CHAPTER ONE

"Hey, have you guys finished packing yet?"

"….Maybe."

Cody smiled to himself at the sound of Riley and Rhuben groaning at their brothers' procrastination on their packing as he bounded down the stairs of the Mannings' house and into the kitchen. He wasn't surprised to find his brother and Tapeworm already sitting at the table, eating some large, strangely concocted sandwiches.

"Hey, is there any of that Turkey left?" Cody asked as he went over to the refrigerator door and stuck his head inside.

"Not unless you want me to throw it back up." Zack muttered before taking another large bite of his sandwich.

"Ugh," Cody closed the refrigerator door and turned around so his back was resting against it. He glared daggers in the back of his twin's head. "I had my name written on it as dibs. You know that."

"Yes, and as your older brother, I think that I have the right to bypass any dibs." Zack turned in his chair, resting his arm on the back of it and gave Cody a smug smile. Tapeworm laughed a hearty laugh as he pushed his now short hair back off of his forehead, watching the exchange. Having grown up with the twin boys, it was still interesting for him to watch the two of them fight from time to time.

"You'd figure that after 18 years you would stop throwing that in my face," Cody commented as he walked over to the small kitchen table and grabbed a chair, turning it around before he sat in down in it, hugging the back of the chair and resting his forearms on the table. He reached out and grabbed Zack's sandwich from his hands and took a large bite, licking mustard off of his lip as he handed it back, ignoring Zack's hard stare. "But old habits die hard, I guess."

"Coming from the person that still carries Blankie around." Zack muttered.

"I haven't used Blankie in months, thank you, very much!" Cody replied.

"It doesn't mean that you haven't cried as much."

"Bite me."

"Has anyone ever told you guys that watching you two is probably the most entertaining thing ever since we lost our powers?" Tapeworm said, his smile fading a little bit." Zack and Cody fell silent.

It was very strange to them, to be normal humans again after having their elemental powers since they were about 11 years old. Having been fighting off the darkness for almost as long, and then finally defeating it after figuring out that one of the rulers of the elemental world, Gattaca, tried to take over the human world, they had lost their powers as the balance to the human and elemental world had been restored. It was hard for them to get used to having to rely on public transportation to get somewhere, getting used to lifting lighter weights at the gym, and getting hurt easier than usual.

"It wouldn't be the first time that we heard it." Cody replied. "Probably won't be the last either." He looked up and gave a warm smile when he saw Bailey appear at the top of the basement stairs, running a hand over her neck. "Hey," he greeted her warmly. Bailey smiled back, albeit a bit tiredly as she walked over to him. Cody got up from his chair, turning it back around and pushed it back a little ways from the table, allowing Bailey to sit down on his lap. He leaned forward and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "What's wrong? You look tired."

"You'd be tired to if you've been up all night helping Christian and Nathan run tests." Bailey replied as she put her arm around Cody's shoulder to keep herself upright.

"Nathan?" Tapeworm repeated his eyebrows quirking.

"Core." Bailey corrected herself.

It was hard for them to get used to, knowing that Core was their ally now instead of their enemy. While fighting Halo Syndicate, they discovered that throughout their journey as elementals, Core was never really their enemy. He had been trying to capture them to keep the Jacksons, his deceased beset friend's children, safe from Halo Syndicate. After he showed his true colors, he started working along with Christian on their scientific research from years before. While Christian and Bailey easily stopped calling him core and used his real name, Nathan, the others were still wary that he would turn on them and continuously called him Core, to show him that they still held him a arm's length away, not trusting him entirely.

"Anyway, are you still helping them tonight?" Cody asked, gently rubbing her back. "Because I was thinking that we could get some dinner and then go to the museum."

"Hm, now I remember why you two annoy me so much." Zack commented as he leaned back in his chair, wiping his hands off on a napkin as he smirked. "You're both so annoyingly smart and your PDA isn't far behind." He looked at the two of them out of the corner of his eye. "Although you two are getting better at keeping it down around Crys."

Cody made a face as Bailey squirmed on his lap. Having grown up around their close group of friends, Cody had essentially moved through the girls that he was around, dating all except their friend Max Montgomery, and Zack's current girlfriend Riley. He had gone out with Riley's twin sister, Rhuben, and then their cousin Crystal, before going out with Bailey. While Cody and Rhuben were on very good terms after their breakup, things were somewhat awkward, if not cold, with Crystal. No one besides the two of them knows why they broke up or how badly they took it, but whenever he and Bailey showed their relationship when she was around, things got awkward pretty fast.

