Chapter Two

"Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Demons"

"He's coming around!" a young woman's voice said, conveying a wealth of relief.

"Zachary! Zachary can you hear me?" a different voice asked, but one that seemed familiar.

Zack opened his eyes and immediately shut them as the light above him nearly blinded him. His head swam and he became aware of a dull pain radiating from his chest all throughout his body. It hurt to breathe and he bet it would hurt to move as well. 'Man…is this the afterlife? This sucks…' He thought dully before remembering with a pang of sadness that he was dead. The last thing he remembered was lying propped up against the wall of his bedroom rapidly bleeding out worrying about Cody's fate.

"Open your eyes Child," the woman's voice spoke again. She didn't sound that much older than Zack and he decided to humor her and see if she was as beautiful as her voice. It was much darker than it had been when Zack had first opened his eyes, but there was still a soft golden glow illuminating the room that he was in. He tilted his head in the direction of the light and was stunned to see that the woman was the source of the glow. She must have seen his eyes widen in shock because she was quick to try and ease his growing apprehension.

"It's alright Zachary, I'm Elissa, I'm a Child of Light and I've healed your wounds."

"I…I'm not dead?" Zack croaked weakly, his throat felt like he'd just swallowed burning hot food.

"You did die son, but Elissa managed to heal and revive your body before it was too late," the familiar voice explained. Zack turned his head to look at the old man standing on his other side. It was Casius, the man who had held him as the life left his body.

"How do I know your name Casius?" Zack wondered aloud.

"You'll soon find that you know a great many things that you never even realized that you knew," Casius said mystically.

"Ok…that's not really an answer…"

"Few people have managed to get a straight answer out of him," Elissa laughed, her soft hand coming to rest on top of his bare chest right over the source of the pain radiating through his body. It dulled and he soon found himself growing more relaxed.

"What is going on?"

"You need to rest now," Elissa said.

"But, what is…" Zack started to ask before Casius interrupted him.

"Just before you died, I told you that when you woke up again, I would have need of your strength did I not?"

"Yes…what…?"

"Your brother Cody is in danger, the whole world is in danger Zachary and I promise you that I will prepare you for the coming battle as best I can so that you can protect everyone you care about. First though, you must rest and allow your body to recover its strength. Do you understand me?"

"What danger? You mean those monsters?" Zack asked, remembering the hideous creatures that had smashed their way inside his home and killed his mother.

"Do you understand me Zachary?" Casius rounded on him sharply.

"I guess…"

"Then rest now. Your training begins tomorrow."

At that exact moment however Cody was far from any personal danger.

"So what'll it be kid?" Cody snapped out of his momentary daze to look up at the taxi cab that had just pulled up in front of him. The driver leaned his head out the window, he was overweight, decently tanned, had a mop of short curly black hair on his larger head and a bad five o'clock shadow.

"Well?" A flicker of impatience passed over the driver's dark beady eyes.

"Uh…the Tipton, please," Cody answered as he stood up and jumped in the back of the cab. The driver was still looking at the curb, apparently confused about something. Cody frowned, looking at the man in his rearview mirror.

"No luggage?"

"Um…just meeting someone there…" he answered, feeling relieved. The last thing he needed at this moment was complications, however big or small. Shrugging, the cab driver put the car into gear and sped off out of the parking lot, onto the main road and headed out towards the highway for a quick hop down towards downtown Boston.

Cody sat back in the seat and forced himself to relax. He was anxious to see his family again, alive and whole once more. At the same time though he was nervous…how was he going to approach them? How could he make them believe his story? How could he tell them that they were supposed to die in a few days? He sighed heavily and glanced out the window as the cab sped down an off ramp into the outskirts of downtown Boston.

"Picked a good time my friend, traffic doesn't look half bad," the driver said lightly from the front. Cody mumbled a reply and continued staring out the window, watching the people and buildings race past. He couldn't help remembering the day he'd been running out of Boston on this very street, himself and several hundred other people being chased by the Demons on the ground while a dragon flew overhead causing mass chaos and gridlock as it blasted everything in sight.

His father, Kurt Martin, had been there running with him as well. They'd gotten separated by the stampeding crowd, Kurt being forced almost a block away before he was able to start making his way back to where Cody was standing on the hood of a crashed car looking for him. It was all over so quick… One minute Kurt had been struggling to make his way back to his son and then he was simply gone, a pillar of fire reaching towards the sky in his place. It was the murderous dragon. It had struck a gas line just under the street with its dumb luck and blew up the intersection where Kurt had been and almost half a city block in every direction. Cody had been knocked down into the pavement by the force of the blast, the heat from the fire singing his hair.

Cody squeezed his eyes shut trying to make the horrible images go away, but there was nothing he could do to block out the screams of hundreds of people being burned to death. Then there were thousands of others screaming in surprise, panic and some, like Cody, in anguish. He rubbed his temples, trying to sooth the pain he felt in his head. He just wanted the pain to go away!

"Having one of those days huh?" The memories faded away in an instant as Cody opened his eyes and looked up at the rearview mirror to find the driver looking at him with a concerned expression on his face. "That's about how I feel every Monday…though that could just be the hangover from Sunday." The man chuckled softly and then announced that they were almost there.

The Tipton hotel, completely intact and as magnificent as ever, seemed to slide into place alongside the cab. Cody paid the driver, thanked him and got out of the already open cab door. A Tipton attendant stood there, holding the cab door open for him as Cody extracted himself from the taxi. The attendant looked around for Cody's luggage until Cody told him he didn't bring any. Man, everyone expected him to have luggage…well it was his own fault after all! He couldn't remember anyone checking in to the hotel without any.

Despite his nervous anxiety, Cody took the handful of steps up to the lobby doors at a jog. It was hard not to be excited!

Dante Clark spun around as his senses lit up, warning him of Demons very close to him. He'd spun around because they always came up behind you, always… His left hand extended straight out in front of his body and a tear in the fabric of reality opened in the palm of his hand. Brilliant white light spilled outward from the opening and Dante concentrated to focus the light into a beam of coherent energy that raced down the length of the sewer tunnel he was standing in and slammed into a lesser Demon.

Without pausing to admire the results of his quick reflexes, he summoned his sword into the palm of his right hand and whipped it around in a circle. The tip sparked as it bit into the concrete wall and then clanged loudly as it smacked away the knife meant to stab him in the back. He'd known to turn around a second time because the first attack was always a diversion for the real threat. Now, with his sixth sense calmed and picking up on no other threats he knew that he was safe for the time being.

"Tell me what you're doing here filth!" Dante demanded, pressing the tip of his blade against the neck of the man who had tried to kill him when his back was turned.

"It's already too late for you," he replied and then devolved into a fit of laughter.

"Too late for what?" Dante asked, pressing his blade closer and drawing blood.

"The Children of Light are all going to die!"

A/N: A bit short I know, but pretty thought provoking nonetheless. Cody's part is a straight copy and paste, and it should be the last one as I completely changed the plot from the moment he arrives on the 23rd floor in the next chapter. Dante gets another small part, just showing off his abilities and receiving a warning.

Now then, of course Zack's is the most important piece! We know that Zack shows up to fight Ashani thanks to Taschen's help in the end of the original Chaos Demons, but we never knew how that came about. Things have changed in this rewrite, and it is Casius's handiwork this time around, but Zack's restoration to life will finally be explained =)

But I suppose you're wondering where and when Zack is as well as how he was so powerful huh? Find out in the next Chapter!