CHAPTER TWO
"Home sweet home," Zack said as he opened the door to suite 2350 and flipped on the lights. Blazen immediately flew off his shoulder and circled the room twice before perching on the back of a chair. He shook out his feathers and puffed out his chest before settling himself down. Zack smiled, tossing his bag aside and closed the door behind him. "I guess you're still not happy with airplanes."
"Why would you want to be in an airplane when you can just fly yourself?" Blazen replied. He cocked his head to the side, sharp eyes watching Zack's every move across the suite. "And you call that stuff food? I've eaten better off a forest floor."
"At this point I think you're just too used to being able to do whatever you want," Zack commented, flopping down onto the couch and stretching out his legs. He brought a hand up and rested it on his forehead, closing his eyes. "It was bad enough that you were squawking the entire flight back, but did you really have to fly around the whole plane pooping on people."
Blazen hopped down into the seat of the chair and turned into his human form. His wings slumped against his back; shoulders slumping at the same time as his face feel. His cheeks reddened to match the color of the marking on his cheeks, maroon eyes shifting towards the floor. If Zack hadn't known that he was much older than the average human and not quite human itself, he would have mistaken his guardian for a young teenage boy. He had a habit of acting ht way at times, which seemed to match Zack's own. No wonder Cody was annoyed of his brother form time to time.
"It was an accident," Blazen defended himself. He stuck out his lower lip, pulling at the frayed ends of his pants. "I told you I get nervous whenever we get in one of those things." He was silent for a moment longer then popped up from the chair. "Is there anything to eat?" He headed over to the refrigerator and pulled it open, sticking his head inside.
"I doubt it," Zack replied, eyes still closed. "We haven't been here in, like, two months and you know Mom is usually the one that stocks it whenever she and Cody are coming back from camp or whatever." He lowered his arm from his forehead, chin still pointed towards the ceiling. He frowned, eyebrows lowering for a moment. "I wonder how she's doing."
The thought had crossed his mind more often than he wanted the past couple of weeks. Things had changed since he, Cody, and Bailey had left the SS Tipton with their friends two years before. He still remembered the expressions of shock and fear on his parents' faces when they first saw Blazen and Phantom. Things had been fine at first, Carey and Kurt had taken the news better than expected. Then the city was evacuated and the two had told their sons how they really felt; they couldn't be around their twin sons when that much danger was present. Case in point, Zack's fear had come true. They didn't understand and didn't want to understand.
So the Martin boys were on their own.
It was what Zack had always wanted growing up; to prove he could handle himself in the real world.
Now that his wish came true he only wanted to take it back.
Zack continued to sit on the couch, feet up on the coffee table and head tilted back. He took a few deep breaths before feeling slumber start to take him over. His fingers twitched on the top of the couch. He tried to fight it off the best he could, eyebrows moving around in grotesque shapes as he struggled to open his eyes.
Sleep hadn't come easy to him since the battle against Mother Nature. He could practically set his watch to it; he'd fall asleep, lost in the darkness that swirled around him as he entered the dreamless state. Then he would hear the screams of pain and torture coming from those that had been caught up in the battle, innocent bystanders that had unfortunately become the casualties of war. Then everything would play out for him; his friends getting hurt, the city destroyed by the arboris that Mother Nature had sent down to aid her cause, the expelled energy that left him a burned out mess by the end of the fight, his body lying in a hospital bed with a scar along his cheek and arms, and the aftermath, leaving Boston to start fresh, leaving his brother behind.
The nightmares continued to plague him every time he tried to sleep, forcing long bouts of insomnia as the days went on. He did his best not to think about it, but had to face reality once more once arriving back in Boston. Riley had offered for him to go back to the Mannings' house with them, so he wouldn't be alone in the suite but he had turned down the offer. He was going to have to go back at some point, why put off the inevitable?
Zack's lips twitched in the corner, his head jerking back and forth every now and then as the mages flashed through his head over and over, faster and faster. Light whimpers escaped his lips as the images continued on.
Blazen, who had managed to find a bag up chips in the cupboard dropped the snack and went over to his ward. Reaching out, he poked Zack on the side of the head with his finger, as he would with his beak if he was in his natural form.
"Zack? Are you ok?" His frown deepened when Zack didn't respond. "Zack?" He grabbed onto his shoulder and started to shake it. Zack's head lolled back and forth on his shoulders, eyes squeezing tighter together. Blazen unfolded his wings, the red tips started to glow, the temperature in the room rising.
"Whoa! Did the thermostat break?"
Blazen turned as Cody and his guardian, Phantom, walked into the suite. Phantom lifted himself from Cody's shoulder and glided over to his brother before turning into his human form and standing next to him as well. His hawk-like eyes immediately turned to Zack.
