Disclaimer: Yeah, last chapter! I still don't own The Suite Life of Zack and Cody or The Suite Life on Deck.

Epilogue: When the Truth Ran Free

The sun had just barely risen over the decks of the SS Tipton, but Mr. Moseby had long since started his day.

Or rather, he had attempted to start his day. If the way he'd woken up in a lifeboat perched rather precariously over the side of the ship was any indication, someone else had other ideas. Specifically, two someones that the manager knew beyond a shadow of a doubt to answer to the names Zack and Cody Martin.

He had not planned to take an early morning swim, but even as Mr. Moseby began chasing the twins around the relatively empty ship, he couldn't bring himself to mind. It had been three days since Cody's return changed Zack and Mr. Moseby's lives, and two since it had changed Bailey, Maya, Woody, and Marcus's. The day before, Cody had attended his first day at Seven Seas High, meeting Miss Tutweiller and all the other students, and being reunited with London. He had missed it because of work, but London, Miss Tutweiller, and a couple of the others had given him a very detailed summary afterwards. London had been shell-shocked for several minutes after first seeing Cody, and after getting over it, she had clung sobbing to Cody until he, Zack, and Miss Tutweiller had to pull her off.

It sounded wonderful, as much as he hated to admit it, and Mr. Moseby wished that he had been there.

Despite the fact that he was literally chasing two high school seniors around the ship early in the morning, Mr. Moseby found himself convinced that this day would turn out just as well as the one before it.

He never would've considered it a pleasant memory before this, but running after the twins' prank reminded Mr. Moseby of the brief year they'd both been at the Tipton, back when their mischief was the worst thing he had to deal with. It was a flashback he never thought he'd ever enjoy, but he was glad for once for the change in circumstances.

Also was the glimpse of Zack and Cody's faces that he had caught before they'd taken off running. There was fear in them, sure, but Mr. Moseby knew that it wasn't real. And overwhelming it was the pure, unfiltered joy he saw on both their faces, in a way he hadn't seen on either for five years.

It had only been a few days since Cody arrived onboard, but already Mr. Moseby had noticed a stunning transformation in both Zack and the rest of his friends, even though Maya, Bailey, Woody, and Marcus had never been previously exposed to Cody. Zack smiled more than Mr. Moseby had ever seen, especially caused by his brother. So far, the two hadn't argued even once, which was highly unusual for the two of them, and seemed magnitudes closer than they had been before Cody's disappearance. That fact didn't surprise him in the slightest, but its extremity did.

Additionally, the others seemed to be feeding on Zack and Cody's enthusiasm, all of them in exceptionally good moods. They had been spending every possible second with Cody, asking him about everything from his interests, to his coma, to his thoughts about how to improve the efficiency of quantum computers (Bailey) and soaking up the knowledge like they could never get enough of it. In turn, that was making Zack and Cody more excited, and the groups were quickly spiraling closer, becoming fast friends in the way Mr. Moseby knew they should've been years ago. Close in the way where he knew that outsiders wouldn't be able to tell that for the five years prior, one member had been missing.

This knowledge combined with the joy of the chase to put a smile on Mr. Moseby's face as he raced after the twins, although to the confusion and wariness of the other passengers.

As he quickly rounded a corner and saw Zack and Cody scrambling up a staircase- fast, but not fast enough- his thoughts consolidated and a wave of overwhelming, warm relief washed over him from head to toe.

It had taken five years, and more suffering, heartbreak, and pain than any one person should ever have to bear, but somehow, they had been given miracle after miracle. Mr. Moseby realized that- he was pretty sure they all did- and he knew how to appreciate how lucky they were.

Cody was alive and healthy, Zack and London were happier than they ever had been, and Maya, Bailey, Marcus, and Woody knew that it would never be the same for any of them.

Yet as he chased his two teenaged charges through the passageways of the ship, Mr. Moseby had never felt more at home.

The air was brisk, but with the bright sun shining across the horizon, Maya, Bailey, Woody, and Marcus were perfectly content as they sat at a plastic table at one of the ship's coffee shops. They had opted for there instead of the juice bar because it was quieter so would allow them room to think, and the juice bar was too normal for them to be thinking about something so decidedly life-shifting.

She had known him for all of three days, but Maya was fascinated by Cody Martin, and she could tell that the others were too. For her, much of it came from studying all the ways he was different from his identical twin brother. Even after five years of separation, the two of them had very few overlapping qualities (aside from their general moral system), yet they were closer to each other than any two people Maya had ever known. It seemed almost to her that together, Zack and Cody made up one whole set, and they each provided different qualities that could only be completed by the other.

It was as if, she mused, Zack and Cody needed each other to be whole, and up until then, they'd only been living half-lives, as a broken pair.

From the moment Cody returned on board the boat, Zack had been different. Maya remembered Mr. Moseby's descriptions of Zack at twelve, before Cody had gotten hurt, and she had picked out several parallels between the two versions of him. But (thankfully), there were a few differences; a few habits he'd picked out after the tragedy. He was less flirty, for one. Maya was glad that he seemed to be genuine about caring for her. Also, there was the removal of their conflicting with each other, although she suspected that that was something that would reinstate itself with time, even if in a reduced form. It was rather amazing to her- the opportunity to see the continued evolution of Zack's character; how everything he's experienced combined to make him who he was.

Naturally, a part of Maya wondered what he would've been like if Cody had never gotten hurt; if the two of them had lived together for the past five years. She knew it would've taken longer for her to get used to him and love him, with his previous flirty, playboy attitude.

