THE SPAWN
By Unknowner
Chapter Six
(Author's note: My. This is my longest chapter yet! Next chapter there's going to be a lot more stuff with Zed, trying to make sense of all this stuff that's happening to him. Anyhoo, all I own in this story is Zed, Gidj, Juan, and the recipe for Insta-Sugar High. All else was created by Jhonen Vasquez, King of the Indie Comics. The lyrics in this chapter are copyright Linkin Park. I decided to put them in, since I already added the disclaimer in the last chapter for no good reason.)
Zim's eyes creaked open. Every part of his body ached terribly, and even his eyelids felt like they were on fire. It was then that two facts crept into his mind. First, that he was alive. Somehow, he had survived the final spurt. Second, that he was still in Gaz's comforting embrace. He didn't quite know what had happened, but it was nighttime, and Gaz was long since asleep. Gir was also asleep, in front of the TV, with MTV still playing. Zim gently removed Gaz's arms and got up slowly, the familiar post- spurt sensations flooding in. Geez, it had been years... ever since the post-pupa spurt that thrust him into service as an Irken soldier. A feeling like something was slithering beneath his flesh, combined with uncontrollable twitching and generic weakness in his limbs. The TV continued into a new song as he walked down the hallway.
Crawling in my skin,
These wounds, they will not heal
Fear is how I fall
Confusing what is real....
The house seemed somehow different, as if he was in a dream. Admittedly, he wasn't up much at this hour, but... was it always so cramped at here? He groaned, slumping against the wall.
There's something inside me that pulls beneath the surface
Confusing
Consuming
Zim slowly tried to pull himself up. Why wouldn't his legs support him? And... why was he so disoriented? What if... the spurt had caused too much damage...
This lack of self-control I fear is neverending
It's haunting
How I can't seem...
Again, Zim tried to steady himself... "Gir... help me..." No one answered.
To find myself again
These walls are closing in
(Without a sense of confidence I'm convinced it's just too much pressure to take)
I've felt this way before...
So insecure...
Slowly, Zim slumped to the floor, gazing at his legs. They were so thin... and the gaping wounds were still there. Why hadn't they started to mend? Was this some demented nightmare?
Crawling in my skin,
These wounds, they will not heal
Fear is how I fall
Confusing what is real....
Again, the dizziness flooded in. Trying now to crawl back to the couch, Zim emitted a low moan and collapsed against the bathroom door, falling in. Zim's eyes shut as he hit the floor.
Discomfort endlessly has pulled itself upon me
Distracting
Reacting
Against my will I stand beside my own reflection...
Zim stood up, his legs actually supporting himself this time. Opening his eyes, he saw an unfamiliar sight.
His own face, reflected in the bathroom mirror.
It's haunting
How I can't seem
It was very different from before. The chin was more defined, although covered with scabs and sores. A long, open scar now sliced from his forehead to his left cheek, under one eye.. and he was so gangly, so tall. Like some sort of withered corpse.
To find myself again
These walls are closing in
(Without a sense of confidence I'm convinced it's just too much pressure to take)
I've felt this way before...
So insecure...
Gaz's image appeared in the mirror, behind his own image. Her face spoke of some nameless emotion, perhaps vaguely related to fear.. or pity. He shuddered, leaning heavily against the sink (which was devoid of a faucet) and felt the wave of emotion hit. Joy, for his life. Fear, for the future. Shame, for his wraithlike form. The tears began to flow to his eyes, despite his weak efforts to hold them back.
Crawling in my skin,
These wounds, they will not heal
Fear is how I fall
Confusing what is real....
"Gaz... why are you here?" Zim slowly turned his head to face the girl in the doorway.
"I can't just let you linger and die, you know."
"No... I mean... why did you come after me in the first place? Why did you stay all this time?"
At this, Gaz paused. She wasn't quite sure how to put her finger on it... and even if she was, how the heck could she express it? She didn't even believe in l-
No.
She couldn't use that word.
Not again.
"I... I-" Gaz burst out the door with speed unlike any he'd ever seen. He staggered after her, as she ran into the backyard and up into the skeletal tree that had been planted by Gir (which was amazing, considering how it was about fifty years old and about the same number of feet high). Zim forced his failing limbs to work, to heft his pitiful form into the tree. It was so frustrating... but something within him forced him higher and higher, up to the perch where Gaz was resting, crying slightly.
"Gaz... what's wrong? What did I-" Zim was interrupted by her loud sobbing.
