A/N: Sorry it took so long for this chapter. Hey, good news though! I got my scanner fixed! Wooh! I'm having fun with that. Heheheh, I've been going crazy with drawing. CRAZY WITH DRAWING, I SAY! CRAZY! Nrahr, rahr, yes... yes indeed..
I rather like the name "Zib" for their confused, freakishly weird body. Don't you?
Disclaimer of Fan-ficcy doooom: Jhonen Vasquez owns Invader Zim! I'm sure if I were to try to steal this, he'd be after me with drawn-up-creatures of mass destruction. Oh, I fear the destruction.
Warning: This product may be hazardous for children under the age of two to try to swallow. It also contains ZADR, which will kill all Jhonen-clones on the spot. Fear me, clones! Feeeeear meeee! I'm hyper, can't you seeee:D
O-o
The Doom that Binds Us
4.) Fear of Disasters
It was beautiful. Dib and Zim stood firmly on the purple planet of Irk. Unlike usual, there was not pollution in the air. There weren't any Irkens, and of coarse, no humans. The planet was totally desolate with the exception of Dib and Zim. At last, Zim was at peace.
Dib ran forward a bit and stopped, to get a better view of the giant structured buildings. His head swiftly turned this and that direction. Everything looked so much different here compared to Earth. Even the doors to these buildings looked differently. It's all so hightecked. Dib wondered about, looking at a giant potted plant that seemed to dance before him.
"Zim! This stuff is amazing!" Dib sang out enthusiastically.
"Yes, yes. ZIM knows this already." Zim flipped his hand up and down at the human as though he was being bugged by a fly. He crosses his arms, and looked away from Dib, but he couldn't help but to smile and look at his curiosity in glee anyway.
"Why couldn't you have flown me here earlier? Do that alien thing we always see on TV. 'Abduct' me or something." Dib grinned at the green-skinned boy. Since when were you his friend, Dib? Since he got you stuck in his body? Why start being nice now? Dib's thoughts boomed in loudly, sending Dib to step back a step and frown, all momentary happiness now forgotten.
Unfortunately for Dib, Zim heard his thoughts loud and clear. Being polite, though, he responded as if he heard no such thing. "Why, I never thought that you wanted to go to Irk, Dib-beast!" He smirked to try to cheer up Dib. I really didn't want to be near you long enough to make the trip with you or any other pih-tih-ful hyuuuman. Such a thought Zim didn't want to think, but thought anyhow, depressing him as much as Dib depressed himself with his own thought.
"You really don't like me then, Zim?" Dib asked, gloomily looking down to the ground, which moments ago seemed so inviting, now seemed to glare at him.
Zim looked down as well. "I hate you, hyuuuman. I hate you more than any other living creature I've ever come across in the whole universe of galaxies and stars and gasses and rocks and planets and such, Worm-baby." Zim admitted. Though, his admitting this pained him. No, there was something more. He did hate the Dib-stink, that was true, but what else was there hiding in the dark crevasses of his mind?
"I see, Zim. That's--"
"No, wait, Dib-beast! I hate you!" Zim stepped up to grab onto Dib's wrist.
Dib examined the alien's maroon eyes, hoping they'd mirror his soul. "You've already established this, Zim. I hate you too. We've always hated each other. It's natural."
"No, Dib. I mean, I REEEEALLY hate you. I hate you from the pit of my body. I hate you so much, it hurts, and yet, some how makes me smile. Oh, I loath you so much, you freakishly big-headed boy of my nightmares! I hate you with everything I've got." Zim peered back at Dib's eyes, a firm expression plastered on his face.
Although it didn't sound like a compliment, Dib felt all that was boiling up in Zim right now. There were so many emotions flowing through him right now, he couldn't help but feel a bit appreciated. "Thanks, Zim. Thanks a lot." Dib smiled warmly at the Irken warrior.
Zim, through his own confusion, let go of Dib's wrist and smiled himself.
"Oh, and Zim?" Dib let Zim's name roll off of his tongue perfectly, causing to Zim shudder in slight delight.
"Yeah, Dib-stink?" Zim grinned toothily.
"My head is not big."
"Yeah, okay."
Why am I being nice to you?
I don't know. Why am I?
O-o
Zib opened their eyes. They cooperated into taking in their surroundings together.
They were laying down on the ground, fused together like they were earlier. They were in a tight straight jacket, tying their arms to their stomach, and their hands to their sides. Belts dangled from the straight jacket, and the jacket was riding their crotch, which Zim noticed, was uncomfortable.
Their room was padded, which was familiar to Dib. Everything in the room was a dead looking gray color. The room seem to just drain out every bit of energy from from the alien-mutt. But what really frightening about the room was the constant "pitter-patter" of rain outside.
