AN: Welcome back everyone!

I'm glad everyone enjoyed the last chapter!

To answer some of the things in the reviews, someone mentioned that Miatas do not have backseats...oops. I'm not that big of a car guy, I just kinda looked up what car Ghiaccio was driving to use as kind of a callback, but looking back at the images, it didn't have a backseat so uh ._.

Just pretend its a modified version I suppose haha. As for the last chapter being tame, I wanted to take a moment to do more of a character development type of thing, but rest assured, we'll get back to the good ol' fashioned Stand shenanigans soon enough!

Right, enough talk.

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 be jumping around universes like a bunny on crack.

~Chapter 17~

Thalia gritted her teeth as she stormed off towards the west, static electricity flickering around her hands as she stewed in her anger. Her eyes stung at the hurt she felt. She felt betrayed.

Why didn't Cyrus just trust her? She trusted him with everything! She bared everything to him, so why was it not enough for him to do the same?

She remembered that time they had shared in the Cadillac when he had finally spilled some of his many secrets to her, like how he had managed to survive and the mystery of why his age was only seventeen. And she was grateful for that! It meant he was starting to be honest with her.

"But I guess that's not entirely correct anymore," she snarled out in her mind as she recalled his evasiveness regarding his conversation with Aphrodite. "Damn it, why can't he just tell me?! Is it some crap about protecting me, like when he was talking about Stand Users attracting each other?"

She scoffed at that. "Please! I haven't needed to be protected since I ran away from my mother. He gets a pass for Stand Users, because that crap is weird and scary, even for me, but for the rest, no dice!"

Thalia hugged herself a little as she felt her heart hurt. She touched her lips gently as she recalled what had happened in New Mexico, before clenching her hand into a fist. Was it not enough that she had given her first kiss to him? That she l...

She bit her lip hard enough to draw blood as her frustrations built and built. Thalia had never been one for emotions; she had always tried to keep them locked away, being as tough as nails...and it was coming back to bite her. Hard.

If she wasn't even able to express herself inside of her own mind, how could she ever say it to him out loud?

"Hey, you okay?"

Thalia flinched before turning around, seeing the concerned eyes of Grover peering at her nervously. Looking back ahead of her, she noticed that the rest of the group were moving on. Zoe and Phoebe were muttering to each other regarding logistics and survival tactics regarding their supplies. Cyrus was absently toying around with his yo-yo, with D4C hovering over his shoulder and using its limbs and fingers to mess with the string and perform tricks. Percy was watching him with a smirk as he recounted some of the adventures that he'd had in his own past, no doubt regarding the Lightning Thief incident and the Sea of Monsters incident. Cyrus was laughing along with him, but Thalia could tell. His heart wasn't in it.

For someone so secretive, Thalia could always tell Cyrus's moods even back when they were traveling to Camp with Annabeth and Luke, and now that she'd been introduced to D4C, she could tell them even more so. His shoulders seemed weighed down with guilt and turmoil, as if he really didn't want to do something, but had to because he had no other choice. The Stand by his side was much the same. The usually bright fuchsia eyes that it sported were dulled, and sad, and its movements along with Cyrus's seemed comparatively sluggish and slow as their hands toyed with the string of the children's toy, and she could have sworn that its horns were drooping a little, like a rabbit that wasn't feeling very happy.

Thalia really tried there, but a touch of her own guilt crept up on her as she saw the teen she cared for seeming so despondent, before hardening her posture a little. So he felt guilty? Good! Served him right for holding back on her...

Grover noticed her emotional turmoil, and winced. His empathy was sometimes both a curse, and a blessing. "Thalia...don't you think you're being a bit unreasonable?"

The punk demigoddess's eyes darkened as she turned to the young satyr she was walking alongside. "What...?"

Paling a little as he felt his hair start to stand on end, the satyr explained himself quickly before he got turned into fried mutton. "I-I mean, you're not the only one who wants to know about Cyrus's past and everything else about him! I mean we never really got the chance to grill him when we first got to Camp all those years ago but he...well, you know." Grover finished, his face turning a light shade of green as he recalled the gruesome detail that Cyrus had gone into regarding his demise.

