Cyrus Zervais's Story

Cyrus wandered around the streets of the ghost town, in reality he was just going around in circles. Turning every now and then and going back around the same corner he had already been past. There was nothing else to do in the lonely city called Timeless. Because it was-- Timeless. Who knew how many years they had been here? Or was it months? Cyrus couldn’t even tell anymore, he had lost track of how many hours went by, because there was…no day or night. Just a overcast cloud covering the sky-- well the top of the shield. “Cyrus! I’m bored! I wanna go to Wally World!” Cyrus froze suddenly but then he laughed to himself, realizing who the voice actually belonged to. He brought the palm of his hand to his forehead and smacked himself lightly before turning to face Rei. His friend. One of his only allies in this god-forsaken town. “You scared me Rei, I thought you were the ghost,” Cyrus laughed again, tilting his head and smiling pleasantly. No one knew what the poor kid was on about, he was delusional.

Cyrus then noticed Splice coming to join them and he immediately ran to Rei, cowering behind him. “Wally World, huh?” Splice rang out, catching only the end of what seemed like a conversation they were having. “What do you need that’s there, huh?” Cyrus tilted his head slightly, he blinked against the darkness and the dim lighting. “You sound like Splice,” he said quizzically to himself, still hiding behind Rei. “What do you say, Cyrus? Up to taking Rei to Wally World? Ill tag along if I could get me some Swiss Rolls…” he could see the faint smile imprinted on her face and he stepped out from behind her, taking a few steps forward confirming that it was actually Splice. He put a hand to his chin and thought for a minute, who knows what it was about. He then smiled and nodded, spinning on his heels to face Rei. “Come on then little bro! Let’s go shopping!” he turned once again, walking down the streets humming to himself.

Cyrus had been the one most affected by the condition they were in, well his mind being the most affected. His powers taking its toll on him and slowly he was loosing his sanity, it wasn’t really a bad thing…it didn’t make him evil or anything like that. Just plain weird. He would always refer to Rei as his little brother, even though the boy was two years older than Cyrus. Luckily, sometimes Cyrus would be affected by his “other selves”, though that could actually be unlucky. He turned around and looked back towards Rei and Splice just before he got to the border of their land. “I want some chocolate, but I don’t have any money…” he paused for a moment then ran over to Splice grabbing her clothes. “Please…” he pouted, though in theory they didn’t need money at all. Everything was free, money had lost all value here.

Splice pried Cyrus off of her and smiled, patting the side of her trousers, at her wallet. “You know Im rich!” Cyrus smiled happily, flinging her arms around Splice and squeezing her, probably knocking the air out of her, but she would have been used to it by now. “Hey guys, back up a sec. There’s someone else around. She’s a Thorn.” Cyrus let go of Splice momentarily and peered around her at Rei. As Splice turned to look at her Cyrus hopped onto her back to get a better view, though the Thorn had already bolted off, deeper into their territory. "She's going the wrong way!" Cyrus giggled and pointed backwards leading out of their territory, he swung his hand around so he was now pointing at where the intruder had gone. "Onward horsey!" Cyrus yelled. As Splice fired at her, Cyrus fell off and onto his ass. There wasn't any force but try telling Cyrus that. He looked up at Splice's back with tearful eyes but as she turned he erased the remains of them on his sleeves. “You may just have to wait on that chocolate.” Cyrus pouted but got to his feet, brushing himself down and running past Splice with great speed and towards the fleeing Thorn.

He skidded to a halt when he noticed Rei talking to her, creating a rather large hole in the wall. Cyrus flinched as the sound of gunfire echoed off the wall of the deserted buildings around them. He had closed his eyes tightly but reopened them in time to see the enemy run off, he turned his attention now onto Rei. He had obviously been shot since he had fallen and landed on his back. Cyrus ran over to him to check the damage. He pressed his hand against the bleeding wound of Rei's shoulder, tears welling up in his golden eyes. “You’re dead!” The outburst from Rei called Cyrus to flinch back, releasing the pressure from his wound. He blinked away tears and got up, his eyes narrowing towards the direction of the fleeing enemy. "Coward," Cyrus growled, his tone thick with malicious intent, as black and as cold as the lonely days they faced together. Cyrus looked back down towards Rei, "Wait here," he stated before running off towards the mall.

As he ran a copy of Rei appeared next to him, it was full of anger and only anger. Cyrus' power was to project the emotions of people, creating their own bodies. In this case, taking the anger from Rei and creating another version of him. The both entered the mall and Cyrus skidded to a halt, turning to the copy of Rei who was searching around through a blank glare for any signs of movement. "Show yourself you coward!" Cyrus yelled out, he wasn't really expecting a reply but he motion for the enraged Rei to follow and they both silently stepped through the mall, searching left and right for any signs of the stupid Thorn.

"Hey Fangs! Sorry for shooting you, but heres a gun that wont hurt you as much." the voice came from above and both Cyrus and the angry Rei looked up, both glaring daggers at the Thorn. Suddenly they were both soaked with water, the copy disappeared and Cyrus gave a sigh, huffing and blowing the wet hair out of his face but it just suck again, obscuring the vision out of one of his golden eyes. He managed to see her legs disappear inside a store and he sprinted after her, holding one hand up to his face pushing the wet hair from his vision. He skidded to a halt when he entered the store she had disappeared into, he looked around in search for her but didn't find anything.

BOOM!

It came from outside and Cyrus flinched slightly, his powers now malfunctioning and creating another Cyrus, although this one looked much different. Instead of having golden blond hair, it was black, his eyes being a lifeless and dull grey colour. His skin matching the same description. "Ghost!" Cyrus yelled out and immediately ran out of the mall and continued going towards the sound of the explosion, he looked behind for any signs of the "Ghost". Thud! Cyrus fell back from impact, he stared up at the back of Splice. He cried crawling to her legs and hanging on to them. "Help me, he's after me!" Cyrus wailed.

---

The Ghost titled it's head as the scaredy-cat Cyrus ran out of the mall, he shrugged and jumped onto the rafters above and ran across the mall until he saw the Thorn in sight. He kicked off and landed in front of her, smiling deviously at her. "Going somewhere?" he took a few steps towards her, they had still been on the rafters and it was dangerous to even walk on them. "You should know better than to come into our territory and then take what you want without even a goodbye."

Ghost-Cyrus smiled continuing an advance on the Thorn, he hadn't fallen for her distraction but she turned into a bird and flew away. He jumped trying to grab onto her but missed and landed again on the thin beam. Suddenly he lost his footing and slipped, falling over the edge but he grabbed onto the beam, his legs dangling around ten feet of the ground. He huffed slightly, letting go of the beam and falling to the ground. He landed on his feet perfectly without sustaining any injury at all, any normal human would have done. But luckily he wasn't, just something which came out of Cyrus. Ghost sighed and brushed himself down from the dust he collected from the rafter. He looked up once again before sprinting out of the mall. He continued down the streets to find Cyrus, who had fallen over. Slowing down into a walk he towered over Cyrus with a smile. "Ah!" Cyrus screamed loudly, crawling back on his hands away from Ghost. "Come on, your teammates are in trouble," the black haired Cyrus held out a hand and the normal one took it. He was yanked hard to stand and then Ghost ran off, dragging the petrified Cyrus behind him.

When they saw Rei and Splice in view, Ghost sped up a bit, Cyrus struggling to hold on. They came to a halt behind Rei, Splice had gotten his front and now they would protect his back. "Sorry we're late," Ghost smiled, letting go of Cyrus' hand. He gulped slightly, searching around at the members of Shank and Thorn. At least now they know Cyrus wasn't completely insane when he said about The Ghost, since no one apart from Cyrus had ever seen him. Well that Thorn girl had done.

"Ghost?" Ghost looked down to Rei and smiled, he quickly removed all emotion when he heard a bang. That stupid Thorn again. The second time within the past twenty minutes. Cyrus yelled as debris and parts of metal flew everywhere, one of the larger chunks hitting him in the shoulder, lodging itself there. Ghost managed to avoid being hit by any of it apart from some debris flying up into his eyes. He noticed that Splice was having difficulty with the needles she used, he snickered slightly at the sight of her being almost like a porcupine. But now wasn't the time for jokes as she released the needles onto the ground, her back left with dots of blood. Ghost sighed and Cyrus was crying from the metal stuck in his shoulder. "Hold on," he growled, turning Cyrus towards him and putting his hands around the metal shard pulling at it. Cyrus screamed out from the pain and tried pushing Ghost away from him, although it just made him pull more. With one final tug the metal was free and Ghost held the blood covered shard in his hands, glaring towards Nickolas.

