Bloody Watercolors.

By: Alien Freak and Xmimi89eR

Rate: M

Story may contain gore/blood/violence/strong language.

Dark ZaDr

Disclaimer: We do not own invader Zim, but we own the story and idea.

English is my second language, my apologies if there are any mistakes.

'It's OKAY to be scared. Being scared means you're about to do something really, really brave.'

-MANDY HALE-

XXX

The sunshine was an enough reminder to Dib that it was time for school, he was still sitting on his bed, haven't slept any. Just been cutting like a mad guy with nor sadness or joy, he was just doing what Illness told him, afraid he won't continue the day alive if he didn't.

After heavily leaving the bed and the sharp weapon there, Dib took spare clothes with him and went to the bathroom. It was around five in the morning, too early for school so he decided a long bath might erase the bad night from yesterday and maybe wake him up a bit.

The boy sighed as he lowered his pale body in the warm water, eyes half open as he stared at the wall.What a perfect time to take a bath without being disturbed by his sister, however, he knew she won't be a problem for a while now; thankfully.

I'm having some... energy today.

'What do you mean?'

Dib felt something so wrong in the room, Illness was keeping him awake all night, what in hell does he want now?!

Look up.

Amber eyes shot as he felt another wave of something creep closer to him, he looked to the other end of the tub to have his eyes going wide. Dib jerked himself back and hugged his knees.

The other figure did the same.

"This kind of energy."

Dib took a deep breath as he stared with disbelief at the other figure in the same tub as him, the other boy looked just like him, coping his position.

It was Illness no less.

Illness's eyes shot dark with narrowed eyes at the real Dib. "Surprised?" He asked with a slow smirk.

"W- what? How?" Dib shifted slightly, Illness did the same, just like a mirror. Every little move Dib made was coped perfectly by the other, the water however didn't seem to have any reflection of him or a reaction to his movements.

"I was just bored, can't someone have their own fun time?" Illness mocked, leaning against Dib's movement and closer to the human. His hand grabbed the glasses of the human and placed them on his face. "Better? I didn't want my beautiful face to go for nothing,"

Dib squawked at the cold glasses in his face, too terrified to think any of this to be unreal.

"I don't need glasses however, too bad for you." He smiled sweetly for a second before grabbing the boy by his neck. It took Dib by surprise as he jerked in the water, feeling the other in his lap as he tried to free himself. "Oh, you can't fight a stronger you." He laughed. "Don't get me wrong, I still want to help you with Zim..." Illness whispered.

"Y- you're g- going to k- k- kill us!" Dib chocked out, he held Illness's hands and tried to get him away, strangely the stronger he held the other's arms, the stronger Illness's grip tightening on his neck.

"I can't..." Illness said with a disappointed tone. "Here lays the fun, however..." He said with a smug, pressing hard against the original body of the boy. "All this is only in your mind, I'm just a phantom, a hallucination in your big head." He shook his head 'sadly'. "Your Dad's right, you are just crazy." He said it with venom dripping from his lips. Amber eyes glowing with hatred, the other Dib was much paler, he had black circles under his eyes with narrowed eyes. His smile was just crazy itself and obviously, he didn't seem to need glasses whatsoever.

"L- l- let gooo!..." Dib pleaded between gritted teeth, his face was changing colors and he truly was losing it. He closed his eyes shut tightly, feeling the other's hands on his neck tightening.

But I'm only in your head! Illness laughed.

Dib gasped for air as he felt the hands on his neck move away barely, he opened his eyes fast and looked forward, expecting to see Illness still there, but he was dumbfounded to see only his hands...

He was chocking his own self...

"What did you just do...?" He asked slowly, looking at his shaking hands that he just removed from his neck.

Me? I didn't do anything, you're the one that started chocking yourself. What? Are you really this depressed you want to kill yourself? How sad...

"I-..." He was fighting hard the urge to cry. "Why?"

Stupid, not because we're one means I like you, go cry to your little lover.

Dib gritted his teeth as he squeezed his eyes close, his hands into fists as he tried to hold his anger. "Get out of me."

Ha! Now you're asking me this? Too late my friend, I'll be the one to let you go.