Thalia smirked at the face Grover made as she looked up the sky. "Yeah I guess...that reminds me, I still need to beat him up for making us leave him behind." That thought made her frown again as she remembered that dark day.

"Agh! Get off me you damn mutts!"

"Cyrus!"

"Go, I'll catch up!"

The sound of something metal clanged and echoed.

"We're not leaving you Bamf-boy!"

"GO!"

"Bu-"

"I said go damn i-grahh!"

Thalia shuddered as the sound of tearing flesh echoed in her memory. She gritted her teeth as she whispered, "We shouldn't have listened to him when he said to run...we should have gone back for him."

Grover frowned at that. "No, he made the right call. There were too many of them Thalia, we all would be goners if he didn't tell us to run for it." He put a hand on her shoulder reassuringly as his frown turned slightly guilt-ridden. "Plus, trust me, you're not the only one who felt like they let him down."

The teenage girl turned around to face Grover, her expression angered, but her eyes telling a different story. "That doesn't matter! I should have gone back to try and save him. They were all after me anyway! He died because of me!" She bit out as small tears began to brim in the corners of her eyes.

"He died, because he made a choice, and he chose for you to live." Grover argued gently. "You know how he gets Thalia. Him with his talks about Resolve and sacrificing things. He made the choice to sacrifice himself for you. If you went back for him, you would have died with him, and where would we be now?"

When Thalia didn't respond, the satyr continued, "You would have left Annabeth grieving and broken, along with Luke going off the deep end."

"You mean like that already happened?" Thalia snarled out, tears continuing to threaten their falls from her eyes. "Annabeth grieved over me and Cyrus anyway, and Luke snapped and went with Kronos! It was pointless!" The satyr cast a nervous look at the ground at the mention of the Titan Lord, but Thalia didn't care.

Her old friend had poisoned her when she was a tree, and she was still very displeased with that...

Grover winced as he scratched at the back of his head. "Come on, where's Cyrus when you need him..."

"Hey, you two! What's with the lagging behind? We're planning to stop and set up camp to rest." The teen in question's voice sounded out as he approached the the satyr and the daughter of Zeus.

The satyr gave Cyrus a look that puzzled him for a moment until he realized Thalia was shuddering and shaking a little with her back to him.

"Thals? Hey what's wro-" He cut off in surprise as she suddenly turned and wrapped her arms around his chest, still shaking as she buried her face in his chest. He looked up at Grover with a bewildered expression before he realized some things.

1) His shirt was getting wet.

2) That shaking was her trying to hold in her sobs.

Immediately, Cyrus gave Grover a glance that said, "Go ahead, I'll deal with this," before hugging her back gently, rubbing her back as he tried to comfort her. Grover took the hint, and walked off towards the rest of the group.

Cyrus looked down at the young demigoddess with worry. Gently prying her off of him but still keeping a hold on her, he looked at her with concern. "Shhh, Thals, I can't help if I don't know what's wrong..."

She kept her head down, not meeting his eyes as she sniffled, still holding onto him like he was her lifeline. "P-promise me something?"

The teen nodded as he held her gently. "Of course. What is it?"

She looked up at him, and his heart felt weak. Her eyes still had a few tears left in them. "Promise me I won't lose you?"

He blinked at that as her grip on him tightened, "I've already lost my brother Jason and Luke...I can't lose you too...please."

Cyrus's eye twitched imperceptibly at the mention of the first name, followed by a spike of hatred at the last name. But he shook his hatred off as he pulled her closer for another hug. He smiled down at her reassuringly as he rubbed her back to calm her down.

"Let me tell you a little something about my Stand, Thals." Cyrus spoke softly, with Thalia nodding against his chest. "I told you all before, that D4C gives me access to all the alternate versions of myself, and all of them are aware of what happens in this universe that we're in right now...which means..."