He was going to throw it. Straight between that Thorn's eyes. He would have thrown it. If not for the sudden darkening of the sky and the earthquake which followed. His eyes wandered to the building which Rei was going to make collapse. Looking up as the top of it could be seen swaying back and forth, even more violently now the tremor had started. "Cyrus! Splice! Rei!" Ghost yelled, grabbing Cyrus under his arm and pulling Splice by the hand. He ran as fast as he could out of the way, there was a creaking sound and the building suddenly collapsed. Ghost pushed Cyrus and Splice out of it's reach before it came crashing down on top of him. Cyrus panted, sitting on the ground only a few inches away from the fallen building. Rei should have been okay, he could have moved to the back of it before it fell. Splice was luckily pushed away in time too. The other gangs also probably had the sense to move before it crushed them. But Ghost...

A few tears ran down Cyrus face and he screamed out towards the blackened sky.

Cyrus sobbed, but this time quieter when Rei came to comfort him, rubbing his back gently. He sniffed, wiping his eyes on his forearm, he didn't look up at Rei though. Just kept mumbling incoherently between sobs, he had gotten himself too worked up so any recognition of speech wasn't there. "Cyrus," Rei said softly in an attempt to comfort the poor boy. Though this happened quite often and nothing seemed to calm Cyrus down. He just sort of calmed down on his own, though he hadn't really been this upset before. He felt guilty of what happened to Ghost, even if was scared of him, he still cared kinda for the twin. "What happened? Are you hurt?" Cyrus looked up to Rei, the tears causing his golden eyes to shine he then looked down at the wound in his arm, the blood still coming from it at a considerable rate with no real signs of stopping. "Ghost he-" Cyrus was cut off by another quake shook the ground and through instinct Cyrus grabbed onto Rei. Squeezing him so tight it would probably knock the breath out of them both.

More shards of metal fell from the building near them, though none seemed to do any damage to Cyrus, mainly because Rei was attempting to protect him. "What's going on Rei?!" Cyrus yelled over the sounds of the earth and buildings cracking. He could see a large crack running up one of them just in front of the fleeing Thorns. "Look out!" he yelled to them, he quickly created another version of himself using the emotion of sadness. It looked exactly like Cyrus but was crying constantly, running towards the group of Thorns. It ran past them and held out hands to get them to stop just as the building came down on top of the copy. Cyrus flinched, blinking more tears to run down his face. He was confused, scared and most importantly depressed. He just wanted everything to stop, why was there earthquakes? Never before had their been. And they were causing more trouble than the rival gangs. It seemed like a problem which wouldn't go away now. The two buildings acted like a trap, the only way out being over the top of them.

Cyrus smiled faintly at the fact he was able to save the Thorns, even if they were his enemies, he still didn't want to see anyone else die. Cringing at the thought, the memory of seeing Ghost get crushed right before his eyes. He was just happy that no one else would die, at least, not yet. The wind picked up blowing strong gusts everywhere and kicking up the debris from the two buildings. Cyrus coughed lightly to get the dust out of his lungs, sitting against the building and next to Rei. He was still crying, chocking on the tears and debris. He felt himself being pulled into a warm and familiar hug, blinking out the dust particles and rubbing his eyes he could see Splice. He sobbed into her shoulder and wrapped his arms around his sister. "You're alright, Cyrus. Come on, Im here, calm down." she muttered to him in a soft tone, Cyrus stared up at her, his eyes narrowing to block out as much dust as possible. The air was being trapped by the concrete like roof above them, it was hard to breath and Cyrus couldn't cease the coughing, that and the weight of the roof was enough to flatten them all and there was nothing that they could do.

"Rei, if you can hear me, burn a hole in the top! Big enough to lift everyone through!" Cyrus barely heard the words, but he knew it wasn't from Splice. Desperately he was trying to figure out who it was and where they were coming from. He looked up at the source of the noise, a concrete slab which didn't look all to safe. Cyrus trembled and clutched onto Splice tighter. “Nikolas! Help me get them—” He heard Rei call, his voice being much too loud and the sound of the winds had died down. Cyrus opened his eyes and stared up at the burnt hole in the cement slab. “I’m gonna lift them up, you help, okay?” Rei turned to face both Cyrus and Splice and Cyrus wiped his eyes, coughing one last time to get rid of the remaining debris in his throat. Rei reached for Splice first, since she seemed to be in the worst condition. “Splice, c’mon,” he said to her softly. “I’ll help you up first, alright? Ready?” Cyrus pushed Splice forward slightly towards Rei, she did seem in the worst condition.

Suddenly something landed above and caused a crack to occur in the cement room. Cyrus yelped in surprise then stared up at the crack in the roof, his heart raced as he was trying to figure out what was happening above him. “Rei, no, Cyrus goes first.” Cyrus turned to face Splice now, he got to his hands and knees and crawled towards her and Rei. It was as if he felt like the roof was coming down on them and he wanted to be as low to the ground as possible, to live. “On second thought, Rei, Ill go first and pull him up since Nik is busy.” Splice pulled herself out of the hole and cursed as she did so. It became obvious now that she was badly injured and Cyrus couldn't help but feel responsible. He always felt guilty when something bad happened, blaming himself for everything. “Rei, help him up.” Splice held out an arm and Cyrus got to his feet, staring up teary eyed at his injured teammate.

"Splice, I'll do it. You don't sound good." he heard the Thorn's voice and his hand appeared in Splice's place. Cyrus merely stared at it for a few minutes, he didn't know whether or not to trust Nick. He wanted to but then they had fights before, that and he didn't want to leave Rei. He could hear a conversation going on above them, between Nick and someone else. Cyrus just couldn't hear who it was, but it sounded male. "Light the place up. Yo, Rei. Send Cyrus up, then I can help you up... If you need the help," Cyrus let out a small sigh to himself before latching onto Nicks arm and pulling himself up. He looked at Splice then behind them at Taser, glaring partially at the fact his arm was sparking. "Touch Splice and Mr. Thorn and you die," he growled, not being able to remember Nick's name. He then created a copy of himself to watch Taser why Cyrus pushed Nick out of the way and held out both his hands for Rei. "Please Rei, the concrete won't last long,"

Cyrus used all of his strength to help Rei up, pulling and backing away as he pulled up his gang member. He fell back onto his ass when Rei was finally up, smiling up at him happily. He was just pleased that Rei had made it out alive. Although the concrete they were standing on wasn't going to last forever. Even the other members knew it and it made Cyrus worry slightly. If it broke then they might all get crushed as it fell. “Spikey’s right! Everybody off before this thing collapses with you on it.” Hearing the voice of Rei calmed Cyrus slightly, although the words only suggested that it was true. It was going to collapse. Rei was always right. “You especially,” he grabbed Cyrus by the arm and pulled him to his feet, pulling them both off of the concrete. When on solid ground Cyrus looked around for Splice in a desperate attempt to find their last member. Although she was fine and he had been worrying about nothing. Cyrus smiled and pulled both of his team members into a tight hug, tears of happiness and relief streaming down his innocent face. ".... Thank you," the voice came from next to Cyrus as Nikolas passed them. Cyrus nodded, letting go of his family and watching Nik walk away, although he was stopped by Rei.“And you, Thorn, where do you think you’re goin’? Nobody’s going anywhere until I start getting some explanations.” It wasn't that Cyrus didn't like Rei's decision, it was just that Nik had helped them, or tried to and he didn't really deserve to be criticized.

"I know about as much as you do, Fang."Nikolas started. Cyrus sighed slightly, a little downhearted at the sudden tensing of the atmosphere. Neither side liked each other that much but they could at least try to get along. "I saved your butt," Cyrus looked down now at the dusty ground filled with small shards of brick and concrete. He really didn't want to hear Rei and Nikolas fight it out. "All I know is that I want to go back to my turf so I can make sure my gang is fine. And get out of here, but I don't think anyone knows how to do that." Finally Nik finished and there was a short pause of silence apart from the sound of Cyrus kicking a stone across the ground. "Actually... you may not be too far wrong," The ominous voice of Taser came breaking through the silence like a knife. "Look, the clouds are darker. Heavier." Cyrus found himself unwillingly looking up and sure enough the sky was darker. Heavy clouds pushed down on them. Menacing in every sense of the word. The sudden sight of them lighting up made Cyrus jump and cling onto the nearest thing, Rei. He closed his eyes and blocked out every other sound, burying his head into Rei's shoulder.

