What astute little readers you all are! I'm not going to tell you if you're right though. I'm just going to make you mad by skipping ahead to the next day! Mwahaha! Why? Because I'm evil. And I like angst. But mostly because I'm evil. Thank you Karyx for the help!
**
It was nearly dawn. The purple haze of the sky was pressed back by the spreading warmth of pinks and golds across the horizon, peaking through the upstairs window of Zim's acquired dorm room. With the first band of yellow to stream across his bed rested form, his insides twisted into tight little knots of worry. There hadn't been a knock at the door all night. Dib hadn't come home. It was perhaps a worse feeling than hearing the sharp pangs on the wooden entrance. At least then he knew Dib was all right, even if it also meant he needed some help. The bed on the other side of the too little room was empty, still made from two nights prior.
/Dib… what have you gotten yourself into this time../ Zim wiped at his sweaty brow. He'd slept completely covered in blankets, not wanting to put his disguise back on but weary of someone bringing his friend home and seeing him in his true form. His skin had healed up quickly, the burned pieces falling off like the dead skin it was, leaving new and brighter greens to cover his form. He'd needed to shed anyway, though he could think of four thousand more pleasant ways to go about it. Just as he could think of a million more pleasant ways for the pervious night to have gone.
/I didn't mean to scare you, Dib. If it weren't for the wretched worm pig baby things could have been avoided. I'm sure of it./
Bird songs floated in through the closed glass window, one song joined together by multitudes in a sinful melody that sang of what the world should have been; a celebration of life.
The phone rang.
Zim sat up and grabbed for his disguise, putting it on in record time as he vaulted for the door,
The phone rang.
Zim swung the door wide, expecting the zealous Jax to smile with Dib in tow. Only empty hallways of the early morning greeted him with the dim lighting.
The phone rang.
With his hand on the doorknob he realized what the sound was. He'd been so anxious he'd forgotten what a knock sounded like. Had Dib been there, he's have surly insulted his intelligence. Zim frowned. He would have enjoyed finding a rebuttal. Closing the vile door he headed back to his bed, absently picking up the phone as he sat on the warm matrices.
"Hello?"
"Zim?"
With eyes so big even the contacts could not completely cover the ruby orbs, Zim held the receiver with both hands, "Jax? Where's Dib? What have you and your stinking moose beast friend done to him now?"
"Zim… I…eh.. yu.."
Zim's impatience with the human was already starting the brew. "Try opening your mouth wider and moving your tongue around. It helps to form words!"
The other end of the line went silent. Almost silent. In the background furious sounds of sirens screamed. Something was wrong.
"Where are you? What's' going on?" Zim barked, one hand fidgeting with the phone cord absently.
"It's Dib…"
"Explain yourself quickly, earth monkey, before I track you down and gut you of your inferior human organs to amuse myself." His voice wavered despite the grotesque threat. The sirens in the background grew louder.
"I can't, Zim. I'm sorry. You need to get out of there. Please."
"What for? What are you hiding? Tell me!"
"When they search his room they're gonna find you. They'll know you aren't supposed to be there, Zim, and they'll think it was you. You have to get out of there."
Zim pressed the phone harder against his skull, trying to hear what was behind Jax's voice, among the squealing sirens. "Tell me what happened! Where's Dib? What happened to Dib?"
"I'm sorry."
The phone went dead. Zim listened to the incessant tone, listening to it drown out the birds' songs and the screaming in his head. The received smashed into the rest of the phone with a crack, the speaking part breaking off and jumping across the floor.
"Damnit!" The Irkin stood, marching over to the closet and dressing quickly, his black pants zipped and but unbuttoned and red t-shirt hanging backwards from his shoulders. His shoes were slipped on without socks as he bounced to the computer, deleting every file on it with a singe command and shutting it off. Leaving without a trace was going to be difficult but not impossible.
/Where's Dib. What's happened? What couldn't Jax tell me? Where was he calling from? Why were there sirens in the background? Why did it all have to happen last night?/ Zim's mind raced as his body moved, making his bed, moving all his clothes into Dib's half of the closet, making the room into a single living quarter as it should have been. /Fuck, Nye. This is all his fault. I will kill him. He will feel the wrath of my fist and the sirens will be too late to help him!/
The sirens echoed, not from memory but from outside.
