Truthseeking

Burns

Zim could hear a distant yell, but couldn't register it before he felt himself screech in pain.

Burning, acidly water melted into his skin, it hurt, it hurt a lot. But he understood this was exactly what he deserved, so he held back from his reflexes, his mind screaming at him to get out.

Everytime his body tried to breathe, it was met with a fierce burning, painful sensation, making Zim regret this for just a moment.

But he knew it would be over soon, the water was killing him from both the outside and in, no matter how much his PAK tried, it wouldn't be able to heal or revive an Irken with melted insides.

The irken swore he heard something near him, but he couldn't confirm anything, as the world around him started to fade in blotches of black, it all becoming fuzzy and strangely comforting.

Zim's drowsily came back into consciousness, and was immediately met with the feeling of being scorched from the inside out.

Reflexively, he began coughing, coughing hard, he felt his lungs burning, his mouth too, his whole body.

The irken laid on his side, slowly trying to sit up, as he began to remember why he was so burnt anyway.

He wanted to open his eyes, to see who had saved him again, but he already had a feeling he knew.

It was likely Dib, and he found his eyes tightly shut as he continued coughing up whatever mixture of earth water had been frying his insides.

Zim wanted to yell, he wanted to growl, he wanted to do anything but this, he hated how vulnerable he was, in front of his enemy.

He couldn't even successfully die, not only did he fail the empire, he failed, and continues to fail everything he tries to do.

He could feel tears starting to flow down his cheeks, but the irken didn't stop them, he didn't think he could even if he wanted to anyway, as he was heaving and coughing.

Zim finally gathered himself enough to squint his eyes open, they were blurry from the built up tears that continued to spill, but he could see Dibs' silhouette next to him.

Seeing the human also made him realise that he had his hand on Zim's back, he wasn't sure how to feel about Dib touching him, but he let it go.

His body aches and burns, but he was thankful that his coughing had mostly stopped.

He was not grateful for how Dib Intervened his attempt not once, but twice, though..

Zim tried his best at a glare, but in his weak state he couldn't manage it, and he despised everything that's happening right now.

He's currently in his most vulnerable, weak state infront of his arch nemesis, and he can't even glare at him.

The irken just rested his gaze, giving up. Like he was supposed to, but not just on his glare.

".. Why..? " Zim asked, his voice quiet and horse from the water that burned his throat.

Dib opened and closed his mouth a few times, seemingly unsure what to say.

"I.. I just needed- uh- I…couldn't let my great arch nemesis die before I got a chance to properly defeat him." Dib lied, his voice cracking as if he was attempting to say a little more.

His antenna dropped a bit, lies, he hated lies, but he seemed to only attract more of them.

But then the irken noticed how he had been lying too, Dib still thought he was an actual invader.

He found his face scrunching slightly, a sour expression written all over him.

".. Ok." Zim bleakly replied, his voice still weak.

Zim then attempted to get up on his own, which miserably failed, as his legs were wobbly and his whole body trembled, making him almost fall, before the human made a hasty save.

He growled weakly at Dib, as he extended his PAK legs to stabilise himself.

"Wait- where are you going? " Dib quickly blurted, his tone alarmed as he gripped Zim's shoulders.

The touch made him wince, a burning sensation frizzing from his shoulder.

"Hom-...My base. " Zim paused, shaking his head at the first word he almost rambled out.

"Oh no you aren't. Clearly you aren't in any shape to be going back to your base alone, and you'll probably try something stupid again. " Dib decided, getting a very tight grip on Zim's collar, as if he were about to drag him.

He snarled at the human's audacity to touch him.

"And where do you expect me to go then, huh? Your stinky human base? " Zim snapped back, his snarky comment wasn't nearly as confident as he wanted it to be, as the cracking and weakness of his voice gave off a different message.

"Yes." Dib bleakly answered, Dragging the irken.

Zim was a bit taken about of his quick agreement, and he tried to get out of the humans grip, to no avail,

His PAK legs seemed to bail on him, retracting back into his PAK without a command, he snarled at this.

But he eventually just accepted it, as Dib dragged him along to where he assumed was the way to his base.

"Y'know, " Huffed the human, stopping for a moment.

Zims antenna perked, showing he was listening.

"It would really help, if you tried to walk with me. " Dib finished, pulling Zim off the ground and onto his legs.

He rolled his eyes, but nodded.

His legs still shook and he almost fell over multiple times the rest of the walk, but other than that he was fine, his PAK legs only seemed to come out when he was falling, it made Zim wonder if his PAK had been affected by the water, too.

Eventually, the two reached Dibs house, the irkens legs felt almost numb by then.

He began to stumble towards the base door, but was hastily stopped by Dib, which made him perk an eye at him.

"We have to go through the window. My..father is home. " He spoke in a whisper, gesturing to an open window.

Zim sighed, exhausted, but nodded again, not having energy to engage in small talk or an argument.

He watched as Dib climbed a tree nearby his house, which just happened to have a thick branch that reached close to his window.

The human made a leap for his open window when he reached the end of the tree, poking his head back out to make sure Zim came.

He tried pulling out his PAK legs, which luckily worked, as he jumped with them to the window seal.

The legs retracted as Zim came into the human's room fully, and he collapsed onto Dibs bed.

He didn't even care it was Dibs, his body was exhausted, and the human wasn't even really his enemy anymore, if he wasn't invading the planet.

So for the first time, Zim willingly let himself be vulnerable around Dib.

It was mostly because he was extremely worn from what had just transpired, but he didn't care as long as he wouldn't have to feel the constant burning.