Cyrus whimpered slightly between floods of tears as Rei ran a hand through his dust covered blond hair, most likely to try and calm him down. It worked slightly as Cyrus held back more tears of fear. He heard Rei speak out to the other groups. “Alright,” Rei turned to face the others, Cyrus clung onto him more fearing that he would just walk away. He didn't want to be left alone. Not with other gang members around, especially Taser. “You… Everyone can go back to their own territory, scott-free, no hooks. But… If what sparky says is true, then the shield let up, right? So if the shield let up, how do we know it’s not gone? What if time’s started now and the clouds just haven’t started raining yet?” Cyrus didn't even attempt to think up an answer to Rei's question. He didn't exactly care about the shield, he hadn't remembered a time outside of it. So to Cyrus he was born here and didn't know any different. Not even what the others meant by sheild.

Despite Cyrus' unneeded thoughts, he got lost in his mind, desperately trying to remember a time without the shield around. Though it just made his head hurt badly. He groaned out loud from the headache he was getting, squeezing tighter onto Rei's arm. “You two, get to safety. I’ve got a plan,” Rei peeled the blond of his arm, pushing him towards Splice. Cyrus looked at his teammate with watery eyes, confused as to why he was being suddenly rejected. His tearful eyes kept on Rei's back as he strode over to a falling building, being held up by the Thorn girl. Jumping onto of the building and causing it to slowly disintegrate. Cyrus looked up to Rei as a role model. He was so brave and caring. Well he was around Cyrus anyway.

Suddenly the building came down upon the Thorn, Rei being pushed out of the way at the last second. Cyrus let out a surprised whimper before falling silent, staring at the rubble. He was pushed out of the way be the male Thorn member. He stumbled to the side, but managed to get his balance back, watching the Thorn claw at the rubble to get his friend out. More and more tears streamed down Cyrus' face, he was frozen from fear, he wanted to go and help but his legs wouldn't co-operate. They eventually gave way and he fell to his knees, his head falling forward, tears rolling down his face and splashing against the unyielding ground of the silent streets. "Please..." Cyrus mumbled under his breath, chocking on the word.

A hand rested on his shoulder and Cyrus looked up to see the face of Ghost. Normally he would have run but this time he just wrapped his arms around him, sobbing into his chest. He had completely forgotten what had happened to him only a little while ago. Ghost patted Cyrus' back before gently wriggling from him and looking towards the rubble with the Thorn still under. He sighed slightly and looked to Cyrus. "Cyrus I need you to create lots of others. Can you do that?" Ghost asked in a polite but the desperation was cutting through. Cyrus nodded shyly, creating many Rei's, Splice's, Cyrus' and Nik's. Ghost nodded to the boy, running to the rubble with the others and pushing Nik out of the way.

They clawed through the rubble until finding Katie. They pulled her out and lay her down near Nikolas. Suddenly the copies disappeared, just leaving Ghost. He cocked his head to the side and looked in the direction of Cyrus who had fallen unconscious. He smiled faintly before disappearing himself.

Cyrus let out a small groan, he attempted to turn over, pulling at the air as if he was sleeping in a bed and trying to pull the cover over. "It's cold..." he mumbled. "So cold..." he shivered slightly, a hand rising up and tugging at Rei's shirt. He attempted to pull him towards him to try and keep him warmer, but failing at that he just snuggled closer to Rei, burring his head into his chest. Cyrus couldn't seem to get comfortable so he rolled onto his back once again, his head lying in Rei's lap and facing upwards. Slowly his golden eyes opened up to stare into Rei's crimson ones. A blush rose up on Cyrus' cheeks and he scrambled away from his gang member. He sat on the floor near Rei and stared towards him, completely dazed and oblivious to what was going on around him. "Then you can go off and do whatever you feel like. I quite frankly don't care right now if were in the same gang or not, all that it means to me right now is ink on my arm." the words from an unknown voice brought Cyrus back to reality and he span around to find the source of the voice.

His golden eyes rested on a person he had never met before, but he recognized the tattoo he had. A Shank. They were worse than Thorns, mainly because of Taser. Cyrus was terrified of every member they had. He scrambled behind Rei, peering over his shoulder at the fight between the new male and Taser. It confused Cyrus slightly as to why he would attack his own team members. Gangs were like families, if they fought with each other then who could they trust? A shape of Cyrus appeared just in front of Rei, standing up and facing away from him, just watching the fight. It looked exactly like Cyrus, until you got to the head where blond hair was replaced with black hair. "Are you idiots?" Ghost rolled his eyes, beginning to walk towards Taser and the new one. "Your both on the same god-damned side! Why are you fighting?" his red eyes rested onto Taser. "You should be embracing the fact that you have a new member, I don't see your others any where near you? Or do you prefer to be alone?" Ghost smiled widely. "It's not going to do you any good in a fight."

Cyrus flinched slightly when Rei ruffled his hair, his eyes concentrating on Ghost and the scene in front. Rei stood up and Cyrus was left exposed now, he wrapped his arms around his chest defensively and just stared blankly towards the others. Rei was now standing next to the strange copy Cyrus made, his hands on his hips. Cyrus knew well enough that Rei was slightly ticked off with the Shanks, for once the Thorns weren't doing anything. Not that Cyrus ever noticed them doing anything bad, but the Shanks, well they were a different story. “You heard him,” Rei said, motioning to Ghost who continued to stare through narrowed eyes at the two Shanks. “Besides, you’re all getting on my nerves.” Rei sighed. “Whatever, all of you wanna cause problems? Get out. You’re trespassing anyway. This is Fang territory. Or did you forget that?” He glared at them. “Just because of whatever’s happened, doesn’t change a thing. I want the Thorns gone just as much as you Shanks.”

Rei then turned to face the new Shank, although he couldn't really be one since he was fighting with Taser. “You! You either stay here with the Fangs or go with the Shanks. That mark hardly matters anyway, right? That’s what you said? Then do whatever you want. We’ve got our own problems. You woke up at a bad time.” Ghost looked at Rei as she shouted to the new member, he was a little confused where this guy had come from. Where he had been all of this time. “If none of you get out right now, I’m going to sic another building on you.” Rei's expression softened when he looked over to Alyssa. “Besides, you’re scaring the girls. I don’t need them all crying around here,” Rei added, mumbling. As soon as Rei had finished, Taser stared into both of their eyes before roaring with laughter.

"Oh, That is rich!" Taser cried out, Ghost narrowing his eyes until they were just slits. "What does your territory matter? I just want to win this, not defend a crummy bit of land we exhausted ages ago. Do you really think I'll leave because you ask me? Have you never heard of me?" Taser then turned his attention to Ghost after he had finished speaking with Rei. Ghost had only met Taser for a few minutes, but he already hated him. "I doubt he has. So how about a reminder about why you should have?" Before Ghost had any time to even blink a charge of electrical energy was shot at him, causing him to fall back onto the ground. Cyrus, who had been keeping his distance from them was the one to let out the shriek of pain. He could feel the electricity pulsing through his body and god did it hurt. He screamed from the pain before falling forward to the ground, smacking his head and rendering himself unconscious. Ghost didn't vanish, instead he also became unconscious on the ground in front.

There was a bang as lighting came down upon someone, Cyrus flinched, still lying face flat on the ground. Cyrus groaned into the cold and dirty floor, coughing once or twice, spitting out the dirt which had gone into his mouth. Slowly his eyes opened up but he was unable to see anything due to facing the floor, he looked forward just in time to see Rei get hit by Taser. "R-R-Rei!" Cyrus screamed, already tears began to flood his golden eyes. Scrambling to his feet Cyrus wasted no time in running towards Rei who was lying on the ground unconscious. It seemed forever as Cyrus ran, each step he took was heavy and pained him. Both of his arms outstretched to grab at the air, pushing more and more tears down the young boy's face. His hand clenched in the air all to close to Taser before he was pulled backwards. Cyrus clawed at the air, sobbing loudly, all he wanted to do was hit Taser. "Cyrus, stop it," the voice came from behind him and Cyrus calmed down when they were far enough away from Taser and Katie. "No! Rei!" Cyrus kicked and screamed in the grasp of Ghost, eventually releasing himself from the clone's embrace. "Cyrus!" Ghost called after him, but didn't move.

Cyrus continued to run until he tripped over and fell face flat on the floor, he looked up and sobbed, using his last remaining strength to crawl along the floor to Rei. He wasn't even paying attention to what was happening around him. Cyrus crawled on top of Rei, placing his head against his and causing the older boy's face to become wet with the tears he cried. "Please Rei..." Cyrus mumbled, wrapping his arms around the older one to protect him from any further harm. Cyrus' face was bleeding slightly and grazes covered his skin almost everywhere from where he had hit the floor many times. "Cyrus," the voice of Ghost was near them, a hand extended next to Cyrus' face with Ghost on the end of it. Cyrus looked up to the black-haired boy and blinked causing more tears to flood from his eyes and onto Rei. "Come on, we'll take Rei somewhere safe, he'll be okay I promise." Ghost said to Cyrus in a positive voice with no signs of doubt in it. Cyrus nodded, taking the hand of his clone and allowing himself to be pulled up. When Cyrus was up, Ghost moved past him and bent down, picking up the unconscious Rei in his arms and carrying him. He smiled to Cyrus who flew his arms around them both, sobbing into Ghost's shoulder.

