Everyone is all happily reading whatever cosy lovely thing they happen to be reading on when suddenly, dark black clouds begin to form in the sky. Sheep start baa-ing, dogs begin barking, cat's meow and run away. Lighting cracks across the sky and worried people look around scared.
Lighting strikes on the floor, cracking it. The intro to Raining Blood by Slayer fills the air as red light glows through the cracks, now people are really scared.
The earth quakes as something begins to push through, like a battering ram through the earth. People back away slowly, too frightened to run. Suddenly, the ground explodes and a figure crawls out from beneath the earth.
It is Invader Sideos, and in his hand he holds the long awaited Beautiful Torment, chapter eleven.
His eyes glow red and several mary-sue's instantly die. He grins evilly and says: WOO! It's finally here! CHAPTER FREEKIN' ELEVEN!
Well, I would say more, but I spent all my A/N space on that big long intro (but it was SO worth it), so, ONWARDS TO FICAGE!
WARNING: This chapter is VERY LONG (bet that's the most off-throwing warning you've ever read eh?).
Written to the king of this fic, Iggy Pop, Metallica especially Master of Puppets (expect a reference!), Joy Division - Love Will Tear Us Apart (for irony). Also I'm going back to the man, the big guy upstairs, you know who I'm talkin' about, the one, the only, Lou Reed.
I don't own Zim...jeez I'm sick of saying that.
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Zim's coat lay thrown on the floor, as did the contents of the wardrobe and anything else the Irken could have thrown in his rage at being locked in a room against his will. If there was one thing that Zim could never stand, it was being forced to do things against his will.
He was sitting, shivering at his internal cold, with the bed's blanket wrapped around him in a futile attempt to warm himself up. The light was still turned off and so the only light was a dull orange glow from the streetlight outside.
All day he had sat in that room listening to the sounds of the humans downstairs. Laugher, talk and movement had been drifting up the stairs, annoying the Irken to no end.
He had spent his time feeling hungry and wishing that wasn't doing this. He never thought that he would miss the junkie life as much as he did, but then he reminded himself that he preferred his old life better and the only way to get that back would be to go though this. This would be his test of endurance, and he knew that it would not be easy. His addiction would probably punish him to the full extent of its wrath before this was over.
He couldn't help but cast a nervous smile; he hoped it would be over soon, he had a life to re-gain.
"The moment I'm over this I'm gonna get my title back, I'm gonna get my robot back and I'm gonna get my LIFE back." The vow echoed around the room.
He hugged the blanket tighter and narrowed his eyes, his voice quiet and raspy. "You hear me, bunny girl? I've had enough of you and your improvements. I, ZIM, am going to beat you because I AM ZIM!" he shouted.
The shout however, fell only on the dull walls of the room. Zim scowled again and, with shaking hands, gripped the blanket even closer as he tried to dispel the shivering cold he could feel across his skin.
He clenched his teeth and shut his eyes tightly. His body called for a fix, just one more, just to ease him through this night. His skin crawled for it, calling for him to just put the drug into his veins. Just get it over with, stop holding back, don't try to deny yourself something that you love.
Not many people can really comprehend the need for a fix that a junkie has. People can say it's easy to quit; all you need to do is lock yourself in a room and not come out until you've got the thing out of your system. But it's just not that simple. You call for it. Not your mind, or your body, or even both combined. You. Your very being, everything that you consider to be you demands that you serve this need. Your very life gets put on hold until you satisfy that one call. You could be dying of cancer and be asked to chose between the once in a lifetime cure, and a fix, and you'd chose that fix every time because your life stopped being important the moment you saw that drug. Your life becomes the fix.
A knock on the door snapped his attention upwards again. A hungry look had now entered his eyes, making them seem duller then usual. Zim was only now finding out what his life had become. He needed, no, wanted that fix more then anything else he'd ever wanted in his whole life.
"Zim, it's me Dib. I'm coming in with some food, ok?" Zim said nothing, he only stared at the door as it creaked open and the human stepped carefully into the room. He was carrying a packet of Irken food labelled 'Dip em and Lick'.
