Zim stared duly at the river that flowed beneath him, the sounds of water splashing where distant and almost entirely muted.
He thought about the recent call with his Tallest, specifically how they wanted him to die.
Zim had tried to prove that maybe, just maybe this planet was worth living on, that living in general was worth it.
But he ended up proving the exact opposite, he had spent enough time on this filthy planet to understand that nothing went right here.
He had spent enough time being alive, to know that without a mission, when you're banished from the irken empire entirely, it's not worth going on.
The irken knew it wasn't his Tallest fault for exiling him, though.
Zim had been in denial about the things he'd done for much too long, he'd murdered two Tallest and thousands of other irkens.
After that call, though, it had been like something snapped, something broke.
And he found himself realising all he'd done, all he'd damaged, he truly was a defective that destroyed all he touched.
He knew that the only answer to this was self elimination, maybe then, his Tallest would forgive him.
Normally an exiled or banished irken would just remove their PAKs and wait it out, but Zim knew he didn't deserve such peace.
He took a deep, determined breath, as he stepped towards the ledge, the sounds of the river ripping and splashing slowly creeping into his focus.
Zim closed his eyes, ready to feel the burning sensation of water as he drowned in it.
He did feel a sensation, but it wasn't the one he'd expected, maybe even hoped to.
It was the sensation of being pulled back with the kind of force that rips the air right out of your lungs.
Hitting the ground with a violent thud, Zim spat at whatever had interrupted him.
His sour expression seemed to dissolve into a shocked, maybe even horrored expression as he saw who had pulled him from his attempt to write himself out of the narrative.
It was Dib.
Dib had stopped him, for some unirkly reason that Zim couldn't muster an explanation for.
The humans expression seemed to be that of horror, confusion and desperation, the irkens not differing too much from his.
He had literally attacked Dib less than a day before this, Zim didn't understand why he wasn't clapping at him paying his own debts.
They both seemed to just stay there, frozen, for what felt like years, unsure what to say.
Until Zim decided that he wasn't going to let a stupid human interrupt his chance at doing what every other exiled irken would do.
Determined expression now plastered on his face, he made a quick run for the edge, trying to use his PAK legs to assist him.
Dib seemed to somewhat expect this, as he snatched his uniform's collar briefly, before Zim's PAK legs boosted him and the human fell forwards.
He was annoyed at how the peace of his last attempt had been completely demolished, but understood that if he tried to regain it he would lose the chance to end everything entirely.
The irken could hear Dib behind him, stumbling after him, but he wasn't fast enough.
He smirked and closed his eyes as he made the final leap, PAK legs retreating for the last time.
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.