A/N: Thank you Peplos Kore, jenna, RavensHaelo and Twilight Irony. Thank
you greatly for the reviews. Sorry it took so long to get up. I had to
help film a wedding. That, and Bubee's hogging the computer again. ^-^
Some things never change.
Disclaimer: Don't own IZ. Never have, and unfortunately, probably never will.
Zim. Earth. Zim's Base.
Early Evening.
The return to consciousness was slow. Zim never slept much, Irkens as a whole slept very little, but when they did, they slept hard. Because of this, waking up always took at lease a few minutes. In this twilight time, Zim sat with jumbled thoughts. Numbly he watched as Dib played with his computer.
'Dib shouldn't be in here.' He thought dimly, then his eyes widened. Dib was in his lab, messing with his computer. Weeks of unseen infiltrations into his lab, of someone messing with his stuff, the genetic sequencer, inferior Klezden junk that it was, must not have been working properly, because here was the proof, it was the Dib human all along.
Zim made to attack Dib, or at least he tried to. He only succeeded in falling off the chair to the floor, as he found himself almost cocooned in duct tape. His arms were bound by his sides, making them next to impossible to move. He noticed with dismay that his gloves were off. Reflexively, he closed his hands into tight fists, his bared claws cutting deep into his palms, causing little rivulets of blood to seep thru and make their way to the ground. His feet, now bootless, were bound together as well, the tape winding far up his legs. When he tried to use his pak to upright himself, he found to his dismay and growing concern that he couldn't even do that. It was undoubtedly taped shut as tight as the rest of him. He couldn't even call to his computer for assistance. Dib had taped his mouth shut as well. Stupid Dib thought of everything.
He heard Dib make his way towards him. Within moments, Dib was towering over him. With a sickening smile Dib leaned down.
"Hello Zim," he smirked. "Did you have a nice sleep?"
Zim tried to growl, tried and failed. Instead he set to glaring at Dib with all of the hatred he could muster. He could only hope that Dib didn't see the fear that flooded his consciousness. He remembered Dib's threats of autopsies all to well. He didn't want to die as some lab experiment. It would be degrading to his Tallest and the Mighty Irken Empire to suffer such a fate. His Tallest would realize he wasn't as great an invader as they thought he was, as he claimed to be. With this thought reality dawned on him. The events of the last few hours that let to his unexpected nap flooded his conscious, thoughts and memories coming so fast he reeled with nausea, fear, and stress. His Tallest already didn't think he was the great invader he claimed to be. In fact, they said he wasn't even an invader at all, but rather an embarrassing defect, someone who wasn't even fit to be a member of the Irken Empire. They sent him to this stinkball planet hoping he would just die. Worse yet, they gave him to the Neplotn. His only honorable way out, death by self-destruction, had been foiled by the stinking Dib beast and his stupid Alien Sleep Cuffs. Now it seemed the Dib human had won. He could fulfill his deadly dream of an alien autopsy, with poor Zim as the alien in question. Zim steeled himself, resolving that he would not give into Dib. He may have won, but Zim would fight him all the way. He would find a way to extract an honorable death the first chance he got. After all, it was all he had left. His thoughts were interrupted as Dib picked him up and set him back onto the chair.
"You really need to be more careful," Dib said with mock cheerfulness, ignoring Zim's deadly glare, "I don't want you to hurt yourself, now, it wouldn't be very good."
Zim watched as Dib pulled up an unopened box. After a few moments of testing it to make sure it held his weight, he sat down on it in front of Zim.
"I'm sorry I had to tie you up." Dib said with uncharacteristic friendliness. "but I need you to listen to me now and I don't want to have to worry about you killing yourself before you hear what I'm saying. By the way, I disabled your self-destruct button. If you're going to kill yourself, you're going to have to do it the hard way."
Zim shifted uncomfortably on the chair but said nothing. (Not like he could if he wanted to. Dib had done well making him a captive audience.) He glanced down at his arm. True to his word, Dib had disabled the cybernetic device. He looked back up at Dib with a mixture of contempt, fear and sorrow. His opportunity for an honorable death wasn't going to be as easy as he hoped.
