The Sands of Time

I've been letting this idea ripen in my brain, and now it's all juicy. JUICEHHH…

Zim sat on his couch, watching TV with Gir.

Should he break the news to Dib?

Zim decided that the next time he saw Dib, he'd tell him that he quit his mission.
When an Irken month passes and they still haven't taken over the planet, they have to quit. HAVE TO. Or their PAK will self destruct. However, they don't have to leave the planet. And the Tallest told Zim that he wasn't invading Earth, but he was rather a spectator. So he decided to stay.

Suddenly, the door was kicked open.

"HAHA!"

Oh no. Dib.

"Stupid alien! I've got you trapped. You will never—"

"I'm quitting my job." Zim interrupted, annoyed.

"…What?"

"I'm done. I'm not going to try to invade Earth anymore."

"Yeah right! I'll believe that when pigs fly, space boy."

"It's true!" Dib started laughing.
"Well, before I blow my chance…" Dib pounced on Zim. He tried to put handcuffs on Zim's wrists, but the alien squirmed away. Dib proceeded to jump on Zim's head and yank at Zim's antenna.
Loud cracking of bones was heard. Zim screamed.

"MY ANTENNA! MY SENCE OF SMELL IS USELESS NOW!" Zim turned around and glared at Dib. Dib had seen rage in Zim's eyes before, but never rage like this. Shadows fell over Zim's eyes, making then look more menacing.

Suddenly, Zim attacked. He lunged at Dib. He started to scratch at Dib.

The claws were sharp. Sharp like Professor Membrane's metal rose's thorns. Except the thorns didn't try to scratch and rip at Dibs flesh.

No, Zim's claws were more like knives.

The claws cut Dib's chest, throat, stomach, and arms. Dib could only flail his arms in defense at Zim's claws. Zim wasn't stong, perhaps only as strong as him. But Dib could do some damage of he wanted to.

Zim's horrid claws took hold of strips of Dib's flesh and tossed them across the room. Zim took his hand, put his claws in Dib's chest, and pushed down.

Dib couldn't breathe for about thirty seconds.

For the grand finale, Zim took his claws and scratched him across the face. He then took his claw, hooked it onto the Dib's back flesh, and threw him outside onto the bit of sidewalk in his yard. Then, Zim picked up one of his lawn gnomes and beat Dib's head into the sidewalk.
Dib lay there, with heavy amounts of blood spilling from his wounds. Already, blood soaked the sidewalk. Dib tried to get up, but failed. In addition to scratching him up, Zim had also given him a pretty good beating. Dib groaned. He couldn't move.

A couple of hours later, Zim came out to do shopping, as a normal Earthling would do. He was surprised to see Dib still laying there.

"Eh? DIB! What are you still doing here?" All Dib could do was groan.
"You think this is funny? Do you think the mighty ZIM takes this as some kind of foolish joke? Zim does not like your humor!" Dib flinched.
"Stop faking, Dib! You cannot fool Zim!" Zim took his boot an rolled Dib's body over so that Dib was on his stomach. Dib vomited up red stuff. The red was a dark, deep burgundy. It also smelled funny, kind of like meat and metal. It splashed onto the sidewalk and onto Zim's ankles.

Zim decided that the red was blood.

He also noticed more puddles of the red liquid on the sidewalk.
"Eh, Dib?" Zim bent down, examining Dib's face. Dib'b eyes suddenly widened.
"No! Stop, no more! Please, I'm sorry! Just don't attack me again!" Zim raised an eyebrow. Or, at least, what would be an eyebrow if he had any hair.
"I'm not going to attack you, human." This miserable human was obviously in no condition to be out. He owed Dib for attacking him so fiercely, Zim decided.
He took Dib into his lab, where he patched the wounds up and gently dabbed them with a saline solution and a little rubbing alcohol.
"Ergh, I hope you humans heal the same way as Irkens," Zim mumbled to Dib, who was only half aware of what was going on. It was like being drunk. You knew what was happening, you just couldn't process it.
"Here, take some painkiller," said Zim. I'll be right back."

Zim returned to find a note on the bed, written rather sloppily. Also, the grammar was slightly incorrect.

Dear Zim,
Thanks for helping me. I'm gonna to go home now, cause my dad is gonna mad to me if I get home late. I'll see you tomorrow for school.

-Dib

Zim was nervous. Was Dib still too confused? Or could he find his way? Zim silently hoped the latter. Irkens weren't supposed to bring out the metal claws unless they were being attacked by something bigger than them. Dib may have been taller, but only by an inch, so that didn't count. Also, Dib was no stronger. Zim guessed he'd just lost it.
Zim sighed. Suddenly, his computer spoke up.
"Why can't you just swallow your dumb pride and admit that you made a wrong choice?" Oh, Zim forgot. His PAK was connected to the house like some huge circuit. Of course the computer knew what he was thinking.
"I am, Computer!" Zim sat down with his hands on his knees. Still, shame wracked Zim's body. Would Dib be okay?
Oh, why was he even thinking about the human? He'd be fine! His scientist-unit father-human would take care of him, and he'd be at school the next day.
Irkens never slept, so Zim couldn't sleep away his problems. Or could he…? Computers went into sleep mode, right? Maybe he could get his computer to put him into sleep mode. The humans did it, and it made morning come sooner.
"Computer!"
"Whaaat?"
"Put me into sleep mode!" Silence.
"…Are you sure?"
"Yes! Wake me up at 6:00 am—" Zim fell to the floor, knocked out immediately by being put into sleep mode.

