The Colour of its Eyes.
by Thejennamonster.
She didn't ask for this, you know.
Not that she could have told you if she had, seeing that there were ten pounds of metal in her mouth, wires across her teeth to cut and swell her tongue, her already slurred speech made almost incomprehensible unless you leaned in close enough to hear her. Not that anyone would want to, her breath rank and sour from particles of food that were impossible to remove from the mesh netting that coated the inside of her cheeks. She knew this, so she rarely tried to make herself heard from her seat at the back of the class, instead resigning herself to staying as still as possible, her hands clasped neatly in on the desktop, her face forward, seemingly paying close attention to whatever the teacher was saying. Her body was forced as still as a statue, but her eyes, her eyes, they would roam. They would roam and they would play and eventually they would come to land on him.
He was beautiful in her eyes. A kindred spirit; mocked and ridiculed by the world, a pariah of the school yard. She knew he could be the one to save her, she knew that he could be the one to pull her from her cocoon, turning her, with his love, into a beautiful butterfly. If only he would see her, if only he would, just once, turn his head to meet her stare, to see her blush, to know, just as she did, that they were meant to be. But he wouldn't. His eyes were focused elsewhere. To the other corner of the room. On something small. And green.
Green. She hated that colour, green. She loathed it to the point where even going outside was enough to fill her with intense, fiery rage. She would stomp on the grass, scowl at the trees, kick the funny looking dog that roamed the neighborhood (which for some reason would giggle and put himself into position for another, which made her question her own sanity on more than one occasion). The colour would haunt her dreams, chasing her, following her until she was surrounded by that hideous colour and all she could hear was an annoying, grating laugh that would cause her to tumble to the ground from her bed, panting and sweating, a half formed memory floating behind her eyes.
She decided on one of these restless nights to do something drastic. No longer would she keep herself silent. No longer would she stand aside and watch as her love lavished attention on someone else. She would destroy this offending creature of this offending colour and then, oh and then, her knight's eyes would be free to wander to hers. And everything would be right in the world.
Her plan was flawless. She knew where the creature lived. It was all just a matter of sneaking in and doing the deed. A pillow would suffice, she thought, as she crept silently towards that strange house of that horrible colour. Yes, a pillow would be easy. Catch it while it's sleeping. Cover its face. Watch it squirm and when it's over, replace everything as it was and act surprised at the news of its "sudden and oh so very natural looking" death.
As she approached the sidewalk she began to think that cutting a gas line might be easier. It gave the creature more of a choice in its demise: a slow and painless suffocation, or a fiery explosion of agony if it should decide to cook itself a midnight snack. She fingered the wire cutters in her pocket. Yes, cutting a gas line would be perfect.
But wait! she thought as she crossed into the lawn, Why would she want to keep it clean and quiet? This creature was the definition of everything wrong in her life! It should be punished! It should be torn limb from limb and she should dance in the rain from its spraying blood. A knife! A knife was how it should be done! Ripping, screaming, crying, begging, with a knife she could do it as quick or as slow as she wanted—She had control, She was in charge, She could fight back, making this creature pay for everything it had done to her.
She giggled quietly to herself as she reached out to touch the small metal knob on the front door to its lair. The cold and heavy weight in her hand made everything suddenly come into complete and intense focus; sounds louder, colours more vivid. This was it. This was the point of no return. This was the moment of truth.
Somewhere in the back of her mind, a small voice called out, begging, screaming to be heard above the din of utter hatred that was filling her, but it was no use. The voice's jaws were tightly wired and the only sound it could make was a moaning whisper. It could just resign itself to stay very still and very quiet because it would be ignored for the rest of the day.