"I saw the whole thing." Dib said, watching Zim closely. "I heard what your leaders told you. I know what they did to you."
An unbidden tear dropped down Zim's cheek. He closed his eyes, not wanting Dib to see the humiliation he felt. Not wanting him to see the tears forming there. He had lost everything, and his enemy knew it. His enemy had seen his most degrading, most humiliating moments in the history of Zim. For a moment, Zim gave into defeat. He lowered his antennae in submission. He hung his head in shame. Perhaps death by autopsy was what he deserved. He failed his mission. He failed his Tallest. He failed the Empire. He failed himself. The Dib human won. He didn't have anything now, nothing worth living for. No. Wait. That wasn't true. He had GIR. The little droid may not have been much help as an evil minion, more often than not foiling his schemes and causing mayhem, but he loved his little robot slave. And GIR, in his mindless ways, loved him. They had spent the entire mission together, bonding even stronger than most Irkens and SIRs do. GIR had always been there for him. If he gave up, what would happen to GIR? He couldn't give into defeat, even if it seemed hopeless. He would have to find a way to escape. With his mind made up he straightened a bit, holding his head high. His antennae lifted slightly in defiance. He opened angry, tear-tainted eyes towards his enemy.
Seeing this, Dib continued. "Look Zim, I know what your thinking."
Dib took a deep sigh. He reached down and picked up the bottom edge of his trench coat. He watched his fingers as he played with the edge of his coat.
"At first I wanted to turn you in to 'The Swollen Eyeballs.' You are my one chance at being accepted." Dib paused, then spoke again, correcting himself. "You were my one chance at being accepted. By my species. By my dad. I always thought this is what I wanted with my life."
Dib blinked a couple of times, still looking at his hands. Zim leaned closer towards him. Where those tears in his eyes? It was hard to tell though the glasses.
"I spent my whole life trying to be accepted. I didn't care what the cost was. Then you came along and gave me a chance to prove myself. It's not that I don't think Earth and its inhabitants don't deserve to be concurred sometimes. They shun me and treat me like a freak. Sometimes I wish you had succeeded. But I couldn't let you do that. I needed you to prove I wasn't a freak. I tried to capture you, justifying my actions because you were a threat to Earth, my home, my way of life and stuff. You were guilty of trying to take over the world, so I figured I wouldn't feel bad using you to prove myself. But now, I can't."
Dib looked up, straight into Zim's eyes. Yep, those were tears. The Dib beast was crying.
Zim blinked as he realized what Dib was saying. He wasn't going to turn him into 'The Swollen Eyeballs'? He wasn't going to be an autopsy victim? Zim narrowed his eyes in suspicion. Dib had harassed him with that and similar threats ever since he landed on this stinking planet. What was Dib up to? His exile would give Dib the advantage he needed. There would be no threat of the Armada, no threat of someone coming to rescue him. Dib was free and clear. Dib won.
"I'm not turning you in Zim. You're harmless. You're not a threat to Earth or anything, except maybe yourself. How can I do that to you when you're just as much an outcast as me. I'm not that desperate. I'm not that cruel." Dib paused, chuckling without merriment, " And besides, you're the closest thing I have to a friend."
Zim's eyes widened in surprise. Did his enemy just call him a friend? How could that be? For as long as he could remember, they had been at each other's throats, causing pain and hardship with every opportunity that arose. And now Dib was calling him a friend? Dib must have a severe case of the Head Worms. Zim leaned even closer, trying to see if Dib had any symptoms. Obviously something was wrong with him. After all, he called the amazing Zim, his arch nemesis, his superior rival, a friend.
