A/N: Okay, okay, I HAVE finished this particular story already, and I'm almost done with the last chapter to 'Keep Your Distance'. This had to be written. Lemme just say, I was in an extremely, EXTREMELY bad mood yesterday. Nothing went well at all, and I literally wanted to destroy everything. Instead, I picked up a pencil, some paper, and started writing out this fic. The rest of it will be put up tonight, depending if I can transfer it from paper to computer in that amount of time. Orignally 'An Orange In An Apple Tree'... don't ask me WHY I named it so... Anyway... um... enjoy? And sorry, also, because Dib may seem OOC. I just felt like I needed to relate to someone, and Dib happened to be the first person to pop into my mind. Of course, I was in a bad mood so...
Disclaimer: I don't own any of Jhonen's characters, but the ones that will show up later I do own. You can take all of them except Darla! Darla is mine! Heh. You'll find out.
Blacklight
Part One: White Room
Gaz laid down on the couch in the middle of the room, sighing as her body slowly sank into the comforting pillows, and smiling. She gazed up at the ceiling, silently thumbing her fingers through her hair, which looked more indigo than anything else in the dim light. Then she yawned and stretched out on the couch, and found an interesting button on her nightgown to play with.
"Today is a restful day," she mumbled under her breath, before turning sideways into the golden sunlight that had begun to flood the room, closed her eyes, and fell asleep, resting before the morning's usual rush of busy activity.
*****Three Months Earlier*****
There were bright lights, illuminating the entire room. It seemed even brighter from the reflection of the metal that lined the floor of the room, which reflected the piercing emanation off of it. The room was clean, for the most part. If one were to smell the air, it would produce that sense of a sterile, hospital smell. For the most part, everything was white, excluding the floors, and the walls, which were made entirely out of some black, shiny substance that wasn't recognizable.
Red, shining eyes gazed toward the ceiling, but the lights were so bright that all that could be seen were the beams of light. Was there even a ceiling? He couldn't tell. His eyes fell to the floor again, to the emptiness- lack the small table on the side. He pressed his head against his round glass encasing, trying to see more closely and rid himself of his distorted view.
But then again... did he truly want to see what was there? He pushed himself back to the center of the tube and just... floated there. It wasn't from lack of gravity. It was from the atmosphere... which was more liquid than gaseous. It was something Zim couldn't recognize- and he didn't want to. A bluish substance that for one dreading moment he thought was water when he first open his eyes in this torturous cell. He had thrashed wildly until he realized that he wasn't burning. Feeling foolish, he stopped.
Another thought was that he'd be suffocated. But he breathed deeply in and looked down, realizing that his inhalation organs had been attached to some sort of breathing apparatus which led outside of the tube. Of course he wouldn't suffocate. His death wouldn't be that easy. That had been a promise.
Zim floated there, relaxing his shoulders, trying to sleep. He closed his eyes and instantly a million flashes from the... occurrence... flared across his memory. He shut his eyes tighter, trying to block out the recollection, trying to forget the flood of pain that had come so suddenly in place of his happiness. He clenched his fist and in anger open his eyes and slammed his fist against the side of the tube, yet no avail came from doing so. He rested his head against his glass, his antennae brushing lightly against the prison-like walls. His eyes rested against the table again, and this time he could see it more clearly, now that his face was at another angle. So many sharp objects...
Zim bit his lip, and a metallic taste from whatever liquid he was floating in flooded the taste buds of his sharp Irken tongue. He pushed himself out and tried to block his mind again, closing his eyes. He knew that the no-gravity feeling of the chamber he was in was only so that he couldn't feel the aches and pains so easily. He'd been fully introduced to forms of torture before. They were getting him relaxed, so that when the pain did come, he wouldn't be prepared.
Those damned humans had finally done it. Zim bit harder on his lip and clenched his fist. He felt betrayed. Hell, he'd *been* betrayed. If he was every let out of here, he'd get his revenge...
No. Not the kind of revenge he wanted. He couldn't. He just... could never. But he would get his revenge. Revenge on the one who had most likely been behind the betrayal. A grip of pain clenched his inner alien organs as he remembered. If he had just been taken care of so many years before... none of this would have happened. He'd still have everything. He'd still be someone.
Now he was a lab rat. A prime example of a failure, who had let his feelings get in the way of everything. He wanted to tell himself never again, but he wouldn't have a second chance.
Outside the tube, a huge metal door opened up from the floor, and on a platform rose three people, all in white coats. One female, two male. The female had long, dirty blonde hair, and cold, almond shaped eyes the color of coal. She carried a note pad wore thin wire glasses.
Beside her stood the other two scientists, both who Zim knew well. The first was Dib- how could he forget? The jet black hair hadn't changed, it still sat atop his head like a scythe on a stick. His skin was still pale, and though he had increased in height but thinned in body frame, Zim knew all too well he was stronger than he looked. He rubbed the bruise on his face as if to display this knowledge.
