I felt towards him.

“Want another one?” I asked, pulling away to look at Brian’s face. “Yes yes yes yes yes!!!” Brian kept repeating as he nodded eagerly.

“Alright I got you,” I replied with a chuckle before leaning in again for another kiss.

Here is chapter 6 of “The Warmest Heart of Ice”, a TOL fanfic based on the comic from @nwarrior777

I’m thinking I probably have one more chapter left in me for this story but I’ve been wrong before. In the meantime I hope you enjoy! 

You can also read this fic on ao3

Chapter 6 

“What are you talking about?” I asked Lenny, thoroughly confused at what he could possibly mean.

“Come with me and I’ll tell you on the way,” Lenny responded, turning away and starting down the hall.

I stood blinking for a moment before I snapped out of my surprise. I shut my bedroom door then quickly jogged a few steps to catch up to him. “Whoa, wait, what’s going on?”

“Well we have a brand new arrival at the Academy,” Lenny began explaining, walking at a swift pace. “He’s just been transferred out from the Power Evaluation Unit.”

“Okay…” I replied, “I still don’t see how this concerns me.”

“That’s because you haven’t let me finish telling you the best part,” Lenny chuckled, steadily walking on and leading me down a corridor I thought looked familiar. “Turns out this guy has fire powers and they’re pretty intense. I heard he combusted all at once and basically blew up the room. Of course we’re prepared for that kind of stuff, hence those funky spacesuits the operators wear, so no one got hurt and the fixing crew is already patching up the room.”

“Is this going to be some kind of fire and ice joke?” I asked, still confused as to what my role was supposed to be.

“Not so much a joke as a very serious safety concern really,” Lenny said, looking suddenly grim. “This guy’s powers are very strong but also extremely unstable. In your case, the initial shock was intense when you first got your powers, but your body adjusted fairly quickly once you’d been thawed out. However, for this guy, apparently they haven’t been able to take him off blockaters yet, even though he’s still unconscious, which is very unusual. Normally it’s only once the person wakes up that a new dose is necessary since realizing you have powers can be quite distressing and tends to trigger them at that moment. But even before the first dose had worn off the new guy started smoldering so they had to give him an extra strong booster.”

“I’m guessing this is where I would come in then,” I commented, pretty sure now where this was going.

“Yeppers!” Lenny acquiesced. “He can’t be kept on blockaters indefinitely since then he wouldn’t be able to use his powers and start training. But, since fire is quite a dangerous and potentially harmful and damaging power, a substitute way of neutralizing it would be ideal. You have excellent control of your ice powers so we feel like you would be able to do the job really well in keeping his in check.”

“So you want me to be a human fire extinguisher?” I retorted, though I couldn’t help but smirk at the idea.

“Unofficially yes,” Lenny chuckled in response. “But your title would technically be bodyguard so that you would be allowed to stay with him at all times. Oh by the way, that would mean you would have to be roommates with him during that time.”

“Oh um…” I said, not too sure how I felt about this whole job now.

“I know it’s a lot to ask on such short notice but you would be doing us a huge favor and know that that wouldn’t go unnoticed. Besides, it should only be for a few weeks at most. Just the time it would take for him to gain sufficient control of his powers. After that things will go back to normal and you can go back to your original plan of going home,” Lenny explained, finally stopping in front of a door. I then realized that we were outside the infirmary, and that the guy was likely right on the other side of the door. “I know I’m kind of putting you on the spot and literally brought you all the way here, but I do want to give you the option of backing out if you really don’t want to do this. We just need to know your decision, like, right now.”

I was trying to wrap my head around all this new information and what it would mean for me if I decided to accept this position. On one hand I’d been looking forward to going home, and I wasn’t too sure how keen I was on trying to befriend someone who literally had the opposite powers to mine. What if we really didn’t get along?

But on the other hand, here was my chance to actually finally get to do something useful. For the first time in my life I was the first person on the list for a job, all I had to do was say yes and it was mine. I also really felt like I could empathise with this guy, he must have been absolutely terrified when his powers first awakened if Lenny’s story was any indication. And I definitely could have used a friend during those beginning times, back when I hadn’t met Tamara yet and felt so incredibly alone.

“Yeah okay… Yeah, I’ll do it,” I replied, a surge of determination running through me.

“Fantastic!” Lenny exclaimed, beaming at me. “You can go right in then and meet him. He should be waking up any moment now.” He then opened the door and gestured for me to go in.

After taking a deep breath I steeled myself and stepped into the infirmary, Lenny closing the door behind me once I was inside. It was quite weird for me to be walking into this room, I realized I’d never actually done that before since both times I wound up here I’d been unconscious upon entering.

I saw the bed in the corner which was occupied by whom I presumed was the guy Lenny had just told me about. I walked over and took the time to scan him over as I got closer. He had a short mop of jet black hair and a round face with soft features, there was a small mole on the right side of his chin. Without realizing it I found myself staring at him, I couldn’t help but feel weirdly entranced by this stranger. Though his features were pulled tight at the moment, brows creased and jaw set, I couldn’t help but find him… kinda cute? Not only that, his shape made him look like a big teddy bear and I had a sudden vision of cuddling with him. I shook my head, wondering where that thought had come from.

I didn’t have much time to unpack that thought as the guy began stirring. In a slight moment of panic I sat down on the bed and tried to act casual. Slowly blinking, the guy’s eyes began to open and his gaze set on me.

“Oh, you’re finally awake!”

************************************************

While the guy, who I had now learned was called Brian, was being checked over by the doctors once again before getting changed, I went back to my room to pack up my stuff to move into the room with Brian. I felt all jittery as I put my stuff into a box, though I wasn’t entirely sure why. I mean, sure Brian was cute, and seemed like a really sweet guy, but that didn’t mean anything right? While I’d managed to play it cool on the outside (I think?), on the inside I couldn’t help but feel like I’d experienced nothing less than pure gay panic. This was quite new to me and I wasn’t quite sure what to do about it yet.  