"Think about it Zim," Dib continued, watching him closely now. "We don't really have anyone. We never did. I don't have friends, and my family might as well be nonexistent. And you, you have been stuck on this planet with only that android to keep you company. Now you can't even go home. We are society outcasts. We only have are each other. Ever since I've known you we've stalked each other, well I stalked you anyway, but we were always together. I thought about ways to defeat you and I know you thought of ways to defeat me, but we never totally destroy each other, not really. You have had many opportunities to kill me with all of your superior alien technology. But when it came down to it, you never did, almost, but not quite. Why do you think that is Zim? Huh? It's because you need me as much as I need you. If we weren't so bent on destroying each other, if we weren't so lost in our own missions, we would probably have been good friends long ago. Do you know you're the only one who ever listens to me?"
Dib laughed again, a halfhearted sound. . "I mean, you listen to me even if I don't tie you up."
Dib stood up and pulled his box closer to Zim. "Have you ever even had a friend Zim? Do you even know what a friend is?"
Zim thought for a moment. Seriously pondering the Dib's question. Sure he had friends. Invader Skoodge was a friend. He did whatever Zim asked, even if it meant putting his life in danger. And he had GIR, but GIR was really more than a friend, more and less. But then he thought about what Dib had said. Dib thought of him as a friend because he listened to him. He beat Dib to a pulp, called him names, degraded him, captured him, even turned him into meat once, he did thousands of underhanded evil things to him, but Dib still considered him a friend, or nearly a friend, just because he listened to him. He never listened to Skoodge, not really anyway, Skoodge never anything interesting to say. He almost never listened to GIR. GIR was more like a pleasant distraction, a faithful servant to do Zim's bidding, well, for the most part anyway. But Dib, he was different. He was a worthy rival. He gave Zim the challenges he needed to keep life interesting. He was intelligent, (as far as stupid humans go anyway), sharp, clever, and fun to try and destroy. Dib was right. He could have killed Dib any time. He always thought of amazing ways to destroy him, but always left ways for Dib to break out, to free himself and save the stupid planet he seemed so fond of. If he had killed Dib long ago, the filthy planet would have been his for the taking. But for some reason, he realized, he never wanted to see Dib dead. Hurt, yes, suffering, yes, but not dead. He saw the Dib beast as an amusement. His constant interference in Zim's life was almost comforting. In reality, Dib paid more attention to him than anyone he had ever known. And Dib listened to him. Not the distracted way his leaders did, the way his leaders use to. But Dib really listened to him. He cared about what Zim did even if it was because he thought Zim was a danger to him, which he was, or at least he had been. Maybe Dib was really a friend disguised as an enemy. Now, with his world shattered he needed to believe what Dib was saying. Dib hadn't come out and said it, but he was offering Zim peace and friendship. All Zim had to do was accept it. Accept something he desperately wanted, something he desperately needed.
Zim looked at Dib with almost pleading eyes. His antennae dropping low in submission. He would accept Dib's proposal of friendship, but if he sensed any deception on Dib's part, any kind of betrayal. He would destroy Dib totally. He would destroy the Dib, then himself.
Dib, who had been watching Zim intensely, stood up from the box and moved towards Zim.
"I am going to pull the tape of your mouth, Zim. Don't call the computer." He said as he drew closer to Zim. " If you do, I will be forced to tape your mouth shut again. I will have to take you to my house so we can talk. Do you understand?"
Zim nodded.
Dib reached over and with a quick motion, pulled the tape from Zim's mouth.
Zim gasped slightly in pain, but said nothing. He didn't want Dib to put the tape over his mouth again.
When he saw that Zim wasn't going to call the computer for assistance, Dib sat down on the box again. "Do you understand what I've been saying?" he asked.
Zim nodded, but still didn't say anything. He waited for Dib to ask the question he knew was coming.
"Your not going to make this easy are you?!" Dib sighed. "Look Zim, I need a friend. You need a friend, and since you're not going to be trying to take over the world." He paused and a concerned look crossed his face. "Your not going to be trying to take over the world anymore, are you?"
Zim closed his eyes for a moment and shook his head.
"Good." He sighed. "What I am trying to say is; do you want to be my friend?"
Zim took a deep breath then nodded, speaking for the first time since he woke up from his induced nap. "Look, stink beast." He said without malice, "I never thought I'd say this, but yes. I accept your miserable human friendship."