Zim stopped, looking towards the empty window. He could hear them, imagining the lights spinning around with their red and blue hues with doughnut gutted men in uniform steered around the campus. Wherever they were headed, it was close. Zim didn't want to be around when they came.
"Fuck.."
His things rearranged and his self disguised and ready, he opened the door. Part of him regretted ever stepping a foot in it uninvited. The part that already missed the late night watching the moonlight play over Dib's pale features looked back over his shoulder as the door closed on the too little room he would probably never see again.
The hall was dim, the night-lights still on as the sun stretched over the tops of buildings. His footsteps went unheard as he walked down them, pressing for the elevator.
/Dib.. please be okay. I'm coming to find you. Please be alright./
The elevator door pulled open. Zim walked forward only to almost bump into the blue collar of a uniform. He jumped back, startled. The Police officers didn't seemed to even notice him. They walked past, allowing Zim to rush into the elevator behind them, out of sight and hopefully out of mind.
"So they think it was another fraternity trial?"
"That's what it looks like. Poor kid. Hung like that for everyone to see."
Zim's mind raced, his mouth going wide with words unspoken.
The two cops continued to walk away, "Membrane. Huh. Wonder if he's related to Professor Membrane."
The twin doors of the elevator closed before Zim had a chance to run out, threatening for information. His fingers pushed at the buttons frantically, trying to make the elevator stop, the doors to open. He needed to know what they knew. He needed to know what had happened. The elevator gave a sharp lurch as it began its descent, all the buttons and numbers forgotten.
Zim's legs seemed to become jelly, slipping out from under him till he oozed down the walls of the elevator, sitting heavily on the ground as the dorm floors passed with annoying little beeps and dings.
"Dib… oh my Tallest, no." tears pooled, his bottom lip almost bleeding as he bit into it, trying not to cry out. Trying being the operative word.
"DIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIB!"
**
Maybe I'll write a nice little peice of fluff after I'm done with this fic.......what? I can be sappy!.....
**
It was nearly dawn. The purple haze of the sky was pressed back by the spreading warmth of pinks and golds across the horizon, peaking through the upstairs window of Zim's acquired dorm room. With the first band of yellow to stream across his bed rested form, his insides twisted into tight little knots of worry. There hadn't been a knock at the door all night. Dib hadn't come home. It was perhaps a worse feeling than hearing the sharp pangs on the wooden entrance. At least then he knew Dib was all right, even if it also meant he needed some help. The bed on the other side of the too little room was empty, still made from two nights prior.
/Dib… what have you gotten yourself into this time../ Zim wiped at his sweaty brow. He'd slept completely covered in blankets, not wanting to put his disguise back on but weary of someone bringing his friend home and seeing him in his true form. His skin had healed up quickly, the burned pieces falling off like the dead skin it was, leaving new and brighter greens to cover his form. He'd needed to shed anyway, though he could think of four thousand more pleasant ways to go about it. Just as he could think of a million more pleasant ways for the pervious night to have gone.
/I didn't mean to scare you, Dib. If it weren't for the wretched worm pig baby things could have been avoided. I'm sure of it./
Bird songs floated in through the closed glass window, one song joined together by multitudes in a sinful melody that sang of what the world should have been; a celebration of life.
The phone rang.
Zim sat up and grabbed for his disguise, putting it on in record time as he vaulted for the door,
The phone rang.
Zim swung the door wide, expecting the zealous Jax to smile with Dib in tow. Only empty hallways of the early morning greeted him with the dim lighting.
The phone rang.
With his hand on the doorknob he realized what the sound was. He'd been so anxious he'd forgotten what a knock sounded like. Had Dib been there, he's have surly insulted his intelligence. Zim frowned. He would have enjoyed finding a rebuttal. Closing the vile door he headed back to his bed, absently picking up the phone as he sat on the warm matrices.
"Hello?"
"Zim?"
