Notes: Haiiiiiii ! ! Good morning ! ! Wow I don't usually post in the morning time haha XD I hope you're all having a great week so far ^_^ ^_^ ! ! I edited this chapter last night but was just too exhausted to post it T_T , so here it is now ! ! This chapter is told from Zim's perspective and the title comes from the song "Train Wreck" by James Arthur . It just really speaks to how much they're both a wreck at the moment , physically , emotionally , and mentally . Zim is still on edge around Dib but he can't help but want to be close to him . I love that Zim's protective side is coming out again in this chapter but so is Gaz's AND Professor Membrane lol . I hope you love this chapter update and as always , any comments will be super amazing ! ! Thank you for reading ! ! ^_^ ^_^
Unburn the AshesI'm walking down the obscenely bright hallway, towards a room the woman at the front desk gave me. I'm not exactly sure what to expect. His father and sister could be here for all Zim knows. But I suppose I'll just have to find out when I get there. I can't believe I haven't seen him. I took way too long to come back. What was I thinking?! Entrust his full recovery to these simpleton humans?! As if they can really help him better than I can. They don't even know what happened to him!
I pick up my pace towards the elevators and hit the button several times before I hear the voice of a woman somewhere behind me.
"Mr. Membrane!" She calls and I turn to look for who she's talking to. I was expecting to see Dib-Thing or maybe his dad but she's passing by multiple people, eyes locked on mine as she makes her way over.
"Oh. You're referring to me." I nod when she stops in front of me.
"Yes, do you have a minute?" She asks.
"No." I say back, pressing the elevator button again and feeling my patience wear thin.
"It's about your husband and it's important." She insists and I narrow my eyes at her.
"What did you people do? Did you do something wrong?" I ask and her eyes widen.
"Oh no no! But…we have some concerns about the state that he's in." She says, glancing around the rest of the floor quickly. The elevator door slides open then and she motions towards it. Once we're both on the elevator, I just stare at her until she starts talking again. "We're concerned because Dib hasn't willingly eaten nor has he drunk anything since the first day he regained consciousness. He's been fully dependent on the IV to prevent dehydration but we can't get him to eat anything. We've tried smoothies, yogurts, some salads-"
"He isn't eating."
"No, he isn't."
"Have you removed the tube?" I ask and she shakes her head.
"We've actually needed it but even that feeding is getting… difficult. He won't eat willingly and when we try to use the tube, he becomes extremely distressed and physically aggressive."
"Aggressive?"
"Yes." She nods. "To the point that we can't get it done and then we can't calm him down without sedation-"
"Sedation? You've been sedating him?" I ask, feeling irritation spike within me at just the thought of him being rendered unconscious against his will..
"It's only been two times at this point because it's not something we want to do, but his reaction is putting stress on him. We haven't even been able to move him into the step down unit. His behavior is aggravating his injuries."
"If you have to sedate him to do something as simple as feed him then clearly you're upsetting him."
"We've switched out, though. Several of us have tried talking to him but he won't speak with us anymore."
"So you're all struggling to do your job then. Perfect." I roll my eyes.
"I assure you, we are all on the same side here. Dib's medical team wants a speedy recovery for him just like you do, so we all need to work to find the best way to achieve that, even if it means treating him as much as we can before transferring him."
"Transfer? To where?"
"The Hope and Faith Mental Facility is more than equipped to handle a case such as this one-"
"Mental facility? Absolutely not."
"I understand the apprehension, but-" She starts but I don't give her the chance.
"No."
"Mr. Membrane-"
"I said no."
"This is never something we necessarily want to do to a patient but sometimes it's the best course of action."
"I won't tell you again." I say back and she sighs.
"At this point, there just aren't many options. If he hasn't made any progress by tomorrow morning, Dr. Manning feels that his injuries have recovered enough to an extent that he would fare well to continue healing while also getting the help he may need there."
"You won't have to transfer him. I guarantee he'll make the necessary progress today."
"Are you sure?"
"Absolutely. Are we done here? I'm here to see him, not you."
"Well as his daytime nurse I was just wondering if this is typical behavior for him." She asks.
"Well that's very nosy of you. Focus on his injuries. As I said before, the eating situation will no longer be an issue." I explain, walking down the hall and she starts to fall back as we approach his room number.
