AN: Good to see this story's getting some traction!
Just to clarify some things because I noticed this in the reviews. Cyrus does not possess Love Train. The Rib Cage of the Saint's power is not entirely known, but from the material itself, when Valentine acquired it, he gained a boost in vitality and his physique improved greatly. Here I've done something similar. The Heart of the Saint is what gave Valentine D4C.
Right, with that being said, I'm glad you guys are enjoying the story so far!
Enough babbling from me, let's begin!
Disclaimer: I, Beowulf do not own PJO or JJBA. I only own this plot, my OC, and the disappointing truth that I do not possess D4C. If I did, I'd probably be breaking way too many rules in at least 12 different realities.
~Chapter 3~
"Erm...heheh...hey Thals."
Slap! Just like that, Thalia slapped him across the face. Cyrus turned back to her, rubbing his cheek and grimacing slightly, "Okay...probably deserve that one."
Slap! Again, Cyrus turned back to her, nodding a little as his other cheek reddened, "...Okay I probably deserve that one too."
Thalia's eye twitched as she raised a fist. "Wait! Okay, okay let's just...calm down for a moment..." Cyrus took a step back for a moment before she suddenly grabbed him by the lapels of his coat, pulling him down to look into her angry blue eyes. He gulped. "I...I made a mistake in saying to calm down, didn't I?"
"Calm down? Calm down?!" Cyrus winced at her volume as her voice rose. "You have so much explaining to do!"
Now, Cyrus was not afraid of many things.
Dealing with his own mortality in the form of people with similar powers to him? No.
Angering beings at a higher level of power than him? Not particularly no.
Fighting against hordes of monsters that would like to tear him and everyone he cared for limb-from-limb? Nah. Never.
Explaining to a very pissed off friend who happened to be a girl where he'd been for the past 7 years after 'dying'?
...maybe a little bit.
"I want answers Bamf-Boy," Thalia growled as she pulled the boy further down to her height, "NOW!"
Meanwhile at the back of his mind, Cyrus heard a voice say, "Wait a second...wasn't she the one that got turned into a tree?"
That voice was very promptly ignored, as the raven-maned boy knew exactly what Thalia would do if he were to respond with that. And he really didn't want to use that option with D4C here and now. Too many questions would be raised and he would still feel the pain of...well, he hoped it wouldn't come to that.
It didn't exactly help that he wasn't ready to say what happened, along with how Thalia could end up reacting to that. All he knew is it probably would not be a very pleasant experience.
"Well um...you see uh...OH WOW LOOK AT THAT!" He shouted while pointing at something behind them.
As he hoped, everyone looked around, tensed and ready for something that wasn't there at all. He grinned and turned. When all else failed, just run away!
Except this time he slipped and fell back on his butt.
"That would have worked," Thalia said as she gripped onto the back of his coat, making the young man chuckle nervously, "If you didn't use that last time."
She stomped over to where Cyrus was scrambling to get up, still keeping a tight grip on his coat. She clenched a fist threateningly as Cyrus's eyes widened. Suddenly, before everyone's eyes, the boy vanished in a strange swirl into the article of clothing, leaving only the coat in her hands.
"What the? Where did he go?" Percy looked at the coat with wide eyes.
Thalia just growled as she turned to look at Apollo's bus. Sure enough, Cyrus appeared to be crawling out from underneath the bus.
As he got to his feet, he smiled at Thalia, who's frown seemed to grow more violent. He chuckled as he brushed the dirt and dust off his shirt and arms.
"C'mon Thals, I'll explain everything after we get to the camp."
"Damn right you will," the punk girl spat as she threw the coat at the boy, who caught it, "Because if you don't, so help me..."
Cyrus just tuned her out, putting the overcoat back on and boarding the bus, followed by the rest of the campers.
Apollo smiled as he saw everyone take their seats. "Right, who wants to drive?"
After a long argument of who would drive, Cyrus volunteered. After all, he was the oldest and had learned to drive already anyway.
