Disclaimer: I don't own Dib or Zim, so please realise that I am NOT jhonen Vasquez coming to share pretty stories of insanity.

Author's note: Okay, I'm back with chapter two... I like how this fic is going, what does everyone think about it? I barely got reviews for the first fic O-o; but that wont stope me, cause pther people cant determine how much you like your own fics, and since I really like this one, I am going to write it even if I dont get any reviews :P!

Dib shot a nervous glance towards the alien in-mate before staring blankly at the unexpected visitor. It was a girl, only slightly shorter than Dib himself. Her eyes were hidden behind the painted glare, and her hair had grown since the last time he'd seen her. Her violet hair hung down slightly past her shoulders.

"Gaz? What are you doing here?" He questioned her as he stood to greet her properly. He regretted it soon after as his brain fogged with dizziness.

She said nothing until she had walked right up towards her brother, the glare never softening. She completely ignored the all-but-trembling alien sitting in the corner. "Dib, you're such an idiot, you know."

"Thanks Gaz, I missed you too. Why are you here?"

"Do you even know what they are doing to you?"

"Of course I do! They are doing it to me, you know."

"But do you know what they're doing to you?" He shook his head slowly, "You moron... Don't you understand? You're nothing but a test subject to them, they'll kill you."

"They won't kill me, they need me..."

"So you agree with what they are doing? You don't feel any pain from it? Don't you see that it will only get worse?"

"Don't you think I've thought of that, Gaz?! I know I feel worse everyday. Why do you think I try to escape?"

"You can't escape, Dib. Neither can Zim," She finally seemed to acknowledge the presence of the alien.

"Why can't we then?" Zim glared up at the pessimistic human.

"Because you've both been tagged...."

"How do you know all of this?" Dib butted in again.

"Dad told me... he says he's sorry for all of this. It wasn't his idea. He sent me to help get you out. This will be the only time I can talk verbally about it, dad made sure that the verbal recording devices were malfunctioning today."

"So we can't talk about it?"

"Not after seven o'clock this evening. Dad and I will take care of everything, so don't worry about it. I'll keep in touch with one or both of you, but dad wants you out of here as much as you do."

"Why can't he just tell them to let me go?!"

"If he did that, he'd lose his job..."

"His job has always come first..."

Dib winced as he felt a hand slap across his cheek, "Don't be so blind! He has to keep his job so he can get you out of here. If he told them to let you go, there will be no one on the inside to help us out."

Dib looked down on the ground and nodded... it wasn't fair to speak of his father like that, "Why did you wait this long?"

"We had to get around suspiscions. One other thing, if you want to talk together about the whole plan, you're safe using your mind speach in here, they have yet discovered something to intercept messeges that way," She looked down at her watch, "i have to go, it's almost seven. I'll be back tomorrow." She turned to leave.

"Wait!" She turned back, "Thanks Gaz, I really owe you one..." he walked over to her as steady as possible to give her a hug.

"Yes, you do owe me, and if you hug me again, I'll change my mind about the whole thing." Dib let go of his sister but laughed. He really did miss her.

When the door shut once more, Zim's antennae perked up, "Mind-speach? You said nothing of that..."

:Well you never asked about it.: Dib grinned at him. Zim heard Dib's voice as if Din had spoken to him, but he did not see Dib'd lips move. He heard an echo inside his mind as every word hung.

"How do you do that?"

:I can't explain it... it just comes naturally. I talked to Gaz like this a lot when we were little. I'm surprised that she remembered.. Gosh it has to have been about twelve or thirteen years since I used it...:

Zim raised an eyebrow, "Can you read my mind then?" He gave a threatening glare.

:I'm not that powerful yet, Zim. I can't read minds unless they are very opened to me.... but if you think loud enough, I might be able to pick it up. That's how I talked to Gaz. Go on, try to think something. You'll have to trust me a little though, or it won't work.:

Zim glared a bit still, then decided to give it a try... it was his only chance to talk in secret with him anyhow... 'How's this?'

:That's good... you're coming in a little soft though... that should be expected because you don't trust me... it causes interference because you're still trying to block me out, even when you want to tell me something.:

'Well that won't change anytime soon.'

:I'm not expecting it to.:

'So your sister's going to help get us out of here... I wonder if it will work... Where are those transmitters anyway?'

