Dib dreamed on a level he was hardly aware of; he slept so deeply that his dream became like life to him.
When he woke he was curled in a fetal position on his bed. It was not a natural awakening; something had disturbed his slumber and when he opened his eyes he knew what it was.
Zim crouched there, out of his disguise, so close to Dib's face that they shared their breaths. The puffs of Dib's exhalations became Zim's inhalations and vice versa; the shimmering red globes of Zim's eyes were all Dib could see. The human gasped lightly, and withdrew on reflex. He expected Zim to shake him or slap him or do something but all the alien did was to sit back on his heels, looking annoyed.
"What do you want?" Dib said tensely. The route Zim had taken to get into his room was obvious: the window was wide open. A light breeze shifted Dib's posters and twisted tiny dust devils up from the floor. Zim quirked one eye at him and reached out to catch Dib's hand.
Dib tensed at the contact- some part of him remembered a grinding pain being bestowed upon him in the same place, by the same person- but all Zim did was give him a look of mild irritation. "Come on, human!" Zim barked, then he hopped off the bed, pulling Dib's arm with him, and the human was mildly amused to see that the top of the mattress actually cleared Zim's antennae. He had almost forgotten that his enemy had once been that short…
Dib rolled over now, to see Zim better. "What?" he asked, a little confused. He didn't want to go anywhere Zim wanted to take him. The little alien glowered at Dib and tugged wordlessly at the human's hand, grumbling with irritation.
Dib stood up at last and he noticed that he towered over his rival now. Zim barely came up to his knees and had to stand on tiptoes to keep hold of his hand. Dib found himself smiling a little at the picture the alien made: he looked like a pouty little kid. He had grown up; Zim hadn't.
Zim solved the height problem by flipping his tiny body up on his spider legs; now he was taller then Dib by at least a head and the human had to reach up to keep hold of his hand. Dib tugged at where they were clasped together but Zim didn't seem inclined to let go so the human went with it. Then the alien began to skitter towards Dib's open window. "Come on!" he snapped again when Dib hesitated, squinting in the warm red light.
Again, Dib went with it, scrambling out after the alien. Zim dropped like a cat into the bushes below Dib's window and looked up, waiting for the human to follow him. Dib dropped with a grace that surprised him; he made only a little more noise then Zim.
The alien scampered off, pausing often to make sure that Dib was following him. At the end of Dib's street Zim caught his hand again and they set off into the city.
It was so quiet there, and Dib looked about, awed by the sudden majesty the buildings possessed. The city had more kinship to a jungle then it had to a collection of buildings made by mankind now. The skyscrapers were like thick golden tree trunks; the branching alleys were like deep forest grottos; Dib could see shadows shifting in the gutters and windows and was sure there were animals slipping through there. When he looked up the dark sky was filled with deep red eyes.
Zim pulled at him again and Dib followed, stepping quickly to keep up with the spider legs. Wherever Zim was taking him they weren't there yet. The streets were eerily empty; only the two enemies were out walking. The quiet was almost unnatural.
Dib craned over his shoulder to stare at the Elementary Skool; Zim dragged at his hand again. "Come on, Dibstink!" It was the first time the alien had said his name, and Dib turned to stare at him. Zim glared back irritably. "You don't want to miss them, do you?"
"Uh," Dib started, and then he was almost hauled off his feet by Zim starting up again. The boy stumbled for a moment and then jogged to catch up. He felt almost drunk, incredibly detached to the fact that Zim could be leading him away to die. He didn't ask any questions.
They were at the Hi Skool now, heading towards the little strip of woods that was sandwiched between the building and the factories. When they entered it fallen leaves crunched and swept about Dib's feet, whispering hoarsely. They kept walking into it and didn't come out to the sullen steel faces of the factories. Zim was latching the barbed ends of his spider legs into the tree trunks now and swinging quickly along; Dib was actually lifted off his feet once or twice. It reminded him of older days, being swung between his laughing mother and father above puddles, shrieking with the brief joy of unfettered flight.
They were slowing now. Zim withdrew the legs and fell to cling for a moment to Dib's shoulders before dropping to the ground. Dib tromped through deep moss. The imprints that his feet left sprung back almost instantly.
When they came to a clearing he looked up.
It was the biggest patch of sky he had seen yet; and Dib stared hypnotized, caught in regarding it. The matte black was filled with eyes; eyes like Zim's, glittering moist garnets gazing back down at him, pinning him with their stares. Almost unconsciously Dib stretched his arms up, like a child would to an adult, asking to be picked up.
Zim stood at the edge of the clearing under the golden leaves of the golden trees and watched him, unreadable.
Eventually he approached the human, looking up at his enraptured face. As he approached Dib shrank, shorter and slighter and smaller until he was eleven again, with big nervous eyes and ragged black hair, looking into heaven. When Zim stood behind him the alien was tall, almost two feet higher then the little boy.
Zim picked him up easily by his upper arms, and Dib's eyes snapped onto him, pupils dilating. His weight was so small. He curled like a cat in Zim's claws, breathing faster but not struggling. Zim's antennae pricked forward, brushing lightly over Dib's face; they were soft and felt almost velvety. The alien brought them close, too close, they were sharing each other's breaths again; the skin on their foreheads bumped. Dib started to struggle, squirming in Zim's iron grip. "Zim! What are you doing?! Let go, let go-"
Zim laughed quietly. "We're here," was all he said. Then he shifted his grip, holding harder to Dib's arms. The little boy squeaked and squirmed, all of the emotions that the walk through the city had kept at bay crashing down on him. When he had reestablished his grip he hauled Dib close to his face again. "This is what you wanted, isn't it?" he breathed. Then he hurled Dib into the sky.
Dib screamed, once, twice, loud and hard and tearing, cartwheeling upwards. Troposphere, stratosphere, mesosphere, ionosphere, all flashing by like floors on an elevator, until you're at the top ding! and then-
The darkness swallowed him.
Far below, Zim stood tall and angry. The gilded trees shuffled closer around him, thick roots stirring through the soil, closing off the sky from view; the eyes blinked out now, one by one. The alien watched, his face like cold iron. "This is what you wanted, isn't it?" he muttered. "The chance to fly free…"
Dib woke up cleanly, and truly this time, as though the border between his dreaming and his waking had been cut by a very sharp knife. He lay on his side, sweating gently and forgetting the dream as it played through his waking mind. His window was closed; no wonder it was hot. The boy rolled from under his covers to pull up the blinds and drag the window open. It scraped up in the frame to let in cool morning air and lukewarm sunlight. It was seven o'clock.
Dib felt very clear; his mind was a still pool, utterly undisturbed by moving creatures or thrown stones. He went to his computer and turned it on. There he activated the homing beacon that he had hidden in the delicate inner workings of his laptop; when a response came he overlaid a map of the city upon that.
There was a premonition upon him; a sense of knowing the event before it played out. It didn't surprise him at all to see that his computer was at Zim's house.
END CHAPTER 5
Thus the true purpose behind the construction of this series is revealed: it's driven by my desire to construct wild imagery. Love it, I say!
Thanks to everyone who reviewed. Kudos to all of you for keeping me at this. I should probably stick a disclaimer in here because I've forgotten to do one for all the other chapters: Invader Zim and the characters and situations presented within belong to Nickelodeon, Jhonen Vasquez, and Viacom (I think). I write this only to offer tribute to the series and Mr. Vasquez's genius. I'm not making any money either so please don't sue me.
Chapter finished June 13, 2004.