ZIM

The following days were all quite similar, and absolutely wonderful. Zim was back with his mate, and it made him stupidly happy. Still, the guilt of his betrayal was apparent. Looming right under the surface, randomly reminding him throughout the day and making his smiles fade. The gloomy feeling never lasted long, though. It seemed impossible to feel sad now that he was reunited with Dib.

Dib seemed to feel the same way. His body was different and while Zim had come dangerously close to death without the human, all Dib had felt when Zim was gone had been psychological. Still, it hadn't been pretty. Dib had told him about how he spent his days before he started looking for Zim. He had stayed indoors almost every day, eating instant noodles and binge watching tv shows, feeling lifeless and miserable, bordering on depressed. The second he had decided to look for Zim, his usual passionate personality had returned.

Tak seemed a lot less careless than the boys. She preferred to keep to herself all day and Zim didn't see her all that much. She was in charge of the ship and could often be found in the control room, checking for any armada ships in their surroundings or other threats. Their tactic of flying around endlessly seemed to work, though, and they hadn't had any problems, although they knew for a fact they were being chased. The irken media was full of it. The story of the two famous test subject's escape was all the irken society could talk about. Luckily, space was big. Very big. They could live thousands of lives here, before they would run out of space to fly to- and then they could just start all over again. Flying around without landing anywhere truly was a fool-proof idea, but was it a life they could stand to live forever? Right now, they simply didn't stand a choice.

Zim barely cared. A part of him missed his base on earth and the fresh air of the earth, but the only real reason he'd risk going home was for Dib. He understood that Dib did really wanted to go back. He sure loved space, but Zim saw right through him when he reassured him he was okay. Dib missed his family. His father and sister weren't the best family members around, but Zim knew enough about humans to understand the bond they shared. Even if he didn't miss them all that much now, he sure as hell wouldn't be happy with living the rest of his life up here, while his family grew older and, eventually, died.

All in all, their situation was far from ideal, and all of them knew it couldn't stay like this forever. Something would have to change, but for now, they kept up the pace. Maybe one day, they'd stumble upon some sort of opportunity to settle somewhere.

TAK

Tak sat in the cockpit of the ship. Her eyes glazed over the window, searching through the endless of stars for any signs of other ships or planets, but space was as empty as ever. Stirring through her drink, she sighed, and eventually closed her eyes.

It had been three weeks since their escape, and Tak started feeling claustrophobic again. Surely, this place was far better than the room. She could walk wherever she wanted, do whatever she pleased and had some other company besides Zim. It wasn't like Dib, Skoodge and GIR were much better, but it was nice to have some variation, at least. Also, she was very glad to have her own SIR unit back.

While thinking about Mimi, her right hand absentmindedly lowered to the sleeping robot in her lap. She petted the soft, artificial fur, making the fake cat stretch out her paws. Ever since GIR and Dib's sibling had ruined Mimi's default form permanently during the first encounter with Zim, the only way of saving the robot was have her stuck in her disguised form permanently. Tak came to accept it. It was still the obedient and powerful Mimi she knew, and the warm, soft feline figure was a lot more pleasant to have on your lap than the cold metal form.

Tak straightened her back and placed her empty cup on the dashboard. She made a short 'tsk'-sound, and her SIR unit flew off her lap in an instant, her red eyes looking up at her expectantly. Tak stretched her arms above her head before getting up to take her empty cup to the kitchen. As she walked past the doorframe with Mimi in her shadows, it started.

She nearly dropped the cup, but managed to grab onto it at the last second. Leaning against the wall, she made a short, surprised sound, as she instinctively looked down.

A pang of pain had snapped through her stomach. It had been short, but it had stung horribly and felt like an unfamiliar pain to her. She blinked, her expression confused, as her free hand moved to her abdomen.

'Master?' Came Mimi's robotic voice behind her. Tak ignored it, distracted by this strange occurrence. She mentally asked her PAK for information on the subject, but it remained quiet.

Irkens weren't supposed to receive pain randomly. While humans had 'useless' pain like headaches, the PAK only warned it's host with pain if something was wrong and it couldn't recover the body by itself.

When the pain stayed absent for a few moments, Tak nervously continued. She reached the kitchen- but not the counter.

