A/N: I don't know what possessed me to do this (I hate puns) but I did it...so...you know...whatever.
Disclaimer: Oh come on...
Unfinished Business
Dib stepped quietly through the graveyard. Monuments to the dead stood around him still and gray as the one he approached. His amber eyes did not fill with tears as he neared he held no flowers in his hands.
He finally stopped walking and stared down at a stone set a few inches above the ground. It read: ZIM, beloved master, despised enemy, he is missed.
For a long time he stood there not moving. He was older now, twenty-four-years-old, his trench coat had many holes.
"Another year now." He said. His voice sounded a bit hollow in the slowly moving air. "A whole 'nother year since." He paused reconsidering his words. "Gir's doing alright. He likes living with me." He laughed at himself. "I always tell you that."
His face fell as he kicked the ground beside the grave. "Not much has happened. Alora, she refuses to see Collie. Says she want nothing to do with her." His eyes unfocused for a moment. "The one time I make it with a girl and I knock her up. Chose a pretty shallow one. Good thing I was drunk at the time or I'd feel worse." There was another pause. "You seem to be the only one I'll talk about that with. I can tell you this, you're a better listener now." He half-smiled but it fell away.
"I still don't know why I did this instead of turning you into the government." He pushed his hands into his coat pockets. "It didn't seem right anymore. Not with you gone like that, it wasn't right."
He lifted his head and looked off into the West where the sun was setting. "I have to go now." He said as if expecting the headstone to persuade him to stay and talk some more. "Collie, I have to go pick her up." He paused a moment more. "Bye Zim." He turned and walked back out of the cemetery.
* * *
Pounding on the door made Dib look up from the TV. A little girl beside him with spiky hair tied back in a thick pony-tail looked at him with wide eyes.
"Stay here Collie." He said getting up. It was early the next day, Saturday to be exact. He opened the door to find two police officers standing there. "May I help you?" He asked catiously.
"Dib C.?" One officer asked.
Dib nodded. "What's this about?"
"Sir are you the next-of-kin to a Zim, uh, doesn't seem to be a last name, buried in the Oakey Hills Cemetery?"
"Yes." Dib opened the door a little wider.
"Sir last night that headstone was defaced badly, three bodies were found on it, badly mutilated." The other officer said. "We were wondering if you be able to tell us something."
"Zims' headstone?"
"Daddy?"
"Collie go back in the living room okay?" He shooed the girl away.
"We think it was a ritualistic suicide." One of the officers said. "We couldn't get a date off the headstone but did this Zim die around this date?"
"Yes, yesterday, five years ago. Was his grave disturbed farther than that?"
"No sir. It looks like some teenagers got too deep in a game, candles and chanting."
"Would you like to come with us to visit the site?"
"No, that's all right." Dib said, he sounded a little confused.
"Alright then sir, good day to you." The two officers tipped their hats and went back to their car.
Dib shut the door considering what he'd just heard. It could have been just some loony teenagers thinking they were raising the dead or some such thing. He shook his head. That was probably it.
"Daddy what was that?" The little girl who looked like a little Dib minus the glasses asked.
"Nothing sweetie. Come on, let's go watch cartoons some more." He took her hand and led her back into the living room.
* * *
He lay back in his bed staring at the ceiling. After a moment Dib took off his glasses and put them on his nightstand. His thoughts whirled.
Another set of officers had come by the house for more information on Zim. The way he had died and such. Dib told all he dared.
His public story was that Zim had died in a laboratory accident. Which was partially true, it was in a lab and Dib had accidentally gotten free from his bindings.
They were gone now. Collie was asleep in her room.
His eyes drooped as he fell asleep. He let his mind wander to other things and soon found himself very much asleep. But it was colder. So much colder.
His mind rose from unconsciousness enough to reach blindly for more of his blankets. He settled back, mind barely above sleep and cool sensations persisting.
He at first didn't recognize the shape of a hand, two hands, more, reaching up from the foot of the bed. It mingled in his resting mind as phantom images.
Something was so heavy on his chest when he tried to open his eyes they seemed glued shut. Whatever it was felt cold but vaguely comforting. He felt a far away pleasing sensation on his neck as he finally got one eye open.
