Wrote another little ficlet for the ESP Dib AU! I mean I’m supposed to be working on DP Spirit AU chapters but I got distracted haha :’D There’s gonna be a second part dw!
Zim Fucks Up: The Musical
<1500 words
ESP Dib AU
ZADE/ZADF
Warnings: blood/injury, language
Illustrated ficlet
Please DO NOT tag as ZAD//R thanks!
ESP DIB AU MASTERPOST
It was supposed to be a simple test.
That’s all; a mere test of the Dib’s incredible, mysterious power which he kept hidden from his father, his peers, and every other creature on Earth’s filthy surface. And this has baffled Zim to no end-- in the Irken Armada, flaunting one’s abilities and skills is commonplace, even considered an expectation in social situations. So to Zim, the mere notion that any creature would keep an advantage such as Dib’s hidden is utterly inconceivable.
It simply doesn’t make any sense, and the Irken is certain that the unknown extent of the Dib’s abilities would drive him mad. Thus, as Zim has always done, he threw his entire being into finding a solution, searching for any opportunity to study the Earth-smeet’s power.
Whether by shooting a spitball at the boy in class, tossing the revolting Skool-food aggressively at Dib, or even throwing rocks at him as he passed, the child managed to either dodge the randomized projectiles or redirect them too quickly for even Zim’s enhanced ocular implants to pick up on. Hell, he even asked Dib directly if he could study his abilities and the filthy brat shrank back in horror before slamming his door shut!
Zim convinced himself that the only way he could ‘coax’ the boy into showcasing his awe-inspiring telekinesis was by putting him in a situation he could not escape without using it.
Creating that situation proved easier than Zim anticipated.
***
“It seems I’ve bested you once again, Dib-stink!” Zim crows triumphantly, baring his teeth in a savage grin, “Oh, the wonderful experiments I have planned-- perhaps I’ll send a piece of you to the Almighty Tallest as a gift,”
Pinned to the moonlit grass by all four of Zim’s gleaming PAK legs, Dib lies flat on his back, chest heaving with exhausted breaths as his hazel eyes grow wide with a terror that borders on animalistic. Zim laughs in a manic sort of way, clouds of condensation puffing into the chilly spring air as he does so.
“N-no, no, no--” Dib stammers pathetically, still refusing to use his telekinesis in favor of kicking at the PAK legs that pin him down.
“Yes, yes, yes!!” Zim howls, “Once I’m satisfied with my experiments, I’ll present you to the Tallest as a gift; I’ll be greatly rewarded for such a gesture, and you’ll be able to travel through space as a tool for the Irken Armada! We both get what we dream of!”
Zim is most certainly bluffing-- he has no intention of harming the Earth-smeet, he’s grown somewhat fond of the smelly little thing-- but the Dib is unaware of this, and the Irken Elite can feel the boy’s heart rate climb steadily as the seconds pass.
The 15-year-old Dib grits his teeth and writhes with renewed vigor at the thought of becoming the guinea pig for an alien race, sweat beading on his skin. As he thrashes about like a fish out of water, slushy muck splashes into the air. Some of this frigid snowmelt splashes high enough to splatter across Zim’s arm, which catches the Invader by surprise and forces an involuntarily hiss from between his teeth. In the half-second where Zim is distracted by his angrily-blistering skin, he staggers back on his faintly-glowing PAK legs, and Dib wriggles free as quickly as a snake and sprints away through the dark spruce trees surrounding them.
With a sour pang of annoyance, Zim hisses a curse word in Irken before bolting after the human boy.
Despite the Elite’s superior speed and agility, Dib somehow manages to swerve so wildly between the frosty trees that Zim only catches flickers of the boy’s movement every few seconds. He’s certain that Dib is using his power to give himself increased speed, and the thought of that makes Zim’s blood boil in irritation.
