Dib's name began to fade from everyday conversation. The missing, dying boy. Oh yeah, him. Never found him, eh? Nope. Not a trace. Shame.
He died from their lips, boring. One of those mysteries that disappears from history, waiting for another generation to discover the answer to. Membrane, to his credit, tried. He kept the ads running. The posters replaced, covering the whole town in brightly colored papers.
At first it raised awareness, but as people do, they grew accustomed and adapted to the neon tree slicings, passing them by without a second glance.
The news that had spread all over the world was once again brought back to just this ruined town that was missing its leader, failing and breaking. Membrane had his daughter still, had his people and science. So he threw himself into it on a whole new level; trying to develop products to make the world safer, to make it so children were never lost and improve the amount of time it took to heal devastating injuries.
The years passed. At first slowly. One. Two. Drops of rain in a pond. Not noticeable, but for the tiny ripples they made. Then five. The Dib was forgotten by everyone but Zim, Gaz and Membrane. The fliers had long been thrown away, washed away, faded and warped.
A whole decade. Membrane died from a freak lab accident. Apparently he was trying to reverse the explosion that had transpired that day, to try to discover what had caused it and how to help fix similar injuries. The irony was lost on the world. Only mourning.
People wore black and for the longest time that was what covered the world; for another two years. Until they began to adapt as all humans do eventually.
Only Gaz still wore the veil of sadness, losing her only two family members took a toll that was too great.
Five years and they found her dead from a drug overdose in some crummy apartment on the west side of town. Her video console was still beeping away cheerily the theme song of her favorite video game.
Zim remembered talking to Dib a lot. Trying to reach him but mainly just talking. Talking and trying to break the news carefully as if he could hear them. On Dib's behalf, he trudged out to both their graves and placed the traditional flowers and chocolate. He wasn't so sure about the chocolate thing but, a lot of holidays and traditions involved them so he did it anyway.
Fifteen. Twenty.
No one knew of the boy. No one cared about much anymore. At least when it came to long dead people. Old myths and legends. A thing of the past. All that mattered was excess. And the people took and took, destroyed and ruined themselves.
Thirty. Forty.
The planet cried out for help as it was overflowed with people, places, trash, noise. They never saw the warning signs and anyone who tried to speak was silenced immediately.
Fifty. Sixty.
Governments changed. People changed. The wars began and ended. Trends, generations. Music styles. People walked and talked, deformed their bodies for fashion. Dyed and tanned and split and cheated and loved and hated and laughed and cried. They traveled from country to country, either physically or virtually. It was practically the same thing.
Seventy. Eighty.
And they walked by the tiny, itty-bitty and not to mention dirty green house that was faded with time, graffiti-ed and fit snug between two giant apartment complexes. The city had shot out of the dirt, rising to its height. And leaving the past behind them where it belonged.
Ninety. One Hundred.
The ghostly paint had peeled, metal walls rusted. Vandals had broken in long ago and looted it for goods, picked it clean. The TV gone and furniture as well. Trash and crude writings on the walls and floors. But, no one had ever found the secret elevators and passages that led to the much larger rooms beneath the soil.
Of course the government had tried long ago to destroy it. It was getting in the way of their new buildings. It was ugly. No one could find any records of whose it was so they tried their best to demolish it.
Only nothing worked. They brought wrecking balls. No dent. As many times as they tried the house never budged. They tried explosives. Fire. Acids even. The house stayed silent and unmovable. Harsh with scorch marks and mocking them from the eye like windows. Its unknown past and strange structure felt eerie so, after a while they just left it and built around it.
There were the rumors of a little green person who came out only at nights and only once a year. But, rumors were what they were and weren't really believed.
Two hundred. Three hundred years.
Fighting. Dying. Falling and destroying. It was the human's nature and they did it without really thinking about the consequences.
Zim felt insanity as it crept up on him. He knew that he might've lost his mind long ago if it wasn't for the radio which ran off batteries he could make himself. No electricity ran to his house anymore. The only thing he kept powered with a generator connected to solar panels on the roof was Dib's life support tank.
The radio brought him news of the rising and falling of humanity. They were destroying themselves and grimly he smiled. He had never needed to do anything to these people. They did it themselves.
Four hundred, five hundred.
And they were gone. The radio buzzed silently. No emergency broadcasts or advertisements. No more war propaganda or cries for help. Zim sat next to it and just stared at the human as he floated, suspended in the same way he'd been for nearly half a millennium.
His pak whirled slowly, straining to keep itself going. Zim hadn't done much these last few eh…however many years it was. Sat by the human, occasionally slept. Kept up the life supports and went to the graves of Dib's family. Only now there was no point. The tomb stones had long since faded and been destroyed by the war.
His eyes hurt and Zim finally blinked after what felt like forever.
When he opened them again, they went right back to Dib who was unmoving as ever.