I tried not to think about that too much as I finished getting all my things. Brian was likely finished with the doctors and I didn’t want to keep him waiting. As I made my way back to
see Brian I kept trying to remind myself that this was not the time or place to get distracted by such things. After all, I was only here to do the job I’d been asked to do. I was going to be his bodyguard, no more no less.

Here are chapter 4 and 5 of the TOL fanfic I’m writing based on @nwarrior777 comic. I’d been meaning to post chapter 4 a while back but hadn’t been sure where my cut off was between these two chapters until I finished them today. 

Hope you enjoy and more should be coming soon hopefully! 

You can also read this fic on ao3

Chapter 4 

The weeks ticked away slowly but surely at the Academy, summer turning into fall and steadily veering into winter. I continued to have the best of fun with Tamara doing all sorts of shenanigans.

With the end of October came Halloween where she snuck us out to go trick or treating when Halloween came around. As we finished up grabbing as much candy as we could, I only half noticed how cold the weather was becoming.

A few weeks later there came the first snowfall, which everyone was super excited about. After a particularly big snowfall most of the residents of the Academy, myself and Tamara included, found ourselves in the outdoor courtyard making snowmen.

Given my nature of not being very good at anything, my own attempts at making a snowman were quite subpar. I could see others not far away snickering among themselves, probably whispering about how ironic it was that someone with ice powers was so bad at stuff involving snow.

I was rather preoccupied by my increasing discomfort at being in the cold to really notice them. Tamara, however, glared in their direction as she joined me after reappearing from having gone to get some extra accessories for our snowmen. “Don’t listen to them, Demian,” she said, “this isn’t a competition or anything, the whole point is just to have fun.”

“Yeah I know,” I replied, trying to blow on my hands to get them warmer, which only made things worse as with my powers all I did was blow frost over my fingers. It was then that I realized that I didn’t have to go about making a snowman the old fashion way. Stretching my hands out in front of me me I tried summoning the snow around me to form into a shape.

“Demian maybe that isn’t a good idea,” Tamara said, her voice filled with concern, “the doctors told you to be careful about how long you spend in the snow and you already look really cold. I think we should go back inside.”

“Hang on, just give me a minute,” I managed to reply despite my teeth chattering loudly due to how cold I was. A small crowd of others had come by to watch curiously and I was not about to give them another reason to tease me. Within moments I’d accumulated a pile of snow that I was twisting and bending with frost from my own hands. I’d stopped shivering by then so I ignored how painfully cold I was feeling and concentrated to finish what I was doing.

Soon I had made a full sized snowman, but this time shaped like an actual human. “Tada,” I said, with difficulty, now that my whole face felt frozen, “say hello to snow Tamara!” The others all gasped as they came closer to inspect the near perfect snow and ice replica of my friend.

Tamara herself however looked at me, a very stern expression on her face as she grabbed my hand and teleported us inside. Once she was done she dropped my hand and glared at me, looking quite mad. “What were you thinking?! That was dangerous!” she exclaimed loudly.

“What do you mean?” I meant to ask, surprised by how angry she looked. I never got the chance to do so though as everything suddenly went dark.

***********************************************

“You got him here just in time so thankfully he’s going to be alright,” I heard an unknown voice say.

I groaned as I tried to stir, finding that my whole body was tingling from the sensation of me slowly defrosting. With difficulty I managed to open my eyes, to see that I was in the back room of the infirmary.

“What, what happened?” I asked, the words slightly slurred as my mouth and tongue still hadn’t regained full sensation.

“You did something really stupid is what happened,” Tamara spat out, angrily wiping tears from her eyes. She then ran out of the room, leaving me alone with who I now saw was a nurse.

“Tamara wait!” I called out. I tried to sit up so I could go after her but realized I was still too numb to do so.

“Woah take it easy there,” the nurse said, putting a hand on my shoulder to prevent me from trying again. “You need to stay lying down for a while longer, your body likely can’t tolerate going into an upright position just yet,” he explained to me. “Right now you need to rest. The doctor should be here shortly to check up on you to make sure you’re doing alright.”

I sighed unhappily but nodded in resignation. The image of Tamara’s face was burnt into my mind as I replayed the scene again over and over again. She had looked so scared and hurt, I felt terrible for putting her through what I imagined was a rather frightening experience.

My wallowing was interrupted by the arrival of the doctor, who I saw was the same I had met when first arriving at the Academy. “We meet again young man,” he said, though he clearly was far from delighted to be seeing me at the present. “That was a very foolish thing you did back there.”

“Yeah I know…” I replied, feeling the guilt weigh on my chest. Added to the fact that I fail at basically everything, I’ve also never exactly been known for being a particularly smart person. Even back at home, my family would usually avoid leaving me alone for extended periods of time.

“It’s a good thing your friend was there and that she was able to teleport you back inside when she did,” the doctor went on, his brows creasing into a concerned frown. He looked over at the monitor I’d been hooked up to and then picked up the chart on my bedside to examine it as well. “Thankfully you hadn’t gone far beyond moderate hypothermia and so your loss of consciousness was likely a form of rewarming shock.”

“I… I didn’t realize it had gotten that bad..” I said, feeling quite scared myself now that the reality of what had just happened was sinking in. “I wasn’t even shivering at the end.”

“Well that’s because shivering is only associated with the milder forms of hypothermia,” the doctor explained, putting the chart down and pulling out a small flashlight from his pocket. He then proceeded to point it in front of each eye and had me follow the beam with my gaze. “We already knew that you would be more sensitive to cold, but it appears now that because of your powers you’ve gone from warm blooded to cold blooded, no pun intended.”

“You mean, like a lizard?” I asked, my brain feeling a bit fuzzy as I tried to process what the doctor was telling me while spots danced in my vision from having the flashlight directed at my eyes.

“Yes precisely, or almost anyway,” the doctor replied, “cold-blooded creatures can’t internally cool themselves off while you have no problem with that. However, like them, you appear to have difficulty with generating sufficient body heat without some external help, which would explain why you progressed so quickly into an increasing hypothermic state.”

