The confusion didn't lessen with time.
Quite the contrary, even. With the way Zim continued to act and hold himself, Dib became more and more confused, unused to the seriousness in his companion.
Silently, Dib stood by as the alien made a coded call to one of his fellow irkens, keeping himself just out of view so he wouldn't be seen by – who he now knew was called – Skoodge.
The pretty pudgy looking invader on the screen seemed positively exhilarated the moment he recognized Zim and the human felt bad for what they were about to do to him. He felt even worse when he saw the puppy-like excitement on the foreign alien's face upon being invited to Earth to 'help Zim in his grand scheme'.
True, he had little sympathy left for his fellow humans, for his very own reasons, but it felt infinitely worse to doom another innocent being to the fate of being a lab rat for their own motives. And even though the cure and experiments they would perform on him might not necessarily leave any permanent damage – in the best case scenario, anyway – it still wouldn't be pretty and surely he wouldn't agree willingly.
But it was, once more, something that had to be done.
Dib turned away when the call took a somewhat more conversational turn and it started sounding like two old friends catching up on events. It was just too strange to listen to, and the human almost felt like eavesdropping, so leaving for another room was the better option.
It wasn't more than maybe half an hour before Zim came looking for him, face set in yet another tight mask. Green lips opened with a small breath to say something, but this time it was Dib who interrupted him.
"What happened when you were on Irk?"
The stunned expression quickly turned into an annoyed frown and the human blinked at the uncommon hostility directed towards him, with even only a simple glance.
"That's none of your concern."
For once, though, Dib wasn't going to be satisfied with that, despite the fear of starting a serious argument with the alien.
"Please, Zim... something happened. You've never been so tense and agitated before and it's bothering both you and me." His bravery lasted about another second before his shoulders sagged and he sighed. "Don't get angry at me, okay? I'm just..."
"Zim doesn't need you worrying about me. YOU the least of all people. I'm fine." Still, now that the question was finally out, the alien at least seemed to be considering answering.
One three-fingered hand rose to rub at the smaller male's forehead while he considered his words, frown only deepening.
A minute of silence passed between them, before Zim finally seemed to find his voice. "My Tallest mentioned a few things... Of course they were still AMAZED at Zim's magnificent achievements!" He threw in, and the way the slim chest immediately puffed out in pride made the human smile and relax just a little bit.
It didn't quench his worries yet, however.
"In order to not disappoint my Tallest, Zim needs to speed things up just a bit. There is no time to waste. My mission needs to continue before they become impatient. And I cannot complete my mission in this state. You've done well to find a possible cure, but we need to test it. And Zim is not willing to wait forever for that."
The praise, however casual and probably unintentional as it was, caused a delightful flash of pride to course through his own body and Dib gave himself a second to appreciate it.
Still...
What Zim was saying was severe.
The alien's mission, while never forgotten, had always played such a minor role, these last few years. They had been so busy with their cure and Dib's recovering that there had been no honest, or even attempted plans to actually invade the planet anymore.
A part of the human felt guilty for that.
Zim had gone so far out of his way to help and please him. And in return?
Dib had basically done nothing.
Now, Zim needed results to report back to his leaders, and by the looks of it, he needed them stat. Which, in return, meant that he needed to get the faulty DNA out of his system to function properly. Another reason to hurry probably was, that Irkens, as Dib knew, where having serious issues about cleanliness. Be it outwards or, in Zim's case, inwards.
Of course, Zim wanted to be healthy and immaculate when he finally took over Earth, serving it on a silver platter to his Tallest.
In order to do that...
They needed more test subjects to try the mixed blood version of a cure on. That meant, they wouldn't only need human subjects, but irken ones as well.
Likely, Zim wasn't very happy about that, but his sacred, beloved mission came first and by the looks of it, he would stop at nothing to achieve it. Even if it meant possibly killing one of his own.
It was a scary thought.
After all, at one point, there was the question of what would become of Dib when the planet was taken over. What would become of Zim?
There just-
A sound caught his attention. A familiar sound by now.
Confusedly, he blinked his eyes, staring down at the source of the warning beeping, the metal wristband still firmly in place. Only then, he noticed how quickly he was breathing, clammy hands lifting to rub at his eyes when the human tried to calm himself before he received an inconvenient dose of sedatives.
Slowly, he let himself sink down to lean against a wall, forcing himself into calm breaths and focused thoughts. Zim, in the meantime, just stood there, watching him with a worried, but observing expression.
Annoyingly enough, Dib hadn't even realized he had been slipping into an attack. Though, thankfully, it was only a mild one, and after a few minutes, the beeping alarm stopped and he closed his eyes. "I'm sorry..."
"I'm sure you'll be better when the cure works and we both get that filth out of our bodies."
Another moment went by in silence, while the human tried to recover properly and Zim just stood there, watching. Then, after probably being bored with watching, Dib felt his companion move over to sit next to him on the ground.
