"So I've got a plan, but there's a risk of failure," I say, having drafted out my initial method to take Edit down. Dakota, Dustin and Xavier have returned to the room, looking pretty worried, but at the sound of my voice they all snap back to reality and began scanning my notes. I look away awkwardly.

"That seems pretty easy, but..." Xavier taps the part of the plan that requires Dustin and Dakota—because they're such amazing persuaders—to go get allies. "I don't like it that I'm not with Dakota."

Dakota blushes. "It's fine, really."

"It's not," Xavier insists, and I can't help but smile over Xavier's protectiveness over his shy, awkward girl.

Dakota rolls her eyes and shoves him lightly, and he catches her hand and doesn't let go. They stare into each other's eyes for a moment too long, before Carmen snaps her fingers in front of their eyes and Dakota slips her hand out of Xavier's.

"You guys have to stop doing that," drawls Carmen, her nose scrunched up, "it's disgusting."

Dustin laughs.

"But Dustin and Dakota are both really good persuaders, and I don't want to risk too many people going in," I say, but Xavier frowns.

"I'm serious, Amber, I'm not going anywhere without Dakota," he says, and I sigh.

"Fine," I roll my eyes, and he finally smiles, his eyes alight with excitement and gratitude. "But if you mess this plan up, there will be consequences."

He nods solemnly, looking over at Dakota.

"We have two days to review this plan. So once we get to the Outer Cities and locate the camp, we'll all have to go in, but I need some people to guard the pod. Carmen and..." I trail off. Should I leave Chance here? If not, then Dustin will have to stay, but he's an important person in the plan.

"Samantha. She's controlling the pod, and I have no idea how to do that." Carmen says, nodding at me.

Samantha's on board? She has a risk of... dying. Why is she willing to sacrifice her life? Carmen said she didn't tell her yet. Does she know what she's getting herself into? My heart panics for the girl.

"I may have not told her, but she found her own way to find out," Carmen says, reading my thoughts.

Oh.

"Alright. So while they're here, we'll find allies. And that needs Xavier and Dakota to carry out."

"In front of cameras," Dustin says, tilting his head.

"There's no other choice," I say exasperatedly.

"We could go to the control room and shut down the system," he suggests.

"You know how to do that?" Dakota cocks a brow, then blushes when we turn to look at her. "Uh... I didn't mean to sound rude."

Xavier chuckles, and Dustin shakes his head.

"Hopefully Chance knows how to," he says.

Chance.

"Yeah," I say, my voice barely audible.

"And after that, we'll get to take Edit down... through a fight. But during... um..." I search for a right timing to carry out the plan. Having being ordered to be on bed rest, I've not had the time to research the camp's daily schedule.

"When they bring the new set of drafts away. That's when people are the most scared, and the most angry, too," Xavier says, and Dakota nods along with Dustin.

"Okay. Where's that held?" I ask, hoping he will know, though it's impossible.

"The foyer," Xavier replies, and Dakota draws her brows together. My eyes widen. He knows?

"How do you know so much?" Dustin asks, and Dakota nods.

"I... did enough research to know." Xavier says, looking calm and not flustered at all.

"Edit doesn't reveal this type of information, Xave," Dakota says.

"It doesn't matter how I got the information. What's important is that I know what to do," Xavier says, evading the question.

"How did you get the information?" Dakota demands, forcing Xavier to look her in the eye.

"Just leave it," Xavier says sharply, his voice cold and cutting, but Dakota doesn't back down.

"How did you get the information? If you used the right methods and didn't play dirty to find out anything, there's no need to act guilty," Dakota blinks, her eyes starting to fill with tears. "I'm trying to trust you, Xavier, but do you know how hard it is? You know better than anyone what type of family I grew up in. And you're telling me to trust you when you don't trust me?" She whispers, a tear escaping her eye. She swipes it away. "I'm not trying to make you feel guilty or anything, Xavier, but why can't you tell me-"

"Because I'm the son of the person who inherited freaking Edit!" Xavier explodes, running a hand through his hair, his voice booming and echoing off the walls. "Because your parents passed the buck to my dad, and now I have to live with the fact that I will have to run Edit someday. That's why I'm bothering to take part in this plan. I'm afraid, Dakota, and fear does crazy things to people. You don't understand that, no one has ever wanted much of you." He says, and Dakota freezes. Everyone does.

"Y-you didn't t-tell me about this," Dakota stammers, her eyes wide with shock as she backs away slowly.

Xavier scoffs, but his eyes soften. "So I'll go up to you and tell you that, hey, Dakota, I'm going to be the person to ruin other's lives one day, so go on and trust me and let me in? Don't be stupid, Dakota, it doesn't work like that."

"So you're spying on us," Dakota says after a pause.

"Do you really think I would love to inherit Edit?" Xavier says sarcastically, then after a pause he murmurs quietly, "All I've ever wanted, Dakota, is to have somebody to bother about. I don't even know where my dad is now, and he's never come home. I've spent my childhood growing up with my neighbour, and he was taken by Edit.

"His parents treated me like their own son, you know? I was always privileged, because most Edit procedures that were carried out on other people didn't apply to me. Like the way people let you go when they hear Dakota Lin, or Dakota Adams. That's one of the reasons I love you. Because you're just like me, and I thought you would know how to relate to me.