Louder, and louder it got. Faster, and faster it poured. Dib noticed the feeling of blood being drained from their faces, breathing became more difficult as well. Lightning stuck, and the thunder sent Zib back, but not having usable arms, the Zim-Dib creature fell on their back like a turtle, rocking on the pack in despair.
"Zim, what's the matter?" Dib knew what was the matter. Zim was afraid of water, and it was raining cats and smeets outside. Wait a minute. When did I start using the word "Smeet" in my thoughts?
Zib rolled off of the jacket-covered pak, and Zim forced their shared body to crawl to the corner using their knees. Foolish hyuuuman! You did this to ZIM! You made me afraid of the wet stuffs! Zim thought, bitterly at him.
"Yeah, well, okay, I did sort of make your little 'water-problem' worse but..." Dib began.
A little? BAH! It would have been just a weakness until you cam along using the metal torture on ZIM every turn I took!
"I think the word you're looking for is 'mental', not 'metal'." Dib stated as meek as he could, but not meek enough.
Why are you even speaking out loud, Dib-beast? The whole reason we're here is because you talk to yourself all of the time. They're going to be thinking ZIM is crazy as well! Zim thought angrily.
"I sort of doubt that since they cant even hear us, and besides; how can they think you're crazy if they wont even believe that you're a separate creature living within me?" Dib countered.
I-- Thunder struck, sending Zim back into a state of fear, being reminded of the constant tip-tap-twitting of the rain outside. I want to go back, Dib-stink!
Dib felt their body curl more with tensing muscles under their straight jacket. Damn, I hate these Jackets. Dib thought quietly. The rain continued to pour harder and harder. For the first time, he began to feel a bit scared of the rain, more so sharing Zim's fear, but he wasn't completely sure if it was really that, or the fear of being stuck in this place with no escape and a freakishly afraid alien living inside of him.
"Your home, Zim," Dib changed the subject, with the help of Zim's random outburst. "What was it like?" Dib began remembering the dream from last night. Do I share dreams now with Zim, or was that my own dream? Dib began to wonder.
Zim, frightful of the whether outside, agreed to this topic change. Actually, I was thinking about poor Gir back at the base. The poor thing didn't even know we left. How could he know that your dreadful scary fiendish sister would do this? Poor little Gir cannot survive on his own. The rain continued to pound. What a dreadful feeling this was to lie and to be scared at the same time.
Dib rose one of their tightly knitted eyebrows. "No, I mean, back on Irk. What was that like?"
Zim quietly thought over and over again "I don't want to talk about this", but more directly answered Dib after a while anyway. "Human. It is unlike anything you've ever seen before. The planet is magnificent. You will see it soon enough when the Tallest come for us, though. Maybe they'll tear you from ZIM's perfect body, breaking you in half. Oh, how glorious that would be!"
Dib chewed on this thought a bit. "But if they tore me from you, wouldn't it also be tearing you apart, and hurt you as well?"
Zim rested their head against the corner of the wall, and listened to the terrible rain some more. His antennas bent at the wall, uncomfortably, not that he much minded that. "I suppose it would." He spoke in an almighty voice.
Dib let their body sink a little. He wanted Zim to relax more. Their body felt too tense for Dib's comfort. "Well, what was it like, really? Where did you live?" I don't want you to avoid the question so much, Zim.
Zim tasted the question for a bit, and decided to ignore the human completely. "Dib-stink, what are these 'dreams' you were thinking about earlier?"
Zib frowned. Well, there goes that question. I guess that really was my own dream. "Fine then. I wont tell you what a dream is, if you don't tell me what your home was like. How do you like that?"
Zim sighed. "Just fine! ZIM doesn't really care that much about what hyuuman dreams are!"
"Why dont you tell me about you're home, Zim?" Dib made their shared body growl.
"Why do you care to know, worm-baby?" Zim made their shared body growl back. Oh yes, this was totally sane looking. Just then, something accrued to Zim. "Say, Dib-stink. We're mimphed together. Do you want to know what kind of skin we have? Irken or that of a filthy hyuuuman of filth?"
Dib felt Zim's smirk. "I'm not quite sure I follow."
"I am rather.. allergic to water, as you may know."
"Yes, I know. Oh, crap! Wait, though. We're in a straight jacket, we cant leave, Zim. That's just stupid." Dib said, putting an emphasis on the last word, although, unfortunately for him, felt himself grin wider due to Zim.
Zib stood up, getting off of the cold floor. Taking a step forward, giving them some room.
