Initiate part two, Results May Vary! Wow, it only took me two years to update! XD;; Bwahahaha. --Flops in her desk chair with her PJs on to type like mad-- Oh, I bumped the rating up to M finally, since I decided I had to go really into detail with Rem's transformation. Yay. Those of you with a weak stomach... Read anyway, then go vomit.

Chapter 7

(Growing Pain)

About a week has passed, I think... Not really sure. I haven't been keeping track of the days lately. I think I'm starting to lose hope... School passes every day like a stale breeze through an abandoned room- dry, boring, something you don't really want to endure. I haven't spoken with Zim since I last met with him at his house. Every time I pass him in the halls, he says nothing... Only smiles.It's twisted smile I've come to know, accompanied by his look of condescension and sheer interest. He talks to me occasionally, of course, but in the way a lone scientist would speak to a guinea pig attached to wires and needles, lying in a silent yet blaring room of white...

"Rem... Feeling alright lately? How is your spine functioning?" I heard the voice resound uncaringly to my right, my eyes shut to try and bar out a throbbing migraine. I glanced sleepily up to Zim from the grimy lunch table I was lying my head upon, mouth slightly agape.

"Ugh..." I grunted, grimacing and closing my eyes again, tying to ignore him. My I spine was fine, more or less, despite irregular aching pains I got every once in a while, probably from the Pak. There were worse things, at that point. I had been sick almost every evening, vomiting up anything I had eaten during the day, mingled with blood and what looked horrifyingly like organ tissue. It felt like I was dying... The skin on my palms had worn away slightly in the same manner a reptile would shed, leaving behind a raw layer of skin, colored green, tinged with pink. My hands, at that moment covered in a pair of soft, black gloves I had purchased at a 99 cent store, lay limp on the table, the left barely clutching a bag of potato chips.

"Ah, good to hear. I trust Minimoose had been a sufficient guardian?"

"...Ugh."

"Excellent!" He slid my untouched lunch tray to the side, sitting down next to me without an invitation. Nonchalantly, he took out a device that slightly resembled a white-out dispenser from one of the pockets that blended ever so flawlessly into the patterns on his odd shirt. I opened my sleepy eyes half way and watched him with mild interest, wondering stupidly what he was going to do with it. Without warning, he clicked a button on the side which produced a small curved needle, then grabbed my hand and pulled off the glove, scraping the needle painfully across my raw, green-tinted skin.

"Augh! Hey, what the heck?" I quickly sat up and yanked my hand away, pressing a finger against the spot he had grazed. I glared over at him as he sat there, completely uncaring, smiling with his familiar look of authority. "What the heck are you doing?"

"Oh, nothing. Nothing, nothing, nothing. Just seeing how you're coming along. Ah, perfect, your squeedly spooch is forming! I am a genius..." He smirked to himself as he examined the little device, clicking several buttons and turning a small knob on the side periodically.

"You're sick, that's what you are. I think I'm going to throw up." I spoke the sentence to Zim in the same manner someone would comment "The sky's very blue today", as I lay my head back down on the table.

"Yes, yes, all part of the process. Well, take good care of your head." He patted my hair casually as he rose, strolling off to do whatever it was he did during lunch period. I squeezed my eyes shut again, breathing a sigh of frustration.

He treats me like I'm a lab rat or something... Freaking... GAH! I sprung to my feet, shouting after Zim while stupidly waving the bag of chips in the air, scattering them about.

"You moron! You don't own me! I'm not your experiment! Go buy some mice at the pet store, stick them with needles! FREAK!" Breathing heavily, I stood there with my fists clenched, gripping the now half-empty bag of potato chips and glowering at Zim as he walked away, smiling. I blinked several times, lowering the arm that held the chips to my side, realizing that nearly everyone in the cafeteria was staring at me.

"Erm, just kidding! Ahahaha! Nothing... Nothing to see here! I'm normal!" I smiled widely, whirling around to sit back in my seat and duck my head, pretending to be invisible. "Good god, Zim, look at what you're doing to me..." I mumbled to myself as everyone in the lunch room went back to their business, ignoring the crazy girl who sat alone and was recently prone to outbursts. I sighed, closing my eyes again and replaying the week over in my head.

Monday... Was it Monday? I think it was... That was when my skin started peeling, wasn't it? What a horrible way to wake up... Little flakes of grayish peach all over my blankets... A faint chill ran up my back as I rubbed my fingers against my right palm, feeling more tiny shreds of skin peel away. It was an odd, tingling sensation, somewhat like when my skin would peel after getting a sunburn.

Day after it just got worse, and I had to buy these stupid gloves. Minimoose wouldn't stop following me, either, it's almost--

"Hey, Rem... you okay?" I heard 15's voice murmur from my left, caring and somewhat frightened at the same time. My thoughts were instantly cut off, and I looked up to face him with my groggy eyes.

"Hm? Oh, I'm okay..." I lied, coughing slightly and sensing the faint taste of blood in the back of my throat. 15 sat down next to me and gazed at my disheveled appearance, frowning in concern.

"Yeah, you look great." he replied sarcastically, raising an eyebrow. "I just.. I just saw Zim leave from over here, what was he doing?" he asked, while glancing over his shoulder to watch Zim march through the cafeteria's swinging double doors.