"Alright… I'll check in with him in a few." She says and I don't respond as I stop in the doorway of his room. The door is wide open and I'm standing right in front of it but he doesn't turn to look. He looks like a statue. A long, pale, thin, exhausted statue. Physically aggressive my green ass, he looks like a twig! I lift my left hand and tap on the doorframe a couple of times but he still doesn't pay me any mind. So I do it again but a little more forcefully before stepping fully into the room. I'm just standing near the doorway for a couple of minutes before he finally looks my way and drags his eyes away from whatever he was staring at. They widen a little bit as he takes me in and he tries to adjust himself so he's sitting up straighter. He opens and closes his mouth a few times and I focus my eyes on the floor in front of me.
"Do you want to sit?" He asks. His voice sounds different, strained almost, and his eyes look glossed over. He's also sporting dark circles under his eyes and his hair stuff is a mess. I finally step over to the bed and sit down on the edge, turning towards him. "Hi." He says quietly.
"Hi…" I say back, assessing all of his injuries. It looks like these humans have been doing a fairly decent job of healing him. Yet, he still appears to be fading away at his own free will… His hospital gown is ill fitting compared to when I first saw him wearing it. He's been surviving on the absolute bare minimum of nutrients for two weeks now and it shows.
"Are you actually here?" He asks and I squint at him.
"What… Kind of question is that?" I ask, careful not to let any annoyance seep into my tone.
"Well I… Still have a concussion so… I just want to be sure." He says back. My stomach twists at this and I just stare at him.
"I'm here." I say back simply, taking a deep breath. "And, Zim should not have… just left you here like that."
"It's okay." He replies immediately.
"It's not-"
"Yeah, yes it is, it's fine. I mean you-you came back so…"
"Dib. I came back because it is my responsibility to ensure your full recovery. That's it. Not for…"
"Okay." He nods and I'm surprised at how malleable he's being.
"Now that we have that understanding," I sigh. "You aren't eating."
"Huh?"
"Your nurse told me that you aren't eating anything. Nor are you allowing them to feed you." I repeat and he looks confused.
"They… I- they're just exaggerating. It hasn't been that long." He insists and my mind goes back to the night he was explaining his experience in the mental health hospital.
"It's been long enough. Whatever the nurse brings in here next, you need to eat it."
"I'm not hungry, I feel fine."
"I wasn't asking you." I say back, shaking my head but he doesn't respond. "Do you not want to get out of here?"
"Of course I do."
"You're only prolonging your stay by being difficult. What's the problem?"
"There is no problem. There are some situations where food is just the farthest thing from anyone's mind! Why do people have to eat even when they're not hungry? " He insists.
"Because, unfortunately, that's how you humans work…" I say back and he scoffs. "You don't actually feel that way… You're just upset… Remember being in the facility? Before we met? You told me that you made a deal with your sister?"
"Yeah…"
"We can make that deal. Zim will spend time with you here but you have to stop… Doing this."
"…How much time?" He asks, thoughtfully.
"As long as you want." I reply with a nod and he watches me for a moment.
"Deal." He says. Then we're plunged into awkward silence but he's just staring at me. I have a lot of questions I need to ask him but they aren't coming out. He relaxes back against his pillows and another glance at him confirms he's really still staring at me. I can't read any one emotion in his face, he's just looking. Thinking.
"So… Are you tired?" I ask.
"Yeah. I couldn't really sleep and even if I could, they've been doing so much-"
"Like what?"
"Just a bunch of follow ups on all the surgeries, monitoring things and stuff."
"Oh." I say, standing up to get a closer look. "What other surgeries have you had?"
"They haven't done any new ones. Just a bunch of X-rays, and another MRI…" He answers. I walk over to him and carefully place my hands on either side of his face, turning it slightly to each side so I can see how the treatment they did on his ears is holding up.
"Can I ask you a question?" He says as I let go and sit back down.
"What is it?"
"I have… I have some huge gaps in my memory and I… I just wanted to know how you were able to get me back here in time."
"I keep telling you, I wasn't able to. You died."
"Then how did you fix that?" He asks and I get a flash in my mind of him fighting me, begging me to let him die. That's how excruciating and unbearable it was for me to use the PAK support on him. That's probably the reason he went into a coma in the first place. That's how traumatic it was for his body.
"It's much better if you don't remember that. Leave it that way." I say back, looking at the floor and shaking my head.
"Do you remember?" He asks and I just stare at him. "Any of it?" I do, actually. Not the entire situation but everything after I woke up on the Massive the last time. Waking up, initially the scene unfolding was fuzzy but it was obvious what was happening. I'm still not even sure what woke me up. But I remember everything afterwards and I don't know what's worse. Having to constantly recall the events on Irk like I am, or not knowing what happened at all like Dib.
