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.”
RPG