The knob was turned. The house was dark. Quiet. She crept across the living room, back down the hall where the bedroom should have been, steeling herself to Do What Must Be Done, when she saw it. A crack of light. Moving closer she realized why it had set off those silent alarms in her brain: the light was surrounding a tile in the floor. Under a table. After only a moment's second thought, she swiftly moved into action, sliding the table out of the way and prying the tile away from the floor revealing a glowing pink tube. And from out this tube came voices. Faint and hard to make out, but voices all the same. The creature was obviously not alone in the house. This was not a good thing and her instincts told her to flee before she was caught, and she almost obeyed when she heard something that caused her to pause.
His name. The name of her true love, of her white horsed knight. His name.
Her hesitation shattered, she threw herself down the fluorescent tube, plunging down into the underbelly of the creature's lair. She knew not where she was going, but it didn't matter. His name had given her strength, and she knew What She Must Do.
She landed hard at the end of the tube in a rolling pile of cloth and metal. Quickly righting herself she scanned the room, finding only glass tubes and metal structures surrounding her. And a shadow. No, wait, two shadows—one short and thin with antenna like protrusions coming from its head, hands ending in three claws clutched in a moment of rage (or victory?), its laughter ringing through her ears—that same sound that haunted he sleep each night. She clutched her hands to her ears, hoping to block out the horrifying sound and focused her attention on the other shadow. The one that seemed to be floating in midair. The one with the reflection of glasses and the scythe-like hair and long, flowing coat that told her that it could belong to none other than Him. He was here with her, and her heart almost over flowed with emotion at the thought. She was on the verge of racing from her hiding place behind the glass and metal tubes and throwing herself at his feet when the antenna shadow (finally) ceased its horrid laughter and spoke, its voice grating, dripping with the venom of hatred.
"So, Dib, it seems as though I've got you exactly where I want you."
She held herself back from lunging at the creature. How dare he speak her love's name with such callousness!
"You—you'll never get away with this, Zim!" Her knight shouted, his shadow stuggling to be free of his invisible bonds.
"Oh, but you'll find that I already have. With you trapped here within this force field, I am free to set loose upon the world my evil plan of…SENDING FREE PIZZA TO EVERY HOUSE IN TOWN!"
"NOOOOOOO—wait, free pizza? What's so bad about that? I mean, sure, it's kinda bad for you, but I know at least my sister will—"
"SILENCE! This is no ordinary pizza, Dib-stink. You see this pizza is covered in…ANCHOVIES!"
"NOO! NOT THE ANCHOVIES!"
She silently echoed her love's anguished cry, visions of the small, slimy fish—the enemy of all great delivery goodness—dancing before her eyes. The creature must be stopped! And her knight was the only one who could do it! She must free him from his bonds! But how?
She crawled, swiftly and silently, from her hiding place towards the shadows, all the while keeping as far out of sight as she could. The creature and her knight came into view and she could see that her love was being kept afloat within a neon pink beam of light that was coming from a silver platform.
"YES! ANCHOVIES!" the creature was shouting, "The town will then soon lose its trust in its food service industry causing them to stop spending their monies, and therefore DOOMING the economy making it rich for take over!"
"NOOOOOOOOO—actually that makes surprising sense for one of your plans. I'm surprised."
"Heh. Thanks!"
"Anyway—NOOOOOOOOO!"
Her love's screams were becoming more frantic. She had to help him! Mustering up all of her courage she moved as close as she dared to the two figures, desperately looking for some way to disable the power to the force field holding the world's only savior. She had almost given up all hope when There! She saw it! Coming from the silver platform was a thick black cord which lead into an outlet in the wall. Getting near it would bring her dangerously close to being spotted by the creature, but, she thought as she tensed her muscles to strike, it was worth it. She had to save Him. It was His only chance.
She focused her attention on the creature, waiting for the perfect opportunity. All she needed was for him to look away for one second, just enough time for her to dash to the plug and pull it from the wall. Just on second, just one…
Her salvation came in the form of a small, oddly formed, green dog. It came flying from one of the many pink tubes leading into the room and spun/skidded across the floor only to slam into the creature's legs, sending it crashing to the floor. Now. Now was the time.
