Proofreader: Kira Kyuu

Chapter 2: I Used to Have Fingers

Dib couldn't recall where he was, or anything for that matter, except for the color red. It danced behind his eye lids and bit at his limbs in a mocking fashion. It lolled around in his ears as if it were the sea itself, and it nipped at his lips, filling him with a dehydrated feeling even though the redness was supposed to be a liquid. Yet, despite all this, it was warm, so very warm, like the warm life blood that oozed from his side where one of Zim's spider legs had stabbed him. They had been in a fight and wait… oh, god. He lost that fight and was bleeding to death, wasn't he? And the Earth? No… no!

Dib's hand instinctively shot to his side expecting to feel the warm ooze between his fingers. Instead, he was met with a jolt of pain as his fingers traced over a bandage. In instinct, the boy arched his back only to slam the back of his head into something metal. A hiss escaped Dib and he slowly opened his eyes. Where was he? Why was he alive for that matter?

The world that met him was blurry and rather undetailed. It took the human a moment to realize that he hadn't gone blind or anything. Someone must have removed his glasses so he wouldn't break them in his sleep. Dib blinked once more. From what he could tell he was in a small, dark area. He could hear the faint hum of engines behind him… Was he in his father's labs?

The human's hopes of being in his father's lab were quickly destroyed though. Why would he be in his father's lab when the world had been destroyed?

The boy would have broken down right there in a fit of tears at the thought, but he wasn't certain of the world's fate. All he remembered was whispering something to Zim and then the world went dark. He'd be dead right now if Zim had won, right? Dib sighed in relief at that thought. Yes, he'd be dead if Zim had won.

That thought calmed the human's mind as he tried to sit up and look for his glasses. Instead, a stifled scream escaped him as he tried to do so. Dib closed his eyes and hissed in pain as he grabbed at the wound in his side. He couldn't help but hear the squeak of a chair soon after, and the panicked movement of feet heading his way. The human soon felt a shadow fall over his form when the footsteps stopped. A person was now kneeling next to him, placing a hand over his hand, trying to loosen Dib's tight grip on his wound.

"Let go, you fool," hissed the voice and Dib complied. He knew that voice, didn't he? Was it one of dad's research assistants? Was he really in dad's lab?

"Fool! Look what you've done! You've opened your wound," hissed his caretaker; Dib wouldn't help but whimper as he felt a cold, gloved hand wriggled under his shirt and tighten the bandage. "I would re-suture them, but I don't see the point when the gift I gave you will be kicking in momentarily."

"Gift?" the boy whispered as he tried to see who was sitting next to him. Damn. Where were his glasses?

A small chuckle escaped the tall form next to him, his tone almost mocking, "Yes, a wonderful gift, Dib-human. It may hurt at first, but you'll thank me when it's through."

"Hurt? Like in shots and stitches?" grumbled Dib before he grabbed at his throat. Sweet Nessy, he was parched. "Um, could I have some water and maybe my glasses so I can see more than just blurs?"

The blur stared at him for a moment, in silence, before tensely stating, "I don't think water would be the best thing for you right now."

The figure continued to stare at Dib, as if observing him. It was almost as if he was entranced by something, and then he stated coldly, "No… definitely not."

"Okay," said Dib, uncertainly, "Can I have my glasses at least?"

"Inferior human eyes, I'll be glad when you'll be rid of them," mumbled the figure before he wandered off, and then there was the distinct sound of him shifting items. Dib could only raise an eyebrow at what the person was mumbling. How could he get rid of his eyes? Maybe whoever saved him had hit their head in the process?

The human shifted slightly, trying to dull the pain in his body. It was more like his whole form was on fire. Did he have a fever? His caretaker should at least be giving him water if that was the case. Unless, there was no water to be had? Holy spelldrive! What was going on?

"What do you mean: be rid of them? Who are you, and where am I? You're not like a homicidal maniac rat person who murders people and collects their eyes, are you?" The teenager swallowed as he asked the next question, receiving nothing for the first. "How did we stop the invasion?"

The shifting sound halted immediately, and Dib could feel the figure's eyes bearing down on him. A small snicker quickly followed as well as the sound of shifting objects, again.

