Hi all! Whatever happened to the concept of reviewing? Ah well, I'm
writing this for myself anyways... Humph. But still, it does feel good to
know that people are reading my fic... Well, except for KnuxZ... I know
she is. But still, it feels good when others read it too! Like I said, I
read my reviews when I'm feeling upset. Ah well, I don't need pity, so
don't review out of pity. Review just to speak you mind about my story. I
love hearing what you think about this! Anything at all, just tell me.
Well, lately Skool has sucked, even though now I actually have FRIENDS! There was much rejoicing. I'm happy to say that, so far, life has been good to me.
Once again, I bid thee adieu!
Oh, by the way, reviewers will receive presents. This chapter's present: Goose foot print stamps that have become mutilated and now resemble a chewed up wad of gum with teeth bits sticking out.and.ovaltine!!
~Beth
* * * *
Gaz was playing her Game Slave 2, and, ever so slightly, rocking herself back and forth. It was well past Midnight by now, but her crowded mind wasn't able to rest. Currently, her mind and emotions were being flooded with memories...ones she would rather forget...well, most of them, anyways.
She was remembering the beautiful times when Mari, Tis, and her had taken Girls' Night Out, at least once a week. That would be the only time any of them actually acted girly. And my, those were wonderful times. When Mari, Tis, and Gaz were together, nothing could dampen their spirits. Not even a stray animal on the streets. They would just pick it up, clean it up, and find a good home for it. If it would rain right after their hair and nails were done, or right after buying clothes even, they would run in the rain, not caring how dirty it got them. Or, if it were scorching hot, they'd go out and eat ice cream. There was many a time when Dib would complain 'Daddy never takes me anywhere!' So, one day, the girls had taken him on Girls' Night Out. Needless to say, he never wanted to do that again.
Gaz snickered at the pathetic sight of her brother struggling to leave as the scythe-like part of his hair was braided, and as his nails and toenails were being painted powder blue and baby pink... Ah, those were the days...
...But then Gaz's mother had died...it was supposed to be another Girls' Night Out, but she had somehow consumed some sort of poison. The doctors concluded that it had been in one of her drinks. It was at a restaurant, so it could have been anyone.
But Tis had known better. She had pointed out that the poison was a prototype from the lab. It had to have been another scientist. But did anyone listen? No. Of course not. And, what's more, Tis was the one who made the poison in the first place. Therefore, she knew how to counter- attack it. Membrane, however, Membrane had tinkered with it. He wanted to be the hero who saved the life of the top scientist of the world.
That's right. Mari, Membrane's wife, was the top scientist. She's the one who ever gave Membrane his rank in the first place. And, despite the fact that Membrane was always busy, the top scientist always found time for her children.
Anyways, Membrane had decided he wanted to make his own cure for the poison that was running its course through Mari. He wanted to play hero. However, he knew nothing of the poison, and he hid the actual cure from Mari. Nearly needless to say, Membrane's cure didn't work, and he ended up making Mari's death faster and more painful.
Gaz remembered the haunting moments when Mari was moaning with the agony of the poison. The poison had blinded her, so she knew nothing but darkness in her last days of life. In her agony, she thrashed around like mad, and couldn't get a wink of sleep. Doctors would have to sedate her often. Gaz remembered the sobs echoing throughout the hospital room when Mari was holding her children, wanting desperately to see them...even if it was for the last time, even if she would only see agony mirrored in their gaze...
Gaz shook her head hard, her hair furling out like petals. 'No!' she thought firmly. 'NO! NO!' She continued to shake her head, attempting to shake away the memories as well. Tears stung her heart, but, like all the other times, she forced them to stay there. She put down her Game Slave, finally realizing that it had said 'Game Over' for a long time now. Sighing soundlessly, she got up out of the corner of her room and moved to her bed. She pulled back the blankets and climbed in. Once again, she snuggled and clung to her spare pillow, yearning, not for the first, or last time, that she was a toddler again, falling asleep in her mother's embrace.
'But Tis is here.' She reassured herself gently. And, for the first time, she thought that maybe, just maybe, she would be able to have her childhood's innocence, or at least a trickle of it, return in her fragile soul.
