Xavier sat in silence beside Mia in the deliberation room. Everyone who was there earlier had one way or another left to put things in place, but Xavier couldn't pull himself up to do anything. Mia stayed with him, and his heart went out to Edward, and he wondered where and how he was. He had gone to face the Revolution Force on his own. That was self-destruction, because even Edward knew he couldn't take them down alone. He couldn't, unless he had acquired powers Xavier didn't know of or his strategy of attack differed from theirs.

He couldn't die. Edward was more stubborn than that. He had to come...