The Irken And The Earthling's Love And War
Chapter 4
~A Soft Glowing Light~
[ZaDr]
The rain was pouring down at this point, and Zim was burning from each rain drop that hit him. GIR just happily ran after him, not even caring about the rain as he had the resistant dog suit on. Zim was still using his Spider Legs to move, and he soon saw his house come into his view. He was still holding Dib, who was still in his zoned out state, eyes closed, head turned away from Zim.
"GIR, o-open the door!" Zim yelled.
GIR ran in front of Zim and up to the door. He opened the door, and Zim's Spider Legs went inside his PAK. Zim ran straight inside, then placed Dib down on the couch. He backed up, still in pain since he was now wet. "GIR, watch Dib!" He commanded as he ran to a different room to dress in dry clothes and dry himself off.
GIR shut the front door, then he took his dog suit off. He then walked over to the couch and looked up at Dib who laid there, facing the back of the couch on his side, shivering. GIR shrugged, walked over to the tv, and turned it on. He sat down in front of the tv and watched it, now ignoring Dib completely.
A couple of minutes later, Zim walked into the living room, holding a towel in each hand. Zim walked over to the front of the couch and saw Dib laying there, shaking worse than when he brought him to the house. Dib's hair was messy and matted down, like the fur of a wet dog who had played in the rain for hours. Zim saw how Dib's condition looked, and he didn't like it. Zim then tossed the towels aside on the floor. "Hey...Dib." Zim called. "Get up. I have extra clothes you would probably fit into."
Dib shifted uncomfortably towards the back of the couch. This made Zim's head tilt to the side a little. 'What is up with Dib? Why is he acting like this?' He wondered.
"Hey Dib! You have to get up. You humans are so weak, you'll get sick if you stay like that." Zim said, trying to provoke him to get up.
Dib stayed silent, though he twitched a little when Zim said "weak". 'What...the hell?' Zim thought.
"Dib! You'll never save Earth if you just stay there! Get up, Dib!" Zim said, his voice getting louder.
Dib moved his head a little, and his hand that was in Zim's sight was twitching here and there. Zim was so confused by Dib's behavior. He wanted Dib to yell at him that he would save Earth. He wanted Dib to tell him he could never conquer Earth. He wanted to fight with Dib about Earth. He wanted to fight with Dib about anything. He just wanted Dib to say something.
"Dib..?" Zim asked. "Hey, what's wrong with you?"
Dib continued to ignore him, or at least act as though he was.
"Dib, answer me." Zim ordered sternly.
Dib moved his hand over, then used it to tug on his coat a little. He pulled the coat closer to his body.
"Dib..." Zim grounded out in a dangerously low voice. "I want to know what the problem is. What is bothering you?!" He yelled loudly. He wasn't even mad, just confused and frustrated.
Dib didn't even move this time. Zim couldn't stand this. He moved a bit closer to the couch, and grabbed Dib's right coat sleeve with his hands. "Get up, Dib!" Zim shouted, tugging on the sleeve. Dib shook his head slightly, and Zim glared down at the boy. GET UP!!!" He yelled, pulling hard on the boy's coat sleeve.
Suddenly, Dib shoved his arm back towards Zim, hitting him hard, sending him flying backwards, and causing him to fall on the ground. Dib then sat up as he looked down at the Irken . His eyes glared down at him fiercely, but something else filled them more. It was...fear. Fear filled those eyes.
"Dib...what has gotten you so upset..?" Zim asked. He was seriously wondering what they did to him. Zim knew, from experience, that torture was bad, but Dib was so out of character, even he was starting to get scared.
Dib shifted over on the couch. He stared at Zim with the eyes of someone who looked like they were ready to run and never stop. "....Don't...." Was all he could breathe out.
"....Don't what?" Zim asked.
Dib went silent, his eyes filling with sorrow. He pulled his feet up on the couch, his legs against himself, and wrapped his arms around his legs. "....Just don't...." He whispered.
Zim could hear a harsh hoarseness in the boy's voice. "Dib...your in pain, aren't you?" Zim said, slowly raising to his feet. "Dib, just listen to me. I-"
"DON'T!!!!!" Dib suddenly yelled. He put his head on his knees as he choked back a sob. His eyes squeezed shut tightly. "Just don't say anything!! Stop it!! STOP IT!!!" He screamed.
"Dib, calm down." Zim said, walking a couple steps forward, which brought him directly to the side of the couch. "Di-"
"STOP SAYING THAT!!!! THEY DO CARE, THEY DO CAAARE!!!!!!!!" He screamed.
Zim took a step back. "Dib, I never-"
"THEY DO LOVE ME!!!!! THEY DO!!! They do!! They do...." Dib said, each time he said the words, they grew more and more quiet untill it became a whisper. "I do have people who love me. I do. I'm not completely alone..." He continued to whisper.
Zim stared at the boy. With a sigh, he hopped onto the other side of the couch and turned his head towards the human child. "Dib..." He said. He knew what was going on. Dib wasn't even here. He had been so tortured he was still being tortured, at least in his mind. Zim needed to snap him out of it. "Dib, it's alright. You're not there anymore." He said.
"No....no, you're wrong....I never was alone..." Dib mumbled quietly.
Zim then thought of a new idea, since he figured words weren't about to reach this human. He suddenly lifted his clawed hand up, then back-handed Dib across the right side of his cheek, careful to not let his claws touch the human. He struck the unstitched side of Dib's face, and Dib's head spun with the force, so he was now looking at the back of the couch.