I simply blinked at him in response, his sciency explanations were too much for my thawing brain to understand. He appeared to see the look of overall confusion in my eyes and he gave me a small half-smile as he put the flashlight away in his pocket.

“The point is,” he went on, “from now on you will have to take extra special care to make sure you only spend short periods of time in cold environments.”

*********************************************
I took the doctor’s word very seriously once I was allowed to leave the infirmary. Not only did I completely avoid going outside, I also made sure to always have an extra warm sweater as well as a hoodie wherever I went. While it might have been overkill, I didn’t want to risk anything happening again.

Mostly I kept to myself as the others gave me looks whenever I was in the common areas or the cafeteria. They had either been there to see me almost freeze to death or had heard about it as gossip spread rapidly around the Academy. I therefore spent the next few days in my room waiting for something new to happen so they wouldn’t be focused on me anymore. Time passed slowly though as I spent it alone seeing Tamara and I hadn’t spoken since the incident.

While normally she was constantly popping into my room to hang out, almost a week went by without me seeing her at all. She had obviously been very upset by my actions and I figured she was still mad at me about it. I really wanted to go and apologize, but, because of her teleportation powers, Tamara was very good at making sure she wasn’t able to be found if she didn’t want to be.

After a few days I decided it had gone on for long enough and decided to park myself outside her room. I figured if I stayed there at one point she’d have no choice but to talk to me. There was always the risk of her teleporting in and out of her room without ever having to use the door, but Tamara could usually only teleport so many times in a day before it started draining her too much and she risked ending up in the wrong place.

I decided then to go and wait outside her bedroom door after dinner time since she was more likely to be tired then and therefore less likely to use her powers to disappear on me. I’d been sitting there for a while, just scrolling on my phone as I waited, when I finally saw her walking down the hallway towards her room. She hadn’t noticed me yet, her head bent and gaze stuck around her shoes, looking about as miserable as I had been feeling.

“Tamara!” I called out, popping her out of her thoughts as her head snapped up at the sound of my voice. At this point she was about ten steps away from her door and I could see in her eyes that she was weighing whether it was worth it to try teleporting past me.

I stood up quickly and walked the distance between us, putting my hand on her arm. “Tamara, please,” I pleaded, “can we talk? I’d really like to apologize…”

She grimaced for a moment then let out a sigh. “Fine,” she replied, removing my hand and going to her bedroom door. I followed closely as she opened it, hoping that she wouldn’t dash in just to slam the door in my face. Instead she held the door open and gestured for me to come inside.

I went and sat down on the chair by the desk while Tamara shut the door before going to sit on the end of her bed. She glanced quickly in my direction before looking away and crossing her arms, visibly still quite upset with me.

I’d spent the time waiting outside her room going through how best to apologize to her, but in that moment all scenarios vanished from my mind as we sat in silence while I tried to figure out the best way to start. “So… I guess I’ll just start off by saying that I’m aware that what I did was really stupid and dangerous and I’m sorry for doing that to you…”

Tamara was silent for a beat before turning to look at me. “What were you even thinking doing that?” she interrogated. “Even without using your powers you’re more at risk when it’s cold, but with what you did you just made it 10 times worse! So what, you just couldn’t help but show off, right?”

I stared at her, surprised for a moment. It hadn’t occurred to me that by using my powers I’d put myself in even greater danger, although thinking about it now it did make sense. “No I wasn’t trying to show off, at least I don’t think so…” I replied, feeling quite uneasy. “I was failing at making a snowman the normal way just like I fail with everything else and then I remembered I have ice powers so, like, why not use the one thing I’m good at that’s actually relevant to the situation for once.”

“You’re telling me you made a snow person that looked just like me and it wasn’t just so you could look good in front of the others after they had made fun of you?” Tamara retorted, looking rather skeptical.

“I mean, maybe a tiny bit,” I admitted, “but mostly I did it because I thought it would make you smile. You’re always doing nice things for me so I just wanted to be able to do something nice for you too for once.”

“R-really?” Tamara asked, her tone now very different.

“Yeah, I just thought it would be funny for you to have a snow twin,” I said, letting out a nervous chuckle.

At this Tamara finally gave me a small smile before it fell away and she suddenly looked quite sad. “I guess I thought you had ignored my warning because you were too busy trying to impress the others. And maybe deep down a part of me was also scared that if it worked you were going to find new friends and wouldn’t want to hang out with me anymore…”

“What? Tamara no of course not…” I replied, getting up from the chair and going to sit down next to her on the bed. “You’re my best friend Tamara, you’re my only friend really. You’re also the reason nothing worse happened since you pretty much saved my life by teleporting us back inside when you did.”

“Damn right I did,” Tamara retorted with a smirk. “I hope you learned your lesson because I might not always be there to save your butt.”

“Oh don’t worry, I don’t plan on making the same mistake again,” I laughed. Tamara gave me a real smile this time and leaned over to hug me tightly.

“Okay enough talk about snow and ice now, how about we go get some hot cocoa?” I suggested.

“Good idea,” Tamara replied before teleporting us out of her room.

Chapter 5 

While I was quite happy to be hanging out with Tamara once again, our time together afterwards was somewhat short lived. Her one year at the Academy was coming to an end and shortly before Christmas she returned home to her family. Thankfully, during the holidays, the Academy made special allowances where they hosted an annual Christmas party and other fun events for family and friends. With this I was kept well occupied up until New Years after which things went back to normal, leaving me to find myself mostly alone once again.

I was able to see my family during visiting weeks of course, but I still wasn’t having much luck in finding any other friends now that Tamara was gone. No one really cared about me when I wasn’t using my powers and ever since my last incident I’d basically decided against doing anything ice related unless it was actually useful, which in the dead of winter it really wasn’t.  

Although my own one year milestone was still a good few months away, I figured I could start looking at different job possibilities to look forward to once I was able to return home. It was better than dying of boredom in the meantime. After all, the Academy had a department set up for the exact purpose of counseling and preparing those who wished to find themselves jobs once their time was up.

