Last chapter! It's been fun, and thanks to all of you who followed along!
Review please!
Zim looked back at Miyuki quickly with wide eyes.
"No!" Zim said, shaking his head. "I'm not, I'm really not!"
"Zim." She hissed and stood up to give him a firm look. "I've told you not to lie to you! I know that you're a defect." She turned her back on him, feeling his answer coursing through her like a poisonous insult. "I've known you were a defect when you were still in training." Her voice went back to its original calm state. "And this is why, I'm sure, you stayed on your planet for longer than you should have. You got attached. More specifically, your attachment for your 'pet' had prevented you from supporting your race with information."
Zim stood up as well, shaking his head. "I'm not a defect, I swear I-... I..." Zim stuttered. He couldn't let Miyuki or himself believe that.
"I know, Zim," She turned around sharply to face him. "Because while in training in the routinely PAK check, there was something reported unusual about yours! I checked it out and recognized it as being a defect, but I didn't write it out as a deformity or a defect to anyone. I simply had them carry on as if it was nothing, Zim." She looked almost concern, but still strict and to the point. "Your human has strong emotions. These emotions can be picked up as vibrations to you, forcing you to feel them whether you want to or not." She explained, but she wasn't finished. "Because of your defect, your PAK accepts the vibrations and translates it as your own. This gives you more room to be emotional when others cant- being able to use different emotions that your PAK was suppose to block out. In essential, giving yourself more freewill by taking it away as well." She gracefully let out a long-clawed hand to brush against Zim's shoulder, prolonging the affect that she was still taller.
"Why?" Zim asked, a shiver going down his spine. "Why didn't you report it?" That was the first question to come to mind before an even disturbing one did. "The only reason I love Dib is because he loves me?"
The taller Irken lifted her other hand, letting those long elegant claws brush and hold his other shoulder as well. "It's the only thing I can think of that seems reasonable." She spoke clearly like glass, keeping her shimmering crystal eyes of a thousand depths locked on with Zim's redder, bloodier, blunter colored eyes.
"So... so I could just fall in love with anyone?" Zim asked, feeling lost despite the hands comfortably resting on his shoulders. "So long as someone in feeling love around me I could fall in love with them... just like that?" He snapped the classes on one hand in a show of just how fast 'that' could be. "What I have with the Dib doesn't mean anything?"
Miyuki laid her antennae back submissively in slight concern. "Does this waver your feelings now for your human?" She sat back down on the couch, pulling him down with her, if he wanted to sit or not, he was going to by her power.
"No," Zim said, shaking his head, his saddened gaze was trapped to the floor. How could he face his Tallest now with the knowledge that he was a defect. "I still feel very strongly for him. It feels like something is compressing on my chest painfully that I know he's probably very scared right now and there is nothing I can do for him."
She finally drew her claws away from Zim slowly to her lap where she diligently began tying them together, her own eyes set low. "I have a well-kept secret that I should tell you about, Second Tallest Zim." He glanced back over to Zim, still managing to hold her majestic feel about her.
Zim peeled his eyes from the plush carpet to the face of his beautiful leader. He wasn't sure he wanted to know this secret and have this wonderful sight ruined. But he would listen, be a pair of antennae when the Tallest needed.
"You see..." She drifted her words slowly, now staring at the large, blank monitor before them. "You and I, we have something in common. Your defect I left in purposefully for this reason; and you're not the only
one. There are three others with this defect, as well.. Aside from myself." She cut him a sharp look that threatened if he say anything to anyone else, she would cut him up and feed him to their prisoners.
Zim's eyes widened but he got the message clearly. "You... my Tallest?" He asked. He thought it weird that he lost none of his respect for her. Indeed it seemed to only boost his respect! Being able to run an empire with a defect!
"This didn't just start with me," she intervened between his thoughts. "It's been this way dynasty after dynasty, each Tallest defected in this way, and prevailing others with this defect that they thought was capable. I was told this when I was Second Tallest, that I had been spared, and that Tallest Fint before me was spared by Tallest Lis, and so on." She turned her jaw to the side, seemingly chewing on her next words carefully while they were still in thought. "It seems the ones with the best growth suffer from this emotional defect- even if your own growth was artificial."