Ghost allowed Cyrus to cry into his shoulder for a little while before pushing the blond away. He stared into the shocked boy's eyes but merely sighed, walking past him with Rei in his arms. Cyrus stood there until the voice of Ghost came from behind him. "Are you going to stand there or are you going to help Rei?" Ghost had an impatient look about himself, his voice reflecting the same emotion. Cyrus sniffed in some air, wiping his eyes on the back of his hand before running towards Ghost and walking beside him. Ghost chose a building as a safe place, it was a low building compared to the others, so there wasn't too much of a worry of it coming down upon them. He came to the door and attempted to open it. Locked. Sighing, he pushed Rei's body into the blond's arms, who barely managed to hold up his gang member. Ghost ensured that Cyrus was able to before kicking hard at the door. It didn't budge. But a few more hard kicks and the door split in half, coming off from it's hinges and both pieces falling back inside. Not exactly according to plan. Ghost rolled his eyes, sighing once more and walking inside. He motioned for Cyrus to stay back as he checked around the building for anything bad.

Nothing was found other than a few broken bits of furniture, apparently the building was an old house, abandoned long ago. All of the valuables had been taken out of it, most likely by the other gangs. Most likely the Fangs. Another motion was given to the curious blond who was leaning forward, eyes narrowed into the darkness. Cyrus eventually noticed the gesture of Ghost from within the darkness and with some difficulty walked inside carrying the unconscious Rei in his arms. "Set him down over here," Ghost called out to Cyrus, pointing at a bed. It was extremely old and dirty, broken in places but no dangerous parts were on it. No wood sticking out and it looked stable enough to hold human weight. Cyrus scuttled over to Ghost, avoiding the bits of wood and glass at his feet. He then lay Rei down on the bed, keeping his arms wrapped around him in case the bed would suddenly break. After a while of holding the unconscious boy, Cyrus let his hands slip away from him but continued to stare towards his sleeping brother. "We'd be best to stay here until the fight's over," What Ghost didn't know was that it was already over.

Cyrus sat on the edge of the bed, absently kicking the air with his legs. He watched Ghost just stand in the doorway, searching around the area for something. “Cyrus?” Momentarily Cyrus froze, turning slowly to look at Rei as he embraced the blond. Cyrus merely blinked over the shoulder of his gang member. “Cyrus! You’re okay. I thought Sparky might of hurt you. I didn’t mean to pass out. I mean, I should’ve been watching out for you instead of some Thorn and I mean, I…” Rei sighed, out of breath. “Sorry.” Cyrus blinked a few more times, his golden eyes following Rei as he stood up. Everything seemed like a dream to him, nothing was real. Rei ruffled the blond's hair, picking his way across the littered ground and over to Cyrus' other half. Ghost turned to look at Rei as he pushed past. "I'm glad-" he stopped when Rei just continued to walk off. Ghost didn't bother calling after him, just merely sighed, looking back over his shoulder. Cyrus stood silently only a few feet away, the bright yellow orbs of his locking onto the red orbs of Ghost. Ghost tilted his head to the side, keeping his lowered gaze on Cyrus. He seemed dazed which was unusual, even for him.

Cyrus' eyes moved slowly to look out onto the streets, Ghost merely watching the blond with curiosity. "Cyrus?" The blond blinked, a sudden realization flooding over his young features. He looked towards Ghost, then back out. "Rei!" bouncing on the balls of his feet he sprinted off to find his other gang member. "Cyrus!" Ghost called after him, allowing the blond a few seconds head-start before running off after him. Of course there was the option just to disappear and then come out when Cyrus had stopped. But a little running didn't hurt anyone. Cyrus didn't slow down when Rei came into sight, in fact he sped up. Ramming into the other boy and sweeping him off of his feet. Ghost also came to a halt, a few feet away from them both. He smiled at the sight watching Cyrus squeeze the life out of Rei for a few seconds. "That's enough Cyrus, you don't want to hurt him do you?" Cyrus pouted in response, reluctantly prying himself away from the other. He blinked a few times at Rei, staring into his crimson eyes, before turning to face Ghost.

Cyrus allowed Rei to get up off the floor, staring at the other male with his golden orbs. After a few moments of being able to stand, Rei wrapped his arms around Cyrus squeezing the younger male tightly. “I could kill you,” were the words which came from Rei's mouth, followed by a laugh to show he was joking but Cyrus struggled away not realizing it was a joke. Rei let go, ruffling Cyrus' blond hair. The young boy ran back to Ghost away from Rei as he woke up Taser. He cowered behind his other half, literally shaking and gripping hard on the other's clothes. Ghost took Cyrus' hand in his own to calm him down. Suddenly Taser had gotten up, running off with Katie. "That's weird..." Rei turned to look at them both, taking a step back with a frown present on his face. Ghost looked behind at the blond, releasing his hand and taking off in the direction of Taser, Rei would obviously look after Cyrus. Wouldn't he?

"Cyrus, Alyssa," Rei stated in a firm tone, a tone which Cyrus had never heard before. He blinked dumbly towards Rei as his own red orbs were narrowed into a glare. "You can watch out for yourselves." Another few blinks from Cyrus, gold orbs just rested on Rei's face as if he couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Just do whatever you want. I don't even care. I'm going after them to see what's up. If you wanna come, just make sure you stay far away from me." Rei then looked directly and intensely at Cyrus, showing that he wasn't joking. "Got it?" Cyrus' lip trembled slightly as Rei just ran past him and off towards Shank Territory. Cyrus didn't even look back, instead, staring vacantly, tears already swelling up in his golden eyes. He hadn't even noticed or heard the new guy in front.

A small whimper escaped Cyrus' lips and tears began to run down his face. Suddenly he burst into tears, hands raising up on impulse to hide his devastated expression. He covered most of his face as he ran off in no particular direction, however sobs and screams of confusion were clearly heard. Ghost came to a halt when he heard Cyrus' crying from afar, disappearing from where he stood. He appeared once again in front of Cyrus, who was now crouching in a dark corner of an alleyway, face buried deep into brought up knees. "Cyrus," Ghost said in a soft tone, reaching out to touch the blond who's own hand smacked Ghost's away. Ghost sighed in response, sitting on the floor and against the wall next to Cyrus. The blond's head fell to the side, resting on his other half's shoulder. His legs outstretched now to become level with those of Ghost's. An arm was wrapped around the blond, bringing them closer together, Ghost's own head resting on top of Cyrus'. "It'll be okay..." Ghost whispered into the blond's hair. "It'll be okay, I promise."

Cyrus continued to sob into Ghost's shoulder, his arms flung loosely around the other as he did so. Ghost could only stay silent, keeping Cyrus as warm and as comfortable as possible. Looking over the head of Cyrus he noticed another shape appear in the alleyway, through narrowed eyes he identified it as Rei. The same male who Cyrus looked up to and loved, the same one who caused Cyrus to cry through abandoning him. "Cyrus?" Rei's voice cut through the air, but only Ghost seemed to hear it, Cyrus too busy sobbing. Ghost scoffed at the sight of Rei folding his arms, obviously not caring enough to help Ghost comfort Cyrus. Ghost's red eyes merely strayed away from the other. "What's up with him? Is he hurt? I told you guys to stay away from me. What are you both doing here around Shank territory?" Ghost didn't even bother looking back to Rei, merely covering Cyrus' head further, running a hand through the blond's soft hair. "Why do you care?" Ghost grumbled, eventually looking back towards Rei. "What's wrong with him?" Ghost smiled emitting a laughter. "Well his best friend, only friend decided to abandon him. Isn't that horrible?" Ghost said in a sarcastic tone, using his hands to cover Cyrus' ears. "Excuse me for following you. I don't care who's bloody territory it is. Unlike you I followed Cyrus to comfort him whilst you ran off to join the same asshole who shocked me and Cyrus! But of course, you don't care." Ghost shrugged, looking away from Rei as if he didn't want to say the words he was about to. "Get lost Reivy, we don't need you."

