First off... thank you so much for the support of this story, you guys. I really had no idea that it would have so many reviews by the first day.
Second off... this part ran long once more. I might as well call this a full-fledged mini-story, now. At least three chapters, maybe four if the story commands it from me. I'm not in control here, the story is (and that's the truth).
Replies to reviews:
xclaimskype: Thanks for being my first reviewer, I really appreciate it. Thanks also for liking the very first fic I ever wrote with Dib in it. Glad I could give you a good read.
DibMagician: Thanks for the review! Heh, Glad you like it as is, but also REALLY glad you'd prefer a second part XD
Tailfeather: You're right, of course. It would be a disgrace to leave the story unfinished like it was. It needs to be finished.
Not sure if I should be apologizing or flattered that I was able to make this story powerful enough to evoke tears... I think I'll be flattered.
Dibsthe1: I... I have very little words for the gratitude and pride I felt after reading your review. I certainly don't think words could explain it, but I'll try my best, and say thank you very, very much. Just knowing that you... and all my reviewers, took the time to look at my stories in the first place, and then made the effort to even post a reply or suggestion, warms my heart with emotion that I could never express.
I'm... You have a very artistic way of words. Speechless with admiration might be a good way to put it, though bland.
I don't think anything I could say would measure up.
Invader Shannon: (accepts medal) Thank you so much (bows)
Willie: Yeah, yeah, I know. Gotta stop with the cliffies. Thanks again!
Far beyond the glow of the city, the woods stood in silent vigil, the tops of the many trees stretching towards the steadily lightening sky, their branches yearning for light, for the sun that they could sense was tantalizingly close. As they waited, silent in their need, a thin, hesitant string of notes echoed from within one of the mighty giant's branches, soon becoming stronger as the light above increased, finally being joined by others as the birds warbled their dawn chorus, welcoming the sun back into the world.
As if encouraged by its welcome, the light touching the very tips of the treetops, barely visible as a glow beyond the horizon, rose up, brilliant as several long, straight rays shot upwards into the sky, birthing a glorious and altogether deceptive sunrise on the quiet world. Below the spectacle, the creatures of the day began to wake, blinking sleep-ridden eyes to rid them of their drowsiness and preparing for one more cycle of light in their monotonous lives.
Within the city, things were quiet, as if the silent, stoic buildings were frozen in respect for the calm and peaceful night that had occurred, showing their thanks. The sun, climbing steadily higher, finally reached its snaking tendrils of illumination around a small, circular road, the houses lined up around the outer edge lighting up and showing their true, though dull, colors to the still world. Around one freakish, green walled house, the opposite seemed to happen, the glow that was so radiant at night fading in the early morning light, almost as if it where trying to blend in with the houses around it, trying to appear small and unthreatening.
On the doorstep of the green house, a small, shivering lump lay limp, its appearance first reminding one of a pile of rags thrown out when they had gotten too old or worn to use anymore. Then, the shape moved, revealing a pale, trembling hand, one that moved limply, as if the muscles weren't entirely coordinated. As the bright rays of the morning sun reached the form, their light soft and warming now but threatening to turn harsh and beating upon rising further into the sky above, the black material surrounding the boy heated up, causing the child to drift into almost feverish dreams. His awareness of the surroundings disappeared completely, and he began to mumble in his sleep, occasionally crying out in fear or horror as another vision of terror took him, dragging him further and further into oblivion of a kind that he wished desperately to avoid, although deep in his mind he welcomed any change to what plagued him.
He still had not woken when the purple door opened, revealing a short, green-skinned creature, his blue-violet eyes –not natural but part of his disguise- narrowing in a look that conveyed utmost disgust as he looked down upon the sad creature lying on his doorstep, having barely moved since the undercover alien had left him there in the middle of the night. The green boy snorted, tentatively reaching out with the toe of his jet-black boot and touching the lump. When the other boy did not respond with more than a whimper, clearly made while asleep, the other started to grow impatient, his fists balling tighter as he jabbed his toe more forcefully into the other's side. The lump didn't respond at all.