ZIM

Zim and Dib shot up from their comfy position when they heard Tak's nerve-wrecking, loud cry, followed by the sound of a cup falling to pieces.

They were up on their feet in a second, running to the kitchen to see what had happened. Freezing in the doorway, they saw Tak, fallen to the ground and clutching her stomach. They watched in shock as she started screaming in pain, while her SIR unit stood next to her, panicking.

'TAK!' Zim shouted. He approached her in a second, falling to his knees next to her. Skoodge also came into the room and joined him next to her body.

'Tak what's wrong!?' Zim shouted, to overcome her cries.

She couldn't answer. She shook her head, her face scrunched up with pain, as her legs kicked and her fingers dug into her own abdomen.

'Zim, she's bleeding!' Dib shouted.

Zim looked up and felt his heart drop. The clothes on her crotch and thighs were darkened with blood, sticking to her skin. Zim saw a puddle forming underneath her.

In shock, he tried to think, and his initial reaction was that they should move her.

'We gotta move her to a bed!' He shouted, quickly translating it to Irken so Skoodge could understand.

Dib, as the tallest, jumped towards her and grabbed her under her armpits, lifting the much smaller woman up with ease. Zim hooked his arms under her back and legs, and they ran towards her bedroom.

While he ran, though, Zim stared to feel a burning sensation on the arm he used to support her bloody legs. It grew more and more painful, and right after they had dropped Tak on her bed, Zim grabbed his own arm and shouted in pain.

It was covered in Tak's blood, and it was obvious the liquid was causing the burning. Biting his lips to keep his mouth shut, he swiftly removed his upper tunic to get the sticky blood off his skin.

'T-the blood…' He stuttered, approaching Tak while Dib, Skoodge and Gir tried to get her to talk.

'The blood- don't touch the blood, it burns!' He finally shouted.

Dib and Skoodge looked up confused –one of them couldn't have understood what he had said, but Zim was in too much of a shock to even remember in what language he had spoken. Pushing Skoodge away, he turned Tak's head towards his.

'Tak!' He yelled, in irken this time. 'Tak, talk to me! What's happening?!'

The obvious pain she was experiencing seemed immense and endless. She shook her head again, tears rolling down her face and sobbing. Desperate, Zim shook her around carefully. Suddenly, she tried to talk:

'Zim! Zim, it's-'

All three boys jumped back when she flipped over and coughed up a mouthful of blood. It splattered on the mattress and on the floor, some of it landing on Zim's hand- and it burned again.

Zim realized the blood was burning the owner, too. He suddenly was overcome with horror. A few drops of the liquid burned painfully, but if Tak really was bleeding internally like he'd suspected, what kind of pain must she be feeling?!

Tak cried horribly- but she tried to form a sentence.

'Z-Zim! I- It's my nestle chamber… Something- something's wrong!' She stuttered, interrupted by sobs.

Zim felt his irken heart beat quickly. He got pulled forward as Tak's desperate claws grabbed his. Her eyes wet with tears, she managed to say:

'My PAK- it's warning me. I need medical attention or- or I'll die!'

Before she could add anything, she was overcome with pain again and she screamed, grabbing her stomach. Zim watched in shock as more blood flowed out of her. The burning liquid attacked her thighs again, which trembled at the assault. Her sobs were heart breaking, and so out of character. Zim had never heard her make noises like these before.

Meanwhile, Dib and Skoodge were panicking as well. They hadn't heard her speak, and while Skoodge hopped around her and shouted things worriedly, Dib stood tall and barely said a word.

'Z-Zim, what did she say!? What's wrong with her?' He asked, his voice trembling.

Staring at Tak's face and at her pained expression, Zim's thoughts raced. Terrified, he acknowledged that Tak isn't the kind of person to overestimate her problems. She was, in fact, dying.

Dun dun duuuuuuun.

Whew! I'm glad I could pump out another chapter. I got the plot back on it's rails, and it's time to hurt these characters even more. I feel like my writing has become a bit less imaginative, I hope you'll still enjoy even if I put less effort into describing things and stuff, and focus more on getting the plot on paper.

By the way, what you probably think is happening, is not happening, lel.