Zim looked down, ashamed of his 'cheating'. "I felt it could help all of irk." Zim excused, looking back up at Miyuki. "So what will happen now?"
"You keep this secret to yourself and never tell a soul. I've already told Scholar Spork of this, but I do not expect you to even whisper a sound to him." She stood, showing her almighty height. "Then you go off on your permanent vacation unless you prove needed for the Armada. This and I'll give you your human back to you, if you're still willing to accept him. How does this sound?" She smiled genuinely at him, having bitten back a smile since she first saw him again.
"Yes, of course! Thank you My Tallest!" Zim cried, leaping up to unceremoniously hug Miyuki tightly, being tall enough to grab her around the shoulders instead of her legs like before.
The female Irken's eyes widened in shock before she smiled even softer and returned the hug gingerly, not having been at all use to being hugged, nevertheless hugged by another Irken. "Let's go get your human." She pulled from the ex-invader before she could give herself the chance to really hug him back.
"Yes, I'm sorry," Zim said, apologizing and saluting with his antennae before heading down to where he knew the brig to be, feeling Miyuki following close behind.
They walked together for a good ten minutes before reaching the prisoner bay, which was doing a good job at keeping all of the aliens in their place. She smiled at the entrance of the bay. "Yours will be the last one on the left." As he started to pull towards the door with a great smile on his face, she stopped him by a hold of his wrist. "Oh, and Zim?"
Zim turned back, a smile still on his face but he looked curious and was listening anyway, despite his excitement.
In a quick swoop, she pulled him into a hug much like he had her just ten minutes ago, allowing herself to press forth before pulling away once again. "Sorry for the news earlier."
Zim looked at the Tallest with wide eyes, shocked she had been so... affectionate. But he smiled once more and nodded, saying, "It's ok... I'm glad you told me." With that he pulled away to go see Dib. The guard waiting there unlooked the door and Zim didn't know whether to run up and hug Dib or put on a show for this lone irken.
Sharp, Irken laughter erupted from the back of the room. Something sounding very metallic slammed up against the wall from afar, and Zim and Miyuki could see two guards off in the distance slowly walking here and there, making sharp gestures hidden by cell walls.
And then he heard it; a small, shy, weak human cry.
Zim squinted, hoping he didn't hear what he thought he did. But, as his antennae twitched with the feelings coming off his human, he knew he had heard it.
"Dib?" He called, quickly making his way down the long haul to the cell of his human.
"Guards?!" Miyuki's voice trailed after him in a light chase behind Zim, upon coming closer to the small two guards inside of Dib's cell.
Droplets of scarlet red blood lay on the floor and smeers of the liquid painted Dib's hands and various spots on his covered body. Red Irken eyes darted from every curve of Dib's body, currently laying in a tight ball in the corner, before darting quickly back up to the two guards.
"Ah! Almighty Tallest," One of them coo'd with a smile, dropping a strange-performance gun to his side as if none of this had ever happened.
"What did you do!?" Zim cried, interrupting anything Her Almighty may have had to say or either of the other two irkens. In a flash Zim had one against the wall by his tiny throat, head making a sick, crunching noise as it hit the wall.
"Just scare him, I reassure you, Taller Zim!" The free one protested, now up to Zim's side before turning his head back. "Tallest Miyuki, this human was making threats out to us! We were scaring it to put it in its place. Get Zim off of him!"
Blue liquid ran down in wavy patterns down the wall and the guard croaked and pulled his small hands up to Zim's much larger claws.
"That's a LIE!" Zim yelled, slamming his partner up against the wall once more. "The Dib cannot speak! How could he threaten anyone!?" With that he threw the first irken to the ground and tackled the other, giving him a punch to the face.
They cried out in pain and anguish, all the while Miyuki pulled nearer and boomed her normally calm voice. "Stop it," she pleaded angrily, pulling at Zim's shoulder to try to peel him off although she knew the likelihood was the guards were lying. But it was as if he didn't even recognize she touched him and she pleaded some more, angrily.