A wordless growl escaped the alien's mouth, and he pulled his foot back, kicking hard into the lump, feeling with satisfaction the harsh connection of boot upon flesh and the jerk and cry that resulted. The boy on the doorstep pulled back, his glasses askew on his face and his scythe-like hair, usually so perfectly curved, lying limply in front of his face, giving him a shorter and utterly defeated look. His trench coat was ruffled and wrinkled, his shirt in the same state and stained with dirt and grit from a mix of tears and lying on the ground for so long. His eyes were frightened, defenseless, and, though he had been sleeping, so tired that it was possible to be pulled into them with the effect of a vortex, one that would throw all optimistic thought into a pit of black vipers.
"Get up, Dib," the alien growled, his voice barely recognizable as a voice rather than a wordless snarl of rage, "Get away from my house!"
"Why?" asked the other boy, his tawny eyes reaching towards the alien's unnatural ones, "What can you do to me, Zim? Nothing I haven't already asked for."
"Er…" Zim, caught off guard, brushed off the comment, but his mind couldn't find a suitable response to the first question. He looked down at the still sitting Dib, knocked completely off kilter and not used to having to look down upon his taller rival. Finally, he remembered what he had come out of his house for in the first place, "INSUFFERABLE PIG-SMELLY! ZIIIIM must go to… Skool, " he growled the word with more disgust than he had spoken to Dib with, a considerable feat, and glared at the human before him, "Get off my doorstep, human! ZIM wants nothing to do with yooou!" the alien accompanied his last words with a wild gesture, pointing his finger at Dib, eyes wide and accusing.
"So? I'm not going," Dib sighed, looking back at the place where he had lain for most of the night, his eyes wistful yet forlorn as the feet of his mortal enemy trod the slightly warmed cement, "I'm staying here."
"Oh, I doubt that, Dib," the alien replied, using a tone reserved just for this type of occasion, a tone for explaining things to an infinitely inferior being, "My lawn gnomes will make your stay here very short indeed. GNOMES! AWAY WITH HIM!"
Dib didn't resist as the four gnomes positioned in the freakish yard jumped to life, their overly large and bulging eyes glowing red at the pupils as they moved to surround him instantly. The gnomes were one of the few things in Zim's command that actually obeyed the alien, much to Dib's numerous regrets, but despite the fact that they were able to shoot lasers from their eyes and usually didn't hesitate to be harsh -as they were programmed to be hostile to intruders-, the gnomes stopped after dragging him relatively gently past the fence, throwing him onto the cement beyond and returning to their places.
Dib made no move, simply laying there. Not even his eyes twitched as Zim marched down the walkway of his house, feet kicking violently out in front of him and head held high. The Invader stopped as he came to the obstacle that was Dib, growling, his pinkish teeth bared in anger.
"Get out of my way!" he barked.
"I'll be out of your way forever tonight, Zim," Dib replied, his voice heavy, "You said you would do me a favor."
"YOU'RE LYING!" Zim screamed, both hands pointing wildly at Dib and his expression dramatically condemning, "ZIM said no such thing, HUMAN! Go back to your PITIFUL home and leave your future slave master alone!"
"No."
At this, Zim let loose a tirade of curses that made several people that were just beginning to pass by on the street stop, ears reddening as they stared in astonishment at the small, green-skinned boy. After a few moments, Zim noticed this, his words abruptly dying in his throat as a bead of sweat poured down his brow. He smiled widely, trying to appear, innocent, "And that's all the words you're NOT supposed to say!" he said loudly, appearing as if he were conversing with the limp lump of flesh that refused to move from his path. He looked at all the staring people, "I'M NORMAL!"
At these words, the people shrugged, looking at each other and muttering before going their separate ways, giving no more thought to the two. Zim sighed in relief before he turned his glare once more upon the boy, wishing he could destroy him but knowing that that was exactly what the paranormal investigator wanted most. Zim growled, swiping the air in his fury as he muttered incomprehensible words, pacing back and force where the sidewalk met the walkway and trying to think of something the Dib didn't want that would be unpleasant.