The other opened, the world was still as fuzzy in his mind as to his eyes. Cold weight pressed in all the right places before he realized there was someone in the bed with him.
He jerked and pushed the person up off him. He couldn't see who it was it was almost too dark. But streetlamp light filtered into the room through a window casting an eerie yellow-orange glow off the alien head.
His breath caught. "Zim?"
Zim, or whoever it was, had at first looked placid. Now his face screwed up in rage. Wide red eyes sank into dark pits. He opened his mouth as his face contorted even farther and screamed. It was the sound of metal being twisted and tortured into unwilling shapes.
Claws on the ends of long hands ripped at Dib as he struggled to get the invader off of him. He screamed in a mortal voice as the tortured one continued. Pieces of cloth flew into the air as extra clawed hands struck wildly.
Suddenly the over-head light came on blinding Dib and causing him to cry out again.
"Master?"
Dib sat up, his attacker gone. Bits of fluff floated down around him. He looked around the room searching but found nothing.
Nothing except a little silver-blue robot standing in the doorway clutching a rubber pig.
Dib finally caught his breath and found scratches along his arms. "What the hell was that?" He asked only getting a blank look as response from Gir.
* * *
He stumbled a bit in the graveyard. Over stones he didn't see as he hurried to a particular one. He eventually found it and went under the abandoned 'Police Line' tape. It looked undisturbed to him. There were bits of wax stuck to the stone but other than that it was clean.
He blinked. What had he been expecting? A hole in the ground where the alien had escaped his resting place?
He caught his breath but felt a cold trickle down his spine. He whirled to find the sun setting and nothing more. His jaw clenched as the adrenaline refused to stop flowing.
"Where are you Zim?" He asked aloud to the empty cemetery.
"I am where I've always been." A voice whispered in his ear.
Again Dib jerked finding nothing but cold air. Or maybe not. He didn't feel alone anymore.
He stiffened as a cold hand pressed under his coat. An arm hooked around him from behind. Chills numbed his body as something icy ran over the back of his neck. "I will have you." The voice said, an edge of metal hidden under echoes. "Then I will kill you." It was gone. He was let go.
He gasped for air and backed away from the grave. He then ran for his car with all the strength he had left in him.
Disclaimer: Oh come on...
Unfinished Business
Dib stepped quietly through the graveyard. Monuments to the dead stood around him still and gray as the one he approached. His amber eyes did not fill with tears as he neared he held no flowers in his hands.
He finally stopped walking and stared down at a stone set a few inches above the ground. It read: ZIM, beloved master, despised enemy, he is missed.
For a long time he stood there not moving. He was older now, twenty-four-years-old, his trench coat had many holes.
"Another year now." He said. His voice sounded a bit hollow in the slowly moving air. "A whole 'nother year since." He paused reconsidering his words. "Gir's doing alright. He likes living with me." He laughed at himself. "I always tell you that."
His face fell as he kicked the ground beside the grave. "Not much has happened. Alora, she refuses to see Collie. Says she want nothing to do with her." His eyes unfocused for a moment. "The one time I make it with a girl and I knock her up. Chose a pretty shallow one. Good thing I was drunk at the time or I'd feel worse." There was another pause. "You seem to be the only one I'll talk about that with. I can tell you this, you're a better listener now." He half-smiled but it fell away.
"I still don't know why I did this instead of turning you into the government." He pushed his hands into his coat pockets. "It didn't seem right anymore. Not with you gone like that, it wasn't right."
He lifted his head and looked off into the West where the sun was setting. "I have to go now." He said as if expecting the headstone to persuade him to stay and talk some more. "Collie, I have to go pick her up." He paused a moment more. "Bye Zim." He turned and walked back out of the cemetery.
* * *
Pounding on the door made Dib look up from the TV. A little girl beside him with spiky hair tied back in a thick pony-tail looked at him with wide eyes.
"Stay here Collie." He said getting up. It was early the next day, Saturday to be exact. He opened the door to find two police officers standing there. "May I help you?" He asked catiously.
"Dib C.?" One officer asked.
Dib nodded. "What's this about?"
"Sir are you the next-of-kin to a Zim, uh, doesn't seem to be a last name, buried in the Oakey Hills Cemetery?"
"Yes." Dib opened the door a little wider.