After a second's reflection, a mischievous glint entered his eye and he added, " Feel honored that you are friends with Zim." He offered a weak smile at Dib. "Could you un-tape me now?"
Disclaimer: Don't own IZ. Never have, and unfortunately, probably never will.
Zim. Earth. Zim's Base.
Early Evening.
The return to consciousness was slow. Zim never slept much, Irkens as a whole slept very little, but when they did, they slept hard. Because of this, waking up always took at lease a few minutes. In this twilight time, Zim sat with jumbled thoughts. Numbly he watched as Dib played with his computer.
'Dib shouldn't be in here.' He thought dimly, then his eyes widened. Dib was in his lab, messing with his computer. Weeks of unseen infiltrations into his lab, of someone messing with his stuff, the genetic sequencer, inferior Klezden junk that it was, must not have been working properly, because here was the proof, it was the Dib human all along.
Zim made to attack Dib, or at least he tried to. He only succeeded in falling off the chair to the floor, as he found himself almost cocooned in duct tape. His arms were bound by his sides, making them next to impossible to move. He noticed with dismay that his gloves were off. Reflexively, he closed his hands into tight fists, his bared claws cutting deep into his palms, causing little rivulets of blood to seep thru and make their way to the ground. His feet, now bootless, were bound together as well, the tape winding far up his legs. When he tried to use his pak to upright himself, he found to his dismay and growing concern that he couldn't even do that. It was undoubtedly taped shut as tight as the rest of him. He couldn't even call to his computer for assistance. Dib had taped his mouth shut as well. Stupid Dib thought of everything.
He heard Dib make his way towards him. Within moments, Dib was towering over him. With a sickening smile Dib leaned down.
"Hello Zim," he smirked. "Did you have a nice sleep?"
Zim tried to growl, tried and failed. Instead he set to glaring at Dib with all of the hatred he could muster. He could only hope that Dib didn't see the fear that flooded his consciousness. He remembered Dib's threats of autopsies all to well. He didn't want to die as some lab experiment. It would be degrading to his Tallest and the Mighty Irken Empire to suffer such a fate. His Tallest would realize he wasn't as great an invader as they thought he was, as he claimed to be. With this thought reality dawned on him. The events of the last few hours that let to his unexpected nap flooded his conscious, thoughts and memories coming so fast he reeled with nausea, fear, and stress. His Tallest already didn't think he was the great invader he claimed to be. In fact, they said he wasn't even an invader at all, but rather an embarrassing defect, someone who wasn't even fit to be a member of the Irken Empire. They sent him to this stinkball planet hoping he would just die. Worse yet, they gave him to the Neplotn. His only honorable way out, death by self-destruction, had been foiled by the stinking Dib beast and his stupid Alien Sleep Cuffs. Now it seemed the Dib human had won. He could fulfill his deadly dream of an alien autopsy, with poor Zim as the alien in question. Zim steeled himself, resolving that he would not give into Dib. He may have won, but Zim would fight him all the way. He would find a way to extract an honorable death the first chance he got. After all, it was all he had left. His thoughts were interrupted as Dib picked him up and set him back onto the chair.
"You really need to be more careful," Dib said with mock cheerfulness, ignoring Zim's deadly glare, "I don't want you to hurt yourself, now, it wouldn't be very good."
Zim watched as Dib pulled up an unopened box. After a few moments of testing it to make sure it held his weight, he sat down on it in front of Zim.
"I'm sorry I had to tie you up." Dib said with uncharacteristic friendliness. "but I need you to listen to me now and I don't want to have to worry about you killing yourself before you hear what I'm saying. By the way, I disabled your self-destruct button. If you're going to kill yourself, you're going to have to do it the hard way."
Zim shifted uncomfortably on the chair but said nothing. (Not like he could if he wanted to. Dib had done well making him a captive audience.) He glanced down at his arm. True to his word, Dib had disabled the cybernetic device. He looked back up at Dib with a mixture of contempt, fear and sorrow. His opportunity for an honorable death wasn't going to be as easy as he hoped.