This didn’t end up being the most successful endeavor however. While the counselors were very nice and tried to look at different options with me, they had a hard time finding anything that would be a good fit. I’m not sure what I was expecting really, since by being not so great at basically everything I didn’t exactly have very many employable skills. The other issue is that usually the main solution is to try to find something that works with a person’s specific powers. In my case though, this didn’t pan out much since all the actual real jobs that would hire someone with ice powers involved working in very cold environments, and I was not going to make that same mistake twice.

“Unfortunately the only other option I can find is volunteer work,” Lenny, the counselor who had been assigned my case, informed me. “That means you wouldn’t be paid, but it would still be something if ever you’re interested.”

I left the employment center feeling quite disappointed as I headed towards the cafeteria. It was family visiting day and my mom would be arriving soon. Multiple parents and other family members had already started arriving as I entered the cafeteria and sat down at a table while I waited. A few minutes later I felt a tap on my shoulder.

“Hi mom,” I said, doing my best to smile as I turned to hug her before she sat down next to me.

“What’s wrong honey?” my mom asked directly. “Something is up, I can tell.”

I blinked with surprise at this. I’d forgotten how perceptive my mom could be. “I… well…” I started, going on to explain to her my less than promising visit with the employment department. “So I might not be able to get an actual job once I’m done here…” I added, looking down at my hands, blinking my eyes madly as I tried not to cry.  

“I see,” my mother replied. She reached over to take one of my hands in her own and gave it a tight squeeze. I looked up at her to see her smiling warmly at me. “Demian, just remember that no matter what happens, whether you manage to find a job or not, you will always have a place at home waiting for you,” she said tenderly as her free hand went to wipe away a tear that had slid down my cheek.

I gave her a watery smile as I leaned in to hug her tightly. “Thank you mom, I love you,” I said, sniffling softly.

“I love you too sweetheart,” my mother replied, hugging me back just as tightly. “Always have and always will.

****************************************

After the visit with my mother I felt somewhat better about my future beyond the Academy. Though I still didn’t exactly know how I would ever manage to find a job, I also knew that I couldn’t give up trying.

My mood was also greatly improved by Tamara’s sudden and unexpected return to the Academy mid February. She’d had an unfortunate mishap with her powers, although she hadn’t really wanted to talk about it much upon her return. Bottom line was that she needed to be monitored at the Academy for another year now because of it. While I found that extremely unfortunate for her, I was also, rather selfishly, quite happy to have her back around.

It was only about a month later that she was finally willing to explain to me what had happened. Apparently when she had gone back home she had bumped into a former partner she had been dating not long before she had arrived at the Academy. They stayed in contact for the first little while after she had discovered her powers, however the long distance slowly became a strain on their relationship.

“At that point we agreed it was best to take a break and reconnect once I was able to go back home after my year was up,” Tamara explained to me.

“Why didn’t you ever tell me about this?” I asked, feeling surprised and almost a bit hurt that I’d never heard about this before.

“I guess I didn’t want to get my hopes up too high just in case it didn’t work out,” she replied. “In the end that’s what happened because when I finally saw them again they were dating someone else…”

“Oh Tamara… I’m so sorry…” I said, gently putting my hand on her shoulder.

“It’s okay,” she said, though she had a sad look in her eye. “It was for the best really, I don’t think we would’ve lasted very long in the end. But this happened on Valentine’s Day of all days so needless to say I wasn’t feeling great after that. After seeing them together with their new partner I almost ran home, trying not to cry. I tried to teleport back but instead of my room I somehow ended up on Mars.”

“Mars?! You mean, like the planet?” I asked, shocked and confused.

“Yep,” Tamara replied. “Luckily I quickly teleported back to Earth, first in Antarctica and then at the top of the Eiffel Tower. It took a few tries but I finally made it home before coming back here and begging them to put me on blockators. I felt like I was going insane.”

“Wow that’s crazy,” I said, not sure what else to say at this point.

“Yeah…” Tamara acquiesced, her gaze downcast. “I’ve never really been lucky with dating anyway so I guess it’s not really all that surprising. I am a bit much after all and I’m not really dating material…”

“Absolutely not!” I protested, offended that my friend could think so low of herself. “You are funny and adorable and super thoughtful and anyone would be lucky to date you!” I exclaimed, tapping the table with insistence with every new point I added.

Tamara laughed at my display, most of the sadness now gone from her eyes. “Thank you, I really needed that,” she giggled. “But that makes me think, what about you? I don’t think you’ve ever mentioned anything about dating either.”

“Oh,” I replied meekly, now that I was being put on the spot. “I haven’t ever really dated to be honest…”

“Really? Like you’ve never had a girlfriend… or a boyfriend?” Tamara asked, leaving the door open for me to fill in the blank.

I could feel myself blushing at this, feeling a bit embarrassed about the topic. “I, uh… I guess I’m not totally sure where I stand in terms of sexuality… it’s never felt super clear for me and I haven’t really had the chance to figure it out for myself quite yet.”

“That’s okay then,” Tamara said, smiling kindly. “There’s no rush for you to find an answer or anything. And if ever you do figure it out and feel like dating whoever it is will also be lucky to be with someone like you.”

“Thanks Tamara,” I said, smiling back at her.

“Just for the record, you’re great and everything, but you’re not my type dude,” Tamara stated matter of factly. We looked at each other seriously for a moment before both bursting into laughter so hard we were in tears.

****************************
Before I knew it there was only one month left before I was to leave the Academy. Poor Lenny was still doing his best to try and find me a job but unless I miraculously developed an actual useful workskill there was only so much he could do.

Of course I was allowed to stay on at the Academy once my time was up in order to volunteer and help with the newcomers. I would be allowed to room and board there by doing so but it wasn’t an actual job or anything and that wasn’t something that actually paid. Because of the laws and regulations put in place for awakened, there needed to remain a place for them to stay if they weren’t able to return to society for one reason or another. To avoid people taking advantage of that and using it as an easy way out to not have to work, the Academy stipulated that they would not pay permanent/long term residents. Instead it was a barter type system where those who wished to stay had to contribute in some form or fashion according to their powers or abilities.