It was a smooth takeoff, much to Apollo's surprise and approval. They made it into the sky and so far they hadn't blown up or crashed at all. Pluses all around!
Then Cyrus suddenly took his hands off the wheel and leaned back.
Apollo raised an eyebrow while the Hunters yelled and questioned his mental stability, Thalia cursed at him profusely (which made Bianca plug Nico's ears), Percy and Annabeth were panicking and praying to their parents, and Grover bleated fearfully before his eyes rolled up into his head and he passed out on the seat.
"Calm down you guys! It's all under control." Cyrus called out over the cacophony of noise.
No one calmed down.
Cyrus's eye twitched slightly. "Wow, not a lick of trust from anyone in here huh?" He looked over at Apollo, who was watching all of this with amusement. "Little help?" The boy asked the Sun God.
"Nope, this is very fun to watch," Apollo gave him a grin as he conjured up some popcorn for himself.
Sighing to himself (and stealing a bit of popcorn), Cyrus shouted, gaining everyone's attention. "HEY!" Now everyone noticed that he was driving...with his feet. "Calm down! It's on cruise control." He smirked to himself; Valentine's agility and bizarre talent of being to play instruments with his feet somehow came in handy. (1)
Apollo looked at him driving and gave a low whistle, "Not gonna lie, that's pretty impressive...but maybe you should let me drive before you give everyone heart attacks." He added as everyone started to panic again after seeing that Cyrus was only driving with his feet.
Giving an exaggerated sigh, Cyrus gave the Sun God the wheel, standing up from his seat. Ignoring the angered looks from everyone excluding Grover (who was unconscious from fear) and Annabeth (who watched with envious eyes) he walked over to where the di Angelo siblings had decided to sit and leaned against the pole on the aisle seat, "So how are you guys holding up?"
"Uh, pretty okay I guess," Bianca said quietly while Nico smiled widely, speaking quickly and excitedly, "Great! I can't wait to see what Camp is like! And how'd you do that with your feet? Can you teach me stuff like that?"
Surprised by the request, Cyrus chuckled and shrugged. "Maybe, who knows? I'll be around to teach a number of things if you want." Nico's eyes shined with adoration. It was like he had another brother! He turned to Bianca with a huge smile.
"Did you hear that Bianca? He'll be teaching us stuff! It's like having a big brother, now you don't have to worry about me so much!"
Bianca smiled slightly, a tinge of guilt flickering in her eyes, before looking up at a grinning Cyrus. He gave her a nod and a wink before he walked away, unaware of the slight blush that flew up her cheeks.
Cyrus strolled over to where Percy and Annabeth sat, leaning over the seat in front of them. After eyeing their closeness, he gave a wily grin as he addressed the blonde of the two, "Hey Annie, how's life?"
She responded with a smack to the top of his head with a book she was holding, making him wince, "Ow...that's not nice..."
"Neither was that scare you gave us earlier," she retorted with a frown as she looked up at the older boy. "Honestly, you're reminding me of Cabin Eleven. You'd fit in with how you act."
Cyrus rolled his eyes, "Yes, mom. So how have you been? Any boyfriends yet?"
He raised an eyebrow discreetly when he saw Percy's fist tighten. "Oh? It appears Mr. Water Cooler has feelings for Annie?" He smirked slightly as he looked back at the blonde.
The daughter of Athena blushed, "Gods Cyrus! It's been seven years and that's the first thing you ask me?"
The elder teen tilted his head innocently, making a small frown, "No, I asked how you were first. I asked if you had any boyfriends second. After all, it's been seven years, I see you've grown from adorable little girl to beautiful woman. It's expected! That and I can start beating up on any exes you have. No one's breaking my little sister's heart."
Annabeth smiled softly, standing up to wrap her arms around the teen. He tensed for just a moment before hugging her back, much to Percy's steadily growing irritation.
"I...I missed you...so much..." Her shoulders began to shake as she whimpered, tears leaking out as she tightened the embrace. "Why? Why'd you do it? You were alive this whole...w-we thought you were dead."
