"Beauty for ashes, joy for my pain
You've given me wings to fly again
Strength for today, a dance for my sorrows
Because of you, because of you..."

Epilogue

The early morning sunlight filtered into the room, gently stirring Zack Martin from his sleep. He opened his eyes and looked at the clock that sat beside his bed and saw it read 6:30. He could go back to sleep for a while, but he knew his alarm would wake him up soon enough. It surprised him, but he actually looked forward to what the day would bring. After all the crazy adventures of the summer, returning to school would bring everything back to normal.

Zack got out of bed and walked over to the closet, careful to dodge the various objects that littered his room. He thought about turning the lights on to guide his path, but didn't want to wake his brother, who was still sound asleep. After getting changed, he walked down to the kitchen to see what breakfast awaited them.

"Morning Zack," his new mom greeted him.

"Morning."

"You ready for school?"

"Yea, it's nice to finally get back to normal, even if it does mean school. Besides, Cody seems really excited about it."

"He's been working hard since you came back to get ready."

"Yea, normally I'd make fun of him for studying so hard during the summer, but he missed so much. He'll do great though."

"I know I'll do great in third grade!" Zack's sister blurted out through bites of her cereal.

"I'm sure you will honey."

"What's going on down here?" Cody said greeting his new family.

"Not much bro, just talking about school starting."

"Cody, Bruce wanted to remind you that we have a meeting with the attorneys to finalize your adoption."

"Tonight at six, right?"

"Yea, come on Ash, it's time for me to take you to school."

"Okay! Bye Zack! Bye Cody!" the energetic eight year old excitedly said as she ran toward to door.

"We'll take the helicopter soon," Zack said, earning a glare from Victoria. "Come on, it was a joke, mostly."

"I still say we should get rid of it, it takes up nearly all the room in our garage."

"Come on, how cool is it to have a helicopter? If we go to Chicago again for Christmas, it will only take a couple hours."

"And a few near death experiences," his brother quietly added.

"We'll think about it," she said leaving the house.

"That was so cool how you landed it in the backyard," Ashly said as she fought with her backpack

"You got to admit Cody, that was fun."

"Yea it was."


Two months ago

"Zack, your house is only half a mile away."

"So that means I need to land this thing."

"Don't crash this time."

"Hey I only did that once. This time I know what buttons not to press." Zack aimed the vehicle downward and it began its decent.


"Look Ash, there's a helicopter."

"Wow, Scarlet, that is so cool. Y'know I think it's landing."

"Think we should run?"

"Nah, it's not going to crash here."


"Zack, slow this thing down!"

"I did, that's why it's crashing!"

"Then speed it up!"

The helicopter started slowing as it fell, eventually gently landing in the grass, much to the surprise of the two kids playing in the yard.


"I think you should get your mom…"

"Yea…"


"Mom! Mom! Mom!"

"What is it Ashley?"

"The helicopter, and it came down and down and we thought it was just flying but then it fell and we ran and it's in the yard and, there is a helicopter in the back yard!"

"Calm down, I'm sure it's just all the sugar you've had lately.

"But, there really is a helicopter. I saw it with my own two eyes." She pointed to her eyes for emphasis.

"Actually, she's telling the truth."

"Told you, Zack agrees with… Oh my gosh, Zack!" Zack's leg was soon embraced by his sister's embrace. Victoria quickly ran over to hug him too and started asking him a million questions. Cody stood at the door, wondering what he should do. They weren't his family, but the loving reception Zack received made him jealous.

"Is that your brother?" Ash asked as she pulled away from Zack.

"Yea, sorry about the crash landing. Zack hasn't gotten that part down yet."

"Cody! It's so good to see you." Victoria embraced him in the same hug she had just given to his brother.

"You mind if he stays here for a while?" Zack asked. "He doesn't really have anywhere else to go."

"Of course you can stay, our offer still stands What happened to you though?"

The twins weren't certain how they should respond. They didn't want to lie, but revealing everything they had been through might be unwise. "It's a long story," Cody simply stated.

"Oh, I see. You two have gone through a lot in the past month, haven't you?"

They both nodded.

"Well Cody, you're welcome to stay here as long as you need."

"Thank you very much."

"Well we can't just turn away Zack's brother. We might want to do something about the helicopter in the back yard though."


Present

"You ready for school?" Cody asked as he finished the last bit of his breakfast.

"Almost, I can't believe I almost forgot it." Zack ran up to his room grabbing a notepad off his desk and putting it into his backpack. As the older twin ran back down, they saw a bright yellow vehicle drive by their house.

"Um, that's not good," Cody said as he ran through the list of possibilities in his mind.

"Well, we haven't had any good practice for a while, and we can't let our powers get rusty."

"What if people see us?"

"Then we just need to run fast enough they won't be able to figure out who it was," Zack said, excited to be using his powers again. While they practiced some of the basics, he enjoyed any chance he had to fully unleash them.

"Alright, let's go." The two left their house and gathered their power in their body. Soon they ran at a speed that none could follow. Even though the bus was nearly a mile away by the time they left, they still beat it to the next stop.

They got on and found one of the few empty seats. Cody nudged his brother and asked him to get out the notebook. "How long?"

"0 pages, 6 lines and 2 marks, 62 days. The best 62 days of my life."

"Yep, mine too."

"I hope ya'll are ready for the start of a new year," the bus driver said as he pulled away from the stop.

"...Shades of grey turn to color
Dark of night breaks to day.

It's a new day, it's a new day
Shadows rise at the glory of the son.
It's a new day, it's a new day
The past has gone and life has just begun"

It's a new Day, Hillsong

A/N: Now it is officially over. I thought about adding a couple other things to this, but this is enough. Now, this is officially finished. I want to thank all of you who have read and reviewed this, but a few people deserve special thanks.

Elianna22: Thank you so much for reviewing every chapter of this. The conversations we had about this really helped me and fueled my ideas.

WoundedHearts: I've really enjoyed discussing various ideas about this, and I like how you come up with creative guesses for what I have planned

RoxAne-mrau: Thank you for reading and reviewing every single chapter

RennnnnySprouse: Thanks for reading and reviewing nearly every chapter I've posted here.

cailey: Since you reviewed annonomusly, I'll include my reply here. Thanks so much for the compliments, it really means a lot. If the creators see this story and want to do something with it, I wouldn't mind. I hope it enjoyed this epilogue even if it didn't include everything you asked for.

Wynstinero: Thanks so much for reading every chapter. You questions gave me a few ideas and made sure I didn't overlook something important

Kulmanari: I especially value your input for this. You've inspired me to write for suite life and oftentimes I looked to your works when I was stuck on a scene. I'm sure your busy in Iraq so I'm honored that you were able to take the time to read and review.

If I forgot someone, sorry, I'm going on little sleep and don't have much time. This is the official end of Separated, but I am planning a one-shot sequel/prequel that will be in WoundedHeart's holiday collection. I plan to work more on Red soon, and a new fic called "domino effect" so I hope you will also read those. Merry Christmas!