Sob after sob. Frantic breathes taken between floods of tears onto the shoulder of Ghost. He didn't even seem to notice, continuing to glare straight at Rei. Even as the other backed into the wall, chocking back the tears. Ghost didn't care, why should he. Seeing Rei cry for what he did wasn't even coming close to a punishment. Rei backed out of the alleyway eventually turning around and went away. All this time the blond hadn't known he was there, clutching onto the other as they both sat in the darkness of the alleyway. "Cyrus...are you ever going to stop crying?" Ghost mumbled, stroking the boy's head. There wasn't a reply from the other, just a few more pained sobs. Ghost sighed and took his hand away from the other, leaning back against the wall as he allowed Cyrus to continue to cry into him, soaking his clothes completely.

"Help, help!" Ghost's eyes darted to look at the oncoming Katie. Narrowing his eyes slightly he gently pushed Cyrus off of him to stand up. His head fell forward, looking at the ground as tears still feel from golden eyes, splashing against the dust floor. Ghost allowed Katie to go behind him. "Help, its Taser, hes after me." He looked behind at her, tears also feel from her eyes, scratches across her face and she didn't look in the best state. "Sorry" Katie said with a wipe of her eyes and a chuckle. Next thing Ghost knew a hand was placed on his back, sending a powerful shock coursing through his body. He screamed out from the pain, falling to the floor unconscious. Cyrus jolted upwards, also feeling the shock. He yelped, pushing more tears from his golden orbs and looking through a fearful expression at Katie. "Everything will be ok..." Katie smirked down at Cyrus and he scrambled to his feet, running past Katie and out onto the streets.

As soon as Cyrus got far enough away, Ghost's body disappeared, although it never reappeared anywhere else. Being knocked unconscious, he wasn't able to come back anytime soon. Cyrus skidded to a halt, looking back down the hallway at Katie, searching everywhere around her for any sign of Ghost. Although he found none. Rei wasn't there. Splice wasn't there. Ghost wasn't there. No one to help him, everyone had gone just leaving Cyrus to fight for himself.

Continuing to look around frantically for someone, Cyrus hadn't of noticed Taser come up behind him. With one swift motion, he was forced onto the ground, a small static shock releasing from Taser and onto Cyrus. He yelped, flinching from beneath the stronger male. "T-t-tas..." Cyrus made an attempt to get the word out of his mouth but he just couldn't. He began shaking from beneath the other and sobbing once again. “Nice try, Psycho,” Taser's voice came from above him, confirming his suspicion of the other being Taser. “Now, when I say, call your friend's name... Rei, I think it was. As loud as possible, and strain it. Like you're in pain. And if that's too much work, I can make it easier.” By grabbing Cyrus' hair, his head was yanked off of the ground and Cyrus screamed from the pain, both of his arms raising up and weakly punching against Taser. “Now.” Cyrus punched against Taser harder, squirming beneath the other male. "R-Rei..." Cyrus stuttered the word, yanking himself from Taser's grip to let his head rest against the floor, crying once again. "Please..." A copy of Rei appeared in front of Cyrus and he looked forward, reaching out to grab onto the copy's legs, although he was too far away. "Just do whatever you want. I don't even care. I'm going after them to see what's up. If you wanna come, just make sure you stay far away from me." The memory of Rei's harsh words to Cyrus came flooding back to him and Cyrus wailed, the copy disappearing. Cyrus lifted his head up and shortly brought it down against the floor, repeating the process a few times through pained sobs and screams.

Panting out of breath, Cyrus pushed more tears from the water-filled golden eyes of his. Blood dripped down from a wound in his head, everything was spinning and the feeling of being nauseous quickly washed over the boy when the crimson liquid ran down into his view. He hadn’t of heard Taser speak to him, only felt the shock to the back of the head. Fighting to stay awake proved useless and the blond gave up, rendering himself unconscious.

Eyes opened to stare up into the blackness, blinking once or twice, however they darkness never vanished. Cyrus pried himself up off of the un-seen blackened floor to stare around into nothing but the darkness of his sub-consciousness. “Ghost?” The small boy called out in a pained voice, hoping to receive and answer from his brother. Seconds were spent in silence, broken once again by another helpless call. “R-Rei?” Quiet and stuttered was the boy’s voice, uncertainty and a quizzical tone directed at Cyrus rang clear through the word. “Rei!” Again the name was called out, but this time shouting it at the top of his lungs and just hoping that the other would come running.

Cyrus’ face held a neutral expression, eyes shinning in the hope that someone would come. Seconds were spent in long drawn out silences, the only sound being that of the boy’s breathing. No one ever came. Golden eyes were filled with tears of sorrow and confusion, legs giving way to kneel, head fell forward and both hands were raised to obscure it. “Please…” the boy mumbled, allowing himself to fall back until he sat on his bottom. All the while both hands were working over time to wipe the tears flooding down the boy’s face. “I’m sorry Rei…” Mumbling the words the small blond closed his eyes only to see more and more darkness. There was no escaping it.

"We need Taser!" The voice echoed around the darkness, the small boy’s eyes snapping open, head raising in one swift motion to look around. The voice belonged to Rei but Cyrus had yet to find the body of him. “Rei…?” With a head tilted to the side Cyrus questioned the words which the other had spoke. Taser was a bad person, why would Rei say that he needed him? Unless… Rei had switched sides. Cyrus began to sob once more, shutting his eyes tightly and covering his ears. "I wish I knew where Taser went," The second block of speech was heard a few minutes after, Cyrus shook his head violently in his hands to banish the voice of the other.

Moments after Cyrus slowly opened his eyes, now met with the face of Rei, who was holding him in his arms. The small moment of happiness quickly washed away and it took all of Cyrus’ strength not to hug the boy. Rei is bad. Rei likes Taser… The blond pushed himself away from the other making small grunting noises as he did so. Eventually he squirmed his way out of the other’s grip, falling onto the floor below. Cyrus wasted no time to scramble to his feet, ignoring the pain in his grazed palms and knees. He stumbled forward until he was able to run on his own legs, darting off past Nik and out into the open. He hadn’t noticed Katie or the other and continued to run until the darkness of another alleyway would be his cover.

Slumping down against the wall, Cyrus panted out of breath, exhausted by the effort it took to get away from Rei. “Rei is bad…” Cyrus mumbled under his breath, he had to confirm it with himself as his mind doubted the accusation.

Ignoring the calls of Rei from behind, the blond haired boy escaped into the darkness of an alleyway, slumping down and pulling his knees up to his chest. He buried his head deep into the comfort of the cloth of his trousers, it smelled slightly strange, almost like blood. He lifted his head to look at a small patch of blood on his left knee, pulling up his trouser leg to stare in horror at an already infecting gash. Quickly Cyrus rolled down the trouser leg, wrapping both of his arms around them pulling them closer and closer into his chest. He rocked back and forth whilst burying his head deep inside the only comfort he knew now; himself. Suddenly something, or rather someone, grabbed him, throwing him onto the ground. Cyrus let out a yelping sound as he was taken by surprise, cringing from the pain in his back and blinking through tear filled eyes up at the face of Katie. “Hello Cyrus. What’s wrong, did you find out Rei doesn’t care for you anymore? Poor you.” She frowned down at him and Cyrus struggled from beneath her, thrashing his legs about as his arms were pinned to the ground by the Thorn's grip. His head turned from side to side in a frantic motion to find someone to help him, although who would? Rei betrayed him and he was the only one who Cyrus ever trusted.

“Hey Taser! I got something for you!” Katie called out to the fallen building behind her which the boy hadn't even noticed. At the mention of the name Taser, the blond began squirming harder and harder, looking everywhere but at the face of his capture. He managed to get the attention of the female, as she stared down at him. “Now, Taser and I can help you, be better than Rei, and have him regret what he has done to you, so please cooperate.” She told him, Cyrus didn't even listen to anything which the other way saying. "Let go..." the boy mumbled, ceasing his struggling to stare up at the face of Katie. "Please..." he pushed more tears out from golden orbs which held nothing but a pleading look. "Please let me go..."

Cyrus winced through gritted teeth as poles were pushing him down roughly into the ground, he couldn't even attempt to struggle, everything just seemed to hurt when he moved. He was even forced to look upwards straight at the face of newly pronounced Shank. “Stop moving you emotional piece of sh-“ Katie was suddenly interrupted by a voice the boy knew all to well. "What exactly do you think you're doing?" It was Rei. At a time like this the blond couldn't help but think Rei really wanted to help him. "Let Cyrus go, Katie." Katie compelled, releasing the blond from under her but not before stepping hard on his chest. Cyrus let out a small cry of pain only for it to be muffled by the air escaping his winded lungs. Luckily there was no real damage, no broken bones, it just hurt like hell. The boy scrambled to his feet, running only a few inches forward to fall over once again. Reluctantly he crawled over to the wall nearby, steadying himself and watching the conflict between Rei and Katie.