The man that stood next to Dib was much older, but still had his somewhat similar features. The scythe-like hair, though his stood atop a balding head and was bent. The pale skin, though his had begun to wrinkle from old age. And the menacing glare that had crossed his face when he first entered the room and laid his eyes on Zim.
"Fascinating..." the woman spoke as she spotted the Irken in the tube in front of her. Her eyes scanned Zim as she approached him, examining his alien anatomy and contrasting them with that of humans.
Zim only watched as the other two approached, now. He did not care for the female scientist- he didn't know her and she was not of his concern. What was his concern were the two Membrane filth whose place in the room sent his blood boiling. His eyes shot to Dib, who was speaking, now. Zim gave him an icy glare, but Dib only smiled and continued talking. He couldn't hear what was being said, no matter how much he strained to hear, so he only locked his eyes onto Dib's.
"We need to do this quickly," Dib was saying to his father and the woman. He exchanged glares with Zim and smiled. "I'm interested in finding out what exactly happened."
"I agree," Professor Membrane said. "Not on the interest part-" he shot his son a look, "But on the fact that I would like to get this done soon. I want to find Gaz."
Dib was about to grumble a response to that but decided not to. He turned to the woman- Laura, and she glanced back with fascinated eyes.
"Amazing!" she breathed, glancing back at the alien excitedly. "This is a rare find indeed. I want to study this creature... what did you say his name was?"
"His name is Zim," Dib said, walking up to the glass tube and tapping it with his finger.
Zim cringed as a sudden sharp pounding resounded in the chamber he was in. He looked down to see Dib mocking him, tapping the glass but at the same time setting out a series of sound waves that grew increasingly in the liquid-like substance. It was like a hammering to his head- only worse. He thrashed wildly in the tube, kicking the sides of it and clawing the liquid, trying to find a way out.
"A strong little thing, isn't he?" Laura commented upon his reaction, pushing her glasses up further on her face.
"Stop that," Membrane ordered Dib. "We're here to study him, not taunt." He pushed a button on a control pad at the side of the tube, exciting electric particles in the tube and setting of a silent but jolting reaction through the entire liquid compound. Zim instantly ceased thrashing and hovered there, disabled. He turned to Dib. "Get out the laboratory table. The other scientists are due here in an hour, and we don't have the equipment ready."
Dib did as he was told, looking back at the unconscious Irken and wishing he could have done more damage than that. He wanted Zim dead, for more reasons than the fact that he had wanted to take over Earth. Zim had done something much, much worse and it was time for him to pay the price.
"Patience," Dib told himself as he set up the metal table in the center of the room. "Once the examination is finished, I can torture him all I want."
Disclaimer: I don't own any of Jhonen's characters, but the ones that will show up later I do own. You can take all of them except Darla! Darla is mine! Heh. You'll find out.
Blacklight
Part One: White Room
Gaz laid down on the couch in the middle of the room, sighing as her body slowly sank into the comforting pillows, and smiling. She gazed up at the ceiling, silently thumbing her fingers through her hair, which looked more indigo than anything else in the dim light. Then she yawned and stretched out on the couch, and found an interesting button on her nightgown to play with.
"Today is a restful day," she mumbled under her breath, before turning sideways into the golden sunlight that had begun to flood the room, closed her eyes, and fell asleep, resting before the morning's usual rush of busy activity.
*****Three Months Earlier*****
There were bright lights, illuminating the entire room. It seemed even brighter from the reflection of the metal that lined the floor of the room, which reflected the piercing emanation off of it. The room was clean, for the most part. If one were to smell the air, it would produce that sense of a sterile, hospital smell. For the most part, everything was white, excluding the floors, and the walls, which were made entirely out of some black, shiny substance that wasn't recognizable.
Red, shining eyes gazed toward the ceiling, but the lights were so bright that all that could be seen were the beams of light. Was there even a ceiling? He couldn't tell. His eyes fell to the floor again, to the emptiness- lack the small table on the side. He pressed his head against his round glass encasing, trying to see more closely and rid himself of his distorted view.
But then again... did he truly want to see what was there? He pushed himself back to the center of the tube and just... floated there. It wasn't from lack of gravity. It was from the atmosphere... which was more liquid than gaseous. It was something Zim couldn't recognize- and he didn't want to. A bluish substance that for one dreading moment he thought was water when he first open his eyes in this torturous cell. He had thrashed wildly until he realized that he wasn't burning. Feeling foolish, he stopped.
Another thought was that he'd be suffocated. But he breathed deeply in and looked down, realizing that his inhalation organs had been attached to some sort of breathing apparatus which led outside of the tube. Of course he wouldn't suffocate. His death wouldn't be that easy. That had been a promise.