***
When Zim awoke, he realized that the space next to his bed was empty. He also noticed that the crib was as well. He was worried now, especially when he saw how the sheets of the bed and the crib were flung around, as if they had left in a hurry... Or worse...
...As if there had been a struggle.
Zim's hearts began to beat frantically, and panic filtered into his eyes. He was too shell-shocked to do anything at first. He just lay there, futilely hoping that this was all a bad dream, or that Tis and Eva would show up, their arms wide open, smiles plastered upon their faces, love shining in their eyes. But of course this didn't happen. He didn't really expect it to in the first place. He just held onto that thought as if it were his life line. Shaking uncontrollably from fear, he climbed out of the bed and planted his feet firmly on the ground. He tried to calm himself down, telling himself that they were okay. he, of course, couldn't believe himself.
"Tis! Eva!" He called, trying to remain calm.
The calmness didn't last long, as there was no answer to his calls. He began to walk across the room, then opened the door and called again.
"Tiiiis!" No answer. Remaining silent, he carefully crept through the doorway and into the the open hall.
"Tiiiis!!!" He called, worry now filtering into his voice. Once again, there wasn't a peep from anywhere in the house.
"TIIIIS!!!!" He shrieked, once again met by only silence. He suddenly broke into a run and pounded through his base, going by and into everything, yet not finding what he was looking for. As he continued to call, he continued to be met by only silence. Soon, he was no longer screeching her name. He was sobbing it, trying to keep the crimson tears from leaving his eyes. He continued to run in panic, and because of it, he ran outside blindly, forgetting his disguise.
He ran out into the cul-de-sac, the chill wind ruffling his antennae. With this he stilled and shivered, then realized he didn't have his disguise on. He flung himself back into his base and immediately shuffled through some costume bits and pieces. He decided on a gray t-shirt and a pair of black pants, along with a different black wig, this one with shorter hair, and the usual periwinkle contacts. Doing this in a hurry, the wig was rather disheveled and the shirt was on backwards. But he really couldn't care less. His top priority was to find Tis and Eva.
When he reached the door, he took a moment to compose himself. Taking a deep breath, he opened the door. He forced himself to walk calmly out. That didn't last. In a matter of seconds, he was running as fast as his legs would carry him, barely aware of how weak they already were from running through the base earlier.
Soon however, this fact overtook him, and he was forced to rest. He leaned against a lamppost, panting. At that point he actually began to take in his surroundings. The results made his blood run cold...
...Men and women, crying together in a funeral procession, a coffin on its way to the colder, darker earth... A feeble old man looking confused, a younger one, who was obviously a worker at the local retirement home, holding his arm and leading him through the streets... Teenage girls in bikinis, strutting their stuff, their ribs and collar-bones jutting out alarmingly... A thin man being brutalized by many much larger men before being dragged away, kicking and screaming... A girl crying and screaming for her father as her mother hit her, as the father watched, doing nothing... Men and women sleeping on the ground, or begging for money, questioning, wondering if life was really worth it, wondering if God was real... A small child with fear in his eyes and a beat-up teddy bear looking for his way home... A man as he called out a female's name, for all the world having the same look in his eyes as Zim did...
That was it. Zim couldn't take it anymore. He started walking again, this time slowly, with his eyes glaring at the ground. Yet, despite this, he was able to take in all the things around him. He searched all the faces, hoping he would find Tis's own, hoping his pain could be eased. Anyways, there were only two other Irkens in this city, and the city couldn't be that big, right?
So Zim just kept on walking. He wandered the streets, weaved his way in and out of the crowd, just barely took in his surroundings as he wondered when his life started this downward spiral. But Zim kept on searching the faces. No matter how much he wanted to curl up, to withdraw himself, he continued to search all the faces closely...and because of this close searching, he saw the emptiness in all the peoples' eyes. These people were not blissfully unaware of the terror of the world; they just ignored it. This put even more of a damper on his already heavy spirits.
Yet no matter what the streets threw at him, no matter what he saw, heard, or smelled, he still looked for Tis, still listened for her voice, still smelled for her lovely scent. No matter what, he continued to hold onto a thin, golden thread of hope, the very thread which will be used to tie his family back together. The very thread which was motivating him in the first place to find Tis and Eva. Love. The most powerful force of all. Albeit the most dangerous, the most terrible, the most treacherous.
