-Catch me as I fall. Say you're here and it's all over now. Speaking to the atmosphere, no one's here and I fall into myself. I'm frightened by what I see, but somehow I know that there's much more to come. Immobilized by my fear, and soon to be blinded by tears, I know I can stop the pain if I will it all away.-
Summary: Humanity is so over rated. We're so convinced that we're "superior," so ignorant, that we forget to listen to those who are different than what we perceive as normal. But one day, our "superiority" will be their downfall. Those who are different are not always insane. Perhaps they have a better understanding of the things that are supposedly unexplainable...
If this chapter seems a little...strange, then it's because I wrote this chapter at like 2:00 at night and I was half asleep. And the chapter title is a band name, I'm just too lazy to try and think of a title myself.
kohirihiri- Yeah...Well, this is just my opinion, but Dib is the best character on the show! And Gir...Can't forget Gir!
Dibsthe1- WOW! THAT'S JUST ABOUT THE LONGEST REVIEW I'VE EVER GOTTEN! I didn't really think it was a good idea to incorporate romance into an IZ fanfic, but I think that Dib really needs to get a girlfriend or a friend or somebody who believes him about Zim. And I've always thought that Gaz would want to watch him get picked on or beat up. I do like Gaz and all, but she is really insensitive.
I believe that everything is useless, but not so much in the sense of I'm-so-depressed-I'm-going-to-kill-myself useless. More like, everything-is-pretty-stupid-when-you-think-about-it useless. Yes, I know...If he were a real person, then he probably would be. I just hoped that it wasn't too un-original.
As to how this turns out...you'll just have to wait and see! If I told you how it turned out now, then what would be the point of finishing the fic?
Invader Maz- Thanks. I just had a feeling that it would suck, because there are so many other stories that feature Dib as a depressed cutter, and it's my first IZ fic...But I guess if four people have already reviewed it then there's gotta be something good about it!
Calisto-divine-Blue- Gets all teary-eyed Thank you...sniff I love you...Heh heh, just kidding! But seriously, thanks...
I don't own Invader Zim. I guess that I should say that I don't own Killswitch Engage (the band) either.
Killswitch Engage
"Apparently your head DOES fit into a locker..." A bitter female monotone stated crossly through the darkness.
"Yeah...you owe me twenty bucks!" Another voice, this one a deeper and egotistical male's, accused.
"I don't owe you anything."
Silence...Then the loud crunch of something heavy smashing up against metal. The door was opened and light poured onto him, making him squint. He saw the owner of the female voice standing in the hallway in front of a large crowd of high schoolers. The girl with purple hair and fishnet stockings stepped back slightly, allowing the teen that was trapped in the locker to fall face forward onto the cold tile. Her brother stood up and shook himself off, then walked over to his tormentor. Above him in the neat row of lockers was a huge dent. With red hair and a face full of freckles and acne, the senior was hugging his knees to his chest and rocking back and forth on the floor.
Dib stood defiantly over him, a smile edging its way slowly onto his lips. The late bell rang throughout the silent halls notifying the students that they were late. He saw his opportunity to escape and leaped out of the way of the chaotic crowd, narrowly avoiding a head-on collision with a wall. Panting, he waited outside his homeroom class for a moment, then stood up straight, brushed his sleeves off, and stealthily made his way through the doorway.
A tall woman with gray hair and pale skin was standing up in front of the chalkboard, her arched back facing the class. His movement caused his trench coat to swish and attract much unwanted attention from his classmates. Upon realizing who it was, many of them went back into the drooling stupor that the lecture had put them in. Others, for lack of something better to do, watched him with a slight interest. He was slowly making his way to his seat when the old teacher suddenly appeared looming over him, like a predator about to pounce on its prey. Dib, still unaware that his presence was apparent, was just about to lower himself down into his desk, when-
"DIB!" She growled loudly, causing Dib to fall to the ground with a thud. "You're late! That's the third time this week, and it's only Tuesday!"
"I know Ms. Bitters, but this senior locked me in-"
"Ha ha ha! Again, puny Earth boy!" Zim screeched from his desk with his hands behind his head and his feet reclining on the desktop in a very relaxed manner.
