1Cyrus didn't wake the next day, nor did he the day after, or after that one either. He'd been moved from his bleak room to the med-bay after the first day but his vitals were always the same; normal. Raven was puzzled, Cyborg confused, Starfire concerned, and Beast boy was theorizing. Robin was the one who seemed most determined to wake him.
"Raven, do you think you could go into Cyrus' mind and see what's going on?" he asked on the third day while they were in the med-bay.
"Are you sure you want our first encounter with him to be when I'm invading his privacy?" she questioned.
"It's for the best."
"I guess I could give it a try," she sighed moving toward her half brother. "This shouldn't take to long. Azarath Metrion Zenthos."
Raven entered into a world different than her own mind. There were trees, a lot of trees, though, not the most inviting forest she'd ever been to. There was hardly any light coming down from the canopy. Probably got that from their father.
"I wonder where he is," she said to herself as she began walking.
"Who are you?" came a voice behind her. She turned around and found her half-brother, wearing glasses.
"Raven, your half-sister." she said getting her first good look at him. He was taller than Cyborg, with dark brown hair that came to his ears then curled a bit, and, if he wasn't her brother, she'd find him attractive. He only wore a pair of jeans and a plain yellow shirt. "You must be Cyrus' Knowledge."
"That would be correct, Raven you said?" she nodded and he made a note of it on a notepad. "Nice to meet you. Did you need anything?"
"I was looking for the whole Cyrus." she said.
"Well," the counterpart began scratching the back of his neck. "He's kind of out of it right now."
"What do you mean by, 'out of it?'"
"Come with me," he said turning and showed her a path that she couldn't see. "It all started three days ago, when the...incident... occurred."
"You mean when you killed your foster-father?" she questioned in a passive manner.
"Cyrus did that and for good reason. Though killing him was a little push from Rage that the rest of us couldn't quite control." the land surrounding them slowly turned arid and darker, lightning sparking the ground in random places. "He's been getting stronger lately, both Cyrus and his anger."
"That's probably due to puberty and your heritage. How much do you know about your parents?" the goth asked coming next to him despite his longer strides.
"Little," the emotion admitted, much easier than her own would have, "What we do know is that we weren't planned. We have animal since that we were created through violence, rape most likely. The animal senses are something we can't explain, nor whatever happens when the whole Cyrus falls to sleep."
"What do mean?"
"Well, when we are in slumber, a few of use have been known to leave his mind in astral form. Invisible, impermeable, and muted to all else but those that are in the same state." he explained while leading them to a circle of shadow at least a mile in diameter.
"Interesting, I can tell you something of our father and some about your mother." she offered in a friendly voice.
"It can wait until you can tell him outside of this scape. Much easier to process." they reached the center, and there, lay the full Cyrus, curled in a ball and looking into space. "This is him."
"I see what you mean," as they got closer, his features turned more sharp and his clothes turned a light shade of yellow. "His appearance changes depending on who is closest to him. Turning yellow because of the intellect. I'll try to get him to wake up."
"I wouldn't!" but it was too late. As she stepped too close, a lightning bolt shot down from the heavens and nearly struck her. "We've already tried that."
"Well, you haven't tried this I bet." she said covering herself in her soul self and flew through whatever barrier there was, not to mention Cyrus himself. His eyes widened and he made a gasping noise before Raven was flung from his mind.
Raven was shot back into her body so hard that Robin had to catch her from falling on her butt. She looked to the bed and found Cyrus sitting straight up like one would from a bad nightmare.
"Good job Raven," the boy wonder, said standing her up. ""Cyrus, how do you feel?"
"Like I've been hit with a shovel," he said holding his head in his hand, "Where am I?"
"Titan's Tower, in our med-bay to be precise." the masked leader explained, "Cyrus, I'm going to have to ask you some standard questions but we'll wait 'till you're better."
"I appreciate that," he said rubbing his temples soothingly, "Got any Advil?"
"I'll get some, along with some food. Be right back. Raven? I believe you want to talk to him?"
"Thanks," she replied as he left. She turned to her brother, trying to think of a way to break the ice, "Hi." Real smooth Raven.
"Hi, Raven was it? Good, well, since the introductions are already taken care of, can I ask you a question?"
"Sure," she said taking a seat by the bed.
"What happened last night?" he asked leaning back onto the headboard.
"What?" she asked shocked, her eyes widening.
"What happened last night?" he repeated, "Before I was brought here."
"You mean you don't remember?" she blinked multiple times trying to process the information. "What do you remember?"
"Well," he began looking off into space, "I came home from school like any other day, and John, my foster-father was drinking again. He looked at me a little weird and then he jumped me, I don't know what happened after that though. He must have knocked me out. So what did happen?"
"Well...he didn't really knock you out." she began, looking down at the floor wondering if she should tell him. "Are you sure you want to know?"