"But I'm wrong, aren't I? We grew up in different circumstances, you with unloving parents, and me with people who doted on me like I was some type of amazing prince or something.  I know my parents, but you don't.  I've had to inherit Edit, you haven't. You've always had to learn to protect yourself and be the best, but I don't need to. We are so different, you realise."

"So? So this gives you a good reason to... to... I don't know, hate me?" Dakota says, and suddenly the conversation seems meaningless.

"I never said that, so don't put words in my mouth." Xavier glares at her, before shaking his heads and running a hand through his hair. "I'll be back, I need to calm down."

He walks out of the room, leaving Dakota just standing there, breathing deeply and wrapping her arms around herself. Her tan skin is flushed, her knuckles white. Opening her eyes slowly, she looks at me.

"I'm alright, let's continue," she says with a tight smile.

"You want to go to look for Xavier?" Dustin suggests, but Dakota shakes her head no.

"It'll agitate him further. He's right, he needs to calm down." She explains.

"Okay. So next, we'll have to set up something else to stop Edit from happening again." Carmen says, desperate to get us on task.

"That's the hard part," Dustin says, and I nod.

"But we have Dakota and Xavier," I say, "they could help us by... I don't know, telling everyone their own personal experiences with Edit and how it affected them. If people listen, I think there's a chance that bullying and all that will stop."

"But it's going to leave a mark on them. They'll never forget it." Dakota points out.

"Then we can bring back the traditional method of therapy and medicine, I guess," Dustin says, "it used to help-"

The door bursts open, and in the doorway stands Xavier, his hair unkempt. Without another word, he immediately crosses the room and scoops Dakota into his arms, and Dakota doesn't resist. Laying her head on his chest, he presses a kiss to her cheek and mumbles an apology while rubbing her back. Dakota pulls back far enough to look at him in the eyes, and gently strokes his face, saying something too low for me to hear. They start to talk, lowering themselves to the floor slowly, and Xavier doesn't let go of Dakota. Finally when they have finished with tear-stained faces and broken smiles, Xavier wastes no time in capturing Dakota's lips with his.

I look away, my face growing hot, and my mind flickers to Chance. I should go see him after this, to make sure he's okay and fit enough to come for the mission. If he's not... many parts of the plan may fall apart, including my sanity.

"Um... guys," Dustin starts, but the two lovebirds ignore him.

Carmen sighs and walks over to them, crouching down before sliding in between Xavier and Dakota to stop them. Forced to pull away, Dakota's face is burning red. Xavier glares at Carmen before making his way over to Dakota again, but this time Dakota presses a hand to his lips, still blushing profusely. Rolling his eyes, Xavier settles for wrapping an arm around Dakota's waist as they get to their feet.

"We need your help to make a video," I start, and Xavier's brow furrows.

"A video?" He asks, puzzled.

"Yeah," Dakota says, looking over at him, "they want us to tell the world about our own personal experiences with Edit, especially because we're related-"

"No," Xavier's voice is sharp. At Dakota's disappointed face, he shakes his head and explains, "It's not that I'm not willing to do it, but I don't want to put you at risk. I'll do the video, but you shouldn't. If people find out who you are, there's the risk that Edit will come after you to kill you, and Princess, you know I can't live with that."

Carmen makes a face.

Ignoring completely what Xavier said, Dakota turns to me and says, "We'll do it."

"No, I will." Xavier stares at Dakota, his eyes alight. Dakota rolls her eyes at his stubbornness, sighing.

"Xavier," she says firmly, "I want to do it."

"And I'm not letting you," he says, his gaze pinning her in place.

"It's not like you're my legal guardian or whatever, Xavier. I am going to do it, whether you like it or not." Dakota argues, and Xavier runs a hand through his hair.

Before a fight breaks out, I say, "we can all make one, if it helps to take the focus off Dakota."

Xavier turns to me. "They will still notice her."

"Xavier," Carmen says, "there's really no use pushing your girl to do something she doesn't want to. She has the right to make her own decisions, and she has decided to help us with this."

"That's a stupid choice," Xavier says hotly, and Dakota balls her hands into fists.

"I'm not five years old, Xavier. I know what to do, and my choice is to make this video. Don't you want to make an impact on those innocent people out there? Don't you want to stop this whole thing?" Dakota asks, her voice soft.

Xavier looks away.

"I know you're trying to protect me, Xave, but this is ridiculous. I'm old enough to know what's right and what's wrong and what's in the middle. If I do this, it's right. It'll stop everything. That's what I've been fighting for, what everyone here, right now, is fighting for. That's what my cousin, who may lose his life at any moment, is fighting for. You get me?" Dakota touches his arm lightly.

Heat spreads into Xavier's cheeks, and Dakota reaches up and plants a kiss on his cheek, wrapping her arms around him. Xavier buries his face into Dakota's neck, and I'm about to call it a day when the door opens, and once the sentence leaves the man's-who I'm assuming is the doctor-lips, I get out of bed and out the door despite what Carmen and Dustin tell me.

"Mister Adams has regained consciousness."

•
Hello! Thank you guys so much for all your support, it means a lot to me :). 'Till the next update!

-NeverEverGiveUp-