The Return Of Time

Chapter Four: Misconceptions & Reality & Empathy

Biana's hands grabbed at her throat as she watched Gaia run out of the apartment. She wanted to get up and run after her, but she couldn't breathe. Gaia had inflicted on her, but Biana wasn't sure of what emotion. Tears slid down her face when she slowly started being able to breathe again, and she wondered what she had done wrong. All she had said was that she hadn't ever left her family for good before, that they needed to get her to her house again, and that she would help Gaia through this... had she done something wrong? What could have set off her inflicting? Biana didn't know, and when she was able to get up and run out the door, she didn't care. She had to find Gaia.

Stumbling out onto the streets of Mysterium, she looked around wildly, People's heads turned to look at her when she darted off in a random direction, and could hear their whispers of, "Isn't that Biana Vacker?" "What's going on?" "Is she okay?" She wasn't okay. She had lost Gaia.

Weaving around crowds of people, desperately searching for the young girl's face. She checked all the alleys and shops she could before her throat started to close up, though this time, it was from panic. The tears hadn't stopped coming, and when she stopped on a street corner, she discovered that she was shaking. In a daze, she walked over to the nearest alley and slouched down the wall, knees up, her head in her hands.

How did she manage to lose the one person that could save Sophie? She knew she shouldnt've been the one to find Gaia, she knew she would somehow mess up and ruin everything. Fitz would be furious with her if he found out that she lost her, much less that she didn't tell him Gaia existed, and her father would be disappointed in her, yet classically say, "No reason to worry." She wasn't sure which was worse, or which would hurt more.

Once again, she wondered how it could've gone so wrong so fast. One second she was trying to comfort Gaia, the next, the blond haired girl was dashing out the door, leaving Biana choking on the floor. "She must have been so scared," Biana thought to herself, "she doesn't know she's an inflictor."

Biana looked up and out at the busy Mysterium traffic, a small hope rising in her chest that she'd miraculously see her in the ocean of people. Her heart started to sink after a few minutes as she realized that with all of these people, she might never find her. Not without help at least... but who could she call? She couldn't call her parents or Fitz and Sophie... she looked up at the poster in front of her, messily hung in tones of green and yellow. It read, "Buy the new Anxdrianne by Dex Dizznee! The hottest tech God has answered your prayers with a new light leap stabilizer!" Biana gasped, not bothering to read the poster any further, and fumbled for her imparter. How had she not think of this before?

With uneven breaths, she dialed Dex's number and waited for him to pick up. When he did, she smiled a little. His face was smeared with grease and his hair stuck up in random tufts. His clothes were were filthy, and he had giant, thick, circular goggle glasses on his face, which he pushed up onto his head so he could see her properly. When he saw her face, his smile faltered, "Hey, what's wrong?"

"I lost Gaia," she sniffed, and began to explain what happened as Dex started to wash his face, then flatten his hair. He unfastened the clips of his overalls so the top apron would hang down at his waist, unveiling his army green tee shirt underneath, making the overalls magically turn into regular work pants.

"I'm coming, where are you?"

"The alley on the corner of Alchanex and Grechta," she wiped her eyes.

He nodded, "Okay, stay there," and hung up. Quietly, she sighed to herself, and wiped a few more tears off her face, not wanting to look like a total mess.

Seconds later, a flash of light brought Dex Dizznee, who saw Biana on the ground who immediately crouched down on the ground and scooped her up into his arms. She wrapped her fingers in the fabric of his shirt and pressed her face into his shoulder, her head turned so she could listen to the steady beating of his heart in hopes of calming her own, breathing in the smell of oil and burning metal instead of air. He held her head against him gently, his chin on top of it so it was almost like she was encased in protection from the world. When he spoke, she could feel the rumbling vibrations in his chest, "Hey, it's okay, we'll find her. She couldn't've left Mysterium, right?"