"It's not you, Zim. It's me." Zim scanned her face for any signs that would help him figure out what the problem was, anything at all.
"C'mon. You can tell me." He moved his hand over hers, a small gesture, but a signifigant one. Gaz looked down at his hand, and then up into his deep crimson eyes.
"You see... about nine years ago, my mother died." Gaz stopped here for about a minute, trying to compose herself. "It was from cancer. My dad worked as hard as he could on a treatment, and he even thought that he'd found one. For a while, the cancer went into remission, and everything was normal again... but it wasn't gone. It came back..." Gaz tried to hold back the tears, as she knew that when she started, she wouldn't be able to stop.
"For a while I pretended to be my mom's nurse. I swore that we'd beat back the cancer like we did before... but she stopped responding to the treatment... she just slipped away..." Gaz let out a small whimper, like a drop of water trickling out of a corroding dam. "Dad just poured himself into his work after Mom died, never came back out. Dib... I don't even think he remembers her that well. He got hit on the head a lot in first grade..." Gaz couldn't take it anymore. She collapsed against Zim, sobbing.
"Gaz..." Zim did his best to steady the two of them, and prevent them from falling.
"I don't want that to happen again Zim... I don't want... to hurt like that... but I can't help it..."
"What do you mean?" Zim was actually a bit confused at that.
"Zim... I.... I think I... I th-" Gaz fell into uncontrollable tears. All of a sudden, the lights went on in Zim's head. He had been fooling himself, trying to make himself think that Gaz was just another human stinkbeast. But she wasn't. Not to him, anyway. He put one finger under her chin, lifting her face up from his chest.
"Gaz... It's okay. I... I love you, too. It's gonna be all right."
"Promise?"
"Promise."
The sun slowly rose over the horizon, and Zim cracked a weak smile.
**************************************************************************** **************
Back in the real world, it was about nine o'clock. Zed had gone to bed early to try and digest the day's events, Dib was busy making "important calls", mainly to people he knew in school who mocked him for his belief in aliens, and the psychotic blonde girl had taken Gir out after he had reported that he couldn't find anyplace to get a good drink.
"And THIS, Gir, is where to get the best Brainfreezies in the city!" Gidj gestured grandly to the Twenty-Four Seven Minimart, where a glistening line of six syrup-laden frozen-confection machines beckoned with their icy doomy goodness.
"YIPPEE! I NEEDS ME SUGAR!"
"Wait, Gir!"
"Nooooo! I need it or I will explooooooode!"
"What?"
"...That happens to me sometimes..."
"Ah, patience, young grasshopper, for I will bestow upon you the finest sucrose laden liquids in the land!" Escorting Gir to the checkout counter, Gidj grinned broadly at the cashier, a tallish rastafarian with dreadlocks-aplenty. "Juan! Two Insta-Sugar Rushes, please!" The rasta looked away from the mini-tv on the counter to Gidj and her robot companion.
"Well Gidj! I should've known you'd be the first to befriend an alien robot. What, just twelve hours after the announcement that they existed?"
"Yeah, well Zed was the first... he's half alien himself!"Juan rubbed his forehead. any other day, this would have shocked him, but today it didn't seem out of place.
"Let me guess... so are you?"
"Nope! Allllll human! Kinda disturbing, isn't it?" Gidj cocked her head to the side and smiled.
"You can say that again..."
"So get my sugary goodness! My robo-buddy needs some!"
"AND A MOOSE!" Gir giggled uncontrollably. Juan gave Gir a strange look.
"Uh... Gidj, this city can barely stand you alone on a sugar high. I don't think-"
"SILENCE, CASHIER BOY! I GOTS HAPPY MONEY WIT' DEAD PEOPLES ON IT! I NEEDS ME SUGAR, AN YOU'S GONNA GET IT FOR ME!" Gidj was gripping Juan by his collar, and had turned from a perky little squigglebug to a sugar- crazed junkie.
"Er... It'll take ten minutes or so to make."
"FINE! I WILL BE WAITING HERE IN DA CORNERY PLACE, AN' TALKING TO MR. STINKY MOP BUCKET!" Gidj was only "normal" when she had a precise sugar level in her blood, and at present it was declining rapidly. Only chaos could follow.
**************************************************************************** **************
Review, pleeeease...
