So. I write free-verse in my spare time and decided to put it to some incredibly vague sense of good use. First Invader Zim facfic. I don't own anything but the angst.

He wanted this
He always has
He hoped for it
Begged for it
Chased after it
But he hadn't expected it to hurt nearly this much.

His rival stands over him
Watching
Waiting
Counting the seconds between his labored breaths
The spaces between growing ever longer.

The figure crouches and the world is reduced
To a piece of land roughly five foot square
Full of smoke and unspoken emotion
Population
Two
Nothing and no one to stand between them
But themselves
And pain
And sirens.

He hears sirens in the distance
But he knows they won't get there in time
Not by a long shot
Not with this pain slowly
Steadily
Cutting off his supply of air
With each breath his lungs becoming more reluctant
To take in the next.

Three fingered hands touching his face
Cool
Sharp
Keeping him awake
Keeping him aware
Keeping him alive
Only temporarily
But he wonders
Why bother?

Darkness in sleep is slow in coming
Creeping reluctantly into his vision
Of impossibly red eyes framed by a pillars of fire
Ashes swirling into the star-specked night sky
Behind those eyes
Black tears oozing from around the edges
Tacking paths over green skin
Falling on his chest.

They burn him
They burn their way into his head
Because tears have no place
No place in those eyes
Those eyes too perfect for words
Words he can't find the strength to think
Much less say.

And he curses
Whoever finally made those
Perfect
Perfect
Eyes
Bleed tears.

Then his sight is gone
Vanishing like a shadow into the light
No reasoning
Just
Gone.

Claws curl around his hands
Bring his fingers to rest on green lips
"Dib."

"Zim?"
The word forces itself out
Bringing salty
Iron-oxide liquid with it.

"Please
Don't
Leave."

"You hate me."

"No."

"You tried to kill me."

"No."

"I need you."

"Then stay."

"I have to go."

"No
You have to stay here
Stay with Zim
So Zim can fix you."

"I can't
I'm too broken
I hurt
I asked for this
This is what I deserve
Let me go."

"I can fix you
You're broken but Zim can fix you
Zim has to fix you
Dib-human cannot leave or you will break me too
Don't you feel
My eyes are already broken?"

"Tears."

"We're broken."

"They're tears"
Even at the last second
Finding a correction to make
Finding a connection to make.

"Dib-thing
Invaders don't cry."

Tears slide down his fingers
And his grip on reality
Falters.

Flashes of memory swirling across the surfaces
Of his deadened eyes
All painful
But no pain like this
That hurt a part of him that doesn't even exist
None that burn like alien tears.

"I didn't want this
Just this place
Not this feeling."

"If you go
If you leave me
I'll have to go too
Because
I can't be alone like this."

A heart
Lodged somewhere in the nearby wreckage
Still attatched to its fading host
Skips a beat
Another
And then three in a row
And he
Breathes
Exhales
And lets him touch his face.

The world is burning
Lighting the sky on fire
When all things on the ground
Have been devoured
The heat consuming everything in its path
But they wait
Together.

He hopes his friend will know
Without him saying anything
How to keep him
Awake
Aware
Alive
Just a little bit longer
So he can prevent those alien tears
From ever
Falling
Again.

I never figured out what was really going on here, but I'm hoping Dib doesn't go and die after all that. Reviews are greatly appreciated!
--Dotskip

ss
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