The Irken thrown aside, now visibly dizzy from not only head damage but PAK damage as well, staggered towards Zim, throwing his weight on the much larger Irken beating his friend bloody.
Soon, the punches and clawing became too overwhelming for the small Irken on the ground and he balled up defensively like a turtle on its back, and brought his gun up as fast as he could, to smack Zim across the face.
Nothing anyone could do at that moment would pull Zim off as he continued to beat on the smaller irken. How DARE they touch the second tallest irken's pet! HOW DARE THEY!?
Everything seemed to be like a blur to the Irken. A punch, another punch. A claw mark here and there and there again and blue liquid quickly gushing out of tares he had created. Emotion, anger flooded throughout Zim's tall green form and glowered through his dangerous rose-colored eyes.
Everything seemed to be moving so slow, so hard to comprehend because nothing else mattered. He was soon getting beaten himself by a screaming injured Irken on his back, as well as a frightened one underneath him, wailing and smacking him with his gun. He could vaguely hear Miyuki promised she'd have them punished if he'd just stop beating him, that she'd take care of it as she stood nearby the situation.
Trying not to stay a coward in the corner, Dib peeled his shaking hands from his face and stared before trying to crawl nearer to the situation, all the while being too intimidated by the guards to come into too close of a distance to them. Everything was happening so fast. He didn't even have the voice to warn Zim of the newer, stranger looking weapon coming from the claws of the Irken on his back.
With one hand the taller irken grabbed onto the gun the irken under him was holding, keeping it away from himself with his greater strength. He was too blinded by his anger at the two to notice anything else going on.
A shot fired from the gun. Then another. Miyuki had yelled and moved to a safer spot, still yelling at the lot of them to quit. Another weapon placed around Zim's throat. It was an Irken kizler, designed for cutting and shocking, baring now into the second tallest's throat. All the while the Irken on Zim's back pleaded to Miyuki that this wasn't hurting him, but making him sane.
This didn't stop her screams, or Dib's crawling forward.
Zim choked and pulled back enough to take the pressure off his neck. He used his other hand to keep the laser at bay while trying to push the other irken off of his back, steadily coming back to himself now that his own being was in danger.
Irken words flew around the room as the group became surrounded by more guards, this time by Miyuki's call. They yelled, but it was undecipherable to Zim; his pure anger reigning like a waterfall too loudly in his antennae to recognize anything else.
Now with the weapon to his throat, the claws on the gun had wavered, becoming an even more dangerous fight between the two.
Then another shot was heard, and everybody stopped dead in their tracks.
Zim froze. Sound rushing around him now as the pure horror of the Tallest falling was caught out of his peripheral vision. He wasn't sure what happened after that, but the weight on his back disappeared, as did the green shorter under him, and he feel on his side to the floor, completely stunned.
The almighty, benevolent Tallest Miyuki lay with her back arched on the floor; her PAK crushing against the hard ground. It was quiet as all eyes fixated themselves on her.
It seemed everything could be heard in the room. Every breath was a mountain of crashing noise when the sight of crystal blue liquid leaked steadily outlining the pod on her back and puddling up underneath her body. Sparks sizzled and flew from her chest, and her eyes were wide, as though still trying to comprehend what had just happened.
Then in a rush of a second, everybody started talking rapidly, all at once so it sounded like the ocean creating a wave. Even other prison cells were booming with the talk from other species in shock.
Then things started to pick up in processes of steps. The guards called in medical workers, then separated all three of the Irkens that started this mess, including Zim, took the human away with Miyuki and dispatched, leaving the two original guards and Zim to stand in the cell and be questioned.
Zim sat, panicking in his corner, a hand on his face, breathing harsh. How could something like this have happened? When did things get life threatening?
"Will she be ok!?" He asked quickly to the guard who came over to question him, moving his hand to his slightly bleeding throat.
No answer came. They just asked again and again what happened.