Dib stared mindlessly at the back of the couch, as his mind connected to the world around him. '...Wait....what's happened..? Where's that burning pain? Am...I dead??' Dib's mind wondered. He slowly lifted his head towards Zim. '...What?'
"Dib, are you finally tuned in, or should I hit you again?" Zim asked slowly, hoping that perhaps the strike to his head was enough to wake him up.
Dib stared blankly at Zim. 'Why...is he here?' He started to slowly look around the room, seeing pictures, the television, GIR munching on a taco, and all the parts of Zim's living room. 'What am I doing here? Why am I in Zim's house? What happened?' His mind questioned. His eyes widened as he remembered...
-
"It was an Irken leader named Blue who abducted you. I won't say what she did to you, but let's just say you wouldn't want to experience it again, okay? I hope you can recover those memories, your reaction to it would be priceless!"
-
Dib then scooted back against the couch arm, his back proping up against it. He shrunk away from Zim as he stared at his large, red eyes. 'Irken....an Irken did that to me....what will Zim do to me..?' His mind asked as it started to race through random thoughts about torture. 'If...I wouldn't want to experience it again....if my reaction would be "priceless", then what has happened to me..?'
Zim tilted his head as Dib's burnt orange eyes filled with fear. "Um...Dib? Are you mentally functioning correctly, yet?" Zim asked.
Dib remained quiet for a minute. "What...do you want from me?" He asked Zim, his messed up voice wavering. 'Torture...' Something teased Dib's unstable mind.
"What do you mean?" Zim asked. "We shouldn't be wasting so much time. We need to research about those Akrians, and figure out how to kill them." Zim said. He was trying to break Dib into his usual self by provoking him to get up and find a way to save Earth and Irk, as well as he genuinly wanted to do some research. He remembered what The Almighty Tallest had said, about the time limit. They only have 30 days, or it's all out war.
"....Zim....." Dib breathed. "....Are you....going to....kill me?" Dib whispered. His eyes were full of fear and sorrow.
"What?" Zim asked. "Dib, I'm not going to kill you. Why would I? We need to save our homes." He said.
Dib choked back another sob, refusing to let himself cry in front of anyone. "After..." He said, his eyes shifting from Zim's confused Irken eyes to the floor. "When Earth is safe, I'll be killed by you, won't I..?" Dib asked.
Zim could see Dib's eyes shimmer in the lighting of the room, the glassy tears that filled his eyes were clear as day. Zim had never seen Dib like this, ever. He was used to the boy who would snap back that Zim would never defeat him, but now he was asking if Zim would kill him after completeing the mission they were being forced to work together in.
"Dib, I'm not going to kill you." Zim stated truthfully. At this point in time, he had no real want to kill the boy, anymore. In the beginning, he would have handed his squeedly spooch over to kill Dib. These days, he finds fighting with Dib over Earth to be fun. In fact, he has recently been plotting to capture Dib after conquering Earth in the name of the Irken Empire, and he would then keep Dib as a slave. He liked the thought of forcing his worst foe to do his dirty work.
Dib turned his fear filled gaze up to meet Zim's eyes. "You, as well as everyone else in this world, have all stabbed me in the back. How can I trust any of you? I am tired of being lied to, put to shame, and hated. I'm sick of being unloved." Dib said in a very low, dark voice.
Zim stared blankly at Dib, his antennas slumping backwards. "What have the Akrians been filling your head with..?" He asked. With a sigh, he covered his face with his right claw. "Why are you so worried about this, Dib? Com'on, think positively like you usually do!" Zim said, now trying to encourage Dib. He just really didn't like the sad-ass attitude Dib had.
Dib looked down at his hands as he laced his fingers together. "I can't take this pain anymore...Ace is right....I have to stop fooling myself....nobody loves me....nobody ever has..." He said, his voice cracking badly as he spoke.
Zim seriously wasn't dealing with this any longer. He never knew the most annoying human on Earth could be THIS annoying. He grabbed Dib's blue shirt by the collar, and pulled him over the side of the couch, causing him to fall promptly on his ass. Dib leaned his back against the couch, as his right eye closed a bit, and he tilted his head back enough to see Zim glaring down at him from his own seat on the couch.
"Dib, would you get a grip already?!" Zim yelled down at the boy. "Oh, nobody loves me! BIG DEAL!! I've never had parents like you, and no Irken has a sister or a brother! Do you see me crying over it?! No, so get over it, human wormbaby!!" Zim screamed.
With a sigh, Dib looked away. "Your kind doesn't feel like we do, Zim..." He said quietly. "Our feelings are much deeper than that..." He mentioned. 'The Heart...' Those two words tugged at Dib's berserking mind.
Zim hopped off the couch and walked around Dib, turning to face him. His arms were crossed as he leered down at the human. "Dib, just because you're a weak monkey on this filthy planet, does not mean that I automatically feel less than you do. I feel the same feelings you do. I can be happy, I can be sad, I can be mad, I can be scared - but not often!" He released a small sigh. "The point, is that I can feel the same things you do, Dib. Stop acting like you're the only one who feels like this, because you're not." He finished with a sharp edge to his angry voice.
Dib was staring at the floor as he listened. "How about having people around who look through you instead of at you. People who see you there, but don't want to see you there. How do yo-"
Zim suddenly grabbed Dib's shirt by the collar with one claw. He pulled Dib's face close to his own. "DIB!!! Do you know how to listen to someone?!! Do your ears function correctly, or are they there for decoration?! Damn Dib, just stop with this moppy-ass stuff already!" Zim yelled.
