Disclaimer: I do not own TSL. If I did, I won't be writing this!

Up To Us

Chapter 3: Dreams of Reality

Zack slowly opened his eyes, feeling excruciating pain on his head. He was in a room, a concrete one with only one window, smeared with gunk. He tried to rub his aching head but discovered that his limbs were bound firmly with cords. He recalled skateboarding and seeing red eyes…

'Hey! This is what Cody saw! That means I'm Cody and…uh oh.' His thoughts were abruptly interrupted when someone kicked open the door.

Zack instantly recognized him as Zeke, "Hey! Wha…"

"Shut yer trap, Nephilim."

'Nephilim- a being that is half human, half angel.' Zack recalled.

"Where am I?" he asked stupidly.

Zeke ignored him and touched his forehead. Zack tried to struggle away but felt himself losing energy. After a while he felt so exhausted that he slumped against the wall, eyes half closed. Zeke removed his hand.

"My work is done for now," he said, "Rest easy, Martin."

Zack didn't even argue. Zeke slammed the door shut, leaving him in a pitch-dark room. He lay there, eyes staring into space, mind wandering off into its own little world. He was pulled back into reality when the world began spinning, being engulfed by light.

The next thing he knew, he was lying on the ground with Cody's hand over his forehead.

"Wh-what happened?" Zack asked and jerked away from his brother's hand.

"I'm transferring some of my memories to you," was his reply.

---

Zack ignored his sweaty palms and walked over to Max, who was setting down her backpack.

"Hey Zack." She said.

He was going over the lines he had rehearsed silently in his head, "Um Max? The dance is in a couple days. I was thinking if you could, you know, go with me?"

She brushed her bangs back with one hand, acting as if she wasn't the least bit surprised.

"Sure, why not?"

At that moment, he wanted to jump in joy but knew better. Unable to hide a smile, he turned around and left for sixth period.

---

Zack pushed open the front door humming happily to himself.

"What are you so happy about?" Maddie asked, looking up from her notes.

"I asked Max to be partners to the school dance and she said yes!" He burst out and ran to his room, flinging his backpack down with a crash.

"Hey Cody! Guess what, I – "

"I know, you got a date with Max. Big deal." Cody interrupted with a hint of drowsiness. He was lay facedown on his bed, awoken from sleep by the ruckus.

"You were sleeping?" Zack asked and walked to his bunk. Cody said nothing.

Zack started on his history, occasionally sensing Cody watching him. Finally Cody spoke up.

"Zack, take a break," He said and jumped down, "and you brace yourself too."

Zack felt slightly nauseous as Cody touched his forehead. The floor split open, sending him plunging back into Cody's past. He found himself in the dark room again, but this time he wasn't alone. Zeke and the new kid, Kyle, were watching him. For every movement he made he received a painful crack on the head so he decided to just stay still.

Zeke touched his forehead again and he felt a strange static-charged sensation on his shoulder blades. He felt as if every hair on his body were standing up on end. With a golden glow, spirals of feathers erupted from his shoulder blades forming black wings. Zack wasn't terribly surprised. He had gone through the experience once with his own body but it did startle him enough to make him temporarily frozen. Kyle reached forward to undo whatever it was that Zeke did.

Zack saw the opportunity. He shoved past him and scrambled for the door. It wasn't locked but his trembling fingers made it hard for him to turn the knob. With great effort, he heaved it open and was almost blinded with light. When it finally dimmed he glanced out and saw nothing. Nothing at all, just a blank field. With that, he got roughly jerked inside, the door slammed shortly after.

Zeke gave a chuckle, "There's no running away now is there?"

Zack finally gained his voice, "Where am I?"

"In a dream world, for humans at least. To us, it's as real as it can get."

Kyle.

There was an eerie silence. The room froze as if someone just pressed pause and it started warping, forming a distorted picture. Soon everything was just a swirl of color, turning black until everything abruptly came to a focus and into reality.

Zack blinked. He was on the floor again with Cody crouched over him, eyes glazed over and misty.

"Cody?" he asked.

He jerked to attention and cocked an eyebrow, giving an expression saying, 'What?'

"Nevermind." Zack said and turned back to his homework.

"Hey Zack," a voice rang from the living room, "Have you figured out what to wear?"

Maddie and Cody sighed as the bedroom door slammed shut with chaotic sounds of fumbling drawers.

I predict it's going to be a bit chaotic in the next chapter. I guess this fic is going towards a Max/Zack thing. Sorry if anyone doesn't like it. Please tell me anything you don't like, that goes for any and all chapters. Before I forget, Zack and Cody go to different schools because of paperwork. Don't believe me? Ask my siblings, it's true.

Trivia: (Scary Movie) When Mr. Moseby comes into the Tipton in the morning and spills coffee on his shirt, you can see that it's a new stain but when he's talking to the night manager, the stain is dry and smaller. When it switches back, the new stain is there again.

Apparently this episode was scheduled for Friday the 13th for a reason.