Zim's eyes narrowed but otherwise the Irken stayed perfectly still; even the shivering had died down. There was a moment of creepy silence as Dib stood near the door holding the Irken food while Zim's dull red eyes bored into him. The teenager lifted the food to the side of his head and smiled nervously. "Gir got it from your house."
Zim didn't answer. Instead he slowly got up from his cross-legged position on the bed and, with the blanket draped over him like a cape, he walked towards Dib, all the time never taking his eyes from the boy. Dib backed up against the door, still holding the food in his hands. Zim stopped just a few inches away from him, his eyes the same level as Dibs nose. However, that didn't stop Zim from scaring the life out of him with the dark look in his eyes.
"A-a-are you feeling ok?" Dib stammered while trying to think of a way to get away from those eyes.
"No," Zim answered calmly, "I'm not ok. I could use something to cheer me up."
Dib cast a nervous smile and he slid across the wall away from Zim. He moved around the Irken so his back was against the bed, dropping the food onto the floor. "OH, like a TV?"
Zim's eye twitched. "No Dib-stink, I want a fix."
Dib scowled, momentarily forgetting his fear at Zim's odd attitude. "What? No, you're meant to be quitting, remember?"
Zim advanced a step towards the boy, his red eyes dancing with drug lust. "Come on, just for tonight, then that'll be it; no more."
"No," Dib said firmly. "Now shut up and eat-"
Dib was cut off because he had to dodge the fist that was swung at his head. Dib straightened up, but then ducked again as Zim tried to hit him.
Dib swiftly moved to Zim's side and, faster then the Irken could react, he grabbed Zim's shoulder and smacked him across the face. Zim yelped and took a step back in shock, but Dib kept his hand firmly on the junkie's shoulder. Zim raised a hand to his face as he felt the sting of the slap pulse on his cheek.
He hissed slightly through his teeth as Dib grabbed his other shoulder and made the Irken look at him. "Pull yourself together, space boy. You're going nuts."
Zim scowled and looked down, "You're right. That was stupid."
Dib smiled warily and let go of Zim's shoulders. Zim looked at Dib, then, a second later, he collapsed onto his knees.
Dib took a step back, shocked as the Irken looked up to him, his red eyes filled with tears. "PLEASE DIB! I just need one more hit. Pl-he-he-hease? I'll do ANYTHING, please, I just need this one fix, one more hit, PLEASE?"
The human looked at Zim like he had just sprouted a tail before growling, "NO, stop doing that, I'm not getting you anything. Now deal with it."
Zim's eyes got wider as panic set in. "I'll-I'll-I'll," He looked down momentarily as his mind searched for an excuse, then he looked back up, "I'll expose myself!"
Dib's eyes widened in a mix between shock and amazement at Zim's comment, never before had Zim said anything like that. The reality of exactly what Zim had been doing to himself was slowly starting to sink into the boy's mind.
Zim nodded rapidly. "Yes! I'll walk out in front of all the humans without my disguise! You can get all the credit! You can cut me open and play with my innards!"
Dib was, for a PG rated sense on the word, feeling very awkward. He took a deep breath. "Zim…Zim…no, just, no, dude. I mean, I would really like to be all famous and stuff for proving your existence, but I don't think they'd take me seriously if you're all high on A."
Zim's breathing became haggard. "Please, Dib-stink, please…just one hit. I'll give you the money, I'll tell you where to go, I'll-I'll…"
Dib growled and pushed Zim away from him. "Come on shorty, pull yourself together. You're supposed to be," and Dib put on a mock-Zim voice, "the mighty and invincible invader Zim."
Even though Zim was in serious withdrawal pain, he still managed to give Dib a hate filled glare.
Dib stamped out the room leaving Zim kneeling, bleary eyed, on the floor. The Irken looked at the door for a moment before he slowly lifted himself onto the bed. He knew he wouldn't be sleeping much. Well, actually he never ever slept, which also meant he would be awake for everything the withdrawal would throw at him.
"Look at that, Purple, another annoying failure of an Irken," the familiar voice of Tallest Red came from behind him.
Zim spun round, his eyes wide, and he saw his two leaders leaning against the half-painted wall. Red had a sneering, demeaning look on his face, while Purple was drinking from a suck-monkey.