While they were all in Boston, Zack and Cody stayed in their old suite in the Tipton Hotel, which their friend Esteban now ran, Christian, his kids Crystal and Aaron, and his nieces and nephews stayed at the house, Core stayed at an apartment nearby, and Tapeworm and Bailey lived with Tapeworm's parents. Every day they went back to the Manning's house to get some work done. The most recent of Christian's and Core's research as well as help from Crystal, Sydney, Aaron, and Bailey created their new simulation machine to keep their fighting skills up as high as need be if the time ever comes. It was sort of bitter-sweet though, as the simulation machine made it that they simulated their powers again, but when it was all done, they were brought back to the reality that they didn't have the powers and they didn't have their guardians anymore.

Life had definitely been quiet without them around.

"You had to bring that up, didn't you?" Cody asked.

"Hey, I'm your big brother; I have to annoy you somehow." Zack replied. "Speaking of which, does anyone know when Reihu is supposed to be back?" He looked at his watch. "I figured that he would have at least tried to get back here before the Jacksons have to leave again."

"I'm going to make sure they're not killing each other," Tapeworm abruptly pushed back his chair and got to his feet, stretching as he did so. "It's way too quiet up there."

Zack and Cody watched him leave the room; they both knew that it wasn't that he wanted to be sure that no one was fighting with each other. He was thinking about his girlfriend, Max. She was one of their friends that had grown up with them, having elemental powers as well, but she had perished, protecting Zack, in their last big battle and they knew that he hadn't gotten over it.

"I wish that there was something that we could do to help him," Bailey said, rubbing Cody's shoulder. "He always seems so sad, not like himself."

"It's nothing that we can actually help him with," Cody replied, lightly patting her on the thigh. He let out a sigh, not liking to see his best friend so upset. "And it's not something you get over, it's something you get through over time." He turned to Zack. "Have you and Riley ever talked about Koto?"

"No, and I don't plan on it unless I want to have both of my arms broken along with my head ripped off." He gave a half smile. Koto had been someone that they had thought was their enemy as well as he and the rest of WingzCorp were working under Core, but they had proven that they could be friends. Koto was the one that had first got the Jacksons into WingzCorp years ago and was the first 'friend' that Riley had made. He was also the one that had died in battle while also trying to protect Zack.

"I can see that," Bailey said sympathetically. "It must be hard to talk about or even deal with a death when they've been around it so much."

"From what I can tell, it's something that they refuse to even talk about," Cody said. "And while that may be helpful at the moment, it's just going to hurt them later in life." He patted Bailey's thigh and she the two stood up. He reached out and grabbed onto her hand. "C'mon, let's go for a walk." He reached out and smacked Zack on the back of the head as he opened his mouth wide and made a gagging sound as he stuck a finger in his mouth.

Zack let out a short breath in frustration s he ran his hands over his face. All of the frustrations that he had managed to push out of his mind when they were working in the simulation room was coming back. He had homework to do; while he had graduated, his grades were only good enough to get him into a community college, he had to think about getting a job so he could have some money, he needed to get a car, he…maybe wanted to find his mom and dad. When things were falling apart in Boston with their final battle, Carey and Kurt Martin, who were on their way to getting back together, had left Boston, abandoning the boys.

It still made him sick to his stomach to think that they left as soon as they tried to explain everything that was going on with them. I wonder where they are now. He shook his head before pushing back his chair and leaving the room to go upstairs. He could hear Tapeworm, Crystal, Riley, and Rhuben talking loudly, seeming to be arguing about something.

Zack bee lined into the bathroom and closed the door behind him. All of a sudden he felt very hot. Zack reached out and turned on the faucet, allowing the sink to fill up with cold water, before bending over and splashing it onto his face. But with each splash of water, the warmer and warmer the room got. Zack lifted his head and grabbed a hand towel off of the rack by the door and started to dry his face. He looked up and noticed that the mirror was covered in steam. His eyebrows lowering in confusion, he reached out and started to wipe at the mirror, but as the condensation went away, the steam came back until the room was filled.

He closed his eyes, breathing deeply, trying to calm down as beads of sweat popped up against his forehead. All of a sudden, he felt calm. The heat wasn't bothering him, he actually felt at home in it, like he used to. He hadn't felt this way in a long time, not since he had his powers. It must be wishful thinking, wanting to be able to feel that way again that he was starting to trick himself into feeling it again.

Zack opened his eyes, the steam was gone; he was looking at his reflection in the mirror.

"Ugh, I look tired." He muttered to himself, inspecting the bags under his eyes. "I guess all of the years of fighting has finally caught up to me." He looked down.

He blinked and rubbed his eyes to be sure that what he was seeing was real.

"Blazen?"

A/N: Oooh, questions are already flying all over the place. Of course they'll be answered as the story goes along. I hope you liked it and I'll update again soon.

Cheers,

-Riles