He pulled away gently, tilting her head up to look him in the eyes with a finger. He smiled down at her gently. "That they all know, about you."

Thalia tilted her head in confusion for a moment as she asked softly, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means, that even if this me dies, every last one of the other versions of me, feels the exact same as I do for you. They're all me..." He slowly leaned down, pressing his lips against hers. Thalia closed her eyes as she relaxed into the lip-lock, letting go of her fears and frustrations as her heart did jumping jacks inside of her chest.

Eventually, they both pulled away, looking back into each other's eyes as Cyrus gave her a kind smile. "And all of us will never leave you Thalia." He said softly but firmly as his green eyes with an inner ring of pink stared into electric blue.

Thalia could feel her face heating up at the thought of that, that in all the multiverse, every version of Cyrus felt the same as this one did. They all felt the same for her..?

"And, if I ever do die legitimately, I will tear my way past Thanatos himself to get back to you." He said with a warm smirk.

"But do you promise?" She asked again quietly, almost hating how childish and small she sounded.

He cupped her cheek, stroking it with a finger as he smiled and stole another kiss off her lips.

"I swear it, Thalia Grace."

After their emotional heart-to-heart, the two teens managed to regroup with the rest of the quest-goers. Looking up at the sky, Cyrus rubbed his eyes with a sigh. "What a long fuckin day...first dealing with a pig, and now all this emotional stuff...I deserve a nap."

"Alright guys, let's set up camp, we'll rest up a bit and in a few hours we'll head over to Hephaestus's junkyard!" He announced, getting nods from everyone (begrudging ones from the Hunters).

"Great. Night night." He declared, before literally crashing out, collapsing onto his back into a deep sleep on the ground. D4C appeared at the last second, lowering its user slowly before hovering over him, as if standing guard.

Everyone else blinked, while Thalia smirked and shook her head at the teen's silly antics. "Figures. Stupid Bunny Boy..." She murmured out before sitting down next to his right side, watching him and D4C with a smile.

Meanwhile, the Hunters decided to sleep on Cyrus's left side, with a copiously large amount of space separating them, while Grover and Percy slept on their left, with again, a large amount of space in between (much to Grover's disappointment).

Thalia glanced around their makeshift camp before looking back to Cyrus. D4C hadn't dissipated, instead remaining in its position above him as if standing guard over its slumbering master's body. She smirked a little at that. It almost seemed like a pet to Cyrus.

The Stand regarded her for a moment, before its pinkish eyes brightened and and its horns seemed to stand up a little bit more. It reached towards her slowly, gently pressing a finger on the tip of her nose.(1)

She blinked. "Did...did it just 'boop' me?"

Thalia couldn't have stopped the smile from forming on her face if she tried.

She laid down on her side and closed her eyes, lured to the realms of Morpheus by the soft breaths of her affection.

Prosciutto rubbed his temples as he could hear arguing behind him.

After this job in Rome, the blonde Stand User would ask for alcohol as payment from Razione. Because holy God above he definitely needed it now.

Following after much difficulty regarding Ghiaccio's temper and...questionable driving skills, they had made it to Rome, and were currently approaching the borders of the Vatican.

Prosciutto frowned again as he recalled the reason why they were here. "So, Cyrus found out that the Old Blood are after those damn Nails huh? Damn it. Those things are bad news. I still feel the pain in my fuckin neck where I got stabbed with one."

He looked up at the sky as he walked, towards Vatican City. His thoughts drifted from his mission to the young Stand User he now took orders from. He smirked.

Now there had been an interesting guy. He was only fifteen when he had been introduced to La Squadra, and Prosciutto had immediately taken a liking to him.

The dude was a bit of a goofball, which Prosciutto generally frowned on, yes. But he was also extremely serious when it counted, and even Prosciutto knew that someone who could get along with and be trusted by Risotto and Razione was someone to stick by.