Some people, both within and outside the Academy, still saw it as a lazy option while others saw it as the epitome of despair. I thought both those views were rather extreme and unfair. However, I also didn’t want to stay at the Academy forever. I wasn’t ready to believe that there was truly nothing out there for me, not yet at least. The only thing that made me feel better was knowing that Tamara was also still going to be around for a good few more months even if I did wind up having to stay at the Academy for longer.

There was also the option of going back home to my parents for a while before coming back to stay at the Academy. That way I could stay with them for a bit and then move back into the Academy the next time I would be coming in for my regular post one year check in to make sure my powers were still stable. As time went on I figured I would go with that option since I hadn’t gone home in nearly a year and had mainly seen my parents during visits. That way I would get to spend some time with the rest of my family but also come back to be with Tamara for the time she had left at the Academy.

I was starting to pack my stuff when I heard an unexpected knock at my door. I was confused as to who it could be, since Tamara usually just let herself in at this point. Putting down the shirt I’d been trying to fold I went to open the door, surprised to see Lenny standing there. “Lenny, what are you doing here?”

“Hi Demian,” Lenny greeted me, “I know you’ve been planning on going home soon but I have some interesting news for you that might just change your mind…”

It’s been longer than I intended but here is chapter 3 of the fanfic I’ve been working on based on the Temperature of Love comics created by the amazing @nwarrior777

I meant to try and post chapter 4 as well but I’m not quite there just yet. I should hopefully have it out soon though as well as the other chapters (if I can get back onto the creative writing train)

I hope you enjoy.

You can also read it here on my ao3

Chapter 3

Three days.

That’s how long it took for my powers to stabilize and for me to be able to control them properly. I had never been a natural or a quick study for anything before so this was definitely a first. Not that I was complaining or anything obviously.

However I could tell that that didn’t exactly make me the favorite among the other newcomers, most of whom were still struggling significantly to control their powers. Robert especially seemed to make a point to take his frustrations out on me, making every possible ‘Frozen’ related comment to try and make fun of me whenever we were in group settings.

Unfortunately for him, I love that movie and couldn’t have cared less really. I did however care about the fact that I hadn’t really made any friends since I got there. At the very least I would be spending one whole year at the Academy and so I was going to be very lonely if I didn’t find a way to make friends and soon.

It was about two weeks after arriving at the Academy that I finally managed to make my first real friend there. One afternoon after training I decided to go explore the outside courtyard. The sky was clear and the sun shone brightly overhead. It was another wildly hot day and I appeared to be the only one there.

With my newfound power I no longer had to suffer from the summer heat and could cool myself without much thought or effort. I sat down on one of the benches, taking a moment to enjoy the peace and quiet.

Suddenly I was startled by the sound of someone literally appearing out of nowhere. I yelped and almost fell off the bench. The girl who’d just appeared also yelped, apparently equally surprised.

“Is this… am I at the Academy?” the girl asked me, visibly flustered.

“Yeah, this is the outdoor courtyard,” I replied, eyeing her cautiously.

“Oh thank goodness, I wasn’t completely off target then,” she exhaled with relief. She then noticed that I was staring at her and straightened. “Sorry about that, I have teleportation powers you see. I’ve got it mostly mastered but every so often it seems to glitch a bit. Thankfully this time I’m only just a little off.”

“Huh, okay then, that makes sense,” I answered, giving her a smile. Although I didn’t know this girl she had a nice bubbly energy that I appreciated. “I’m Demian by the way, and you are?”

“Oh right sorry! How rude of me, I’m Tamara,” the girl answered with a wide grin. “How in the world were you just chilling here outside before I got here? I’ve been here for barely 2 minutes and I’m already sweaty.”

“That’s not really a problem for me. I have ice powers so I basically have my own internal AC unit,” I explained, conjuring up a few snowflakes to illustrate my point.

“Wow lucky you,” Tamara replied, “that’s definitely the power I’d want right now. It’s too hot lately to be outside otherwise and there’s no outdoor pool here.” She wiped the sweat from her forehead as she was clearly finding it much more uncomfortable being outside than I did.

“Maybe I can help with that,” I suggested, extending my hand toward her arm. I paused, waiting for her permission.

Tamara eyed me curiously but nodded anyway. I then touched her lightly on the arm, sending a gentle wave of cold up her arm. Her eyes widened as it happened, visibly surprised at the chill that contrasted the hit air surrounding us. “Woah that is so cool!”

I beamed at her, feeling happy to be helpful. My power was fun for me but there wasn’t much point in playing with it if it couldn’t serve any purpose. “I can do your other arm if you want so it doesn’t get jealous,” I jokingly.

Tamara laughed in reply, extending her other arm so I could do just that. “You know,” she said, “I think this is the start of a beautiful friendship.”

************************************
Tamara and I became fast friends after our eventful first meeting. We hung out quite often when we didn’t have any training. This allowed me to hang out with other people at the Academy since Tamara seemed to have an easy time making friends. I quickly found out however that it wasn’t just because of her bright and bubbly personality.

Tamara’s power allowed her to teleport outside of the Academy and so she would often find ways of secretly bringing stuff back in. That meant a lot of the other awakened were friendly with her in order to get her to sneak stuff in for them.

One day at lunch we were hanging out in the cafeteria when a group came to sit with us for that exact reason. No longer had it taken for them to put in their ‘orders’ with Tamara that they were gone to go sit together somewhere else, leaving me and Tamara behind.

I saw Tamara sigh as they left but she didn’t say anything as she silently finished jotting down all the requests in her phone notepad.

“You know,” I said to her, gently, “you don’t have to say yes to everyone that asks you to get them something.”

“I know, I know,” Tamara replied, though she had a rather guilty look on her face. “I guess I just want people to like me. I know I’m not the prettiest and I can be a bit much socially so with my power at least I get to be useful and people want to be my friend.” Her gaze was fixed on the table, looking partially ashamed but mostly just sad.