-00—
There was blood and hatred. Enemies till the end. Knowing was the key to fighting each other and winning. Winning the earth. And for years…that's all it was. A battle. Constant pain. Determination and pride.
But, then they realized that they needed each other for sanity's sake. Because now they had become what each other needed. Fell into a trap neither of them had been looking to set. So in all reluctance they kept fighting, kept trying to win even whilst knowing they would never finish each other off. It would be worse than death to do so.
Slowly, that fiery hatred became a twisted kind of desire. Boundaries of enemy and friend were blurred. They had a relationship that was like no other. Loyalty and passion. Kinship in their pasts. Laughter that danced along with the yelps of pain.
Devotion.
And so when Dib had kissed Zim that day…he'd almost been unsurprised. But, it hadn't stopped him from punching the human boy. They'd avoided each other for a short while before Zim had had enough and gave in on top of that hill, during the spring.
From then on…Dib was happier than Zim had ever seen him. There were arguments that were resolved with sweets and mumbled apologies. Clumsy kisses on Dib's part. Awkward hand holding that slowly became normal. They ordered food and ate it in, snuggled under blankets and watching X-Files, Napoleon documentaries, horror movies and Mysterious Mysteries.
Dib told Zim all his secrets, ones that Zim found fascinating even if he pretended to be just as fascinated with a rouge noodle that had fallen from his fork.
Six hundred…
They watched the stars. Zim pointed out every place he'd been. But, there was only so much you could see with all the pollution and lights blocking the stars. So they would take to the sky and fly around the planet, out into space.
Dib adored it; face and hands pressed against the window. Zim yelled at him for getting grubby little marks all over the place but, he was secretly pleased he could make Dib so overjoyed. That HE caused that smile.
And that's what they did on the teenager's birthday. Visited the stars. It was there in space, within the pure black vacuum, with a billion million stars around them that Dib kissed the irken…and the first time that Zim hesitantly kissed back.
Seven hundred…
"Zim…how old are you?" the human questioned, a curious hand playing with the irken's fingers. Said irken raised a nonexistent eyebrow, watching the movements carefully.
"Older than you, Stink-Beast." Dib, in response, only rolled his amber eyes.
"No shit? I'm serious, Zim. Tell me…"
"Why?"
"Because if you don't I'll tickle you." Dib said seriously. He knew that Zim hated it when he did that. The sensation was this strange mixture of pure glee and terror and being forced to feel so against your will was horrible. Zim scowled.
"I'm one hundred and thirty five in earth years." From the teen's reaction, Zim could tell this wasn't what he'd been expecting.
"O-one hundred and-? Jeeze. I'm dating a geezer." The teen's smirk was back. Zim had no idea what this 'geezer' was but, he had no intention of being called it once again.
"Do not call Zim by that stupid name." He threatened, taking his hand out of the grip of the boy as punishment.
"What? Geezer? Well, it's true Yanno. On my planet you're kind of a pedophile Zim." Dib teased, gold eyes dancing with delight. Zim hissed his displeasure, trying to hide his confusion.
"A what? Stop speaking monkey!" Dib giggled and sidled closer to the irken menace.
"A pedophile. I'm under 18, Zim. You're a hundred and thirty five. That's illegal. You're breaking the law." He murmured back, doing that obnoxious thing again where his eyes got all heavy lidded and dark. Zim's stupid spooch beat faster in response.
"Of course, I'm breaking it. I'm an evil mastermind." He sniffed, chin lifting itself with pride. Dib's smirk grew wider.
"Yes, Zim. Yes you are."
Seven hundred and fifty…
Plants and grass were finally starting to grow again, up out of the wreckage. He'd been worried that the amount of radiation would make the planet barren but, it seemed that Mother Nature was more adept at starting over again than the humans ever had been.
Zim stood on top of a big pile of rubble, kicking an old red toy top out of his way before sliding down the rusted, warped metal and into a giant field. The green stuff was poking up through old buildings and moss was starting to cover up something giant. A bus maybe? It nearly looked like a hill.
A hill…Zim's breath hitched in his throat and he walked over to the mound and began to climb it. It wasn't their hill but, a sense of déjà vu still hit him hard. For a few minutes, he just stood there and stared out at what this world had become.
The sun was high in the sky, dropping beam upon beam down to the virgin life beneath, reawakening the plants and microorganisms from the desolate area. In a few years time, everything that the humans had left behind would be gone.
Even the once red sky was beginning to look bit blue as he'd seen in old pictures…so long ago. Zim's helmet buzzed a bit to remind him that the air in his back up tube was running low. He had to get back to the base.
Maybe in a few more…days, weeks, years? He would be able to walk outside without wearing the helmet. On the way back he picked a few flowers, admiring them because of their color; they had long lanky stems, little curly leaves and bright, amber petals that danced in the breeze.
He laid them down in front of the chamber. But refused to think of it as a way to mourn. Dib wasn't dead. The life line was still beeping. Dib was still alive…