Ian, Ty, Mitch and Seto sat in the room that joined their private bedrooms, talking amongst themselves. Seto had returned from the sorcerer's library late the night before and the others were now quizzing him on what the sorcerer's headquarters actually looked like, although they were getting frustratingly little information.

          "I've already told you, I can't say anything," Seto was saying, holding back a laugh. "It's a closely guarded secret, we don't even tell apprentices about it until they've passed their first test."

          "Oh come on Seto," Mitch complained. "We won't tell anyone!"

          Seto shook his head resolutely. "Nope. Can't do that Mitch."

          Further protests were cut off by the door opening. Anne stepped in, closely followed by Hero who closed the door after them and leaned against the wall beside it, arms crossed over his chest.

          "You found something?" Ty asked instantly, standing up from his chair.

          Hero gave a sigh. "There is a way to remove Adam's magic so that it doesn't hurt him anymore and so he can't use it, but it's dangerous. Because there's no way to remove the magic from him completely, there's a chance that his body will attack it and that it will either kill him or control him. But if we do nothing, he will die."

          "What will happen if it controls him?" Seto asked warily, also standing.

          "I don't know," Herobrine admitted.

          "His best chance of survival is if the magic is removed, right?" Ian asked.

          Hero ran a hand through his hair. "I don't know that either. I'm... not sure how much stress it would put on his body but he's very weak. The stress could kill him."

          "But if we leave it, he will die no matter what," Ty said.

          "It's not a great situation."

          The four friends glanced at each other. Hero muttered something about waiting outside and left the room. Anne put her hand around the door just before it was about to close.

          "I'd suggest making a decision sooner rather than later," she said quietly before leaving and closing the door behind her.

          Seto sighed and flopped back into his chair, running a hand through his hair. Mitch started tapping his foot on the ground as Ty started pacing.

           "There's no choice to be made," Ian said calmly as if there wasn't a life on the line. "We have to try to remove the magic. It's the only way he'll live-"

           "Did you hear what could happen?" Mitch asked incredulously. "'It'll either kill him or control him'. Neither of those two are any good, Ian."

          "That's only if his body attacks it."

          "You don't know what happens when magic is put under pressure, do you?" Seto said quietly, his voice neutral. "When magic is under pressure, the result is usually explosive. If his body does attack it, he'll be a danger not only to himself but to others as well. He might accidentally kill-"

          "What does it matter?!" Ty yelled. "This is Adam we're talking about!"

          "Ty, one life isn't worth sacrificing many, we've discussed this before," Seto said. "It doesn't matter who that person is-"

          "But it's Adam!"

          "Ty," Mitch tried to reason. "All of us are Adam's friends, none of us want him to die. But when we decided to make peace between armies, we promised to protect people. And that means..." He couldn't say the words and he looked at Seto and Ian to help.

          "But Herobrine said maybe," Ty said quietly, having long stopped pacing. "We can't just let him die because of something that might happen."

          Mitch and Seto exchanged a glance but Ian leaned forward, trying to meet their gazes. "If something happens to him, you can look after it, right Seto?" he asked. "I mean, you are one of the strongest sorcerers around."

          "I don't know," Seto hesitated. "Adam's magic is a lot stronger than I-"

          "Seto," Ty whispered. "Please?"

          The sorcerer sighed and briefly shut his eyes. "It only might happen, right?" Ty nodded a little. "Alright then, we'll ask Herobrine to try and remove his magic. And... whatever happens, we'll sort it out."

          Ian stood up and Mitch gave a sigh of relief. In truth, he hadn't wanted to take the 'bad side', but he had felt obliged. And so, with the decision told to Anne and Herobrine, the six went down to the lonely cell. The four friends and Anne stood against the iron bars while Herobrine sat beside Adam, one hand on the shivering man's head and the other on his chest.

          "You do know how to do this, right?" Seto asked nervously.

          "I read the theory," Herobrine said shortly, cutting off any conversation.

          Silence filled the cage as everyone watched Herobrine and Adam nervously, waiting for something to happen. After a tense minute, Adam groaned in pain, his face contorting and his limbs tensing. His breaths became laboured and had he more strength, he probably would have curled into a fetal position to try and escape the mounting pain inside.

