I'm not the easiest person in the world to scare. Infact I'm probably one of the hardest. So it was understandable that even in this desperate situation, even surrounded by horrible creatures of all kinds wanting to rip my organs out of my body…it was understandable that I could still find the desire in my cold, black heart to want to murder Dib.

Dib and Zim were shaking at the knees, not willing to listen to a word I had to say about them. Pfft. Some intergalactic warrior Zim was. I could almost feel the shivers running down their spines as I leaned against them, waiting patiently for my own doom.

My brother had already been struck. One creature had reached out separate from the rest, a creature who seemed to work as a single mass, and sliced at Dib's chest easily. Even though I wasn't looking, I could hear the blood drops striking the ground in rapid succession. Maybe that's why his knees were shaking.

Shing stood out from all of the others. When I cared to turn my head he was looming over us like be were ants. He looked absolutely delighted at the thought of squishing us. He made a terrible noise then. It started soft and slow but then careened into a high-pitched shrieking laughter that pierced the hearts of millions. His arms were crossed and his claws were extended and he was almost frightening standing that way. Perhaps a mixture of that and his maniacal laughter is what finally chased shivers through me.

Or maybe it was the way he slunk over to me, the way he grinned without eyes and the way he seemed to sway back and forth, his coat gently carrying him. Maybe it was when I felt the icy sharp metal caress beneath my chin, forcing me to look into the void where his eyes should have been. Even though he lacked them I could see desire and longing. Everything about Shing screamed blood thirst. There was nothing beyond that.

There was another thing I saw in that empty void. Death. My death. If I moved Shing would slice something important and I'd bleed to death. If I didn't budge he could easily chop my head off with those razor sharp claws. It was doomed from the start. There was nothing left to be afraid of.

Of course when hope is lost is when the truly amazing things happen.

I heard it before I saw it. It was a loud CRASH BANG CLANG. It was the CHRASH BANG CLANG of metal steps, a very eerily familiar noise. Shing heard it as well. His head immediately perked, as did the heads of all the other nightmares plaguing the room. Slowly they backed away from us and peered in the direction of the disturbance.

The three of us peered over as well. Of course our view was obscured by the much taller beings around us, a realization that seemed to annoy Zim to no end.

Slowly our predators began to file out silently at first, only to chatter and howl on the stairs and in the hall above our heads. They really were rather noisy. Even Shing had abandoned us for whatever it was that laid above. When we were the only things left in the room, it began all to apparent what that was.

Salvation. Freedom.

The prisoners must have fled when they realized they were left alone, even if it was for only a moment or so. Anyone that couldn't make it out in the scramble was trampled. Our tormentors must have been locked away down here as well, prisoners in their own rights and eager to escape.

The room held such a different atmosphere when empty. The thick odor of death lingered upon everything, even the air. Bodies were strewn across the floor, some mangled beyond recognition, and the steam continued to rise. It was a broken battlefield after retreat. These were the losers.

" We'd better leave," Zim said harshly, regaining his composure and breaking the silence.

As I turned I finally saw the shape Dib was in. Dib had one arm draped around Zim for support and was leaning against the little green alien. He stood in a thick puddle of his own blood and seemed more pale than normal. Dib groaned and tried to stand up own his own, only to have his knees buckle.

" What is wrong with you, Dib-monkey?" Zim snapped at Dib before turning to me and echoing himself, " What is wrong with him?"

Though spoken harsh and cold, I could see the unhidden worry rising in him. I glanced from Dib to Zim to Dib again and sighed before I answered.

" He's…lost a lot of blood." I said softly.

" Blood? Why does he need this blood? Why is it hurting him so?" Zim spewed out questions a mile a minute.

" Humans…they need blood to live. If they don't have enough of it then…then they die," I explained awkwardly, " Dib's lost a lot of it already."

This was a problem. If Dib kept bleeding the way he was he might not survive the ride home, even if we made it out of here. How would we get him out of there anyway? He could barely stand in this condition, let alone run.

" I vaguely remember this now…" Zim said, obviously having no grasp of human biology or anatomy.

I held a hand out expectantly to Zim.

" Pass him over here," I ordered.

Not looking very frightened by my statement, he carelessly shoved Dib in my direction. I caught him flawlessly, but when he leaned on me I felt my knees begin to buckle. I struggled to stand him up, just for one second. By some miracle I pulled his torn jacket off of him, fully revealing the long, blue, torn sleeves beneath. His half open eyes watched in a daze as his body wobbled in every which direction.

" Ugh…hold still!" I hissed, even though I knew it was beyond his control.

I'm certain I heard Zim walk over to us, but I guess I wasn't completely aware of it. It wasn't until I found Dib propped up with two probes under his arms that I realized he had snuck over at all. With Dib off of my shoulders it was certainly easier to wrap his jacket around his wounds. I would have simply laid him on the floor, but with each step my feet swirled the red around more and more, most of it not even belonging to Dib.