"What will happen once we're cured? Will you go back to destroying mankind?"
"Yes. Will you go back to defending it?"
Dib didn't even need to consider his answer. "No. No..." Eyes still closed, the human gave a soft smile. "After all, I'm no match for such a superior invader such as yourself." It was meant to be teasing in order to lighten the mood.
The slight crack in his voice foiled his attempt at humor, though, and he sighed.
Turning his head, he met large, vibrant magenta spheres with his own eyes. "I'm scared... I don't know what will happen once you manage to take over earth. What'll happen to me or even to you... but I will not fight for earth. I might fight to stay alive, if needed. But..." The smile tugging at his lips came much more naturally than his attempt at humor before, and he swallowed against the tightness in his throat.
"I'd rather side with the one that still gives a damn about me. You've saved me and you're going out of your way to make sure I'm well. The least I can do is not to sabotage your mission."
Zim searched his face, a slightly skeptical expression etched into his smooth features. "You'd choose Zim over your own pathetically weak race...?"
At the choice of wording, the taller male felt an amused laugh bubble from his chest, some of the weight of the situation lifting off his shoulders for the moment.
"Yes... If you need to phrase it like that... yes, I would. I admit, I still wouldn't feel well actively helping you..." He gave a little wave of his hands. "...Kill off the planet... But I will not stop you. Not anymore."
Not if it meant opposing the single good thing in his life.
Breaking their gaze, the alien turned his eyes downwards for a moment. "When the armada comes for the planet... Zim will take you as his personal slave. They usually allow invaders to keep natives as pets." He grinned and Dib rolled his eyes.
"You wish, Spaceboy." But despite the hardly charming words, Dib took them for what they were. A disguised way of saying that his life was safe, should the human race be marked for extinction.
"All of this is really complicated, isn't it?" Dib sighed, shaking his head.
"It actually isn't. Not really." Thin knees were pulled up to serve as a comfortable armrest for Zim. "It's really quite simple. We'll just go step by step. First, find a way to make your cure work safely on us. Then cure us. And then Zim will think up his most ingenious plan yet and ready the planet for invasion. After that, we'll be off to Irk, to let them celebrate me as the superior invader I so am."
It was calming to see the tension slowly drain out of the smaller body and the human was sure it was at least partially from making Zim talk about the worries he had about his mission.
"I know you can do it." And even though he wished things were different, that mankind was a better community, that he was still part of it... Dib knew that with how things were, it was best for the both of them that Zim was successful. It would earn him the praise he craved. Something that Dib could understand only too well.
After all...
The both of them, different as they were, had so many things in common.
Dib knew that he would never receive any of the praise and recognition he craved anymore. Neither by his father, nor by any other human being. Not in this life.
But Zim still had a chance to get his own.
It was only fair that at least one of them received their well-deserved bit of glory.
But first things first.
"This... Skoodge... will be coming here, then?"
There was a slow nod and a short sigh. "Yes. In about two or three days. Once he does, we'll start with the blood mixing thing. But before that, we need..."
"Another human."
"Yes. You won't object, Dib-thing, will you?"
Reaching out in a sudden urge for contact, the human took a smaller, irken hand into his own, giving a light squeeze. "No, I won't. I told you... I'm with you on this. And... if you can sacrifice an acquaintance of yours, I can hardly protest taking another human. I... I still don't like any of this. Really, I don't. But I know what must be done."
Three fingers returned the soft squeeze, the alien's second hand coming to cradle Dib's larger one between them.
"Zim...? What will we do until he arrives?"
"I think.. we both deserve a small break. We'll prepare the lab for our... guests... and then we will make sure things will go back to normal. By the looks of it, you glutton emptied the entire stock of foods we had."
Dib burst into laughter. "You left me alone for almost an entire year! And you already know that I grew, so I had an extra need for nutrition! Gir's useless to get anything edible back to the base and you know as well as I do that I can't just go out and get my own food without money and with a face that still might be recognized. You, Spaceboy, need to feed your future pet!"
His laughter was soon joined by the alien's and Zim could only nod. "Alright already. I will go fetch some food once the lab's done. Though, Zim won't feed you too much anymore. It won't do to have you become even taller."
Magenta eyes turned overly serious at that point and Dib found himself faced with a leather-clad finger pointed at his nose. "You, Dib-thing, will NOT grow any taller in my presence!"
It didn't help that he tried his hardest to keep himself in check. Biting his lips didn't help either. He also felt his face heat with how hard he tried to hold back his laughter, but it burst out of him just seconds later. Dib, in order to prevent himself getting hit, or probably slashed apart by sharp claws, held on to both of Zim's hands, shaking his head.
"I... I can't promise... but I'll try to stay like this, okay? Maybe..." He still chuckled and grinned. "Maybe getting some of my blood in you will help you grow, instead."
"Pff, as if your filthy blood will help." Dib could tell the alien was trying his hardest to stay serious, but it was a losing battle and in the end, they both burst into laughter once more.