          "He's just hurting him more," Ty whispered, making a move as if he was about to step forward. Mitch quickly held onto his arm, holding him back.

          "Just wait," he murmured.

          As quickly as it had started, Adam suddenly relaxed. He stopped shaking seemed to have drifted into a peaceful sleep. Herobrine gave a deep sigh.

          "He'll be fine," he said, taking his hands away from Adam's head and chest. "He'll probably wake up in a few minutes."

          He stumbled as he stood up, his eyes threatening to drift close and Anne moved forward to take his hand, gently leading him out of the cell and up the stairs. Ian, Mitch, Seto and Ty didn't leave. They stayed where they were, waiting for Adam to wake up, not daring to voice their fears or hopes. It felt like an age before Adam's eyes fluttered open and he slowly moved his head to look around. All four of them involuntarily called his name and ran to him.

          "What's the matter?" Adam asked, his voice slurred from overexhaustion. His eyes (Seto gave a sigh of relief as he saw them) were back to their usual warm brown colour.

          "You're okay!" Mitch told him.

          Adam frowned, taking a mental inventory of himself. His limbs felt like lead when he tried to sit up (assisted by Ian) but his head felt a lot more solid and connected to the rest of him, and he had no headaches or other pain at all, from what he could tell. "Yeah... I guess so, what happened?"

          "Herobrine removed the magic so that it wouldn't affect you," Seto said. "How are you feeling?"

          Adam paused a moment before answering, waiting for a sudden pain to strike but it never came. "Fine. Actually, I feel like crap, but no headaches or pain or anything."

          "Well, that's a start," Ian half-laughed.

          It took a few days for Adam to get back on his feet but he recovered quickly and didn't have a single headache. Herobrine took him aside at one point to briefly explain to him the chances of his body attacking the magic but Adam took the news of his possible self-combustion quite well, saying to Ty: "I'd much rather possibly explode into a fireball of death than have those constant headaches and have everything turned up to 110% sensitivity". It wasn't long before Hero and Anne were standing atop of the battlements, holding their hands up in a goodbye as the five rode away, heading south to their home. In Seto's head, Herobrine's departing words to him spun around.

          "Keep an eye on Adam, okay?" the white-eyed man had said. "If anything bad happens, just call me. I'll be able to hear you no matter when you call."

          Seto silently hoped that he would never have to take Herobrine up on his offer but for now, he pushed it out of his mind and enjoyed the time with his friends.

          "That was eventful," Anne remarked lightly, dropping her waving hand. Hero hummed in agreement and resting his hand on the rough stone wall in front of him, his other hand wrapped in Anne's warm one.

          "How's the world?" she asked after a few moments.

          "Quiet," Hero said. "Everyone's keeping their heads down at the moment, which isn't good news but I'm grateful for the break."

          "So am I," Anne murmured, leaning her head on his shoulder. They watched the Team become smaller, the snow kicked up by their horses' hooves now invisible.

          "How are your brothers?" Anne asked.

          "They haven't changed," Hero said with a grin. "Last I checked, Steve was travelling along the mountain range but that was a few months ago, so who knows where he is now. Notch is still tinkering with things in his underground lab and I swear, I couldn't give a name or a function to over half of the things he has down there."

          "And he didn't catch you when you went looking through his library?"

          "Of course not, why would he?"

          Anne gave a chuckle.

          "Do you ever regret doing this?" Hero asked suddenly after a few moments. Anne looked up at his words, frowning in confusion. "You know, this whole protecting people thing. Do you regret it?"

          "No," Anne said instantly. "Do you?"

          "Yes," Hero said quietly. He felt her eyes watching him and he looked at her, smiling warmly. "I never get to see you. I miss you."

          "You're so romantic," she said dryly, keeping a straight face. He laughed and wrapped his arm around her, holding her close. The Team were only small silhouettes on the horizon now. Soon, they would disappear among the distant treeline. Anne raised her head and saw that Hero's smile had disappeared, replaced with an almost stony expression.

          "Adam will be fine," she told him quietly.

          "I hope so," he mumbled. "He seems like a good guy. I don't want to have to hurt him."

I lost my head in the heat of battle yesterday and I wrote song lyrics and guitar chords for a song that I made up for Rising to Fall. But hey, Adam's not dead!