Screaming in rage, Dib clawed through the darkness. One moment, just one moment! he pled. Let me get my hands around his neck for one moment…

Zim laughed chillingly as he seized Dib's hands and flipped the boy over his head into the darkness beyond. Spinning around, he advanced on Dib, his boots clicking on invisible flooring. "Foolish smeet. Did you really think you could best Zim?" Dib groaned, rising shakily to his feet. "Did you truly believe that in all your youth and childish lucklessness you could ever defeat an Irken!" Zim's hand clenched into a fist and swung up before Dib could react, flinging him back.

"But I did!" He yelled, spitting blood. "I beat you, you died!"

A hollow laugh rang through his skull. "Idiotic hyuman. Zim did not die. Zim found a way to live on and exact revenge." Grinning, he stretched his arm into the blackness and plucked a movie reel from the air. Grasping one end of the film strip, he slowly unwound it. Mesmerized, Dib watched as Zim's PAK attacked him, plunging its wires deep into his spine and reaching up to grasp his brain. "Every second my PAK was in contact with your puny hyuman mind was a moment it was downloading Zim's life, memories, and personality into your own." He shrugged carelessly. "It was merely a matter of time before you undid yourself. Killing the Gaz-hyuman was not Zim's idea, but it was a nice touch, do you not think?"

Numb, Dib sank to his knees, holding his head. "The tape," he whispered. "I couldn't hear the ghost-child on the tape—it was you, in my head."

"Yes Dib. Zim has been in your rather large head for a number of days now." The Irken polished his claws on his uniform. "I must admit, your will was surprisingly strong, but nothing can resist Zim forever. And now," he added, extending a second self-destruct mechanism, "Zim will leave you."

Dib sprang to his feet. "What are you talking about? You can't leave, you're in my head!"

Zim grinned, revealing his zipper-teeth. "Oh but I can. What you see is all that is left of Zim, all memories and personality pulled together in one image. I admit, it would be enjoyable tormenting you for the rest of your miserable days, but the satisfaction of knowing you will be left alone in the dark will be enough for Zim."

Dib's eyes widened with horror as the realization of what Zim was about to do struck him. "No, don't, please!" He stretched out a pleading hand.

Zim's eyes sparkled. "Dear Irk, you really are a smeet." With that, his gloved finger came down on the self-destruct button.

……………………………………………………………………………………………….

If, at that moment, anyone had glanced into room 323 at the Assylum for Insane People who are Insane, they would have seen a haggard boy. His black, sickle hair frizzled and limp, his eyes sunken in, his twitching hands a bloody wreck. They would have seen his eyes open wide for a moment, then they would have heard a long, blood-curdling howl that could only come from the pit of despair. They would see him crawl on the padded floor, begging for someone, anyone, to come and talk to him. To tell him he was not alone.

But no one could hear him scream.

THE END

Note: Yeargh, please don't hate the ending. Once again, this was a fanfic challenge by Invader Sideos, brilliant plotmaster, READ HIS STUFF! Yes, this was very much lots of fun to write, and my grammar is all gone bye-bye now, so I will finish this off and begin writing the sequel to Another Set of Eyes…