"And then he started waving his hands at me, yelling and pushing forward! The prisoner was crazy. We were only doing what we had to." One of the bloodied guards spoke, but then eyed Zim. Both of the small guards were done for and they both knew it; they only hoped that they could get their 'punishment' before Zim had anything to do with it. "Then Zim and Miyuki came up and asked us what we were doing. Zim attacked. It was self defense."
"That's impossible!" Zim interrupted, yelling to make sure everyone understood. "He has scratches in his throat to prevent the air used for sound to escape properly! He would be coughing up blood right now if he'd have been yelling! The only way he can communicate is through sign!" He demonstrated 'sign' now as he talked, moving his index fingers upwards in alternating circular motions.
"It's a way for people on Earth who can't speak to communicate." He made the 'I' shape with his smallest claw and touched it to his palm followed by the letter 'a'. Both of his hands made the 'w' shape and pressed away from his body, parallel to each other and the index claw of his right hand touched his temple, pulling away. He formed the letter 'p' on both hands, rotating them like before, before putting one hand on top of the other and then he moved his thumb and closest thing to a middle finger to pinch his wrist. It amazed him slightly as he signed with his speech that the movements his hands were making seemed to grab the other irken's around him's attention more so than the yelling. It made him feel slightly foolish yet superior at the same time.
After watching him with slight uncertainly and secret admiration for both height and knowledge, everybody seemed to understand the situation better. Some guards just left without saying anything. It seemed clear that this wasn't so important now, but Miyuki's life was. This seemed to be tugging on everybody's minds but the guards who were suppose to be loyal but seemed to need a 'fix' in their programming.
"Let's get the three of you cleaned up." One of them grumbled full of authority, despite his short stature. And thus, he began walking off towards the exit. A guard nearby shoving at the two damaged guards to move them on.
"Where's my human?" Zim growled, grabbing the shoulder of one of the guards escorting him. "Take me to him first. I want to make sure those two defective idiots didn't harm him too much."
The guard practically jumped at Zim's assertiveness and turned to face him and his startling height. "Of course. I'll lead you to him." And just like that the guard led him away from the 'two defective idiots' and towards what seemed to be Miyuki's room. Irken of all sizes gathered around the door, whispering and chanting their fears. However, they did not stop at that door, but the door before it.
Zim faltered for a moment, wanting to go check on Miyuki, but feeling a pull to Dib which made him quickly enter the room, asking in quick English and sign, "Are you hurt?"
Brown irises locked onto red globes for a moment. The boy in the strange hospital comforters and bed sat up slowly and just stared some more. He looked something of a lost puppy or a dear surrounded by hunters. In a slow movement that he was sure wouldn't give him a dizzy spell, the human steadily shook his head to put Zim more at ease.
"Are you sure?" Zim asked, quickly crossing the room with long legs to check and see. "Everyone seems to finally get that you can't speak right now... I'm so sorry for leaving you in that position."
Dib wanted so much to reach up and pull Zim into a hug, allowing them to comfort one another, but settled simply on reaching a hand out to grab Zim's wrist to let him know he was okay for the most part. He wouldn't want anybody peeking in and seeing them to really be affectionate. He was a pet right now.
Zim sighed and nodded, showing he got the message. He fidgeted a little, hearing the voices outside before asking, "Dib... I don't want to leave you alone again but... would you mind if I went to see the Tallest? It's my fault she's hurt... and I need to make sure she's alright."
Dib held Zim still with a desperate look and signed. "Am I yours?" As if he would only let go of Zim with his eyes if he answered.
"Of course," Zim said and signed, showing just how much Dib was his by saying it out loud where just any on looker could here. "You'll always be mine."
Appeased by this answer, Dib let out a great loving smile and nodded, seemingly telling Zim that things were better now. And they were, for the both of them, it felt like.
Zim smiled and backed out of the room before turning to quickly shoved his way through the crowd, dripping blood on the heads of smallers who quickly parted for him and his superior height.
It certainly was a sight when Zim had finally ran through the crowd and into the room. The Lady Miyuki was laying on her side. Wires and machines were attached to her PAK and doctors with masks and medical supplies working on her chest. Her protective armor, which didn't seem to supply much protection, had vanished at the wills of the technitioner and doctors working on her.