Dib felt something strange on their back; something he's never in his life felt before. It felt as though something was being freed on his back, and long, muscular fingers were widening, and flexing, outstretching from their very back. It was a wonderful stretching feeling, like the feeling you get when you first wake up from bed, and take that first reach in the air for muscle fluctuation. Riiiip.
The jacket that once bounded Dib's and Zim's arms were now released, and fell to the floor with a clatter from the belts. Oh, what a delicious sound that falling straight jacket sounded. Long, graceful spider arms loomed overhead, and it all began making since to Dib. "Oh what now, Hyuuuman filth-bug?" Dib now joined in the grin with Zim. "You fail to remember the amazing engineering of the Irken empire. Zim hopes that you don't act this dumb around the Tallest." Zim continued to grin, pulling their freed arms up in the air in a pose of triumph nobody would see.
"This is great, Zim!" Dib laughed, beginning to wiggle a robotic spider arm in the air, getting use to the feeling of his new found limb.
"This is great", eh, Hyuuuman? Zim felt rather odd that Dib was speaking to him in this manor.
Dib caught this and cleared it up. "Eh, you know, great for an Irken, that is." He corrected himself, promptly remembering that Zim didn't share his dream, therefore, he had no reason to be nice. "Anyway, I know you wouldn't bring me outside just to see me squander in pain from the rain, because I know you'll squander, too!"
Zim used the spider legs to pull them up, and he walked to the wall closest to the sound of rain. He picked up two of the robotic arms, and they shot lasers, forming a nice square door. Zim kicked the broken square piece of the wall, revealing their new found exit. "Squander, or laugh?" Zim made them grin.
After a moment of awkward silence from Dib, he knew that he couldn't catch onto his brilliant since of humor. "No, Dib. I don't think you understand. You see, as afraid of the rain as I am," and I'm so afraid my squiggly spooch is jumping out, "I can only look forward to the thought that it wont burn my flesh bringing me agonizing pain, now that I am, poorly as is, part hyuuuman now. You, on the other hand,"
Zib took in a hesitant breath, shared by both Dib and Zim. "You can only hope that our green skin is the only portion of DNA you got from my skin, and that it will not react like I typically do when you attack me with water guns, earth-creature."
Dib followed Zim's logic, and began to feel the cold feeling of fear grab onto him. "But wait! What will the hall monitors think when they see that we're missing and see a giant hole in the wall?" Dib panicked, harvesting his new fear.
The sound of rain, going on like waves of applauds hindered Zib from moving, partially because of Dib's will, but mostly from Zim's intense fear. He pondered a bit. "I-oh-no." he responded finally, and then in one giant leap of the black spider legs, forced the two of them out into the water without much thought.
The storm smashed it's watery substance on Zib. They were now completely drenched in burning water.
They hissed at the heat from the rain. Not like Zim was complaining, but Dib felt he should.
"This water, it burns! Make it stop, Zim! Make it stop! Oh, what do we do!" Dib attempted to run back inside of the insane asylum, but Zim knew better. Zim willed with all of his will, bringing them running on their very spiffy spider legs across the streets (getting dangerously close to cars knocking them off from where they stood in the road), and to a tree for shelter from the rain.
"What was with that?!" Dib screeched.
Zim inwardly growled, retreating their spider legs. Remember about talking out loud to yourself in public, Dib? Zim brought their hands up to squeeze their bangs, letting the excess liquid get drained out. What just happened there was nothing, Dib-stink. Usually when I'd go outside in your stinking acid rain of horrible filth, I get burned all over. And as you can see, Zim rose their claws up to show Dib the absence of burn-marks. That's not the case. This "water" as you call it, usually feels a whole lot hotter, like two fiery pans of hot heat and of burning flesh is whacking me. How does this feel, Hyuuuman? Zim asked mentally.
"It feels like boiling water." Dib whined pitifully, helping squeeze the water from their drenched clothes.
Exactly. Quit complaining. Zim sneered, listening to the rain poor heavily, and thanking the Tallest that the water didn't hurt them much more than that.
Oh yes. The joyous sound of rain. Lightning, thunder, and rain. Oh yes, Gaz will rue the day she messed with Dib, Zim decided. "So, you were going to tell me about that 'Dream-thing', Dib-stink?"
"And you were going to tell me about your home?" What an awkward time to laugh, but sure enough, laughter erupted.
O-o
A/N: Thank you readers, for still reading this!! XD Oh my... What horrible luck will our precious Dib and Zim. Next chapter.. be prepared to meet up with – GASP! Another character! (Oh my. :D) Anyhow, I hope you liked this chapter. Please review. . I LOOOVE YOUUUUUU ALLLLLL This is the part where you run away. AHHH!