You're The Only One That Can Save Me Now: Chapter 4
An Irken's Story
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"…Dib…"
Dib stood in shock not just from the sound of the explosion, but from the fact that Zim hadn't said a word since he had gotten back from Irk…was his name.
"I'm sorry" came the Irken's soft words from under the covers.
Dib snapped out of his state of shock, and looked back at Zim.
"What are you so sorry about? You haven't done anything" Dib said moving closer to Zim, who was still hiding amongst the bed sheets.
Zim then shook his head in disagreement.
"You're wrong Dib-human, you see when I came back to earth…I knew that I couldn't stay at my own base and be safe, so the only other place that I could go was here. You see…you're the only one that I can trust" Zim said as he slowly began removing the dark blue blankets from his body.
What…I thought that I was supposed to be his enemy. But, I'm now suddenly the only one that he can trust.
Dib gave Zim a confused look, even though he kind of understood the fact that he was the only one that the Irken could trust.
But, why did he have to be sorry about that?
"…I'm sorry…" Zim said quietly again.
Dib was just about to ask the small invader why he was so sorry in the first place, but stopped when Zim began to speak again.
"I'm sorry that I got you mixed up in this Dib, because now that they're here…they won't stop looking and destroying until they've found me".
It started to sound as if at any minute now, Zim…for the first time ever was going to have a mental breakdown and start crying.
"Zim, I can only have one thing to ask of you…" Dib paused as he watched Zim's red eyes raised themselves from the floor back onto him.
Dib took in a deep breath to calm himself down, as he started thinking of what kind of reaction the invader might give after he had asked.
He waited a moment and then continued, "What did they do to you?"
He watched as Zim began to shake again, more so then before. The Irken got a firm grip on the bed sheets and the shaking ceased.
"I haven't even told GIR yet…not like he listen, but…I guess if you really want to understand what's going on, then I guess I'll tell you".
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"I was sent a message from the Tallest saying that they needed me for something urgent".
"So, me being the loyal invader that I was, I agreed to go back to the Massive for this urgent message from the Tallest".
"But when I got there…is when I found out their true intentions".
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"What's going on? I demand to know!" Zim snapped as two Irken guards came up from behind and held Zim's arms behind his back.
"Do you mean to say that after all this time you haven't realized that why we sent you to the farthest corner of space. Or why we stopped sending you transmissions months ago" Red said as both he and Purple came up in front of Zim.
Zim looked up and gave both of his leaders a confused look.
"Well I thought that there had been some sort of interference or you might have been out of rang. As for the mission, you said that it was a super secret mission".
Zim finished with a satisfied tone of voice, which was shattered by the sound of laughter.
"Oh Irk Zim, do you honestly mean to say that you believed us?" Purple said between his laughing.
No matter how many different times they tried to explain it to him, Zim still didn't understand.
Until Ren took it upon himself to put it into terms that Zim could understand.
"You must be stupider then I thought Zim!" Ren shouted as he glared at the small invader.
"You're just a defect, no…even better you're a useless defect that no one wants around. You've been a defect since you caused the downfall of Operation Impending Doom I!"
The words stupid and defect kept ringing in Zim's mind over and over again.
He had heard those words plenty of times from Dib, and he has never paid any mind to it.
But now hearing it from his leaders, Zim was hearing it now…and even started to believe it.
"Why do you think we put that mark on your neck Zim, we didn't put it there to make a fashion statement" Purple said grabbing the back of Zim's collar down reveling the black inked, Irken symbol on the back of his neck.
"What are you saying!? All invaders get one!" Zim snapped back, swatting away Purples hand.
Purple didn't expect Zim to lash out the way he did and didn't know how to react…but Red did.
Red came up to Zim and smack him on the back of his head.
"You watch your mouth Zim!"
Zim looked up at both of them as he tried to rub the back of his head which was now throbbing.
Both Red and Purple began to leave when Zim spoke up again.
"I'll become the next Tallest!" Zim shouted, as he started glaring back at his leaders.
Purple just started laughing again and he continued to leave the room. But the sudden outburst had caught Red's attention.
"You become the next Tallest! That would be pretty hard considering the fact that you're a defect" Red said leaning in closer to Zim.
The closer to Zim Red get, the louder Zim's growls got.
Red gave Zim a quick smirk before he continued.
"Yes, it would be hard to rule the Irken race if you're dead!" Ren announced as one of the guards knocked Zim out from behind.
"With that mark on your neck Zim, you've sealed your own fate" Red finished as he watched the two guards carry Zim off.
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Dib was shocked to find out that Zim's leaders would do something like that to him, even if they did hate him.
"Well that explains why you were gone for so long" Dib said as he scratched the back of his head.
What now? Dib thought to himself as Zim began to growl under his breath.
