It was what the humans called 'night' again on the Massive and despite the fact that Dib had had his sleeping schedule messed up beyond any semblance of normal, he still needed to sleep and was doing so now.
After the cafeteria, they'd escaped and walked slowly back to their room which was luckily still vacant, and ended up talking for hours about nothing in particular and Dib had ended up giggling (because Zim was really a moron and Dib could sometimes be one too which resulted in some very interesting conversations) which was a new experience in and of itself. But, eventually the need for sleep had his eyelids drooping, head falling as he slumped down on the 'mattress' that they shared.
Zim turned his head back from the window, still laughing about whatever it was they were talking about before. He opened his mouth to say something, only to stop when he found the human passed out in front of him. He huffed a bit, but couldn't say he was all that surprised.
Zim had done more than enough sleeping for his lifetime in the week that they spent in the voot, so he instead occupied himself by looking out the window. He wanted to demand that Dib wake up and keep him company, but figured he wouldn't be the best company to have if he was falling asleep on him. So he let Dib have his rest. He wasn't sure how much time had passed before there was a loud banging at the door. Zim checked to make sure Dib was still asleep before hopping over him and to the door. One of the two body guards that they had seen earlier that day was waiting for him, and Zim knew exactly what he wanted before he even opened his mouth.
"The Tallest have made thei—" Was all he got out before Zim shoved him out of his way.
"Great, let's go!" The shorter Irken barked as he made his way down the hall. The guard stumbled a bit before marching after Zim.
The hall seemed longer than he remembered from earlier; it took him years to finally reach the imposing door that harbored the fate of Earth behind it. Stopping to smooth out his features, steeling himself for what was about to come, Zim took in a deep breath. He ran his hands over his antennae, pressing them down before they popped back up. 'Ok,' he thought. 'There's no way they can say no. Calm down, Zim.'
The doors slid open and Zim marched in, his air of confidence never leaving him.
"My Tallest, you've made your decision." Zim's voice was as demanding as ever.
The two leaders' antenna cringed against their scalps. Sure, Irkens were loud by nature but, Zim just took things to a whole new level, always had. Red rubbed his temple and sighed. It had been a long night.
"Yes, Zim, yes we have. Now, will you use your indoor voice, the one we talked about a few rotations ago, remember?"
Zim faltered in his steps a bit as he tried to recall the talk his Tallest Red mentioned, but didn't so he chose to ignore it. "The human will be pleased to hear of your decision to spare Earth," He started quickly. "I promise your graciousness won't be in vain!"
"Yeah, that's nice." Purple waved a hand. "Only, we're going to destroy it, Zim." He stated simply, an un-amused look in his deep purple eyes.
"Yes, I know! I'll make sure he thanks you personally!" A slight pause. "Wait, what?"
Red raised an non-existent eyebrow. "We've decided to decline the Earthian's proposal. The destruction of earth will go down as scheduled, Zim." He took a sip from his soda, getting to the part where it made the horrible sucking sound.
"But—but—but!" Zim stammered. He held his hands in front of him in pleading. "Dib is heir to the strongest influence of mankind! They can build you weapons! They have so much to offer! Their planet has natural resources that you can harvest!" Zim reminded, hoping that those were things they had overlooked. Forgetting that those were the only points they had bothered to bring to the Tallest's attention in their plea to begin with.
"Yeah, we don't really care." Purple remarked as he played with some annoying squeaky-toy passively. "We figured those are things we can get when we enslave them. Plus this way we won't have to deal with you."
Zim couldn't believe it. His 'spooch dropped to the lowest part of his gut. "M-my Tallest, please reconsider!" He begged, taking a step closer.
"No," Purple denied, flatly. "That's all, Zim. You can leave now."
"My Tallest, please!" Why was Zim pressing so hard, now? Why did it matter so much? All he knew was that he couldn't bring this news back to Dib.
"Zim, we have spent the whole day considering the proposal and it's just not happening." Red shrugged, snapping his fingers. "Sorry. Now stop questioning your Tallest and go away. It's snack time." A bunch of tiny Irkens rushed forward with an array of food and drinks while the Tallest both cheered, already forgetting about Earth and the Invader who stood before them.
Time slowed as Zim made his way out of the chamber in utter defeat. There was nothing else he could say to them to change their minds; they were even more stubborn than he was, after all. He felt like he was going to spit up his gut and pass out all at once. And the whole time, the same thought kept running through his mind, 'What am I going to tell Dib?'
Dib would surely want to leave and go back to Earth. He'd do all he could in preparation for the impending invasion. He'd want to leave. He'd want to leave Zim. No more kisses, no more hand holding. No more staying up and laughing, and conversations that made Dib giggle. No more warm cuddles. No more Dib.
This couldn't happen, Zim wouldn't let it. He'd have to convince Dib to stay, but how?