Purple stopped his drinking to look at his fellow leader. "Yea," he laughed. "Sad really, isn't it, how losers can sometimes pop up in a perfect society?"
Red nodded as Zim looked on, surprised and speechless. "Well, at least we can make them useful for something."
Zim tried to move towards his leaders, but as he started forward he bumped into a glass window. He looked around him, panicking. He was trapped in a sort of large glass tube. When he looked back at his leaders he saw that they where not in the spare room, but instead in an Irken laboratory. Around them scientists and assistants checked machinery and muttered quick notes to each other.
Zim smashed his fists on the glass. "I'M NOT A DEFECTIVE! I AM ZIM! ZIM IS NOT A DEFECTIVE!"
He began to panic even more as one scientist walked up to the Tallest and professionally said, "The subject is ready for liquidisation."
Zim's blood ran cold; he now knew what was going to happen to him. He was going to be liquidised and fed into a smeet hatch tube. His body would be used to feed the new generation. This was what the Irkens did to traitors and some defectives. When an Irken was not deemed worthy enough of having their body stripped for DNA to create new smeets, they were instead fed to them. The useless became useful in death.
Zim exploded into a rabid mass of screaming and banging, anything to stop them, but nothing worked. The Tallest looked at Zim as if he were some annoying fly before Red, with the wave of a hand, commanded that the process begin.
Zim looked up as the top of his glass chamber opened to reveal the end of a laser looking down at him. The laser glowed and Zim crouched down as much as possible in an attempt to get away from it. His eyes widened more as the laser began to glow.
In the background he could hear Purple say, "This is boring, let's get some donuts."
The laser fired and everything went black as pain ripped though Zim's body. He tried to scream, but no sound would come from his mouth. He kicked and punched in every direction, trying to escape the pain.
Suddenly he landed with a thump on the floor of the spare room. Zim rolled onto his side and looked about, sweat pouring off his skin. Still on all fours he looked around. The room was dark and quiet. The early rising sun was pushing deep orange beams through the window. Zim guessed it was starting to move around until morning, meaning he'd been here at least one day.
He sighed and let his head fall down. "It was only a hallucination." He looked up, and smiled. "Only me and this guy."
Sitting on a chair in front of Zim was a medium sized Irken with a black and white striped uniform and a black pair of pants that were tucked into combat boots. He was reading a paper, so Zim couldn't see his eyes. Zim continued to stare at the odd looking Irken as he lowered his paper, showing Zim a pair of very dark looking purple eyes which danced with a dangerous insanity.
The scary looking Irken gave Zim a look of disregard and said, "Don't look at me; I'm not even in this story." He then buffed his paper and went back to reading.
Zim raised an antenna in confusion and cocked his head slightly. What was that supposed to mean?
There was a sudden knock at the door, drawing Zim's attention away from the Irken next to him.
"Hey, junkie, you hungry?" Gaz's voice came through the door.
Zim didn't feel in the least bit hungry, unless you count the drug hunger, but he had the unusual urge for someone's company.
He shakily got to his feet, finding that he was shivering even though he felt perfectly warm. "Err…yes! Yes, Zim has a mighty hunger for…stuff."
He knew exactly what he was hungry for, but he didn't want to voice that to Gaz. She was most likely to kick the living daylights out of him and come back for seconds.
The door opened and the female walked confidently into the room. Unlike Dib, Gaz had no fear about what Zim would do in his withdrawal state.
She narrowed her eyes in disgust at Zim's horrid appearance. "Jeeze Zim, you're a living reminder as to why I don't do drugs."
"But you do smoke," Zim hissed quietly.
Gaz's eyes narrowed as she threw a packet of Irken food at Zim's feet and turned to leave.
"Wait!" Zim shouted, holding out a shaking hand.
Gaz stopped and turned her head to look over her shoulder. "What?"
Zim let his hand fall to his side and he slumped onto the floor. He felt too weak to stand up. "I…don't know…" His head dropped, his eyes closing.
Gaz raised an eyebrow at the irken's odd statement and fully turned around. Dib was right; Zim really was taking this withdrawal hard. And she'd thought trying to stop smoking was tough.