Dib just glared at Zim, the light reflection off his glasses blocking his glare a little. "I do listen...but you're just some alien here to torture me. You're part of them, those people that also do this to me. Like those Akrians." He said darkly.
That was the last straw. 'Irkens are NOTHING like Akrians!!! We aren't even remotely similar!! No way, we're closer to humans then we are to Akrians! Comparing us to such filth...what the hell does he think this is?!' His mind screamed.
"You should just let them do what they want. Does it really matter, Zim..?" Dib asked.
'His mind...it's not even here anymore! I'm going to kick his ass, maybe that will bring him back!' Zim thought. 'Besides, I did say I would kick his ass earlier, anyways.'
'Zim...how can I trust you? Even if you feel the same, you have tried to kill me. And...an Irken did something to me. What did that Irken, Blue, do to me? What would you do to me if I gave you the opportunity to do anything you wanted by dropping my guard? By working with you? I can't...' Dib's thoughts questioned.
Zim fisted his free claw. "Dib, I'm not loosing Irk or Earth to the Akrians, you got that?! I refuse to let some weird aliens take what is mine! This includes you, Dib!" Those last four words made Dib cock an eyebrow in confusion. "Earth and all it's inhabitants belong to me alone! I won't lose you to those blue skinned aliens!" Zim screamed.
Zim then punched Dib in the face, Dib's weight shifting back, and causing Zim's grip on Dib's shirt to slip. Dib fell on his ass on the ground. He jerked his head up to the Alien, who sneered at him. Zim quickly moved his hand towards the boy's eyes, gripping his glasses, then pulling them off his face.
"Don't move." Zim commanded the human. He then walked over to GIR, and handed the glasses to him. "GIR, make sure they don't break." Zim said. He shifted his gaze to Dib. "He'll need them when I straighten his sad human ass out." He added.
Zim then advanced towards Dib. Dib shifted nervously, his body becoming proped up on his hands that were stretched out behind him. He moved back a bit, near the door. Zim reached Dib, then stepped on the end of his coat, forcing him to stop shifting towards the door.
"Zim!" Dib yelled. Zim dropped to one knee and one foot, landing himself a diagonal position from Dib, and he grabbed Dib's right shin. He lifted his foot off the boy's coat, and then dragged Dib to his side across the floor, his foot dropping to the floor as Dib's coat was out of the way.
"Dib, I'll make you come back." Zim said in a low, dangerous voice. "I refuse to let you resume this behavior. It annoys me." Zim added darkly.
Zim fisted his right claw and punched Dib in the chest two times in a row. He went to hammer his fist down against, but this time Dib caught and clutched the falling clawed hand. "Stop!" He yellped as he tossed the hand up, causing Zim to lose his balance and fall on his ass.
Zim shook his head. "Oh now, Dib. I'm not going to! I'm bringing you back!" He stated. Zim got up to his feet as his glare plastered firmly on his face. Zim jumped up in the air, shot his foot out, and fell straight down.
Dib's eyes widened as he rolled to the left, just barely avoiding Zim's drop-kick. Zim then took two small steps towards the human boy, and kicked his back hard, causing him to log roll across the ground twice. Dib released a small "ow" as Zim reached the boy's side.
Zim dropped to his knees. He grabbed Dib's throat very easily, no pressure applied. "Are you back yet?" Zim asked.
"Zim..." Dib's eyes were filling with less fear, and most of the sorrow was gone. He looked a bit mind freaked at having Zim's claw on his throat, though.
"Dib, you need to come back. I'm not going to stop beating you untill the Dib I know and hate is back." Zim said, his eyes showing a very strong want in them. Dib could see that even without his glasses on, and he could barely see anything clearly without them on his face.
Dib stared intently into Zim's eyes. "Zim...." His eyes then shifted to the ceiling fan as he watched it slowly spin in circles. "...I'm sorry." He breathed. "You're right. I need to come back. I need to save Earth, and help you save your home planet, Irk, is it?" He made a small sound like a chuckle as his eyes quickly shifted to Zim's face. "So, after this mess is over....want to fight over Earth again?" He asked as a small smirk formed within his lips.
Zim softened his angry, glaring features to his casual, confident ones. "Yeah." He said with a small nod.
"Okay....you can let go, now." Dib said.
"Oh, right." Zim responded as his hand slipped off the boy's throat. "Sorry, you seriously had me at your throat." Zim said.
Dib gave him a bored look. "Ha ha." He said in a monotone voice. Zim just smirked in response, which in turn cause Dib to smirk back.
"Alright Dib." Zim started. "You should change, I have extra clothes. When you're finished, we can head downstairs. I have some things I need to review with you." Zim then walked over to the couch, quickly picking up one towel off the floor. He tilted his head towards Dib. "I'm in charge." He added quickly. He then hopped up on the couch, and sat back. GIR was already sitting in Dib's previous seat (which he swiped during the fight), still holding Dib's glasses and finishing off the taco.
Dib walked over to the couch as Zim took the glasses from GIR. Zim handed the glasses to the human. Zim pointed a clawed finger towards the hall to his own left, receiving a nod from Dib. "I won't be long." He said. Dib reached down and picked up the other towel Zim had brought out in the living room earlier, then headed down the hallway. He passed by a few rooms, untill he found the room that he figured Zim slept in at night.
Dib walked past the bed, and over to a dark wooden dresser. On top of this dresser, there were clothes laid out. Dib picked up the neatly folded clothes and held them in his arms. He then walked out of this room, and looked in a couple of doors in this hall, spotting a bathroom with a shower. He wondered if it worked, so he walked into the bathroom, placed the clean clothes neatly on a small table that stood beside the sink, slid open the door leading into the shower a bit, and reached in to turn the knob a bit, finding that it turned on. Dib touched the water that poured out, finding it was human water.
