Chapter Text
Chapter 1
“Can you even believe it?” Sophie asked. Biana turned away from the window she’d been gazing at, smiling brightly at her friend and hoping it looked like she meant it.
“Believe what?”
“That it’s already been nine months!” Sophie explained. “Time has flown by so fast, it feels like Dex just left yesterday.”
Biana disagreed. In her opinion, time had gone by at a snail's pace since Dex had left for the newly found gnome nation nine months before, each day dragging on longer than the last. She didn’t voice these thoughts out loud though, both because that wasn’t how time worked , but also because Sophie had been busier than Biana, only just having returned from a month-long excursion for “ undisclosed reasons ”. Biana didn’t know if it had been for the Council or the black swan; just that Sophie had allegedly returned to her house at some late hour of the night. Her parents had noted she smelled of smoke but was otherwise unharmed, however unable to explain to anyone where she’d been.
So instead, Biana just nodded.
“I guess time goes fast when you're an elf.” She agreed. Sophie wrinkled her nose.
“You act as if we’re already a hundred-something!” Sophie protested. “We’re only twenty-three.”
“ You’re twenty-three. I’m twenty-two,” Biana corrected, before adding, “So is Dex.”
Sophie furrowed her eyebrows. “Dex is twenty-three.”
…. Right . Biana remembered now. Dex’s birthday had passed while he was still with the gnomes, meaning for a few months he would be older than her. Biana realized the smile had fallen off her face and quickly corrected herself.
“Sorry, of course he is, I’m just…uh...” She trailed off.
“Nervous?” Sophie offered, smiling softly.
Biana was more than nervous. She was scared , and sad probably, and a whole bunch of other things that she couldn’t name but would probably put an Empath into cardiac arrest. But she just nodded, looking away from Sophie’s warm brown eyes.
“Don’t be,” Sophie said, taking Biana’s hand in her own. “You look…so beautiful,”
If only Biana’s worries had been as simple as that.
“GUYS!” Bex shouted, bursting through the door. Biana and Sophie both cringed as the door hit the wall with a loud bang. “Oops…” Bex grinned sheepishly, tucking a piece of her wild amber hair behind her ear. Then, quieter, she said, “He’s almost here! C’mon!”
Sophie immediately started heading for the door as Bex ducked behind it, but Biana stayed where she was, frozen in place. She suddenly didn’t feel so brave now, and the pretty purple gown she’d picked out this morning felt heavy against her skin. She wanted to be invisible, to run out the front door of Rimeshire and go into hiding, but she couldn’t do that. Being scared wasn’t an option, now or any time. Plus, she needed to see Dex. She wanted to see Dex. No matter what, she couldn’t keep herself away from him. So, before Sophie could turn back and question what was taking so long, Biana made her way to the door, following Sophie inside.
The room containing the Dizznee’s leapmaster was actually quite empty, holding only four people including Biana and Sophie. Juline stood to the side, her hands clasped in front of her and a look of excitement on her face. Bex was also there, rocking back and forth on her feet in anticipation. Unfortunately, Kesler had been called away at the last minute to create an important antidote, so he couldn’t make it until later that day. Rex and Lex had gone along to assist him as well, leaving the girls to be Dex’s welcoming party. Juline smiled sweetly at Biana from across the room, and Biana felt some of her anxiousness fall away as she gave Juline a small smile back.
The gems of the leapmaster started to clink together, and everyone’s heads turned to the sound as the room started to brighten. A beam of colorful light shot down, and only a few seconds later, Dex materialized into view.
He looked like a dream, to Biana, and maybe that could be attributed to all the times this moment had played out in her imagination. It didn’t feel real, him standing before her, him really being here, and her heart fluttered, warmth rushing through her body.
Juline was the first person to move, walking over to embrace him. Dex grinned as he hugged her back, his dimples on full display.
“It’s great to have you back,” Juline whispered, and Dex’s eyes seemed misty when he stepped away. He scanned the rest of the room, his expression changing the moment he laid his eyes on Biana. Time seemed to stop as the two locked eyes.
Biana drank in the sight of him, taking in every way he had changed since they had last seen each other, nine months ago.
His strawberry-blond hair was longer than it had been, and his bangs now reached his eyes. It was still styled messily, if not messier now, and it had started to curl at the ends.
His freckles had spread across his face, going down his arms and dotting his hands. His collared shirt was messy, and the top was missing a clasp, leaving his speckled neck on display.
He had the same stare in his periwinkle eyes. It wasn’t calculating as much as it was assessing , as if he was looking for something within her. Biana hoped that that something-whatever it was he was looking for-was still there.
Biana sort of hated that he’d changed this much without her, even though she had no one to blame but herself for that fact. She’d changed too, she knew, and she wondered if Dex was realizing that now, wondered what he thought about it.
One thing hadn’t changed, and she realized in that moment that she was still in love with Dex, although she hadn’t even realized she’d been pretending she wasn't.
Dex was handsome as ever, the backlight from the leapmaster illuminating his tall frame, and if this had been a dream, Biana would have gone to him, would’ve embraced him and felt his arms wrap around her in turn.
But this wasn't a dream, and cold reality crashed into her all at once as Dex’s eyes darkened, and he turned away.