"Mr. Membrane." We both turn our attention to the door and it's the nurse standing there. "It's time for you to have a meal…" she says, looking between the two of us. I look over at Dib and he looks down at the bed. "Would you like to try eating with or without the tube?" She asks but he doesn't respond and she looks at me.
"He'll do both." I say back and she just stares at me until I raise my hand and shoo her. Once she disappears from the doorway, I turn my attention back to Dib. "Why aren't you talking to them?"
"I don't feel like it." He says back immediately.
"Well which one would you prefer?"
"I really don't care." He shakes his head. He looks utterly exhausted to the point that his eyes have remained glazed over during this entire conversation.
The next time I hear someone come to the doorway, I'm expecting it to be the nurse again but when I look over, it's his sister. Unsurprisingly, she looks much less than thrilled to see Zim.
"Why is he here?" She asks Dib.
"Gaz don't-" he starts but is immediately cut off.
"What the fuck are you doing here? Why did they even let you in?" She asks, her tone of voice icy and biting.
"I don't know what you think happened, but-" I start to explain but she isn't much interested in hearing anyone's voice but her own at the moment.
"I think I trusted you to keep your word about him being safe out there!" She hisses, moving close to me to point a sharp nail into my chest. "I think you lied to me! I THINK you did this shit intentionally because-"
"Gaz!" Dib exclaims but she barely spares him a glance.
"Intentionally?! You're an absolute imbecile if you really believe that!" I say back, slapping her hand away. She responds by immediately shoving me and I shove her back.
"Stop it!" He exclaims and as much as I would love to do as he says, really I need to because fighting is the last thing I need to be doing, she's testing me.
"If you don't know how to handle your emotions, that's on you! But you leave him out of it! I know exactly what you're trying to do!" She continues and now Im blocking her hands from my face, clearly she's wanted to attack me for quite some time. As painful as it is, there's this insane anger that boils over within me and I completely forget that my PAK is in extremely poor condition.
"You put your hands on Zim one more time and you're going out the window!" I shout, grabbing both her arms with my PAK legs while simultaneously crossing the room near the window. She's kicking her legs but I'm holding her far enough from me that none of them connect.
"Oh my God…" I hear Dib gasp and then suddenly there is a strange beeping sounding from somewhere in the room. Now that I realize it, there are several and it finally hits me that one of them is his heart rate indicator. I retract my PAK legs, dropping Gaz to the floor and start over to where Dib is holding a hand to his chest but the room door opens and I turn my attention that way. The nurse is walking in and she sets down the things I suppose Dib should be eating soon. When she reaches him she starts speaking so calmly and quietly, I can't make out what she's saying. Eventually some of the beeping subsides and the rest of it evens out and Dib nods at something she says to him. When I glance over at his sister she glares at me and I have no issue returning one briefly before returning my focus to where Dib is still sitting on the bed taking calming breaths and the nurse turns to the two of us.
"I wasn't aware that both of you were in here…" she says.
"Okay?" Gaz replies but the nurse sighs.
"In the intensive care unit, only one visitor is allowed at a time-"
"No no, please don't make either of them go!" Dib interrupts and we all look at him.
"We employ this because it's beneficial for you to-"
"Please, I'll eat or drink whatever you want me to, I'll even use the tube but they need to be here." He implores. She sighs, looking between the three of us for a moment.
"You're going to get me in trouble, Dib." She says shaking her head but as she takes another look at his pleading eyes she looks defeated. "Alright." She starts, looking at Gaz and I. "If anyone asks, one of you hid in the bathroom every time I was here, okay? I had no idea you were both here."
"Okay." Gaz says.
"Understood." I nod.
"Now for you. Are you going to make good on that promise?" She asks Dib.
"Yeah." He sighs.
"Okay great. So we're going to try the shake and I'm going to leave the yogurt, applesauce and juice box here with you. Sound good?" She asks and he nods.
The feeding goes over surprisingly well, Dib-Thing doesn't kick up a fuss. He doesn't… have one of those episodes either so the nurse is finished in no time at all before reminding us that she doesn't know we're here and leaving the room. There's a long awkward silence but he breaks it.
"You guys don't have to fight. This is all stressful enough without that."
"Then someone here should learn how to control their emotions." I say under my breath..
"You're one to talk." Gaz snips back but Dib just looks tiredly between us and I sigh.
"Alright." I say finally with a shrug. Gaz plops down in the seat near the window and Dib smiles at me so I sit down on the edge of his bed.