Zim floated there, relaxing his shoulders, trying to sleep. He closed his eyes and instantly a million flashes from the... occurrence... flared across his memory. He shut his eyes tighter, trying to block out the recollection, trying to forget the flood of pain that had come so suddenly in place of his happiness. He clenched his fist and in anger open his eyes and slammed his fist against the side of the tube, yet no avail came from doing so. He rested his head against his glass, his antennae brushing lightly against the prison-like walls. His eyes rested against the table again, and this time he could see it more clearly, now that his face was at another angle. So many sharp objects...
Zim bit his lip, and a metallic taste from whatever liquid he was floating in flooded the taste buds of his sharp Irken tongue. He pushed himself out and tried to block his mind again, closing his eyes. He knew that the no-gravity feeling of the chamber he was in was only so that he couldn't feel the aches and pains so easily. He'd been fully introduced to forms of torture before. They were getting him relaxed, so that when the pain did come, he wouldn't be prepared.
Those damned humans had finally done it. Zim bit harder on his lip and clenched his fist. He felt betrayed. Hell, he'd *been* betrayed. If he was every let out of here, he'd get his revenge...
No. Not the kind of revenge he wanted. He couldn't. He just... could never. But he would get his revenge. Revenge on the one who had most likely been behind the betrayal. A grip of pain clenched his inner alien organs as he remembered. If he had just been taken care of so many years before... none of this would have happened. He'd still have everything. He'd still be someone.
Now he was a lab rat. A prime example of a failure, who had let his feelings get in the way of everything. He wanted to tell himself never again, but he wouldn't have a second chance.
Outside the tube, a huge metal door opened up from the floor, and on a platform rose three people, all in white coats. One female, two male. The female had long, dirty blonde hair, and cold, almond shaped eyes the color of coal. She carried a note pad wore thin wire glasses.
Beside her stood the other two scientists, both who Zim knew well. The first was Dib- how could he forget? The jet black hair hadn't changed, it still sat atop his head like a scythe on a stick. His skin was still pale, and though he had increased in height but thinned in body frame, Zim knew all too well he was stronger than he looked. He rubbed the bruise on his face as if to display this knowledge.
The man that stood next to Dib was much older, but still had his somewhat similar features. The scythe-like hair, though his stood atop a balding head and was bent. The pale skin, though his had begun to wrinkle from old age. And the menacing glare that had crossed his face when he first entered the room and laid his eyes on Zim.
"Fascinating..." the woman spoke as she spotted the Irken in the tube in front of her. Her eyes scanned Zim as she approached him, examining his alien anatomy and contrasting them with that of humans.
Zim only watched as the other two approached, now. He did not care for the female scientist- he didn't know her and she was not of his concern. What was his concern were the two Membrane filth whose place in the room sent his blood boiling. His eyes shot to Dib, who was speaking, now. Zim gave him an icy glare, but Dib only smiled and continued talking. He couldn't hear what was being said, no matter how much he strained to hear, so he only locked his eyes onto Dib's.
"We need to do this quickly," Dib was saying to his father and the woman. He exchanged glares with Zim and smiled. "I'm interested in finding out what exactly happened."
"I agree," Professor Membrane said. "Not on the interest part-" he shot his son a look, "But on the fact that I would like to get this done soon. I want to find Gaz."
Dib was about to grumble a response to that but decided not to. He turned to the woman- Laura, and she glanced back with fascinated eyes.
"Amazing!" she breathed, glancing back at the alien excitedly. "This is a rare find indeed. I want to study this creature... what did you say his name was?"
"His name is Zim," Dib said, walking up to the glass tube and tapping it with his finger.
Zim cringed as a sudden sharp pounding resounded in the chamber he was in. He looked down to see Dib mocking him, tapping the glass but at the same time setting out a series of sound waves that grew increasingly in the liquid-like substance. It was like a hammering to his head- only worse. He thrashed wildly in the tube, kicking the sides of it and clawing the liquid, trying to find a way out.
"A strong little thing, isn't he?" Laura commented upon his reaction, pushing her glasses up further on her face.
"Stop that," Membrane ordered Dib. "We're here to study him, not taunt." He pushed a button on a control pad at the side of the tube, exciting electric particles in the tube and setting of a silent but jolting reaction through the entire liquid compound. Zim instantly ceased thrashing and hovered there, disabled. He turned to Dib. "Get out the laboratory table. The other scientists are due here in an hour, and we don't have the equipment ready."
Dib did as he was told, looking back at the unconscious Irken and wishing he could have done more damage than that. He wanted Zim dead, for more reasons than the fact that he had wanted to take over Earth. Zim had done something much, much worse and it was time for him to pay the price.
"Patience," Dib told himself as he set up the metal table in the center of the room. "Once the examination is finished, I can torture him all I want."