"GIR! What do you think you are DOING? You're going to ruin everything!"
She dove the last five feet across the floor to the power outlet, pulling with all of her might on the cord until finally, after what seemed like hours, the plug popped out of the wall, causing her to fly backwards, crashing into one of the glass tubes. Thankfully the sound of her impact was masked by the equally loud sound of the force field powering down and the Savior of Earth landing unceremoniously in a heap atop the silver platform.
Her knight quickly righted himself, straightening his glasses with dignity before pointing at the creature (still fighting with its small plush minion) in triumph.
"You're through, Zim!" he shouted. Her heart felt like it was about to explode with love and pride. That was her man about to destroy the creature! Her man who was going to save the earth!
"You can't stop me, Dib." The creature sing-songed, "I've already put my plan into effect! Gir delivered all of the pizzas while you were down here floating around like an idiot!"
"No I didn't." stated the small dog.
Its master turned on it, rage filling its red eyes, "WHAT?"
"I ated them all up! They were yummy!" the small animal clarified, giggling.
"YOU ATE MY EVIL PLAN!"
"Piggy helped."
"ARRRG!" the creature shouted, throwing its clawed hands into the air, "That's it! I've had enough! COMPUTER!"
"What now?" a deep voice from seemingly nowhere whined.
"Remove the intruder! I'm done with this nonsense for tonight. But tomorrow Dib, tomorrow you shall rue the day you messed with ZIM!"
"Yeah, right, dream on." her knight scoffed.
"Oh, I will dream on, Dib, and when I'm done, you…you had better wish that you were asleep! COMPUTER DO AS I COMMAND!"
One of the pink tubes snaked form the ceiling and engulfed her hero.
"That doesn't make any seeeense!" he cried as he was sucked up to the top layers of the house.
She cried out in alarm, jumping from her spot on the floor to avenge her noble knight before realizing that she was trapped in one of the very same tubes, the computer obviously noticing that there were more that one intruder in its master's lair. Instantly she was sucked back up the way she had come, landing in a pile of leaves in the front lawn. Wobbling to her feet, she brushed off her skirt, and was picking small pieces of leaves out of her hair when she noticed him standing only a few feet from her, staring intently at the glowing green house. Sighing, he shook his head in resignation before turning towards the sidewalk.
Trudging his way down the front walk he took notice of her standing there out of the corner of his eye. He forced a little half smile before saying the two most beautiful words she had ever heard:
"Hey, Gretchen."
This was it! He spoke to her! This was her moment! She could declare her love! Tell him what a hero she thought he was! Admit to coming to his rescue down in the basement of the creatures horrible lair! This was the moment she had been dreaming of!
And so she closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and, concentrating as hard as she could, responded clearer than she had ever spoken in her life:
"Hi, Dib."
Grinning from ear to ear she opened her eyes. Only to see nothing in front of her. He had already moved past and was trudging slowly down the street, disappearing in the moonlight.
Her grin fell and she sighed as she watched his retreating figure disappear. One day he would realize that he loved her. One day he would be hers. Until then, she would always watch him from the shadows. Someone had to be there to rescue her brave knight, and that someone would be her. And if anyone tried to come in between them, she thought, fingering the small switchblade in her pocket, they would pay.
She didn't ask for this, you know.
But she would do whatever it took to protect what was rightfully hers.
--Fin.
A/n: There is a movie reference in here. Anyone get it? Anyhow, I wrote this for the Valentine's Day contest for a Livejournal community I'm in (illpronebelly). I wanted to do something cute with Gretchen and Dib and (as usual) it decided it would rather be something dark and creepy. At least it got a bit silly towards the end, ya?
Anyhow, please R and R. I know I've been away for a while (moving across the country and helping to start a business takes up more time than one would imagine), but things are evening out for the most part so hopefully I can spend a bit more time writing.