(A/N) LAST CHAPTER! Well, the last legit chapter; there will be an epilogue (still very important to the storyline). I'll save all the sentimentality for then.
This is slightly later than expected because of a scene I added at the last minute (the recording). It bumped word count to 3K. :D
Special thanks to Lileipad, xXFemkeXx, and BizarroVeR for reviewing! Tacos for you all. *throws tacos wildly*
If you don't like ZaDr... what are you doing here? This fic is listed under romance! *peers at you oddly* Anyway, this is your last chance to turn back if you don't like ZaDr. *hangs a "ZaDr Fans Only" sign on this chapter*
No one could say that Dib fell apart; he didn't, really, nor did the human boy enter any deep depression to speak of. Things continued on as they always had- simply without Zim; simply a bit more ordinary. And though he was vividly aware of the Irken boy's absence, Dib found other things to research; he was bullied and ostracized by his classmates; he argued with Gaz and his father about the viability of paranormal studies. But everything was brought into painful focus whenever he would pull out that flickering lighter, as well as at night, on the occasion that he found himself staring up at the stars.
What a... romantic notion, he thought wryly one night, gazing at the winking night sky, unable to fall asleep. Me... lying here... wondering if you're okay. Wondering if I... if you look at the stars and think of me.
It was on those nights that Dib missed his playmate and mortal enemy dearly, almost on the level of a physical need. He longed for the stimulation, as well as the validation that Zim had brought to his life; there seemed to be little significance to anything he did since the imminent threat to the earth had gone. And he wondered ideally if the Irken felt similarly.
The overcast day that Agent Darkbooty contacted him, Agent Mothman assumed it was nothing unusual- perhaps a lead on Bigfoot, his current project. But what the Swollen Eyeball member had to tell him was both unexpected and horrifying.
"We've got a downed UFO in your vicinity, Mothman," the older member said, "sporting markings similar to those you claim were... oh, you called them... Irken?"
Instantly Dib was up and out of his chair. "A crash? Are there any life sign readings?"
The shadowy man nodded. "One- very faint. You are the closest and- assuming this is... Irken -have the most experience with such matters. The Swollen Eyeball is counting on you, Agent Mothman. Agent Darkbooty out."
Dib hardly waited for the monitor to turn off before dashing out the door, pulling his cloak from it's hook and blowing past Gaz. Skidding onto the street, he produced the map that had printed from the bottom of Darkbooty's screen.
That's... where Zim's house used to be...!
Scuttling down the oddly familiar route, the boy slid to a clumsy halt in the cul-de-sac, starring in blatant shock at the smoking heap of twisted metal jammed between the two buildings, right were that colorful house used to sit. A quick scan showed no life signs.
"No..." Dib whispered, clamoring into the wreckage itself and clawing his way through it, slicing open his hands on broken sheets of metal and sharp corners. "Zim? Zim?"
No... life readings... Even... if I do find him...
A flash of movement caught the earthling's eye; whipping around, he shoved aside a chunk of metal to reveal a twisted, broken SIR unit, eyes still flickering.
"GIR...?"
"Th-tha-that's mu-my name!" the little robot chirped, twitching in a useless attempt to rise, grinning brokenly. "H-he-hey! It's M-Mary!"
Gently scooping the tiny unit from the dust, the human cradled him to his chest. "GIR? GIR, this is important. Where's Zim? GIR, where is Zim?" The defective SIR unit pointed with disjointed movements, and Dib's breath caught. "He got out? He's alive?"
GIR smiled shakily. "I-Is Dib and Zim gonna kiss-kiss and make up?"
Dib drew back sharply, startled by the robot's question. "What...? Zim and I...? What?"
The broken SIR unit nodded, seeming pleased. "Yoooou gonna kiss and make up?" came a recorded version of his voice.
"Tch! You speak foolishness!" Zim's recorded voice said, the sound of it sending a pang through Dib.
"Master misses Dib..." GIR said teasingly, then shrieked as Zim presumably made a threatening movement. There was a pause, and then the little robot's voice asked, "When we goin' back to Earth?"
"... Never," Zim muttered, but his voice held an odd tone.
"Aw, don't cry, master," GIR chirped, and the listening human jumped with surprise. "I'm sure Dib-"
"Do not speak of that human!" the Irken snapped, his words punctuated by a sudden crash.
"Master!" the SIR unit squeaked, then burst out laughing. "You fell down!"
Dib winced, remembering just how weak Zim had been the last time he saw him. "Silence! Do not laugh at Zim!
"... Do not laugh like the rest of them..."
The human stiffened, listening in awe GIR made a confused sound on the recording, then asked, "Why you so saaaaad?" A muffled sob crackled over the recording, and GIR's voice came again. "Aw, don't cry, Master. I made waffles! You can have some, if you want."
The recording ended abruptly, the sound faltering as the robot jerked in Dib's arms, blue eyes flickering as if he were losing consciousness. Gently the human laid him back down with mechanical movements, drawing a piece of metal up to create a protective little cave; the action helped him shove the recording from his mind.
