Throughout the annals of recorded history, no matter the time or place, there have been those regarded by their world as "heroes". They have always come in many forms, whether they are calculating or instinct-driven, or even something else entirely. The heroes mentioned in this tale may come from the most unlikely of places, but... eh, forget it. Let's get on with this, already!

-000-

The sun was just beginning to set somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean, bathing the sailing S.S. Tipton in a bright orange glow. Manning a smoothie stand on-board in an area of the ship known as the Sky Deck was a Caucasian teenager with a mop of dirty blonde hair by the name of Zackary Martin, though most called him Zack.

In truth, though, "manning" might be considered too strong a word, considering that he was currently unconscious on the stand's counter. One could chalk that up to an exceptionally slow day business-wise.

Nevertheless, someone was about to give him a very rude awakening.

"Zack. Zack... ZACK!"

The teen reluctantly opened his eyes to a near mirror image of himself, aside from a few features like a higher voice and being taller overall.

This was his younger, identical twin brother, Cody Martin (by about two minutes, and even that depended on who you asked). He was accompanied by his on again-off again girlfriend, a Kansan brunette by the name of Bailey Pickett.

"Glad you could join us," the exasperation was clear in his voice. "How long were you out this time?"

The shorter twin yawned. "Maybe about 30 minutes. Why?"

He opened his mouth, practically on instinct, to deliver another one of his mini-sermons on his brother's (lack of) work ethic, only for it to die in his throat when he looked around and got a better view of the situation.

"You know what? I don't have to say anything this time, because all those people over there are saying plenty for me."

He held out a motioning hand toward a seemingly endless line of teenagers behind him, including a certain larger friend of his who feebly tried to wave at him.

"Ugh..." Zack's head hit the counter again in the face of what he realized was a monumental task that awaited him. Night would fall before he was finally finished.

-000-

Meanwhile, in her (and Bailey's) cabin on the ship, hotel heiress London Tipton was busy shuffling through tabloids, looking for anything she could gather on the latest fashion trends. She has been voted as one of the "Top 10 Most Fashionable Youths" by Jobs Business Magazine. She was far from content with that, however.

She had to be number one.

"Nope... Nope... Who even wears those anymore? Ugh!"

She let out a discouraged sigh. After some thought, the black-haired young Asian woman had made up her mind to go for a Smoothie. Constant thinking was frustrating enough for her on its own. She absolutely refused to do so on an empty stomach!

-000-

Getting to the bar, she was greeted by Cody and Bailey, not that she paid any real attention to them as she sprinted past.

"Zack, I'm so glad to see you! I need a medium smoothie, Strawberry Banana, stat. It's an emergency!"

"Sure it is," he mouthed, not really looking at her. He made the drink in question before turning back to her. He got halfway through "Here you go" before flinching upon locking eyes with her.

"S-Sorry!" The words were said almost reflexively.

The young adult raised an eyebrow. "For what?"

"Um..." Luckily for him, a good excuse for his actions now dripped off of him through his clenched fist and a now broken plastic cup. "For, uh ruining your smoothie. Here, uh, let me get you a new one… There you go."

He offered a forced grin as he gave her the item, one more fit for a hostage situation than serving a customer. Cody or Bailey would've immediately seen something wrong in that compared to his usual bored looks, cocky grins or mischievous smirks.

London wasn't a fraction as good with reading people's emotions or body language, however, so she thought little of it.

The teen couple were playing chess at one of the nearby tables as the heiress walked up to them.

"London! I haven't seen you all day! What have you been up to?" Despite her greeting, the farm girl was secretly grateful for a break from her wealthy friend's very extensive and constant shopping trips, which had gotten really erratic and uncomfortable to watch lately.

"Well, aside from Zack acting weirder than usual when delivering my drink..." She gave an odd side-eye backwards before looking back at them normally.

The couple froze, hoping beyond hope that she wouldn't press them for answers as to exactly why he was acting the way he was. Thankfully, she didn't seem to notice or care enough to stay on that topic.

"...as you know, I've been voted as one of the Ten Most Fashionable Youths..."