Dib took a shaky breath and reopened his eyes, he slowly got out of the tub and wrapped a towel around his hips. He just heard his sister open her door, she'd want the bathroom sooner or later anyway. The boy washed his teeth and wore his clothes, making sure to wear his other boots, just the thought of the alien shoving his precious legs off makes him terrified; better safe than sorry.

The pale human rubbed his eyes tiredly, he hadn't slept any yesterday, since Illness seemed to have, oh, his fun time... and with what just happened, he felt like collapsing here and now. Dib walked out of the bathroom, dragging himself downstairs with a sigh, he didn't even care to dry his hair nor did he care to eat breakfast. He didn't see Gaz on his way down, maybe she wasn't home, probably didn't want to see his face and walked there alone. Or decided to stay in her room till he's out of the door. Whatever, he didn't care...

Dib shrugged with a frown on his face, he grabbed his bag then went outside.

XXX

Zim wasn't in school.

That was the first thing Dib realized, he had no idea what the alien was planning for, but hell he was sure it won't be good; at less not for humans.

The boy couldn't take any of his teachers mumbling for hours, he had a bad headache, and god did he want to sleep... he even slept half of his classes, the teachers kept yelling at him all the time they saw him dozing off. Why of all days? That was beyond him. Life just seems to hate him. Their voices echoing in his mind, buzzing like an annoying fly, they just didn't seem to want to stop, either too loud or too quick for him to even focus, it was unnerving, unbearable.

It was by the fifth class when he couldn't take it anymore, he slowly dragged himself out of class silently and walked through the hallways, at less they didn't have a teacher at the time. Dib's mind was clouded as he walked like a zombie down the streets, he was about to be hit by a car twice, damn did he not care. As his thin legs walked and stopped in a particular place, Dib was not surprised to find it was no other than the green odd-looking house. Zim's base.

Black boots moved uncontrollably towards the purple-colored door, his eyes looking at the gnomes that seem to follow all his movements, their eyes glowing red, unblinking, they sent a shiver down Dib's spine. After a moment of hesitation, he knocked on the said door. Dib waited patiently for an answer, he adjusted his broken glasses on his nose, taking a deep breathe when he heard little footsteps getting closer. Even though he was used to being in Zim's house, it still frightened him, just the memories of being chased down in a 'game' were enough to make his night full of nightmares.

"Hellooo?" Gir peaked at the skinny human.

"Hi," Dib replied in almost a whisper.

"Oh, HI MARY!" The robot opened the door wider, a big smile on his sticker-full face. "Come in! Mastah in a call with tall people, you'll likes 'em!" With that being said, the SIR unit held the human by his hand and dragged him inside.

Dib was too tired to even yell, if anything, he felt like losing consciousness here and now, but the small robot caught his attention even by one bit. Tall people? Who in the world?...

They got in the elevator, just a few seconds before they found themselves walking through the huge labs of the invader, it was still terrifying as Dib kept passing by the pools of blood and odd-looking drawings on the floor and the walls. However, that doesn't mean he didn't find the lab amazing.

A faint sound caught his ears and Dib immediately knew who it belonged to.

"-yes, yes, I'm actually having some fun here!" What he was sure was Zim said.

"-that's great, Zim..." another voice popped in, sounded a bit hesitant, almost afraid.

"Well, I still have those amazing plans of mine, you'll be amazed, my tallest!"

The human got closer to take a look at the big screen. He saw Zim standing straight, looking excited with a smirk on his face. On the other side of the screen stood two looking aliens, if he was sure, then he'd say they're also irkens. But they looked a bit... normal? No that wasn't the word...

When he looked at Zim, he saw a broken antenna with an odd-shaped device on it, and another one on his chest. Zim seemed crazy but those looked a bit calm. And to add more, his 'master' had black circles under his eyes, looking tired as Dib said before, but the other two looked... not tired at all. They looked normal in a way. Somehow.

Zim looked exactly like a psychopath in front of them.

"GO SAY HI!" Gir exclaimed happily and pushed Dib into the light. The human didn't even have time to scream when he bumped into the alien.

"Eh?!" Zim held the human by his shoulders, his PAK legs retracted and aimed at him. When the alien seemed to calm a bit, he straightened himself. "Diblet?" He said, raising an eyebrow. His PAK legs retracted back in place.

"Uh," The human boy caught himself, a nervous smile on his pale face. "Sorry-"

"Who's that?"