Zim shook these thoughts out of his head, and instead used all his thinking to be focused on Tis... On finding Tis. He had a task to complete.
After a while, he decided to actually look in buildings. The first place he decided to go into was the closest McMeaties, because those were always crowded. He entered, and his senses were assaulted by the smell of frying flesh. He gagged a bit, but continued to walk. He pushed through the crowd, went up to tables, even asked around for a bit. But he didn't find even a clue as to where his family was. Sighing sadly, he exited out of the warm building, into the cold November air.
Was that just his imagination, or did Zim just see a raindrop splash at his feet? With widening eyes, Zim realized that it was beginning to rain. He swore under his breath, and tried to turn and go back into the McMeaties. However, at that point a raindrop hit his bare head...then another. Soon, he was being assaulted by the raindrops. He could tell that his skin was being slowly dissolved.
The rain just kept on getting heavier, along with the pain. In many places, Zim's blackened muscles were exposed, even those burning. Screaming with torment, both physical and spiritual, he writhed on the pavement, watching blurrily at the people who were staring at him, all with umbrellas and raincoats... His muscles, now blackened, were shivering in the cool air. Zim was too weak to get up, to scream, to cover his wounds, to care that people were watching stupidly as he suffered. Now he lay on the ground, gasping for breath as his throat was being burned, thinking only of his family in his blurry mind, about wanting to say 'I love you' a last time, just to say good bye...
...Even through the darkness that the pain and the smell of his own burning flesh caused his mind, he was still able to register the fact that he was dying...
***
Tis was in a bar, shaking severely as she tried to calm her wailing daughter. The storm had taken them by surprise, and it didn't go without injury. As Tis was rocking Eva back and forth, she was examining her own blackened flesh. It was a sickening sight. Some of it was still smoking and steaming. Some inner tissue was exposed, and in a few, more tender areas, there was reddened muscle showing, twitching in the chill air.
Forcing the bile down in her throat, she withdrew a small tube of burn ointment from her pocket. The first thing she did was spread it on Eva's burns. This didn't take long however, as they were small and few, for Tis had shielded her from the rain as much as possible, not thinking of the consequences. Her motherly instincts had told her one thing: protect the child. So she had done just that.
After finishing with Eva, she decided to apply the ointment to her own, more severe burns. She put a bit on the tip of her finger, and, biting her lip, pressed it to one of her bare muscles...
...Only to feel even greater pain. Only the slightest touch had caused her agony. She let out a little yelp, dropping the tube of ointment to the floor. Cradling her arm, she sobbed softly. She was just now beginning to regret leaving the base, leaving Zim.
But she had been so scared, so very scared. She had had a dream; it wasn't terrible, but beautiful. But somehow it scared her. In the dream, Zim and her had been making love, but they were so much younger... Then, it showed them raising a beautiful baby boy, with wide, almost mysterious jade eyes. They dreamed of being together, in love, making love, having children, raising children.
Yet it had seemed so familiar. The entire time, there was an intense feeling of deja vu. Along with an even more intense feeling of longing to reveal what Time had taken from them...
But, because of this, she had run away. The world was too scary right now, too many things were happening, too fast. She was so frightened, so frightened of her past... But she wanted nothing more than to uncover the grave that would hold the secrets of what once was, with Zim holding her the entire time, with Eva nuzzled and comfy in her arms.
She bit her lip as she forced herself to apply the ointment. Biting her lip hard enough to draw blood, only muffled moans escaped her throat...
She closed her eyes; she didn't want to see the foaming as the ointment tried to revive her charred skin. It was a terrible sight, and the smell was absolutely sickening. Tears stinging her eyes, she continued this grisly work. Little screams and sobs echoed through her mind, but she dared not allow them to escape her lips. She didn't want to draw any more attention to herself. She sighed in relief as she finished with her last burn, a particularly bad one. She opened her eyes, happy to see that her skin was healed, albeit terribly scarred. She was fine, in her body at least. But in mind, heart, and soul... Oh, that was a different story all together... She didn't know how much more torment she could take before she finally broke...
...What she didn't know was that only blocks away, Zim was already seeing the shining faces of the Gods...
* * * *
ACK! I don't know what got into me to write this chapter like this... I'm so sorry! But maybe somehow Zim will be saved. I certainly hope so, I am a Zim fan after all. I hope it isn't too late...