And then there was Cody. He was everything his brother was not, but Maya found herself caring for him just as much as she did Zack, albeit in a different way. He was a genius, and made her and the others look at things in completely new and unique ways that she knew none of them would ever have otherwise thought to imagine. True enough, the only person able to match wits with the smarter twin was Bailey, and the two of them clicked instantly, spending as much time together as Zack and Cody would be willing to part from each other. The two were on their way to becoming best friends, and maybe, eventually, something more.

Also with Cody, Maya had begun detecting differences from his twelve-year-old self, even though she hadn't known him at that age. Going off what she had seen in the first and last videos, he seemed even more intelligent, if that was possible, but less cocky and outspoken about it. There was also a quiet wisdom unlike any carried by anyone else she knew of her age, and it was perhaps one of the most fascinating things about him, at least for Maya. Perhaps influenced by this, he seemed to regard his brother in a way different from how he had in the two videos, and their relationship had shifted because of it. They seemed closer, despite five years spent apart.

Again, Maya wanted to see how he would've grown up otherwise, especially considering his interesting regard for his injury. He had explained it to the four of them freely enough on the first day, projecting the persona of someone unaffected, but Maya was beginning to suspect that that was not true. He had strong opinions about some things, and did not hesitate to share them, such as topics concerning his recovery. Some subjects though, when broached, only yielded stony silence. The only person he held nothing from was Zack, as evidenced by his too beginning to stay silent about the same things.

Even though she barely knew him, Cody's reluctance to speak evoked Maya's pity, and reminded her that their problems weren't completely fixed yet. Her, and Bailey, Marcus, and Woody's, desire to get inside his heart and help him recover strengthened every time an example of this presented itself. They didn't pretend to know all the troubles the twins were facing; every struggle they kept pent up inside, but Maya knew that if they let themselves trust others, they would be able to get past the last five years. Now that they were finally together after so long, they needed to accept the past and move on, for Maya was sure that everyone was painfully aware that they were only a couple of months out from graduation, after which everyone would go their separate ways.

Sitting at a table with her friends on a quiet morning made it easier for Maya to push that concern to the back of her mind for now as she joined her friends, distributing to them their ordered drinks. The other three gave her smiles and soft words of thanks as she handed them theirs, but after that, the quartet lapsed into silence and quickly lost track of time, absorbed in the slowly rising sun, gently rocking boat, and distant murmuring of birds and hushed conversation.

Bailey was the first to break the silence, once the sun had fully risen and the pink-orange sky had broken into a cloudless blue. Setting down her paper cup on the table, the blonde fidgeted with her hands and caught each of the others' glances one by one. Looking back at the sun, she spoke. "Look around," Her voice was no more than a quiet murmur, yet it carried clearly. "At how lucky we are to be alive right now."

A corner of Maya's mouth twitched up into a smile as she joined her friend in staring out across the horizon. After a pause, Bailey continued. "The fact that we're here to experience this… it's just amazing. We have the chance to rewrite history."

Woody abruptly turned back to Bailey, his eyebrows pulling inward in confusion. "What do you mean?" he asked.

Perhaps elsewhere, Maya would've been annoyed at the curly-haired boy for breaking the tranquil mood, but today, she couldn't bring herself to be bothered. Instead, she sat back in her chair and her excitement only grew as Bailey elaborated her statement, drawn in by the wonder on her friend's face.

"Zack never expected to be able to see Cody again," she asserted. "I'm sure of it. He… I'm pretty sure he had given up at ever being able to be free from the grief or guilt from missing his brother. But now… Cody is alive. And already Zack is beginning to change. He's happier, and now… now I think he's decided that he can actually have a future where he is. We've been at his side for the past four years, and now we get to be at his side while he completely changes course. We may not know him as well as Cody does, but we know him differently than Cody does. We can help him grow and find a new future. And making that big a difference in someone's life… that's something that I never imagined I'd be able to do, so the chance to do it… it's just amazing."

Once Bailey finished, there was silence for several minutes as Maya and Marcus had now joined Woody in staring, shell-shocked, at her. The blonde girl had begun to blush and shrink back in her chair when the silence was abruptly broken by Woody clapping his hands over his mouth. They all jumped a little as he exclaimed, "That was beautiful, Bailey!", a tear slipping down his cheek.

For another moment, silence returned as everybody now stared at Woody. Bailey's blush gradually intensified until she broke into a small round of giggles. Maya found herself joining suit, and the boys followed, all of them rendered speechless for several minutes.

Even as she laughed, Maya was turning over her friend's speech within her mind. She had never thought of their situation in the way Bailey had described, but now she realized how undeniable true her words were. Their ability to shape Zack and Cody's futures really was amazing, even though the magnitude of the situation ensured that it was not a task that they could afford to take lightly. It was certainly not something she ever imagined herself experiencing when she enrolled in Seven Seas High earlier that year.

The brunette cast one final glance around at her three closest friends, still recovering from their laughter; eyes sparkling and smiles wide and carefree. At that moment, the sun seemed to shine a little brighter, alive and full of promise. For Maya didn't know what the future would hold for her, Bailey, Woody, Marcus, Zack, and Cody, but she did know one thing.

For the six of them, life had just changed forever. And it would never be the same again.

They'd seen both overwhelming joy and terrible heartbreak over the past few weeks. And Maya Elizabeth Bennett, for one, knew that she would never trade any of it for the world.

Aaand the end! Thank so much to those of you who read to the end of the story! I really hope you enjoyed it. This story has been so amazing to write because I love the idea, and you all are all so supportive. Each and every single review I get makes my day, and just thanking you in the authors note is by no means enough to let you know how much you mean to me.

There's way too many of you to thank individually, but I would like to give a special shout-out to everyone who reviewed, favorited, or followed this story. You guys rock! And I'd like to give extra thanks to those who reviewed every chapter for your overwhelming support.

One last time! Thank you to everybody who reviewed Chapter 14!

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