"I'M A GENIUS!" he exclaimed suddenly, laughing in a sinister way as he rounded on Dib. The boy, from his place lying limply on the ground, wondered for an instant what Zim could mean before he found himself gripped by the foot, his boot being almost pulled off as Zim forcefully dragged him down the sidewalk. Dib almost struggled for a moment on instinct, but that instinct was quashed by grim acceptance that he no longer cared what the alien did to him anymore, as long as he could somehow receive his favor in the end. So Dib relaxed, the stones grating against the skin of his back nothing but a distant nuisance and the pull on his limb barely felt through his clouded thoughts. He felt his eyes weighing heavily on him, not wanting to bother staying open anymore. He wished that it were night again, even if night was no longer a restful time for him. The nightmares never allowed him any real respite from life.
With the memory of the nightmares, the horrors of Dib's life again came back at him, gnawing away at his resolve, making the fatigue within him grow, swallowing up little portions of him, the sparks the fueled his personality and will. The boy had thought those sparks were gone completely, but it seemed as if a few had escaped the notice of his reality, and as he was dragged along, his coat scraping across the hard surface below, he felt them die out, snuffed by another day, another long span of time that would offer him no change. He wondered if his sister, Gaz, had even noticed or cared that he was gone, that he hadn't accompanied her to school like he always had. Knowing her, she would be too absorbed in her Gameslave to notice much, and too focused on a new high score to care either way. Dib fought back a sigh; Gaz would be able to take care of herself.
And his father… how long would it take him to notice he was missing? Days? Weeks? Years? Professor Membrane had never had much to do with Dib in his life, only ever spending time with his family in the brief times when he ventured out of his labs for need of coffee or food, and on the rare, yearly occasion that he would take them out to eat. No, the professor wouldn't notice him gone. And if he did, Dib doubted he would care any more than Gaz would. They both got along better by themselves, anyway. Dib's dreams had never measured up to those of his father, and the boy couldn't think of any way that they ever could. He had spent a lifetime trying to prove it, and had failed. Failed miserably.
Dib grunted, the only sound he had made since he had first begun being dragged by the alien, as the steps to the Skool bashed the back of his head one by one. If Zim noticed, the alien didn't appear to care as he seemed to try and make the impacts even more painful by dragging the boy up the stairs more forcefully. Dib didn't bother protesting, seeing the pain as a perfect way to hide the tears streaming from his eyes as he relived the nightmares. Through watery vision he saw the children of the Skool pause, turning their heads and muttering to one another as they saw the spectacle, Zim dragging his mortal enemy and rival since he had arrived into the building, sputtering incoherent but rude sounding sentences as he went.
Instinctively, the crowd parted before them, and Zim had no trouble arriving in the classroom, throwing open the door in his usual dramatic manner but looking anything but the future ruler of Earth as he hunched in the doorway, breath coming in ragged gasps and curses, his wig tousled and his eyes narrowed into a dangerous and threatening glare that even the teacher took the time to notice, her evil-looking glasses narrowed as she flicked her gaze over to the two. Zim stepped into the room, his feet marching in the usual Invader style as he bypassed his own seat without a glance to it, instead heading towards the opposite side of the room, where Dib's desk sat. Zim, one skinny arm held slightly behind him as he gripped the ankle of the limp boy, turned and dropped Dib near the desk, then, deciding that that wasn't good enough, growled and shoved him into the chair, not caring that he was squishing the boy's body into an nearly impossible position. Finally, the limp form stayed, not seeming as if Dib would simply fall to the floor, and Zim huffed in triumph, walking briskly towards his own seat as if nothing had happened, ignoring the stares of every single one of his classmates and the teacher as he sat in his own desk just as the bell rang.
