CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

"So where are we going exactly?" Patrick asked as he, Bailey, and Cody walked through the city. "We've been walking like this for the past few hours and we haven't heart or felt anything from the others." His face, that normally held a peaceful smile, was uncharacteristically solemn. "We might be headed in the wrong direction, but there might also be another possibility…" he trailed off the end of his sentence.

"Don't say that!" Cody's sudden outburst caused Bailey and Patrick to instinctively stop walking. Cody turned around and grabbed onto Patrick's shoulders, digging his fingernails into the exposed flesh as hard as he could. His hands were shaking and his eyes held a look of pure anger. "Don't say that! They're not dead! They can't be dead!"

Bailey stood off the side, wondering what to do. I don't want them to fight, but it's also healthy for them to get what's bothering them out of the way. We just fought Ashley and narrowly escaped, she was much stronger than we thought.

Bailey shook her head as she thought back on the attack. Cody and Patrick had made her go and hide, knowing that she was going to be a real target, but she didn't go far. She couldn't, knowing that some of her friends were being hurt, and she knew that Geneva would protect her. She watched as Cody and Patrick double-teamed Leslie, it seemed that they should have had the upper hand, but she was still really strong, proving her worth to Halo Syndicate. Even with Phantom and ThunderTatsu helping in the attack, they still got knocked around like rag dolls. If Bailey hadn't made a distraction with some of the power she had been able to control, they probably would have been killed.

So after a while of resting, they agreed to start looking for the others to make sure that they were ok. As they walked through the city, Cody had reasoned that the battle barrier had been put down or they would have walked into it by now.

But that didn't mean that the final battle was over.

"Dude," Patrick lowered his voice to a dangerously low octave as he grabbed onto Cody's hands. "Don't yell at me, I'm on your side remember."

Cody continued to glare, frustration now sliding into his expression, letting out a sound of disgust as he turned away. "You don't get it." He muttered.

"Guys, I don't think that we should-"But Patrick's incredulous, albeit sardonic laugh, interrupted Bailey's plead for them to stop arguing and back to the topic at hand, to try and find their friends and to finish this battle as soon as possible.

"I don't understand?" Patrick got up in Cody's face, he was still a few inches shorter than the blonde boy, and the respect for him was still there, but he wanted to get his point across and he wasn't going to stop until he got it across. He wasn't stupid, he understood that Cody was unmistakably worrying himself to paranoia about Zack, but that didn't mean that Patrick didn't understand what he was feeling.

"I don't understand?" He repeated, nostrils flaring. "I have a baby brother, older sisters, a cousin, and a twin out there that I'm fucking worried about and you think that I don't understand what you're going through?" Now the two boys were nose to nose and Patrick was still glaring at Cody, whose shoulders were slumped, listening to the boy, the fight in him falling away.

"I've dealt with knowing that every day I live I have a really high possibility to die longer than you have, so if there is anyone that doesn't understand, it's you." Patrick jabbed Cody in the chest with one finger. "But I'm not calling you out on that because I respect you too much." He finally gave his trademark lopsided smile, showing Cody that he wasn't mad. "Just chill, dude."

Bailey sighed in relief when she saw Cody gave a short smile back before bringing Patrick into a hug, slapping his back as he did so.

"It's funny how much you remind me of Zack," Cody commented, mussing Patrick's hair, laughing as Patrick shrieked and moved his hair back in place. His smile faded. "God, I'm so worried about him." He turned his head suddenly, as if he felt someone tap him on the shoulder. "I hope he's ok."

"He's fine, Cody." Bailey reassured him, finally speaking up again. "I know he is, he's too tough to let anything like this keep him beat. Deep down, you know that too." She smiled as well. "You'll see, we just have to keep going and you'll see him again soon. I promise."

With that, the three of them continued to walk though the quiet city. They stared in solemn silence as they passed an area where dead bodies were strewn around, as well as places where there were giant holes in the ground. Obviously Halo Syndicate didn't spare people when they were on a mission.

"I think, when we get the chance, we should come back and bury the dead properly." Bailey stated, looking at her feet, the overwhelming feeling of sadness taking her over. "To show them respect."

"I think that's a good idea, Bailey." Cody agreed, reaching out and grabbing onto her hand, lacing his fingers with her. All of a sudden, he stopped walking and his eyes widened. "Mom and Dad! I forgot about them! What if they're hurt! I have to go find them!"

"I know that you want to find you mom and dad Cody, but I don't think it's a good idea to-"

"No, let him go." Patrick interrupted Bailey. "I know how he feels; he wants to be sure that his mom and dad are safe, no matter how vulnerable he's letting himself be." Sadness filled his eyes. "HaloSyndicate could be waiting to blast him to death as soon as he gets to the sky, but he has to go and see them. To give him piece of mind."

"We'll go with you, then." Bailey turned to Cody, her eyes wide, pleading. "To make sure that you don't get hurt."

"And see that you get hurt too?" Cody shook his head. "I don't think so. You two are staying here." He turned to Patrick. "Keep her safe for me."

