Aww yeeeaaahhh coming at you with another chapter! Enjoy!

If Dib had been told a few years ago that he would be trapped in a cave with his worst enemy and would share with him deep personal secrets that would result in him feeling sorry for said enemy, Dib would have laughed long and hard over the ridiculousness of it all.

Nevertheless, it was happening and much too fast for his liking. Dib was overwhelmed by emotions, not used to any of them being directed towards the creature in front of him. Except he shouldn't be feeling that way because the matter of the fact remained that Zim still tried to take over the Earth whether or not it was all for nothing. He had still tried to cause pain and destruction over humanity.

Yeah, because it was his JOB. That part of his mind countered.

He inwardly scoffed. So? It still doesn't change anything. He's still my enemy for it.

And what about now? His conscious asked. This line of questioning caused Dib to stiffen, zeroing in on Zim's seemingly small and feeble form. It made his gut knot once more and this time he actually began to feel sick. Zim wasn't speaking, arms still hung loosely by his sides and head resting on his knees.

He looks so…so…HELPLESS.

It was a word Dib never would have used to describe the Irken. The fact that Zim was even allowing him to see this side of him was scary enough on its own, but what was even more frightening was the idea that Zim may not be classified as his enemy anymore. If Zim wasn't going to be taking over the Earth anymore then what did that make them? Friends? Now Dib really felt sick.

He forced himself to push it aside for now; he didn't want to think about it any longer. Still, now what? He fixed his gaze on Zim again.

Forever exiled…

That feeling sprang up into his throat again and he swallowed it. Invader or not, Zim was stuck on Earth for the rest of his life. He couldn't ever go back home to his own planet or even see other Irkens. It was bad enough that he was an outcast here on Earth, but now he was officially made one by his own kind. It was no wonder he was trying to contact his leaders. He probably wanted to properly chew them out for everything they'd done to him.

He unwillingly admitted to himself that he did feel sorry for the ex-invader…but that didn't mean he was going to apologize. It didn't feel right to him. Besides, knowing Zim, he probably didn't want to be shown any sympathy. If he was being honest with himself, he wouldn't want any from Zim either. They were both stubborn in that way.

It was most likely best if they let go of the subject for now. There were still a ton of questions he wanted to ask, but there was only one he really wanted to know at this moment. He looked at Zim again and wet his lips.

"Is that why you wanted to come here in the first place? To try and contact your leaders at a higher elevation?"

Zim had once again wrapped his arms around his legs, head lifting a bit and his good antenna twitched at the question.

"Yes," he admitted, surprising Dib a bit.

"Then why bring me?" Dib couldn't help by ask, brow rising.

Zim straightened his posture a bit more but still did not turn around.

"I wasn't planning to, but I realized that you would have tracked me down and followed me anyways like the nuisance you are." Well, he was right about that, Dib thought.

"So I decided to make an unlikely deal with you just to distract you while at my base. I…may have taken the race too seriously, however," Zim regretfully confessed, but Dib didn't care about that as another thought came to him.

"So I was basically your pawn during this entire deal?" He asked, glaring.

Zim chuckled humorlessly and glanced behind him to stare at Dib indolently. "When are you not a pawn in my plans, Dib-human?"

Dib went to retort, but found he couldn't argue against that. He made a thoughtful noise before leaning back. "Touché," he muttered, giving up on trying to pinpoint any blame on the alien.

Something about seeing the boy pout over the fact he lost that round caused a glimmer to reach Zim's eyes. He couldn't help the small smirk from forming and thought about shoving his small victory in Dib's face when a white spec landed between his eyes. He went to wipe it off when it seemingly disappeared.

Then another one appeared. And another. Zim looked up to see that snow was starting to pour in through the small holes in the ceiling above him. Dib noticed it as well and tried to protect the fire as the snow began to blow in a bit his way. The roaring wind outside continued relentlessly.

"Zim, we gotta move to a spot where snow isn't coming in to avoid freezing overnight!" Dib called out, seeing Zim already looking for an area.

"There!" Zim pointed, and Dib groaned when he realized that the only section where snow wasn't coming in through was down deeper in the cave where it now looked even darker than before. He knew it was probably even colder down over there, but they couldn't just sleep covered in snow.

Dib nodded and saw that his hard built fire was nearly out. He'd have to try rekindling it when they got over there. Wait a minute. His eyes widened. He had a broken leg. How was…?

It was then he felt Zim already working on his leg. Dib's brows cut low on his head.

GOD. DAMMIT.