"That's not even the half of what they did!" Zim shouted, then without warning Zim flung himself off of the bed and onto Dib.
The Irken dug his claws into Dib's shirt and forced the human onto the back of his bed room door.
"You think all they did to me was yell at me and through me into a cell for a few days!" Zim yelled pushing Dib harder onto the door.
Sure I've seen him mad before, but never like this.
"You'll never be able to understand what they can do, you filthy human!" Zim snapped.
It seemed as if the angrier Zim got, the stronger his grip got.
Dib gave the alien a slightly confused look when he felt Zim's hands tense up and his arms begin to shake.
Now what's the matter with him?
Zim suddenly release his grip on Dib's shirt. He then backed up about three steps then collapsed onto his knees and wrapped his arms around his stomach.
"Zim" Dib said quietly as he slowly began walking towards the small invader.
The without any kind of warning, the invader began screaming in pain. Dib ran up to him and clamped his hand over Zim's mouth.
The last thing I need is Zim waking Gaz…even thought his yelling a minute ago should have.
"Zim you have to be quiet, now what's the matter?" Dib asked looking down at the Irken's chest.
"What the…what is that?"
Dib ran his hand across Zim's chest, he watched as Zim winced as he pulled his hand away.
Do to the darkness of his room he couldn't get a good enough look at the wet substance on his hand, so Dib moved over into the small stream of light coming into his room from the street light outside of his window.
Zim watched the shock on the humans face grow as the light began reflecting off of the crimson liquid on his hand.
Red blood? Irken's have the same color of blood as humans…maybe Zim and I aren't as different as we thought.
Dib looked away from his hand and the blood back to the Irken who was still sitting on the floor and holding his stomach.
He let out a sigh and walked back over to Zim and sat down beside him.
"Zim, if you knew that you were injured then you should have said something. Plus, making all of those sudden movements like that obviously didn't help" Dib said looked at the red liquid which was now seeping through Zim's outfit.
Dib grabbed Zim by the hand and led him into the bathroom.
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Dib sat the small Irken on the tub rim as he began searching the cabinets for bandages and rubbing alcohol.
"Found them" Dib announced as he turned around with an arm full of first aid supplies.
Wow, I'm surprised that he listened to me. Dib thought as he saw Zim who was still sitting on the tub rim, but now he was taking off his shirt as Dib hand instructed.
Dib restrained himself from looking too shocked from seeing all of the cuts and bruises covering the Irken's torso.
Zim watched carefully as the human walked up and sat down next to him, he also became slightly uncomfortable as he watched Dib pour some of the clear liquid onto one of the bandages.
"Oh, don't be such a baby Zim" Dib said as he watched Zim slowly slid to the opposite direction.
Well, I guess I can't blame him…by the look of those wounds , his leaders must have put him through hell.
Dib began cleaning the wounds that decorated the aliens green skin. He watch silently as Zim bit his lower lip to refrain from crying out.
By the time dib was done bandaging the invaders injuries, there was hardly any visible green skin left on Zim's chest.
Dib got up and put all of the extra bandages and the rest of the rubbing alcohol back into the cabinet. Then he waited for the Irken to put his shirt back on so that they could get back to his room.
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When they got back to the dark colored room, they heard two more explosions for outside.
"Don't worry Zim, they won't find you here" Dib said trying to keep Zim from getting too nervous.
Dib looked over at the clock which now said, 1:00 a.m.
He hadn't noticed how much time had passed since Zim had suddenly lashed out at him.
He looked over next to him to find nothing but an empty space, suddenly he heard a slight squeak coming from the direction of his bed.
Just a minuet ago Zim was acting as if he was going to tear my head off. But now he's calm again…and he's sleeping in my bed.
Dib gave the sleeping Irken an irritated look before crawling into the bed on the floor…which was suppose to be Zim's.
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Dib only had his eyes closed for a moment when he heard Zim's voice again.
"I'm sorry Dib" Zim said softly as his crimson eyes peered over the edge of Dib's bed onto the human.
Dib had said something that was muffled by the blankets before he rolled over and looked up at the alien.
"What are you so sorry about now space boy?" Dib asked giving Zim an annoyed look.
"About earlier…when I yelled at you" Zim said giving the boy a sympathetic look.
"Forget about it, you had you reasons" Dib replied as he rolled back over.
The Irken rolled onto his back and stared at the ceiling for a moment before he spoke again.
"Thank you…you know, for stopping the bleeding" Zim said before he closed his eyes and when to sleep.
Dib smiled as he too closed his eyes, "You're welcome" he said almost silently.
He suddenly looked up at the computer screen.
"This is all happening because of that mark that his leaders placed on him…"
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Match Found:
Meaning – Exile Defect
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Dib growled under his breath as he continued to look at the screen.
"They're going to pay for what they did…they're going to regret ever laying a finger on Zim".
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Chapter 4: End