"Hey, why don't you just shut up Zim, ok! Normal freshmen get bullied!" He pointed an incriminating finger at the Irken in disguise.
"Unless they have friends," Zita commented, stimulating a few random giggles throughout the room.
"Or unless you're an alien invader bent on world conquest and you protect yourself from upperclassmen with some kind of extra-terrestrial defense device...thingy!" Dib yelled, cantering over to him.
"Nonsense, pitiful Dib-human...I practice the Earth defense...keratay. Just like any other normal self-defending, worm baby!" Zim responded, pasting a completely fake innocent smile on his face.
"Whatever. It's pronounced 'kah-rah-tee,' Zim," He leaned towards him and whispered quickly, "I hate you."
"Alright Dib! That's enough! Would you please take your seat so that I can pretend to teach without any disruptions?" Ms. Bitters broke into the argument.
Dib whispered something quietly to himself and started smirking, staring intensely at Zim.
"What was that?" Zim inquired, narrowing his eyes.
"It was nothing that you Irkens would understand, but here on Earth I guess you would consider it a cuss word."
"What is this word that you speak of?" Zim stood up on his desk and outstretched his hands to the ceiling.
He then jumped down and pulled Dib towards him by his collar. "Tell Zim now! Tell me!"
"Don't touch me, you jerk!" Dib yelled, shoving him off of him.
"How dare you push your future ruler!" Zim tackled Dib and before anyone could do anything they were grappling around on the floor.
Dib rolled Zim around and pinned him to the floor, but ended up getting a fist to his eye in the process. Zim stood defiantly over him and turned to sit down when something caught his foot and he fell face down onto the floor, his teeth clanking together painfully.
"Why you little-" Zim managed to get out before both of them were wrestling across the classroom floor again.
If a cloud of dust had formed around them, it wouldn't have made any difference as to how visible the fight was. Both participants were moving so swiftly that no one knew who the victor was. And no one would find out, because after enjoying the blood-thirsty battle in all its glory, Ms. Bitters snatched both boys up by the collars and held them at an arm's distance.
"You sit down!" She flung Zim towards his desk, which he hit with a sickening crack. "And you! Detention for a month!"
"Me! But he started it!" Dib yelled, struggling for a gasp of breath.
"Would you like me to send you to the underground classroom instead?" She threatened, her finger hovering menacingly over a big red button on her desk.
"Detention's good!" He exclaimed briefly.
"Ummm...Is this a bad time?" An unknown voice called uncertainly from next to them.
"Oh...uh, well considering that I apparently just got another student, then yes. Yes, it is. You may sit in that desk," Ms. Bitters pointed to an unoccupied desk next to Dib's. Why it was unoccupied, well, the students didn't like to speak of it, but some of them say that there simply was never anyone there.
Dib stared at the shy girl as if he were in a trance. Her long, black hair flowed down her back until it reached her waist, with streaks of a navy blue that matched her eyes perfectly going through it. Her slender body was adorned with a black trench coat that swayed down to her shins, almost brushing the floor as she pulled it closed. It was bedecked with millions of buckles, zippers, pockets, chains, and just about anything else along the lines of those previously mentioned. Her dark eyeliner caused her brilliant blue eyes to stand out vibrantly, though most people called this kind of make-up ugly. Everything about her was so...elegant, but not to the point where she looked too extravagant.
He continued to eye her, a nagging sense of recognition in the depths of his brain. Ms. Bitters turned her back to them once again, and the girl took the seat next to Dib.
"Um, excuse me," Dib tapped her on the arm and she looked at him out of the corner of her eyes. "Do I, uh...know you?"
Her blank expression turned to one of annoyance and disappointment. "Oh, very original pick-up line. I haven't heard that one before." She pulled a magazine out of her book bag.
"I know how that sounded but I really feel like I know you!" He glanced at the cover of the magazine she was reading.
Dib almost repeated what he had said for she remained motionless for a moment. "Are you really desperate enough to use pick-up lines on...me?" She said the word 'me' with such dissatisfaction that her nose wrinkled up in disgust.
