-Finn's POV-
I entered the little cottage carefully, looking for Mitch. Near wanted to speak to him about something for some reason and I was sent to get him. My heart fluttered at the thought of him. Even though I lived alone in the next snow biome over news travelled far and wide between us nomads and lone wolves, news mainly of Team Crafted and their hunger games champions Mitch and Jerome. I remember the day I first went to the city, I actually went to watch one of their hunger games matches. I remembered when I first saw Mitch, too. It's kinda pathetic really, it's like as soon as I saw him something in my brain clicked and I felt an instant attachment to him, like a one sided love at first sight. No one knew though, no one ever would. I navigated my way through the small house and eventually found the kitchen.
I reached the doorway to the kitchen and was met with a sight that crushed me inside.
Mitch was tenderly holding Lauren's hand, whispering something unheard to her and smiling when she did, then he leaned in and kissed her gently, and my chest tightened unbearably. I watched with my stinging eyes as he pulled away and whispered something to her again, before kissing her on the forehead. Lauren's gentle sigh drifted through the quiet room and she fell asleep. He looked at her and didn't move, smiling a smile that instantly melted my heart, and was filled with what only could be described as love.
And I couldn't ruin that.
I couldn't ruin his happiness.
So I bit the inside of my cheek, and I turned around and walked away.
2 days later
Lauren was moved from Near's friend's house to the infirmary, and Mitch visited her often, and I'm pretty sure they were dating. Hope and Jerome were getting quite close too, the same with Alex and Seto, who usually disappeared for 'magic lessons'. Meadow and Jason were already a thing, and I think they were the cutest couple. Jason was shy at first but Meadow's bubbly character really brought him out of his shell. It looked like everyone was heading towards a relationship but Near and I.
Near didn't care for the romance, she didn't talk to people much at all really. When she did visit she would sit on the furthest couch away from the rest of the group and stare at the wall, biting the skin around her nail, looking deep in thought. Not today though.
Seto and Alex had returned from magic lessons and Alex had brought up the topic of Lauren's poison, which sparked a group conversation that Near took an interest in.
"The poisons effects has been witnessed once before." She murmured, so quietly almost to herself.
"What?" Asked Mitch, turning towards her.
"This isn't the first time this poison has been seen." She rephrased, raising her piercing eye to look at us. She proceeded to tell her the story of Tanner, and by the end of it we all had one name on our minds.
Herobrine.
As suddenly as silence descended on us it was gone, an uproar exploded, seeming directed at Near but mainly amongst the group.
"Herobrine?!"
"That's ridiculous!"
"-just a kid's tale!"
I stayed quiet, thinking back to when I tried to heal Lauren. The thing with my magic is that it's like another limb, I can feel with it and reach and grab, and when I reached to Lauren to heal her I felt something... evil. It repelled my magic with a hostility, like when you put two magnets of the same side close together, they refuse to meet. I tried to speak up to back up Near's point, but my voice was drowned out by the noise. Annoyance sparked within me and I stood up, thoroughly sick of everyone's shit. I reached out with my magic and grabbed hold of the table, picking it up and slamming it down, knocking a cup off of it, causing everyone to look at me.
