Disclaimer - I don't own ZOMBIES or any of the characters involved. Copyright to Walt Disney Studios. Names of BG zombies are mine, characters themselves aren't. The song When We Die is by Bowling For Soup.
And thus, Tattooed Mistakes (Are Gonna Fade Over Time) comes to an end...! Oh, man, this has been a wild wide, but I hope you've enjoyed it! Limelight, BtB etc will resume shortly~
I also have a new fandom obsession (alongside ZOMBIES) - Mary Poppins Returns! I have an idea for a Janks (Jane/Jack) fic in the works so if you're interested in that, keep an eye out ;)
Epilogue
Things weren't perfect. Far from it, in fact: the zombies and humans were segregated again, but not to the degree they once had been. The uniforms were back, but they still customised them. They had their classes separately, but they still walked the halls together. There were once again designated tables in the cafeteria for humans and zombies, but they still shared the cafeteria. The zombie patrol was everywhere, but they could live with that. At least until another revolution came around.
Alonzo and Zephyr's relationship had seriously improved since they opened up to each other about their trauma. After all they'd been through, they had come out the other side a little bruised but alive. Zephyr didn't care about the things people would say about him staying with Al – he had saved his life, and Zephyr had never felt more in love. And Alonzo was slowly but surely learning to forgive himself, taking it one step at a time to move past his mistakes. He had his family, he had his friends and he had his boyfriend.
Despite everything, though, there was one person – just one single person – that he still needed to hear something important from.
– TATTOOED MISTAKES –
It was a couple more months until Alonzo felt like he could perform again, but the band had returned to rehearsing and playing together a little while ago. Zephyr talked to Bonzo, who was more than happy to give up some of his set time at the next zombie mash for Bowling For Zoup to make their comeback.
On the night of the zombie mash, it was a surprise that any humans showed up at all, but there was, in fact, a select few who hadn't turned on the zombies. More specifically, who hadn't turned on Alonzo. Bree and Addison were among them, but there was no sign of Keira. Al felt a stab a guilt when he noticed her lack of presence there but Roz didn't seemed bothered by it. They'd had the time to move on by now.
"You sure?"
Roz brushed him off, "Al, it's been ages, I'm getting used to it. Anyway, this is your night. Don't waste it worrying about me!"
"They're right," Zach gently punched his arm, "Relax, man. Enjoy yourself."
Al nodded and shot both of them a smile. Zephyr handed him his guitar then swiftly took hold of his chin and pulled down into a long kiss, but they were soon torn apart by Zach's usual dramatics.
"Yeah, yeah, rub it in our faces, we're both single and you two are so in love!"
Al laughed and hugged Zephyr while Zach shook his head. It felt good to be goofing off like this again.
Once he was onstage, though, and standing in front of the mic, Al saw that some of the zombies and most of the humans were moving away from the dancefloor, and he felt his heart sink. Zephyr reached out to rub his arm soothingly and they shared a look.
"Don't worry about them," Zephyr whispered, "They don't matter."
They don't matter.
It was the ones who stayed who mattered. Rizzo and Zane were front and centre as always, with Zeke, Izabelle and their friends nearby. Bonzo and Zed, plus their girlfriends, and Eliza next to them with Topaz and Zora, too. Azure was there, having never given in when Inez, her best friend, had treated Alonzo so poorly, Chaz, Mackenzie, Mitzi, Cortez...
They mattered.
And when they started to play, it was like nothing mattered.
"Well, I know that it's early, and it's too hard to think. And the broken empty bottles are a reminder in the sink."
A flash of bright pink near the back caught his eye – not a human, it was accompanied by green coveralls and green hair – but it faded from view as soon as it had appeared, obscured by the crowd.
"But I thought that I should tell you, if it's not too late to say, I can put back all the pieces, they just might not fit the same. 'Cause nothing's worth losing, especially the chance to make it right...!"
– TATTOOED MISTAKES –
The song came to an end and Alonzo scanned the crowd for the zombie he had seen, spotting them as they slipped away towards the light garden. He briefly turned to Zephyr.
"I'll be right back, play the next one without me."
"What? Where are you going?"
He slipped the guitar strap off his shoulder, already walking past Zephyr, "I just need to take care of something. Don't worry about it."
"Al..."
"It's fine," he assured him, meeting his gaze with a small smile, "Everything's fine."
He hopped off the stage, putting the guitar down in its stand, and ran for the light garden.
He stopped in the doorway when he saw Paizley sitting on the platform, her knees pulled to her chest and her chin resting on top of them. Her arms were wrapped her legs and she was looking up, staring, expressionless, at the lights surrounding her. But in an instant, her head snapped round to see who was there and they both froze, eyes locked on one another. Alonzo was the first to speak.