Cyrus closed his eyes and hugged her tighter, opting for comforting her rather than answering. It was not easy, seven years ago, but he'd had no other choice. That being said, it turned out mostly well...except for the other boy in their group.
His eyes flared with fuchsia for a split second. "Luke...you will pay for this, traitor." Cyrus snarled within his mind, his rage boiling, "How dare you betray your friends and leave them behind!"
After a few sniffles, Annabeth finally let go and smiled up at him. She smirked suddenly and nodded over to Thalia, who was pointedly glaring at Cyrus, "Go on, you can't avoid it forever." She teased. Cyrus grumbled quietly under his breath.
"No, but I can delay it for a bit longer." He slowly made his way over to where Apollo sat driving. "I don't suppose I can take the wheel again..?"
Apollo gave him a shit-eating grin, "Nope, I know why you want it. Go on, go deal with Thalia. Call this payback for slipping away that one time."
Cyrus glared at the Sun God, before huffing and sitting down next to the daughter of Zeus. He grinned at her nervously, and he jumped when she clung to his arm.
"...right, her phobia...oops." He kicked himself mentally as he recalled Thalia's fear of heights.
Said girl was now glaring at him for two reasons. The first was for the same reason as before their takeoff. She still wanted those damn answers as to why they let him think he was dead, where he had been for the past seven years, and why he was only two years older than when he first met her? The second and final reason for the glare was because he had made her acrophobia act up big time.
Which was the only reason why she was now clinging to his arm...his nice, strong, well-toned arm...she would deny this to anyone who asked, but she had seen him without his coat on before when he had suddenly escaped from her grasp. That shirt had shown off those very well-toned arms...made her wonder what else was well-toned...
"Nope! Bad thoughts! Stop right there!" Thalia wailed mentally as she berated her hormone driven thoughts. She looked away from the dark-maned man and quickly released her hold on his arm. She took a few deep breaths to regain her composure, which promptly crumbled when Cyrus suddenly wrapped an arm around her shoulders.
"Sorry Thals," he murmured apologetically into her ear, "I forgot about it..."
"I-it's fine...you still owe me an explanation Cy," the daughter of Zeus snapped, still not happy with the overcoat-clad boy. Unconsciously however, she leaned into his embrace and sighed quietly when his arm tightened around her shoulders.
Following that strange series of events, Apollo landed and had everyone disembark, before asking that Cyrus stay behind. The young man looked up at the God curiously as said God looked back at him with a searching expression.
Cyrus sighed, "Alright, what is it?"
"What is D4C? I know it's not just that 'between two objects I can teleport' thing. You're hiding something more."
"Not. Telling."
"Yet?"
"That's for me to know and you to find out."
Apollo glared, before he smirked and leaned in, "I know you're not from this world, Cyrus." Quickly masking his surprise, the young man stared back impassively.
"How'd you figure that part out?"
The God of the Arts studied him, as if he were picking out the exact clues that gave him that conclusion. "You smell like divinity, you reek of it...but you haven't been claimed by anyone. You're part God, there's no doubt about it. But no child of the Gods gets as powerful as you without being claimed by your parents. And that divinity seems...off. Different."
Cyrus stared into Apollo's eyes, his own eyes hardening. "Who else knows of this 'theory' of yours?" Apollo shook his head.
"No one, it took me only a few weeks ago to figure it out. The other gods though are still suspicious of you. What I don't understand is your power. I know for a fact that Arty turned you into a rabbit but here you are...not a rabbit."
"I told her this already, I got better. That's all," the smug grin on Cyrus's face made Apollo frown in irritation.
"And there's the fact that no one knows what you've been doing for the past 2 years! Completely off the grid. Do you have any idea how much Zeus made us search after you managed to slip away from...that camp?"
Cyrus just stayed silent with that grin on his face. The young man smirked, before looking over at the Camp's border. "As fun as this chat is, I believe I have to get going."