Cyrus was like a younger brother, much like how Pesci had been when the cauliflower-head was younger with Prosciutto looking after him. He smirked at that thought. A brother to the Boss.

His smirk faltered as he heard a thud behind him, turning to see Illuso and Ghiaccio literally at each others throats, one holding a piece of mirror to ones windpipe while the other held a spike of ice to an eye.

"SAY IT AGAIN PUTTANA. SAY IT AGAIN!"

"I SAID VENICE ONE GOD DAMN TIME, GIMME A BREAK GHIACCIO!"

"Hey! Hey! You dumbasses, we're La Squadra, stop acting like a bunch of fucking children!" Prosciutto barked out. The two stopped, before slowly disengaging. Ghiaccio melted the icicle while Illuso put the mirror shard in his pocket.

"Cristo, you two are such a pain..." The blonde groaned out quietly as he led the way to the Vatican's gates.

One of the guards there noticed them, his eyes widening as he noticed the golden pins on their clothing. He looked up at Prosciutto's stern face, who gave him a nod. "Tell him that we require an audience with him."

The guard nodded before running off, leaving the three assassins there to wait.

Athena grumbled as she heard Aphrodite's laughter echo through the many walkways on Olympus. Normally, she would have just ignored it...but the Love Goddess had mentioned one thing in particular.

Cyrus.

Immediately, the Wisdom Goddess had burst from her temple, startling the Love Goddess who had been walking past.

"Uh...Athena are you okay...?" Aphrodite's eyes widened as she looked the Goddess of War up and down, noting her generally prime condition as being completely absent, along with ichor-shot eyes and sleepless bags under those eyes.

"What? Yes, yes I'm fine! Better question, what do you know about Cyrus?" Athena replied quickly, giving a manic smile that made Aphrodite back up a bit nervously.

"S-sure Ath! What do you want to know?" The Love Goddess asked, her smile widening as she recalled her meeting with the enigmatic demigod. Oh, he'd been such a treat! So much mystery, so much intelligence, so much raw power! Ooh, if she didn't have so many plans for the young Stand User, she might have gone for him...

...nah, but he was too much fun to mess around with!

Back to the topic at hand though, Athena gave a smile that looked...only slightly unhinged. "Do you know what he was doing in Europe? I heard he was there for the past two years?"

"Really? Hmm...I only knew that he was active in France and Italy...I only knew about France more though. You know, Country of Love and all that stuff." Aphrodite answered, resting her chin on her hand as she thought it over.

"And what did you find out about him there?" Athena asked eagerly, her stormy grey eyes glinting with the promise of new information.

Aphrodite just shrugged. "Not much, just how many hearts he'd been tugging on and breaking in France and Italy...'Bestia della Passione' they call him, considering how fiery he can be!" She finished with a giggle.

The Wisdom Goddess stiffened for a moment. "Passione? As in the Mafia group, Passione?"

"There's a mafia called Passione?"

Athena had to clench her fists as to not go wrapping her hands around the Love Goddess's throat and throttling her. "Yes, the same one that apparently was causing a lot of trouble in Italy for a short period before things seemed to settle down. They rule behind the scenes for all of Italy and it looks like they're branching out."

"I...see." Aphrodite spoke slowly, not seeing what this had to do with the conversation at hand, "So what does this have to do with Cyrus?"

The grey-eyed Goddess went to speak, before pausing for a moment. Aphrodite was...okay she wasn't the biggest gossip among the Gods, but she was definitely up there...and Athena wasn't finished with her investigations, so maybe telling her about the possible connection Cyrus had to one of the mightiest organizations of Crime in Europe would be an unwise decision...

"That's a story for another time. So what else did you learn about him?"

"Hmm...oh, I know! He's been in contact with the other camp if you forgot!" Aphrodite said brightly.

Athena's eyes narrowed as a spark of rage burned in her grey orbs. "He what?"

Cyrus gave a sneeze, waking him from his sleep. He groaned a little as he laid back on the ground slowly. "Mm someone must be talking about me..." He muttered out as he turned onto his side, curling an arm around his pillow and humming as he nuzzled into the warm fuzzy part of it.