"I saw the whole thing." Dib said, watching Zim closely. "I heard what your leaders told you. I know what they did to you."
An unbidden tear dropped down Zim's cheek. He closed his eyes, not wanting Dib to see the humiliation he felt. Not wanting him to see the tears forming there. He had lost everything, and his enemy knew it. His enemy had seen his most degrading, most humiliating moments in the history of Zim. For a moment, Zim gave into defeat. He lowered his antennae in submission. He hung his head in shame. Perhaps death by autopsy was what he deserved. He failed his mission. He failed his Tallest. He failed the Empire. He failed himself. The Dib human won. He didn't have anything now, nothing worth living for. No. Wait. That wasn't true. He had GIR. The little droid may not have been much help as an evil minion, more often than not foiling his schemes and causing mayhem, but he loved his little robot slave. And GIR, in his mindless ways, loved him. They had spent the entire mission together, bonding even stronger than most Irkens and SIRs do. GIR had always been there for him. If he gave up, what would happen to GIR? He couldn't give into defeat, even if it seemed hopeless. He would have to find a way to escape. With his mind made up he straightened a bit, holding his head high. His antennae lifted slightly in defiance. He opened angry, tear-tainted eyes towards his enemy.
Seeing this, Dib continued. "Look Zim, I know what your thinking."
Dib took a deep sigh. He reached down and picked up the bottom edge of his trench coat. He watched his fingers as he played with the edge of his coat.
"At first I wanted to turn you in to 'The Swollen Eyeballs.' You are my one chance at being accepted." Dib paused, then spoke again, correcting himself. "You were my one chance at being accepted. By my species. By my dad. I always thought this is what I wanted with my life."
Dib blinked a couple of times, still looking at his hands. Zim leaned closer towards him. Where those tears in his eyes? It was hard to tell though the glasses.
"I spent my whole life trying to be accepted. I didn't care what the cost was. Then you came along and gave me a chance to prove myself. It's not that I don't think Earth and its inhabitants don't deserve to be concurred sometimes. They shun me and treat me like a freak. Sometimes I wish you had succeeded. But I couldn't let you do that. I needed you to prove I wasn't a freak. I tried to capture you, justifying my actions because you were a threat to Earth, my home, my way of life and stuff. You were guilty of trying to take over the world, so I figured I wouldn't feel bad using you to prove myself. But now, I can't."
Dib looked up, straight into Zim's eyes. Yep, those were tears. The Dib beast was crying.
Zim blinked as he realized what Dib was saying. He wasn't going to turn him into 'The Swollen Eyeballs'? He wasn't going to be an autopsy victim? Zim narrowed his eyes in suspicion. Dib had harassed him with that and similar threats ever since he landed on this stinking planet. What was Dib up to? His exile would give Dib the advantage he needed. There would be no threat of the Armada, no threat of someone coming to rescue him. Dib was free and clear. Dib won.
"I'm not turning you in Zim. You're harmless. You're not a threat to Earth or anything, except maybe yourself. How can I do that to you when you're just as much an outcast as me. I'm not that desperate. I'm not that cruel." Dib paused, chuckling without merriment, " And besides, you're the closest thing I have to a friend."
Zim's eyes widened in surprise. Did his enemy just call him a friend? How could that be? For as long as he could remember, they had been at each other's throats, causing pain and hardship with every opportunity that arose. And now Dib was calling him a friend? Dib must have a severe case of the Head Worms. Zim leaned even closer, trying to see if Dib had any symptoms. Obviously something was wrong with him. After all, he called the amazing Zim, his arch nemesis, his superior rival, a friend.
"Think about it Zim," Dib continued, watching him closely now. "We don't really have anyone. We never did. I don't have friends, and my family might as well be nonexistent. And you, you have been stuck on this planet with only that android to keep you company. Now you can't even go home. We are society outcasts. We only have are each other. Ever since I've known you we've stalked each other, well I stalked you anyway, but we were always together. I thought about ways to defeat you and I know you thought of ways to defeat me, but we never totally destroy each other, not really. You have had many opportunities to kill me with all of your superior alien technology. But when it came down to it, you never did, almost, but not quite. Why do you think that is Zim? Huh? It's because you need me as much as I need you. If we weren't so bent on destroying each other, if we weren't so lost in our own missions, we would probably have been good friends long ago. Do you know you're the only one who ever listens to me?"