Zim looked back at the screen when he heard his tallest ask, he looked from them to the boy, then back to them when an idea crossed his mind. "Oh!" He smiled. "My tallest, I forgot to introduce you to my new pet!" He held the human in front of him, making sure to hold him still. "This is the Dib, you came at the right time!"

Tallest Red and Purple shared a look. "Is that a human?" Purple asked.

"Yes," Zim nodded.

"I thought you hated humans?" Red asked this time, eyes narrowed in confusion.

"Oh, believe me, I do. However! This human is so different, he hates his own kind! Isn't it so dramatic?" He explained as he hugged the said human by his neck. "I think he's cute! He agreed to even kill with me, isn't it cool?"

Dib cracked a nervous smile. "Hi," He whispered.

"Eh..." The crazy irken seemed to remember what he was saying before. "Right! I wanted to show you my newest plan! It's going to be so amazing! Just lemme see where I put it..." He looked around. "Excuse me for a second my tallest, I'll go look for it!" He said. "Don't forget to bow," Zim whispered to his human before running somewhere in the lab, leaving Dib standing there awkwardly.

"That's..." Red began, tapping his chin. "Odd."

"Huh...?" Dib looked at him, he noted that their eyes were also different from Zim. Right, they all have different colors, but no... not like that. Zim's eyes were... dark, emotionless. He could see a murder behind them, secrets. But Zim wasn't emotionless, right?

'Right?...'

"Why isn't he dead?" Purple continued Red's thought. "Hey! Are you a zombie?"

"U- um, no..." Dib answered, snapping out of his thoughts.

"Weird..." Red nodded. "Zim's supposed to kill him, I mean, that what he does," He shrugged.

"Yeah, why aren't you dead??" Purple asked with an accusing claw pointed at Dib.

"I- I-... I dunno," he started, but the look on the leaders' eyes made him think of another answer. "He became my... master?"

Red's eyes were slightly wide for a moment. "You mean he somehow didn't kill you?..."

"No...?" Dib answered with a frown. "May I ask why...?"

"Why?" They said together as the two leaders shared a look. "Look at him!" Purple exclaimed. "He's crazy!"

"Shhh!" Red put a hand on his lips. "Do you want him to hear us?!" He whispered/yelled.

"Mother of irk, no!" Purple shuddered at the thought. "But are you blind? How can you become his servant??" He looked back at the human. "He's literally out of his mind!"

"What d- do you mean?" Dib asked, fearful eyes glanced behind him, fearing to see the alien. Even though Dib knew that Zim was crazy, he didn't expect that even his alien kind thought the same. How lucky.

"Look at us, and look at Zim." Said Red with narrowed eyes. "He's a killing machine, he even killed his own kind because he was bored! If he didn't find interest in your planet then we're all doomed."

"Exactly!" Purple conformed. "I wonder what he finds interesting in you, he really hates humans."

Before Dib could answer, Red spoke. "Wait, He isn't missing a limp? Or a head or...?"

"I don't think so?..." Purple said, studying the boy's face. "He hadn't tried to push you off a building?" Curiosity filling his voice, he got a bit closer to the screen.

"No..." Dib shook his head.

"Didn't try to burn you?" Red asked.

Dib shook his head again.

"Didn't try to drown you?" Purple asked.

The boy stopped and gazed at them with confusion and almost fear as he saw the two leaders ask questions like they knew what Zim would have done to him.

"He didn't try to eliectricfie you?"

"Take your head off?"

"Stab you?"

"Chock you?"

"Feed you to something?"

"Poison you?"

"Suck your blood?"

"Melt your bones?"

"Crush you?"

"Take your organs out?"

"Shoot you?"

Dib stood there in disbelief as he watched the two leaders ask questions on how he might have been killed, his amber eyes would glance from left to right then back again, mouth open and eyes wide. He didn't have time to even answer or say anything as questions fell on him like waterfalls. Red and Purple kept guessing what Zim should have done to the boy, and Dib was watching them, imagining every way the alien would have killed him. They kept fighting over it till Dib thought that was enough.

"Okay, okay..." He began, catching the two. "I'm fine, really. I mean, he did want to cut my legs off because he thought I was taller, but we're over it now."

The two leaders kept quiet, blinking the confusion out of them.

"He's taller than me..." Dib said in a whisper, feeling awkward in the silence and the two big eyes staring at him.

