***

"When I was a child

I caught a fleeting glimpse

Out of the corner of my eye.

I turned to look but it was gone

I cannot put my finger on it now.

The child is grown.

The dream is gone." - Pink Floyd "Comfortably Numb"

***

The first sensation he felt was cold. His cheek was pressed to the floor. When he opened his eyes, the world was dark. Shutting them again he rolled over, discovering in his efforts at movement his hands and feet were tied together. When he twisted his wrists around, he felt the rough texture of what he could only guess to be packing twine. Experimentally he tried to force his ankles apart but those were bound well. Rocking back and forth, trying to get into a sitting position, he knocked his injured shoulder. Pain jarred his entire fabric of being and he sucked in breath sharp and fast. Through clenched teeth he swore until the throbbing ebbed to a tolerable level.

Kicking upwards, Dib managed to sit up. Unfortunately his momentum carried him into pitching forward too far and he banged his forehead on the floor.

"Goddamn it!" he squeezed his eyes shut. Realizing something was missing even in the pitch-blackness, he muttered, "Where the hell are my glasses?" No sooner has these words left his lips, blinding light flooded the room, making him cry out and shut his eyes again simultaneously. Scooting back on the super smooth floor, Dib kept going until his back encountered a wall. Breathing hard he moved along it until he felt a corner and pressed himself into it.

His heart stopped beating when he heard the silent swish of a door opening. Then foot steps. The closer they drew to him, the faster he began to breathe. Turning his head to the wall, he couldn't help the barely audible moan that emerged from his throat. Blinking rapidly, the white blur encapsulating, he felt someone kneel near him.

He felt a small hand slip under his chin and hold it firmly. Then his head was forced to turn. Dib jerked back. "Get the fuck away from me!" But his resistance only earned a rougher treatment. Two hands grabbed his ears and forced his head forward. One hand let go. It came back with something that touched his face. Dib gasped but then calmed. It was only his glasses. When they were on securely, the hand let go.

His eyes having adjusted to the light with the addition of his much-needed glasses, he finally saw who was there with him.

The small green alien put both hands behind his back, smirked and leaned forward into the human's face. "Hello."

Dib didn't answer. He just shook his head, denying what his eyes registered before him.

Zim came closer to his enemy, seeing the dried blood on Dib's shoulder. He was surprised that when he touched the human, he froze. No lashing, no demands to be left be. Just a frightened stillness.

But he flinched when Zim tugged his coat off his injured shoulder. He stopped and stepped back. "Amazing," he murmured. "Are you afraid of me?"

Dib opened his mouth and closed it. He only shook his head and lowered it so the alien couldn't see his face. But the alien already had his 411. The human was bound and injured . . . of course he was afraid. So much the better. Strangely though, Zim felt a kind of pity for Dib. Not an honest pity but a rather 'my god you're pathetic I can't believe this is YOU' pity. He expected far more from his rival - so much more.

"Speak!" Zim growled after a beat. He grabbed Dib's collar, hard though with his short height. Even sitting, Dib was a full head above Zim so the alien had to pull down. "You will speak to me, earth-stink."

"Go to hell."

Zim smiled again and let him go. That was more like it. "It's been a long time, Dib-worm. I can scarcely count how long it has been since we've faced each other in person. While I've found life without you bothering me constantly refreshing, it's quite amazing how busy you've kept me for the last five years." The alien paced about as he talked. Stopping he pointed at Dib. "Ha! Looks as if the tables have turned, Dib. I have captured you. Can you appreciate the irony?"

No answer.

"You've been defeated. With you out of the way, my conquest can proceed as planned!" His antenna twitched in excitement. He marched up to Dib and grabbed his collar again, pulling his face close. Through clenched teeth he said, "Earth is MINE now." Nothing. "You have LOST." Still nothing. Letting the human go again with a shove, Zim screamed in frustration and grabbed the sides of his head. He quieted down after a minute and sank to his knees.

Pause.

Finally, Dib spoke. It was soft and tired. "What do you want me to say?" He lifted his head, his eyes full of pure poison. "WHAT in the whole goddamn universe would you like me to say? HUH? WHAT?!"

Zim made fists, cradling everything he felt into them. He radiated more fury in that than Dib had ever seen in another Irken. "You know what I expect you to say."

But the human slowly shook his head. "Zim, you're a relic."

"Huh?" The alien was confused.

Ignoring the alien, Dib exhaled. "Do what you want. I don't….care anymore." When he opened his eyes again, there was a glaze over both of them. "I'm tired of fighting you, Zim. So goddamn tired." He pressed his forehead against the wall and sobbed quietly.