"...wait a second, I didn't have a pillow..." The Stand User's eyes snapped open as his senses went from half asleep to wide awake. He looked down for a moment, his face paling as he realized his predicament.

His 'pillow' was definitely not a pillow. It was Thalia.

Apparently some time during the night she had probably moved closer and closer to him, and now she was facing him, with her arms wrapped tightly around his torso, nuzzling into his chest.

"You know...this is kind of nice actually...but I'd really rather not deal with the possibility of what she does to me when she wakes up." He thought with a wince, his brain conjuring up a chibi of him and Thalia.

The chibi version of him had a chibi D4C floating next to him, both of them saying "Dojyaan!~" in cute voices...before chibi Thalia promptly shocked them until they were blackened and dizzy-eyed.

Yeah, Cyrus would like to avoid that fate...

So now, the question of the hour was, "How do I escape?" He thought as he glanced up at his Stand, which was hovering over him while looking at his predicament with the same cold gaze as ever.

Said thoughts would have to be put on the backburner as he felt Thalia stirring in his arms. He felt his hopes evaporate as she looked up at him, blinking blearily as she awakened. She smiled in her fresh-from-sleep state, spotting D4C hovering over Cyrus.

"Mmm, morning Bunny..." She murmured as she went back to burying her head in his chest.

1...

2...

3...

Thalia raised her head suddenly, her eyes going wide as she realized the position they were in. She opened her mouth to make some sort of yell before Cyrus clamped a hand over her mouth.

"Shh..." He said quietly before glancing around at the rest of their group. He breathed a sigh of relief as he realized that no one else was awake but them. He turned back to see Thalia glaring at him in a way that was surprisingly cute.

"What? I-ow!" He hissed out quietly as she bit his hand, making him let go of her mouth. She glared at him some more, "That's for shh-ing me Bamf-Boy!"

"Well sue me for trying not to wake everyone else and letting them see this!" He retorted, feeling the twinge of pain in his hand. Even so, he gave her a wolfish smirk, "So, you're a biter huh? Noted, so do I!"

Thalia's face went almost fire engine red at the thought of that, before punching him in the shoulder. "S-shut up! It was that or shocking you!"

"Oh I already got a shock when I woke up to find you this close...speaking of which..." He trailed off, looking down at where Thalia was still nestled into his chest.

The punk daughter of Zeus blushed, quickly letting go of his torso and standing up, her face still tinged red. Cyrus, while also a little flushed himself, still laughed a little as he got to his feet, cracking his neck as D4C hovered by his side.

The horned humanoid slowly began to recede, disappearing as Cyrus dismissed his Stand.

Thalia watched as he did so, "You know, I don't think I'll ever get used to that."

"Oh don't worry, you will." Cyrus spoke cheekily, before beckoning for her to follow. "C'mon, might as well wake the others up."

They went around waking the other members of their group up. The Hunters didn't need much, just stepping onto the ground near them (Thalia's steps, because Cyrus's still made no noise...which Thalia still wanted to know how he learned to do that) was enough to wake them fully. The other two however made Cyrus chuckle mischievously.

Percy was drooling as he slept on his back, while Grover was apparently chewing on one of his tin cans.

Cyrus snickered quietly as he gave the girls a grin. Thalia, having known him the most, facepalmed even as the corner of her lips turned up ever so slightly, while Zoe and Phoebe looked on in confusion.

Without a sound, Cyrus summoned the Last Word to his hand, before aiming up.

Bang! Bang! Bang! "WAKE UP MAGGOTS!"

They bolted awake, with Grover choking on the tin can before spitting it out like he was told it was bacon, while Percy yelped, quickly wiping away the drool on his face with his pen in hand.

The two realized what happened quickly, giving Cyrus glares of intense displeasure as Percy put Riptide back into his pocket.