The boy decided that a shower was a good idea, since he felt disgusting from the day. He walked a couple of steps backwards and kicked the door behind him shut. He then walked over to the shower. It was like a standing cylinder; it had clear glass that was rounded and stretched between each part of the white door frame. Dib slid the door completely open, and started to take off his clothes, starting with the combat knife's sheath. He took the sheath holder out of the coat sleeve, then dropped it on the floor. He then slid his glasses carefully off his face, folded them easilly, and placed them on a small table on the side of the sink. He then started to slip his long, black coat off.
~The Living Room~
Zim sat on the couch, arms crossed as he watched the Angry Monkey Show with GIR. GIR had a wide smile spread across his face as he stared at the screen. "I love the monkey." He said. Zim never really could understand his robotic companion.
Zim shook his head a little, then hopped out of his seat. "GIR, when Dib finishes what he needs to, direct him to the trash can." Zim commanded.
"Yeeeeeeheeeeeee!! Okay!" GIR replied cheerfully.
"Thank you." Zim said. He then headed for the kitchen's trash barrel.
~With Dib~
Dib now stood inside the shower, the water pouring out of the shower head covering his body, like rain. Dib reached for the dial with his left hand, and turned up the hot water a slight bit, releasing a relaxed, small sigh as the water's temperature rose. His hair was soaked, spread over his shoulders, reaching down his back, and covering a good portion of his face.
Dib tilted his head back, eyes squeezed shut tightly. 'I have so many questions to ask.' He started to think. 'I wonder why Zim has running water in his home if it burns him. I wonder if Irkens have something like water, a main liquid to keep everything running properly on Irk.' He then made a weird face, one you'd make if you tasted some new food and you found it tasted terrible. 'I wonder....what if Irkens have no liquids. If they don't, how does Zim stay clean..? Does he stay clean?!' Dib shook his head. 'That's gross to think about...' He thought, a creeping sensation crawling slowly up his spine.
~With Zim~
Zim was downstairs, in the basement of his rather large home. The basement was larger than the rest of his home, and he was currently in a different room in the cellar. This room resembled a human bathroom almost, except for certain things. Zim was standing in what looked like a shower, it had the same cylinder shape as the shower that Dib currently stood in did, aside from the fact that Zim's shower had a black frame to it instead of a white one.
Zim designed the basement to be more Irken, without things getting too out of hand or obvious. He had to be sure he didn't reveal he was an Irken by getting too comfortable with his home environment.
Zim stood in the shower with only the PAK on his back. Two strangly shaped handles and one large dial were in front of him. The one in the middle was large and round, and the other two were curved handles that could be pulled down. Zim pulled the right one three places down, he then pulled the left one two places down, and the center dial he turned quite a bit to the right.
From the shower head at the top of this strange shower, water did not spew. This substance was a definate light blue, and it sprinkled out over Zim in such a strange fashion. It came out in intervals, like a gattling gun. Zim had his eyes shut, his body adapted to the shower controls.
After about a minute, he pulled the left lever up, and his right hand clung to the right lever. The strange light blue liquid swapped over to a very bright, lime green liquid. This liquid pored out of the shower head continuously, like a waterfall. It covered the invader quickly.
~With Dib~
'If Zim got a hold of that invention, he could possibly blow the entire world's sound systems, like speakers, computers, televisions, radios, and he could create such a loud, horrible noise it could cause deafness worldwide, and then I could never stop any horrible plan if I couldn't hear his voice!' Dib frantically thought. He shook his head rapidly. 'NO! That would be really bad!'
Dib always did this to himself. He'd stand in the shower and think about some of the craziest ideas of how Zim could take over Earth. This is how much his life revolved around the alien; so much that it was almost the only thing on Dib's mind.
Dib then sighed as he reached for his unstitched shoulder, the shoulder that instead held the scar of his past. He gripped it, and he noticed something very strange. Human skin is soft, yet when he held his shoulder, he noticed that one rather large, spot of his shoulder wasn't very soft at all.
His eyes squinted a bit in confusion as he ungripped his shoulder. He used his fingers to press on a little bit of the area around this strange phenomenon, his skin easilly sinking with the pressure a bit, then lifting as he pulled his fingers off each place. He then pressed down on the strange skin that wasn't soft. To him, it felt like some force was pushing back on his finger tips. He could only press the skin to whatever this strange, hard force was. His skin was not sinking like the rest of his skin.
Dib dropped his hand to his side. He gawked at the scared skin. He saw nothing strange on the surface, though he noticed that the strange feeling came from a part of his scar. The scar from his past encounter with the crazed man started near his neck, and trailed over his shoulder and down his back a little, curling as though it was trying to grasp his shoulder blade. He remembered having been pinned to the ground as the man sliced him open with a switch blade. He visibly shuddered at the memory, and shook his head. He didn't want to think about it. He wished he couldn't remember it that well.
Dib then sighed as he looked over at the bathroom door from behind the glass of the shower. His eyes traced all the indented lines that formed the square designs on the door. his breath quick as it fogged up the glass a little and blocked his view eventually. He closed is eyes and took a deep, slow breath. 'I'm not gonna worry about anything.' He thought. 'It's alright. I'll be fine. I'm worried over nothing. The attack was part of the past. The skin....I don't know what it is, maybe it's absolutely nothing. For now I won't worry about it. I'll worry about getting through this night in one piece.' He thought. He then stood there starring at the glass blankly. 'Isn't Miss Bitters coming back tommorrow from Jamaca..? Oh God...' Dib thought as he hung his head. He wasn't having an easy time cheering up today, that's for sure.