"Have you figured out what you're going to tell dad?" Gaz asks.
"Um. I talked to him earlier. Audio only."
"What did you say?" She continues and he sighs.
"I told him there was an accident. A malfunction with the ship and that we were heading back early." He says back and she nods.
"Then you downplayed it and he's going to be upset with you." She says back.
"He's at an important conference. What is sitting in the hospital with me going to do?" Dib asks her but her only response is a shrug. "Besides, it's not the first time I've kept something like this from him."
"It's insane how many times you've narrowly escaped death and kept it from him." She replies, pulling her phone from her jacket pocket before shrugging it off and folding it over the arm of the chair. Dib looks at me for a moment and I look away. "You're more beat up than you were that time you made the.. what was it again?"
"The stun-gun." Dib groans in response.
"What stun-gun?" I ask and he blows out a breath before responding.
"It's a long story." He says and I narrow my eyes at him.
"And Zim agreed to stay here for as long as you want. So entertain me." I say back. His expression goes blank for a moment aside from a pink spreading across his cheeks before he finally gives in.
"Okay fine… So this was like six years ago. Around spring break during seventh grade-"
"It absolutely was not spring break." Gaz scoffs and Dib rolls his eyes.
"I said around." He replies quickly and she laughs.
"Right because you cut school that day."
"So did you!" He says back and she shrugs. "Anyway. I didn't go to school because I was working on the stun gun after I had spent the majority of the night before, reviewing my files on some spotlight cryptids."
"What are spotlight cryptids?" I inquire and Gaz laughs again.
"His nerdy filing system."
"It's not nerdy, it's actually very efficient! Basically when you came to earth, a lot of my other research into the paranormal took a backseat for a long time until I realized I wasn't optimizing my time and resources so I decided to focus on specific files each week."
"Was Zim ever a spotlight?" I ask and his eyes shift around.
"Well… No. But you didn't have to be because no matter who was the focal point of the week, I still had scheduled times daily to- Um… Study you." He says back, starting to turn pink again.
"He meant spy on you." Gaz says monotonously but I don't really care. I was generally aware that he was constantly observing me.
"So then I was the most important one?" I ask.
"We're getting away from the focus of the story that you wanted me to tell! So anyway, the spotlight cryptid at the time was the chupacabra and AFTER I focused a LITTLE BIT on what you were doing… which was uh… cleaning your house like you tended to do pretty much every Thursday after school, I packed the stun gun once it was dark out and left for that forest near the city limit where there had been some reports of sightings around the Swollen Eyeball community."
"Well what did the stun gun do?" I ask.
"It was supposed to play a luring sound at a frequency only a chupacabra could hear and when it got close enough, I could switch the setting and it'd open up this blinding light which would essentially stun them because they're sensitive to light."
"And your plan for after you stun it?" I inquire and his eyes light up as he continues excitedly explaining his plan.
"Oh man I'd be so excited but I'd try to remember to take lots of up close photos, I had a few tranquilizer darts with me to keep it incapacitated so that I could then attach a tracking device to it. After that, I'd be able to see places it frequented and I could go and put cameras up and learn so much more! Sleep patterns, whether or not they interact with others like them, just- a whole lot!"
"That sounds like a pretty decent plan." I say back which he seems even happier to hear.
"Maybe if the stun gun had actually worked, which I told him from the beginning it wouldn't." Gaz says and Dib seems to remember that she's sitting there.
"Right…" He says.
"It didn't work?" I ask and he shakes his head.
"Of course when I spotted the chupacabra, I tried to use the sound frequency feature and it worked but then as it was coming closer to where I was, I tried to switch over to the light setting and it just malfunctioned. The frequency changed to this high pitched whining noise and I was about to try and figure out what happened when suddenly it started sparking in my hands. I dropped it and it burst into flames. The chupacabra stopped and was just watching but I definitely didn't want to start a forest fire so I tried to put it out and it freaking blew up! Like literally just exploded right in front of me. That definitely scared the chupacabra away but all the pieces of the stun gun were flying everywhere and my face even got burned. It was a huge mess."
"What was the reason for the malfunction?" I ask and he shrugs.
"I never figured it out. It was so broken up, I couldn't even tell what it was supposed to be anymore… I had to use my jacket to put out what little fires were still around and that's when I noticed Gaz coming over to me out of seemingly nowhere."
"You followed him?" I ask her and she shrugs.
"She had the first aid kit we keep at home and as soon as she got to me she said ' I told you it wouldn't work '. I couldn't even be angry with her at that point, I was just so happy to see the kit and immediately went for the burn gel."
