Tattooed Mistakes (Are Gonna Fade Over Time)

Epilogue

(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 ;) )

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...