"I'm not trying to hit on you! Anyone who would be attracted to you must have great taste, but I just...Is that a paranormal magazine?" He stared wide-eyed at her.
"N-no, it's...not, it's just a..."
"Hey, I know that symbol! That's the Swollen Eyeball Net Monthly Magazine!" He intensified his gaze. "Are you an agent?"
"Um..." She glanced around nervously.
"Agent Mothman," He held out his hand. "But my real name's Dib."
She smiled. "I'm Ami. Or Agent...eh, Killswitch. Don't ask." She gave him her hand.
Deep blue met dark brown as their gaze brought them closer to each other with each passing second. Ami, perhaps the more attentive out of the two, broke the look and pulled back, sinking down in her seat. Dib pulled back also, but didn't take his eyes off of her.
From across the room, the green alien was watching the whole scene unfold with a curiosity that only someone oblivious to what was happening would have. This girl...Ami, as she had called herself, looked like she was the human equivalent to the Irken Tak. They were both females, and it seemed that the Earth girl was quite attractive (by Earth standards of course). Both more graceful than their male counterparts, not that Zim would ever admit that. But the Dib-human was staring at the girl like Zim had stared at Tak the first time he'd seen her on Devastis, in the training facility.
His mouth almost forming a smile, his eyes as if they were glued to her. There was some human emotion that described this attraction, something that would explain the longing look that the Dib-worm displayed. Maybe the Earth boy had just found his mate. That was the only conclusion Zim could come too, disregarding the emotion portion of his thoughts.
"So, do you wanna come over today? I could show you all the proof that I've gotten of aliens! And we could try and break into Zim's base! And you could help me! I'm not alone!" Dib enthusiastically explained, motioning his hands with his words.
"Um, that sounds fun, but I have to get home. My...father doesn't want me to be, uh...out," Ami stated, pulling her book bag closer to her and slamming her locker door.
Dib's expression questioned her, but he agreed with her nonetheless. "Alright. Then I guess I'll talk to you tomorrow."
"Yeah..." Her downcast eyes never looked up at him. He reached up to put a comforting hand on her shoulder, but she flinched when she saw his hand move upward.
"Are you ok?" He asked, concern written all over his face.
"Yeah, I'm fine."
"Do you want me to walk you home?"
She pondered the idea for a moment. "If you want to."
As they walked down the sidewalk, a pair of eyes watched them from a nearby bush.
"Well, this is my house." She turned to Dib. "Thanks for walking me home. You're the first person that I've met that actually believes in paranormal stuff like I do."
"You are too. You don't know how many times I've been called-"
"Crazy? Yes, I probably do." She cut him off.
A twig snapped somewhere behind them and Dib turned quickly, in an attempt to protect Ami. Another stick could be heard being stepped on followed by a string of curses and Dib felt less threatened.
"ZIM!" He narrowed his eyes as the green boy tumbled out of the bushes five feet away from them, followed by a little green dog.
After sending a disgusted look at his dog, the kid turned to the two adolescents. "Don't think that I don't know what's going on, Dib. If you think that just because you found a mate means that you're better than me, then you're wrong! The amazing ZIM does not need such conveniences! ZIM needs no one!"
"Uh, are you finished?" Zim nodded. "First of all, she's not my mate. She's my friend," Dib smiled inwardly at that. "And second, you have no clue what's going on."
Zim looked around inattentively, and then focused his sight on the black-haired boy in front of him. "Pitiful, pitiful Earth larva. Just wait. I'm coming up with a new evil plan to enslave the Earth. One that you couldn't stop even if you didn't want to!"
"And I'm making the waffles!" The little green dog added from beside him.
"GIR! Do not speak of the waffles!" Zim yelled, making the little creature start sniffling. "There's really no waffles in our plan. Our plan has no such things..."
"Whatever Zim. I'd better go. See you at school tomorrow Ami!" Dib called, running down the sidewalk past Zim and kicking him in the shin in the process.
