ZaDr

Chapter 3

(trigger warning)

A few weeks passed and Dib watched Zim carefully, his plan didn't work, he had failed. Zim paced around his lab trying not to panic. "What am I going to tell the tallest? Should I wait until I have another plan? What should I do?"

Dib cracked open a soda while watching through his computer screen, he figured Zim would come up with something else and tell his leaders but he was very wrong.

Zim spent hours pacing and trying to think of something, he hit his head, pulled his antennas, even asked Gir but Gir just told him the giant pizza plan again. "Okay okay maybe I can lie, they'll believe me right? No of course I can't lie to the tallest, that's treason! They'll kill me! Think Zim think!"

Dib yawned and was tempted to go to bed but he didn't have skool tomorrow so he decided to stay up

Zim took a deep breath "maybe I can ask them to give me some tools, they want this planet right? They'll agree to help me if it means they can take it, yeah, this'll definitely work"

Dib chuckled "right because they've helped you so many times before"

Zim took a few more deep breaths before calling the tallest, they answered but looked extremely annoyed "what is it now Zim?" Red asked "my tallest" Zim saluted "I have unfortunate news, my latest plan didn't work out so I've come to ask for some supplies" he explained

The tallest look at each other and started laughing, Zim looked confused and he awkwardly laughed with them "y-yes very funny, Zims hilarious" Red put his hand up to stop Zim "look Zim, you've failed and failed and failed and failed, time and time again. Truth is we've been keeping a secret from you, you're a-" "you're defective Zim that's right you're programmed wrong!" Purple interrupted and Red looked a little annoyed "yes as I was saying you're defective Zim" he let it sink in. Zim looked shocked "wh-what? B-but my tallest I-im not! I swear" Red cut him off again "mm yes very sad, now instead of bringing you all the way back here to kill you we've decided to banish you to urth, don't call us ever again, goodbye" the call ended just like that

Dibs mouth was hanging wide open as he watched, Zim was defective? What did that mean?

Zim's hands started shaking, so did his legs, he soon collapsed to his knees, he felt like a million pounds was crushing him to the ground, he started hyperventilating and sobbing, his whole body felt like it was being torn apart, he fell to the ground and curled up into a ball and violently sobbed. This couldn't be happening, this couldn't be real.

"Oh Zim" Dib felt horrible for the alien, he even teared up while watching

Zim cried and cried, Dib kept debating if he should go over there but he wasn't sure. After what felt like days passed, Zim sat up, he felt like he didn't deserve to live anymore, he took off his PAK and set it on the ground before laying back down, he didn't think anyone cared about him so it wouldn't matter if he lived or died.

"Oh no, no, no, no, no, no" Dib got up and rushed down the stairs and out of the door, he knew what would happen if Zim took his PAK off for too long, he had stolen it once and Zim completely freaked and told Dib he couldn't live for more than 10 minutes after it was off, Dib was hesitant but he gave it back. His lungs burned as he ran but he ignored it, he only had 8 minutes to save Zim and he was going to, he couldn't let Zim die, not like this. Once he got to Zims base he checked his watch, 4 minutes?! He easily dodged the gnomes and he burst through the door, he ignored Gir and headed straight to the elevator. By the time Dib got down their Zim was losing consciousness and all he could see was a blurry figure running towards him before he passed out. Dib quickly picked up the PAK and reconnected it Zim "wake up, wake up, wake up, don't die on me, please!" He didn't even know he was crying until his tears burnt Zim's skin, he quickly wiped them away and gently shook Zim "please wake up"

Seconds felt like minutes and minutes felt like hours but eventually Zim groaned softly and he looked up at Dib "how'd you get in here?" He asked weakly Dib sighed with relief and he cried more it was hard to tell if it was happy or sad tears "oh Zim, oh my god I'm so glad you're okay" Zim looked a bit confused "why? You won Dib, it's over, you can cut me open now" Dib chuckled sadly "I don't want to cut you open Zim I... Honestly I haven't wanted to in a long time" he admitted "really?" Zim asked "but I'm your enemy? I was trying to take over the earth.. and now I'm nothing" he looked down sadly "don't say that Zim! You are something! You're one of the most amazing creatures I've ever gotten to know, you're perfect Zim, you matter to me" Dib wiped away more tears trying not to burn Zim, Zim was all sorts of confused but he felt a tiny bit better and a bit tingly? "I don't understand Dib, why are you being nice to me?" Zim questioned "because... Because... Because I want to be your friend Zim, I don't want to fight anymore, let's have a truce okay?" Dib answered but it was deeper than that much deeper but it wasn't a good time to explain all that. "A truce?" Zim asked "yeah, we can be friends and I'll show you everything that could make you happy on earth" Dib explained "I... Okay" Zim gave in, what more could he lose? Dib sighed with relief and wiped the tears off of both of them "I'm going to stay here tonight to make sure you're okay, do you have a bedroom?" Dib asked "yeah" Zim tried to get up but Dib stopped him "it's okay I'll carry you" he got up and held Zim close, Zim guided Dib to a part of the base he never knew existed and he opened a door to a big room that was dome shaped, it was a dark pink and in the middle there was a large circular bed with a ton of pillows and blankets, Dib smiled a little and took his shoes off before walking on the bed and laying Zim down before laying next to him "I didn't know you slept" Dib said as he got more comfortable "I don't do it very often" Zim explained and he moved closer to Dib, he liked Dibs warmth, Dib realized how cold Zim was and he covered them up "are you always this cold?" He asked, Zim nodded "we don't regulate our body temperature, irks really hot so we are designed to be cold" he explained and Dib wanted to ask more questions but he knew the poor alien had been through enough for the day. Dib gently cuddled Zim and held him close, he had been wanting to do this for a long time, he blushed a little and just relaxed. Zim wanted to ask Dib what he was doing but he was so comfortable he didn't care, he gently clung to Dib before his PAK beeped softly and he slowly fell asleep. Dib followed soon after.