(Author's Buddy's Note:
Well, gotta hand it to ya Unknowner, ya got the romantic parts down almost pat! And a word of advice, MORE GIR!!! MORE GIDJ!!!! MORE SUGAAAAARRRR!!!!!! You readers agree with me, ne? ~Kardlark~)
By Unknowner
Chapter Six
(Author's note: My. This is my longest chapter yet! Next chapter there's going to be a lot more stuff with Zed, trying to make sense of all this stuff that's happening to him. Anyhoo, all I own in this story is Zed, Gidj, Juan, and the recipe for Insta-Sugar High. All else was created by Jhonen Vasquez, King of the Indie Comics. The lyrics in this chapter are copyright Linkin Park. I decided to put them in, since I already added the disclaimer in the last chapter for no good reason.)
Zim's eyes creaked open. Every part of his body ached terribly, and even his eyelids felt like they were on fire. It was then that two facts crept into his mind. First, that he was alive. Somehow, he had survived the final spurt. Second, that he was still in Gaz's comforting embrace. He didn't quite know what had happened, but it was nighttime, and Gaz was long since asleep. Gir was also asleep, in front of the TV, with MTV still playing. Zim gently removed Gaz's arms and got up slowly, the familiar post- spurt sensations flooding in. Geez, it had been years... ever since the post-pupa spurt that thrust him into service as an Irken soldier. A feeling like something was slithering beneath his flesh, combined with uncontrollable twitching and generic weakness in his limbs. The TV continued into a new song as he walked down the hallway.
Crawling in my skin,
These wounds, they will not heal
Fear is how I fall
Confusing what is real....
The house seemed somehow different, as if he was in a dream. Admittedly, he wasn't up much at this hour, but... was it always so cramped at here? He groaned, slumping against the wall.
There's something inside me that pulls beneath the surface
Confusing
Consuming
Zim slowly tried to pull himself up. Why wouldn't his legs support him? And... why was he so disoriented? What if... the spurt had caused too much damage...
This lack of self-control I fear is neverending
It's haunting
How I can't seem...
Again, Zim tried to steady himself... "Gir... help me..." No one answered.
To find myself again
These walls are closing in
(Without a sense of confidence I'm convinced it's just too much pressure to take)
I've felt this way before...
So insecure...
Slowly, Zim slumped to the floor, gazing at his legs. They were so thin... and the gaping wounds were still there. Why hadn't they started to mend? Was this some demented nightmare?
Crawling in my skin,
These wounds, they will not heal
Fear is how I fall
Confusing what is real....
Again, the dizziness flooded in. Trying now to crawl back to the couch, Zim emitted a low moan and collapsed against the bathroom door, falling in. Zim's eyes shut as he hit the floor.
Discomfort endlessly has pulled itself upon me
Distracting
Reacting
Against my will I stand beside my own reflection...
Zim stood up, his legs actually supporting himself this time. Opening his eyes, he saw an unfamiliar sight.
His own face, reflected in the bathroom mirror.
It's haunting
How I can't seem
It was very different from before. The chin was more defined, although covered with scabs and sores. A long, open scar now sliced from his forehead to his left cheek, under one eye.. and he was so gangly, so tall. Like some sort of withered corpse.
To find myself again
These walls are closing in
(Without a sense of confidence I'm convinced it's just too much pressure to take)
I've felt this way before...
So insecure...
Gaz's image appeared in the mirror, behind his own image. Her face spoke of some nameless emotion, perhaps vaguely related to fear.. or pity. He shuddered, leaning heavily against the sink (which was devoid of a faucet) and felt the wave of emotion hit. Joy, for his life. Fear, for the future. Shame, for his wraithlike form. The tears began to flow to his eyes, despite his weak efforts to hold them back.
Crawling in my skin,
These wounds, they will not heal
Fear is how I fall
Confusing what is real....
"Gaz... why are you here?" Zim slowly turned his head to face the girl in the doorway.
"I can't just let you linger and die, you know."
"No... I mean... why did you come after me in the first place? Why did you stay all this time?"
At this, Gaz paused. She wasn't quite sure how to put her finger on it... and even if she was, how the heck could she express it? She didn't even believe in l-
No.
She couldn't use that word.
Not again.
"I... I-" Gaz burst out the door with speed unlike any he'd ever seen. He staggered after her, as she ran into the backyard and up into the skeletal tree that had been planted by Gir (which was amazing, considering how it was about fifty years old and about the same number of feet high). Zim forced his failing limbs to work, to heft his pitiful form into the tree. It was so frustrating... but something within him forced him higher and higher, up to the perch where Gaz was resting, crying slightly.
"Gaz... what's wrong? What did I-" Zim was interrupted by her loud sobbing.
"It's not you, Zim. It's me." Zim scanned her face for any signs that would help him figure out what the problem was, anything at all.