"Now class," The teacher, Ms. Bitters, growled, her voice a hissing drone that seemed inhuman and sinister, "Today we will learn about nuclear fusion and how it will eventually destroy our pathetic little world, bringing DOOM down upon us all. Doom, doom, doom, doom dooooooooom…"
The class eventually stopped listening to the teacher, knowing that when she began one of her doom rants that listening would be rather unproductive, and settled into either talking amongst each other or falling into a dreamlike stupor. Zim looked around, shuddering at the thought of speaking to the disgusting creatures, and decided to imitate Dib, falling into a daze. His thoughts, driven by the almost hypnotic repetition of words droned by the teacher, wandered in ad out of coherency. Thinking like this, though not rare in itself, was considered so because the impulsive alien rarely thought about anything other than vengeance of the moment or taking over the planet.
Almost too soon, the bell for lunch rang, and Zim flinched, dragged forcefully out of his thoughts as he realized that he was free to go to the most hated hour in the Skool day for him. He snarled wordlessly, sliding out of his seat under the glare of the teacher, her spidery fingers squirming across the desk as her nails struck the wood, digging in and gouging it. Zim made for the door, but her voice, hissing but as sharp as a blade, stopped him in his tracks.
"Zim! Since you seemed to feel that you had to drag Dib in here, you take him to lunch!" she ordered. When Zim hesitated, she slithered out from behind her desk, her tall form overshadowing the small Irken as she leaned down, hissing wordlessly at the smaller creature as he inched around her, darting towards Dib's corner and taking him by the nape of the neck, not caring if he choked the boy as he wrenched him from the seat and dragged him as fast as he could out of the class. As soon as he was out of earshot of the door, he growled, cursing the teacher, the school, and anything else he could think of as he made his way to the lunchroom, his glower making the few remaining hall monitors quickly divert their attention elsewhere.
They entered the lunchroom, and all eyes turned again towards the strange and disturbing sight. Zim glared at them, and most of the students lost interest on their own, returning to their disgusting meals as if nothing out of the ordinary was happening. After most of the lunchroom had ceased to pay attention, Zim dragged his charge to the food line, receiving the meal that he always got but never ate and, after much grumbling, taking Dib's tray as well. His eyes instantly flicked over to the single table, where only Dib and Gaz ever sat. The purple-haired girl was there, her permanently squinted eyes locked onto the screen of her Gameslave, acting as if nothing had happened or was different, although the person that usually sat next to her was currently being dragged from room to room by his rival and worst enemy.
But then again, Gaz had never cared for much else beyond a video game.
Zim straightened from his threatening and glowering posture, about to march over to the girl and dump her brother into her care, but suddenly he seemed to deflate, knowing that his attempt would not end well. Even if she decided to ignore Zim's approach, the alien would most likely not be appreciated for interrupting her game, however trivially. Zim had no wish to endure the types of doom that the volatile loner could dish out, especially seeing how his enemy had come out after such punishment. The girl hated her brother, anyway.
Resigned, Zim threw Dib into his own table, smirking as he heard the boy's muffled 'Oomph!' as his stomach hit the side of the tabletop, knees smashing painfully into the seat. Almost cheerfully, Zim set the tray in front of the boy, flicking his hand in disgust as the horrible-looking food shifted towards his glove.
"Eat your DISGUSTING FILTH while you can, Dib-human," Zim taunted, his voice mocking, "It'll be the last you ever eat!"
Still, Dib made no move; barely shifting his position as his head lay flat against the table, scythe of hair drooping in front of his open yet dazed eyes. The boy didn't even take note of the food, if one could call it food, in front of him. Zim stared for an instant, awaiting the usual smart reply that he gained from the human, and was again disturbed by the silence, the lack of any type of will whatsoever in the limp, defeated form of his enemy. Perturbed, the alien returned to his usual routine of poking at his food, the only thing missing from the lunch hour the never-moving, ever-watchful gaze that looked for anything Zim did that could expose him. Zim sighed.
"Your lab better be the best you horrible humans can make," he muttered under his breath.
Once more, thank you all for reading. I hope I have made this a pleasant time spent on the computer for you.
As always, reviews are greatly appreciated and helpful. If you take the time, I will certaintly take the time to reply. No exceptions.
Thank you.
Interesting Note: this story inspired by the song "Missing', preformed by Evanescence.
Though it really doesn't have much to do with the storyline at all.