It's a bit strange to wake up and realize you're not standing on the ground.

Infact there was no ground. There was nothing. Just endless blue surrounding and covering me. No matter what direction I turned in, it was just…blue.

This strange new water was oddly breathable and easy to move in. It felt oddly like a dream. I waved a hand in front of my eyes, just to see if this was somehow real. That hand though…that entire arm was leaking red. My sleeve was torn and my shirt bore dark stains. My other arm was nearly identical.

Soon, red began to flood my foggy vision. A soft and menacing red cloud floated in front of me. Quickly, I turned around, only to meet another dark mist. Carefully I felt the back of my head, only to pull back sticky blood.

Suddenly, thoughts of that night filled my mind. Gaz…my dad…Zim… I brought my bloody hands to my mouth to keep myself from throwing up. I shut my eyes and felt myself gag over and over, unable to remove the sight and smell of all the blood from my memories.

I couldn't help but wonder if this was it. Was it really a dream? Was this…death? I had been expecting a more fiery doom than this…but it was probably horrible in its own ways. Still it didn't seem right…it was too calm. It was too peaceful. I was always taught that death was some horrifying thing.

Pulling myself away from the crimson cloud, I tried to think. It was incredibly hard for some reason, to stay on one thought. I just felt so tired and completely drained. This ocean seemed to almost suck the life out of me.

I casually looked down and kicked my feet back and forth. My shoes had disappeared for one reason or another. It was no concern of mine though.

My head felt so clouded and heavy…it was hard enough to keep myself from sinking further. Why I didn't want to sink, I wasn't sure. After all, it looked like there was nothing down there anyway. I suppose it was just a natural reaction to being thrown in an ocean.

I tried as hard as I possibly could to swim up, up and out of this place. My arms were frantically pulling and my legs were struggling to kick, trying so desperately to pull me upward. Try as I might though, I didn't seem to budge at all.

" That won't work."

I turned around very slowly at the familiar voice. My arms fell limp and my legs stopped struggling. The face that stood before me…I had seen it so many times. I'd seen it each day reflected back at me in the mirror.

It was…it was me.

It wasn't the me I'd grown accustomed to though. This one was shorter and didn't look quite as torn or quite as tired. This one…he was me before The Impact. He was a fourteen-year-old me.

" I've tried." He went on, " It doesn't work."

I continued to dumbly stare at my doppleganger. He looked at me like I was insane and waved a hand in front of my face.

" Hello? Anyone home in there?" He asked sharply.

I didn't answer him. My eyes were still locked on every move he made, every swerve of his jacket. I was wearing the very same one, as I had never been able to replace it. It was a little big on him (I suddenly remembered that I had replaced it only days before The Impact), but mine hung to my knees. The sleeves of mine had long since been torn off, exposing my blue shirt underneath.

Vaguely, I wondered how he could not notice who I was. The similarities were so blatant and obvious to me. I knew with his every awkward turn in the water just who he was.

My doppelganger sighed at me.

" Fine." He said, " Be like that. You probably don't even know who you're not talking to! I am the world's savior!"

I snickered a little. I had forgotten how annoying I'd been in my youth.

" You think I'm joking, don't you?" He put his hands on his hips, " You think this is all some big joke! Let's see how hard you're laughing when aliens take over the world!"

Of course, this made me laugh even harder. Irony was a wonderful comedian.

" You mean Zim, right?" I asked through my giggles.

This made my doppleganger stop in his tracks. He turned around quickly in his pacing and his jacket followed behind.

" You know Zim?" He asked in awe.

" I know Zim and the bigfoot baby and everything else you know." I said to him, " I am you."

His eyes were wide with that statement. I could see it in his eyes that he was suddenly seeing all of our similarities. He shook his head though, refusing to believe.

" …No you're not." He denied, " You can't be me! Otherwise…who would I be?"

I shook my head at him. Apparently I had been stubborn as well. It seemed like such a simple concept to me. Though maybe it had to do with the fact that I was older, and that I had already been him. Somehow, that didn't seem quite right. He should be able to recognize me.

" …What's my favorite color?" My copy asked with a raised eyebrow.

" Blue." I rolled my eyes at him for the stupid question.

"…That was too easy! My shirt's blue!" He insisted, crossing his arms over his chest like a stubborn child.

" Mine is too." I sighed, " We're wearing the same clothes!"

He peered at my outfit, as though he didn't notice before. Indeed, it was the same shirt, though mine was a bit too short in the sleeves. This was becoming rather annoying now. I figured that I'd try to speed it up just a little.

" Oh, and your computer's password is Mothman." I said, trying to brush some blood off of my arm, " Which is also your alias in The Swollen Eyeball Network."

His eyes grew larger than they already were. I still didn't think any of this was hard to believe. Of course, I had just lived through my worst nightmares. Anything was possible at this point.

" You…" He stammered, " You really are me…"

His mouth broadened into a grin. He launched into a million questions at once, as eager as ever.

" WOW! No wonder you knew about Zim!" He gasped, " So how's it going then? Did he take over the world? Did you stop him?"

I stopped him all right. I had reduced Zim to next to nothing, broken him beyond repair and I hated myself for it

"…You could say that." I said quietly, refusing to look my copy in the eye.