Apollo narrowed his eyes before just shaking his head and smirking back at Cyrus with an 'I know something you don't' expression on his face. Cyrus's smirk faltered.
"Apollo what does that mean?" The God just kept that expression as he put on a pair of sunglasses he manifested and began walking back towards the once again Maserati.
"Apollo, what was that face you were making? What does that mean?!" He just stepped back into the car and in a flare of light that had Cyrus covering his eyes, he disappeared.
Cyrus swore to himself. "...I've got a bad feeling about this..." He muttered before putting the concerns out of his mind. He had more immediate things to deal with.
He stepped over the camp border and held onto his coat's lapels, looking down at his clothing. "D4C." He grinned as he felt his power encase him, disappearing from his spot in a swirl of dark color, coat and all, before reappearing from in between a door and a wall...that happened to be someone's office. (2)
"Am I interrupting anything?" The gathered demigods whirled around in surprise while a wheelchair-bound man moved backwards in shock and a man holding a coke dropped his can.
The latter scowled and snapped his fingers, manifesting another coke can, before glaring at the newcomer.
"And who are you?" the man asked rudely. Cyrus stood tall and smiled widely.
"Cyrus Khan. I'm sure you know of me from the mutterings on Olympus?" The man's eyes narrowed in suspicion, "It's you? The strange demigod with powers no one can understand?"
Cyrus tilted his head curiously and nodded, leading to the man's scowl deepening. Dionysus stormed past the young man, "Do tell me how it goes Chiron, I have more paperwork to deal with now..." The Wine God muttered to himself before slamming the door shut behind him.
The gathered demigods blinked in confusion before turning to an equally confused Chiron, "..wait I'm the one who does the paperwork." The centaur muttered before shaking his head.
"I suppose we'll get going then," the immortal teacher of heroes said, before turning to Cyrus. "From what I understand on Olympus, you are unclaimed, yes?"
The teen in question nodded, "Yep. Not claimed so far at least."
Chiron 'hmmed' thoughtfully, "Intriguing, most demigods do not make it this far without being claimed..." His statement made a lot of the assembled half-bloods wince. After all, it was no secret that the life of a demigod was one fraught with danger.
Cyrus shrugged, "Guess I've just never needed it. Do you know where you'd put me?" He asked, wondering what cabin he'd be placed into considering he wasn't exactly born into this world...
"Since you are unclaimed, even though you are...an interesting case, we'll be placing you in Cabin Eleven," Chiron said, smiling at the young demigod in question.
The overcoated teen grinned. "Great! In that case, I'll go ahead and take a look around the campgrounds. I'll see you guys later!" He gave a winning smile to the di Angelos and the other demigods, before turning towards the door.
"Hey wait a minute-!" Thalia tried to add something, striding over to the boy, but he quickly grabbed the door handle and pulled, sandwiching himself between the door and the wall. The girl pulled away the door, her eyes widening before narrowing in annoyance.
"Damn it!" She scowled, ignoring the quiet, "How is he doing that, seriously?" from Percy.
"Language, Thalia, language," the ages-old centaur warned as he rolled past her, "Come, let's give these two a tour."
Cyrus quickly stepped out of the side of the Big House, sighing in relief as he managed to escape his old friend's grasp once again. He shivered at the thought of her wrath if she managed to corner him at one point. After all, his power could only save him so much without revealing more about him.
He silently strolled through the campgrounds, smirking to himself a bit. Along with Valentine's memories had come some of his talents, such as the agility he had on his feet which he had so humorously showcased to everyone in Apollo's ride, and his talent of being able to make no noise when he walked. Some of the nymphs and satyrs took notice of him as he walked around, pointing and whispering amongst themselves.
He paid them no mind, instead looking around and taking in the sights, including the various cabins that existed. "This place really is quite nice...much better than the other one I think. So stuffy..."
Cyrus chuckled to himself as he sat down with his back to a tree, materializing the Last Word in his hand. Humming to himself, he carefully began to disassemble the beautiful handcannon and clean it.