"He needed a billion bandages, too." She adds.
"What happened to the stun gun?" I ask. "You still have it?"
"Yeah but I never tried to fix it."
"It was a good plan. I could help you fix it, incorporating more extensive safety tests this time, and you could try again." I suggest.
"Oh… Okay." He says, seeming a bit surprised. "That'd be cool!"
"You two are anything but cool." Gaz interjects and we both glare at her. Then there's a weird lull in the conversation. My eyelids are getting heavy again and that familiar exhaustion makes itself more noticeable with every passing second but I continue trying to ignore it. Instead, I reach over and pick up the small cups the nurse left on the bedside table.
"Which one?" I ask Dib and he sighs. "We made a deal." I remind him and he flicks his gaze to mine then looks at Gaz. She doesn't say anything though and he finally points to the yogurt cup. I hand it over and he starts to open it as I sit the other one back down.
There really isn't much going on after that aside from Dib-Thing bickering a bit with his sister. The nurse human comes back a couple of times to check on him, as well and the last time she comes into the room, it's to give him dinner and inform us that the night nurse will be arriving soon and that visiting hours are ending soon. After she leaves, Zim can tell Dib is definitely tired and probably ready to go to sleep.
"Well… I guess I should go and get ready for school tomorrow…" She says to him and he nods, giving a half smile. He looks like he's struggling to keep his eyes open just as much as I am and he hasn't been talking as much as the evening got later. "You need to leave, too. If I'm not here, you can't be either." She says to me and I just stare at her.
"Gaz." Dib says. "You-"
"Wait." I interject and they both look at me again. I take as deep a breath as I can without feeling even more pain throughout my body, looking between the two of them. After a painful swallow, I continue. "I need to speak with you." Gaz's eyebrows rise on her forehead as I wait for her response. After an eternity, she points towards the door and I nod, turning to leave the room.
"Don't make me call the nurse again, guys." Dib calls out as the door shuts behind us. Gaz crosses her arms and stares me down once we're in the hallway. I clear my throat and look past her instead.
"I shouldn't have to explain anything to you but Zim is not physically capable of continuing this war with you."
"Then you shouldn't have let him get hurt like that." She says through clenched teeth and I roll my eyes.
"That isn't what happened. The whole reason for the trip we went on was because the Tallests wanted to see Zim. Dib-Thing wanted to go!"
"You're blaming him?!"
"I am not. He came on the trip and he found out that the Tallests…" I continue, trying to keep my voice low as a couple of humans pass by us in the hallway. "They had ill intentions with Zim and Dib wanted to help. I kept my word about protecting him, I would never let anything like this happen to him but I understand why that would be… difficult for you to believe…" She's quietly processing what I said for a second before sighing and dropping her arms.
"So who did that to him?"
"It… It was the Tallests. But I wasn't aware until it was too late. I told him to stay where I left him. I put him somewhere safe, he was heavily guarded and with GIR and Minimoose. He left on his own."'
"To get you away from your leaders?" She asks and I nod.
"Zim was completely incapacitated when it all took place and when I was finally conscious enough to understand what was happening, the damage was done and I-" I cut myself off there because even I still don't really understand what happened between my waking up and us getting on the ship. "I took him and we left Irk. I tried to leave as fast as possible but…"
"But?" She asks and I come back into myself after remembering when we initially boarded the ship to come back to Earth.
"There was so much bleeding. He had all these injuries and no matter what I did he wouldn't wake up… His heart stopped on the ship." I say back. Her eyes blow open and for a moment I expect her to resume hitting me like she was earlier when she first got here but she doesn't.
"Well what happened?! Because he's clearly in there alive."
"Zim helped him the only way I knew how. You have to believe me. I… I would never hurt him like that and I would never let anyone else… I care about your brother. In good caring."
"What does that mean?" She asks.
"It means exactly what I said. The Tallests tried to kill me, he stopped them so they tried to kill him instead."
"How did you help him?" She asks and I sigh.
"You ask so many questions! Why can't you just believe me?!" I hiss in exasperation.
"Because my brother went somewhere with you and came back looking like something chewed him up and spit him out!" She whispers back fiercely, causing the turning sensation in my stomach to intensify.
"I… Zim used a makeshift PAK to transfer my life source to him… Just enough to start his heart back up and heal him enough so that he would make it back to earth…"
"...He didn't tell me that…"
"Because I didn't tell him and Zim isn't going to."
"Why not?!"
