At last...
The end...
Is here.
Welcome ladies and gents, to the final chapter of my story, "The Sinking Ship of Doom." I am really happy with all of the comments I recieved. I actually found it kind of difficult to Write a tragety, with a splash of humorous characters. I'm glad to know that I did pretty well with keeping most of the characters in character. Heh... That was kind of hard...
Now, let's read on and enjoy the final chapter!
Oh. and just so you know, there will be an epilogue.So don't think you can relax, there is an after affect!
I don't own Invader Zim... Aw, come on people, after 13 chapters, you know that!
But I do own Dizzy. You don't. I do. So there.
-
Let's sail away my darling
Let's sail across the stars
I'll hold you close
my darling
your dreams,
they are not...
The screaming had passed. It was now complete silence. Even the splashing water made no sound. It was as if you were in the middle of no where.
Zim was floating. Well, it seemed like it, anyway. It seemed impossible to move any part of his body. He knew he was awake, though he wished this was all a dream. He couldn't feel Dizzy's body in his arms anymore. All he could feel was the cold. The sting. The pain. No... not the pain you could feel when you got shot by lazers... A pain he couldn't heal... Zim felt it on the inside.
Zim had no idea what possible trageties could happen on earth. He knew this planet was horrible, but not like this. Zim had experienced some great mass destruction, but when you are actually part of the experience, it is truly terrifying.
A weak, frail voice finally spoke out into the dark silence. It didn't say anything, it just whimpered. Zim was so numb that he couldn't feel the cold hands touch his frozen cheek. He couldn't open his eyes, but he knew who was crying over him. But why could he only hear Dizzy? Where was Dib? And Gir?
He then remembered. The ship broke in two... The bow was plummeting toward them... And then... He couldn't remember anything else.
Now the whimpering was leveled to sobbing. Zim barely felt something lay on his stomache. He tried to open his mouth, but no luck. He wasn't dead, but he was afraid Dizzy would think so.
Now Dizzy's head leaned against Zim's chest. She shook from the freezing cold.
"P-please wake up..." Zim heard her say. "Please...Please w-wake up..."
Zim didn't know how, but he was finally able to respond. In a very frail, cracked voice, he said, "I'm awake."
Dizzy carefully lifted her head from Zim's chest. Her skin was a very pale green. She had bags under her eyes, and her clothes were ruined. She was still bleeding slightly, but she covered the purple blood with her hands. At most parts of her body, her skin was almost completely peeled off.
"Z-Zim..." she said. "You're alive..? I-I thought I'd lost you..." Dizzy was shocked to see Zim crack a small smile.
"Heh... N-nobody can d-def-feat the a...almighty Zim..!" He replied, weakly. Dizzy gave out a small giggle, but only for a moment. Afterwards, she looked out to the dark ocean, with a disturbed and scared look on her face. Zim was able to look around, to find that he was laying on a table, floating into the water. It was only him and Dizzy.
"Where's Dib... a-and... and G-Gir?" Zim asked, a little bit more strongly. Dizzy was quiet for a moment, then began crying in her hands. Zim regretted asking. He weakly lifted himself, and was still full of questions. "B-but... T-the ship.. It b-broke, didn't it? H-how... W-what h-happened?"
Dizzy lifted her face from her hands, still crying. "H-he saved us!" She cried out.
"W-who?" Zim asked. Suddenly, Dizzy stopped crying and glared at Zim.
"W-who do you think? Gir? O-of course n-not! D-Dib saved our lives.." She began crying again. "H-he swam a-as fast as he could... But he didn't..."
Zim suddenly stopped her. He moved toward Dizzy and held her as she cried. He didn't enjoy seeing an irken companion break down in front of him, but what was he to do? He hated to admit this, but Dib was right. She may be irken, but she was also a small girl.