“What could you possibly, and the only one crying is the little psycho, and that was because you fucking left him in search of Taser!”

“Now why don’t you just run away, so Cyrus doesn’t have to see me whop your ass and cry some more.”

"Hey! I don't run from fights,"

Cyrus merely blinked towards the two, unable to actually understand what was going on. A certain action brought the boy back to reality. Katie placed her hands on Rei emitting a powerful shock which caused him to fly backwards. Cyrus gulped, unable to cry out the name he really wanted to. "What could you possibly do to me, huh? Take your best shot, hit, not spit by the way..." Cyrus waited and waited until the slightest movement from Rei brought a flood of relief. Rei was okay. At least he could stand up. "Cyrus, do you hate me?" Rei called past Katie, ignoring her request to fight. The blond stared towards Rei, blinking a few times as if he didn't quite understand the question. "Would you rather have me dead?" Seeing Rei come closer and closer to Katie made the boy worry, of course Katie wouldn't hesitate to hit him again and at such close proximity he could probably be killed. But maybe that was what Rei was really planning, he was going to have Katie kill him. "I didn't mean it, Cyrus. I'm--sorry." More and more tears flooded from the eyes of the blond, he made small noises of a child crying. But this time he wasn't sad. He was happy. Rei didn't hate him, he didn't!

"Go ahead, Katie. Kill me. Do it." Rei had his arms open wide, not even in the least bit interested in protecting himself from whatever Katie would deliver next. "No!" Cyrus cried out, scrambling to his feet and sprinting towards Rei and Katie. "Rei!" He flung his arms around the other with great acceleration, enough to push the both of them to the floor. He blinked through tear-filled eyes at the face of Rei now bringing his head to sob into the chest of the other. "I don't hate you Rei..." he shook his head into the chest of the other. "I don't! I promise I don't!" The blond cried defensively, clinging on harder to Rei. "Please don't leave me ever again..." he spoke with the fear of loosing Rei ringing clear through the small sobs. "I'm sorry."

The blond wiped his eyes on the back of his wrist, smiling down at Rei as his hand was dragged through the dusty mess of hair. He was roughly pulled away from the other, his hands and arms outstretching in a hope to latch onto Rei. However it was not to be as he was thrown into the nearby wall. Biting back tears and the pain he felt from grazes his arms suffered, he watched Katie point a gun at Rei's head. He couldn't stand up no matter how desperately he tried, Rei was going to die. The blond felt nothing but confusion as Nik made his appearance, the boy had forgotten all about him, so many gang members had died recently. The gun Katie held was blown up and the boy buried his head in both of his arms to shield himself from the explosion. "Rei?" Cyrus called out hoping for a response from his brother. As the cover of dust began to clear he noticed Rei coming towards him, holding out an hand to help him up. Cyrus smiled in relief, blinking up at the other with dry eyes. They were blurred slightly as dust got into them but it was nothing serious and he could still see Rei clearly.

“Now Rei, I, as well as you, know we need to get out of here, and your boyfriend is my and Taser’s ticket out of here, sorry for making an early break up.” Katie said as she roughly shoved Rei out of the boy's grasp, grabbing onto his arm and forcing the boy to stand. “Well, now. You’re all not killing each other. Took you long enough. Anyway, I think it’s time we got back to my plan.” Cyrus shivered at the voice of the one person he feared; Taser. He didn't even fear Katie that much, he just didn't like being near her. He blinked trying to make out the shape of Taser, although his vision was slightly failing him. Once again he was roughly let go of and Cyrus fell back onto the floor giving into the weakness in his legs. "Also, Psycho, I need to talk to your doppelganger. He seems more stable than you.” Tilting his head to the side Cyrus was desperately trying to understand what Taser meant. He hadn't of listened to the rest of the conversation, merely shutting his eyes tightly when Katie was shocked by Taser sending her flying off somewhere else.

The blond boy opened his eyes to stare at the back of Nik who seemed to be facing up against the Psychopathic Shank. Crawling over to Rei, Cyrus clung onto the one person he cared for in this world, closing his eyes and burying himself seep within the other's clothes. "You plan to get us out of here Taser?" Ghost spoke out, appearing right next to Nik as they both stood in front of Rei and Cyrus. He didn't bother looking back at the other two but he did look over to where Katie ended up. He quickly rested his gaze back on Taser. "What is it you have planned?" he couldn't help but compel with Taser as they all wanted to get out now, no more fighting.

Cyrus wailed slightly as Rei pulled him up to his feet, the boy was quite happy staying amongst the rubble called Timeless. He blinked dumbly at the other as his hand was placed against his forehead before the mess of blond hair being ruffled. Ghost had peered over his shoulder back at them glaring daggers towards Rei however it seemed to be much softer this time around. His scowl was averted when Rei noticed, addressing Taser directly. Ghost looked towards Cyrus for a second who seemed defensive of Rei, clinging to the arm of the other. He sighed, still unable to accept the fact that Rei did care. Suddenly he was pushed out of the way by Taser who stormed towards the black-head. Ghost's eyes narrowed and he opened his mouth to call out to either Cyrus or Taser. However Taser merely addressed Rei, sending a slight shock into him which made Cyrus yelp as the electricity traveled into him. Releasing the other from his arm he backed far enough away from Rei and Taser to not be involved.

Ghost couldn't hear the conversation they were having, however his eyes kept darting back and forth between Taser and the young blond who seemed desperate to help in a way he just couldn't. Ghost sighed irritably as Taser turned towards him and walked away from Rei. Ghost ignored him and continued to watch what the blond would do, he seemed slightly confused and hesitant to touch Rei once again. He continued to look left and right in a frantic manner. “Inverse Psycho. I think I’ll call you ‘Sane-o’. So, Sane-o, between me, you and that crate,” Ghost stared towards Taser through a narrowed glare as he pointed to a crate. Throwing a quick glance over his shoulder at the object Taser was referring to, he rolled his eyes at the nickname he had been given. “we can probably get out of here. I just need you to tell me exactly how your original’s power works.” Giving a slow nod, Ghost opened his mouth to say something however he was quickly interrupted by the angry shouting of Rei. "Argh, fine, dammit!"

The anger in his voice manged to make Cyrus jump and shrink back, doing nothing but staring in a confused manner towards the black haired male as he kicked the wall numerous times. "Rei..." the blond uttered, looking down at the floor in a state of depression. "The second we get out of here, I'm going to kill you." Rei called out, pointing dramatically at Taser. Ghost merely shrugged it off, facing Taser once again and sighing to himself with closed eyes. His eyes reopened to look up to the sky in thought. "Just so you know, I am not entirely happy about working with you but getting out of here we can't do by ourselves..." Ghost spoke, momentarily glancing towards the other's face before looking up once again. "Cyrus' powers as you know create people, well those he has met before. By singling out an emotion and giving that same emotion a body. For example, if Cyrus was to use it on Rei now he'll create another just with much more anger than Rei could ever display." He paused, allowing his gaze to lower. "Due to the amount of emotions one person has, lots and lots of different people can be created at once." He rose up a single finger. "There is one problem though, these illusions if you will can easily die if they are hit." He sighed, taking in a small breath and looking back at Cyrus for a moment. "Cyrus' powers are to control emotions, thus he can plant or enhance a single emotion in a person. If he really wanted to he could make you feel nothing but sorrow. But the boy it's too unstable and cannot think enough so he does it subconsciously." He looked straight at Taser, his face becoming slightly darker. "Answer your questions?"

As Ghost spoke to Taser, the blond haired boy watched Katie, Nik and Rei as they attempted to heal themselves, though Rei seemed fine, which was good. After a little while of trying to patch up Katie, Rei moved back to the boy's side and he smiled to Rei but took a step away in the fear that he would be shocked once again, not realizing that it was Taser who shocked them both before. Eventually, a little while after watching Katie and Nik further, Cyrus moved a little closer to Rei, taking small sideways steps until he bumped into Rei. He latched onto the sleeve of the other, burying his head into the other's arm. "Rei..." Cyrus mumbled through the material. "I want to go home..." His golden orbs were already becoming filled with tears and he let out a small whimper, unable to face the idea that Katie might die.

Ghost glared towards Taser suspiciously as he walked over to the crate he had told Ghost about. What was in it was something none of them apart from Taser knew, whether it was something which was good or bad was unknown. He struck the lock with a bolt, causing it to break and ultimately unlock the crate. He jumped upon it and turned back to Ghost. "Given the lack of promiscuous Rei's running around, I guess it copies some tangible object, like clothes? What about, say, food or a book they're holding? And how real would they be?" He thought for a moment, before nodding in response. "Any item which said person is holding, will also be cloned. For example if you were to hold a gun and be cloned, the same exact weapon, including the ammo it holds will also be cloned." Ghost paused for a moment, sighing silently to himself, but quickly smiling. "I must warn you though," his smile growing to that of a grin. "I cannot clone, only Cyrus can." He stepped backwards until he was in front of Cyrus, grabbing the boy's hand and yanking him away from Rei. "And I won't let you touch Cyrus." he growled whilst narrowing his eyes, Cyrus desperately trying to grab onto Rei once again.