~With Zim~
Zim felt relaxed as the green liquid still poured on him. He then knew it was time to switch again, so he gripped the left and right levers with each hand. Zim pulled the right lever up two places. The lime green water suddenly stopped. He then turned the large dial in the middle of the levers to the right a slight bit more than it was at, then pulled the left lever down two places. A dark shade of puple liquid came down on him like rain.
Zim smiled, reguardless of how confusing things had been lately. This daily ritual of his always reminded him of his home planet, Irk. All Irkens, no matter what kind of position they may hold when they grow older, start off by living on Irk for a good 30 years or so, so of course Zim admired anything that reminded him of home.
Zim then sighed a relaxed sigh as he turned the levers back to their normal places, and turned the dial left untill it was off. He felt content, and always did after these required showers. All Irkens did, after all. He slid the glass door open and started to slip his night clothing on.
These night clothes consisted of long black sweat pants that were made of a fur softer than any found on Earth. He slid on a pink, long sleeved shirt that was really long on him, but fit more snug than his normal shirts did. This was also made of the same material as the pants were. Zim's planet consisted of a good variety of animals with such soft fur that it would be overly-shocking to the humans. They would find it far too strange that Zim had soft clothes and the humans could possibly become interested in him.
Zim finished slipping all his clothing on, then walked out of the bathroom. He stretched and yawned, tired from the exciting day. Then, he crossed his arms and took on a pouty pose as a thought crossed his mind. '...Do humans usually take this long to bathe..? Sheesh...'
~With Dib, 12 Minutes Later~
Dib finally had finished his bath and was currently dressing. He had wore socks on his feet and a pair of long black pants that he took from Zim's room. Dib picked up the brown shirt that he had grabbed from Zim's burrow and slipped his head through the hole, then straightened the bottom. He then started fixing his hair. Since he was young, his hair was always styled in that single spike that loomed over his large head. It didn't take much to fix it into that style anymore. When he was finished with that, Dib picked up his glasses carefully and slipped them on his face.
When Dib finally finished, he folded then picked up his soaked clothes. He left the bathroom and walked down the hall, appearing in the living room where GIR laid on the couch watching the television. "Where's Zim?" Dib asked.
GIR looked up at Dib happily. "He hopped in the trash can!" He said happily. "He's in the basement!"
"Thanks." Dib said. He walked over to the kitchen and over to the trash can. He stomped down on the pedal and the trash can's lid shot up. Dib then jumped up, grasping the edge of the can and pulling himself up enough to get his leg up and over it, then hopping down and landing on the ledge below. He sighed as the ledge slowly lowered to the ground. When it neared the floor, Dib jumped off and landed with his foot, knee, and hand on the ground to catch his fall. He stood up and dusted himself off as Zim walked up to him.
"Dib, you humans are slow at taking showers, you know." He stated.
Dib cocked an eyebrow at the alien before him. "What are you talking about?" He asked. "Since when do Irkens shower?"
It was Zim's turn to tilt his head to the side. "Um, what, you think that just because we have no filthy water on our planet, that automatically means we have no liquids at all?" Zim asked. "Just for your information, Dib, we have liquids that are far cleaner than that disgusting water you monkeys use." He explained a harsh tone slipped into his voice.
Dib crossed his arms defensively. "Well, how should I know? You Irkens are weird, anyways. You probably aren't that clean anyways if your showers are so quick." Dib retaliated, receiving a stern glare from the Irken.
"Uhh...if you two are done, we really would like to hurry with this conversation so we can go sleep since, well, we're all tired." Came the groggy voice of Purple.
Zim turned around as Dib looked up. The computer screen that was used for communication path ways was on, and on the screen showed Red and Purple. The two Irkens sat in black chairs in a large room that was built of pink and black colors. There were Irkens running around behind the two frantically, some carrying papers (as Dib assumed they were), others carrying random objects. Other Irkens that stood in the background were slightly taller than them, and they worked on control panels that lined the walls fully. There were Irkens sleeping on the floor in a lot of various spots, most beside an Irken that stood at the control panels. It was obvious these Irkens were there for switching places with the working ones every now and then. The Irkens that were currently working looked exhausted. Everything was in an uproar on Irk.
"My Tallest." Zim started, bowing respectfully to his leaders. "This is the human I told you about. His name is Dib." He explained.
Dib took a couple of steps foward so that he now stood beside Zim. "Are you...the leaders of the Irkens?" He asked.
Purple and Red both nodded. "Yes human, we are the Irken leaders." Red said with a nod. "To explain our situation, our planet Irk and your planet Earth are surrounded by the Akrians. When I say surrounded, I mean surrounded. The Akrians have given us a time limit of 30 days. We need to plan a way to destroy them fast, or we'll be caught in a huge war. Dib, they said that only the Irkens and the humans together can defeat them. Please, help us destroy them before we are all killed off by them."
Dib closed his eyes as he took in a deep breath. "I will help the Irkens, but, I have one condition for you to accept honorably before I agree to this." He said.
"What do you want?" Purple asked.
"I ask that you do not stab me in the back as we work together or after we finish saving out planets." His eyes opened to show a slight fear swirled with his stern burnt orange eyes. "If you either betray me or try to kill me, I will not work with you again and we can all just die. I won't care at that point to help anymore. Got it?" He asked darkly, his hand gripping his soaked clothing so tightly that it was turning white.