He hated when Dib made sense. In fact, he hated that Dib saved his life. He hated the Titanic. He hated that fat, greasy, burnt bacon eating human for telling him he needed to go on the Titanic. He hated the-
The brain. Zim finally remembered. He carefully reached into the pak, still holding Dizzy, and searched for it. It was there, safe and sound. He pulled the brain from his pak and stared at it. Dizzy looked up and noticed the brain.
"T-the... The brain?" She said, almost angrily. Inside, Zim was infuriated. This object caused all of this in the first place. He slowly stood up, balanced himself on the table, and threw the brain. He threw it as hard and as far as he could into the Atlantic. He watched as the brain slowly sank into deep darkness.
"Zim.." Said Dizzy. "T-the brain... That's what w-we came f-for..."
"I-I know." He said, still staring at the spot where the brain had sank. "D-Dizzy..."
Dizzy looked at him, questionally. "W-what is it?"
Zim didn't look at her. He just stared out into the Atlantic. Not that he could see anything, anyway. It was in the middle of the night, and it was pitch black outside. The Titanic was completely gone. Dead bodies floated in the ice cold water. A very disturbing sight.
"I'm sorry." He finally said. Dizzy was both shocked and confused. Those two words had never passed Zim's lips, she wasn't used to it.
"..W-what?" she asked. Zim still didn't look at her. It was obvious he was embarassed to say. He had never apologized to anyone before.
"Th-this is my fault." He said. Zim sat back down, still not looking at Dizzy. He wasn't looking to the Atlantic anymore, e was now staring at the stars. "I should have never brought you here. I should never have even come here."
Dizzy moved toward Zim. He tried to move away, but she wouldn't let him. She wrapped her arms around him and layed her head on his shoulder. Zim sat with her uncomfortably.
"I'm glad you did..." She said. Zim raised an invisable eyebrow.
"H-how can y-you say that?" Zim asked. "D-don't be stupid..."
"If you didn't c-come..." She said. "D-Dib wouldn't have survived."
Zim finally looked at her. "He didn't survive..."
"But you were th-there for h-him..." She said. "E-even if you didn't know it..."
Zim remembered when Zim and Dib talking on the ship. It was early in the morning, and the day before, Dizzy had a panic attack. They just began talking about the irken lullaby Zim had sung for Dizzy.
"You g-gave him someone to talk t-to." She continued. "E-even before we c-came onto the Titanic. Y-you both claimed t-to be enemies, but you b-both were something else. Y-you both b-bonded as enemies. M-maybe it's best if you r-remember Dib that way."
Zim considered this for a moment. Perhaps it would be better if I remembered Dib as a worthy opponent, Zim thought. Maybe even... A friend? No. Friend is a bit too strong. But close to it.
Truthfully, Dizzy did regret coming on this trip. But she knew it wasn't Zim's fault. She asked him, no, begged him to take her on the Titanic with him. She just wanted to be closer to him... Looks like she got more than she wanted.
Now voices filled the air. They called for any survivors in the water. Dizzy and Zim saw a light flash through the darkness. It was a life boat. Zim could not believe what he was seeing. He was sure he was going to die. But Dib... He believed that they would get out of this alive. Zim felt aweful. He didn't believe he could survive, but did. And Dib, he died even though he believed they were all going to survive. It didn't feel right. It didn't feel fair. And Zim knew it. Neverless, Zim swam to that life boat with Dizzy at his side. There was nothing he could do about it now. He had failed his mission to make sure everyone got out of this alive. He admitted his defeat to death, and climbed into the lifeboat with Dizzy. After the man holding the bright light finished looking for survivors, Dizzy wept as the dead bodies of the innocent floated by the life boat.
Zim moved next to her and quietly sang her a lullaby.
-
New York, 8:15 a.m.
