Limelight

Izabelle: Homecoming

(Hey, guess what? New ship! I'm now shipping Izabelle with Zeke instead~! Some good old enemies-to-friends-to-lovers. We've gotten through the enemies stage with the last couple of Limelights about them so it's time to get into the friends stage. But that's just one part of this one-shot, this is mostly about Izabelle's relationship with Bonzo. But Zeke, Hazen, Riza and Zadie do still have some important roles ;)

I have a lot of Limelights planned atm to get through, some Zebelle, some Chanzie and a couple odd ones of other characters. And anyone who still hasn't read Tattooed Mistakes, if you like the BG zombies, especially Zephyr and Alonzo, and you also like angst, go check that out too!)

FRITZ: the zombie in the sleeveless coveralls at the cauli-brains stand who Zed throws the cauliflower to at the start of My Year
DIAZ: the zombie in blue coveralls sitting on the car behind Eliza during Bonzo's rap

_____________________________

The Z-alert had finally stopped blaring and Izabelle slowly took her hands away from her ears and lifted her head. She could still hear the harsh ringing and the blurring of her vision was yet to fade. It certainly didn't help to have these humans on either side of her, shuffling about and shouting, instead of any of her friends or her cousin.

Her cousin.

The patrol had taken her cousin. They took Bonzo. He was gone.

The pounding in her head seemed to grow worse and the bright spots in front of her eyes that had started to dissipate instead only grew more unbearable. And Bonzo wasn't there. Bonzo was always the best to help her with sensory overload, seeing as he knew what it was like. Without him, though, she could usually rely on Riza or Zadie. But they were elsewhere in the stands – Iza had opted to find a spot closer to Bonzo to keep an eye on him. So much for that.

All she could do was force herself to stand on her shaky legs and push her way past the humans who were booing and hissing. The other zombies were also running for the steps, not wanting to stick around now that the humans were turning on them again. Izabelle, her hands pressed to her temples, could barely register who else was there with her as she hurried away from the noise but then she slowly began to recognise the zombie in front of her. Hazen clearly hadn't noticed her there yet, wanting to get as far from the angry humans as possible.

"Haze...?" she tried to call out but she was hyperventilating. It was enough to make him turn around, though, and his eyes widened when he saw her. He wasn't used to the sight of Izabelle in such a vulnerable state.

"Izabelle?" he pulled her closer and lead her off to one side, out of the way of the zombies and out of sight from the humans, "Oh, Z, what do I do...?" he muttered under his breath.

"Bonzka...!" Izabelle gasped, "Bonzka zav..." Bonzo's gone...

She pushed against him, craning her neck to see the zombie patrol driving away. As they drove out of view, she almost tried to run after them but Hazen grabbed her by the shoulders.

"Don't! Come on, just wait here, the others will come find us..."

Where the heck is Ze-

"Hazen!"

He looked up to see Zeke running towards them and sighed in relief, "Zeke...! Where are Riza and Zadie?"

Zeke shook his head as he came to a stop, "I don't kn-" then he noticed how concerned Hazen looked, and how heavily Izabelle was breathing, and how Hazen was gripping her shoulders while she struggled. Zeke's brain instinctively switched to protective mode, "What's wrong? What happened?"

"I think she's having a meltdown."

"Meltd- Wait, she's autistic too?"

Hazen nodded in response, "I-I don't really know what to do, just that she needs some kind of pressure. Riza and Zadie will know."