Dib laughed again, a halfhearted sound. . "I mean, you listen to me even if I don't tie you up."
Dib stood up and pulled his box closer to Zim. "Have you ever even had a friend Zim? Do you even know what a friend is?"
Zim thought for a moment. Seriously pondering the Dib's question. Sure he had friends. Invader Skoodge was a friend. He did whatever Zim asked, even if it meant putting his life in danger. And he had GIR, but GIR was really more than a friend, more and less. But then he thought about what Dib had said. Dib thought of him as a friend because he listened to him. He beat Dib to a pulp, called him names, degraded him, captured him, even turned him into meat once, he did thousands of underhanded evil things to him, but Dib still considered him a friend, or nearly a friend, just because he listened to him. He never listened to Skoodge, not really anyway, Skoodge never anything interesting to say. He almost never listened to GIR. GIR was more like a pleasant distraction, a faithful servant to do Zim's bidding, well, for the most part anyway. But Dib, he was different. He was a worthy rival. He gave Zim the challenges he needed to keep life interesting. He was intelligent, (as far as stupid humans go anyway), sharp, clever, and fun to try and destroy. Dib was right. He could have killed Dib any time. He always thought of amazing ways to destroy him, but always left ways for Dib to break out, to free himself and save the stupid planet he seemed so fond of. If he had killed Dib long ago, the filthy planet would have been his for the taking. But for some reason, he realized, he never wanted to see Dib dead. Hurt, yes, suffering, yes, but not dead. He saw the Dib beast as an amusement. His constant interference in Zim's life was almost comforting. In reality, Dib paid more attention to him than anyone he had ever known. And Dib listened to him. Not the distracted way his leaders did, the way his leaders use to. But Dib really listened to him. He cared about what Zim did even if it was because he thought Zim was a danger to him, which he was, or at least he had been. Maybe Dib was really a friend disguised as an enemy. Now, with his world shattered he needed to believe what Dib was saying. Dib hadn't come out and said it, but he was offering Zim peace and friendship. All Zim had to do was accept it. Accept something he desperately wanted, something he desperately needed.
Zim looked at Dib with almost pleading eyes. His antennae dropping low in submission. He would accept Dib's proposal of friendship, but if he sensed any deception on Dib's part, any kind of betrayal. He would destroy Dib totally. He would destroy the Dib, then himself.
Dib, who had been watching Zim intensely, stood up from the box and moved towards Zim.
"I am going to pull the tape of your mouth, Zim. Don't call the computer." He said as he drew closer to Zim. " If you do, I will be forced to tape your mouth shut again. I will have to take you to my house so we can talk. Do you understand?"
Zim nodded.
Dib reached over and with a quick motion, pulled the tape from Zim's mouth.
Zim gasped slightly in pain, but said nothing. He didn't want Dib to put the tape over his mouth again.
When he saw that Zim wasn't going to call the computer for assistance, Dib sat down on the box again. "Do you understand what I've been saying?" he asked.
Zim nodded, but still didn't say anything. He waited for Dib to ask the question he knew was coming.
"Your not going to make this easy are you?!" Dib sighed. "Look Zim, I need a friend. You need a friend, and since you're not going to be trying to take over the world." He paused and a concerned look crossed his face. "Your not going to be trying to take over the world anymore, are you?"
Zim closed his eyes for a moment and shook his head.
"Good." He sighed. "What I am trying to say is; do you want to be my friend?"
Zim took a deep breath then nodded, speaking for the first time since he woke up from his induced nap. "Look, stink beast." He said without malice, "I never thought I'd say this, but yes. I accept your miserable human friendship."
After a second's reflection, a mischievous glint entered his eye and he added, " Feel honored that you are friends with Zim." He offered a weak smile at Dib. "Could you un-tape me now?"