Speaking of lateness, Happy Belated Birthday KnuxZ!!!
Kay, I'm done now. Till next time. [Insert intelligent comment here]
Well, lately Skool has sucked, even though now I actually have FRIENDS! There was much rejoicing. I'm happy to say that, so far, life has been good to me.
Once again, I bid thee adieu!
Oh, by the way, reviewers will receive presents. This chapter's present: Goose foot print stamps that have become mutilated and now resemble a chewed up wad of gum with teeth bits sticking out.and.ovaltine!!
~Beth
* * * *
Gaz was playing her Game Slave 2, and, ever so slightly, rocking herself back and forth. It was well past Midnight by now, but her crowded mind wasn't able to rest. Currently, her mind and emotions were being flooded with memories...ones she would rather forget...well, most of them, anyways.
She was remembering the beautiful times when Mari, Tis, and her had taken Girls' Night Out, at least once a week. That would be the only time any of them actually acted girly. And my, those were wonderful times. When Mari, Tis, and Gaz were together, nothing could dampen their spirits. Not even a stray animal on the streets. They would just pick it up, clean it up, and find a good home for it. If it would rain right after their hair and nails were done, or right after buying clothes even, they would run in the rain, not caring how dirty it got them. Or, if it were scorching hot, they'd go out and eat ice cream. There was many a time when Dib would complain 'Daddy never takes me anywhere!' So, one day, the girls had taken him on Girls' Night Out. Needless to say, he never wanted to do that again.
Gaz snickered at the pathetic sight of her brother struggling to leave as the scythe-like part of his hair was braided, and as his nails and toenails were being painted powder blue and baby pink... Ah, those were the days...
...But then Gaz's mother had died...it was supposed to be another Girls' Night Out, but she had somehow consumed some sort of poison. The doctors concluded that it had been in one of her drinks. It was at a restaurant, so it could have been anyone.
But Tis had known better. She had pointed out that the poison was a prototype from the lab. It had to have been another scientist. But did anyone listen? No. Of course not. And, what's more, Tis was the one who made the poison in the first place. Therefore, she knew how to counter- attack it. Membrane, however, Membrane had tinkered with it. He wanted to be the hero who saved the life of the top scientist of the world.
That's right. Mari, Membrane's wife, was the top scientist. She's the one who ever gave Membrane his rank in the first place. And, despite the fact that Membrane was always busy, the top scientist always found time for her children.
Anyways, Membrane had decided he wanted to make his own cure for the poison that was running its course through Mari. He wanted to play hero. However, he knew nothing of the poison, and he hid the actual cure from Mari. Nearly needless to say, Membrane's cure didn't work, and he ended up making Mari's death faster and more painful.
Gaz remembered the haunting moments when Mari was moaning with the agony of the poison. The poison had blinded her, so she knew nothing but darkness in her last days of life. In her agony, she thrashed around like mad, and couldn't get a wink of sleep. Doctors would have to sedate her often. Gaz remembered the sobs echoing throughout the hospital room when Mari was holding her children, wanting desperately to see them...even if it was for the last time, even if she would only see agony mirrored in their gaze...
Gaz shook her head hard, her hair furling out like petals. 'No!' she thought firmly. 'NO! NO!' She continued to shake her head, attempting to shake away the memories as well. Tears stung her heart, but, like all the other times, she forced them to stay there. She put down her Game Slave, finally realizing that it had said 'Game Over' for a long time now. Sighing soundlessly, she got up out of the corner of her room and moved to her bed. She pulled back the blankets and climbed in. Once again, she snuggled and clung to her spare pillow, yearning, not for the first, or last time, that she was a toddler again, falling asleep in her mother's embrace.
'But Tis is here.' She reassured herself gently. And, for the first time, she thought that maybe, just maybe, she would be able to have her childhood's innocence, or at least a trickle of it, return in her fragile soul.
***
When Zim awoke, he realized that the space next to his bed was empty. He also noticed that the crib was as well. He was worried now, especially when he saw how the sheets of the bed and the crib were flung around, as if they had left in a hurry... Or worse...
...As if there had been a struggle.