Inevitably, however, Dib grows tired and sloppy with his movements, and ends up tripping with a yelp when his sneakers skid on some half-melted ice beneath a willow tree. He quickly darts to his feet and keeps running, but the fall costs him enough time for Zim to close the gap and extend a PAK leg.
Zim feels the vibration as Dib’s ankle bangs against the cold metal, and a wicked spark of glee alights in his chest when the teenager cries out in pain and alarm and falls clumsily into the snow.
I’ve got you now, Zim hisses mentally, You’ll have no choice but to fight back.
Zim lets his brilliant red eyes flicker off to the right, where an old fir tree creaks in the crisp breeze. He casts a malicious glance in Dib’s direction before swiping a PAK leg off to the side and effortlessly slicing through the rotting wood. By now, Dib’s scrambled to his feet and looks up with wide eyes just in time to see the old tree bearing down on him.
With a thrill of satisfaction, Zim watches as the Dib’s eyes light up with a faint amber glow and he throws both hands up in the direction of the falling tree. In an instant, it freezes in place, hardly six inches from the boy’s fingertips, and dry needles rain down from the branches to paint the snow a deep green.
Had Zim been paying more attention, perhaps he’d have noticed the way Dib’s skin grows several shades paler and his eyes grow slightly unfocused. As it stands, however, the Irken Elite is too wrapped up in his success to notice such minute details. Instead, he lets out a laugh.
“Finally! I’ve managed to make you use your abilities!!” he exclaims, “Simply incredible!”
Dib’s throat bobs as a shudder passes through his lanky body, and steps out from the tree’s shadow before letting it crash to the ground. He opens his mouth, presumably to let Zim know that something is going terribly wrong, but before he can make a sound, the alien’s already knocking a sizable boulder into the air in Dib’s direction.
Dib forces his aching body to obey, to force his powers to manifest once more, and they do. He redirects the boulder to the side, where it cracks loudly against a tree trunk. Icy sweat runs down his skin, chilling him to the bone, and he tries once more to tell Zim to stop.
He barely manages to stop Zim’s PAK leg as it swings towards him in a wide arc, and Zim still fails to notice the warning signs Dib shows.
That is, right up until Dib’s eyes roll back and the teenager wordlessly collapses in a heap.
Zim shifts his attack just in time to avoid hitting Dib with his PAK leg, and scoffs in annoyance at the boy’s state. “Unbelievable. You’d go so far as to feign unconsciousness to avoid using your abilities? Pathetic.”
However, Dib doesn’t so much as twitch at the Irken’s words. Zim lowers himself to the ground with a scowl, crossing his arms and snapping, “Get up, pig-smelly. I don’t have the patience for your childish games.”
Still, he doesn’t move. Zim pauses, cocking an eyebrow in confusion.
“Dib-stink. Get up.”
No response.
“Hey.”
Zim’s crossed arms fall to his sides. A foreboding sense of worry begins to twist and turn in his gut.
“Get up, Dib-stink.”
The worry wraps its disgusting claws even tighter around Zim’s insides, and the Elite walks across the mud and snow to where Dib lies deathly-still on his side. He pauses next to the fallen boy for a moment before shoving him onto his back.
Zim feels his spooch twist with a spike of horrified nausea.
Dib’s chest scarcely rises and falls, and rivulets of crimson blood drip from his nose, mouth, and ears, staining the snow below his head with the damning color. His skin, once a light tan colour, now looks pallid white not unlike that of a corpse. Zim stumbles a few steps away from Dib, before feeling adrenaline burn in his veins.
I’ve killed him. I’ve killed the Earth-smeet.
No, I haven’t. I still have time to revive him.
I should just let the brat die; it’s not as though he’s been anything but a nuisance in my mission to destroy Earth.
But…
What if…
“Ack, damn it all!” Zim snarls icily before extending his PAK legs once more and scooping the limp body of his greatest rival into one of them.
Then, without a moment’s hesitation, the angry Irken Elite rockets away in the direction of the Dib’s house.