"Ugh… I'm not doing that again," Zim said, blinking the sleep out of his eyes. Did humans really have to do this every night? When he woke up, he felt stiff all over. And he felt weak and tired. But after snapping his spine back in place and rubbing most of the sleep out of his eyes, he felt good.

Zim rushed out the door, for once eager to go to that prison chamber by the name of "skool".
Dib and Zim usually took different routes to school to avoid each other. But Zim was still wondering if Dib was alright, so he decided to walk along the path that Dib walked, in hopes of seeing the boy.
To Zim's dismay, the boy wasn't there. Nonsense, he thought. Dib probably saw him walking this route and took the other one. Zim laughed nervously. Of course that's what he did! His arch-nemesis was very clever.
Zim ran along the hallways, excited to get to class. He burst open the door.
"DIB, I AM—" he stopped. Dib wasn't in his usual spot beside the window. Zim scanned the classroom. No luck.
Well, Dib was late most of the time anyways. He was usually in the biology room. Zim decided to check there. The bell hasn't rung yet, anyway. Zim put down his books and went to the biology room. No one there except a male teacher who was setting up science equipment. Getting ready for his first class if the day, Zim decided.
The teacher turned around.
"May I help you?"
"Oh, eh, no thank you. I was just looking for someone. Have you seen a boy with jet black hair in a scythe-shape?" Realization flickered in the teachers eyes.
"Yes, but not today. I guess he's absent." Zim nodded. Worry accumulated in him. What if Dib was not okay? What if he were more seriously hurt than normal?

The school day seemed to last forever. Zim couldn't take it. It was giving him a stomach ache. But, MAYBE by tomorrow, Dib would be better and at school again. It made Zim nervous. But also, he stuck with the thought that Dib was going to be fine.

The next day at school, Zim found to his greatest displeasure that Dib, again, was missing from his usual spot. Zim groaned. Well, maybe TOMORROW Dib would be back. He was sure of it!

This went on for weeks.

And then three months had passed, and Dib STILL wasn't back at school. This upset Zim— so much so that his health became poor. His immune system was weak. His stomach began to hurt. One day he was sent home from school "sick" for throwing up in class. But these human filthies didn't understand; Zim wasn't sick, he was stressed. Stressed because this one ghost of a thought kept skimming his mind.

What if Dib was dead?

Zim had to live with the burden of this awful thought, until one afternoon.

They had just eaten lunch. Zim had eaten some of his lunch to appear "normal" but barely touched it— and that part he did touch was later thrown up. But he didn't tell Ms. Bitters; if he was at home, it would give him more time to think about Dib. At least school kept him busy.
Zim had grown very skinny during the past months, and he had lost about twenty pounds. Gir had grown worried over his master, who refused anything Gir brought him.
Zim walked back to class after lunch. Ms. Bitters was in the hallway talking to someone. All Zim could see was her back, so he didn't know who.

Zim's heart stopped when he saw who it was.

Professor Membrane, and next to him, Dib.

Zim practically jumped for joy.

"DIB!" He shrieked. He ran over to Dib. Dib looked at him with a horrified expression.
"No! Get away from me! No! No more! Please, I'll do anything!" Dib ran behind his father. Professor Membrane patted Dib's head.
"Son, stay with your teacher for just a minute. I'm going to have to talk to Zim." Zim was nervous. Professor Membrane grabbed him firmly by the arm with an iron grip.
Zim gulped. Professor Membrane bent down at Zim's level. He put one hand on his shoulder, but not as a gesture if reassurance or kindness. It was more of a "you better stay here and not run away while I talk to you or I will find you, tie you to a wall, and staple your eyelids open" kind of gesture. He lowered his voice to a serious tone.
"Do you have any idea what you've done, Zim?" Professor Membrane asked. Zim shivered and slowly nodded his head.
"Well," Professor Membrane said, "so do I. Dib has told me all about your attack. And… do you know what kind of condition he is in now?" Zim shivered. He shook his head. The professor tightened his grip on Zim's shoulder until it started to hurt.
"Dib needs special education now because of you. He gets lost in his own home. He often wonders who Gaz is. He used to be very advanced in math— now he can barely do multiplication. He doesn't talk much because nothing comes out the way it's supposed to. His coordination is off— he stumbles when he walks and once almost tripped down the stairs. He is forgetful. He has anger issues. He yells at Gaz when she's done nothing. He's tormented by his own paranoia. He sleeps with me to 'keep the demons away.'" The professor got close to Zim's face, so close Zim could smell his breath.
"My son is mentally and physically disabled because of you." Professor Membrane gave Zim a hard shove when he let go of his shoulder. Zim stumbled back, but didn't fall.
"Next month, you come to court with me. Find yourself a good lawyer, boy, if you know what's good for you." With that, Professor Membrane walked briskly back into the classroom. Zim heard the professor talking to Dib.
"Be good now, son. I'll be back soon. Call me if anything goes wrong." Zim walked back into the classroom nervously. Before Professor Membrane left, he turned around one more time and gave Zim a warning glance…

End of chapter one