Zim's hearts began to beat frantically, and panic filtered into his eyes. He was too shell-shocked to do anything at first. He just lay there, futilely hoping that this was all a bad dream, or that Tis and Eva would show up, their arms wide open, smiles plastered upon their faces, love shining in their eyes. But of course this didn't happen. He didn't really expect it to in the first place. He just held onto that thought as if it were his life line. Shaking uncontrollably from fear, he climbed out of the bed and planted his feet firmly on the ground. He tried to calm himself down, telling himself that they were okay. he, of course, couldn't believe himself.
"Tis! Eva!" He called, trying to remain calm.
The calmness didn't last long, as there was no answer to his calls. He began to walk across the room, then opened the door and called again.
"Tiiiis!" No answer. Remaining silent, he carefully crept through the doorway and into the the open hall.
"Tiiiis!!!" He called, worry now filtering into his voice. Once again, there wasn't a peep from anywhere in the house.
"TIIIIS!!!!" He shrieked, once again met by only silence. He suddenly broke into a run and pounded through his base, going by and into everything, yet not finding what he was looking for. As he continued to call, he continued to be met by only silence. Soon, he was no longer screeching her name. He was sobbing it, trying to keep the crimson tears from leaving his eyes. He continued to run in panic, and because of it, he ran outside blindly, forgetting his disguise.
He ran out into the cul-de-sac, the chill wind ruffling his antennae. With this he stilled and shivered, then realized he didn't have his disguise on. He flung himself back into his base and immediately shuffled through some costume bits and pieces. He decided on a gray t-shirt and a pair of black pants, along with a different black wig, this one with shorter hair, and the usual periwinkle contacts. Doing this in a hurry, the wig was rather disheveled and the shirt was on backwards. But he really couldn't care less. His top priority was to find Tis and Eva.
When he reached the door, he took a moment to compose himself. Taking a deep breath, he opened the door. He forced himself to walk calmly out. That didn't last. In a matter of seconds, he was running as fast as his legs would carry him, barely aware of how weak they already were from running through the base earlier.
Soon however, this fact overtook him, and he was forced to rest. He leaned against a lamppost, panting. At that point he actually began to take in his surroundings. The results made his blood run cold...
...Men and women, crying together in a funeral procession, a coffin on its way to the colder, darker earth... A feeble old man looking confused, a younger one, who was obviously a worker at the local retirement home, holding his arm and leading him through the streets... Teenage girls in bikinis, strutting their stuff, their ribs and collar-bones jutting out alarmingly... A thin man being brutalized by many much larger men before being dragged away, kicking and screaming... A girl crying and screaming for her father as her mother hit her, as the father watched, doing nothing... Men and women sleeping on the ground, or begging for money, questioning, wondering if life was really worth it, wondering if God was real... A small child with fear in his eyes and a beat-up teddy bear looking for his way home... A man as he called out a female's name, for all the world having the same look in his eyes as Zim did...
That was it. Zim couldn't take it anymore. He started walking again, this time slowly, with his eyes glaring at the ground. Yet, despite this, he was able to take in all the things around him. He searched all the faces, hoping he would find Tis's own, hoping his pain could be eased. Anyways, there were only two other Irkens in this city, and the city couldn't be that big, right?
So Zim just kept on walking. He wandered the streets, weaved his way in and out of the crowd, just barely took in his surroundings as he wondered when his life started this downward spiral. But Zim kept on searching the faces. No matter how much he wanted to curl up, to withdraw himself, he continued to search all the faces closely...and because of this close searching, he saw the emptiness in all the peoples' eyes. These people were not blissfully unaware of the terror of the world; they just ignored it. This put even more of a damper on his already heavy spirits.
Yet no matter what the streets threw at him, no matter what he saw, heard, or smelled, he still looked for Tis, still listened for her voice, still smelled for her lovely scent. No matter what, he continued to hold onto a thin, golden thread of hope, the very thread which will be used to tie his family back together. The very thread which was motivating him in the first place to find Tis and Eva. Love. The most powerful force of all. Albeit the most dangerous, the most terrible, the most treacherous.
Zim shook these thoughts out of his head, and instead used all his thinking to be focused on Tis... On finding Tis. He had a task to complete.