"So does that mean there's no waffles?" Gir asked in a depressed voice that could consume anyone into sadness themselves as tears began to well up in his eyes.
Zim almost looked sympathetic. "Yes, Gir. The waffles...Oh, such delicious waffles there will be!"
"YAY!" The little animal put its arms in the air and the tears instantly disappeared. "I'm gonna get the syrup!"
It ran off with its arms still in the air, followed by a less-amused Zim.
Ami stared in disbelief. Zim was definitely an alien; that much she could determine. And Gir, as she was assuming its name was, was definitely of some alien origin. But Dib was so unlike anyone she had ever met, which automatically signified to her that there was something special about him. And she had felt his eyes on her during class. Recalling the words he had said...what were they, "Anyone who would be attracted to you must have great taste." What did he even mean by that?
She tugged her hair down in her face a bit and searched for the courage to enter the house. Hopefully her father had forgotten about her (like he often did) and went off to work at his stupid office. Or where ever he worked; she had no clue because he was hardly around at all. She sighed and opened the door to face another empty and broken home. They had lived in the same house for quite a few years, but she had transferred to various school districts because everyone at all her other schools had accused her of being insane. And, as if the contradictions against her hadn't made her almost insane, she had lost it and almost killed one of her fellow classmates. Instead of sending her to a juvenile detention center, her father; having the high-ranking social status that he does; had persuaded the police out of it and they forced her to transfer schools.
This boy that she had met, Dib, spoke as if he thought his claims were immune to contradiction. Or maybe he just didn't care, Hell, she didn't know. But there was a spark in his eyes, that if lit up she assumed could be very effective.
Since finding anything to eat at her house would be a miracle, she starved unless her father actually remembered to leave her lunch money. And it got really lonely without anyone to talk to besides herself, so she often thought out loud.
She sat down on the couch in the darkened living room; the blinds shut and the lights off; and closed her eyes. It wasn't long before sleep devoured her, taking her through the same nightmare that she had to relive over and over every night.
It wasn't some devastating memory that ate at her heart every second of her sleep, but rather just a simple nightmare that was never understandable. Only until now did it start to make a sliver of sense.
She envisioned a tall boy laying her on the ground, then standing above her, his eyes wishing that she would stand with him. She felt an immense pain in her side, as if someone had sliced her open with a knife. She reached down to the epicenter of the pain and felt the warm blood dripping quickly and fluidly to the ground.
The boy looked around anxiously, like he didn't know what to do. "Please, please don't leave, Ami," The boy whispered with cold tears streaming down his face and mixing with the blood that was everywhere. He was now kneeling next to her. "Now that I know what I'm without, you can't just leave me. I can't live without you now."
She took his hand and kissed it slightly, her orbs closing themselves until she could barely see anymore. The silhouette of the boy stood above her, glaring at the whole world. No, it was more than a glare. There wasn't a word that could justify the hatred that was clear in his emotional eyes even though her eyes were half closed. And he wasn't specifically glaring at the world.
He looked back down at her with an expression totally opposite of the one before and said softly, "I love you Ami." Then gazing swiftly back up to the crimson sky, he gave it another look of deathly hatred.
"I love you too," She said as her eyes closed completely. The darkness surrounded her and she felt as if she was floating in water, and the chillness of the air around her grew still.
The last words she heard before she woke up, which always rang throughout her head, were, "You killed her! You killed her Zim, you killed her!"
Suddenly she felt an enormous weight being lifted off of her shoulders, crashing down around her like glass shattering. She looked back upon the boy, her would-be savior if not for Zim. His hair in the most unusual shape, she recognized his face, and a rush of adrenaline would've overpowered her body...if she was still in it.
At that moment, she realized that the boy that had haunted her dreams for about a year now, was the boy that she had just met. The boy in her nightmare was Dib.
I hope everyone liked this chapter; it was really hard to write because I had to make Ami fit into the story without her seeming too out-of-place. And I'm sorry it took me so long to update, but I've just had so much homework. STUPID HOMEWORK! We've had five pages every night so far this week, but some how I find the time to write a new chapter. That's how much I love you guys! Ah, well, read and review.