"Will do." Patrick nodded once.

"Cody, please don't do this." Bailey continued to beg, tears filling up her eyes. "I wouldn't be able to live with myself if something bad happened to you, when you're by yourself. Let us go."

"I can't." Cody shook his head and took a few steps towards her. He brushed her tears away from her cheeks and cupped her face in his hands. "I wouldn't be able to live with myself if anything happened to you."

"Well, I know how important I am now." Patrick joked before turning away to give them privacy.

"I'll be back soon, I promise." Cody whispered and waited until Bailey nodded, drying her eyes with her hands before turning back around. Phantom appeared at his side and crouched down; holding his wings out so Cody could climb on. "Give me two hours, if I'm not back, go on ahead and find the others." With that, Phantom swung his wings down and took off into the air.

Phantom raced to the Tipton hotel as fast as he could go, he could feel Cody's anxiety and that just made him push himself harder. He knew the feeling, he remembered his childhood with Blazen, before they had gotten their animal spirits and before they had gotten their guardian names, before they were assigned to Zack and Cody, they had fought many battles to protect their family. He knew the fear that Cody was feeling to want to get to his parents, but he was also confused. The feeling that Cody was putting out was even more anxious then he had ever felt in his entire life.

In the element kingdom it was common for your parents to die when you were young, you still wanted to protect them, but you had to get ready for the fact that you may be on your own for a while. Phantom thought to himself as he recognized the large hotel. But what Cody is feeling…it's much stronger than anything that I have ever felt before. Maybe having parents as a human is different than as a guardian.

"Land on the roof, Phantom, we can go in through there without having to get stopped by everyone else." Cody instructed. In response, Phantom banked to the right and started to lower to the roof. "Be on your toes, it seems that the Tipton is still standing and is unharmed, as is with most of this part of the city," he looked around, his observation making him nervous. "But we can't be sure."

"Of course Master Cody." Phantom landed on the room and turned to his small form and flew up onto Cody's shoulder. He cocked his head to the side. "How are you going to get into the Tipton if we're on the roof, I'm sure the door is locked."

"Zack and I had made a set of keys to get up here whenever we wanted," Cody explained as he walked over to the door on the roof and jumped up, grabbing onto the ledge that was above the door. He moved his left hand over and grabbed onto a key before letting go and landing on his feet. "We stole it from Moseby of course, but the view was so incredible from up here we didn't really feel any guilt from it."

Phantom noticed the sad smile on his master's face. "You really missed it didn't you?"

"Yeah," Cody let out a heavy sigh. "Back when life was easy." His expression became apathetic and he put the key in the lock and opened the door, sliding inside and gently closing it behind him, so it wouldn't slam, and then headed down to the 23rd floor.

As Cody went, he had a feeling of warmth start in his chest and then through the rest of his body. He started running as fast as he could, causing Phantom to grip his talons tightly into Cody's shoulders so he wouldn't get knocked off. Cody's breathing was ragged and his blood was pounding in his ears, but he didn't let up.

I have to know he thought to himself as he continued to run. Is it really him?

As Cody arrived on the 23rd floor, he ran towards his room, only realizing, seconds before he collided with him, that there was another person running up the hallway. Cody stumbled back for a second; quickly regaining his balance, and looked up to see his mirror image staring back at him.

Zack.

Without hesitating, Cody threw his arms around his brother and hugged him tightly, relishing in the feeling that Zack was hugging him back just as tightly…

A/N: Review Replies

Owlhero: Yeah, I wanted a wanted to show a way that Reed, Christian, and Kristine, were obviously related to the Jacksons and Crystal. I think that I showed that in a simple way for the last chapter, but in other chapters about the past you'll see it better and in more subtle ways. And of course it would be too obvious/easy if the element marks were in the same place for every person.

DarkElement-Jackson-Fan: Thanks for the support, Cody!

Tiger002: I hope you don't mind another evil cliffhanger now that you're all caught up! Haha I'm glad that you're enjoying the story and I will update again soon so you don't have to wait so long.

SLOD-Lvr: Don't worry; you're going to see Ruriko soon.

Dawn: Now you don't have to wait as long! ;)

MysticMelody101: Yep, it's his future wife. Glad you're enjoying it.

I had a really great idea for this chapter in my head, but for some reason, when I was writing it, it didn't come out the way I wanted it to. The confrontation with Patrick and Cody did, as well as Zack and Cody meeting up. But the way that I got there didn't seem great to me, but I like it for now.

But, I have an announcement. This story isn't going to be 50 chapters, it's going to go until I feel that the story has fully completed, the cool part is, I already have the final battle and the final chapters (there's a epilogue) of the story written out, it's only the matter of getting there that's the thing. Haha. I also have a good idea for a new elemental story that I'm going to do after this one is over and it will be just as cool as this one. Hahaha

Please review, constructive criticism is welcome, tell me what you guys think about the pace of the story as well. Would you like to see more parts of the past (with Christian, Reed, and Nathan, which is important) as parts of chapters or a whole chapter by itself. More questions will be answered soon.

Cheers,

-Riles