After a while, he decided to actually look in buildings. The first place he decided to go into was the closest McMeaties, because those were always crowded. He entered, and his senses were assaulted by the smell of frying flesh. He gagged a bit, but continued to walk. He pushed through the crowd, went up to tables, even asked around for a bit. But he didn't find even a clue as to where his family was. Sighing sadly, he exited out of the warm building, into the cold November air.
Was that just his imagination, or did Zim just see a raindrop splash at his feet? With widening eyes, Zim realized that it was beginning to rain. He swore under his breath, and tried to turn and go back into the McMeaties. However, at that point a raindrop hit his bare head...then another. Soon, he was being assaulted by the raindrops. He could tell that his skin was being slowly dissolved.
The rain just kept on getting heavier, along with the pain. In many places, Zim's blackened muscles were exposed, even those burning. Screaming with torment, both physical and spiritual, he writhed on the pavement, watching blurrily at the people who were staring at him, all with umbrellas and raincoats... His muscles, now blackened, were shivering in the cool air. Zim was too weak to get up, to scream, to cover his wounds, to care that people were watching stupidly as he suffered. Now he lay on the ground, gasping for breath as his throat was being burned, thinking only of his family in his blurry mind, about wanting to say 'I love you' a last time, just to say good bye...
...Even through the darkness that the pain and the smell of his own burning flesh caused his mind, he was still able to register the fact that he was dying...
***
Tis was in a bar, shaking severely as she tried to calm her wailing daughter. The storm had taken them by surprise, and it didn't go without injury. As Tis was rocking Eva back and forth, she was examining her own blackened flesh. It was a sickening sight. Some of it was still smoking and steaming. Some inner tissue was exposed, and in a few, more tender areas, there was reddened muscle showing, twitching in the chill air.
Forcing the bile down in her throat, she withdrew a small tube of burn ointment from her pocket. The first thing she did was spread it on Eva's burns. This didn't take long however, as they were small and few, for Tis had shielded her from the rain as much as possible, not thinking of the consequences. Her motherly instincts had told her one thing: protect the child. So she had done just that.
After finishing with Eva, she decided to apply the ointment to her own, more severe burns. She put a bit on the tip of her finger, and, biting her lip, pressed it to one of her bare muscles...
...Only to feel even greater pain. Only the slightest touch had caused her agony. She let out a little yelp, dropping the tube of ointment to the floor. Cradling her arm, she sobbed softly. She was just now beginning to regret leaving the base, leaving Zim.
But she had been so scared, so very scared. She had had a dream; it wasn't terrible, but beautiful. But somehow it scared her. In the dream, Zim and her had been making love, but they were so much younger... Then, it showed them raising a beautiful baby boy, with wide, almost mysterious jade eyes. They dreamed of being together, in love, making love, having children, raising children.
Yet it had seemed so familiar. The entire time, there was an intense feeling of deja vu. Along with an even more intense feeling of longing to reveal what Time had taken from them...
But, because of this, she had run away. The world was too scary right now, too many things were happening, too fast. She was so frightened, so frightened of her past... But she wanted nothing more than to uncover the grave that would hold the secrets of what once was, with Zim holding her the entire time, with Eva nuzzled and comfy in her arms.
She bit her lip as she forced herself to apply the ointment. Biting her lip hard enough to draw blood, only muffled moans escaped her throat...
She closed her eyes; she didn't want to see the foaming as the ointment tried to revive her charred skin. It was a terrible sight, and the smell was absolutely sickening. Tears stinging her eyes, she continued this grisly work. Little screams and sobs echoed through her mind, but she dared not allow them to escape her lips. She didn't want to draw any more attention to herself. She sighed in relief as she finished with her last burn, a particularly bad one. She opened her eyes, happy to see that her skin was healed, albeit terribly scarred. She was fine, in her body at least. But in mind, heart, and soul... Oh, that was a different story all together... She didn't know how much more torment she could take before she finally broke...
...What she didn't know was that only blocks away, Zim was already seeing the shining faces of the Gods...
* * * *
ACK! I don't know what got into me to write this chapter like this... I'm so sorry! But maybe somehow Zim will be saved. I certainly hope so, I am a Zim fan after all. I hope it isn't too late...
Speaking of lateness, Happy Belated Birthday KnuxZ!!!
Kay, I'm done now. Till next time. [Insert intelligent comment here]