Beyond the Barrier: Zombie Town One-shots

Tower Of Mistakes

(Hey, it's the shortest fic in the collection! Time to see what happened with Zed when he came home from containment, so a tie-in with Closed Doors and No Risk, No Reward. Angsty and emotional, as is the custom. BtB updates are probably gonna become more random from now on, seeing as I keep struggling to find the time during the day and falling asleep while writing at night, AGAZ is almost over and I want to see if I can get the Big Project started, plus the Bronzo AU

QUICK NOTE: I'm going back over past BtB one-shots and editing, it's mostly just fixing typos and rewording things here and there but We're In Zombieland Part 1 has a detail added in - Izabelle, one of the background zombies, is Bonzo's cousin. I have an idea in mind that involves them being related so I thought I should add that in. I might also mention it briefly in the next one-shot, which is once again about Bonzo

And yes, this is named after the song from Steven Universe)

"You don't have to change who you are, Zed, I love who you are."

"Yeah, but they don't."

Zed was ushered inside by his father, oddly quiet, contemplative. Zevon watched him in silence for a moment or two. It broke his heart to see his son like this; the last time Zed had looked so lost was after his mother had died. But soon after that, he'd sworn to keep upbeat, never let himself feel discouraged or alone or afraid. He said it was for Zoey's sake, and it was to an extent, but it was more for himself. So that he didn't end up just... thinking. Thinking only reminded him of everything wrong with the world. Why dwell on what was wrong when you could take action and make it right?

Now, he didn't know what action to take. He stood there in the hallway with no clue what to do. That was unlike him, Zed always had a plan. Always. But he was thinking too much.

"You OK, Zed?"

Zed blinked and shook himself from his daze. Or he tried to.

"I-I... I'm not sure," he shrugged, nowhere near as big as he usually did, "I dunno, maybe you were right, Dad, maybe I shouldn't have joined the team in the first place. It was stupid thinking one good human meant anything for the rest of 'em..."

Zevon grabbed his arm, coming closer just like he had outside.

"Don't ever let me hear you talk like that, son. Look at what you did. You changed things, you started something amazing at that school."

"Yeah, and then I screwed everything up!"

"But you still did it. You did it once, and you can do it again. You can give it another try, with a little more time and a little more thought. Zed, I am so proud of you. You got zombies further than we've ever gone before. That was you. But don't put your life on the line next time. There's always a better way, you don't have to sacrifice yourself like that. You got that?"

"I got it. Thanks, Dad..."

"Good. You better. Now, go get yourself cleaned up and changed."

- BEYOND THE BARRIER -

He was still thinking after he had showered and was changing back into his regular old zombie uniform when he noticed the bedroom door creep open a bit. A soft knock came from the other side as a little face peaked around the door.

"Zed...?" Zoey clung to the door, looking close to tears.

He was struck by how her voice was shaking, unable to move at first. Then he slowly walked towards her as she stepped into the room and closed the door behind her. He crouched down in front of her and she flung her arms around his neck. She finally let herself cry with her face buried in her brother's chest.

"Hey, hey..." he murmured and stroked her hair, "It's OK, everything's alright now..."

"I was so scared, Zed...!"

Zed let out a shuddering breath.

"I-I'm sorry, Zoey... I'm sorry you had to see me like that..."

"I was scared for you," she lifted her head, sniffling and furiously wiping the tears spilling down her cheeks, "You were just trying to help us and they ruined everything and they hurt you. You didn't do anything wrong! And Eliza and Bonnie didn't either! Y-you didn't deserve that..."

She let out another sob and Zed pulled back in, muffling her voice.

"I was scared that... they wouldn't let you come back home..."

He pressed his lips to her forehead and carefully picked her up.

"Shh... C'mere, green bean..." he moved to sit on his bed with Zoey in his lap and looked her in the eyes, "I'm right here. I'm not going anywhere. Besides, there's a whole lot more I've still gotta do."

"You think we'll be OK?"

Zed sighed. This was serious, he couldn't lie to her. He couldn't pretend it would all just work itself out. "It's gonna be a lot of work. I dunno if we can really fix everything, but we're gonna do what we can. Alright?"

"Alright." Zoey nodded, blinking away the last of her tears and giving him a small smile. He hugged her once more and she kissed his cheek.

"I love you, Zed."

"Love you, too, Zoey."

She slid out of his lap and let herself out. Zed sat for a moment, thinking again. He was starting to realise maybe he should think more often. Really think. He got up and made his way down the stairs, finding his dad in the kitchen.

"Hey, uh... I should probably go talk to Eliza. We need to figure out what to do about all this."

Zevon nodded, "Good plan."