She stood for a moment before slowly asking, "Why are you doing this?"
Zim looked up, curious. "Doing what?"
"Quitting," Gaz said simply. "Why now? What happened to make you want to do this to yourself if you knew it was going to put you in this much pain?" A tiny smile appeared on her lips. "You're hardly the type to put yourself in pain for no reason."
Zim looked away from Gaz. "I did…something…" he mumbled.
Gaz's eyes narrowed in interest. "What?"
Zim looked up, growling. "Zim did something that Zim is not proud of, OK?" And the junkie crossed his arms like a small child who couldn't get his own way.
Gaz smirked. "What'd you do? Screw somebody?" She chuckled at the very idea.
However, her face dropped when she saw Zim look down in self-pity and his crossed arms unfold to hold the sides of his thin body tightly.
For a moment she just stood, looking at Zim with wide eyes then, slowly she said. "Oh…my…God…"
"SHUT UP!" Zim screeched at her, his eyes almost tearing in rage and self-hate. "JUST SHUT UP, YOU STINKING HUMAN!"
Gaz looked like she wanted to laugh, or cry, or just plain leave. Eventually she said, "Well…it's your own fault, isn't it?"
Zim's eyes narrowed dangerously, but he didn't say anything.
Gaz continued in an unusually quiet tone. "You put all that crap into your body, and you fucked up, and now you're paying the price."
Zim wanted to say something that would prove her wrong, but he had nothing, she was telling him the blank truth. He looked down and scowled at himself, curling into a small ball.
She turned to leave, however, just as she got to the door Zim called out, "Gaz-human."
She stopped and turned around, halfway out of the door. When she spoke, her voice still contained that unusually soft quality that Zim had never really heard in her voice before. However, it still contained that uncaring tone that Gaz's voice seemed to epitomise.
"What?"
"Don't…tell Dib…ok?" Zim almost whispered and he looked up to see if she would agree.
For a moment Gaz looked like she was almost battling against something inside her, like she wanted to say something to him, but then she finally turned her back on Zim, so that he couldn't see her face.
"Alright." And she left the room, locking the door behind her.
Zim continued looking at where Gaz had been. He couldn't ever recall a time she had acted like that. One of his antennas twitched in confusion, then he sighed. His mind felt tired, but he couldn't sleep, so he supposed he could just curl up in a corner and try not to move for a while until he got some strength back. He was even beginning to regret his refusal of Dib's offer of a TV to watch; at least it would keep him distracted for a while.
"Zim." Zim jumped as his name floated across the room. He poked his head up to look over the side of the bed. He knew who the voice belonged to, and it belonged to the one person he didn't want to see.
The bunny girl sat on the other side of the bed, looking at him with her deep blue eyes and a wicked grin on her face. Zim looked away and cursed silently.
He looked back, narrowing his eyes in anger. She was wearing the clothes that Lilith wore, which only made him feel angrier. He could tell she was taunting him, making the pain of the drug hunger within his veins even worse. He growled, "What do you want."
Her head tilted slightly and her grin grew bigger. "What are you doing?"
Zim crawled onto the bed, but made sure to stay on his side. "Go away, stu-pid being. I don't want you anymore. I don't want any of your so-called improvements or any of the sickness that you bring."
She stood up and her grin vanished. She looked at the junkie on the bed before she suddenly started laughing. Zim watched her with intense hatred until she stopped. When she looked back her eyes no longer looked deep and calm, they were icy and cold. "You can't give me up, you love me."
Zim snarled and pointed a shaking finger at her. "NO! I don't love you, Irkens are beyond love."
She sneered at him. "HA! You can't give me up, Zim, you know you can't. You're mine." Her voice changed as she spoke, as if something was slowly replacing it. It stopped being soft and seductive and grew deeper until it was almost demonic sounding. She also began growing taller.
Zim looked on in horror as the bunny girl's eyes changed from blue to a dark red as she began to tower over him. Her bunny ears turned into sharp horns and all her teeth suddenly became sharp and pointed. The room fell away into darkness until it was only Zim on the bed.
He looked up at the giant bunny girl, quivering in fear and she glared down at him with a look of pure hatred.