Tying it tight enough to slow and eventually stop the bleeding, but not tight enough to crush his ribs, I decided I was done. Dib really didn't look too much better though, despite the fact that he wasn't bleeding as badly.

I watched as Zim's probes shut themselves away to somewhere deep within. He caught Dib with grace as his metal spiders legs forced themselves out of his PAK. Making himself into some kind of marauder holding a fallen comrade, he cradled Dib carefully in his arms. I decided it was best to just ignore this strange behavior for now. Now wasn't the time for questions. Now was the time for escape.

" I can only carry one of you." He said, I guess in some sort of half-apology, " You'll have to run on your own. Try to keep up."

There was no time to reply as he darted off to the staircase we'd come down what seemed so long ago. It was almost funny that now, when we weren't quite as desperate to find that opening, it appeared plain as day. Of course, I ran off after them. I wasn't nearly insane enough to stay.

From behind I watched as Zim ran like a child cradling a rag doll to his chest. The spider legs didn't really increase his speed as much I had suspected, because he walked…well, like a spider. He didn't suddenly have the speed of a cheetah or anything particularly amazing. He was a little faster though, which provided some challenge for me. I'm not and never was an athlete by any means.

What I suppose was most peculiar about our escape was the lack of an elaborate chase sequence. I guess everyone was too busy trying to round up the psychopaths to worry about a couple of escaped prisoners.

As I caught up some I saw that Dib was carefully pointing Zim around, to what I assumed was the docking bay. It was shocking that he could tell the halls apart at all, since I had no idea where we were. After all, he hadn't been in a right state of mind when he had left the bay.

It also made me a little angry at Zim, because apparently he didn't really know his way around and found Dib by chance.

Unlike our long trek through the deserted halls the first time around, our trip to the docking bay was much shorter. It may have been because it was nearby or it may been that we were simply running faster. That wasn't a thought to be dwelled on though. We were there and that was all that was important. We were going to escape.

The docking bay was strangely empty. As we hurried our steps screamed our presence to the walls and I realized that it wasn't very surprising that we were alone. The entire ship was probably in mass panic, trying desperately to hide from the darkness that must have plagued every hall by now. No one had probably made it to the docking bay yet.

I suppose we were lucky we didn't run into anyone or anything while escaping. Children always seem to have that dumb luck quality in them somewhere.

We still had to leave quickly. If Dib's condition grew any worse out here than we might not be able to save him.

It didn't take long at all to find our tiny ship among the others. Zim retracted his spider legs and landed gracefully on the floor, even with Dib in his arms. When his eyes laid on it however, he let out an odd noise, somewhere between a groan and a sigh.

" How are we supposed to all fit in THAT?" Zim complained.

I wasn't sure to be perfectly honest. Dib and me had barely fit in it the first time around. Now with Zim with us there would be no room to move at all. I guess we really hadn't planned out anything before we left.

" Deal with it," I said simply, knowing I would have to too.

Zim grumbled a little and went to go open it. Dib grabbed his arm with a slightly bloody hand to stop him. Dib was struggling against Zim's grip, reaching out for the manual lock.

" Ugh…Let me do it…" Dib demanded, even in his weak state, " It's my ship."

" No way you stupid Earth pig." Zim refused, going for the lock again, " You're too weak. Besides, this isn't a very advanced vessel. I'm sure I can handle it."

I took several steps back without saying anything. This would be fun to watch.

Indeed it was, as Dib's ship screamed familiar screams of "filthy aliens" and "intruders" and the like and kicked them both away. The force was so strong that it knocked Dib out of Zim's hand completely. Dib shot Zim a look before crawling over to the ship.

Dib managed to pull himself up enough to quickly punch in the code and flip open the door. He turned back to Zim with a devilish grin, to which made Zim pretty angry. Shaking slightly, Dib hoisted himself into the puny little ship.

We should have helped him. We should have reached out a hand or two and helped him up…but we didn't. That's the way we all were I suppose.

Zim grumbled something either too soft to hear or maybe even in another langue as he climbed in after my brother. I crawled in as well, shutting the door behind me. My head was touching the ceiling; there really wasn't enough room for all of us. If we were going to all get home to Earth though, we would have to put up with it.

Of course we were cursed enough to have Dib and Zim stuck next to each other. Whatever it was that happened between them didn't keep them from going at each other's throats about stupid things.

" Your hair is POKING MY EYE OUT!" Zim yelled as he flailed about in pain.

In his crazed motion, Zim smacked me upside the head. My hands were around his throat in seconds. Dib moved to try and get his hair away from Zim's head, but he hit his head on the ceiling. He brought his arm up to rub his head, but only succeeded in elbowing Zim's forehead.

