Zim awoke to the sound of people murmuring amongst themselves in the pews. His arms were bound behind him with a thick rope that grated at his skin as he sat in the front row. An iron chandelier hung from the red wood ceiling. Below a deep hole had been forcibly carved into the front of the room where the alter used to be. A thin wooden plank reached out toward the center of the hole, a diving board into the sea of darkness. On the far wall Dib's hospital bed was suspended in front of a red lotus rune. His limp body lurched toward the endless abyss below, but was held to the frame by the leather straps. Zim tried to stand but a hand rested on his shoulder. He looked up to see Membrane's maniacal grin.

"I know you're eager to help people boy," he chuckled, "all in good time." The scientist stood and turned to his fellow human beings. "You have all come to witness a great day for science. Today this strange boy will sacrifice his life for the greater good. His death will take with it my son's foolish fighting spirit and release us from this mass hallucination!" The people cheered through the melancholy. Zim's eyes widened as Membrane hoisted him up by one of his bound arms. He kicked and writhed, trying to touch the ground so he could run. Membrane merely chuckled, carry Zim toward the end of the plank. "Let the sacrificial ceremony begin."

Membrane began to ramble on what the new world would be like without Zim. The wooden plank beneath his feet teetered under his weight. Each breath he took threatened to plunge him into the darkness prematurely. Adrenaline ran like fire through his veins, he couldn't die like this! Struggling at his bindings Zim reached behind him in a vain attempt to untie the ropes. A sharp pain shot through his body as his hand brushed against his back pocket.

The knife from the carnival! The human must have assumed he was unarmed. He double checked his surroundings, Membrane was still ranting about his visions of the future, his audience captivated. Zim brought the knife up awkwardly to the rope and hurriedly sawed at the fiber. The board below his feet bobbed, letting out a forbidden groan as he hacked at the rope. Membrane whipped around just as Zim was free from the ropes.

"What do you think you're doing!" He shouted. "You're about to ruin everything we've worked for!" Zim took a step back toward solid ground.

"We nothing! I'm not going to die here, ever!" He ran, trying to get to safety as quick as possible.

"Why must children be so difficult?" The scientist kicked the board beneath Zim's feet as he was inches from the edge. It tipped into the darkness and the world seemed to rise as Zim fell. The knife clattered on the edge of the pit as he reached for anything to grab hold of. Zim was dangling from the circumference of the hole, his grip slipping by the second. Stepping forward Membrane looked down at Zim, his foot raised ready to step on Zim's hand.

Zim glowered up at the scientist as he pulled himself to his chest and grabbed the knife. He plunged it into the human's boot. The man hollered falling backward on the worn wooden floor. Heaving Zim lifted himself out of the hole. He looked at all of humans huddled in the pews and gave them a deceiving grin.

"Take one step forward and you're going to be worse off than your precious scientist." With that Zim rested his boot on the man's neck, giving light pressure to the contracting muscles. Membrane gaped for air, but Zim ignored him in favor of brandishing his ill-gotten knife. "Do I make myself clear?" The crowd stared at him like a heard of sheep. He stepped on Membrane's neck briefly out of spite, and then made his way around the well to Dib's bed. He glared at Dib's motionless body, knife raised.

"This is all your fault." He accused softly, slicing through the leather straps and pulling the human to the ground. "You have a lot of making up to do." Slumping forward Dib groaned, his forehead resting on Zim's shoulder. The sudden weight threw Zim off balance and the two collided with the hard floor.

When Zim awoke his head hurt like crazy, a warm pressure lay on his stomach. Squinting he peered around the room. He was back in his base, surrounded by a bunch of Gir's odd knick-nacks on the couch. His arm was bandaged, poorly, and he could feel his PAK finish the last of it's repairs.

"Master!" Gir knocked over a tower of old tacos to grab his aching head.

"Get off me Gir!" Zim shoved the robot in the face, but was secretly glad his minion looked the way he was supposed to.