"MAGGOT!" She shouted, her voice shaking the very bed Zim sat on. "You dare defy me? I am your master, I control you. You exist only to feed me!"
"NO!" Zim screamed back, but his voice was thick with fear and desperation. "I AM ZIM! I don't need ANYONE! I can beat you..."
The demonic bunny girl sneered and raised a hand above him. "No Zim, you're mine."
Zim looked up and his eyes widened as a wooden cross materialised in the bunny girls claws. Suddenly, out of the ends of the cross, ropes appeared. They flew down towards him and before he could properly react they landed on his arms and legs. He kicked and screamed and tried to pull the ropes off of him, but they wouldn't budge. Above him he heard the evil laughter of the bunny girl and he suddenly felt himself being hoisted up from the bed.
He looked back and watched as the bed slowly sank into oblivion. He turned his head to see that the bunny girl had lifted him up to her face. He could see right into those burning red eyes and he couldn't hide his terror.
"Now, my little slave," she said slowly, her voice booming over Zim. "Who. Is. Your. Master?"
Zim was petrified. Here he was, in the middle of oblivion, hanging like a puppet on strings at the mercy of some gigantic evil bunny girl demon thing. His body was screaming for a fix, any fix, just something to quell the burn in his veins. All the while, he knew he only had one option.
It was time to re-gain his Irken honour.
He looked at the bunny girl demon and, gathering all the Zim-ness left in him, he sneered mockingly, "Eat me." Then, stretching the rope a bit, he placed his thumb under the top row of his teeth and flicked it at her.
She roared in anger, causing Zim to close his eyes and look away. She stopped and he looked back. Her face was furious at his disobedience. Zim could actually see fire in her eyes.
He couldn't help but laugh.
"FINE!" she screamed, and she tilted her head back and opened her mouth. Zim was still laughing insanely as she lifted him above her head and dropped him into her mouth. Zim fell into the void. The strings vanished, but he didn't care. He was still laughing. He knew he had won.
--
Zim's eyes slowly opened. Sunlight streamed though the crack in the curtains and outside he could hear birds chirping away merrily. He looked around him drearily. The room was a mess. Clothes lay everywhere, the door to the cupboard was hanging from one hinge and there seemed to be vomit stains on various parts of the carpet.
Zim shut his eyes again and groaned. He could feel the beginnings of a headache coming on. As he raised a hand to rub his aching eyes he noticed that he wasn't wearing his gloves or shirt, but he did have his pants on.
"Thank flirk for that…" he mumbled quietly.
Then his antenna quirked, as he picked up on the sounds of someone walking up the corridor and towards the door.
His tired eyes locked onto the door as it opened and Dib walked into the room, carrying a tray of waffles. Through his legs a small green dog ran into the room, jumping onto the bed and grabbing the Irken in a very tight hug.
"MASTER!" Gir shouted as he gripped Zim in his unrelenting hug.
"Gir…" Zim choked. "Get…off…me…"
Dib laughed from the other side of the room.
Gir stopped hugging Zim and jumped back. "Is master ok now?"
Zim put a hand across his aching ribs. "Yea…I'm feeling better."
Dib sat down on the end of the bed, being careful not to knock any of the food over.
"Hey space-boy, you're awake at last," he commented as he put the tray at the end of the bed.
Zim sat up gingerly, feeling as though the crap had been kicked out of him. And that was without Gir's hug. He blinked slowly and looked at the food. "Ugh…what a horrible night."
Dib raised an eyebrow. "Night?"
Zim looked at him suspiciously. "Yea, night, I did get here yesterday…right?"
Dib laughed once and then started laughing a lot. Zim narrowed his eyes at him. "What…what is it, Dib-filth? Tell Zim now."
Dib stopped laughing, but left a huge grin on his face. "Dude, you've been here for five days. Don't you remember any of it?"
Zim looked back to the end of the bed and scratched his head slowly. "Erm…no."
Gir blinked dumbly. "You'se were havin' nightmares."
Dib started laughing again, but it was a genuine laugh, free of any mockery. Even Zim couldn't help but crack a smile and a laugh, but he disguised it as a cough.