“Oh Tamara…” I said, my heart breaking at the sight of her. “You are such an amazing person and that’s even without your power. Your value or you being liked shouldn’t be based on what people want to get from you. Anyone who does that is just taking advantage of you and doesn’t actually care.”

Tamara looked up at me rather skeptically. “That’s easy for you to say, you’re really good looking and you’re confident in who you are as a person.”

“That only goes so far you know,” I said. “I’ve failed at basically everything I’ve ever tried. My power is the first thing I’ve ever actually been good at. I know what it’s like to be rejected because you aren’t considered ‘good enough’ to be worth people’s time or friendship.”

“Demian, I’m so sorry… I didn’t know that…” Tamara replied, looking sheepish. “I guess maybe that’s why I like hanging out with you so much. I don’t feel like you expect anything from me and that you really do want to hang out with me, not just get something from me.” Her gaze finally met mine once again, a tentative smile spread across her lips.

“And I feel the same way,” I said, returning the smile. “You don’t make me feel bad for not being very good at much beyond my powers. My family has always been very understanding about that but not many other people have been.”

“I’m really glad to have you as my friend Demian,” Tamara said, smiling as she reached over to squeeze my hand.

“Same here Tamara,” I said, squeezing her hand in reply, “Same here.”

nwarrior777:

7 july is my birthday so like………. not saying anything but my dream is to see more tol fanfiction….. so if i will have some in my birthday i will die happy ahah….. just kidding…. UNLESS

Ask and you shall receive. I’ve actually been meaning to get back into writing fanfic for a good few months now but I couldn’t seem to find the motivation nor the inspiration I needed just on my own.

So this was the perfect opportunity seeing as it gave me a direction and a deadline (yay structure!).

I was hoping to have the whole thing out for the 7th so as to give you your whole present Kris but unfortunately I got in way over my head with this. Me being me this quickly took on a life of it’s own and became much longer than originally intended. I also wound up being busier than expected but I really didn’t want to rush the process. I want to take the time to flesh this out properly rather than scramble to finish it all on time. So for now I give you chapters 1 and 2 of likely about 4 or 5 chapters (but that may change).

Now this fanfic is meant be canon compliant with the TOL comics. I took some liberties of course but I tried to write it accordingly so that it would/should respect the timeline and other elements of the overarching story.

I wrote this as a Demian POV that serves as a prequel to the comics leading up to the ‘beginning’ chapters and perhaps and a little bit beyond the boys first meeting (I’m not totally sure where in the timeline I’ll be ending this fic).

I’m posting it here right underneath but it is also uploaded on my AO3account where you can read it there as well. Feel free to let me know what you think and if I should maybe do some more or these for TOL in the future.

Hope you all enjoy.

Happy birthday Kris!!! @nwarrior777

The Warmest Heart of Ice

Chapter 1: Started from the bottom now we’re ice

For all intents and purposes I’m what you would probably call a failure. You see, I’m not exactly good at anything, like, quite literally.

That’s not to say I haven’t tried, boy did I try. But unfortunately, no matter what I did or how hard I tried, I’ve always been mediocre at best at basically everything. So when I turned 23 and had to go spend the day at the Power Evaluation Unit, I had no hopes nor expectations that this time would be any different.

For a good part of the day while I was there I really thought that it was going to be one more thing to prove that I, Demian, was no one special. However, to my greatest surprise, something extraordinary was about to happen.

************************************

“Mom you know we could have just waited until after tomorrow to celebrate my birthday,” I said as we finished setting the table.

“Nonsense!” my mother replied emphatically, “I wanted you to have a proper send off before we sent you off to the Power Evaluation Unit.” She placed the last utensils and nodded with satisfaction at the display. “Besides,” she added, “this may well be the last time we will get to see you for a while…” she trailed off meaningfully.

“Mom,” I said, “are you implying that you think I’m actually going to have powers and will have to go to the 'Academy’?“

“Well you never know, nothing is impossible after all,” she replied matter of factly.

“Sure but this is me we’re talking about. I’m not good at anything after all. Can you imagine how much of a disaster it would probably be if I actually did have powers,” I said with a laugh.

“Hey, no self deprecation in this household you know the rules,” my mother scolded, her expression stern for a moment before softening. “Demian I love you so much, you know that right? I’ve loved you from the moment you were born, way before you were supposed to be good at anything, and the same is still true now.”

I looked at her and gave her a small smile, then went over to give her a big hug. “I love you too mom.”

The doorbell rang at that moment, signaling the arrival of family members who were coming for the party. Soon after the rest of the family arrived for my birthday dinner and we all sat down to eat. We all chatted easily amongst ourselves, though there seemed to be an unspoken agreement to not mention the fact that we were celebrating my birthday a day early because I would have to be at the Power Evaluation Unit during the entirety of the actual day of my birthday.

People with powers, or the ‘awakened’ as we called them, were individuals who developed superpowers. There was no knowing whether or not you would develop powers until your 23rd birthday, which was when they would manifest themselves for the first time. Upon discovering that they had powers, awakened individuals were usually quite dangerous, their powers often being very unstable in the beginning.

For a long time those people were ostracized from society, outcasts because they were different. It was only about 50 years ago that people started realizing that these individuals with superpowers could actually learn to control them, with the proper type of support and training. This was when the Academy was created, to allow a safe environment for these people to discover and learn to control their powers in a way that would then allow them to integrate society and be working members in the community. That’s why each person has to spend the day of their 23rd birthday at the Power Evaluation Unit being monitored, just in case.

While the awakened were more and more accepted and respected in society, there was still a lot of stigma surrounding these people having powers and their rights to be allowed to use them. For some, it was almost shameful to be associated with these people, some families going as far as disowning their kids when they were discovered to have powers. Thankfully for me, I knew I didn’t have to be worried about that. My parents were quite literally the most accepting and understanding people.

I was lost in thought thinking about all this until my attention was brought back by the sound of everyone suddenly singing “Happy Birthday”. I then saw my mom coming over with my cake which she placed in front of me.

“Blow out your candles and make a wish!” she said, with a huge grin on her face.