"Because it was horrible!" I hiss and then try to collect myself. "He was in so much pain, he kept asking me to let him die and then he just… passed out. He didn't wake up until the day I called you." She looks thoughtful for a few moments, then shakes her head.
"Holy shit…" She mumbles to herself.
"Do you believe me?"
"I don't see how I couldn't. You did bring him back here and you came back today…" She says and I exhale a relieved breath knowing I won't have to be prepared to fight every time she comes around. "But!" She holds a finger up. "If I find any reason to believe you don't have his best interest in mind, I will make you wish the Tallests HAD killed you." She growls, not even waiting for a response. She turns and goes back into the room. I suppose that talk could have gone much worse. She could have attacked me and then I'd be worried about Dib forgiving me for murdering his only sibling.
Eventually I follow her back into Dib's room but when I get in there I see that he's asleep and she's just finished quietly collecting her things.
"Are you staying overnight?" She asks me in a very hushed tone. I look over at Dib as he sleeps and remember walking out on him the first time. I shake my head free of the thought before nodding. Her mouth pinches to one side as she glances between the two of us but then she huffs out a breath. "Alright… I'm coming back tomorrow. After school."
"Zim will tell him." I nod and then she leaves the room.
I cross the room and click the one light that kept the room in a faint white glow all day and now there's only street lights coming through the blinds of the large windows. The door opens before my fingers leave the switch and a different nurse enters the room. She's carrying a large pillow and a white throw blanket.
"Hi." She says quietly, shifting the bedding into one arm and extending the other out to me. "I'm nurse Herrera. You must be Mr. Membrane." She continues waiting for Zim to shake her hand. I finally do so and a smile spreads across her face. "I heard from Nurse Spellman that you might need these." She holds the pillow and blanket out for me and I take them, setting them down on the arm of the chair Gaz vacated from. I watch her pick up the folder full of papers at the foot of his bed and look through them. She checks over a few other things carefully, likely trying not to wake him, then writes some things down on the board above his bed before leaving the room again.
I sink down into the chair near the window, unsure what to do with myself. But Zim knows I wanted to be here more than I wanted to still be at my base. At some point throughout the night, I will have to check in with Skoodge about my supplies but for now, Dib-Thing has the right idea. I don't think I have ever needed to sleep more than I do right now. It is concerning to think that my PAK might pull me under one final time if I do but there just isn't anything else I can do at this point. I don't even unfold the blanket. I leave it under the pillow and just lean over onto both, watching Dib carefully as he sleeps across the room until I go unconscious as well.
I don't know what wakes me up, but as I'm coming to, my headache is twice as intense and there isn't a single part of my body that doesn't hurt. When I manage to peel my eyes open, it takes a moment for the room to come into view and I immediately focus in on a dark figure standing over Dib from the right side of his bed. I assume it's a nurse in my haze until I realize she's just standing in the dark. I blink a couple of times before I can finally see it more clearly and I automatically jump up from my seat.
"Poor little alien." Miyuki says, looming over him. My hands twitch as rage ecompasses me at the sight of another Tallest anywhere near him.
"Get away from him." I hiss at her and she finally looks up at where I'm standing on the opposite side of the bed.
"Me? There's nothing I could do to him that you haven't already done." She replies.
"Zim didn't do this."
"Didn't you?" She asks. "The poor thing looks awful."
"Stop acting like you care about anybody but yourself."
"Zim, why did you convince yourself that I didn't care about you?" She asks but I can't listen to her. I can't listen to any of them anymore. She isn't even actually here, is she?
"What are you?" I finally ask. It isn't something I've ever even given a second thought to. I can't remember when they all first started popping up but I never really tried to figure out where they came from. I wanted them to leave so badly, I never tried to figure out why they were there in the first place.
"You tell me." She says back, her bright blue eyes lighting up her line of sight. I take a deep breath and look between her and the floor.
"I don't know…" It comes out in a whisper and she rounds the bed, coming to stop in front of me. "I don't know what you are." She shakes her head at me.
"That's because you barely know what you are anymore." She replies but it isn't condescending or hateful. At least, it doesn't sound that way.
"Did I ever know?" I ask but the question isn't really directed at her, especially with my gaze shifted back to the floor. From my peripheral, I can see the blue lights of her eyes fade away but I still don't look up. I knew she wasn't going to say anything else to me. I don't even know what I wanted her to say or what I needed to hear.
"Did you ever know what?" I hear to my right. When I glance over, Dib is watching me through tired eyes.
"Zim thought you were asleep."