"Ugh, just his usual scientific cra--...crap... Ohjeezberightback--" I cut off my sentence unexpectedly, a rising feeling of nausea suddenly apparent in the pit of my stomach. Leaping to my feet while clutching my middle, I sprinted out the same double doors Zim had exited through, dashing for the bathroom. The usually bleak school halls seemed to be tilting as I stumbled quickly through them, crashing through the girl's bathroom door at stumble into a toilet stall. I gagged, dropping to my knees over the toilet, eyes already going blurry with tears of pain. Nevertheless, my stomach was empty, causing my insides to grate against each other hopelessly to rid myself whatever was sensed inside me. I was suddenly thrust into a spasm of shaking coughs, each one feeling like it was tearing apart my throat and chest. With one last violent cough, I was hit with the sensation of my insides ripping in half, as I spat out a mass of bloody tissue, about as wide and tall as my palm.

In a dizzy, sickened state, I fleetingly looked at the remnant of myself that lay in the toilet, which caused goosebumps to spread quickly down my arms. It was the color of rotten eggplant and was coated in blood, its color telling me horrifyingly what it must have been... Lung. Immediately after coughing up the tissue, my breathing became raspy and wheezing, coming in short, labored gasps. I felt like a fish without water while I gasped for oxygen that couldn't reach my lungs, since part of my lungs weren't even there.

Z... Zim... I wavered to myself in thought, feeling like I was hyperventilating, which I probably was. I stumbled to my feet and seemed to drift out of the bathroom, once again in search of the very creature that got me into this whole mess. I trundled through the halls as they seemed to shift about me like fog, the voices of the other students muffled through my pain. The trek back through the cafeteria felt as if I was wading through deep water, each breath feeling like it was suffocating me. As I finally stumbled through the same double-doors Zim had exited through, I caught the outline of the green-skinned boy I was trying to reach. His silhouette looked as if he was poking a pigeon on a windowsill. Unable to say anything other than gasps, I stumbled up to him, grabbing at my throat and whimpering while my eyes watered up. I saw the outline of his form turn from the bird he was prodding, as his voice wavered through my weakened hearing. "Damnit..." With that, I felt his gloved hand clasp firmly around my arm, tugging me quickly in the opposite direction I had come from. Suddenly, darkness.

As I slowly awoke, I noticed that my surroundings weren't much brighter on the outside of my eyelids than it was on the inside. Once my vision adjusted, I noticed I was in a dark room, the only light faint and deep purple, coming from a source that I couldn't see. Directly in front of me, hundreds of wires and cables hung tangled together, some of them thicker than my arm. They seemed familiar, somehow... Just then, I noticed that I was laying down. Attempting to sit up only caused a dull pain to shoot through my chest, so I remained flat on whatever I was laying on top of. I stared idly at what I then knew to the ceiling to one of Zim's rooms, feeling surprisingly indifferent at the odd change of scenery. I could remember everything fine, up to the point that I blacked out. Obviously, Zim had taken me back to his house, to do whatever next, I couldn't imagine. I sighed a slow, small breath, my eyes fixed on one cable in particular for no reason at all.

Oh... Wait. I can breathe. I noted the realization with little surprise, taking a second, grateful breath of air. Somehow, Zim must have repaired my lungs, although not quite flawlessly, it seemed. My chest felt as if it had been cut in half, then burnt back together with a chunk of splintering wood. Despite the pain, I could breathe fine. After several moments of cable-staring and oxygen-processing, I realized that I was actually breathing far less than what used to be normal for me. Oddly enough, I didn't feel lightheaded. It actually felt as if my grogginess was steadily clearing. Just as I was wondering over this strange quirk, a blur of pinkish purple floated into my field of vision. It was Minimoose again.

"Squeek!"

"Gghhhhgh..."

I frowned sleepily at my unimpressive response, disappointed that I couldn't even manage an expression of surprise. Sighing to myself, I glanced to the side, noticing that I was actually laying on a tilted, padded table of sorts.

"Ahh, Rem. You're alive." I looked up, my eyes meeting the alien figure of Zim. "Once again, I have proven my genius." The alien grinned wildly, clenching his fists in victory of whatever it was he has done.

"Hmh?" was all I could groggily mumble, raising an eyebrow at Zim's usual enthusiasm.

"Ohh, I just saved your silly little monkey-hide from sheer extinction. Your superior lungs were forming, much quicker than they should have. They were trying to take over those pathetic air-bags you had before, I had to fix that. Ripped your organs out! Mmm hm!"

"Ffuh... What!" I finally shouted, surprised afterwards at how easily my lungs had taken it. My hand shot to my chest, where I touched an exceedingly tender area directly vertical through the center of my ribcage. I grimaced as I lightly rubbed my hand across the long wound through my layer of clothing.

"So, my... Lungs... They're gone?" I muttered, feeling my heart rate speed up at the shock.

"Those human ones, yes. Ahh, you're progressing by the second..." Zim stuck out his chest proudly at this, turning to press some buttons on a nearby screen that hovered next to the table.

"My lungs..." I muttered, turning back to stare at the tangle of wires in the ceiling. Something that felt like a large lump of hard wax had settled into my gut at this thought. My lungs were gone . The things inside of me that allowed me to breathe, to stay alive, were no longer my own. They weren't even human. It was at that moment I knew, without a doubt, that there was no turning back.

Uh, short-ish chapter. Had to get things moving, but finish this fanfic I will! Bewares! --lurches off-- >:3