Zim watched as the man became wracked with sobs. He watched him curl up into a ball in the corner. Just watched as Dib surrendered to everything. He stared at the human with eyes wide, unblinking. Eventually his hands curled. Eventually anger filled the alien's face. It was the worst anger Zim had ever felt in his life. Trembling with a rage bigger than his tiny body could house, Zim reached into his pak and pulled out a device. It was palm sized, oval, silvery and smooth. Stalking to Dib, he grabbed the human's throat. Dib's lack of resistance only further added to Zim's inner fire. Holding it out before Dib's eyes, he felt a twinge of satisfaction as they widened.

"You recognize it."

Dib nodded. "That's the thing Gaz told me you used on her." Realizing Zim's intentions he cried. "Oh no, don't." He twisted out of Zim's grip and tried to scoot along the wall. Zim followed him. He felt joy at seeing the fear singing in Dib's eyes. It was an almost orgasmic feeling.

"You have no idea," Zim began with the faintest tremor of unbridled delight, "how long I have been waiting, Dib. How with each day that has passed this moment I have dreamed of."

This is not happening. This is not happening to me. The human unsuccessfully tried to kick him but all the alien did was simply avoid it. Dib started yelling, "No, don't . . !" when Zim grabbed his hair and bent his head back. He tried to pull away in vain.

"NO!"

He pushed the thing against the human's forehead until it stuck. Then he released him.

Dib clamped on his bottom lip and sat forward on his knees. Sweat ran down his face and he shut his eyes so tightly he saw sparkles. Jesus Christ, the pain was fucking unbelievable. It made his shoulder fade in comparison - in fact he didn't even feel the pain there it was so overwhelming. Letting out his breath, he took turns panting and holding his breath. He didn't make any other sound. Every nerve alive commanded him to scream, to give the pain an outlet. No. No. I can't give him that, I WON'T. I won't, I won't, I won't!

He stole a hazy glance at Zim who watched him. His red eyes bore into the back of the man's skull. "You deserve it," he spoke when Dib looked at him. While he spoke, he sensed the alien was holding back something. "You deserve to feel everything that thing is making you feel."

"Why?" Dib managed to blurt out between gasps.

Apparently the wrong answer. Zim lost it. "You just do! I don't have to explain myself to you! You're just a stupid human! THAT IS ALL YOU ARE!"

"If that's all I am," Dib couldn't believe he was able to speak through this. "Why was . . . Why was I running all those years? Wh-What's with the obsession w-with c-capturing me? I think, I-I think. . . . I deserve to know."

Zim struggled and finally grumbled, "You wouldn't get it."

"Get it? What wouldn't I understand?" Dib stopped to suck in air through his nose. "I know what an obsession is, Zim. I-I embody it. . . I . . . am . . ." The pain was taking control. Dib toppled to his side and screamed as loud as he could.

"I'M GONNA KILL YOU!"

He felt his heart was about explode and he was starting to hyperventilate from breathing so fast. If it kept up for too much longer, he was going to have nerve damage. That's why Gaz had to take medication after going through one of these torture spells. Not only had it induced a coma and one cardiac arrest, it had left her with the shakes for the rest of her life. And now it was happening to him.

Let me die. Just let me die, Zim. Let me go . . .

Zim knelt over the whimpering human. He wasn't feeling any satisfaction from doing this. It disgruntled him. This was DIB. He should have felt far more than what he had felt watching the human's sister go through this. He didn't know what he was feeling and that was the worst of it all.

"Zim," Dib whispered painfully, the words barely air. "Please …… tell me."

"I don't know," Zim answered simply.

"You ….. have to …… know." Dib squeezed his eyes shut again and moaned. "Please . . . Please . . . . Zim. Please . . ." He was starting to fade.

The alien found himself reaching to the device. Removing it, he placed it back in his pak.

Immediately after the thing was removed, Dib shuddered and all his muscles relaxed. A trickle of blood ran from the reopened wound and pooled beneath the human.

He was still.

Perplexed, Zim removed his glove and touched the human's face. He snatched his hand away as if burned. Slowly he stood and started to back away, shaking his head. Then he gave a loud yell. "NO!" Finally screaming in mortal agony, he fled the room.

The lights went out.

***

Invader Nia crept down the corridor, one hand on her weapon the other sliding against the side of the corridor. Every now and again she paused, antenna pricking for sound. She sometimes checked over her shoulder. Whenever she came to a corner she'd press herself against the wall and peek. Most of the doors in the space station auto-locked but she possessed enough technical know-how to tinker with the mechanism to get it open. It was how she had managed to escape in the first place.