Zim had removed their jackets and bound up his leg again, lowering it as he did so. Dib bit his lip hard. Preparing himself this time, Dib took off one of his gloves and bit on a large portion of it. He lifted his arms as Zim came up beside him. Zim grabbed ahold quickly and began to pull.

Dib's teeth clenched hard into his glove and could not help a few loud groans leaving him as Zim pulled him along smoothly against the floor. It ended much quicker than he imagined it to and before he knew it they were stopped about fifty feet away from the patches of snow piling up where they were.

There were no larger rocks for him to lean against so he opted for sitting up with a wince. Zim was fast. He had already finished elevating his leg with their jackets by the time he sat up. Then the alien went back to grab whatever wood was left under a few millimeters of snow. He came back and dropped them besides Dib.

"Zim demands warmth, earth smell," he said firmly.

Dib took a look at the wood and groaned. The wood was already too wet to build a fire. He really hated snow at the moment. He shook his head.

"Can't. Wood is too wet. It wouldn't be able to light."

Zim's frustrated growls intermingled with the storm picking up outside. Before Zim could begin shouting, Dib suddenly had an idea.

"Zim, grab my snowboard."

A few minutes later, the jackets under Dib's leg were replaced by his snowboard, his limb lying on the flat side of his board while the bindings kept the board sturdy and raised. The boys put their jackets back on gratefully, zipping them up as far as they could go.

"Now what, stink beast?" Zim's muffled voice asked behind his raised jacket collar, hood wrapped tightly over his head. Dib thought he looked like a character from a science fiction film he saw not too long ago, Space Wars or something like that.

Dib brought up his own hood and drew the strings. He felt warmer already, but there were some parts of his body that happened to be freezing like his pants from sitting on the ground too long. He looked to see that Zim's condition was worse. He had no boots and only one glove. How has that guy not caught hypothermia by now?

Sighing, Dib figured he should at least make the playing grounds even. He brought up his other foot and began to untie his boot. That idiot needed to keep warm to get up to 55 degrees anyways. As soon as he pulled it off he handed it to the Irken.

"Here. One frozen foot is better than two," he said behind his collar.

Zim hesitated like always before taking the boot without a word and slipping it into his right foot. When he finished he looked back up at Dib expectedly.

"What?" Dib asked.

"Is the Dib going to be giving Zim anything else?" Zim questioned, eyes darting between Dib and the glove he was wearing.

The other rolled his eyes. "Fine. Whatever." He tore off his glove and threw it at him grouchily. Zim took it without sorry, his collar hiding the grin on his face.

"Let's just sleep already," Dib suggested with a bit of scorn. Zim agreed and lay on his side a few feet away from Dib, back facing him. Dib lay on his back, already feeling very uncomfortable but not having any other choice.

The storm carried on wildly outside, snow coming in a bit faster than before and Dib hoped that it wouldn't reach over to them. As time dragged on the temperature continued to drop. Soon Dib was beginning to shake from the cold, his ungloved hand inside his jacket and the other rubbing his arm up and down. He couldn't help but look over at Zim.

Said Irken was curled into a ball for warmth, but still constantly shivering. He had his arms wrapped around himself as well, trying to create friction. Dib knew that he was awake. There was no way anyone could sleep through this kind of weather. He vaguely wondered if Zim even needed sleep.

A violent shiver ran down Zim's spine and Dib cursed to himself. They were going to freeze to death if they didn't get enough warmth tonight. He leafed through his brain for a solution and the only one he could come up with made him want to hurl up this morning's breakfast. He clenched his gloved fist. It didn't matter. There was no other way.

He sat up, already feeling his stomach churn. Just get it over with.

"Z-Zim," Dib called out to the balled up figure.

The alien made no indication that he heard him and Dib snarled.

"Zim! Wake up!"

This time Zim growled and sat up swiftly to hiss out, "What?"

Dib decided that if he was straightforward and demanding with this, then it would be a little less awkward for the both of them.

"Lie next to me," he ordered, pointing at the spot next to him.

Zim narrowed his eyes on him before turning back around to sleep.

"I do not have time for you jokes, Dib-worm," he replied.

Dib's hands shook. "It is NOT a JOKE, Zim! If we don't gain any sort of body heat tonight then we will freeze to death."

Zim abruptly spun back around. "And why should I believe in such dooky?"

"Because I'm more knowledgeable about this kind of stuff than you are, Zim!" Dib immediately shot back.

"Lies!" Zim habitually replied.

Dib threw up his hands in frustration. "Fine! If you really want to risk freezing to death than go ahead and be my guest! My body temperature is warmer than yours anyways so I'll probably be fine! Have fun dying in the cold, space boy!"