Cyrus gave a bark of laughter while the other girls struggled to hold it all in. Giving them a smirk, he blew out the smoke from his gun's barrel before returning it to the symbol on his wrist.

"Has anyone ever told you that you're a jerk?" Percy scowled at the gunslinging teen, who just smirked back at him.

"Ah c'mon Sharkbait!" Cyrus grinned good-naturedly as he draped an arm over Percy's shoulder, "What's Life without a few good pranks? Besides, we had to wake you two up fast."

Percy grumbled about "annoying Stand Users" a little before stretching a little whereas Grover was still recovering from the trauma of almost choking on his cans.

Chuckling to himself, Cyrus removed his arm from Percy's person before glancing up at the sky. He tilted his head in a moment of confusion as he noticed a few strange clouds on the horizon, but shook it off for now.

"Alright," He began, clapping his hands together as he got everyone's attention. "So, here's the plan in case anyone forgot. We're going to head to Hephaestus's junkyard; while we're in there, do not take anything. Are we clear?"

Everyone nodded in response and Cyrus gave them a grin before turning on his heel and starting to walk towards the west.

As they walked, with Cyrus leading the way and Thalia close behind him, the Stand User couldn't shake the feeling that something was just...wrong. His chest twinged with phantom pain, setting him on a decently high alert.

"So," Percy began, making Cyrus flinch for a moment as they had been walking in silence up until now, "I should have said this earlier I guess, but Apollo wanted to give me some advice regarding the quest. Something about meeting someone named Ner...Nere..."

"Nereus?" Zoe asked out of the blue, making Cyrus 'hmm' as he held his chin.

"So, he wants us to seek out the Old Man of the Sea huh? It's a reasonable suggestion...but we'll deal with that later. Come on, we're almost to the junkyard."

Soon, the silhouette of a large area surrounded by fences and hulking masses of metallic structures within appeared on the horizon as they trekked closer.

The group continued their march towards the junkyard, the unnerving feeling that something was just not right starting to eat at Cyrus. He sighed and looked down for a moment.

Menacing...

He scrunched up his eyebrows as he noticed something on his hand. Bringing it up to his eyes, he realized it was a drop of water. A plink came from above as another drop of water fell on his head.

Cyrus looked up slowly, noticing that the clouds he had been so confused by were now above them, and dark. By now, the rain was starting to drizzle down, with many taking notice.

He frowned. This was the Sonoran desert, why was it raining...? It wasn't even the rainy season right now...

A chill ran down his spine.

"What is this? We are in the desert, so why is it raining?" Phoebe asked out loud as she felt the droplets on her skin.

"Is this thy doing Grace? Dost thou have that little control over thy emotions to keep causing these storms?" Zoe asked with a scowl, earning one in return from Thalia.

"Zip it Nightshade! This isn't me!"

Cyrus's eyes widened at that as she looked at her. "I-it's not?"

Thalia nodded dismissively as she spoke, "Well yeah, I can't just gather the clouds like th- Cy? What is it? What's wrong?"

Immediately she changed her tone as she noticed his rigid posture. His eyes were darting around, sharp and tactical. "If it's not you...then..."

Grover's eyes widened. "The prophecy," he breathed out, "'In the land lacking rain, five face the Stand User's foes'! This is a Stand attack!"

Cyrus snarled as D4C materialized next to him. "On your guard! They've already made the first move!"

Everyone immediately drew their weapons. Percy uncapped Riptide, while Thalia tapped her bracelet, transforming it into Aegis as she get out her spear. Both of the Hunters drew back their bowstrings, arrows already nocked, while Grover looked around nervously as he held his reed pipes.

Looking back up at the rainstorm, Cyrus frowned as he thought over the possibilities. "Why rain though? They could have attacked us at any moment, why start with just rain? And where is the User?"

"H-hi." The group stiffened before turning towards the source of the voice, weapons raised.

It was a little girl, probably not even ten years old. She was small, as was expected with her age, wearing what looked like an adorable pink raincoat, paired with black pants and little red shoes. She held a tiny black umbrella in her hands above her head. She was blonde with blue eyes, but any other features couldn't be seen due to the mask on her face.