"So many questions, Dib," answered his caretaker, though that was still up for debate. "You know that part of you always intrigued me. How could a human be so intelligent? You found it fit to remind me almost every day how knowledge seeking you were, are. I'm glad I decided to keep you."

"Keep me?" whispered Dib nervously. Okay, something was seriously wrong here. He could feel the hairs creeping up the side of his arms. Where were his glasses?! He needed his glasses, and what was this tight squeezing in his chest? It was as if the air was heavy and he felt cold now.

"Yes, keep you. Never did I notice how valuable you were to Zi-, I mean me."

The stranger's hands had once again stopped in their searching, completely intrigued with the conversation.

"Keep me?" Keep him from what? The destruction of the world, perhaps? Answered Dib's mind in a rather matter-o-factly-tone. "No! Wait, you never answered my earlier question. What happened to Earth?!"

There was only silence from the other being and that was all the answer the human needed.

"No, no, no, NO! This is a spaceship, isn't it! Who are you? Tell me what happened to Earth?! NOW!"

A soft sigh escaped the tall being as he started walking towards Dib. His footsteps echoed softly in the packed room, yet they were not as heavy as a person of that height's footsteps should have been. They were too light and well placed. Slowly, the other leaned down next to the panicking human, wiping a stray hair out of Dib's face. The being had something in his hands and Dib was sure that he held his glasses in hand. The human quickly threw a shaking hand outward trying to grab the frail item, but his companion was too fast, leaving Dib's fingers to grace the air.

"Now, now, be patient, worm- I mean Dib. I'm going to give you your glasses, but I want to ask you if you're sure you want them. You don't look so, what's the word, pretty right now. Humans are always so touchy about their looks. I personally found them all disgusting!" hissed the being until he noticed the confusion on Dib's face and persisted in a softer tone. "But it's just for now. Wait with the glasses… You won't need them soon enough."

Wait? WHAT! Holy para-science! He had been disfigured, hadn't he? Oh, god! Oh, god! The human practically clawed the other's arm off as he begged, "Give me the glasses. GIVE THEM TO ME!"

The figure sighed, relenting, "Fine. It looks bad now, but soon you'll be thanking me, Dib-worm."

Dib's hands shook as if he was coming off of a fix. The other's hands were so cold, inhumanly so, but, at the moment, he could have cared less about who had saved him. How was he deformed? Was it his face? Was he burned over a large portion of his body? Had he been made into a cyborg? Was he missing a limb? Was he forever crippled? What was wrong with him?!

Slowly, the world came into clarity and Dib felt his face flush with rage as he met the other's face.

"ZIM," he seethed as he glanced around the small storage area of the ship, "You evil alien jerk! What have you done to Earth? I'm going to kill you, you bastard! I'm going to kill you!"

Despite the weakness that seemed to own his body earlier, the human found himself suddenly strangling the other. He was going to kill Zim with his own two hands. He was going to choke the life out of him and enjoy every moment of it. He was going to take these hands and dip them in the blood and… and…

Dib suddenly let go of Zim's neck and the being coughed once or twice, but somehow managed to keep his feet. It was times like these that Zim was glad he had a pak. He didn't need to breath. He had his pak.

Eyes flashing in rage, the Irkens anger quickly drained into nothingness and somehow he resisted the urge to drag his claws down the other's face as punishment after he looked into Dib's eyes. The human wasn't even looking at him. He was staring at his hands with a look of pure unadulterated horror on his face.

The Irken stared at the other's hands for a moment as well. They were coming along nicely and faster than most pieces. The skin had lost its warm peach glow and was now a sickly pale white, green veins scarcely revealed under the skin. Then there were the two end digits on each hand. The pinkies were both completely black and both ring fingers were turning a dark grey as life was stolen from them. The blood had stopped circulating in the unnecessary digits days ago, trying to decay off the offending fingers as quickly as possible. The remaining fingers were already showing their Irken pride as well: three sets of perfect black claws.

Dib was still staring in shock, unable to comprehend perhaps, but Zim promised that he'd have patience. After all, he planned for him and Dib to be together for a long time. Despite trying to kill each other all the time, they strangely complemented each other very well.

The Irken slowly cupped one of hands over Dib's hands, allowing the human to watch as he matched their hands up perfectly. It was an unspoken way of telling Dib the news.