The amount of times this thing had saved his life were uncounted, and damn was he ever glad the Saint had gifted it to him. As he cleaned and reassembled the weapon, the shadow of a girl loomed over his shoulder, not that he noticed it. He was more busy thinking about the Saint and what he had stated when he had been sent to this world. "'Be my emissary across this world. In it, you shall play a pivotal role.'"
Cyrus gave a grumble to himself as he cleaned and maintained the Last Word. So far he hadn't played a 'pivotal' role, if he said so himself, but he was definitely glad to help out, even if it gave him headaches. Funny Valentine's memories of the so-called "Eyes of Heaven" incident (3) had definitely been a headache to deal with, but certainly helped make sense of some things. He grimaced, "What could be so important to the Saint for me to be involved in this world?"
He frowned as a phantom pain gnawed at his chest. Ever since his original death, his chest would have phantom pains whenever something important would happen. And in his experience, "important" generally meant "problematic". Just like that time in Italy...
Cyrus's eyes narrowed as he shook his head hard, "Nope, nope, not thinking about that. Definitely not thinking about that time in Sardinia..." He thought as a certain large gold ring sat uncomfortably on his left middle finger.
He shook the foreboding feeling off and continued to focus on his gun, muttering to himself as he finally fitted it all back together, spinning it in his hand, "ah, there we go.." He made the gun disappear back into the mark on his wrist before stiffening suddenly.
Immediately, Cyrus vanished in a swirl of energy, leaving nothing behind as the feminine shadow revealed itself to be Thalia. She growled in irritation at being avoided again before stomping off back to the di Angelos she was showing around.
Reappearing out of the side of Cabin Eleven, he pulled at the collar of his shirt somewhat nervously. She was starting to get way too close with these attempts on his life...okay maybe they were just attempts to pin him down and get information out of him, but they might as well have been attempts on his life.
He shivered a little at the volatile and aggressive nature that Thalia was prone to. She was probably raging pretty hard at him evading her yet again.
As he looked around at his surroundings, he realized that he was at the Cabin he would be staying at. Shrugging to himself, he went up to the front door and knocked, before stepping back with his hands clasped behind him and a smile on his face.
The door opened, with two twins in the doorway. Cyrus's smile widened while the two tilted their heads curiously at him, with a bunch of other kids peeking over their shoulders to see the newcomer.
"Who are you?" The taller one asked, a slight bit of caution entering his, for the most part, friendly voice.
"Why, your new roommate!" Cyrus said brightly, giving the two a grin.
"Hermes? Or undetermined?"
"The second one," A collective groan came from behind the two twins.
The shorter twin turned and gave a small frown at the group behind him, "C'mon guys, don't be rude. You know the rules of our cabin, we welcome everyone."
He turned back to Cyrus, opening the door a bit more, "Come in! What's your name?"
Cyrus smirked a little as he looked from twin to twin, "Isn't it rude to ask for a name without giving your own?"
The twins looked at each other and shrugged before turning back to the older teen. "We're the Stolls. My name's Travis-" "And mine's Connor." The two finished each other's sentences before dropping into bows with grins on their faces, like they were up to no good.
"Prankster extraordinaires, at your service!" Cyrus chuckled at the two's antics as he stepped inside.
"A pleasure. The name's Cyrus Khan. Oh also, I believe these are yours?" He said, holding up his hands, which each held a wallet of cash. No one noticed two transparent blue hands suddenly fading out behind the elder teen.
The Stolls' eyes widened in shock, their hands moving to their pockets. The rest of the cabin's jaws dropped in awe. No one had ever managed to pull a fast one like that on the prankster twins.
Cyrus chuckled, before handing them back. "How'd you do that?"
"I have my secrets," he said, his eyes twinkling with mischief.
The twins grinned, "Oh you'll fit right in in here."
That evening, Chiron called for an assembly. He stood tall, his disguise absent at the moment and in his full centaur form.
"Campers," he began, "We have three new members. Two have been claimed, and one unclaimed."