"...by Jobs Business Magazine." Cody completed. "We're well aware, believe me."

Ignoring his statement, she continued.

"I will not stand for anything less than being number one. So, in order to stay com... comp..."

"I think you're looking for 'competitive'." The scholarly twin supplied.

"Yeah, that," she said with a dismissive hand wave. "Then I need to stay up on the latest trends."

"Any luck with that so far?" Bailey asked.

"No," came the rather dejected answer.

"You could just drop this, you know. It's not like you need your face on the cover of yet another magazine."

The rich girl refused to take that lying down.

"...and you don't need to look like you're one of those poor people from that eighteen-thousands prairie book all the time either, but we can't all have what we want, now can we?"

Bailey's left eye began to twitch with barely-restrained fury as she faced her boyfriend and spoke through gritted teeth.

"Cody-kins..."

Her current demeanor had the desired effect, as his stomach dropped.

"Y-Yes, dear?"

"May I please savagely strangle your oldest friend before drowning her in the ocean?"

Taking care not to look at her, he chose to list off his reasoning with his fingers.

"That's illegal, immoral, and, since you'd be killing her twice, physically impossible, so... No."

"Darn," the farm girl grumbled in response, cowed.

Cody decided to push his luck by continuing. "Remember what we talked about a while back...?"

"She doesn't really mean it when she uses these insults, blah blah blah... She doesn't know any better, blah blah blah... Deep down, she cares about you, blah blah blah..."

"Besides, she's sorry. Right?" He looked almost pleadingly at the rich girl.

"Yeah, yeah. Sorry..."

"And?"

"You look lovely today," she rattled off in a cold, businesslike tone that mimicked that of her mogul father. She meant that statement just about as much as he would've too.

Still, another desperate look from Cody wound up being just enough for Bailey to let her comments go and move on.

He was right, after all.

"You considered having your dad just buy the magazine for you? He's done stuff like that for you before..."

"No way," the heiress replied a little too quickly. "I need this for myself..." She trailed off as if she'd said something aloud that she hadn't intended. "Never mind..."

Bailey raised an eyebrow at that, but didn't respond.

"Don't worry about it," Cody reassured her. "Fashion trends tend to operate in a cycle."

London's befuddled look prompted more explanation.

"By the time you even find out what's 'in', whatever that is will be considered 'so last season' anyway."

Though the Asian woman didn't fully grasp what her friend had just said, she nonetheless felt strangely comforted by it. Now smiling, she continued to enjoy her drink.

"Aww, that was so sweet of you, Cody," Bailey praised. You should really get a job as a motivational speaker. Do you think they offer classes for that at Yale?"

Cody looked lovingly into his girlfriend's eyes. "Even if they don't, you'd still be the only motivation I'd ever need, my little Hay Bail."

After a round of similar sugar-coated exchanges, the other twin had finally had enough. He briefly mocked the two's chittering before telling them to get a room.

"The day you clean yours, we'll be more than happy to do so."

The boy behind the counter rolled his eyes. "Touché."

The taller twin's smirk faded, turning into a look of concern mixed with a hint of sadness as he regarded his brother while he was cleaning up for the night. These interactions had become the only glimpses of the "old Zack" that he'd gotten, and despite the words themselves, to him, they sounded scarily stiff and robotic. "The Incident", as he called it, had truly turned him from the obnoxious, womanizing, rowdy, egotistical, and yet at the same time loyal and caring brother that he'd known and loved for 16 years to what he could only describe as a shallow husk imitating some of his actions, only even leaving his cabin when he absolutely had to. All that wasn't even touching on the obvious bags under his eyes.

This wasn't healthy, and he knew it.

Picking up on these feelings, Bailey put a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "We'll find a way to get those two to make up. Then your brother will be back to his normal, somewhat annoying self again. I promise."

He wanted that. He wanted it more than anything, but before he could voice his thoughts, his twin's words took him back out of the latter again.

"Guys... GUYS!"

Zack was staring, mesmerized, at a glowing white dot in the sky, far too big to be a star, or the moon. The light got ever closer and brighter as the rest of the group's vision was drawn upwards until darkness enveloped them all.