"Hey..." he greeted her, a little lamely, and she ducked her head again, "I didn't expect to see you here. Zombie mashes aren't normally your thing."
Paizley just shrugged, "Yeah, I know, I just thought..." she trailed off.
Al took a tentative step forward, "Can we talk? I mean, it's been a while but are you, like, OK talking about it?"
She was quiet for a few seconds, still looking down, then she let her legs dangle off the edge of the platform and dropped her hands into her lap, "I don't know."
He took a chance and approached the platform, "Can I sit with you at least? I wanna talk. You don't have to answer. Or even listen. There's just some things I want to say."
"Alright," Paizley gave another shrug but otherwise didn't move.
Well, this was promising. Alonzo went to sit down on the opposite side of the platform, where they couldn't actually see each other. He took a moment to find the words to say and Paizley waited.
"I'm sorry about what happened. Everyone's telling me to stop apologising and I'm trying to but I think this is a fair exception. I never really got to apologise to you before."
Paizley was silent, but she was listening as he went on.
"I can't blame myself for you remembering," he told her, reminding himself as well, "But I gotta take some responsibility for it. The patrol wouldn't have been at your house if it hadn't been for me. So I'm sorry, Paizley," he paused. When she still didn't answer, he added, "I understand how you feel, now."
"No, you don't."
She didn't sound upset or annoyed or anything. Just... certain.
"I do. Maybe not everything but I understand what's like carrying something that heavy with you. And having everyone act so careful around you. Like you're gonna break any minute."
"Mm-hmm..."
Al turned his head enough so that he could see her out of the corner of his eye. She was sitting up straight with her head bowed in thought and her fingers played with the bow around her neck. He watched her for a moment, "Can I ask you something?"
"What?"
"Do you get nightmares? About what happened to you?"
"Yeah," she nodded.
"Same," Al sighed and leaned back, "... Even before you remembered it?"
"Ever since it happened. I see the fire a lot. And sometimes I feel the taser."
"I always hear the skull cracking... And the blood everywhere..." he swallowed. He hadn't been sick over it in months but that didn't mean he felt comfortable thinking about it. He never would, "Can't imagine what it's like suddenly remembering it after all this time, though."
"Horrible," she muttered and Al opened his mouth to speak. Before he could, Paizley had pushed herself back onto the platform, crouching now, and turned completely to face him, "But I'll be fine. That's, uh..." she hesitated to continue, "... that's actually why I came here. I did wanna talk to you but, I dunno, I guess I chickened out. I've been thinking about it and you're right. It's not your fault I remembered that stuff. It's... because of you, but it's not your fault. Does that make sense?"
"Makes sense to me."
"And... I would've said something sooner but after I shut you out, I couldn't face you after that. I feel like you had it worse, honestly, I didn't have the right to talk to you like I did after what you went through."
"Hey, wait a minute," Al frowned, placing a hand on her shoulder and making her turn back, "I didn't have it worse. It was just different. You can't compare those two things."
Paizley smiled, slightly cautious, "So, we're good?"
"We're good," Alonzo returned the smile and pulled her into a one-armed hug.
"Al?" Zephyr's voice came from behind them and they both looked up as he walked into the garden. He slowed down when he saw Paizley was with him, "Everything OK?"
"Zeph!" Al rolled his eyes affectionately and jumped off the platform to meet him halfway, "I told you I'd only be a minute."
"Right, a minute. We got through two whole songs without you," he glanced between Al and Paizley, "Did you guys talk it out, then?"
"Yeah. It's all good. No worries."
His hands now on Zephyr's waist, Alonzo couldn't resist leaning down to kiss him but they were interrupted by Paizley's giggling.
"You two want some privacy or what?"
The boys laughed along with her and Al tugged on Zephyr's hand, dragging him over to the platform.
"Nah, c'mon. We can all just sit here and chill."
"You don't want to get back out there? Roz and Zach'll be wondering where we are."
Al scoffed, "Please, half of the people out there have been dying for us to disappear all night," he smirked and pushed Zephyr down to sit a few feet away from Paizley, "Besides, Roz and Zach aren't gonna risk walking in on us."
Paizley snorted, "Seriously, I will leave if you want me to!"
The three of them laughed and Al grabbed both her and Zephyr's wrists as he sat down between them, holding them there, "No way, you're staying here. We're survivors. Let's just appreciate that for a minute."
Zephyr wasn't entirely sure what had happened to get Alonzo in such a good mood, but he wasn't about to question it. If Al was happy, he was happy. And his grin only grew wider when Al put an arm around him and pulled him close, with Paizley leaning against him on his other side. Closing his eyes, Zephyr rested his head on Alonzo's shoulder and listened to the sound of his voice as he sang.
"And I know that we're gonna be fine, and the tattooed mistakes are gonna fade over time. As long as we live, time passes by and we won't get it back when we die."