Red seemed to snap out of his daze, narrowing his eyes. "Look, human." He began, taking a deep breath. "Zim is dangerous, we sent him to Earth so irk would be safe."

"Yeah, he tried killing his fellow invaders! We just need him when it's war because he's a good elite, and then we send him away in a 'vacation' so the irken empire would last unharmed." Purple said, eyes looking around in the lab. "And if you told him this, we'll make sure we kill you ourselves."

"Yes, let's have this as a truce: you keep him away from us, and we will..." Red thought for a bit. "And we will say something nice about you so he won't try cutting your hands next time. Deal?"

Dib frowned and held his precious hands. "Okay... deal, I guess."

"Good-"

"My tallest!"

A shiver ran down Dib's spine, he span around to see the said crazy irken walking near him. "What were you talking about?" He asked with a smile.

"We wanted to say that your pet is well trained, we suggest you keeping it around." Red said, he gave Dib a knowing look.

The human understood and nodded with a nervous smile. He, in time, remembered what Zim told him and bowed in said respect for their comment. He could see Zim's eyes on him. "Thank you,"

"Yes, I know he's good, everything owned by Zim is good." Zim exclaimed. "I will send you my plan now, check it out!" He walked to the console and installed a weird-looking hard drive he was holding in his claws.

"We'll see it later, Zim." Red said.

"Anytime that suits you, my tallest." Zim nodded, he walked backwards to stand next to his 'pet'. "This was invader Zim, signing off."

Before the transmission cuts off, Dib saw tallest Purple gives him a thump up and cracked a smile, with that, Dib knew that he was playing with the most dangerous irken in the universe, and somehow still alive. Even the leaders seem shocked.

Lucky? or maybe cursed, he wasn't sure.

"I told you they'll like you!" Zim hugged him from behind, his cold breath against the human's neck making him shudder.

"Y- yeah," Dib replied, he should be more careful from now on, those ways to be killed were too harsh for him...

Illness was quiet.

"So, why are you here? I thought it's school time?" Zim asked, spanning around to look eye to eye with the boy.

"I was tired," Dib said, now that he was out of shock, he could feel how shaky his legs were. "I'm not sure why I came here, I guess I'm too used to it." He shrugged despite the hands on his shoulders.

"Hm, you do look awful." Zim said with a frown, his hand went from the human's shoulders to his neck, a claw traced the odd-looking black scars from the chocker, how pretty did Zim see them, so pretty. "I can fix it, but I have a plan to work on, you'll like it! Just wait till the weekend and you'll see."

Dib smiled sadly at him, knowing he'll be in another place in the weekend, but he didn't want to ruin the alien's excitement. "Sure."

Zim span on heels and went back to the console. "You can have your human-sleep on the couch, keep Gir there with you so I can work." He ordered.

"Okay," Dib replied, he walked back to what he hoped to be where the elevator is, that until a voice talked.

"IT'S THE OTHER WAY." The female computer said in a very bored tone, taking Dib by surprise.

"O- oh, thanks." He replied, walking to the elevator as he saw it coming into view, the ride was only five seconds before the doors opened revealing the kitchen. Dib walked out and to the living room, seeing Gir sitting there, watching some cartoons.

"Hii!" The robot said happily.

"Hi," Dib replied, he sat heavily on the couch, immediately feeling tired as he leaned back. "Zim's busy so stay here." Dib mumbled as he closed his eyes.

"Ooooh, we gonna have a sleepover??" Gir asked, jumping on the couch.

"Hm, yeah, whatever."

Gir gasped. "REALLY?" He giggled. "I'm gonna go get fluffy blankets! And then we can have da best sleepup ever!"

Dib wanted to correct the 'sleepup' but felt overly exhausted to do so, he mumbled a 'yes' and then found himself drifting fast towards the heaven of sleep.

Illness was strangely quiet...

END OF CHAPTER ELEVEN!

Mary: ... Well... God, I'm late again with this! I feel bad :') sorry for almost forgetting about this story, we were kinda busy and unmotivated with this one, but I did draw Zim's human disguise! You can find it on my Instagram!: Mary._.0v

AF: That's a short chapter, but I think that's where things are supposed to end for the day in the story. We tried making some plot so this wait won't be for nothing!

Have a nice!

This was Alien Freak, signing off.