"Well yeah, what's the worst that could have happened?" he asked. Famous last words.
"Okay, well it started when we got this alarm..." she went into detail of what happened three nights ago. Robin came in a little after she began and filled in what she didn't know. Cyrus' eyes became darker, kind of going into a half sad half shocked look. When they were finished he muttered something to himself.
"What was that?" Robin asked taking a step closer.
"THAT'S A LIE!" he hissed, leaping out at him but missing. He became enraged and his body changed accordingly. His teeth grew into fangs and his fingernails into claws. Worst of all, he grew a second pair of glowing, red eyes. "I WOULD NEVER HURT HIM! HE WAS MY ONLY FAMILY!" his voice echoed as if someone else was speaking at the same time but with a deeper voice.
"It's true Cyrus," Raven said backing away from her brother who was trying to untangle himself from the medical machines that were hooked into him. "All of it was true. This isn't you either. This is your anger taking shape and gaining control of you."
"I AM IN CONTROL!" he bellowed finally freeing himself from the many wires.
"No you are not." she said, then she chanted, "Azarath Metrion Zenthos!" Cyrus' body became incase in black aura except for his head, which thrashed about trying to free himself. "This is not the whole you. I will help you control you anger but you must accept the past. You killed your foster-father!"
"I'VE KILLED NO ONE! NO ONE! NO ONE. No one.." he ran out of steam and Raven dropped him to the floor. "I did, didn't I?"
"It wasn't your fault," Robin said offering a hand up, "You defended yourself and killed him by accident. You did nothing wrong." He pulled the teen up, which really didn't help because even with Robin holding him up; Cyrus had a lot more body than he thought.
"I need to sleep now," he said already half way there, his claws, fangs, extra eyes fading away.
"Go ahead." he said lying him back down. "We'll get you something to eat and drink in the morning."
"Thanks," he breathed before falling into sleep.
"Sleep well," Raven said, a little power in her voice to send him into a calm, deep sleep.
Morning came swiftly for Raven and with it, a Meat vs. Tofu battle was sure to ensue between Cyborg and Beast Boy. She walked down the hall early, as usual, so she could get some alone time without hearing the two idiots go at it. On approaching the doors, she felt a small wave of emotion filtering through the cracks of the metal and guessed it was Robin looking through the paper for any sign of Slade. As the door slide open though, who else was sitting at the table but her brother Cyrus, eating some of Beast Boy's cereal and drinking a cup of her tea. She grimaced at the thought of the two flavors mixing.
"Morning Cyrus," she said going to the teapot and pouring herself a cup of tea.
"Morning," he said between bites. He had a look of being in a daze from just waking up. "Hope you guys don't mind but I was hungry and needed something warm in my gut."
"That's fine, but doesn't tea and cereal taste a little..."
"Bitter? Yeah but the food calms my hunger while the tea calms my nerves." Raven sat across from him and sipped her tea.
"So how old are you Cyrus?" she asked politely. He waited until he didn't have food in his mouth to answer.
"Getting close to my seventeenth birthday." he replied, "How about you? And every one else of course."
"Well, me and Beast Boy are eighteen, Starfire and Robin are nineteen, and Cyborg is almost twenty-one."
"Must be nice to be considered an adult." he said as a joke, "So, what are you guys going to do with me? Send me to the cops? Mental ward?"
"I don't think that'll happen." Raven admitted, "Robin has final say in these things but the last time we helped someone out, they joined the team."
"Really, who?" it was a simple question and he couldn't have known the person or what they'd all gone through.
"Her name was Terra," she stated simply.
"Oh, sorry." he'd caught the 'was' where he'd expected an 'is.' "What happened?"
"She saved us, and paid the price. We owe her a lot." she paused, "its kind of a tender topic around here."
"I understand, sorry for bringing it up." he apologized going back to his food.
"It's alright." the doors behind them slide open and Robin entered the room.
"Morning Raven, Cyrus." it was like he'd been there since the beginning. "You feeling better?"
"A little," he said in a happy but tired tone finishing off his food and tea. "Any idea what I'm going to do or is it kind of a go with the flow kind of thing?"
"We'll see." he smiled picking up the paper from the mail shoot. "First we'll get you introduced to the others, then we'll see what happens."
"Sounds like a plan." he grunted as he rose from his chair and began washing his dishes as Cyborg walked in.
"Morning y'all!" he called with a smile on his face. "Who's up for some bacon, sausage, ham, eggs and all the other great food meat has to offer?!"
"Does that include fried bologna?" Cyrus asked turning to face Cyborg.
"Of course!" the half man had a double take at the new face and registered how tall he was. "Damn man, I'm not the biggest Titan anymore."
"Uh, Cyborg," Raven said nibbling on a piece of toast, "He's not a Titan."