"I'll be right back to collect you," he promised, unsure of exactly why. The robot smiled weakly, the light in his eyes fading until at last they were dark, and GIR lay still. Emotionally disturbed and unsure of why, Dib stood and looked in the indicated direction. It took him a moment to make out any trace of the alien, but then he spotted a splattering of dark blue liquid at the curb. Trotting up to it, it didn't take him long to find another, and another after that.
The trail of blood led up the street, back towards Dib's own house. The earth boy's heart skipped at the implications; Zim only came to him if the situation was dire- like turning into bologna. Picking up the pace, he was soon racing along the road, whispering a word of thanks for the cloudy weather that kept the world deserted.
A sudden crash made him skid to a halt, head whipping up automatically. Chest heaving, he peered up at the roof of his neighbor's house, unsure of what he was looking for. A flash of white caught his eye- a billowing... lab coat.
They're after him...!
The thought was so sudden and certain that Dib's whole body acted without his conscious consent, sending him scurrying up the neighbor's house by way of drainpipe and window ledges. He lost his balance once, crashing down into a flower box, but recovered quickly and continued with little regard for scrapes and bruises; he just kept hearing Zim's recorded voice. When at last he hauled himself up and onto the rooftop, the scene stole what little breath was left to him.
There was the Irken, looking exactly the same and different at once, crouched at the edge of the shingled roof. He was bloodied and panting, antenna angled backwards not unlike a cat's ears. And on either side of him was a human, one of whom being the head scientist from the lab; they both stared at the little alien with mad glints in their eyes. The wind caught the unidentified man's coat, blowing it back and briefly revealing a government badge pinned to his chest; the scientist carried a briefcase, open and practically overflowing with a cocktail of flammable, deadly chemicals.
The sudden boom of thunder made two of the four parties on the roof bristle, though the white-coated men seemed untouchable by nature or anything else. Zim's eyes flashed to Dib, acknowledging him but not betraying him; the human boy noted that he had one contact lens in, giving his gaze a strange, quasi-human appearance.
"There's nowhere to run!" the scientist said, advancing one, then two steps.
Zim shrunk back, his foot dislodging a shingle and sending it plummeting to the ground three stories below; it landed with a jarring crash, making the alien cling tighter to the roof.
"Never!" he spat. "Filthy humans, you will not capture Zim! It is you who should surrender!"
Dib shuttered. Zim... is Zim, to the end... He stood, slowly, careful not to make a sound as he crept closer to the drama playing out.
The two men took twin steps out, hemming the poor alien in even more. Zim glanced briefly over his shoulder, seeming to measure the distance to Dib's roof and deciding that it would not be a good plan to jump. So instead he stood, squaring his shoulders and facing the two huge men. The robotic arms in his Pak unfolded, although one was moving jerkily and a second was missing entirely.
"Don't come a step closer, earth-stink!" he spat, coiling his body as a flash of lightning lit up the sky. "Or come on; I'll destroy you both."
No! Dib forced his steps to stay quiet as the wind swept around him; forced himself to control his movements. Zim, buy time! Don't bait them!
Again the alien met his gaze, and suddenly Dib recognized the emotion there: distrust. And then the human knew: Zim wouldn't play for time; he would rather take his own chances.
If I can just... The lighter suddenly feeling heavy in his pocket, Dib crept forward. But Zim... he'll be hit, too...
"Come 'ere, ET!" the scientist shouted suddenly, lunging forward. Zim got one robotic arm up in time to block the man's advance, but the much larger human simply gripped it with both hands, stopping the tip inches from his chest. The Irken brought up a second slim appendage, aiming for the man's head, but it was caught by the government agent, pulled back and held at bay. Zim looked frantically from one to the other, balancing awkwardly on the remaining, apparently disabled metal limb; with a glance at each other, the humans kicked in unison, snapping it and leaving the Irken suspended between them.
Writhing, Zim tried in vain to wrench his spidery limbs free; the men only smiled sickly, seeming amused by his struggles. The scientist had a syringe in one hand, and advanced with it held out menacingly. The wind whipped across the roof suddenly, and the alien winced visibly at its sting. Watching, Dib reached into his pocket, his body feeling heavy and mechanical.
What choice do I have...?
"Zim!" Screaming to be heard over the rushing wind, he surged forward. "In 3!" The Irken tensed. "2!" Understanding brightened his eyes when he saw the lighter. "1!"
Dib's final wail was in a tremendous crash of thunder, which in turn was all but drowned by the explosion. The human felt himself thrown backwards, the force akin to being hit square in the chest by an oncoming car; he felt his ribs crack as more than air was forced out of his mouth. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the scientist simply dissolve in a mass of noxious smoke; the government man was no longer visible.
Then came the second impact: the roof. Dib felt blood burst from his stretched jaws as his body convulsed; for a terrifying moment, he was sure that the fall had broken his spine. But lying there gasping raggedly, he felt all his fingers and toes check in one by one; breathing a rough sigh of relief, he struggled up into a sitting position.
In the wake of the explosion, the roof was empty.
