#17- Tears
The stupid humans have water everywhere…
"Help me get this filth off," he says and she obeys, pushing the white roses off the casket to fall and be ground into the mud that surrounds the grave. They clear the casket until it's bare of its earthly decorations and plain and black again. Its just a box now. Just a black oblong box just like any other that may be found beneath the soil in this plain graveyard. But it holds the world inside of it.
Her hand is in his as they step back to allow the others to approach first. It starts to rain, but they're all prepared. Umbrellas have been supplied and the force field generator is already set up when the first raindrops begin to fall. "He was the same age as you when I met him," he says, finally breaking the silence.
The Tallest stand by the grave, heads bent slightly and together they drop the treaty down on the casket. Then they sigh heavily and walk beneath shelter to allow the procession to go on. "What was he like?"
He's silent for a long moment, watching Lard Narr drop a Moon Flower on the casket. "He was short," his lip twitches for a moment in a tight lipped smile, "and he had a big head."
They both stare at the casket as if expecting a muffled protest to come from it.
The procession goes on, each alien pausing by the casket long enough to drop some memento or precious thing upon it before going to join the Tallest under their tent.
It's the second funeral she's been to today, both for the same man, but this time she doesn't feel like crying. Instead she holds his hand tighter and looks up at him. "Tell me more about him."
He sighs, head bowing. "What's there to say? He was human. End of story."
They both know that's a lie. He was so much more then human.
The procession ends. Everyone leaves except them. Finally, he steps forward on his own and kneels by the coffin, both hands on the casket he stares at it as if he can't comprehend what's in front of him. She watches him as caresses the dark wood, his face a mask of pain. "There's nothing left for me on this planet now," she hears him mutter. "Nothing left at all…"
A hand rests on her shoulder and she jumps slightly, surprised by it. Purple is staring down at her, Red at his side. "Let's go home," the violet eyed Tallest says gently, gripping her shoulder.
"But what about Zi-"
"He'll be fine," Red interrupts, his hand reaching over to pull her with them.
She looks back for a moment, watching the alien's body slowly begin to shake, clear liquid coursing down his face. "But he's crying!"
Both Tallest have a hand on each shoulder and now they're gently steering her towards the waiting spacecraft for them. "You're mistaken," Red says shaking his head slowly.
"It's just the rain," Purple finishes the lie and then they're inside the craft and heading back to the Massive and leaving without planet Earth ever knowing they were there.
I'm not happy with this at all. I wanted something that showed how much Dib meant to the aliens (while still meaning nothing to Earth) and the classic Japanese "I'm not crying, it's the rain" but it just wouldn't come to me. Stupid muse! (shake fist!)
The little girl in this fic is probably Bek (Dib's daughter from Pets) so consider this a sequel or an epilogue of sorts. No, I have no idea why or where the Tallest are taking her or what they're planning to do. I just needed someone to take her away so Zim could mourn and didn't want to bother introducing a new character or have a human do it. This was the alien's goodbyes, mankind's was already over.
Bleck, bleck, bleck. I feel bad about posting this garbage. Hopefully something better will come to me and it'll be revised, but until then I dub this fic on the same level as Ears and Telephone. The level of "Definitely not my best and it should have been better."