The Return of Time

Prologue: Biana

Anxiously tapping on her keyboard as she fervently read through files and important documents, Biana was scared she was running out of time. Sophie's fractured mind was breaking faster than ever before, and everyone was worried that soon, at this rate, Fitz wouldn't be able to fix enough of the growing damage to buy Biana and her father enough time to find the Black Swan's second Project Moonlark, nicknamed Project Flaredon. Flaredon -- creatures born from smoldering ashes that raised themselves with the mission of finding their parents one day. The perfect codename for the child destined to save its parents.

Biana had been looking for Project Flaredon for the past twelve years -- ever since she snuck into the Black Swan's archives after her inquiries of a plan to save Sophie were dismissed and found files describing the process of making a second genetically-engineered elf. The files were heavily redacted so the child's name, gender, and location were unidentifiable, so Biana decided to recruit help. She brought the files to her father -- as Fitz was always too busy stressing over and taking care of his cognate -- and secretly began to research what happened to the child. Well... until they discovered a chilling entry that described the Black Swan deciding to erase all information of the whereabouts of the child save for one Black Swan member's now-broken memory cache in order to insure that the information would be free from the Neverseen's hands, and that was where the entries stopped.

Immediately, Biana and her father marched down to the official Black Swan headquarters and demanded to know where the child was living, threatening to release the information they'd uncovered to the Council. The Black Swan obliged, though grudgingly, but when Alden and Biana went to scope the child's location, they discovered that the child's human parents had decided to move, leaving no hints to where they were going. A dead trail. A dead trail that Biana and her father had painstakingly tried to reconstruct for twelve years with little to no luck. The only information they'd been able to find was that Project Flaredon was a young thirteen-year-old girl named Gaia Asmer. It was a big find, but with seven billion humans on Earth, it was like finding a needle in a haystack. The only research that could be done was on the human internet via a super computer system that Dex built for the investigation or if Biana and her father visited the Forbidden Cities themselves, which, with their occupations, was difficult to do.

In the last twenty years, Biana had been known in the public eye as the leading fashion designer in the Lost Cities. She was only twenty-one when she founded her clothing company, B.V., and over the years has turned it into a fashion empire. She ruled the trends of the elvin world with a boutique in every major city; a full, new collection every season; a wedding dress collection every year; a long list celebrity clients; and a habit of dabbling in every kind of event attire. She loved it, but it was exhausting at times, especially with all of her extra research. It didn't leave her much time to herself, but she always tried to make it look like she was well put together whenever she left her home. She didn't want people to worry about her, and while most didn't, there was one other person who was clear-minded and as deep into Sophie and Fitz's heath as she was: Dex Dizznee.

Over the years, Biana and Dex had grown closer, making Biana's boyfriend, Chase Dramine, jealous. Chase wasn't perfect -- Biana would be the first person to admit that -- but everyone has their flaws. Chase was kind of a hothead with an ego from being a famous dragon rider, and she liked to think their relationship worked because her cool calm balanced them out. Besides, she was so busy that she needed to be with someone who was just as busy so her significant other wouldn't feel ignored... even if that significant other could be a jerkwad when it came to her friendship with Dex.

Surprisingly, she and Dex had a lot in common. Both of them had huge, trendy companies, visited Sophie and Fitz more than once a week, and were constantly in the public eye, giving them a lot to bond over. Biana kept Dex updated on the search for Gaia and he built her any device she needed for the search and to make running her business easier. Dex even took over half of Biana's shifts at Seaglassbay, Sophie and Fitz's home, to make sure Fitz was sleeping, eating, showering, in secret to make sure Biana had more time to look for Gaia. And as if that wasn't enough, he often stopped by Biana's apartment in Mysterium with dinner he picked up at some local restaurant to share. Dex was the only person she let see her at her worst -- in pajamas, unshowered, with tear-stained cheeks, with dark-circled eyes,, in her messy house. And he never judged her. He never commented on how she looked; he only asked her how she felt and if she'd made any progress. He'd then make her get up from whatever she was doing, and go shower while he prepared their meal. When they finished eating, they'd lounge in her living room over some form of alcohol and talk in low voices about everything that was going on. Over twelve years, Dex had become her best friend -- something she never would've predicted him being. But then again, who could've predicted that Sophie's mind would break and everything would fall apart?

With a sigh, Biana sat back in her seat and rubbed her eyes. Time and time again, she convinced herself that Gaia was the answer to fixing Sophie's mind and saving Fitz's sanity, but every now and then she began to doubt herself. What if Gaia wasn't the answer? How much would that hurt Sophie's friends and family? How much would that hurt Gaia -- who was just a kid, after all? What if it was hopeless? What if after researching over a decade, she achieved nothing? What if-

"Hey," Dex came in without knocking and rested his hands on her shoulders, smiling down at her with worry in his eyes.

"Hey," Biana relaxed under his touch, smiling up at him tiredly. "How was work?"

He shrugged, "Nothing new, but the heat-proof body suit is ready. We start the special pieces for your next collection any time you want."

"Thanks, Dex," she said thankfully, sliding her hands from her face to rest over his hands, and leaned into his wrist.

"Any luck?" asked Dex, referring to the search for Gaia.

Sighing, she shook her head, pressing closer to him with her eyes squeezed shut.

"You'll find her," he promised comfortingly. "Things will work out."

Opening her eyes and looking up at him, she asked miserably, "How do you know?"

Amused, Dex replied, "Because I know you won't let things turn out any other way." Letting her think about what he said, Dex squeezed her shoulders briefly before pulling away. "Now, come on, let's go eat. I brought pizza."

Wordlessly, she nodded, and gave her scattered papers one last look before following Dex out of her room, hoping he was right.