"Shh, if you keep moving around you'll wake up your friend." Gir patted Zim on the eyelid and returned to stacking his expired snacks.

"My friend?" Zim asked he looked down to his stomach, Dib lay half on the couch, his head in his arms. He stirred slightly twitching in his chair.

"He brought you here, to hide from the hospeedles." Gir shrugged. "The computer keeps trying to snack on him, so I've been giving it beeeeans." Dib lazily opened his eyes as Zim tried his best to become one with the couch. The human rubbed his tired eyes.

"Zim?" He slurred. Realization hit Dib like a bucket of ice water. "Zim! You're alright! …Not that I care or anything." Zim crossed his arms eyeing the human. "I didn't realize it took one car crash to knock you down for three days, I mean, what have I been wasting my time doing." He laughed halfheartedly as the invader continued to scowl.

"You didn't get hurt?"

"No."

"You're not bleeding or unconscious or covered in ickies and gauze?"

"…no." Dib said, pulling his jacket sleeve down to cover a bandage on his wrist.

"You-you didn't get dragged around town helpless and alone?"

"…not exactly? Zim are you feeling alright?" Dib reached a hand to the alien. Slapping it away Zim sighed.

"Zim is fine stink-human, there is no need to worry your gigantic head off." He should feel relieved, but the human was being so smug about rescuing him and he broke into his base. Still, at least they were someplace familiar and not in a human facility.

"Your amazingness is unharmed?" Dib snickered.

"Yes Zim's- Don't patronize me human." Zim glared. He couldn't imagine what damage his PAK took to make him hallucinate like that.

"I think I deserve to, you were out for three days." Dib shook his head. "I had to bring you back on foot. Your PAK kept trying to latch onto me and ditch your body!" Oh. Great, so more of the human's brain garbage had corrupted his memory files. No wonder it took him so long to wake up. "Do you realize how hard it was to sneak you away from the crash and keep the paramedics? Everyone thought I was insane."

"Yes, yes Zim thanks you for your services." Zim waved his hand as if dismissing the topic. "...Why did you help Zim?" Dib's face went blank. He searched himself for the answer, but nothing came immediately to mind.

"Why? Well…umm…I…" Zim snickered at Dib's mini performance. The human crossed his arms, offended. "Well you'd do the same for me, wouldn't you?" Zim stopped snickering, memories of the dream came flooding back.

"Perhaps, but that doesn't excuse why you didn't try to dissect Zim." Dib rolled his eyes.

"That would be like cheating, I can't say I defeated you if you died in an accident. It wouldn't have been fair..." The pair sat in awkward silence. "So…umm…you feeling better now?" Zim nodded. "Then I should get going. Your computer kinda wants to kill me and I think dad actually noticed I'm not home." He offered his hand to Zim, this time he took it, pulling himself up to sit. Maybe he and Dib weren't so different. Dib pulled back a bit. "How… What happened to your arm?" Zim looked down at his arm, deep gouges were exposing injured flesh. The collar of his shirt lay on the pillow next to Gir's sleeping form.

"I…umm…" It was the same injuries he had in his dream, but it had only been a dream.

"Come on, let's get you bandaged first and then I'll go." Dib shook his head as he riffled through Zim's things at gun point. He could've gotten them himself, but after everything he felt he'd gone through, a little servitude from the human was appreciated.

AN: You have just gotten the super-duper, happy ending. You are a brave individual and wouldn't have made any mistakes. Bask in your god like courage!
Each ending is a little different and reveals a little more about the world that Zim was wandering through the first nine chapters, so please feel free to read the other endings. I'm glad that I was able to finish before Halloween and hope to hear what you thought of your ending. ^^

Below are the inspiration for the story and the tracks that go with each chapter.

Inspiration: 1408, Invader Zim: Halloween Spectacular of Spooky Doom, Evanescence: The Open Door, Silent Hill 1 and 3, The Suffering, and Resident Evil.