Cyrus/Ghost Zervais

The blond let out a silent whimper as Rei took steps away from him. Tears began to fill the golden orbs of his, upset by his friend’s rejection. He looked behind him at Ghost, hoping that he would have noticed but nothing. He was too busy glaring at Statix to bother with his original. “Of course you won’t,” Statix said casually, “but I don’t need to.” Not very convincing really, at least Ghost did not think so. He narrowed his eyes further at the basterd in front. The grip which he had around Cyrus’ hand tightened, loosened only when a small noise of protest rose up from the boy. Statix had a sickly smile plastered upon his face, one which made Cyrus bury his head into the back of Ghost. He was scared of Statix, that was obvious. “You will do it without me making you at all. If you want to get out of here, that is.” he hopped off from the crate and removed the gas mask he wore, allowing it to loosely hang around his neck. “I’m assuming you all do,” he said in an almost know-it-all tone. “Frankly, I couldn’t care less either way.” Ghost growled under his breath, he had to admit that Statix was correct and most importantly, smart. A dangerous trait of his.

“Listen up, Sane-o,” Ghost growled louder, that wasn’t his name and Statix knew that. “I need four things to make this work. The shield, Psycho’s powers, my powers, and the thing in this box.” Neither was that Cyrus’ name. He took a step forward, glaring at Statix and yanking Cyrus along with him. He was severely tempted to punch the guy, if not having to work with him. Truthfully, they all wanted to leave and Statix (and possibly Rei) were the only ones with plans. Ghost had no choice but to work with that freak. “What exactly’s in there, anyway?” Rei spoke up from behind them, Ghost didn’t dare take his eyes from Statix. “So you do have brains left in that head of yours,” Naturally that annoyed Rei, but Statix didn’t give him any chance to retaliate. “In this crate is a little thing that launches cities into disaster zones, breaks lives apart, and, most of all, stops time itself.” Ghost’s gaze drifted to the box and he wondered what was actually inside of it. “So I need you,” Statix continued, his eyes drifting over to Rei “and you,” and then to Nikolas, who Ghost had almost forgotten about. “to drag this thing over to the shield where I’ll tell you,” he looked back towards Ghost now with Cyrus still hiding behind him. “what to do next. Understood? Wonderful. Let’s not waste any time, then.” Ghost rolled his eyes and stepped forward, pulling Cyrus along with him.

As Statix turned and walked away from the create, Rei checked on Nikolas behind them. “Can you even walk straight?” Ghost glanced over his shoulder at Nikolas, his girlfriend was most likely dead by now. It was sad but then so many people had died since being trapped in Timeless. Rei heaved a heavy sigh and trudged over to the create, kicking it. It moved forward with ease so he continued to kick it. Ghost rolled his eyes at his stupid actions, surely that would break whatever was inside. Cyrus finally managed to pull away from the other’s grip and ran over to Nikolas. Ghost turned sharply and watch the blond stop in front of Nik and hold out a hand. His copy couldn’t help but smile, the boy was far too nice to have any enemies, of course him and Rei would have just left Nikolas as he was none of their concern. Well not entirely. “Come on Mr Thorn,” Cyrus held out his hand, frowning down at the other. “We need to go.” Ghost hung back and waited for Cyrus to catch up, there was no way he was leaving him with Nik. He wouldn’t even leave him alone with Rei. No one could be trusted anymore.

Cyrus looked up at the Thorn as he got to his feet, he was rather taller than the blond. Despite that, Cyrus was desperate to help, so he allowed Nikolas to lean against him. Ghost narrowed his eyes at the pair, but his attention was brought to Rei and the sound he was making whilst kicking the crate. “... Thank you. Come on, let's go,” Cyrus nodded to Nikolas and helped the guy walk. They both followed Statix, everyone did; Rei kicking the crate after him, Cyrus and Nikolas walking at the back and Ghost was in the middle, constantly glancing over his shoulder and throwing glares at the two of them. At least Cyrus seemed fine with Nikolas, for now at least.

They were reaching the edge of the shield now, being still in the South-Shank territory. As to be expected that Statix -- a Shank -- knew the exact way to the edge. Rei stopped kicking the crate, keeping his distance to Statix. Ghost and Cyrus also stopped, but closed the distance between them and Rei. Cyrus made a small o with his mouth as he stared at the shield, his eyes travelling until he could no longer look up. He hadn’t a clue what it was but it looked slightly pretty. Ghost stood next to Rei and glanced sideways at him, he seemed completely unphased by the sight of the shield. Ghost had to admit that it looked a little intimidating.

“Here we are,” Statix declared, waving his arms about like he was presenting a show. “Take the top off the box.” Rei uttered some words of defiance but did it anyway. Statix used his electricity to grab the item inside. A black box with a satellite dish and a panel with buttons on one side. The item was set softly on the ground near the shield. Ghost frowned at it, a little confused as to what the thing was.

“Get Psycho to make...,” Statix said, gaining the attention of Ghost. “two more of me. Can he do that?” Ghost uttered something incoherent but moved backwards to Cyrus. The boy was merely staring forward, confused and awe-struck by what was going on. He didn’t dare move as Nikolas was still using him as a leaning post.

“What is that?” Rei asked.

“Don't you recognize it? It's the device that started Timeless.” Statix replied, Ghost frowned at him. He stared at the small black item, it was hard to believe that something like that could create a problem so large. “We need to turn it on again.” Ghost’s eyes widened and he stared in confusion at Statix. He doubted that turning it on was a good idea. Rei moved from beside him and over to the device. He studied it, placing a hand over it but never touched it.

“Wouldn't that be a bad thing?” Rei asked, giving it a light kick.

“Very possibly,” Statix replied, glaring at Rei but quickly shrugging.

“Then why would we--”

“Calm down. I know what I'm doing,” Staitx said. Ghost glared at him, he would not allow Cyrus to be involved in something which could potentially cause anyone harm. “If you have any objection, you can sit back and die with the rest of your gang members. You can all die for all I care.” Ghost growled under his breath, narrowing his eyes as Statix glanced behind him at Cyrus. “The only one I need is Psycho and I only need his powers. If something happens to him while the experiment is going wrong, then that's not my problem.” Statix crossed his arms, ignoring the glares he was sure he was receiving, including a defiant one from Rei. “But I'm sixty-percent sure this will work.” He looked at Ghost. “So go do it.”

Ghost stood motionless, for a moment, glaring harshly at Statix. Cyrus would have understood what was going on, but Ghost understood perfectly fine. Statix wished for him to throw Cyrus into a potentially fatal situation, just so they could leave Timeless. Well that was not going to happen. Ghost walked backwards until he stood in front of Cyrus, grabbing the blonde’s hand and yanking him away from Nikolas, not even caring about the Thorn.

“No.” Ghost stated plainly but in a defiant tone. “Sixty percent is not enough! I will not allow Cyrus to be involved in something where he could die!” Cyrus let out small whimpers, tears beginning to fill his eyes. He didn’t like shouting, shouting hurt his ears. He struggled in Ghost’s grasp as he continued on. “We don’t need to be free of Timeless, we have everything we need right here!” A lie, supplies were running extremely low. They would not survive for much longer, Nikolas needed medical attention too. All of them were badly injured in some way or another, it was only a matter of time before they died. “It’s just not worth risking someone’s life to be free…” Ghost muttered, loosening his grip on Cyrus’ hand. The boy broke free and ran towards Rei, wrapping his arms and around him and burying his head into the boy’s shoulder.

“I don’t want to die.” he said through sobs and tears. Though he didn’t understand what was really going on, Ghost made it fairly clear that someone was trying to kill him. Cyrus just believed it to be Ghost. He gripped onto Rei’s arm tightly, unable to look up and at anyone.

Cyrus, Ghost

Ghost snarled and glared straight at Rei and the blonde boy sobbing into his arm. Rei had obviously done something to make Cyrus hate him and like Rei more. He couldn’t understand why the boy would be scared of him otherwise, he was able to protect him more than Rei could. Though that was hardly true as Ghost had no powers of his own, at least Rei could create acid. But if he dared use it on Cyrus, even accidentally, he would not be able to touch him again. Statix began chuckling under his breath and Ghost’s glare moved on to him. He strode forward and grabbed Ghost by his shirt, bringing their faces uncomfortably close.