"Yet." the newbie added donning a chief's hat. "Now where's the cookin' stuff?"
"I'll get it!" Cyborg said kneeling down to one of the cupboards.
"What?" Robin was giving him a look.
"You just ate breakfast." he stated, Cyrus motioned for him to continue. "Allow me to rephrase, you just had breakfast and you're eating again?"
"Yeah, why? Is there a food quota I'm not aware of?" he asked half jokingly.
"No, it's just...just don't waste the food you don't eat."
"I don't know how to combine the words 'don't' and 'eat' in the same sentence...unless you count that one I just said." grabbing a skillet from Cyborg and looked into the fridge. "Ham, check. Bacon, check. Sausage, check. Bologna, check. Hmmm, that's odd."
"What's up man?" Cyborg asked taking the food from Cyrus as he said 'check.'
"'Tofu bacon and eggs. 100 non-meat eggs and bacon.' Who eats this?"
"Good morning everybody!" came the call from a green teenager. Raven just pointed over her shoulder to answer her brother's question. "Wait a minute, is that, MURDER I smell?!" Cyrus not missing a beat.
"Murder? No, of course not! Why would you say that? Is there blood stuck in my teeth?" everyone just looked at him funny, so he thought for a second before face palming himself. "Sorry forgot. That was a joke. Come on, that was yesterday."
"Four yesterdays actually," Robin corrected behind his paper.
"Anyway, time for some food." Cyrus turned to Beast Boy, "You gonna have real meat or tofu?"
"Tofu." the jokester said grabbing a third chief's hat. "Good thing we restocked on these things huh?"
"Oh yeah, a real lifesaver those chief hats are." Raven commented sarcastically.
"I was wondering when the sarcasm would come out today." Cyborg said while cooking his large quantities of meat-by-products.
"Trust me," she began, "If Beast Boy's around, there'll be sarcasm from my end."
"They always like this?" Cyrus whispered to Robin and was given a nod. "Not so glad I'm not an only child anymore."
"I heard that!"
"Where's Starfire?" Beast Boy asked over his shoulder while he tended to his tofu.
"I don't know." Robin said looking around the room as if he just missed her. "She must have gone to the mall." Noticing both Raven and Cyrus shiver at the same time he smiled. "You two are more alike than I thought. You both hate the mall."
"Malls have people who are trying to sell you stuff, and the really desperate ones use...CLOWNS." Cyrus said the word like a curse or a great demon's name. Raven just rose her eyebrow. "You try being three and have an angry, piss-drunk, clown chase you for stepping on his shoes. You'd be afraid too."
"Okay." Cyborg stretched the word as he sat down at the table with his plate and one for Cyrus. "Come eat man."
"Actually I'm waiting to see if I can try some of the tofu Beast Boy's making." the changeling was shocked to hear someone wanted to try tofu. Then he was even more shocked that that same person was going to eat tofu AND meat at the same time. "Beast Boy? You okay?"
"Yeah," he said taking his food off the stove. "Here, take a bit." And so they all ate, mostly watching as Cyrus ate like they'd only seen Terra eat after they first met her.
"Anyone else finding this freaky?" Robin asked, all of them with eyes wide watching the monster chow down. He received two nods and a twitch from Beast Boy. This odd moment was cut short however by a shrill cry and an orange blur flying into the room.
"Friends! The Cyrus has escaped from the bay of sickness!" Starfire clung to Robin in urgency as she continued to banter unaware of 'The Cyrus' watching her. "We must search for him imm...never mind." she had finally noticed him watching her with half a piece of bacon hanging out of his mouth.
"Nice to meet you too Starfire." he said after he inhaled the strip of meat. The alien just laughed nervously, scratching the back of her head and smiling innocently.
"Friend Cyrus! I was worried when I did not locate you where we had left you. But I am happy to know you are here and safe." the two just kept looking at the other frozen for a second or two before Robin interjected.
"Well would you look at the time!" he said indeed looking to the digital clock on the wall. "11am, you all know what that means! Time for practice in the gym!" Everyone groaned and Cyrus just kind of went along with them as they filed out.
The Titan's gym, it was an amazing thing. When Cyrus walked in, he was astounded by the size of the place. It must have been a football field wide, long, and deep. One half of the room you could look straight up to the ceiling three stories up while on the other side their were floors of specialized rooms with glass walls so one could look in or out.
"Okay everyone," Robin started as he moved toward the upper levels. "Just like always. Cyrus, you come with me. I want to see how you handle yourself hand-to-hand."
As the two walked up the stairs, Cyborg huddled them together. "I bet he lasts five seconds of fighting, not including the 'witty banter.'"
"What are you betting?" Beast Boy asked interested.
"One week of chores." he replied, smiling.