"We will not betray you or stab you in the back. That means you can't do the same to us either, alright?" Purple said, slight agression mixed with defense spewing from his voice.
"Agreed." Dib replied simply. Dib and Purple stared sternly at each other for minutes straight.
"Umm..." Zim started. "My Tallest, why are you in the Defense Sector?" He asked, recognizing that his leaders were in the defense section of Irk's World Control Center, when the Tallest members would usually be in the Center Sector during a world emergency. He knows this from when he was really young, and still living on Irk. There was a quick emergency meeting when Planet Jackers attacked a couple of planets that some really high-class Irken Invaders were trying to defend. About 12 planets that the Tallest were after at the time were in danger of being taken, so the Tallest at the time decided to plan a small attack that worked and they rescued their planets.
"Zim, the Center Sector is such a mess right now..." Red said. "One of the Akrians sabbotaged it." He added.
"WHAT ABOUT THE CONT-" Zim started to scream, getting cut off.
"It's fine, Zim." Red said. "It's safe, remember, it's down far below, and five Irkens witnessed the attack on the Center Section. None of them saw that Akrian go below." He stated.
Zim sighed as he fell back in his chair, relaxing. Dib just gave him a really weird look with his eyes, confused. "What exactly..?"
"Nevermind. It's not important." Purple said to Dib.
"It's alright, Dib." Zim said. "We should probably sleep now. We'll be busy for...who knows how long." Zim said to Dib. "Thank you for the help, My Tallest, I wish you all well." Zim said respectfully to his leaders.
"Yes, thank you Zim. Talk to us tommorrow." Red said. The screen then went black, automatically turning off.
"Come, human filth." Zim muttered to Dib as he walked past him.
Dib followed Zim, head tilted very slightly as he watched the alien in front of him. 'Zim....he might have more on his mind than I give him credit for.' Dib thought.
Zim hopped up on the platform. Dib hopped up on it after him. The ledge started to raise.
'I wonder...what was his life like before he came to Earth?' Dib's mind questioned. "How are Irkens born? What happens throughout their childhoods? Do they...even have a childhood?'
The ledge soon reached the top. Zim jumped up, gripped the edge of the barrel, and pulled himself over, landing perfectly on his feet. Dib followed suit, somwhat falling on the floor rather than landing, though.
'What were they talking about down there? Cont...count? Counter? Control?? Control..what?' Dib's mind inquired. 'I'm so lost about all of this...' He shook his head with a sigh as his grip on his soaked clothes tightened.
"Dib." Zim called, stopping in his tracks. To his right was the hall to the rooms. In front of him was the couch where GIR was aparently "sleeping"; his lights were black and he sat back confortably, his back against a pillow that was proped against the arm of the couch, and his side and head rested agains the back.
"What is it?" Dib asked as he stopped behind Zim.
Zim walked slowly over to a cupboard that was hung on the wall. It was one with no shelves, but instead had a door that you could open to reveal it's contents inside. Zim opened it with ease, since it was within his reach and hung low, and he grabbed a blanket that sat inside of it. There was a stack of clean, folded blankets in this cupboard.
Zim then shut the door to the cupboard and he walked over to GIR. He laid it across the small robot's body. This blanket was huge, and could easilly stretch over the entire couch. Zim fixed the blanket a little, then looked over at Dib. "You will sleep here, on the couch." He said firmly.
"Alright, thanks." Dib said, placing his folded, soaked clothed on the table beside the couch he would be sleeping on. Zim turned around, and started heading for the hall to his room. "Good Night." Dib said softly, causing Zim to stop in his tracks just at the halls' entrance.
Zim gripped the wall's edge between the hall and the living room with his claw as he turned his head towards Dib. "Good Night, Dib." He replied. He then continued down the hall.
Dib slowly and carefully sat on the couch beside GIR. He took his glasses off his face and placed them on the table. He pulled the blankets over himself as he closed his eyes. He had his head rested against the pillow that was proped against the arm of the couch, and his back was snug against the back of the couch. He made sure his legs weren't interfering with GIR's, making his feet rest off the couch a little. He slowly slipped away into sleep.
~Dib's Dream~
Dib's eyes opened. He was about eight years old, and he was standing in the middle of a small park. It had a kid's slide, a swing set, pretty flowers around, and it was raining. He looked around to see he was completely alone. No Professor Membrane, no Gaz, nobody.
He walked over to the only swing set in the small park, and he sat down on one of the two swings that was attached to it. He stared out at the street. '...I know dad or Gaz will come for me...soon...they'll come.' Dib's young mind told himself. 'I know dad's always busy, and Gaz is always mad at me, but they wouldn't leave me alone.'
He started to swing back and forth, staring at the street, waiting for one of the two to bring him home. He continued to wait, even though it was dusk. He had no way of contacting either, and he was all alone.
More time ticked by, the sky was dark. Dib stopped swinging and mearly sat there. His stomach growled, begging for food. His hair was matted down by the relentless rain. He suddenly got up off of the swing. "....Is somebody going to come for me? Dad? Gaz?" He called, recieving no response. No signs of them coming for the child who started to fear this lonliness a bit.
Dib then decided that maybe he should just try to go home himself. He was scared, he had nothing else he could do. He started to walk down the street he remembered coming from. A few of the street lights glowed dimmly on this street, but a couple were out, and none shone brightly. The rain and the darkness that was creeping in weren't making this dark street any brighter.