:Probably somewhere inside of us or soemthing...:

'Yes, you're probably right. So until they can get the transmitters off, all we can do is plan...'

:Yes, guess so.: Dib looked around and staggered over to a bunk bed, crawling into the bottom bunk and sighing.

'Going to bed?' Zim asked silently as he followed and climbed up to the top bunk, 'Don't humans usually prefer to sleep on the top?'

:Yes, I guess that's true. I don't feel like climbing up there right now.. unless you have a bed wetting problem, I should be okay.:

'What is this bed-wetting?'

:Nevermind Zim...:

'No, tell me! I must know of this weapon!'

:Weapon?:

'Water is wet, therefore if the bed gets wet, I must know how!'

:It means you piss all over yourself when you sleep...:

'Ew...'

:Got that right.: Dib chuckled to himself... it was so much easier to talk with Zim when they were using their minds instead of their voices for some reason.

Zim got himself situated in the bed, wincing when he pulled a certain cut a bit too far. Taking a hissing breath, he readjusted himself and closed his eyes.

Both boys fell asleep in total silence, both filled with hopes and fears of tomorrow. Some day soon, they would be on their day of freedom, but tomorrow would just be another day of pain.



~Next Morning~

Things were normal enough at the morning. The guards brought food for Dib, bringing nothing to Zim. Dib had noticed Zim's thinness when he first saw him in the cell the day before, but he had no idea that he wasn't fed properly.

"Why didn't you get any breakfast, Zim?"

"They don't know what I eat..."

"Why don't you tell them?"

Zim rolled his red eyes as if the answer was obvious. Dib just looked at him blankly as ever, "Then they'd be getting information about my race. I can't risk the lives of the Armada for soemthing as trivial as food."

"The Armada?" Dib's curious face leaned inches away from Zim's, "What's that? If you're hungry, don't hesitate to take some of my food, I'm not really that hungry anyway.

"It's none of your business, human!" Zim snapped with a glare, then sighed, "I won't eat your food either, an Irken can go a while without food."

"Like a snake? You have to eat sometime, I'm not going to eat it anymore so help yourself. It's your food now." Dib pushed the tray over to Zim, he had barely touched anything. He drank half of the orange juice, one piece of the toast had been eaten as well as a few bites of eggs... the bacon remained untouched.

Zim eyed the food suspiciously, looking at Dib. Dib shrugged and started to put on his shows. When Dib turned away, Zim greedily grabbed the tray and shoveled the food up into his mouth eagarly. An Irken could survive for a long time without food... but not comfortably.

Dib grinned to himself as he watched his newly found partner finish his breakfast out of the corner of his eye. Dib ignored his own hunger, deciding to only eat half of each meal that he's given until they were free. He didn't need his partner to die before they could escape.

Zim belched greatfully and stretched out on the floor. The moment of comfort was short-lived when the door to the cell was opened, a few scientists coming in and cuffing Dib's hands behind him. Zim glared at the humans treating Dib, another human, as if he was some kind of animal, "What are you doing to him?" He had noticed Dib had finally started talking and walking normally too.

The scientists, and Dib, stood and stared at Zim in disbelief. Dib stared because he didn't think Zim would care... perhaps comrades in a soldier's eyes were more valuable than friends. The scientists stared at Zim because none of them had ever heard the alien speak a word of English.

"So it is true..." one of the scientists, the one holding Dib stated baffled.

"The alien does speak English," the second growled to herself, "He was playing dumb all along."

"We'll just tell the others our discovery."

Zim growled, his eyes opening slightly more as he heard Dib's voice in his mind once more, :Why did you just do that, Zim?: forgetting for a moment that Dib was capable of this...

'Nevermind that, human... see if you can contact me later in the other room...'

:I don't know if it will be strong enough...:

'Anything is worth a try to keep our minds off of pain...'

:True... I'll try my best...: with that, the scientists left the alien in the cell alone, leading Dib into the normal room they did the tests in... 'So... Zim wants someone to keep his mind off the tests... I can't blame him. I hope it works... I don't want to get his hopes up for nothing.'