"Zim!" The wail escaped him before he could stop it, and he searched desperately in the gloom for any sign of the alien. At first he saw only shadow and dust; his heart leaped, pounding so loudly in his ears that he couldn't even hear the wind over the roar of his own blood.
Then he saw it: the hand. Instantly he was there, but stopped just short of looking over the edge, gazing instead at that hand; that hand, with its exactly three digits, so thin and frail, so familiar in shape and yet so undeniably foreign, barely twitching as it fought to keep its grip on the crumbling Earth exposed beneath shattered shingles. That hand… that fragile, desperate hand, indisputably inhuman in every way. It slipped; scrambled; clawed in feeble panic at the Earth slipping through its fingers; those three, delicate fingers.
Heart thumping unsteadily, Dib reached out… drew back. His lips framed the alien's name, silently… and he watched the Earth begin to fall away. Through the clamor of his own heart, he heard it: the soft gasping… the soft wheezing. Shaking his head, the human reached out... tensed, his fingers coiling and then releasing… poised… but undecided. Again his lips formed the familiar syllable, this time giving it a tiny breath of sound.
"… Zim…"
And then, pulling the alien over the edge, he saw those eyes. One was violet and familiar, the other magenta and foreign… though they both held a frantic sort of gratitude that seemed the most precious thing in the world.
"Took you long enough, little worm-monkey," he spat, in a voice that almost escaped trembling. But his whole body was shaking, and he seemed so incredibly vulnerable that Dib acted without thinking, moving forward first to punch the Irken squarely in the forehead, then to embrace him before he could fall backwards and over the edge once again.
"You inhuman moron," he whispered. "You think you're entitled to a rescue?"
Zim stiffened, wriggling at first, weakly, and then letting himself relax against the other's chest. "Yes," he said, his tone inappropriately listless. "I am, after all, to be ruler of all you foolish humans."
Dib smirked, suddenly content with his decision. "I won't let you, you know. I'll devote my life to stopping your reign of terror."
The alien laughed softly, one of his hands drifting up to rest itself around the human's neck. "You'd spend your life saving this putrid world from my feared rule?"
"Yes. I'll bet you couldn't even conquer me."
Zim paused, thinking. Then, lips curling into a sly grin, he said, "I wouldn't even try. You would be too much trouble to rule over, eartheniod freak."
"But Master," Dib objected mockingly, "I would be a good little human slave. I'd carry your umbrella when it rains."
The Irken laughed again, louder this time. "And then you'd pull it away as soon as my guard dropped."
The human chuckled, too. "Old habits die hard. Haven't you heard that human phrase, Zim?"
"No," the little alien sighed, the last of the tension draining from him, leaving him limp against the other's body. "But then what is this? Why has the Dib-human suddenly forsaken his hostility toward this great Irken invader?"
And that forced the Dib-human to ask himself the same question- the question he was unable to answer. So he replied with another.
"You… tell me, Zim. When did I change?"
"Oh, I can't make sense of your idiotic human behavior," the alien said dismissively, his arm moving slowly to the back of Dib's head, pressing the human's face into his neck. The boy's breath warmed his abused body delightfully, sending pleasant shivers down his spine.
"So you aren't so all-knowing," Dib said, seeming satisfied.
"Shut up," growled the Irken, but there was a light tone to it. "Or I'll have to shut you up."
"And how would you do that?" the human asked, amused at the thought of the weakened alien trying to shut him up, certain it could not happen.
And then Zim's lips were pressed to his, the alien's oddly cold mouth hungry and soft against his. The human obediently parted his lips, unable to gather himself quick enough to do anything else, feeling the Irken's scaly tongue slide over his. Before he knew what had happened, Dib let his eyes slide shut; he felt himself pushed to the ground, felt himself held down by those thin, strong hands.
Suddenly his eyes flew wide as his mind caught up with the course of events. With an abrupt heave he thrust the alien off of him, rolling so that Zim was caught under him.
"What was that?" he demanded, his anger only flaring up at further when the alien beneath him chuckled, then burst out laughing beneath him. "Zim! What the hell was that?"
Eyes glinting, the small Irken pushed upwards, startling the human and flipping their positions once again. This time Dib wasn't so easily subdued, and the pair tussled and tossed for more than a few moments until at last they settled, the alien content to stare down at the human.
"Ha."
"…"
Zim kissed his self-proclaimed human slave again, briefly; Dib almost gave in, but wrenched his face away, glaring up at the alien sideways.
"Inhuman little… jerk!"
The Irken grinned triumphantly, laughing softly. "You are Zim's now!" he crowed. Yet this time there was warmth in his eyes, not only joy in the conquest. "Yes, from this day forward, the human called Dib is mine!"
And then he swooned suddenly, his hand finding Dib's and lacing their fingers as he slumped against the human's chest, the last of his energy expended in their play.
(A/N) Well... that was enjoyable. I had a lot of fun with this chapter. Hard to keep in-character, though. Hard. *brain short circuits*
Only the epilogue left now, guys. Please review! I'll send you a hint!
PS I have another (ZaDr) fic in the works. :3 Details at the end of the epilogue!