With that, Dib got back into sleeping position, anger still rumbling in his chest at how stubborn Zim was being.

"I don't need your pathetic warmth! Zim will be fine on his own!"

He heard Zim turn away and he mentally sighed. He hoped to God that alien was right.

An hour or so passed throughout the night and Dib couldn't feel his hands or feet. He was still partially awake, trying and failing to actually fall unconscious. He wished he could draw in on himself for more warmth, but his broken leg refused him to do so. He did the best he could, however, and actually did fall asleep for a few minutes before the biting cold raked through his body again. He couldn't even imagine how Zim must be doing.

Ten minutes later he received his answer. His eyes shot open at the feel of skinny arms wrapping around his figure, a head burying itself into his shoulder. The body against his trembled, but did not move further.

"Z-Zim?" He breathed out in shock.

"I-if you mention at a-all what happened t-tonight, I-I'll cut off all y-y-your s-s-s-stupid li—limbs," Zim threatened, his shuddering voice making it sound not at all threatening to Dib, which he was fine with.

The teen didn't say a word, already feeling warmer with another person's body heat to mingle with his, even though Zim didn't have much to give in the first place. His heat would be more of a benefit for Zim anyways. As the minutes passed, his eyes drooped from exhaustion and he subtly took note that Zim's shivering had reduced significantly.

The corner of his mouth curled up for a second before he allowed sleep to take him.

Dib was still cold when he woke up, but it was nothing compared to last night's freezing temperature. Light began to filter into the cave, but it was still relatively dark, especially the area of the cave he was sleeping in. His eyes blinked lethargically and he was loosely aware that his head was resting on something else. That's when he felt a light twitch against his face and he slightly jerked his head back in surprise.

Now that he thought about it, his body felt squished. He glanced down and nearly shrieked at the sight of the alien wrapped around his figure as if he were a giant teddy bear. Zim had somehow managed to latch himself even closer during the night. His legs were pulled up underneath his suspended leg and his arms were wrapped tightly around his left arm, torso pressed up against him to effectively trap his arm. His hood had somehow fallen off during the night and let loose his antenna, his head nuzzling into his shoulder.

Dib could feel his right eye twitch sporadically.

Yeah. Nope. This needed to stop. Right now.

Taking a deep breath, Dib's free arm went to shake Zim's shoulder when his good antenna suddenly fluttered against his face like a buzzing fly. Making a small noise of annoyance, Dib caught the thing between his forefinger and thumb to still it. Zim's figure stiffened before he shivered.

Dib figured the alien was still cold and paused his efforts to wake him up. He looked the antenna over curiously. The only thing he knew about them was that they functioned as hearing receptors. But did they do more? Perhaps they were also used to sense smell much like an insect? Zim didn't have a nose so it was very possible. Maybe they also acted as touch receptors like whiskers? Also likely. The more he thought about it, the more Dib's scientific curiosity grew.

He started at the base of the antenna, fingers feeling over the soft rubbery texture. Huh. He never noticed before that they weren't fuzzy like a bug's. Interesting. Traveling up a bit more he found nothing different, just the same texture. Eyeing the tip, he went to touch it when his gut lurched in warning. He retracted his hand. Maybe he'll wait on that one. He decided to trust his gut.

He continued to run his fingers up and down the stalk, trying to feel for anything; bumps, hair…hell, he'd even go for a skin like surface. It wasn't until the third stroke when he heard it. He stopped his fingers. There was a gentle rumble vibrating through the air. It was soft, but Dib could clearly hear it surrounding him. It was akin to—no—EXACTLY the sound of a cat purring.

That's when he felt his arm vibrating. He looked down in absolute astonishment and pinpointed the source of the noise. Zim was purring.

PURRING.

What…in the actual shit?

The purring had diminished almost instantly and Dib looked back at his hand. Hesitantly he began petting the antenna again. The noise sprang back up much louder than before, startling Dib and causing him to yank his hand away from the Irken. Zim's purrs died back down.

Dib forced his mouth to close once more. Okay, it was confirmed.

He was officially weirded out.

Grasping Zim's shoulder tightly, he shook much harder than he needed to.

"Zim! Get up!"

Zim's eyes snapped open. He blinked and looked at what his body was wrapped around before setting his eyes on Dib's aggravated and slightly flushed face. Zim took a moment to himself before squawking and detaching himself from Dib quickly. He scrambled back on the icy floor with a look of disgust.

"Don't ever touch me again!"