Soon we were all screaming and clawing at each other like frenzied monkeys locked in a cage too small for them. The ship teetered and tottered and creaked dangerously to the point where we thought it might collapse under our weight. We didn't care though. It was far more important to try and tear each other limb from limb.

For once, I don't think it was real anger that spawned this sudden violence between us. It was almost fun in a really strange way. The lines between enemy, friend, brother, and sister were blurred in that moment and I'm sure if we were all gentler people it would have ended in fits of giggles.

The fact was that we weren't gentler people, so after a moment more of bickering we settled into our own spots. I was somehow shoved more toward the back of the cockpit, so much so that I wasn't even on the seat, but sitting on the back of Dib and Zim's spots. It was extremely uncomfortable. Having my feet jammed onto Dib and Zim's shoulders made me feel slightly better, knowing that they were miserable as well.

Dib was tense. It was obvious to anyone with or without eyes. His eyes were locked on the controls and his hands were shaking as he brought them near. It extremely peculiar, especially considered his flawless piloting skills were the reason we were there in the first place. He seemed to just freeze up entirely.

I hoped he wasn't going to regress. That would be incredibly bad timing on his part.

" Dib…" I started dangerously, " Start the ship."

There was no start though. There was no murmur of an engine running. Dib shook his head slowly, and dreadful thoughts creeped into my mind once more.

" I just did some…modifications on it last week." Dib said weakly, obviously having a small memory lapse. He'd worked on it two weeks ago; a week before this had ever occurred.

"…Your point?" I said, growing more impatient.

" I don't know if…if it will fly." He said nervous and slightly panicked, " Any number of things could go wrong…"

I wanted to kill him. He hadn't been worried at all when he took me here and it was obvious it could fly. Granted, his mind had gone to pieces…but still he flew our ship flawlessly between the stars. This was ridiculous. It seemed there was no better way to express this than by kicking him in the shoulder.

" Look, you got us here before. You can do it again," I growled at him.

Zim scoffed at Dib's nervousness. At least I wasn't the only one annoyed with my brother's stupidity that day.

" Please." Zim rolled his eyes, " I've been flying and fixing even more complicated vessels since I was a smeet."

Dib shot a glare in Zim's direction before turning back to the control panel. I could feel it in the air, that fear of failure. One screw up could cost us everything and that fear held him by the throat.

" Somebody's going to find us if we don't hurry…" I found myself saying to no one who was listening intently.

Zim was beginning to twitch at what I assumed was the patheticness of it all. He turned to my brother with a sigh.

" Look, you're injured and you clearly don't know what you're doing…" He said, " So let me pilot."

This caught Dib's attention right away. With a sharp turn of his head he snapped at Zim.

" WHAT? No! I'm going to let you drive my ship!" He yelled, " No way!"

Despite Dib's performance on our trip up into space, I really would have rather had Zim drive the ship. I didn't feel like crashing into a meteor or something if he passed out on the way home. Unfortunately for me, I was cursed with a brother as stubborn as a donkey.

In less than a second Zim had his hands on the joystick. Dib of course turned and grabbed it back right away. The pained expression on his face revealed what I could have told him had I felt like it; sharp turns aren't the best idea with deep injuries.

The two of them tugged and pulled as hard as they could on the controls, each trying to pry them away from the other. Somehow in the chaos, they both lifted the ship off of the ground. From there it bobbed back and forth to the music of their squabble and sent me flying into walls. I was not a happy little girl in that moment. I kicked both of them at the same time, causing them both to cease and desist.

" Will you two cut it out?" I hissed, " If you break it there is no way home. Understand?"

Zim and Dib slowly nodded, suddenly meeker than a moment before. In a sudden burst of energy though, Zim lifted Dib up so he was balanced next to me and slid over into the pilot's seat. Refusing to sit next to my brother, I shoved him into Zim's old spot.

" What'd you do THAT for?" He whined to Zim, coughing after.

" I told you." Zim grinned, clearly happy about his victory, " You're too weak to pilot this vessel now. One of us has to fly us all back to Earth. I'm the only other one who can."

Zim said this all with a sickening smile that twisted with each reason. He knew it bothered my brother and he was thoroughly enjoying himself.

Dib pouted a little in his corner of the ship. It must have been a low ego blow to have his archrival driving his ship.

Then again, I really didn't really know what was going on with those two. I always thought they were enemies, but then they were out saving each other's hides. It was strange and I didn't understand it at all. It was completely beyond my realm of comprehension.

I glanced over at Zim, who seemed to be having some trouble. Really I should have known by the way the ship was jerking around in every which direction that he couldn't fly it.

" What's the matter Zim?" My brother taunted him, " Having…technical difficulties?"

Zim was looking more furious every passing second. His fists were shaking against the controls. Slowly he turned his head toward Dib in jerked motions. A hard glare said it all but Zim being Zim, he felt in needed commentary.