Even though I was an adult now, she insisted on saying that every year. I couldn’t help but smile at her. While in a way I’d outgrown making wishes on my birthday cake, this time I couldn’t help myself. I paused for a moment, ‘I wish that I will finally find something I’m good at, something that makes me feel useful and that I can be proud of’. I then leaned forward carefully to blow the candles out.

********************************************

A few hours later the party was over and my dad and I got into the car. I was expected at the Power Evaluation Unit at 11pm to make sure I was set up in a monitoring room before midnight.

“Are you nervous?” my dad asked, looking over at me briefly before returning his gaze to the road.

“I don’t know, I’m not sure what I’m feeling really,” I replied in all honesty. Perhaps a part of me was nervous and maybe almost excited. The rational part of my brain was more indifferent, after all, did I really actually think anything special would happen?

We drove for a long while, farther and farther away from the city. The Power Evaluation Unit was a good distance away in the middle of nowhere, to avoid the potential collateral damage that happened from some of the more intense awakenings.

After about 15 more minutes of driving we pulled up in front of the building. It didn’t look like much, probably because they constantly had to fix it for one reason or another so there was no sense in making it too nice. The only other noticeable nearby building was the Academy, where the awakened were transferred once their powers were neutralized so they could begin training right away.

I got out of the car and took a deep breath, the night air hot despite how late it was. Though it was still early in the summer, we’d been having a massive heat wave for the past few days. My dad came over to give me a final hug and goodbye before I headed for the main entrance.

Once inside I was greeted immediately by a lady sitting at a table. I was asked to give my name and show my ID before being directed to a gentleman who led me down a corridor. “Just follow me please,” the man said, “you’ll be set up in the monitoring room just down here.”

“Okay, thank you,” I responded automatically, feeling quite nervous now that I was actually inside the place.

The man stopped in front of the door and knocked on it twice before opening it. He gestured for me to go in, which I did. There I was met by three people wearing full body protective suits. The outfits oddly reminded me of the characters from game ‘Among Us’, which I’d played exactly one time because I really hadn’t been very good at it.

“Hey Hank,” one of the suited people called out to the man who had escorted me, “Do you know if they’ve fixed the air conditioning yet? We’re dying in these suits here.”

“I think they tried to, but with the intensity of the heatwave right now there’s only so much the system has been able to do,” Hank replied rather grimly. He then excused himself and shut the door behind him, leaving me alone with whom I figured were my examiners.

One of them got up and opened another door leading into a room which I could see was separated from the current one by a large pane of glass. I took the hint and went inside, hearing the door being shut behind me right after. “Make yourself comfortable,” said one of the examiners over the intercom from the other side of the glass, “you’ll probably be here for a while.”

***********************************************

The night had been long, and so had been the day. There wasn’t anything in the room except a simple chair and a digital clock on the opposite wall. Apparently they couldn’t risk putting anything else in the room in case it might react in some dangerous way with a person’s powers.

I’d tried at first to get some sleep, but I was too wired and nervous for that. However as time went on that was replaced with full on boredom and annoyance.

I stared at the clock, now reading 22:22.

"Yeah guys I think it’s safe to say that I don’t have powers,” I said, stretching for a moment, the chair not exactly being the most comfortable place to be seated all day long.

“You’ve still got a little over an hour and a half until we know for sure,” I heard one of the examiners say on the intercom from the other side of the observation glass.

“Fine,” I said and leaned back in the chair, closing my eyes. Although I really hadn’t done anything all day but wait for something to happen, the fatigue from not having slept the night before was catching up to me and I felt quite tired. I figured I might as well try to nap while I waited for the time to be up.

A few moments later I noticed that the room suddenly felt chillier. “I see the air conditioning is finally fixed,” I said with a chuckle. It took me a moment to register that I hadn’t heard the sound of any fan or air circulation being turned on. After all, even though the Power Evaluation Unit had pretty good tech, air conditioning is still rather noisy. But the room was still quiet, too quiet, only the faintest sound of the ventilation system could be heard.

“Uh sir, I don’t think it’s the air conditioning that’s making the room colder,” said a voice coming over the speaker. I could now hear what sounded like beeping noises, almost like alarm sounds. I also noticed that the room seemed to be getting colder by the second and that I was now shivering.

I finally opened my eyes and saw that, starting at my feet, frost was rapidly spreading across the floor. I yelped and I could see my breath as it hit the air.

“What is going on?” I asked, the frost getting thicker and starting to creep up walls now. My breath no longer came out visible, as I realized that I was the source of the cold.

Before I could properly process what was happening the door bust open and all three examiners piled in. I got up, feeling quite panicked and overwhelmed. I tried to talk again but found I couldn’t speak, my face and jaw were too cold to move and my tongue felt frozen in place. I then tried to take a step only to realize I could no longer move at all. It took everything I had to look down and see the frost and ice had spread across my entire body and I was turning into an ice sculpture.

I don’t remember much else afterwards other than hearing the examiners yelling something, maybe my name, and seeing one of them aiming at my arm a syringe of what I assumed were blockaters. It was what they gave the newly awakened to neutralize their powers when they first appeared. The guy tried to inject me, only for the needle to break on contact, not able to pierce my skin now that it was ice. I heard more yelling and then I lost consciousness.

Chapter 2: Letting go of the unknown

When I woke up I was alone. A pile of blankets were layered on top of me and a few radiators were blowing hot air towards the bed I found myself on. I groaned as I tried to sit up, pushing some of the blankets away to free myself from this cozy prison.

“Where am I?” I asked to no one in particular as I scanned the room. It looked like some kind of hospital room, monitors and trays a bit everywhere. I brought my hand up to rub my face as I tried to remember what had happened.

I heard a door open and looked over to see who had come in. “Oh good you’re awake,” said a youngish looking doctor with a kind smile. “How are you feeling?”

“Like a frozen meal that’s been put in the microwave,” I replied automatically. I had no clue where that answer had come from. It was a bizarre analogy, and yet it felt very accurate.

The doctor laughed at this good naturedly. “Well given that you were a block of ice a few hours ago that sounds about right.”