“Idiot,” he spat. “You either do it and possibly die or don't and definitely die. Are you so dim you can't realize how detrimental this is?” Ghost said nothing, merely glared straight at Statix, their eyes meeting in an unseen fury. They were both obviously pissed off, though Ghost wasn’t about to back down from what he believed. There was no way he would risk the blonde’s life just so people like Statix could be free. One problem the world didn’t need.

“Just do it!” Statix let go of his shirt and shoved Ghost away from him. He turned away but Ghost’s glare did not soften in the slightest. “Sixty percent is plenty enough. You either die trying or you die never knowing what could've been. Do you want to take that chance?” Ghost scoffed and opened his mouth to reply.

“I don't want to take that chance,” Rei said from behind them. He had pried the blonde boy off of his sleeve and was holding him out in front by his shoulders. Cyrus’ eyes were still full of tears, but he cried silently, trying to show everyone that he wasn’t really crying. “We need to get out of Timeless. We can't just sit and wait to die when there's even a chance of getting out. Sixty percent is better than nothing at all.” Ghost snarled at him, surely he couldn’t be serious. He would not risk Cyrus’ life to be free, the boy put his trust and love into him. Their relationship was not to be taken for granted.

“Cyrus,” Rei’s voice was soft, too quiet for Ghost to hear but he knew that he was talking to him. Cyrus glanced up, wiping the tears on his sleeve and giving Rei an inquisitive look. “will you do it? If you do, we can get out of this place and find your family and friends and eat candy and good food and never see anything bad happen ever again.” Rei smiled and Cyrus returned his smile. “I promise it'll be fine if you do it.” Cyrus nodded in response, giving a close eyed smile to Rei before breaking free and running over to Statix.

Cyrus had a small spring in his step, he made no sound as he ran and it looked more like he was skipping than anything else. He stopped suddenly before he came too near to the guy. Despite his request to help, he was still terrified of the freak. Ghost stood there with his mouth open slightly, glaring at Rei and at the blonde boy.

“Cyrus--” Ghost stopped when he noticed the blonde turn and smile at him. A reassuring smile, telling him that everything would be okay. Ghost returned his smile, fading from existence as Cyrus turned his attention back on Statix.

The boy stood there staring at Statix for a moment, being the type of person that he was, it was hard to figure out which emotions should be used. Cyrus sighed lightly under his breath and two clones of Statix appeared next to him. One with using the emotion of pride, another with the emotion of hate. Cyrus blinked as if realizing something. He glanced beside him and notice the two new Statixs. He let out a small whimper and quickly ran back to Rei, cowering behind him.

Cyrus Zervais

Cyrus cowered behind Rei, clinging to the back of his shirt and biting his tongue to stop the tears which were forcefully pushing themselves out. He didn’t entirely want to know what was going on but he felt the urge and the need to see. Slowly Cyrus peered around Rei, watching as Statix approached the two clones. In his mind, the possibility of everything going wrong kept relaying; images of every worst case scenario occurred. Cyrus whimpered and buried his head back into the arm of Rei, he was warm, warmness was reassuring and so was the familiar smell which lingered around Rei. It was hard to describe, it didn’t smell of flowers, nor did it smell horrible. It was a musky smell, like dust but it was a smell which defined Rei and made Cyrus feel safe.

“You, go over there, and you on that side,” Cyrus heard Statix order, obviously speaking to the two clones as Rei did not move from in front. “I need the two of you to create a charge that equals mine, just build it up,” Statix continued, piping curiosity in the boy who peered from behind Rei. The three Statixes were formatted in a triangle with the device in the centre. The original Statix’s hand was sparking with electricity and suddenly he glanced over at Cyrus who frantically hid himself behind Rei. “Build it up enough until the charge looks as big as mine. When--and only when--I say 'now,' instantly release the charge into the device.”

“Wh...,” Rei spoke shakily from in front of Cyrus. The boy became even more scared now and begain to silently sob, biting down on his lip and rubbing his head against the back of Rei. “What'll that do?”

“It'll restart the device.” Cyrus’ heart skipped a beat. “Then that's where I…” the boy stopped his crying and took shallow breaths in order to calm himself. “You will come in. I have a special job for you. Nobody sits out on this, Reivy,” Cyrus gripped tighter to the other’s shirt, knowing full well that Statix had something in mind for Rei. “First of all, I'll explain the plan to you. We'll create a charge of as much electricity as I can hold without fizzing uselessly out and put it all--three times my own power--into the device to start it up. When it restarts, I need you to go in and press the pretty red button--think you can do that? That'll turn it off manually and shock and surprise, if all goes well, the shield should come down instantly and time should start up again. That's it.”

“And if it goes wrong?” Rei answered, worry apparent in both his stance and voice. Cyrus wanted to make the other feel better but he didn’t know how, so he wrapped his hands around Rei’s arm and came out from behind him, putting on a brave face to try and make the other feel better.

“Well, that's a very general question,” Statix dodgily replied.

“Don't screw with me!” Rei shouted, making Cyrus let out a whimper and cower once again behind him. “I want to know every way this can go wrong so if something happens, and you can't stop it, then I can. Tell me everything!” Statix held up one finger and began explaining.

“The static build up may be too much by the time I need it and the clones could disappear and set the charge on us instead of on the device.” Another finger. “When you press the button, you will feel multiple shocks, but you have to deal with it,“ he hesitated. “If you don't get out of there fast enough--while we are putting the charge into the machine and not after--then you will be electrocuted. Potentially fatally. I can't press the button because I'll be releasing the charge and I can't risk Psycho getting hurt and taking back the clones.” Another finger. “Instead of reversing its flow, the device might blow up. I'll try to calculate it perfectly to where it's the exact amount of electricity it needs to start up again--as much as originally set it into permanent stand-by mode--but I can't be completely sure. I wasn't there. I just know it was a lightning bolt.” Though Cyrus didn’t quite understand what Statix was talking about, he realized that whatever it was, it was something bad. He didn’t know what to say, or even how to act but as a sudden gust of wind rushed past and the sound of the machine blitzing, Cyrus screwed his eyes shut and tried to bury his head further into Rei.

“I could die?” Rei answered monotonously, earning another scared whimper from Cyrus.

“What? Are you scared? Will you back down now?” Statix scoffed. “If an idiot like you can't handle a little risk, then you don't deserve your freedom.” Cyrus felt Rei turn, possibly to look at him but the blonde could not meet the other’s gaze. Rei’s body grew tense as his fists were clenched.

“Shut it, Sparky. You know I've got this. Just do your fairy thing and I'll handle what I gotta do,” Rei snickered, making light of the situation. He seemed to be his originally self, which reassured Cyrus, enough to make the boy unhinge himself from Rei’s shirt and stand beside him. Statix nodded to the clones who started up the charge in their hands, it was fearful for the boy to see in the event that he would be the one hit by said charge but he managed to stay put as Rei reached down and grabbed his hand. The blonde winced at how much Rei was squeezing it, but somehow he felt more calmer than ever before; he felt as if everything would be okay now and that they could finally go home -- he glanced up at Rei -- together.

“Now!” The charge was released into the device and Rei let go of Cyrus’ hand, running past the clones and straight into the fray. Cyrus was all alone now, with no one to hide behind or to protect him. But none of that mattered as the boy was glued to the scene happening in front.

“Rei!” he yelled out, unsure if anyone could hear him. He couldn’t see Rei through the mass amount of electricity happening around the shield. Tears flooded down from bright yellow eyes, Cyrus stood there frozen on the spot, hoping that Rei would make it out safely. Suddenly, after -- what seemed to be -- a lifetime of waiting, Rei stumbled out of the chaos and fell to the floor by Cyrus’ feet. The blonde fell to his knees and began shaking Rei, stopping only when Rei turned around to watch what was happening. Statix fell back onto the floor, the two clones disappearing as the machine began to go crazy. Cyrus shielded his eyes, knowing full well that it didn’t happen and now the thing would explode and kill them all.

There was a flash and then the impossible happened. The shield came down.

It happened in slow motion, no one could do anything apart from watch as the destructive masterpiece retracted itself back into the device. Silence filled the air now, the only sound was that of the wind, gently swaying in the trees. Cyrus felt the cold and alien feeling on his face, the wind blowing his hair to the side and obscuring his vision. He saw Rei get up though, laughing slowly before building up into an hysterical laugh. Cyrus slowly got to his feet too, blinking a few times as now he could see the outside world. He could see the blue sky in the distance and luscious green trees. His golden eyes began to glisten with tears and he fell forward, wrapping his arms around Rei and bawling into the chest of the other.

“Thank you Rei.”