But she was white. This Irken who was so green and full of passion and elegance now looked as white as human snow. She looked elegant still, sure, but in more of a porcline doll way. She seemed breakable. For the first time in Irken history, the great, benevolent Miyuki looked breakable and pathetic. ...And beautiful.
Her eyes which had faded into a fainter silver with barely any blue in it unless you digged deep to find them, landed on Zim in the threshold of the room. She wasn't breathing.
"Miyuki..." Zim said weakly, titles and ceremony gone. She was not just his Tallest, his leader, but his friend. She'd been there for him like any friend would, protected him, boosted him up, and provided guidance. It was his friend lying there on that table, not his leader. He was not concerned for the welfare of the empire, he was certain that would be taken care of in time, but concerned for the life of the only person who would dare befriend the short invader in training. He needed her, he knew that now. He needed her almost as much as he needed Dib, and even almost was a lot when measuring anything by the human.
"Her PAK is shutting down!" A technisioner supplied to the medics, scrambling around like wild fooshvord.
Her gaze, though, seemed to magnetize Zim, beckoning him to please come forward, although she didn't have the strength to move anything in her body. They were falling half-lidded.
Zim, as though hypnotized, moved to Miyuki's side, dodging medics scrambling to save her life. "Miyuki..." He said again, once kneeling before her.
Her eyes run all over Zim's features, and then softly, the corner of her lips on either side tugged upward with the last bit of strength she had.
"Almighty Tallest Miyuki is... ...dead." The technician announced drullfully.
An eerie silence filled the void of the room. The Irkens that had gathered by the door dropped to a dead silence as well.
Zim's eyes widened and he froze, not daring to move or say anything, knowing it would be something too emotional to display. Instead he clenched his eyes shut and forced all of his emotions to the back of his head.
Slowly he stood, and it felt as though everyone who could see was looking at him, which was probably the case, but he wasn't paying attention. He knew, Miyuki had said before that he was the second tallest irken in the entire empire, and though he knew it nothing seemed to be registering. What did it mean, he kept asking to himself in his head, what did any of this mean, what was going to happen now... now that Miyuki was dead?
Unable to mourn in any way had its advantages. A PAK was designed to feel attachment to a Tallest, and an obligation to all those who were taller. They were programmed in such a way that the typical Irken could not feel said, but would feel angry instead, making the Irken species one of the most feared strategic species in the known universe. After somebody of such importance would be turned off or die, a
PAK was suppose to register that it was a great loss for their owner's race, and a huge failure. It was known to be something similar to sadness but not quite sad. Irkens were still vicious and strategic, and was built and designed in such a way that if such a loss did happen, they would carry on without skipping a beat. This was important in case of war, they could lose no time in such trivial, painful, humiliating emotions such as sadness.
But they were all so aware.
And thus, their eyes now stuck to Zim. A medic finally spoke up. "Orders, Tallest Zim?"
Zim just stood there for a while, staring at the ground. Tallest Zim. That was right... he was tallest now that Miyuki wasn't tallest anymore because she was...
He looked back up at the doctor, as though just seeing him for the first time. "Make the usual preparations for a Tallest. Take her pak to the control brains. Prepare her body for the ceremony." He said calmly. Irkens were not given funerals when they died, as their bodies were only important in that they were how they moved. If the control brains could, they would just replace the whole race with robots, but biological bodies moved so much easier and were just better in the long run as they created less junk. When an irken did finally die their bodies would be made into a biological substance that could be used for many things, plant growth, medicine, fuel, things like that. The Tallests were the only ones that got special treatment, but that only amounted to everyone getting to watch your body burn.
Without even waiting for confirmation on his orders Zim left the room, giving a wave of his hand to tell everyone they should disperse before disappearing into Dib's room.
"Zim," Dib whispered to the best of his ability, trying to get use to his new voice however slow the healing process was, and how it still hurt. He looked concern, and worry flagged in his eyes as he watched Zim's strange behavior as he entered.