Cabin Eleven gave a collective sigh of relief. Things were getting so crowded for them so thank the Gods that they only had to take in one more person, and not three.
The murmur of the crowd seemed to increase as Bianca, Nico, and Cyrus took the stage. The two siblings were now wearing the standard orange Camp shirt, along with black jeans and tennis shoes. Bianca's hat was gone, and her hair was pulled back into a loose braid courtesy of Annabeth.
As for Cyrus, he also wore the orange Camp shirt, but wore his ever-present overcoat on top of it. Even then, it was clear that the shirt hid a well-defined torso beneath. He also wore a pair of slightly ripped dark blue jeans, and a pair of black combat boots. His proud mane of lustrous black hair seemed to float freely in the wind as he stood tall but relaxed in front of the campers and his green and fuchsia eyes glinted in the evening light.
A certain girl with electric blue eyes began to scowl at the members of Cabin Ten who eyed the young man like he was a piece of prime meat. Not many noticed this, but Chiron chuckled to himself in amusement as he took notice of Thalia's glares.
"Bianca and Nico," he called out. The two siblings stepped forward, and a yellow-green flame appeared above their heads, forming the mighty symbol of Hades, the Helm of Darkness. The campers burst into whispers and murmurs until Chiron whinnied and stamped his hooves to get their attention again. He turned to kneel, projecting his voice once again, "All hail Bianca and Nico di Angelo, children of Hades, Lord of the Underworld!"
The campers knelt and bowed their heads, as did Cyrus with a smile. He glanced up at the two and smirked at their reactions. Poor Bianca looked like she was begging the ground to open and swallow her whole while Nico was smiling brightly and bowing back, as if he had performed a magic trick or some form of feat.
After a few moments, Chiron rose up along with the rest of the Camp, before looking at Cyrus, "Cyrus Khan, please step forward."
The di Angelos stepped back as Cyrus stepped forward, his hands clasped behind him. Chiron turned his gaze to the rest of the campers, "And here, I would like to introduce you all to our third camper, Cyrus Khan! While he is undetermined, he has proven to be quite powerful, so I ask that you treat him with the same respect given to all your peers!" He called out, his eyes focusing on Cabin Five specifically for that last portion.
Cyrus just grinned and raised a hand, giving a casual wave, before dipping into a dramatic bow at the crowd, which burst again into murmurs and whispers. It wasn't every day that such a demigod was introduced like that. As a mischievous grin split the mysterious demigod's face, Chiron could only grimace at what the next few days would bring.
AN: Huh, looks like Valentine's memories are coming in pretty handy for Cyrus. The questions about Cyrus's past however, get deeper and deeper...what happened in Sardinia? Why does he have that ring? Perhaps you'll find out soon!
Notes:
(1) It is actually canonical that Valentine was agile enough to play the mandolin with his feet (while wearing shoes btw) just by dancing on it and that he makes no sound when he walks around
(2) D4C's power is stated that it takes the user being sandwiched between two surfaces or objects for them to be transported. While this is never exhibited in the original material, I think it's fairly logical for a single object that's wrapped around a person to function as a way to activate the transport, hence the long and flowing coat that Cyrus has. This is kind of similar to how in the games, Valentine uses an American flag around him to appear and disappear. I drew a bit of inspiration for this from the story Heroic Acts at a Reasonable Price and how Izuku is able to manipulate D4C's powers. If you guys are fans of JoJo and MHA, I suggest taking a look, it's very good. As for how his warp looks when it's like that, imagine if he's being sucked into the coat before collapsing in on himself.
(3) I am taking Eyes of Heaven as, at the very least, partially canonical here, as in EoH, Valentine is aware and even deals with multiple Stand users from various different parts (Including in-depth knowledge on each of the JoJos), and could probably recognize at least a few of them. Considering that Cyrus has Valentine's memories as well, this means that Cyrus has at least some level of knowledge regarding these others.
Welp, that's it for all the notes.
I hope you guys enjoyed, and please do review! I am fed by healthy criticism and suggestions. :D
Cheers,
Beowulf