Dib continued to walk, holding his upper arms with his opposite hands. At this point in time, he was wearing a brown shirt with the same face that he normally has imprinted on it, black jeans, black boots, and his glasses. He was cold, his body shivering, and his teeth chattering.
"Aww...Membrane's brat is all alone." A chilling voice reached Dib's small ears, causing him to freeze in his tracks. "You look so cold, and...scared." The voice said "sympathetically".
Dib spun around. "Who are you?!" He yelled demandingly. He refused to let a stranger scare him.
"I'm a friend of your father's." The man said, stressing the word friend too much for Dib's liking. "I'll help you." This man said as he stepped forth, into Dib's view.
Dib looked over this man that stood in front of him. His hair was a light shade of blonde, and it was long, reaching his lower back. His eyes were a dark color, almost black. He stood in an akward position, kind of hunched over, but not enough to be a physical problem, even the young Dib knew this. His clothes were all black, and his nails...were painted a faint color of red. It looked like the rain had washed this color away.
"No way!!!" Dib yelled. "My dad taught me not to talk to strangers! NO!!" The youngster yelled at the man.
The man's calm face twisted into a creepy, please one. "Aww, shucks, kids these days are TOO smart. You're TOO smart. Like your FATHER....I'll get rid of you. You'll go far, far away from here, that way, you cannot be like your father!!" The man yelled. He then went into a fit of laughter, holding his stomach as his face turned red from his laughing. He laughed for, what seemed to the young Dib, 7 hours. In reality, it was only around a minute.
Dib's legs were stuck to the ground, as though ice had encased them. He tried to move his legs, but he couldn't. His pupils were as tiny as they could be, his body shook hard, and his heart raced. The man soon stopped his laughing, and lifted his face to look at the young Dib. His smile was large, and his eyes were like those of a wolf who had not eaten for weeks.
"PROFESSOR MEMBRANE WILL NOT LIVE ON!!!" He screamed at the top of his lungs as he charged towards Dib.
The frightened child finally could move, and he stepped back two steps, then swiftly turned around and started running down the street aimlessly. His voice was completely gone. He just moved. Everything rushed by him. His surroundings melted into swirls. His foot then came down towards the ground at a slant, and his foot twisted as it connected, forcing his ankle to twist. He did not cry out, he mearly fell to the ground in silence.
Dib tried to push himself up with his hands, but before he could stagger to his feet, he felt a large hand grip his unwounded ankle. Dib's small body was pulled backwards by the crazed man, and Dib's only resistance was to push his hands down agains the cold pavement below himself, forcing his skin to scrape up badly.
The crazed man loomed over him now as Dib felt his body not being pulled anymore. "Let's...start with this, shall we?" The man asked, then chuckled.
Dib didn't understand what he meant. Dib then felt one of the man's hands push against the right side of his back, pinning him down with ease. His young mind wondered 'why one hand..?' The next thing he knew, he was screaming in pain.
The insane man had stabbed a knife into Dib's shoulder, near his neck. The man pulled the kife through the young Dib's skin. Dib's mind raced through so many thoughts, so many memories, and this unbearable pain, and unbelievable fear, took him over. He was so mixed up inside. All he wanted was to go home. To see his father smile down at him and pat him on the head for studying and doing well in school. He wanted his sister, Gaz, to shift her glare up to him from her book as he sits next to her on the couch.
Dib's screaming was either ignored, or not heard, as the burning pain reached his back. The knife was then pulled out of his back, and the man's hand's pressure on Dib's back lightened enough for him to pull himself away from the man. He pulled himself foward, but the man used the unequiped hand to grab him by the neck, causing Dib to freeze, shaking, frightened.
"I REFUSE to let you get away." The man said darkly. Dib screamed, wishing someone would come, but nobody would. Dib then did something that fear pushed him to do. He kicked bacwards, hitting the kneeling man in the face dead on. The man released him only because he was caught off-guard. Dib got up and started running, but the man wasn't finished with him.
Dib felt something really hard connect with his back, surprising him, tossing him into a vortex of pain, and he fell slowly to the ground. Shards that shimmered in the poor lighting of the area fell to the ground like a beautiful, morbid rain of black. Dib slowly lifted his head, feeling pain in various areas of his own body. It was like needles, fat, huge, long needles, that had been shot into his body, scraped against his body, and stabbed through his body, rapidly.
These shards were glass shards from a random bottle that the crazed man had picked up and tossed at the young boy. It was unsanitary, dangerous, and painful for Dib. The young body slowly got up onto his feet. He turned around to have a large hand wrap around his throat. His body was hoisted off the pavement as he looked up at the man with frightened eyes. The man grabbed Dib's glasses with his free hand, pulled them off his face, and threw them aside on the pavement, breaking them. The man smirked at him, then threw him backwards, causing Dib to land on his back.
The image of this man was fuzzy, wavy and swirled, dark, his hearing ability was shutting off as his vision started to close in, locked on the man. Dib pulled himself backwards across the ground. Then, one sound changed everything. A sound, that is heard commonly each day to each person. A sound most people who have no guilt would barely even notice, or barely aknowledge. The single sound of a police car's siren made the man jump out of his skin. "NO! They must know about the girl! DAMN IT!!! I almost had vengence!!" He screamed. The crazed man then took off.
Dib let his fragile body slump down, his back getting pierced in two seperate places by glass, and his arm getting sliced a bit my one shard. He stared up at the sky, his blood spilling onto the ground. Down the road, he heard a stuggle happening. He then heard the crazy man screaming at the police man to let go of him. He was saying "I never killed that girl! It's only paint I spilled! I didn nothing!!!"
