You can never forget your first love.
The way they moved, the way they looked, the way they talked, those are the memories that will haunt you always. They invade your dreams and sooth your nightmares whispering sweet painful words in your subconscious. What if things had been different? What if you hadn't let them go? What if... What if... What if...
You can also never forget your first kiss. But he had never kissed anyone before.
He was dying. The metal appendage had impaled him through the chest, inches from his heart and he was dying. He didn't know how much time he had left. Each heartbeat was sending him closer to his death. Maybe five minutes to go? He let out a choked gasp, tasted blood in his mouth as he bowed his head. Two minutes to live? One? Did only seconds remain?
A black gloved hand grabbed his chin, forcing his head up so he was staring into ruby red eyes. "Look at me Dib-stink," the voice was a cruel hiss to his ears. "Look at Zim." The alien before him let out a slight chuckle as his victim blinked once before training his eyes on him. "Let me see the defeat in your eyes, Dib-stink. Let me see how Zim has finally won."
His vision was slowly clouding. He was going to die. He didn't want to die. There was so much more he had wanted to do. He had to protect the Earth. He had to prove that the paranormal really did exist. He had to... He had to... When was the last time he had told his sister he had loved her? When was the last time he had talked to his father?
"That's right, Dib. Let me see how fully Zim has broken you."
All his dreams. He had wanted to be praised and respected. He had wanted to fly amoung the stars in Tak's ship. He had... Tak...
He didn't realize he had said the alien's name outloud until he felt Zim's claws dig into his shoulder. "What?" Zim hissed, looking over his shoulder as if his enemy would be found standing there. "Tak is not here, stupid Dib-filth! It is Zim! Zim who has defeated you!"
The first person he had ever loved and it had been an alien. There was irony for you. A smile crossed his lips as his vision blurred. She had been so perfect for him. She had been modest and had never made fun of his head or called him crazy. She had worked with him on group assignments and sat with him at lunch. She had told him jokes in class and passed notes and... She had listened.
He wondered sometimes how much of all that had been an act.
Zim's claws were painful now. They dug into his skin and shook him as he bled out all over the alley ground. "Why are you smiling human? You lost! Be miserable at the face of your impending death! Stop smiling!"
She had been his first love. The first person he ever wished to be together with. He had wanted to become hers and make her his own. The first person he had ever wanted to kiss.
"I said stop smiling! Listen to me! Listen to Zim! Stop smiling, Dib-filth!"
Even after he'd found out the truth, even after his heart had been shattered by the discovery of her plan to destroy the Earth, he still wished that he had found the courage to kiss her.
"Dib? Dib why are you smiling? Be defeated by Zim!"
All he could see was a blur of green before him. He felt his heart sputter and slowly begin to stop. It was time.
Reaching out he touched the green creature before him on the cheek. It was cool and soft. He wondered what it would have been like to kiss her there. A good spot for a first kiss. A confession and a promise for more all in one.
The alien froze at his touch, red eyes boring into clouded amber. What was the human up to? Was this its final surrender? It had to be. Zim had fully defeated the human. The creature had to see that, had to acknowledge it.
The only person he had ever wanted to kiss. He could see them both in his mind's eye. The human exterior he had fallen in love with. The cold alien inside that had broken his heart.
He loved them both.
"Tak." The sound was only a whisper. His heart beat one last time and then he was gone. His hand fell away from Zim's face. His eyes closed as he gasped out one last painful breath.
"Dib-human?" Zim took a step back, removing the spider leg that pinned the human to the wall and letting him fall to the ground. He stared unbelieving at the sight. The Dib was dead. Zim had defeated him. But the human... But he... He had a smile on his face. "No," Zim hissed, rage filling him as he glared down at the body at his feet. "NO! Dib-human come back!" The alien threw himself down upon him, grabbing him by the shoulders and shaking him harshly. "You can't do this to me, Dib! You can't take the victory away from Zim! Come back to me, Dib. Come back!"
The human doesn't come back. His spirit is gone. Gone somewhere far away where pain is a far off memory. Somewhere far, far away. Somewhere where the alien can never follow.
And somewhere on Earth a little green alien screams and rages and sobs, tearing at the cooling body beneath him that has taken his greatest victory away.
And somewhere in space another green alien is looking up from her mop and bucket as she reaches up to touch her cheek. It had sounded like someone had just said her name...
Next up: Soft