"I was. What time is it?" He asks, looking around the room before trying to sit up.
"It is 1:34 AM. Your sister said she will come back later today."
"Okay." He sighs, putting his glasses back on. "I don't want you guys fighting."
"We won't be." I say back, looking around the room.
"Thanks for staying. Even if I wasn't awake to ask you to." He says quietly. I don't respond as I'm too busy looking him over again. I know it's all supposed to be helping him but he looks so uncomfortable.
"Does…" I start to ask. He just watches patiently as I take a breath. "Does it hurt to talk?"
"Not really." He says back.
"Well… Um… If that's the case and since you're awake…" I continue, picking up the lone applesauce cup from earlier.
"It's one in the morning." He groans.
"It is and we had a deal. Zim is still here."
"Fine." He says finally. I hand it over, hoping he doesn't realize it's due to my own inability to peel it open for him. He doesn't mention it but that doesn't necessarily mean he didn't notice. Either way, he opens it just fine and I hand him the plastic spoon which was much easier to open. He's about to eat a spoonful before he pauses and looks at me. "Do you need anything? Any snacks? How are you feeling?"
"Still so many questions."
"When Gaz first visited, she brought me some candy. Before she knew I couldn't really eat it." He says, reaching over to the table on the right side of the bed. "Here, take this."
"What is it?" I ask, turning over the red packaging in my hand.
"They're Skittles. It's just regular candy." He says, resuming eating the applesauce. I tear the packaging open with my teeth and try some of the candy which is surprisingly good. I didn't even realize how much I needed the energy boost until now as I'm tearing through the small bag. Dib's light chuckling catches my attention though.
"What?"
"Nothing. We're just two AM snacking, again." He says but just the thought of the trip twists my gut and I have to look away.
"Here." I say, handing over what's left. "I don't want to eat all your candy." He holds a hand out, pushing it back towards me but doesn't say anything.
The candy actually does help me to feel slightly better, at least to the point that I become more curious about all the weird earth technology all over the room. Dib is just watching me move about the room observing things for a few moments before speaking.
"What are you doing?"
"I haven't spent much time in human repair shops. You all require a lot of help after injury. Humans are even more fragile than Zim had originally assumed."
"Well every human's healing process is different. Do all Irkens heal in the same way?" He asks.
"Pretty much."
"I guess we aren't there yet."
"Touche."
"Uh… No… Just no. Not here either." He says back. Damn.
I come to a small black screen that hangs over my head, attached to the ceiling but it isn't displaying anything like all the other machines in here.
"What is this one for?" I ask.
"That's just a TV."
"TV? It's very small."
"I don't think this place is all about luxury televisions."
"What is the significance of a TV for your healing process?"
"Nothing, Zim. I can't really go anywhere or do anything so it's just supposed to be entertaining for the time being." He explains, lining up the empty applesauce cup and then pitching it across the room. It bounces off the side of the trash can and he rolls his eyes.
"Do you want me to turn the TV on?" I ask, walking over and putting the cup in the trash.
"I doubt there's anything to watch besides info-mercials."
"Then we will watch that." I say back, easily locating the power button. Zim doesn't know what info-mercials are but I presume I will find out once he picks up the remote from his bedside. I watch curiously as he flips through all these different channels.
"Let me know which one catches your attention." He says, shaking his head a bit. I'm still watching him flip through the channels when one of the people catches my attention just by being much louder than the others.
"Okay stop. I want to see what he is shouting about." The man on screen is apparently very excited about the stain remover product he is showcasing.
"Yup. Nothing's better than some stain remover in the middle of the night." Dib says.
"Sarcasm."
"Clearly."
"Well Zim would buy that. GIR causes plenty of awful, unidentifiable stains all over the base." I say back, noticing quickly how Dib's body language shifts and he becomes more rigid at the mention of GIR. "...Eh, if you can find a better product on TV right now, go ahead." He snorts in response and lifts the remote again.
"Are you kidding?" He asks, flipping channels. "This is way better than some cleaning powder."
"This guy is not nearly as entertaining to watch and all he is showing is a towel."
"It's not just any towel! It's like, the best towel ever! Do you see how absorbent it is?!" He exclaims.
"Your hair stuff is equally as absorbent."
"Shut up." He says back and I shrug. "Are you just going to stand in the middle of the floor for the rest of the night?"
"Maybe."
"Just sit down." He insists and I look back over at the chair near the window. "Or you could sit on the bed which I'm sure will be a lot more comfortable."