"See… it won't be long now Dib. There won't be a trace of that filthy human DNA in you soon enough."

Dib's eyes were so wide it was as if Zim was looking into the void of space. The human seemed lost for words and before Zim could properly react, Dib had pushed him away and was ripping into his hands with his newfound claws. "What have you done to my hands! My fingers! Why can't I feel my fingers! My hands!"

"My hands!"

"My hands!"

"My hands!" came a choked gasp, the image slamming itself violently into his mind behind his flickering eyelids, and then there was small gasp quickly followed by a falling sensation as Blue found himself panting on the floor. His eyes darted around from the chair he had fallen out of to the Irkens who were staring in horror at him. Blue's advisors were quick to react as Blue sat up, stared at his hands as if lost, before choking aloud, "Where are my fingers? Where are my fingers?!"

Blue stared at his three claws for a moment in an utter panic. Where were his fingers? Where were they! The poor panicking being was snapped from his horror as he listened to several small feet pound toward him. He looked up with wide eyes and stood up quickly as two of his advisors rushed to his side.

"My Tallest, what of your hands? Are you hurt somehow? Should we fetch a medical drone?"

The two medium height Irkens grabbed at his hands, but Blue quickly hid them behind his back, feeling embarrassed by his sudden reaction. There it was again, an emotion… embarrassment. Irkens never grew embarrassed of their actions and least of all a Tallest, yet Blue kept feeling a nagging question in the back of his pak: was he really as Irken as he believed himself to be?

"No, no, it was just a dream," answered that dark blue Tallest quickly; he got a lot of strange looks and quickly corrected himself, "I mean idea. Yes, an idea about hands."

The advisors only started to look even more worried. Smooth, Blue, smooth. Now everyone thinks you've blown a circuit. The two advisors didn't leave his side either like he was hoping, but instead they both took a step closer, their faces dripping with worrisome expressions. Blue just grinned. Yeah, he knew he had dug a deep hole with the dream word. Irkens did not dream, especially dreams about a filthy human. The last thing he needed were rumors that he was a defect or something. Of course, Zim would probably silence any being for even mentioning such a thing by melting them down for foot medicine. No one dared call his counterpart defective. Either way, another adviser wearing a green robe had walked up to Blue as well, looking worried. Yeah… a deep endless pit of a hole.

Soon, every Irken in the room had stopped working and were staring at him with those huge dewy eyes. For some reason, Blue started to blush. Why the hell was he even blushing? He should be used to all this attention; he was a Tallest after all. Yet, then again, there was this nagging in the back of his pak that said he never got this much attention.

Either way, it was unnerving him. True, he loved talking… to himself. Zim quickly broke him of that, yet Blue always found himself unnerved when everyone would stop whatever they were doing and actually listen to him. Irkens actually listened to him! Okay, now the last adviser was tugging at his robe asking to see his hands. Time to go, last thing he needed was Zim finding out about this. Whatever this was.

"Um, my hands are fine, see," said Blue as he waved his hands in front of himself for a quick second before pushing the adviser's hands away, and then awkwardly held his hands to his side. He then decided the awkward stares were unnerving and slowly floated backwards toward the sliding door with all eyes still on him.

"Well," said Blue as he scratched the back of his head in a nervous manner (he always had a feeling something was supposed to be there), "Got to go."

And he was out of the door faster than his advisers could call out his name.

…

Zim was lazily sitting in his chair on command deck. It used to be Red's. He'd never sit in Purples. He was never sure why, but that didn't matter right now. At the moment, he was enjoying a little show of Gir torturing a service drone. He didn't know why he still kept Gir around. Maybe it was because the little guy reminded him of Earth every once in a while by mentioning those horrible, filthy Earth tacos or… ugh, tuna. The little robot also brought Blue much joy, yet his counterpart never knew why. Zim knew why, of course. He knew exactly why, yet he wouldn't be telling Blue why anytime soon, and if possible, never.

A screech echoed over the room, and Zim threw back his head in a wailing laugh as Gir pulled on the poor servant's antenna. Zim never grew tired of that.

"Hey, you, you! Listen to me! Listen to Zim! I don't care if Gir is ripping off your antennae. I want snacks!"