With eyes so big even the contacts could not completely cover the ruby orbs, Zim held the receiver with both hands, "Jax? Where's Dib? What have you and your stinking moose beast friend done to him now?"
"Zim… I…eh.. yu.."
Zim's impatience with the human was already starting the brew. "Try opening your mouth wider and moving your tongue around. It helps to form words!"
The other end of the line went silent. Almost silent. In the background furious sounds of sirens screamed. Something was wrong.
"Where are you? What's' going on?" Zim barked, one hand fidgeting with the phone cord absently.
"It's Dib…"
"Explain yourself quickly, earth monkey, before I track you down and gut you of your inferior human organs to amuse myself." His voice wavered despite the grotesque threat. The sirens in the background grew louder.
"I can't, Zim. I'm sorry. You need to get out of there. Please."
"What for? What are you hiding? Tell me!"
"When they search his room they're gonna find you. They'll know you aren't supposed to be there, Zim, and they'll think it was you. You have to get out of there."
Zim pressed the phone harder against his skull, trying to hear what was behind Jax's voice, among the squealing sirens. "Tell me what happened! Where's Dib? What happened to Dib?"
"I'm sorry."
The phone went dead. Zim listened to the incessant tone, listening to it drown out the birds' songs and the screaming in his head. The received smashed into the rest of the phone with a crack, the speaking part breaking off and jumping across the floor.
"Damnit!" The Irkin stood, marching over to the closet and dressing quickly, his black pants zipped and but unbuttoned and red t-shirt hanging backwards from his shoulders. His shoes were slipped on without socks as he bounced to the computer, deleting every file on it with a singe command and shutting it off. Leaving without a trace was going to be difficult but not impossible.
/Where's Dib. What's happened? What couldn't Jax tell me? Where was he calling from? Why were there sirens in the background? Why did it all have to happen last night?/ Zim's mind raced as his body moved, making his bed, moving all his clothes into Dib's half of the closet, making the room into a single living quarter as it should have been. /Fuck, Nye. This is all his fault. I will kill him. He will feel the wrath of my fist and the sirens will be too late to help him!/
The sirens echoed, not from memory but from outside.
Zim stopped, looking towards the empty window. He could hear them, imagining the lights spinning around with their red and blue hues with doughnut gutted men in uniform steered around the campus. Wherever they were headed, it was close. Zim didn't want to be around when they came.
"Fuck.."
His things rearranged and his self disguised and ready, he opened the door. Part of him regretted ever stepping a foot in it uninvited. The part that already missed the late night watching the moonlight play over Dib's pale features looked back over his shoulder as the door closed on the too little room he would probably never see again.
The hall was dim, the night-lights still on as the sun stretched over the tops of buildings. His footsteps went unheard as he walked down them, pressing for the elevator.
/Dib.. please be okay. I'm coming to find you. Please be alright./
The elevator door pulled open. Zim walked forward only to almost bump into the blue collar of a uniform. He jumped back, startled. The Police officers didn't seemed to even notice him. They walked past, allowing Zim to rush into the elevator behind them, out of sight and hopefully out of mind.
"So they think it was another fraternity trial?"
"That's what it looks like. Poor kid. Hung like that for everyone to see."
Zim's mind raced, his mouth going wide with words unspoken.
The two cops continued to walk away, "Membrane. Huh. Wonder if he's related to Professor Membrane."
The twin doors of the elevator closed before Zim had a chance to run out, threatening for information. His fingers pushed at the buttons frantically, trying to make the elevator stop, the doors to open. He needed to know what they knew. He needed to know what had happened. The elevator gave a sharp lurch as it began its descent, all the buttons and numbers forgotten.
Zim's legs seemed to become jelly, slipping out from under him till he oozed down the walls of the elevator, sitting heavily on the ground as the dorm floors passed with annoying little beeps and dings.
"Dib… oh my Tallest, no." tears pooled, his bottom lip almost bleeding as he bit into it, trying not to cry out. Trying being the operative word.
"DIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIB!"
**
Maybe I'll write a nice little peice of fluff after I'm done with this fic.......what? I can be sappy!.....