"Ten seconds and another week of chores." the green one added, laughing.
"I wish to say three seconds and I match Beast Boy's wager." Starfire commented. Everyone looked to Raven.
"I'm not betting." she replied walking toward the stairs that lead to her meditation room.
"Come on Raven," Beast Boy whined, "I won't bother you for a week...No! Two weeks if you win." Raven stopped, this was a good barter.
"Half a minute and you'll still do my chores." she said not looking back as she moved up the stairs.
"Don't siblings normally tear each other down?" Cyborg asked scratching his head.
"She must not know that." Beast Boy offered as they ran up to the sparring room.
The sparring room looked like an old fashion dojo in China or from The Matrix more like it. Robin had given Cyrus some karate robes for him to fight in and was shocked to realize that he'd been without shoes since they'd met. Robin was just finishing explaining the rules of sparring when the others came in.
"And there is not hitting in the groin area." Robin turned to the other four a looked angry at the intrusion. "What?"
"Just wanted to see if he was good or not." Beast Boy said in response to his leader's glare.
"Are you ready?" he asked and the tall teen nodded. Robin moved around him in a circle but Cyrus just watched him, rotating his position so he was always facing the masked wonder. After studying his opponent, Robin moved in cautiously, but again the younger one didn't move away or change his stance.
"Oh get on with it!" Cyborg said getting annoyed. Robin did a sweep kick to knock the tall one's feet out but he missed. Cyrus had pulled his feet up and pushed off Robin's face with both making the younger back flip and land in a crouched position. He was smirking at the elder's misjudgment on his skills.
"Burn!" Beast Boy yelled laughing. Robin ignored him and rushed at the boy who waited until last second to spring his feet forward, his arms supporting him in the crouch, knocking Robin's feet out from under him. The Boy Wonder flew over his opponent and had to do a split-second handstand to avoid breaking his fall with his neck. Cyrus on the other hand just had to twist to resume a crouch.
"Having a little difficulty Robin?" Cyborg asked chuckling a little while Starfire seemed a little put off that her beau was O for 2 in hits.
Robin grabbed a staff and tossed it to Cyrus while extending his own bo-staff. Finally standing up, Cyrus held the staff with two hands and placed one end on the floor directly in front of him. Robin charged with a battle cry and swung left-to-right hitting...the pole? He looked down while he was still twisted after the swing and saw Cyrus crouched again but this time, he grabbed Robin's shirt and used his already forward momentum to hurl him across the room.
"How long has it been?" Raven asked Cyborg who was watching the time on a built in stop watch.
"Twenty seconds since the whole back-flip-thing." he said amazed Robin hadn't crushed him yet. Cyrus walked over to the fallen martial artist and offered a hand. Robin grabbed the hand, then, flung him into a near-by wall. No one moved, they'd heard something break and it wasn't the wall.
Cyrus had hit the wall, and then landed on his stomach with his head landing first. He didn't move for a second.
"Cyrus!" Raven yelled looking toward her fallen brother before turning on the leader in rage. "You killed him you obsessive ass!" Cyborg grabbed her head and turned it to the body again. It twitched a few times then a load crack was heard.
"Ow..." came his muffled voice and he pushed off the ground slowly rubbing his neck. "That...was one...jackass...of a thing...to do." he said moving and wincing at every pause.
"How? What? Why? When? Where?" Beast Boy asked confused beyond all belief.
"I'm a shifter like you." he explained leaning against the wall as Cyborg moved over to check on him. "But unlike you I've got more leeway in turns of what I can do. I can heal myself by just thinking about it. You cut me, I close the wound. You bruise me, I heal the bruise. You break me...well, I pop myself back into place but that is very painful."
"He's just fine." the half robot said shocked. Robin moved over to him with a sad expression.
"I'm sorry I threw you." he said offering up a hand and helped the teen up. "You won."
"Actually," Raven said in her monotone. "Robin won because he got the last move in. Cyrus just put his guard down. What was the time?"
"Oh yeah..." Cyborg looked at his arm and looked shocked. "You're not going to like this Raven...32 seconds even when he hit the wall. No one wins."
"Ahem." Cyrus said with a raised eyebrow. "Gambling? Among the Titans? Why didn't you tell me you guys could do that?! I thought we had to be saints!" He was interrupted by a very angry Tameranian clearing her throat. "Oh...hehe...Sorry I 'almost' defeated you using monkey moves." This didn't help with Starfire but it made Robin laugh.
"It's alright. It was a good match. Just one thing though...where'd you learn to fight like that?" All eyes were on the normal looking shifter.
"I was in a foster home of Asian kids in Chinatown before Mr. Andrews." he grew sad at the mention of his late foster-father. "Do you mind if I go get some rest and some food? That match took a bit out of me."
"Sure. Everyone else...Get to work!"