The poor little Irken let out a whimper when Gir finally jumped off and attacked the adviser who had just walked through the sliding doors. The servant left the room sniffling as his antennae twitched. Now Zim took his entertainment from the adviser's suffering as he thrashed around tripping on his robes, trying to get the little defective SIR off of his head. Finally, the poor guy collapsed noisily at his Tallest's feet, and Gir jumped off into his master's lap. Zim quickly gave Gir a lollypop before the little mechanical monster decided to ride him like a donkey as well.

"Thanks Master! I like tuna!"

And with that, the SIR unit stole the drink from his master's hand as well as the lollipop and ran out of the doors while screeching. An echo of horrified screams filled the hall, and a grin couldn't help but pull at Zim's lips. The red Tallest shifted out of his slouched position to tower properly over the whimpering adviser at his feet.

"Don't tell me there's a snack shortage," grumbled Zim, "Because if there is, you'll surely suffer for interrupting my entertainment time… and losing me my drink."

The adviser swallowed and slowly raised to his feet, trying to smooth out some wrinkles in his robe as he did so, his tone choked, "No-no, my Tallest. It-it's just that I was looking for Tallest Blue. He-he seemed greatly distressed earlier about his hands, so we've been looking for him in order to have a medical drone look at his hands."

A surprised squeak escaped the adviser when he found a shadow looming over him and a full height Tallest glaring down.

"What did he say, exactly? Did he say he was missing some fingers?"

The word was more like a hiss then an actual word as Zim glared down at the adviser. This was just wonderful. It was one of the first reactions when Dib, no Blue, started to relapse. Oh well, at least this time he had a little forewarning.

"How did-did you know, my Tallest?"

Only the hum of closing doors answered the adviser as well as the swish of moving robes as the Tallest disappeared out of the room leaving the adviser to nervously asked, "Um… my Tallest?"

…

Tallest Blue sneaked a quick peak around the corner. Nope, Zim was nowhere in sight. True, Blue knew that Zim was looking for him. One of the advisors must have told him about his little freak-out earlier with his hands. Why did he say that? He had claws more than hands and he especially did not have five fingers. Blue pulled his antennae back in irritation. Did it really matter? Strange things like that happened to him all the time and as long as Zim didn't find out, nobody questioned it… At least not around him that is.

The Tallest looked down the hall one more time… Nobody. With that, Blue started making his way down the hall on foot. True, is hover belts made virtually no noise, but he knew that small amount of sound they did make was enough to tell any Irken who was coming their way. Said Irken would probably tell Zim where he was; then Zim would find him, question him, and finally Blue would find himself with Zim's hand up his pak. Yes, it was a vicious cycle. All this could be ignored, of course, if he could just remain unseen for a few hours and then everyone would forget about the whole hand thingy.

Blue's feet moved quickly thanks to his long stride. The leader's antennae twitched nervously as he made his way down the long hall and towards the small door located at the end of it. That door led to the service drones' quarters, and since service drones weren't allowed to speak to a Tallest without first being spoken to, no one was going to question why he was down there. True, it was slightly cramped, but it was an easy place to hide since there were so few lights down there.

Blue's claws twitched as he neared the door and as soon as he placed his palm on the scanner to open the door, a voice called out to him, "My Tallest! My Tallest!"

Blue quickly felt a gloved hand place itself on his wrist, which shocked the leader. Blue quickly turned his head to see a tall invader, well short compared to him, but a head taller than half of his advisers. Blue tried to not growl as he looked over at the soldier. By the look of the equipment he wore, he was an interrogation officer of a high standing.

"What do you want?" Blue tried not to bark, but he kept the anger in his eyes as he pulled his hand off of the scanner, which the officer had so rudely shut.

"Sorry, my Tallest!" shouted the officer all of a sudden, doing a salute at the same time, "I did not wish to touch nor offend my Tallest. It's just that that door leads to the service drone halls, and I didn't want my Tallest filthying himself by accidentally entering those quarters."

The red-eyed Irken swallowed and his antennae twitched. He waited for Blue to either nod his head in thanks for being saved from the service drone quarters, or to be thrown out of an air lock for touching his Tallest without permission. Of course, it was well known that Blue was a fair ruler and even soft hearted at times. Thus, he probably wouldn't be thrown out of the airlocks… Unless Tallest Blue told Tallest Zim about it. So it still came down to if Tallest Blue was offended or not if he was going to live another day.