" …What did you do…to this ship?" Zim hissed at him.

" I fixed it." Dib said, unfazed, " After all…it crashed into my backyard."

Zim still seemed pretty angry. Infact, Dib's words seemed to anger him even more.

" You FIXED nothing." Zim shouted, banging his fist on the console, " What you did was you COMPLETELY CHANGED it, there are controls here I've never even seen before, much less used. How can this thing POSSIBLY fly without its Irken roots?"

" No, even though a lot of the Irken stuff bleh blah blah…" Dib blathered on about something nobody cared about with coughs inbetween from trying to talk so much.

At least I didn't care. The mechanics of the ship were not a concern of mine. My main concern was getting back home.

Zim was still writhing with rage. Dib sighed.

" You know?" Dib said, annoyingly cheerfully, " If you can't drive the ship…I can…"

Dib was smirking and Zim looked like he was about to be screaming in anger. It was kind of fun to watch though, despite the fact that we were in extremely potential danger just sitting there in the ship.

" FINE!" Zim screeched, hating to admit his defeat.

The spark returned in Dib's eyes as he crawled across the seat, a spark that had momentarily vanished from the heavy pain. Zim was curled into a knee-hugging ball in the corner, submissive and angry. Dib just grinned in a happily sadistic way as he ceased the ship's dangerous vibrating. He was like a cruel little boy with a brand new toy that was his and no one else's, which somehow explained why no one else could use it.

It wasn't long at all before the two of them were bickering again, over something unimportant no doubt. I wasn't listening though. I was doing something far more important.

I was watching, and something in the darkest shadows outside the ship was watching me back.

There was no fear in my eyes since I'd faced far more frightening things that day than a figure in the shadows too cowardly to reveal himself. At first I thought it could have been another one of those strange nightmare creatures from the hell pit, but as I peered at it more and more its true form became clear to me. It was clear what I had to do.

Swiftly I kicked Dib in the shoulder and covered his mouth with my hand before he could scream in pain.

" You need to stop playing right now and get us out of here," I hissed in his ear softly, as though the figure could hear my every word.

I released his mouth, incase he had any stupid retorts up his sleeve…which he did. After all, this is Dib I'm talking about.

" What are you talking about?" Dib asked, bewildered that I was being so fierce.

Zim knew what I was talking about. When I looked over he was staring out the window with his green face paling. His red eyes were slightly wide, but beyond that there was no other look of fear. He never took his eyes away from our guest as he spoke to Dib.

" Just go," He said, his voice not wavering for a second.

Dib turned to him and blinked. Then I think he saw it too. There was a deadpan silence that loomed around us, slaughtering the air. I don't think it was fear, but more dread that paralyzed us.

It was such a sudden impulse on Dib's part to move the ship away that I would have missed it if I had blinked. However as we floated out of our parking space, the features of our visitor were bathed in headlights.

There was an almost immediate sense of recognition for me and quite possibly Zim as well. Familiar pale green flesh and red eyes a shade lower than Zim's…it was the guard that had nearly caught us. If we didn't leave soon, the 'nearly' would be out of that equation entirely.

His uniform was torn and tattered and covered in dark liquids that I could only hope to assume it was Irken blood. If it wasn't, then I didn't want to know what it was.

Dib already managed to get us out of the prison barge entirely and away from him, but my last sight of the guard was his arm up to his face, talking into some small device. It worried me for a second…but only a second.

When Dib turned the ship to look at the prison barge one last time, nightmarish monsters could be seen chasing Irken guards in the windows. They were just a tiny bit too busy to worry about escaping prisoners. We'd be thousands of miles away before they even considered going after us.

Dib beamed, knowing he had done well.

" Did you see that?" Dib spazzed slightly, " Hm? Did you see my AWESOME piloting prowess? HUH?"

I could tell he was feeling a little better, his voice even sounding stronger than before. He was still paler than normal though and it was still a possibility that he might pass out or something on the way home. I wasn't nearly as concerned now though.

" Yes, yes it was magical…" Zim said dryly, looking like he wanted to be anywhere but with us.

Dib pouted and went back to his piloting and Zim stared out at the spaces in between the stars. I stared at the ceiling, for lack of anything better to do.

I could just tell this was going to be a fun trip home. If I didn't go insane in the time it took to get back to Earth, it would be a miracle.

(A/N: WOW that took a long time. Thank you for all of the wonderful reviews and for being so patient with me. XD Oh, and since the third DVD is out now, I should mention that this fanfic is not in continuity with the Christmas episode. I didn't even catch it until now, but just incase anyone goes "Hey, didn't Gaz fix his ship? Can't she fly it?", I thought I'd mention it. Please R&R and I'll try to get the next chapter MUCH sooner. : ) )