I felt my body shift a little and I was regretting my words. Now my younger self seemed horrified. He backed away from me slowly.

" No…" He said, voice quivering from fear, " No you're not me! You're…you're a monster! …YOU'RE THE MONSTER THAT KILLED ZIM!"

It seemed as though I'd swallowed a brick. I couldn't speak. I couldn't do anything but wonder how he'd known that. Besides…Zim wasn't really dead. No…I hadn't…I couldn't have.

What my copy pulled out of his pocket proved his harsh words. It was a grey plate--no, a small tombstone. He threw it at my head and it seemed to move so slowly through the water. I reached for it and softly turned it in my hands. Indeed, it was a tombstone with Zim's name.

I saw him…I saw him as I fell. If anyone had really died, it was me. Unless…maybe I wasn't seeing it properly. Maybe I was the one standing atop the bleachers, watching in horror as he fell.

That other Zim fell. Perhaps that was the true Zim and the other, the one I saw on my way down…maybe he was the false one. I didn't know. All I knew was that it hadn't been me. I couldn't have been the one who killed Zim!

Things began to lose their clarity soon after that. Questions arose that hadn't occurred to me at first. Why would Zim have a tombstone? Who would bury him? And how would my younger self know about it anyway? It was that strange part of a dream where people begin to realize what's really happening. It was the part just before they woke up.

I felt a little bit of fear when I realized I wasn't waking up.

I could hear things though; I could hear people's voices. All at once they came, sudden and loud. It was difficult to pick just one to listen to. They seemed so familiar and so distant at the same time. They didn't seem to be talking to me, but rather, about me.

" NO! No, he CAN'T be dead!"

" He isn't yet, but he probably will."

" Pfft. He's as good as dead now."

" Do you think he'll wake up?"

" It's really anyone's guess at this point."

" Please Dib…Please…"

Dead? I can't be dead. I can hear them, whoever they are. I'm only sleeping. That must be it. Why don't they just wake me up? Pour some water on me or…or something! Don't just leave me here!

I found myself panicking. Maybe I would die here. Maybe they would leave me here. Maybe I would be forgotten, just a bad memory.

For the longest time I had thought that I wasn't afraid of death. I deserved to go after all. It was supposed to be some horrifying horror that punished you fro your sins, but I had never been afraid of that sort of thing. In that moment though…I was terrified of it. I didn't want to die. I wasn't exactly sure what it was that I wanted to live for…

The tombstone floated in front of my face, shouting Zim's name at me. Zim… In that instant, I knew why I wanted to live. I wanted to live…for Zim. I couldn't erase what I'd done to him of course, but still…I wanted to try and make it right. I couldn't very well do that if I was dead.

Maybe I was just making excuses for myself. Maybe I just wanted to try and justify myself. It didn't matter though. The point was that I wanted to live. I hadn't wanted that in a long time.

My copy had moved several feet away from me now. He seemed almost frightened of me, but with his accusation, I thought he might be.

" No…you can't be me." He said again, "You're nothing like me. What's wrong with you? You're a paranormal investigator, right? Why…why would you kill him? What happened to your dreams? What happened to them?"

I had almost forgotten about that entirely. I knew I had dreamed of it once before, of being a paranormal investigator…but I had long abandoned that goal. There were more important things now, like protecting the Earth from aliens and simply staying alive on one box of yellow twinkle cakes for three weeks.

I gasped in shock once I realized fully where I was. I had to ask though, just to be sure.

" Where…" My words trailed softly, " Where are we?"

" The Sea of Dreams." My copy said, as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.

…This was unreal. The Sea of Dreams? I knew in that moment just who I was taking to. It wasn't the world's savior or some crazy child. No, he was made of the dreams of a child, long ago. The dreams that let him soar to unimaginable heights. The dreams that kept him alive. The dreams that were torn away as he was sent plummeting to the ground. The very dreams that were stolen from me.

The Sea of Dreams…it must have been one of the many planes of the mind. I knew I wasn't dead. I was just…stuck in my head somehow.

With that thought, I began to sink. I suddenly couldn't breathe anymore, but I could move freely. Once again, I struggled to swim upward. My efforts were answered though, as I moved slowly towards the surface.

" HEY! Where are you going? Get back here!" My doppelganger cried out.

I couldn't have answered if I wanted to. The water sealed my mouth shut, choking me. I just kept swimming and swimming, praying that I was going in the right direction. The lack of air burned my lungs once again as I neared the surface. I could see the rippling water and the sun shining through. The sun…it hadn't been sunny in five years.

My copy was just a speck in the distance as I approached the surface. I had to make it. I had to. I couldn't die here. I just couldn't.

My mind began to fog once again from lack of oxygen. It was hard, but I concentrated solely on one thought--resurfacing.

All of a sudden, I felt one bloody, sticky hand poke its way into the cool breeze. As quickly as I could, I pulled myself up and out of the water. Taking a deep breath, I opened my eyes…and the world faded to white…

…slowly…

…slowly my dreams…

…faded to white…

(A/N: Thanks for all of the reviews [You all seem really concerned for Dib and Zim. Hm. We'll have to wait and see if they make it out of this story all right! : ) ] Please R&R and the next chapter will be up soon. )