"Very good," Blue tried not to growl and hiss that he wanted to go down there. He didn't want to give his hiding place away now did he? "Now, be on your way, soldier."

The Tallest gave a wave of his hand and glared down at the other Irken, noting the relief that quickly filled the shorter one's eyes… yet the soldier did not leave. Instead, he pulled out of his salute and started to speak, "My Tallest. I am pleased to inform you that the rebel leader of Loogynook 7 has finally been captured and is waiting for your judgment on how he's to be punished."

Blue stared at the interrogation officer for a moment before he grumbled, "That's Zim's specialty. I'm rather busy right now trying to hi- find snacks. Now go ask Zim and let me be."

The interrogation specialist swallowed. Tallest Blue was in a bad mood, which meant that Zim was in a really bad mood. He'd rather deal with Blue right now then Zim when it came straight down to it. He had a greater percentage rate of living through Blue's fury then Zim's.

"Sorry, my Tallest. No one has seen Zim in over an hour. This matter needs attention now, my Tallest. We can't continue forward with the rebel's men until he is properly dealt with. I, for one, want those filthy creatures off the Massive," said the Irken as he tightened up and waited for an answer.

Blue sighed. Do I have a choice? Besides, if I'm busy working Zim won't be able to get his hands on me. "Fine, Officer …?"

"My name is Nave and I am one of the Massive's Interrogation Officers. I'm honored that my Tallest even wishes to know my name." Nave bowed once more and added, "The room is this way, Tallest Blue. I'll have a service drone fetch those snacks you were looking for."

Blue tried not to sigh as he followed his guide. He had a feeling this wasn't going to end well.

It was a short walk, thankfully, and Nave quickly opened the door, stepping to the side in order to allow Blue in first. Tallest Blue was trying to think of a punishment. What kind of punishment would Zim give? One would think death, but after the first few rebels. Zim got bored with that punishment and soon started thinking up new punishments as if it were a game. The more creative, the more fun he'd have. The dimension of the Moose Room had never been so busy. Blue stepped into the room, still looking at the floor. Should he send him to the room with a moose, or perhaps the dimension of Disney? Yes, the dimension of Disney. Truly there was no worst, non-lethal punishment. Blue quickly lifted his head as he tried to pull off an evil smirk. He had to play the part after all.

Then it happened… Blue just couldn't stop himself as he stared at the fuzzy creature. Not even a second was allowed to pass as he instinctively pointed a finger and yelled, "Oh my Irk! It's big foot! Where's my camera?"

Let's just say that the silence was thick enough to stick a fork in and yell, 'It's done!' Well, Blue knew he was done for, because at that very moment he felt a hand lay itself on his shoulder in a calm but tense way. There was only one person tall enough on the Massive to put a hand on his shoulder. A sickness set in Blue's gut and he resisted the urge to whimper, "Hello, Zim."

"Blue… we need to talk," hissed Zim into his counterpart's antenna. The red Tallest then looked at the fuzzy beast and finally glared down at Nave, his eyes turned to slits.

His words were but a whisper and yet it sounded like a shout, "From this day forward, this species is extinct… if you get my drift."

The room was silent as all eyes fell onto the enraged being. Zim was cruel in his own ways, but never had he just simply stated death. He'd generally have some stupid plan to go with it like turning the entire species into rodents, and then releasing them onto an enemy planet so that they would back up sewage drains which, in effect, caused the planet to drown in its own dookie! But no, it was nothing but a simple death sentence. Not even one slave.

"… As you wish my Tallest," stated Nave as he saluted his superiors. The Irken couldn't help but stare as he watched Zim practically drag his counterpart out of the room. Blue, of course, wasn't looking at Zim. He was looking at the creature and its soft fur. Blue subconsciously ran his claws over the top of his head pressing down his antenna. He had a feeling something was supposed to be there… that something was missing and he couldn't help but feel a sadness fall deep into his chest at the thought. Yet he still did not know why he was so sad.

XXX

Paw07: Nope, I don't abandon stories. I just have really long breaks between updates. (dodges rotten fruit) Sorry guys, just wasn't inspire for a while there.

Revisions September 2014.