Zim shut the door slowly behind himself and moved over to a chair to sit next to Dib's bed.
"You'll never guess what," He said, doing his best to sound excited. This was, after all, every irken's dream.
Dib signed and faintly whispered "What," plainly, still observing his owner with careful eyes.
"I'm Tallest," Zim said with a small, hysterical sounding laugh. "Miyuki, she- and now I'm- the whole Empire is-..." He could barely make a complete sentence, to shocked and upset and lost.
Dib watched on with complete amazement and confusion, though not smiling for a second. There was something wrong here, something so very, horribly, terribly wrong.
There was something hidden behind his glossy jelly-filled eyes that made Dib's heart lurch. He reached out a hand and touched the long sleeve of Zim's uniform.
Zim quickly put his hand on top of Dib's and laid his hand down on it, doing his best to keep his emotions in check until he could be somewhere much more private where he could break down without being caught.
The two held their eyes on each other for a long time. Watching each other carefully and secretly communicating just like this, although no information was given through the glances.
Pushing himself up higher on the bed, Dib reached out with his other hand, this time on a bloody gash on Zim's throat. The blue of his blood tingling against his skin like mints on a tongue or hand sanitizer.
Zim gave a small 'hmph' of pain as if just realizing that was there. He sat back up and put a hand to his throat gingerly. It stung, but not too badly.
"I should probably get this looked at huh?" He asked, though he had no more plans of leaving Dib. He needed the human there right now. He felt selfish, considering he wasn't there when Dib needed him, but he was still not going to leave.
Without another second to spare, Dib desperately pulled himself up to his knees and lunged for forward to Zim, pulling one arm around him, and removing his hand from the blue wound. With dry lips he put forth kisses all over it, trying so hard to make it better. Oh he wanted Zim to be better! For everything Zim had done for him, he wanted so much to fix any problem in his life. He would kiss the owy away.
Zim hugged onto Dib tight, burying his face in the boy's shoulder to prevent any tears from falling. He wanted to cry, he wanted to cry so bad for his lost friend, and he felt like he was betraying her by taking her title!
They held each other like this for five minutes straight. Dib wasn't going to let go. He was not ever going to let go until Zim was ready for him to let go. And he did eventually pull away to stare back at him.
The human brushed the back of his knuckles against the waxy green skin of the Irken, wondering, truly, what was going on through his head, but not speaking anything of it. If he wanted to say anything to Dib, he would.
"Tallest Zim?" Came a respectful voice from behind the door, making Zim quickly pull away to look. Just in time Zim detached from Dib as a much shorter irken came into the room, head bowed respectfully. "I was told I should show you to your room now. No doubt you've had a long day and need some rest. Shall I find a room for your pet as well?"
Zim just stared for a little bit, wondering what the shorter was talking about before remembering, oh right, he was tallest now, respected and feared and loved by everyone... and he would now have Miyuki's room. "No," He said, shaking his head. "Just prepare a place for my pet to sleep in my own room, thank you." Zim said, not that he had any plan of sleeping separate from his human for a long, long while yet.
The servant nodded and waited for Zim to stand, which he did and looked back at Dib, waiting for the human to move before he would do anything. He wanted to keep Dib close from now on.
Like a good little pet, Dib slid off of his bed and timidly hid behind the former invader, current Tallest's arm. His wounds had completely healed over thanks to Irken technology, but Zim was still wounded. It made him feel guilty. But just like that, they were leaving.
"This way, please." The shorter said with such respect it was almost like none of these people had ever made fun of him ever, like he'd always held such respect. Nervously he followed the short irken, making sure Dib was following him at the same time. He knew where Miyuki's- the Tallest's- room was though. It made him feel sick inside.
The closer they got the sicker he felt until they were right in front of the door and Zim wanted nothing more than to vomit out all of his organs.
"Here you go." The shorter said almost happily, punching in the code and showing Zim inside. The Tallest almost couldn't hold it in anymore at the sight.
The room that had once been a cool, blue color was now vibrant with reds and pinks the match his own colors. He had no doubt that the closets had replaced Miyuki's armor with armor for himself already as well.