Dib shook his head as he slowly stopped laughing. "Oh man…it's been crazy. Most of the time you were screaming at nothing or vomiting. All the other times you were unconscious."
Zim gulped. "Really?"
Dib nodded. "Yup."
Dib patted Gir on the head, causing the tail of the costume to wag. "Gir here never left the door the whole time, he was on guard twenty-four seven."
Zim felt a rush of pride that his little, insane robot actually watched over him. The robot may be crazy, but he had proved his loyalty a dozen times over. "Thanks, Gir."
The robot waved his arms, "Gir do good?"
Zim nodded. "Yes, Gir do good."
Gir cheered, "YAY!" And his head opened to pop out some weak looking confetti.
Zim rolled his eyes and put his hands behind his head.
Dib looked at the alien curiously. "It's odd though, my research said it would take longer for you to recover…"
Zim let a proud smile creep onto his face. "Irkens are superior beings; we can recover far faster then any human."
Dib scowled, but inwardly decided that it was a good enough answer.
There was a moment of silence before he suddenly announced, "Where are my clothes?"
The human cracked his fingers absentmindedly. "Getting washed. They were covered in sick and sweat."
Zim nodded slowly. He still felt rather ill, but at least it seemed the worst was over now. However, he still didn't feel like eating, so he just poked at the food. "Hey," he said, quietly changing the subject. "Are those new boots?"
Dib looked down at them and grinned. "Yea, nice aren't they?" The boots where knee high in length and tight on Dib's legs. They were held on by three buckles and the metal toes were made to look like the hoofs of a goat. Zim noticed that they moved when Dib wiggled his toes.
He grinned at Zim's impressed look and said, "My uncle Juan gave them to me as a Christmas present. He said that with them I would walk an interesting path." He looked at the Irken, confused. "What'cha think he meant by that?"
Zim just shrugged. "I dunno."
Gir looked at Dib. "He was scary man."
Dib frowned at the dog. "No he's not…well, yes, he is, but he's not that scary. Besides, he always gets me the coolest presents. Like the time he-"
Gir had stopped paying attention and was now pointing out the window at some bird with his mouth agape, drooling slightly, with a zombie-like expression on his face.
Dib glared at the dog and Zim chuckled cruelly. It seemed that Dib had yet to master the art of making people pay attention to him.
The human stood up and yawned. "Well, I'm going downstairs to watch TV." He looked at the alien. "You gonna come down later?"
Zim looked at his food, then at Gir who was chasing his tail without the doggy hood on. He looked at Dib and gave a weary grin. "I am Zim; of course I'll come down later. Zim cannot be defeated by anything!"
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OH MY GOOD GOD! (Falls onto knees and begins to tear up) I FINALLY FINISHED IT!
I'd like to thank the academy...
Yea, enough crap. This took, quite possibly, a WHOLE MONTH to do. Why? I don't know...I really don't. This stupidly epic chapter of crazy epicness is done and dusted and that's all that matters now. I think the end of this chapter is very fuzzy and sweet, not very original or shocking or Sideos-esk at all is it? Sorry about that chums, but that's why I got one more chapter.
But now the ordeal is over. Only one last short chapter to do then that's it! I'm FREE! FREE TO WRITE OTHER THINGS! (Not like I havn't but…you know…)
AHHAHHAHAAHAHAHAHAAHHAAHAAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Ahem, yes.
REFERANCES!
Slight Matrix reference with the liquidisation thingy...yup. But I only realised that after I wrote it, I was trying to be horribly morbid and sick.
Of course, the greatest Sideos cameo ever. I love it, it's so...great. Sideos...reading a paper...just...hilarious. And the quote...fantastic.
And some very subtle…thing going on there with Gaz and Zim…
And, of course, the (as promised) Master of Puppets tribute. You know you love Metallica.
All in all I like this chapter. It's got a fuzzy, sugary sweat ending…or has it? I hate the end of this chapter because it's just so…Saturday night classic feel good movie ending. Lucky me that I got an epilogue up ma sleeve.
Anyways, next chapter to be the last, poor you guys.
Anyways. R&R before you die horribly from nonereviewingitus. (Also, check out my editors little nonsense oneshot called 'See Dib Run', its HILERIOUS!)