"Sir last night that headstone was defaced badly, three bodies were found on it, badly mutilated." The other officer said. "We were wondering if you be able to tell us something."
"Zims' headstone?"
"Daddy?"
"Collie go back in the living room okay?" He shooed the girl away.
"We think it was a ritualistic suicide." One of the officers said. "We couldn't get a date off the headstone but did this Zim die around this date?"
"Yes, yesterday, five years ago. Was his grave disturbed farther than that?"
"No sir. It looks like some teenagers got too deep in a game, candles and chanting."
"Would you like to come with us to visit the site?"
"No, that's all right." Dib said, he sounded a little confused.
"Alright then sir, good day to you." The two officers tipped their hats and went back to their car.
Dib shut the door considering what he'd just heard. It could have been just some loony teenagers thinking they were raising the dead or some such thing. He shook his head. That was probably it.
"Daddy what was that?" The little girl who looked like a little Dib minus the glasses asked.
"Nothing sweetie. Come on, let's go watch cartoons some more." He took her hand and led her back into the living room.
* * *
He lay back in his bed staring at the ceiling. After a moment Dib took off his glasses and put them on his nightstand. His thoughts whirled.
Another set of officers had come by the house for more information on Zim. The way he had died and such. Dib told all he dared.
His public story was that Zim had died in a laboratory accident. Which was partially true, it was in a lab and Dib had accidentally gotten free from his bindings.
They were gone now. Collie was asleep in her room.
His eyes drooped as he fell asleep. He let his mind wander to other things and soon found himself very much asleep. But it was colder. So much colder.
His mind rose from unconsciousness enough to reach blindly for more of his blankets. He settled back, mind barely above sleep and cool sensations persisting.
He at first didn't recognize the shape of a hand, two hands, more, reaching up from the foot of the bed. It mingled in his resting mind as phantom images.
Something was so heavy on his chest when he tried to open his eyes they seemed glued shut. Whatever it was felt cold but vaguely comforting. He felt a far away pleasing sensation on his neck as he finally got one eye open.
The other opened, the world was still as fuzzy in his mind as to his eyes. Cold weight pressed in all the right places before he realized there was someone in the bed with him.
He jerked and pushed the person up off him. He couldn't see who it was it was almost too dark. But streetlamp light filtered into the room through a window casting an eerie yellow-orange glow off the alien head.
His breath caught. "Zim?"
Zim, or whoever it was, had at first looked placid. Now his face screwed up in rage. Wide red eyes sank into dark pits. He opened his mouth as his face contorted even farther and screamed. It was the sound of metal being twisted and tortured into unwilling shapes.
Claws on the ends of long hands ripped at Dib as he struggled to get the invader off of him. He screamed in a mortal voice as the tortured one continued. Pieces of cloth flew into the air as extra clawed hands struck wildly.
Suddenly the over-head light came on blinding Dib and causing him to cry out again.
"Master?"
Dib sat up, his attacker gone. Bits of fluff floated down around him. He looked around the room searching but found nothing.
Nothing except a little silver-blue robot standing in the doorway clutching a rubber pig.
Dib finally caught his breath and found scratches along his arms. "What the hell was that?" He asked only getting a blank look as response from Gir.
* * *
He stumbled a bit in the graveyard. Over stones he didn't see as he hurried to a particular one. He eventually found it and went under the abandoned 'Police Line' tape. It looked undisturbed to him. There were bits of wax stuck to the stone but other than that it was clean.
He blinked. What had he been expecting? A hole in the ground where the alien had escaped his resting place?
He caught his breath but felt a cold trickle down his spine. He whirled to find the sun setting and nothing more. His jaw clenched as the adrenaline refused to stop flowing.
"Where are you Zim?" He asked aloud to the empty cemetery.
"I am where I've always been." A voice whispered in his ear.
Again Dib jerked finding nothing but cold air. Or maybe not. He didn't feel alone anymore.
He stiffened as a cold hand pressed under his coat. An arm hooked around him from behind. Chills numbed his body as something icy ran over the back of his neck. "I will have you." The voice said, an edge of metal hidden under echoes. "Then I will kill you." It was gone. He was let go.
He gasped for air and backed away from the grave. He then ran for his car with all the strength he had left in him.