Who Needs Sleep? (ZaDr)

Chapter 1

"Hah! You thought you could defeat me, human? I am the almighty ZIM!" The Invader had Dib pinned against the wall of a building, spider legs holding him above the ground. His shoulders were bleeding from where they had been sliced through by the blades.

It was night, and the Irken's scarlet eyes were shining in the moonlight. There was a trail of blood from where Dib had been hiding behind a dumpster to where he was now. However, Zim had been injured, too.

A long gash on his right arm oozed lavender blood, and there was a scratch on his cheek.

Dib struggled against Zim's spider legs, but it was hard to move his left arm, which had been slammed against the ground from earlier. He was pretty sure it was broken. The fifteen-year-old had also twisted his ankle while trying to run away.

"Without you here, I'll finally be able to conquer your filthy planet!" Zim screeched. A moment later he plunged a third spider leg into Dib's heart.

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Dib shot up and looked around. He was in bed and covered in sweat, gasping for air. It was a dream. Just another dream. At least he was the one that died this time.

Dib got up and headed to the bathroom. Flicking on the light, he looked in the mirror. His scythe-like cowlick was drooping over his face, and his eyes were bloodshot. The blue-gray T-shirt he was wearing was drenched in sweat. He looked terrible.

"I can't keep doing this," he murmured to himself. "I can't keep having these dreams."

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Dib was late. It was five minutes after class had started and the boy still hadn't shown up. Zim was watching the door intently, about ready to storm off to the young nuisance's house and drag him to Skool himself.

Dib burst through the door, out of breath and holding a coffee in one hand. Zim noticed that he was shaking a little.

"Dib." The word came out as though Mrs. Sour (Mrs. Bitters' cousin) was about to smack the boy upside the head -- no doubt she would have, too, if she wouldn't immediately be fired.

"I- I'm, uh-" For a moment it seemed as if Dib had forgotten what was happening. "I mean, sorry." With that he brushed past his teacher and over to his seat.

It was actually quite amusing to Zim. He snickered as his rival completely ignored the teacher as she talked down to him. It was about time someone tested her.

Mrs. Sour finished her verbal attack and went back to her lecture about the downfall of the Roman Empire.

Zim watched as Dib ran his finger around the rim of his coffee cup. He wasn't even supposed to have food or drink in class. It was odd. He hadn't been acting like himself for a couple weeks, but Zim had just chalked it up to working late nights trying to stop him and working on homework.

Now he noticed the dark circles under Dib's eyes and the lack of interest in anything. He wasn't watching Zim, nor was he taking notes. He even seemed to forget where he was at times.

Something inside Zim was slightly worried, although he would never admit it. He was, however, curious. He knew what he needed to do. He was going to watch his nemesis to figure out what was happening.

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Dib was hyped up on coffee. He knew he couldn't get through the day without it, so he had gone to the nearest Starbucks and ordered three. He had drunk two of them on his way to Skool, still having one to spare. He wasn't supposed to have it in class, but he didn't care. It was all he could do to make sure he wouldn't fall asleep that day.

He ran his finger around the rim of his cup. He glanced over at Zim and felt his face flush. His nemesis was looking at him. He shielded his face with his hands.

He was embarrassed about his current state. He looked like he had just woken up, despite being awake for hours before the sun came up, and he was shaking from the amount of caffeine he had ingested. Normally he wouldn't care, except...

He liked Zim. He had grown feelings for the Irken over the years, and didn't want him to know that he was doing poorly. That's why he hated those dreams so much. Why he couldn't stand it if one of them came true.

If Zim was hurt, or found out... The worst ones were where he died. Dib hated those. When he had to watch as Zim was dying, when the life in his eyes slowly faded, when Dib had to watch as he- he killed Zim.

Thinking about it caused tears to slide down his cheeks. He wasn't going to have those dreams anymore, he knew it. He wouldn't have to sit through anymore horrors. He wouldn't have to see Zim hurt anymore. He knew it because he wasn't going to sleep anymore.