“A block of ice?” I asked, feeling extremely confused. Then the memories of what had led up to my loss of consciousness came back slowly but surely.

“Yeah we weren’t sure for a while if you were going to make it,” the doctor said with an even tone. “We had to get a torch to remove enough ice to actually be able to give you the blockaters. And even then, yes your powers had been neutralized, but you were still pretty much frozen solid. Powers or no powers hypothermia is still very dangerous so we had to find a way to thaw you out quickly but safely.”

I stared at the doctor, trying to process all this information. This guy was going to need to work on his bedside manners, being told I’d almost died was not what I wanted to hear this soon after waking up. “Well, I guess that explains the blankets and the radiators,” I said, trying to use humor to ease the knot in my stomach.

“That would be it, yes,” the doctor said, chuckling. “I’m sure you’ve guessed by now that you have ice powers. That and you probably have an idea of where you currently are.”

“I’m at the Academy, right?” I asked, the reality slowly sinking in that I really truly did have powers. Never in my wildest dreams had I ever thought this would happen, and to think my mom had actually been right to celebrate my birthday a day earlier.

“Yes you are,” the doctor replied kindly. “You’ll be here for the next year so we can help to train you and monitor your progress to make sure you can go back to the real world safely. Your powers appear to be very strong, but here, within the next few weeks hopefully, you will learn to control them.”

Given my current track record at being good at doing things, I wasn’t especially optimistic about how that was going to go. I only half listened as the doctor continued speaking.

“Lucky for you it’s summer right now and we’re experiencing the craziest heat wave in years. I could sure use ice powers right about now,” the doctor went on, chuckling again.

I gave him a look at this point, not particularly feeling in the mood to find him amusing. He had the decency to look somewhat embarrassed as his gaze went down and he cleared his throat.

“That being said, while your powers are great at this time of year, it’s likely not going to be ideal in colder weather,” the doctor explained, trying to redirect the conversation. “With this type of power you’ll have no problem cooling yourself off, however warming yourself up or keeping warm may be an issue so you’ll have to be careful with that in the future.”

“Yeah that makes sense,” I replied, not having much else to say at this point in time.

“Anyway,” the doctor said, “now that you’re awake you’ll be able to get dressed and come with me. Our next orientation session starts in 30 minutes.”

I got up and got dressed, then followed the doctor out of the room and along what felt like never ending hallways. As we walked I was deep in thought, wondering what exactly awaited me. Would this new power be just another thing I was a failure at? Or what if, maybe this time, it was actually something I was good at?

******************************************

“Welcome newly awakened! My name is Sandra and we’re so happy to have you here with us!” A chipper middle aged woman stood in front of the group, which consisted of me and about half a dozen other 23 year olds who’d just gotten the surprise of a lifetime.

“By now the blockators should have worn off for all of you,” the lady went on, “so I’d like for each of you to come up one at a time to present yourselves by giving us your names and telling us your powers. I’d also like for you all to try and give us a demonstration of your powers.”

The other kids in the room and I looked at each other uneasily. That didn’t exactly sound like a very good idea after all.

“Don’t worry,” Sandra said, seeing the look on our faces. “We have our crew here on standby ready to jump into action if anything were to go wrong. So, who wants to go first?”

The room was silent for a few seconds, no one daring to make a move. I was wondering if maybe I should step up to break the ice (no pun intended) when another guy stood up and strode to the front.

“My name is Robert, and my power is telekinesis.” He spoke with a loud, almost arrogant voice. This guy seemed like the type who was very full of himself, he was practically just standing there and posing in front of us. He then turned towards a nearby table and put out his hand.

Now I’m not quite sure what he’d intended to move using his powers but suddenly everything on the table shot out in different directions. We all ducked as pencils and papers went flying. Robert looked quite unhappy with himself and stuck out his hand toward the only thing left on the table which happened to be a mug. It teetered on the table for a moment before shooting straight towards Robert, and smacking him in the head. He screamed and cursed as he brought his hands to his face, the mug promptly falling to the floor and shattering.

“Okay I think that’s enough for now, thank you Robert,” Sandra informed him and gestured for him to take a seat again. “That was actually a really good first effort so don’t feel discouraged. It can take a while for powers to stabilize and for you to learn to control them. That’s why you’re all here. Now, who wants to go next?”

One by one the rest of the people went up to the front to present themselves and test out their new powers, with varying degrees of success. One girl had the power of invisibility but only managed to get her hands to become orange with blue polka dots. Another guy had the power of going through objects but only got as far as getting his hand through a sheet of paper, which he tore as he tried to remove it.

Before I knew it everyone else had gone up and I was the only one left, the others now turning to me expectantly. I took a deep breath and got up in front of the group. “Um hi, I’m Demian, and I have ice powers.” Unsure what to do exactly to test out powers I held up my hand, palm facing the ceiling. For a moment nothing happened, and I thought I heard Robert snickering in the back.

“It’s okay Demian, keep trying,” Sandra said patiently.

I took another deep breath and tried to concentrate more. Even if I wound up being terrible at this, I wasn’t going to be a quitter. For another few seconds it seemed like it still wasn’t working, until I suddenly felt my fingers start tingling. Then a small cloud of snowflakes drifted up from my hand and into the air.

I stood shocked for a moment. I’d done it, I’d actually really done it, and pretty well if I did say so myself. Feeling encouraged, I brought up my other hand and tried again, this time managing to group the snowflakes together and slowly building them up until I was holding a large snowball in my hands.

I then threw the snowball into the air where it erupted with a ‘poof’ and scattered a sprinkling of snow all over the room, the snowflakes melting quickly upon impact.

“Wow beautifully done Demian!” Sandra exclaimed, visibly impressed. “I get the feeling you’ll be mastering your power in no time.”

“Yeah, nice job Elsa,” Robert said, his tone mocking. The others laughed at this remark though somewhat uncomfortably. But I wasn’t paying attention to him.

For once in my life, not only was I good at something, I appeared to be very good at it. I was so excited to learn everything about this power and what I could do with it. This was going to be a fun year, I was sure of it.