Dib didn't even bother correcting Zim on this one. He didn't even wanna bring up what happened last night, nor did he think he will ever mention it again. It was already creepy enough that he just found out Zim was part cat. Instead he simply glared at Zim and sat up to loosen up the cricks in his body from sleeping on the hard surface.

Zim pulled his hood up once more and stood up. He walked over to where it was lighter, taking notice that the snow that fell in last night froze to become one with the icy floor. He looked over his shoulder to see the Dib taking his glove off and rubbing his hands together. Zim narrowed his eyes.

The only reason why he wasn't storming up to the stink brain and blaming him for everything that's happened was because he wanted to get out of this ice-covered cell as soon as possible. He didn't want to waste his energy on the boy if it meant breaking out. He rubbed his hands up and down his arms, internally trying to access his weapons.

A beeping noise came from his PAK. He let out a frustrated noise. His PAK was still damaged and he had no idea what his body temperature was at the moment. If he had to guess, however, he supposed it might be below twenty degrees. He grimaced. He hated to admit it, but the human might be right. It might be impossible to heat up his body to 55 degrees.

"Zim! Get over here! I have an idea!"

Speak of the hair monster…

Zim huffed and made his way to the teen, careful not to slip on his way there. He only had on one boot so he hobbled a bit.

"What is it, Earth monkey?"

"Listen, I've thought of ways to raise your temperature, but since we don't have a lot things like food and alcohol, you're going to have to rely on exercising your body to heat your core," Dib said firmly.

"Exercise?" Zim pulled back with a questioning look.

"Yeah, Zim—" Dib broke off for a second, an idea coming to mind. He grinned challengingly at the Irken. "Why? Don't think you can handle it?"

Right on que. Zim whipped towards him and growled out, "What?"

Dib shrugged and leaned back on his hands. "Just seems to me that you don't have what it takes. Extreme exercises aren't easy to handle and, I don't know, Zim, you don't really seem like the person who can—"

SMACK!

Dib's head snapped to the side at the sheer force of the glove across his face. Zim put back on his glove with a sneer.

"Zim challenges you—!"

"For the hundredth time, my leg is broken!"

"How dare you question my amazingness! I am a trained soldier! I have completed many dangerous tasks that you would never have survived!"

"Then go ahead and prove it to me," Dib dared, "I bet you can't run to the end of that cave and back before—"

Zim had already discarded his boot and took off before Dib could say anything more. His figure zipped into the darkness.

"Hey! I wasn't finished!" Dib yelled out, very much surprised that Zim was able to run in his socks without slipping on the ice. Oh well. As long as he continued to push Zim's pride then the alien will continue exercising.

He had just counted to thirty when Zim literally came sliding into his view, barely catching himself on a boulder.

"How…fast…was that…Dib…fat?" Zim panted, his forehead already glistening with sweat.

"You're gunna have to try harder than that if you're gunna beat my record," Dib said, trying to sound convincing. He paused.

"Did you just call me fat?"

Zim was upon him in an instant. "Record!? What record!?"

Smiling smugly, Dib flat out lied and said, "You don't know this but while you were gone in your base for a month I beat the President's record at school with fifty push-ups, fifty sit-ups, and a five kilometer run in under five minutes! Think you can beat that, space boy?"

Zim automatically grit his teeth at the tone of his voice. Oh, he was going to mop the floor with that giant head. He couldn't wait to prove once more that he was better than this filthy moose. Then again, he could get a little bit more than bragging rights with this. His scowl upturned into a devilish toothy grin.

"Ha! Child's play! I am bringing back in the bet! If I successfully beat the record then the Dib-thing becomes my slave for a whole day! No exceptions!"

Dib cursed every ounce of his luck that he had, but figured that he would rather be his slave for a day than be stuck in this ice cave the rest of his life. He wasn't going to give Zim the satisfaction, however.

"And If I win," Dib barked back, "I'm allowed to take some of your blood."

Zim's actions spoke louder as he took off his PAK. Dib's eyes widened.

"Uh, Zim? What're you—?"

"My life clock will reveal how much time is left. Track my time!" Zim threw his PAK at Dib and Dib fumbled before catching it. He looked down to see that the clock had started to count down.

Nine minutes and forty five seconds…

Nine minutes and forty four seconds…

This is it, guys! Just one more chapter to go! Can you not SMELL it!? Also, the reason Zim doesn't slip on the ice when he runs is because his toes are clawed and can grip the ice just enough for him not to go careening out of control. If it doesn't make sense then just pretend for a moment.

Zim: Is it a fair fight? Is this... moose creature wielding any sort of projectile weapons?

Miss Bitters: No... no, it's not.