"C'mon. You can tell me." He moved his hand over hers, a small gesture, but a signifigant one. Gaz looked down at his hand, and then up into his deep crimson eyes.
"You see... about nine years ago, my mother died." Gaz stopped here for about a minute, trying to compose herself. "It was from cancer. My dad worked as hard as he could on a treatment, and he even thought that he'd found one. For a while, the cancer went into remission, and everything was normal again... but it wasn't gone. It came back..." Gaz tried to hold back the tears, as she knew that when she started, she wouldn't be able to stop.
"For a while I pretended to be my mom's nurse. I swore that we'd beat back the cancer like we did before... but she stopped responding to the treatment... she just slipped away..." Gaz let out a small whimper, like a drop of water trickling out of a corroding dam. "Dad just poured himself into his work after Mom died, never came back out. Dib... I don't even think he remembers her that well. He got hit on the head a lot in first grade..." Gaz couldn't take it anymore. She collapsed against Zim, sobbing.
"Gaz..." Zim did his best to steady the two of them, and prevent them from falling.
"I don't want that to happen again Zim... I don't want... to hurt like that... but I can't help it..."
"What do you mean?" Zim was actually a bit confused at that.
"Zim... I.... I think I... I th-" Gaz fell into uncontrollable tears. All of a sudden, the lights went on in Zim's head. He had been fooling himself, trying to make himself think that Gaz was just another human stinkbeast. But she wasn't. Not to him, anyway. He put one finger under her chin, lifting her face up from his chest.
"Gaz... It's okay. I... I love you, too. It's gonna be all right."
"Promise?"
"Promise."
The sun slowly rose over the horizon, and Zim cracked a weak smile.
**************************************************************************** **************
Back in the real world, it was about nine o'clock. Zed had gone to bed early to try and digest the day's events, Dib was busy making "important calls", mainly to people he knew in school who mocked him for his belief in aliens, and the psychotic blonde girl had taken Gir out after he had reported that he couldn't find anyplace to get a good drink.
"And THIS, Gir, is where to get the best Brainfreezies in the city!" Gidj gestured grandly to the Twenty-Four Seven Minimart, where a glistening line of six syrup-laden frozen-confection machines beckoned with their icy doomy goodness.
"YIPPEE! I NEEDS ME SUGAR!"
"Wait, Gir!"
"Nooooo! I need it or I will explooooooode!"
"What?"
"...That happens to me sometimes..."
"Ah, patience, young grasshopper, for I will bestow upon you the finest sucrose laden liquids in the land!" Escorting Gir to the checkout counter, Gidj grinned broadly at the cashier, a tallish rastafarian with dreadlocks-aplenty. "Juan! Two Insta-Sugar Rushes, please!" The rasta looked away from the mini-tv on the counter to Gidj and her robot companion.
"Well Gidj! I should've known you'd be the first to befriend an alien robot. What, just twelve hours after the announcement that they existed?"
"Yeah, well Zed was the first... he's half alien himself!"Juan rubbed his forehead. any other day, this would have shocked him, but today it didn't seem out of place.
"Let me guess... so are you?"
"Nope! Allllll human! Kinda disturbing, isn't it?" Gidj cocked her head to the side and smiled.
"You can say that again..."
"So get my sugary goodness! My robo-buddy needs some!"
"AND A MOOSE!" Gir giggled uncontrollably. Juan gave Gir a strange look.
"Uh... Gidj, this city can barely stand you alone on a sugar high. I don't think-"
"SILENCE, CASHIER BOY! I GOTS HAPPY MONEY WIT' DEAD PEOPLES ON IT! I NEEDS ME SUGAR, AN YOU'S GONNA GET IT FOR ME!" Gidj was gripping Juan by his collar, and had turned from a perky little squigglebug to a sugar- crazed junkie.
"Er... It'll take ten minutes or so to make."
"FINE! I WILL BE WAITING HERE IN DA CORNERY PLACE, AN' TALKING TO MR. STINKY MOP BUCKET!" Gidj was only "normal" when she had a precise sugar level in her blood, and at present it was declining rapidly. Only chaos could follow.
**************************************************************************** **************
Review, pleeeease...
(Author's Buddy's Note:
Well, gotta hand it to ya Unknowner, ya got the romantic parts down almost pat! And a word of advice, MORE GIR!!! MORE GIDJ!!!! MORE SUGAAAAARRRR!!!!!! You readers agree with me, ne? ~Kardlark~)