After the Carpathia had rescued the lifeboats from the Atlantic, the survivors were safely transported to New York. To Dizzy and Zim's dissapointment, they hadn't seen Dib or Gir on the ship. They did see many unconcious people carried onto the ship, but that was it. Zim and Dizzy were now sitting on a bench at the New York's Port, with blankets covering them. Zim refused to eat anything, and so did Dizzy. All they could do is sit and think about everything that had happened in the past few days. Horrible memories. Zim and Dizzy did spot some strange glances from other people, since their disguises were now completely off. In order to keep anyone from asking questions, Zim and Dizzy covered their heads with the blankets given to them, like wearing a blue cloak. Dizzy and Zim never spoke since when they were on the life boat. Finally, Zim broke the silence.
"We didn't deserve to live."
Dizzy didn't mind Zim speaking for her, because he was right. They didn't deserve to live. But then... Why were they there? Dizzy hadn't responded to Dib's statement. She only nodded. Though she was in extreme depression, she was finally calm. Until someone walked up to them both...
"Wow, you guys look sick. Try drinking some soup."
Immediently, Zim and Dizzy both looked up. There, to their shock and disbelief, stood a smiling, big headed boy. Dib.
Dizzy wasted no time jumping from her seat and hugging the boy with all of the strength she had left. Tears or joy and relief sprinkled down her cheeks. "Dib...!" She said. "Y-y-you're a-alive!" Dib chuckled at Dizzy's happiness. Zim just sat in awe, staring at the boy whom he thought was surely dead.
"How..." Was all that Zim could say. Dib turned to Zim, still smiling, and Dizzy still hugged him.
"I'm guessing you didn't see me on the Carpathia, did you? Well, I'm not suprised you didn't. You see, I was carried in on a mat before anyone else and was taken to an emergency room. I had such a serious case of hypothermia, that I passed out. Oh yeah, and I guess with the Titanic's bow slamming into my head kind of added on to it."
Zim chuckled, which soon turned into a laugh. Zim actually laughed. But not meniacally, in a sort of joyful manner. Dib was suprised to see that Zim was actually happy to know that he was alive. Soon, Zim's laughter died down, and just left a smile on his face. "Seems that nothing can stop you from surviving, can it?" He said, almost in a disapointing tone. "But, of course, nothing could stop the almighty Zim, either!"
Dib chuckled. Zim was normal again, but somehow, not completely. He knew that this entire thing had caused a change in all of them.
Then, Zim heard a loud, squeaky laughed come from behind of Dib. He moved aside, and there sood Gir. He was still blind, since his eyes weren't that usual cyan color, just grey. But somehow, Gir was happier than ever to finally know that everything was safe. Gir threw himself onto Zim's lap and hugged him tightly. Zim didn't mind. He even chuckled at the sight of Gir safe... But he decided not to tell Gir everything that happened while he was blind. He didn't want to upset him.
"Don't worry, Gir," Zim said. "As soon as we get home, I'll fix your eyes." Another sqeaky laughter came from Gir. Then, ZIm turned to Dib.
"Why did you do that, Dib?" Zim finally asked. "It was pretty stupid of you to save us."
Dib smirked. "Just returning a favor." he said. "For you to stay behind back at the Titanic and unlock that gate for us, instead of saving yourself, was pretty stupid also."
Zim looked away form Dib. "Gir convinced me..." He mumbled. Finally, Dizzy let go of Dib. She walked up to Zim and kissed him on his forhead, then turned to Dib and did the same.
"You both saved my life." She said. "Thank you for putting aside your differences and sticking together."
"Just this once." Zim said, "Besides, it was all for the mission."
-
And there it is! Finally, I can retire... (no, not really. Trust me, more stories will deffinetly be coming from me!) I have got to tell you all, ever since I started this story, it's been non-stop Titanic. Every day, that's all I could think about. I had to, anyway. To get myself into the mood to write about it. I really enjoyed writing this story!
Oh, yes. There will be an epilogue. So don't settle down just yet, we have to take a look into the aftermath!
Hehe, there will be NO "chapter in a nutshell" for this chapter. If you want to know what happens, read it yourself!
I appreciate all who commented and "stayed tuned", it means a lot to me. really. I didn't know how this story would turn out when I first wrote it. Glad to know it didn't bomb!
Oh yes, a final word - THE END!