Dib's lifeless eyes traced the various black and blue hues of the darkened sky above him. The dark clouds swirled with the navy sky weren't telling him how to get home. He was so confused. He decided that when he got home, he would sneak into his own room through the window, go to the bathroom to tend his own wounds, and go to bed. He would tell his father the next day, though he had no idea if his father would believe him...if anyone would, really. Dib then started to raise, and he ended up in a sitting position. He then stared down the road...when he saw a strange lumination of light shining from far down the street.
'...What is this..? A glow...a light? What..?'
~End Dream~
Dib's eyes opened slowly. He sat up a bit, and saw a soft, orange glow coming from the hallway. He looked over at GIR, who did not react to this. He reached over to the table, picked up his glasses, and put them on his face. Dib then got up off of the couch carefully, and walked over to the hallway. He looked down it, to see the light shining from Zim's room. He walked down the hall slowly, and over to the doorway, extremely curious about this soft light. It was drawing him, for some reason.
Dib peaked through the open door, and saw that Zim had a strange light on the bed beside himself. It was like a lantern, but the light inside floated. Zim's bright pink eyes were closed as he sat cross-legged on the bed, hands rested over his legs, as though he was consentrating. His eye cracked open as it stared at Dib. His made Dib take one step back.
"Dib." Zim called. "Come here." Zim's voice was very calm, confident, yet easy, relaxed. Dib slowly walked into the room, haulting at the sound of Zim's voice. "Close the door." Zim said. Dib shut it lightly, not wanting to disturb GIR.
Dib walked over to the bed, and sat down next to Zim. The strange light was sitting in front of him. "What is this..?" Dib asked slowly as he gawked at the light.
"Inside of this lantern, there is a special butterfly, or as Irkens would call them, Gashu Catsgot Flutter."
"...A bit of a long name for a butterfly, don't you think?" Dib asked.
"Well, the name means heart flutter." Zim explained. "Anyways, these butterflies relax a lot of species for some reason. Irkens and obviously humans are relaxed by them." Zim said.
"Why do they glow?" Dib asked curiously.
"It's a mystery, really. Nobody knows." Zim said.
"Where did you get it from?" Dib asked.
"I have had her with me the entire time. I keep her in the last room down the hall." Zim said.
"Do you take care of her..?" Dib asked.
"Of course I take care of her!" Zim said. "The good thing about Gashu Catsgot Flutters is that they don't back talk their masters." He said, pouting a little.
Dib let out a small laugh. "Do I annoy you?" He asked innocently.
Zim responded with a nice glare. "Of course you do worm baby. You better believe it." He said, sounding annoyed. Dib just smiled at him, causing Zim to shake his head a little.
Dib's gaze returned to the lantern, as well as Zim's gaze. "Why do you have her here, anyways?" He asked.
Zim looked up at the human with a confused look. "What do you mean?"
"You said you keep her in the back room. If that's true, then why is she here?" Dib asked.
Zim's gaze turned to the butterfly. "I saw you. You looked like you were in pain." He said. "As you slept. You were tossing and turning, GIR came to me. He said you wouldn't stop, even he seemed worried. So, I brought this butterfly in here, and waited for you. GIR probably already fell back asleep." Zim explained.
"Yeah, GIR's asleep." Dib responded. His stare turned from the butterfly to Zim. "I didn't mean to wake up GIR." He added, this actually being an indirect apology.
"Why did you? Were you having a nightmare?" Zim asked.
"Yeah." Dib responded simply.
"What was it about?" Zim asked, curious about what a human has nightmares about.
Dib lowered his head just right so the lumination from the butterfly hid his eyes behind the shine. "The past." He said, his lips forming a very small smile. "I always have nightmares. Ever since...that time, I have had nightmares." Dib said. He wasn't refering to the time he got the scar...he was refering to the time he was abducted. Since then, he's had nothing but painful nightmares. Some of the past, others of different things. It varied, but it meant nothing to Dib anymore. He was so used to it by now, that he just dealt with the pain.
Zim tilted his head to the side at his response. "Really?" He asked. "I have nightmares about the future, not the past." Zim said.
Dib looked up at Zm. "The future?" He asked. "Why the future?"
It was Zim's turn to focus his eyes on the butterfly. "Well, the past has already come and gone...but the future has yet to come." Zim said. "Only 29 days are left Dib." He mentioned, his eyes shooting to the clock on the nightstand beside his bed.
Dib looked over at it as well. It was 12:34 AM. Dib looked up at the alien. "Yeah, and tomorrow, we have a long day ahead of us." He added to Zim's previous statement.
"Yes, we do." Zim said. "Dib, go back to sleep. You can take Gashu Catsgot Flutter with you." Zim commanded, holding the landern up for the human to take.
"Uhh...thanks." Dib said, taking Zim's kind offer. Dib got off of Zim's bed as Zim scooted back to lay down at the head of the bed. Dib walked over to the door, opened it carefully, then shut it behind himself softly. He then made his way down to the living room again. He placed the butterfly's lantern on the table stand beside the couch, took off his glasses and placed them next to the lantern, then he got back on the couch. He laid down and shifted until he was comfortable, then he drifted off into sleep...
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"....The Heart...."
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Hey guys! Sorry this chapter took so long. With the holidays and busy week, I've been trying to get this up, but everytime I tried to work on it, I was interupted. Anyways, I hope you enjoy it, and expect the next chapter to be exciting! I think I should be able to get more chapters up faster for a while, so I'll try hard to do so! ^^