Dib looked around him.. now is as good of a time as any,,,, he had been wasting time destracting himself by thinking about it for long enough... :Zim? can you hear me?:

Zim grimaced as the human scientists came to get him, he knew what was thext. The white room and silver table. He shuddered to himself. At first it wasn't so bad, they'd have him preform meaningless tasks for them, but as the days went by, they began more instense experimentations.

Zim didn't even try to get away as the scientists dragged him along, he'd learned that the scientists tended to make more "mistakes" when they were mad at him.

Zim growled... why hadn't Dib tried to contact him yet? Was Dib's own tests even worse, or was their connection just too weak to get across...?

'So the strength is based on trust? I guess it would make sense if it doesn't reach me... How can I trust someone who wanted me to go through this? He told me that wasn't really what he wanted, but how can I be so sure?'

'He's the only human that's said the name Zim in half a year... it does feel good to be recognized as a person again...' Zim yelped as he felt an electric shock charge through his body. His eyes widened in pain... he hadn't even realised that the tests had started.

Zim growled to himself, 'As soon as I get out of here... I swear none of them will know what freedom is again...'

One of Zim's antennar quirked a bit as he heard a distant voice... 'Dib?' he thought, trying to keep the thought as strong as he felt another bolt of pain ring through him.

:Zim? Can you hear me?: the voice was slightly louder and he could hear the sounds of strain in Dib's mind-voice.

'Yes! I can hear you Dib, can you...' his thoughts were cut short.

:Zim? Please answer... I can't hear you.:

Zim glared off into the whitness around him, trying to think louder, 'Dib! I can hear you!'

:If you can hear me, try to open up a little... I won't look at anything private.... You'll just have to trust me.:

Zim yelped once more as another electric charged plagued through his aching body, a voice sounding on the speakers, "Answer the question, alien, we know you can speak English! What's the name of your race? Tell us or we'll just find the answer of how much voltage you can withstand!"

Zim shuddered again... he knew he shouldn't have spoken infront of those scientists... His stubbornness kept him from telling the humans what they wanted to hear, instead he closed his eyes and concentrated on Dib... sure he could trust him... more than these scientists, right? He needed to get the pain out of his head... 'Dib! I can hear you!'

:Woah! Zim, not so loud okay? I can still only handle certain volumes.... that hurt you know... what took so long?:

'Sorry...'

:Don't worry about it. You sound tired, what's going on?:

'The usual, they want me to tell them the name of my race and all....' Zim shut his eyes tighter as he felt yet another surge of electricity go through him, feeling parts of his skin tear beneath the intensity...

:Ouch, what was that?:

'You could feel it?'

:Of course I could... I am inside your mind right now. You really got open all of a sudden, but don't worry... I respect privacy.:

'That's what pain does to a person...'

:I understand.:

'How are your tests going along?'

:Nothing brutal yet, but I will have to stop talking to you when they start going over my brain and all.:

'I am aware of this...'

Dib sighed as he watched the scientists scamper around the room, getting thigs ready. It was tempting to poke around in Zim's mind a little bit, especially when he remembered the incident that happened when he got the photographs of Zim.... He had found them a month or so later, anyway.. but decide to keep them instead of turning them in just yet. He did respect privacy though.

:Zim, I think they are about to start the tests... Zim? You there, Zim?:

Zim would have answered, had he not been in the middle of a high-voltage, long-lasting electroshock. He felt his eyes roll back in his head... he couldn't feel or hear Dib anywhere in his mind anymore.... his body shut itself down under the extreme conditions, and he fell limp on the table.

:Zim? Are you alright?:

Dib was getting a bit worried, but he couldn't do anything. He figured that the intensity of Zim's tests were too much for him. Dib sighed, Zim would contact him when everything was good again..... he hoped that would be soon.

Dib's mind ran through a few ideas as he thought to himself, perhaps he should try contacting someone else.. someone who may be able to help... :Gaz? Can you hear me?:

Author's note2: Hey again.. I hope I am not going far out of character... remember that they have been through a lot in the last half-year... they will be a bit different... Zim's lost a bit of his arrogance, and Dib's lost a bit of his hatred now that Zim's not after the world anymore... not to mention he sees Zim as a canidate of friendship... and he sees his own people as the ones giving him the abuse and mistreatment where Zim maintains his view on Dib as Dib is a human being. Wouldn't you think they'd get along a little bit?