Invader Zim Fan Fiction ❯ What He Said ❯ What He Said ( One-Shot )

[ A - All Readers ]

As a general rule, Zim was not sentimental.

In all his years, on Irk, on Vort, on Devastis, on Earth, anywhere really, he could not honestly say that he'd once felt guilty for causing destruction of any kind. No, he relished destruction. He adored seeing things burn, and it always made his squeedlyspooch flutter when an explosion went off.

In fact, had anyone ever suggested Zim had a sentimental side, he would have shot them then and there. And possibly even danced over their charred corpse, were he one to dance at all.

But over the years, his violence lessened slightly. While not enough to be noticeable to anyone, it had caught the eye of the most important human on the planet. The Dib-human.

It had first started when the human was fifteen, five years after Zim's initial arrival on the planet. During one particular argument, the human had said something that had crossed a line. Or perhaps it was merely a truth that the Irken had never wanted to acknowledge, but that was neither here nor there. The words had struck a chord in him, and he'd looked at the slightly older, plain human in a new light.

Another year passed, and they began sitting together at lunch. Conversations were struck up, and Zim began to realize something about Dib. Namely, that he wasn't stupid. While he'd known this after years of having his plans of world domination foiled by the human, it was startlingly clear when they weren't arguing like children.

Dib understood things. In fact, his grasp on Irken culture solely from his observations of Zim had been mildly impressive.

It had been another two months before Zim had made a confession of his own.

"I don't want to kill you anymore."

For the Irken, this was as close to saying 'I love you' as he would ever come. (Save, perhaps, 'I don't hate you', but that was another story entirely.)

Four months passed before they'd shared their first kiss. It was half a year before they went further.

By the time they were out of HiSkool, what they had became regarded somewhat derisively as 'true freak love', but they hadn't cared.

Kolege came and went, and Dib ended up moving into Zim's base. While plans to conquer the Earth hadn't stopped being made, the Irken hardly found time to execute many of them these days. The ones he did execute were always stopped by his not-quite-spouse, and a day would be spent pouting before the two of them made up.

Life was as normal as it would get for them.

And then it had happened. News crews had called it a freak accident, something only dreamt of for movies in an attempt to give heroes and heroines tragic back stories. The call from the hospital had come in midday, while Zim was down in the lab working on his latest attempt at world conquest. Normally, Gir would have been the one to answer the useless telephone, but the half-crazed SIR unit had been missing since the previous night.

Zim wasn't worried about the robot, and so he'd ascended to the house level and answered the phone. He'd only caught a few words after the main message.

"There was an accident. ...... Dib Membrane ...... ICU at Austere Hospital ...... Come quick ...... Doesn't have much time."

He'd hung up the phone halfway through and run out the door as soon as his wig and contacts were on. He couldn't even remember if he'd closed the damn thing, but he didn't care. Dib was in trouble. The stupid, selfish human had gone and gotten into an accident.

And when he'd arrived, twilight setting in and the stars shining in the visible darkness mockingly, he knew. Professor Membrane, who normally didn't spare enough time to even check in on his children more than once every month or so, was already there. Gaz was there as well, and her normal borderline foul demeanor had vanished completely. In fact, in an unusual and somewhat terrifying display of emotion, she was clinging to her father's hand, squeezing it so hard Zim was certain the flesh under his gloves was devoid of all color.

It took everything for the Irken to still his shaking hands as he marched to the front desk. He ignored the scent that assaulted him, a mixture of ammonia and some kind of cleaning chemical he didn't feel the need to identify. The nurse on duty sent him a single look, heard out his request to see Dib, and grabbed a visitor's badge for him.

Ordinarily, Zim doubted he would have been allowed to see the human. He wasn't a direct relation, and the two of them weren't married nor did they share any semblance of the union... But long ago, after Dib had moved into his base, the human had briefly mentioned that he was giving Zim Medical Power of Attorney over him. At the time, the Irken had thought it nothing.

But as he stepped into the dreary room in the ICU and caught one look at Dib, he realized why he'd been allowed in.

He was here to make a choice.

A doctor came up behind him and began to drone on and on. The accident had wreaked havoc on the human's body. He'd been thrown a great distance from his vehicle, and the impact with solid concrete had broken his back in several places. The surgery had been rough, and the human had nearly bled out on the table. All scans thus far had shown no activity in the brain. They'd done all they could, and even if the human did eventually regain brain function and wake up, the chances of him ever functioning on his own again were nonexistent.

The decision was easy. Even if Dib did wake up, he would never want to live a life like that. The doctor gave him a pitying look, and Zim watched numbly as machines were unplugged and removed. In a few minutes, the only thing that remained connected was the EKG.

Zim was left alone then, and he silently watched the peaks on the LCD screen slowly but surely begin to descend. He almost wished he could cry, but the shuddering breaths were enough.

Finally, at length, he spoke.

"Hey, Dib-stink... Remember what you said ten years ago?"

There was no response, but that was expected. Zim continued on, his voice trembling with effort.

"I had laughed at how you pitiful humans always seemed to be clamoring to find this stupid 'love' thing. And you'd told me you never wanted to find it... You told me that 'love is watching someone die'. I didn't get it back then."

The Irken fell silent, looking down to his boots and trying to ignore how slow the steady beeps from the EKG were coming. His shoulders were shaking with barely restrained dry sobs.

"Why? I'd say I wish we'd never met, but even I know that's a lie. You were the best thing to happen to me, and I'd rather lose you than dream of never having met you."

A choked sob escaped, and Zim buried his head in his hands, eyes squeezed shut as the LCD screen began to drone.

"Why did you have to leave me?"

It all came crashing down around him then. The dry sobs escaped as a hand descended on his shoulder. He didn't know if it was Membrane or Gaz - they'd both probably been called in to sit with Dib in his final moments - but he didn't care.

As a general rule, Zim was not sentimental... But one stupid human had managed to become the exception to that rule.