Cyrus's eyes widened at the sight of that mask. It was grey, looking like a mix between a skull and a hockey mask, with three stripes diagonally across it, colored red, green and blue. "No...it can't be that Stand..?"

"Impossible, it shouldn't be able to create its own rain to use! Unless..?"

"You know her Bamf-Boy?"

"No, but...who are you?" He trailed off for a moment before asking the young girl as she stood about ten feet from them. By now the rain was falling properly, starting to drench them.

Unnoticed to Cyrus and the others, Percy felt on edge. He frowned as he glanced around, with pools of water forming in the water-drenched sands and muds.

"...Mommy used to tell me not to talk to strangers." She said in an innocent voice muffled by the mask, refusing to look at them. If it weren't for the fact that everyone was on guard, she could be considered adorable. Cyrus however, noticed something in particular. "Used to?"

"Then why did thou say hello to us?" Zoe demanded aggressively, aiming her arrow right at the poor child, who flinched at that.

She felt a hand on her bow, and looking to the source, she glared as Cyrus shook his head gently, quietly telling her to lower it. She frowned at the thought of lowering the bow, but Cyrus paid her no mind as his mind began to put pieces together. "Well, my name is Cyrus. Now we're not strangers! What's your name kiddo?"

"...I'm sorry, sir...Rina. Rina Blackmore. sir..." Cyrus bit his lip at that, quietly wondering why she kept calling him sir. "Well, Rina. What are you doing out here? Where are your parents? You mentioned your mom?"

'Rina' seemed to shrink inward on herself not looking him in the eyes, "I'm sorry, sir...She's-she's not here anymore..."

"Okay...what about your dad?"

The girl looked up at him, and Cyrus felt his heart soften in concern. Eyes could speak, and hers screamed something in between 'I'm sorry' and 'help me', before flicking behind him.

Cyrus turned slightly around. Nothing was behind him but his confused friends, so he turned back. "Gah!"

"What the-!"

"Cy!"

The teen Stand User backpedaled, clutching his face as blood spewed from the deep cut in his cheek. He touched the cut gingerly. "I saw no attack, what slashed me?"

"I'm really sorry...but I need to stop you, sir. H-he said he would stop if I stopped you..." The young girl said sadly, before she did something that no one expected. She took a step up, seemingly into the air. And another. And another.

Until she was standing above the group, seemingly on nothing. Jaws dropped while Cyrus swore to himself.

"What?"

"How is she doing that?"

"I'm super super sorry, sir...please forgive me...Catch the Rainbow.(2)"

AN: Damn, this took awhile to get out.

Honestly, writing emotional stuff can be surprisingly hard. Combine that with trying to come up with Stands for our merry gang to fight, and it's definitely a bit of a handful haha.

So, we have a bit of emotional stuff, some silly shenanigans, and finally, a new enemy...most intriguing...

Notes:

(1) Stands are a reflection of their users a lot of the time, and a decent few of them tend to have preservation types of instincts regarding their users. I like to think that Stands can essentially be a reflection of what the user's deeper feelings are, thus D4C (while completely cold and such with Valentine) is much more expressive and even a little childish in how it acts when Cyrus isn't controlling it directly.

(2) Ah, this lovely Stand. It took a lot of time for me to think up the Stand I wanted them to face. I experimented with the idea of Geb, but that didn't quite fit and I didn't want to do just a repeat of the Joestar Group vs. N'Doul fight with just different characters, so I settled on Catch the Rainbow.

With lovely little Rina Blackmore. You'll learn of her story soon enough...

Alright, that does it for the notes! Not too many notes this time around, but hopefully a decent bit of material for you guys to chow down on!

Hopefully you guys enjoyed the chapter as much as I enjoyed making/struggling with it.

Remember to leave solid reviews if you would be so kind. The criticism and feedback sustain my mind.

Cheers!

Beowulf