A/N: Here it is, my long-awaited and highly changed version of City of Bones: Revised Edition. It's loosely adapted from City of Bones by Cassandra Clare, a book that I am in no way affiliated with.

NAMES HAVE BEEN CHANGED. This is ALTERNATE UNIVERSE. SET ASIDE EVERYTHING YOU KNOW ABOUT THE ORIGINAL City of Bones, AND ENJOY!

City of Bones

by I Suffer From Hubris

Prologue

The tall, imposing man stood alone in his bedchamber, pulling on the jacket of his custom-tailored Italian suit. Looking into a mirror for reference, he adjusted the lapels and smoothed his tie, followed shortly thereafter with his hair. The pale blond waves, nearly white in color, always refused to do anything but flop in his face, and it appeared that today was no different. With tired exasperation, he successfully gelled them back off his forehead, subsequently stepping back from the mirror and giving himself a sharp-eyed inspection to ensure that he looked every bit as presentable as he did normally. A life fraught with disappointment and endless toil- of the mental and physical varieties- to achieve his ends had begun to take its toll on him in recent years, although, he suspected, not as badly as it would have for many of his contemporaries. He could handle it quite well, at least by his own estimation, and his many personal luxuries helped alleviate some of the stress. The endless number of pinstriped suits, for example.

Just as he was buttoning his jacket of one of those very suits and pondering what disappointments today would bring (and, naturally, how he could work around them and fix whatever would be messed up today; he really needed a new team of underlings who might actually be useful for once), someone burst through his door.

Startled, the man was distracted from re-adjusting his necktie. A small, panting sprite stood in the threshold to his chamber, obviously winded. The elf-like creature took a moment to catch his breath, during which the towering man contemplated impatiently what this interruption could mean.

Then, the being, so little in comparison, spoke to him, effectively drawing his musing to an end. "Sir… We've found them."

Could it be, after so long? He had to make sure that this faerie wasn't wasting his time with nonsense. "Found them? Found who?"

"You know…" the sprite said, confusedly looking up at him from across the room. "Casper and Daphne."

The man's pulse quickened considerably. Was this the day? "Truly?"

"Of course, sir. We successfully located them just a few minutes ago, so I ran here straightaway to tell you."

"Well." He had wondered many times over the years what this day would be like, and how he would feel upon receiving the news. This was everything he had hoped for, and an integral part of fulfilling his greater plan for numerous reasons. "Where are they?"

"New York City, sir."

He should have known. Somehow, it suited Daphne especially well, and Casper would have followed her anywhere. "How convenient. I suppose I'll go earlier than I had planned." He was due to visit that same city in America in just over a week to reconnect with some old allies, but this simplified everything. He couldn't have asked for them to be in a better location.

Suddenly, the sprite looked uncomfortable, shifting his weight nervously. "There is… something else that we discovered, sir."

"Tell me later," he commanded, beginning to pack some of his things in a whirlwind of elated anticipation.

The sprite sighed. "Yes, sir." Then, his voice grew worried. "Wait. You can't leave tonight!"

"Why not?" he asked, still packing. Finally, he remembered. "Oh, of course. The conference." He was due to speak to a large gathering of potential supporters later that evening, but he had already decided that this new change of plans was far more important. "You'll have to speak to them for me, my friend."

"What? M-me? I… I can't!"

The tall man gave him a resolute look, and said slowly, "You'll do fine."

His words seemed to convince the sprite enough, as the creature visibly gave up resistance to the idea. He slumped his shoulders, defeated. "And what will I say to them, sir?"

"The truth. Tell them that I will be their liberation."

"As you wish, sir."

"I knew that I could count on you." And with that, Victor Dieudonné was even more confident than he had been minutes before that he would finally execute his plans without error and in a timely fashion.

It had been a long time in the making, after all. He deserved nothing less.

A/N: And onto the first chapter! It's already up! What are you waiting for? Review this and then get right to reading it. ;)