The short Irken quietly left and closed the door behind once the Tallest and his pet human had stepped inside. It was almost dizzying to them both, especially to Zim. Dib, however, couldn't help but take a hold of Zim's claws to steady down both of their minds. He quirked his head up to Zim, reading his eyes for everything they told.
"Dib," Zim said shakily, clutching the human's hand in his own and leading him to the bed, examining it. "This is wrong. This is so, so wrong. An hour ago this room was blue... she's dead ten minutes and it's red." His voice was brimming with the tears that threatened to fall from his eyes. The sadness, now that he couldn't be watched, hit him like a ton of bricks and he just couldn't believe that he was actually there!
Something hit Dib's stomach, making him feel a little sick at how quickly Irkens seemed to move along; all but Zim. It seemed that Zim was the only nonevil creature in the universe and it ached to see him in this sort of pain. He looked ahead, taking it all in with him.
"Irk," Zim groaned, voice cracking as he let himself fall onto the bed. "It's all my fault," He whimpered into the sheets. "I was too quick to get angry... she's dead cause I couldn't control myself."
Spikes went up Dib's spine, and he was quick to pull himself to the bed. He wouldn't have thought in a million years this was Zim's fault. It was because of Zim Dib was so safe! It was the guards fault, all of it! He shook Zim's shoulder as if to wake him up from a bad dream, to pull him away from the thought.
Zim turned a little to look up at Dib, letting a few of his tears fall. It wasn't fair! It just wasn't fair!
Dib shook his head. He didn't want to see Zim cry! He didn't want to see it at all! He was never suppose to leak from those perfectly, odd shaped red eyes! Never!
He bent down and nuzzled the side of Zim's face with his own, trying desperately to make him stop and feel better, trying, trying, and trying.
Zim hugged the human tightly, nuzzling back as more tears fell. He needed Dib, he needed his human so much at the moment. He felt he would be in so much pain if Dib wasn't there with him, and he knew he would be.
But was that the defect talking? Did he only need Dib because the human loved him? Was that what made his irken equivalent to a heart ache when Dib wasn't around? Could this complex feeling he got when the human smiled really come down to something as simple as a defect.
"I love you Dib." Zim said quietly, trying the phrase out on his lips. It made them tingle and his cheeks tinge a slight blue color as his blood was pumped faster. Could such a reaction really come from a technological error in his pak?
Dib had clenched his eyes shut, taking in every bit of Zim into his arms as he could; every bit of his smell contrasting with his breaths. "I love you..." Dib whispered weakly; obviously speaking too much for the day, but he didn't care. "...Zim." The moment his name left Dib's lips, they brought a shiver up through the Tallest and buzzed lightly with a tingle to his Pak.
"Dib," Zim whimpered, hugging ever tighter, though he felt so weak. "I love you, I know I do... it can't just be a defect. It's real, I can feel it."
Dib, not having any real idea what he was talking about, but had just a light idea, nodded against his Irken. "Don't hurt okay?" He asked, although he knew it was futile and greedy of him to ask Zim not to grieve. He just hated seeing him like this.
Zim could only nod as he buried himself once more in Dib's warmth and smell. He took so much comfort in, but the most he could give back was a light pat on Dib's back for reassurance. The Tallest would be ok. He would be sad for a while, but he would be ok, and would be there for the human like the human was there for him.
Cameras flew in circles around the large mountain of flames in the center of a dome for all to see. The fire burned high and vigorously, roaring and begging for a subject to gnaw away at. Who was Zim to deny the flames of such important ceremonial duties? Not when the tall, snow-white body of Lady Miyuki was so close by on a hover bed.
Zim looked into the closed eyes of his leader one last time before she was lowered into the flames, which were quick to eat at the beautiful figure.
The new Tallest closed his eyes gently, saddened still by the loss, but no longer crying. She had been a great Tallest who left behind a legacy that he could never hope to accomplish in his one lifetime, but for her he would try. He would be the best Tallest he could be, for her, and for Dib.
Review please!
Zim: Me
Dib/Guards/Miyuki: Kriss