"Something's wrong," he noted to Cody.
Cody twisted his mouth to the side and hurried over to his twin brother. Looking down into his face Cody was suddenly struck with the notion that he didn't particularly recognize it. Since the last time he had seen his brother, Cody had never seen the amount of stone-like edge in his face. Had it always been there or was he only just noticing it? Was it ever seen in his own face? He could worry about it later.
Tucking his long hair behind his ear, Cody leaned over his brother's face and frowned with concern. After a couple of moments of watching, he sat down on the couch next to his brother and grabbed onto his shoulder, pressing his thumb into it hard. Lifting his free hand, he waited as it became encased in a blue hue, the palm and fingertips becoming covered with tiny droplets of water. Pressing his hand to his brother's forehead, Cody watched his brother's face. It relaxed slightly but he still hadn't woken up. Frowning, Cody continued to apply pressure to Zack's shoulder and finally Zack started to stir, his eyelids twitching and his shoulders lifting off the back of the couch.
"Are you sure I can't just start a fire under his butt?" Blazen asked. Despite the situation, he sounded excited at the idea of being able to cause minimal harm to his ward.
Cody smirked at him. "I've been trying to do that with his studies for years," he said. Turning back to his brother he gave his brother's shoulder a quick jerk then leaned back as Zack let out a loud gasp and his eyes flew open. He took a few quick breaths before leaning forward, resting his face in his hands. "You didn't eat a bunch of pizza before going to sleep did you? God knows it gives you the worst dreams along with bad breath and bad farts," he added with a light laugh.
Zack's eyes narrowed in a glare that he directed at his brother, lifting his face from his fingers. "You could have said anything else to make me feel better and you went with that?"
"Mushy goodbyes and hellos aren't our thing, remember?" Cody reminded him.
Zack gave him a small smile. "Yeah," he said. "I remember." Opening his arms, he leaned into his brother and gave him a warm hug, slapping him on the back. Cody hugged him back with the same amount of enthusiasm. The time they had spent apart, to take their mind off of what had gone on before they had to leave. Pulling back, Zack took in his brother's face, his smile fading into one of disbelief. "I know we used to dress you up as a girl sometimes, but I think you may have taken it too far this time," he remarked, seeing his younger brother's longer hair. Zack leaned back, eyes moving over the ponytail that poked out from behind Cody's head. "Is there something you want to tell me?"
"Other than wanting to make a change?" Cody shifted back until he was resting against the armrest. Subconsciously, he reached a hand up and ran it over his hair. "I didn't think it was that bad." He shrugged. "It's better than when I turned my hair red."
Zack laughed slightly. "Oh yeah, that had me laughing for a looooong time."
Cody made a humming noise, an expression of amusement on his face. "I know." He nodded once. "You took pictures and blackmailed me with it for days."
"Months, actually," Zack interjected. He got up from the couch and walked over to the kitchen, picking up the bag of chips that he had left on the counter. Wiping the spilled ones into the trashcan he walked back over to Cody, holding out the bag.
Cody eyed the bag then looked up at his brother as he sat down. "Ok." He grabbed the bag and looked through it. "What did you do to these chips?" He held out his arm and Phantom turned back into his eagle form and perched on top of Cody's arm. Blazen did the same, landing in Zak's lap. "Did you poison them or are lace them with laxatives?"
"Being around hose scientists and their experiments must have caused you to inhale a few too many toxic fumes," Zack remarked. He took the bag and made a show of shoving a large handful into his mouth. He chewed them loudly before speaking, spraying bits of food from his mouth. "How was it anyway? Being around all of those smart people that want to try and help us. That must have been a welcome change."
Cody shrugged again.
He was trying to downplay it but it had been better than he originally anticipated. Before everyone had left, Christian had too many run-ins and phone calls from reporters from local newspapers, radio stations, and TV stations wanting to talk to everyone that had been involved with Mother Nature. The captured footage was shown all around the world and they had all become more famous than any of them could have imagined. It was Christian's idea that they all get out of dodge to allow things to cool down.
The Jacksons had jumped at the chance to go back to Australia, Crystal wanted to go back to Canada and that left the others in limbo. Christian had gotten the opportunity to work with his former colleagues as well as speak at a series of a meetings and panels in direct correlation to elements and those that managed to awaken to their powers. He extended an invitation to Cody to joint hem and Sydney had expressed interest in going as well. Zack had originally planned to stay in Boston, having made a final decision to bypass college and figure out what it was that he really wanted to do with his life, before Patrick pointed out it'd be beneficial if he got out. Stepping out the front door of the Tipton had been hard and Esteban had to increase security when it was found out that Zack and Cody lived there.