"Hm…" He's right. It'd likely be much less painful than keeping myself upright for hours.
"Come on, SpaceBug. I don't bite." He says, moving over as much as he can. I finally give in and sit down to the left of him. Once we're both adjusted comfortably, I notice something else on TV that I actually find cool. The towel advertisement has been replaced by a blending machine. The people using it are explaining all the healthy drinks they make with it.
"Are those things they are drinking actually healthy? For Humans?"
"The smoothies? Yeah they're pretty good for us, I guess." He replies and I think about his condition.
"The Dib should drink them, then."
"Oh… They've offered a few but I haven't accepted one yet." He explains and I just stare at him. "But… I mean I will next time?" He continues and I nod, going back to watching the TV and making notes of some of the ingredients I see on screen.
As focused as I am on this info-mercial, I feel my consciousness begin to fade quickly. Especially once Dib stops commenting on the program. The last thing Zim is aware of is when Dib-Thing picks up the remote and lowers the volume on the TV.
Waking up the next morning doesn't feel as bad as last time but it isn't much better either. I don't check my life source or energy bank because Dib is right next to me, but I can tell it isn't as bad. It can't be after what Zim assumes was a long rest. I open my eyes and see that I'm facing the room door, but I can tell that Dib is awake behind me. From what it sounds like, he is using his phone and his taps on it are the only sound in the room aside from all the machines. I'm debating on going back to sleep when his phone starts vibrating and he tries to exhale quietly but I can tell he's annoyed. After a moment or two, I hear him pick up.
"I-I know… I'm sorry, I was just- No. No." He immediately starts whispering into the receiver. "It isn't as bad as it seems, though… Please don't, it's not necessary, I… No, I'm fine… Because it's nine in the morning and my friend is asleep… Yes… Yeah… He um… Right." He sighs again. "Please don't cut your conference short. I'm sorry I didn't tell you but I didn't want you to worry… I will. Okay, I promise I will. Alright. Yeah, dad. Bye." He finally ends the call and I'm wondering what exactly his parental unit had to say about the situation at hand.
I finally move to sit up and he looks over at me.
"I'm sorry, did I wake you up?"
"Wake me up, how?" I ask, feigning ignorance.
"With the… Okay nevermind. I thought that… So how are you feeling?"
"Are you not the one hooked up to all the machines? Stop asking about Zim." He's about to respond to me but the door swings open and in walks the nurse human with a rolling metal table.
"Good morning!" She says, both tone and volume sickening to me.
"Hi." Dib replies begrudgingly.
"I'm sure you're aware, it's breakfast time. How are you feeling about it?" She asks him and he looks at me. "It's okay if you want to wait a little longer for the sole source meal, but I brought some other things for you as well. Nurse Herrera told me you wanted a smoothie, today." She explains, setting up all of his options before him.
"Yes, thank you. And the sole source right now is fine, too." He tells her. She tries to conceal her surprise but Zim picks up on it anyway. I start to leave the bed and she stops me.
"Oh you don't have to move." She waves a hand and then walks over to Dib's right. Aside from a few shaky breaths, Dib's feeding through the NG tube is uneventful and the nurse adjusts a few other things before leaving the room again. The table full of food is right in front of me so I start handing things to him.
"Smoothie first." I tell him. He takes it without complaint, placing the straw into the lid.
"So." He starts after a few sips. "Before the night nurse left, she told me that if I keep up my new eating habits, I could be out of here in a week." I just nod, unsure what to say in response. "I finally told my Dad… Well still not everything but I did explain more about my current state of physical health…"
"Is he angry?"
"Mostly just concerned. He's at a huge conference though, all the way in Egypt and he keeps trying to come home to look after me. I really don't want him to do that, this conference has been planned for months. It's really important and it lasts several weeks. I keep telling him that leaving early isn't going to make me get any better any quicker."
"He wants to come and look after you during your recovery?" I ask and he nods.
"Yeah."
"Zim could do it…"
"Huh?"
"I could do it."
"Um… I don't know…"
"Do you not trust me?" I ask, for some reason, the thought actually makes me feel… bad. I would say Zim did a fairly decent job before allowing the humans to take over.
"No no, that's not it at all, I just um-" He stops abruptly, staring forward for a few seconds. "Actually, okay."
"Zim doesn't get it. What just changed your mind?"
"Nothing! Nothing at all. I'll let my dad know. Fair warning though… He's definitely going to want you to check in with him."
"Easily handled." I nod. "Now stop talking so much. Finish your smoothie. We are getting out of here as soon as possible."