Nia was a new mission. A self-appointed mission. There was no stopping it now. That miserable Zim was going to die. All there was to it. Besides no one would care. The Tallest would probably praise her – hadn't they tried several times to kill the bastard? Earth be conquered or no, the invasion was immaterial to Nia. All that mattered was the Empire's interests. She saw Zim as a violation to its interests and in the event those interests were jeopardized, she did whatever it took as a loyal soldier to ensure they were protected. While she was at it, she should kill that Dib-human too. She smiled. I'll make Zim watch me kill him . . . it will be more rewarding this way. For me anyhow.

Too bad, she thought with some regret. That human had been most fun to play with. Saved my life too, the clueless beast. His weak heart is his death. For such things he needs to be put out of his misery. Nia paused and leaned, putting an arm over her forehead. He would have been better off pulling the trigger and actually killed me, that bastard. I wouldn't have had to see his face on that monitor giving in to every weakness he possessed.

She growled. She wished she hadn't seen him. She wished she hadn't heard that defiant fiery creature give in to Zim's obsession as she had heard before as the human's scream echoed through the space station. Faintly she actually made out the words.

"I'm gonna kill you!"

"Not if I do it first." Nia replied to the unspoken thought and kept going. Perhaps she would not kill the human, she thought. He seemed already well on his way to meet his maker as it was. Zim didn't know how much a human body could take - he didn't know his torture methods later killed humans or left them physically unwell for the rest of their lives. While that was good when it was said and done, the way Zim just flaunted these methods unnerved her. He took actual glee in it. Torture was necessary for getting information - not for enjoyment.

He needs to wake the hell up. I'll do that and then…..I will destroy him. It would be wonderful killing Zim. It would be retribution for every menial task he'd set upon her to do and every mistake he had ever made in the invasion.

When she reached the sector, she found the door to Dib's cell. She hit the button. Creeping slowly to the threshold, she peered inside. Her heart fell. "Dammit."

The human lay there in a fetal position (because of the way he was bound), apparently

having perished under Zim's wrath with Zim himself nowhere to be seen. Putting her weapon away, she entered the holding cell and got down on one knee by the human's head. He looked terrible; his pale skin wet with perspiration and his chest rose and fell slowly and silently.

She didn't do anything else. Just sat there and looked at him for a long time. A pity really. Nia allowed herself to feel a twinge of sorrow. Before she moved to leave, she gave into indulgence.

She reached into her pak and took something out of it. It was a knife. Cutting away Dib's bonds, she freed his hands and his feet. Then she slipped something under his limp hand. Standing up she hardened her expression and narrowed her eyes.

"We will finish this fight, Dib," she told his unconscious form. "Don't disappoint me."

Drawing her own weapon, she held it up and left the cell, leaving the door open.

***

Zim burst into his personal chamber loudly and did so on his hands and knees. As the door closed behind him, he sank down until his head touched the floor. For a few moments he stayed like that. Motionless.

Gradually he climbed to his feet and staggered to his chair, barely caring or paying attention to how he got up there. Once settled in he dug his claws into the armrests and shut his eyes. He didn't know why he was feeling like this. He didn't know why seeing Dib like that frightened him the way it had. It was like . . . he was horrified at what he had done to him in a way he hadn't believed he could be. It took a bit for it to sink in as to why.

He hadn't fought me. Or insulted me. Or begged for his life or for others lives. Oh sure, he fought the pain that thing had inflicted into him. That was a given. But what really had made Zim do what he did to him was because he felt betrayed. It puzzled him because he didn't know what it was Dib had done. Maybe it was because Dib hadn't been doing what he was supposed to do, saying the things he was supposed to say. He didn't even . . . he didn't even show the feelings he was supposed to show.

Zim sat up and rubbed his hands together and up and down his arms. He felt cold all of a sudden. He slid down from his seat and walked over to the monitors. Going over to one of them, he touched the screen and selected something. Accessing a file search, he told it to go back to a particular year on a particular day. Then he played the video with the sound off. As he watched the events unfold, he smiled a little. It wasn't an evil smile. It was nostalgic, almost happy. Towards the end, it fell from his face and he sighed. It just wasn't like that anymore. Truth of the fact of the matter it hadn't been like that all along.

He watched this file to its conclusion and then closed it. He took a moment and shook his head slowly. In denial. In sadness.

Then a voice he dreaded came from behind him.

"Invader Zim. While I admit there's a nice ring to it, it was never truly a title you deserved." Nia stepped into the room and aimed her weapon at the helpless Irken. "Or ever will."

***