Tapeworm and his parents were going to stay with relatives down in Florida and planned to take Bailey with him, making him the only one that would have stayed behind. Julius had noticed his hesitation and with that, declared that Zack was going to go with them.
His hesitation wasn't because he had wanted to stay in Boston; it was because he hadn't wanted to be separated from Cody. Not again. Not after he had lost him the first time, it nearly caused him to go into a massive breakdown. He had managed to destroy a couple of buildings and almost hurt his friends even further due to his increased powers from the element stone. He didn't want to be around anyone in case he lost control once more. Cody had easily seen it in his twin's face and was the one that gave him the final nudge to going, they would be back together soon and it would be better if they spent some time apart.
Would things really get better? So much had changed since he was fourteen years old and thinking that having those powers was the best thing in the world. It was all fun and games until he realized how serious everything was.
"It was really fun," Cody finally said after along moment of thought. He had become more calculated, trying to find the right words to express everything. "The research that has been going on over the years is fascinating. I never knew that there were people out there that were trying to make things easier for us elementals." He scratched the side of the neck where a thin, pink line was raised; a lasting mark from one of the arbori wrapping its vines around his neck, literally squeezing the life out of him. "It was really cool seeing how they were trying to help us and what they've done over the years." He briefly moved his gaze towards the ceiling. "Apparently Core had been really helpful to them over the years, being the one that funded a lot of it."
A moment of silence passed between the two of them for the man they had originally been their main adversary. Up until it was revealed he had actually been working with them for ages, he appeared to be one of the most evil men in the world, especially considering the questionable experiments and surgeries he had done on innocent people.
"Anyway," Cody broke the silence once more. He nudged Zack on the shoulder. "You went to Australia, how was that? You always said you wanted to go to a tropical place for a vacation."
Zack lifted a hand, allowing Blazen to messily eat chips from it. He couldn't stop the smile that slid onto his face. "It was awesome!" He ran his hand over Blazen's back, taking note of the way the smooth feathers felt under his fingers. The last time he had taken the chance to do that, the feathers were matted with blood, covering a body that had been doing its best to keep breathing.
Were those thoughts ever going to go away? Every time something good happened, every time he was supposed to have a good thought or have a moment where things were peaceful, it all came back. Maybe he was cursed. Or maybe he finally realized that there was no such thing as perfect and that the world really was out to get him. Why else would he have been given these powers that did nothing but make him miserable-those that put him in situations more difficult than any adult could go through. It was also what had managed to keep him alive, but now he knew that whenever something good happened, something bad happened and he adapted to sensing them before they came.
"Now I understand why people rave about it so much," Zack continued. "Everything was just so green and bright and lively. And the people there were so nice."
"And you got to spend that much time with your girlfriend," Cody pointed out.
"That was a plus," Zack agreed.
"Did you…?"
"No."
Cody made a tsking sound with his mouth. "That sucks."
Now it was Zack's turn to shake his head. "Not really," he said. "I mean, I've got more important things to think about." He turned the chip bag over in his hands and studied the date. His nose wrinkled and his stomach lurched to the side. "Like how sick we're going to be after eating these things? Mom really needs to do a better job with her cooking or stop leaving hold bags of food in the suite."
Cody tilted his head back and laughed loudly. "Figures the one thing you'd be worried about is food."
"I'm a growing boy, I can't help it," Zack defended himself.
"That's the same excuse you gave when we were growing up and you ate my food before I got the chance." Poking his brother in the chest, Cody smirked at him. There was a new life in his eyes, one that had been missing since he had left Boston. A haunted, stern darkness had filled them instead. Now his baby blues started to lighten.
"It proved my point didn't it?" Zack made a show of flexing his arms, muscles popping out of the taut skin. "You're still skinny as a rail."
"At least I'm smarter than a rail," Cody shot back.
Zack laughed and ran a hand through his hair. "Good one." He looked at his watch, letting out a low whistle when he saw how late it had gotten. No wonder he had been so tired when he returned to the Tipton. Standing up, Zack yawned, stretching his arms over his head. "Hey, we should be getting some sleep," he said. "If we're going to face this new fame, we should be well rested."
Cody rolled his eyes. "No matter how much sleep we get, we're never going to get used to this."
"I know."
But they deserved to have some time where they acted like nothing was different. He didn't say it out loud, but that's what Zack thought. Who knew how much longer they could continue to act like that.
Sleep was the only way it would be realized for the time being.
A/N: Yeah a bit of a short chapter, but I wanted to have it focus entirely on Zack and Cody and their reunion as well as implying some things that had gone on during the battle against Mother Nature. I hope you guys liked it.
Cheers,
-Riles