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Goddess Risen	By : ladylaguna Category: +G through L > Invader Zim > AU/AR-Alternate Universe-Alternate Reality Views: 2876 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: Zim and all related characters - Viacom... All unrelated characters - Jenn L. I gain no profit from this writing.

Chapter List
- 4
- 5
- 6
Panting harshly, Dib pushed himself to run faster, keeping Tzin squarely in his sights as they traveled deeper into the heart of the park. How was he running so fast? Had he always been so fast? What if he’d been infused with Meekrob? It had been so many years, but Dib felt all that time melting away, all the progress he’d made fading…
“NO! I don’t care!” Dib cried, ensuring he yelled loud enough for Tzin to hear. “I’ll kill you as many times as is necessary, you sick fuck!”
The Irken easily grabbed up a broken pipe as he passed, slowing just enough to allow Dib to overtake him. He spun then, slinging the pipe at Dib’s head. He blocked it easily, swinging in reprisal. Tzin dodged backward, laughing. “I’ve missed you, Piggy~!”
“I’m not the angry little boy you subjugated all those years ago,” Dib growled, swinging (and missing) again and again. “I’m a pissed-off fucking MAN now.”
“Still just as cute as ever,” Tzin replied, catching Dib off-balance and jabbing him playfully in the gut with the pipe.
Grabbing it in annoyance and throwing it to the side, Dib barked, “You’ll think I’m real cute when I’m feeding you your own organs. I let you off easy last time—“ Tzin was no match for Dib when he was in his twenties, and he sure as hell wasn’t a match for Dib now. Grin still ever-present on his features, he turned to a nearby scaffolding and commenced climbing. With his own ability to levitate, Dib simply watched him. “What the fuck do you think you’re gonna do up there?”
Dib got his answer when Tzin reached the top. One well-placed kick and the structure began to tumble down. Cursing as metal and plastic rained on him, Dib tried to dodge to the best of his ability. Then a beam waylaid him on the back of the neck, pinning him as everything else covered him. He put up a shield of energy in just enough time to avoid being crushed, and soon the whole mess had settled around him.
“Missed me!” Dib cried, grunting as he attempted to push upward on his arms.
Through the layers of metal, Dib heard Tzin’s laughter yet again. “Of course this isn’t enough to do you in, piggy. I just wanted to talk for a bit.”

Meanwhile, Zim was scanning the horizon, antennae perked forward.
“Why can’t you just do that little sense-y thing you did earlier? Tell me where Megami is, at least! Then you can go find that idiot human.”
Glaring at Vermeil, Zim cried, “You’re just distracting me! ZIM will locate them both in due time—“
“You fall apart without him, don’t you? What the hell happened to you when you were—well, here?? You forgot all about your mission and allied yourself with… that monster!”
“He was not always a monster,” Zim replied glibly. “The Tallests, and that Tzin… They made him what he is. The Tallests never understood. They never understood me, they never understood love! And perhaps you do not either. I was mistaken about you.”
Vermeil merely laughed derisively. “I was never mistaken about YOU. Or him. He abandoned us so readily to go chasing after Tzin. Maybe he lied about all of it… Maybe he fell for Tzin all those years ago and Tzin rejected his affections. What was the term the humans used for it? Stockholm Syndrome.”
“Shut your mouth!” Zim barked in reply. “You know nothing of humans! Dib is not… Sherlock Holmes and he certainly does not love the Irken who abused him so! He is mistaken to even like YOU! He simply feels sorry for you, but I do not! Not anymore! I will not miss you when you go away… You do not understand love and you don’t love our smeet!”
Nobody had any right to lecture Vermeil about love. “I don’t want your fucking pity. I don’t want his. And you don’t know shit about me.” Giving Zim a rude gesture, Vermeil began to walk away. “I’ll solve this problem on my own. Like I planned to do in the first place.” He could feel enough of that Meekrob burning in his gut that he hoped he could locate Megami without their help.
Zim, concentrating on his own affairs, ignored Vermeil as he walked away.
Tzin had surmised Dib’s general location, jumping and stomping on various pieces of metal until Dib hissed in pain. “The Tallest is really enjoying your daughter’s body, you know. So young and healthy… I enjoyed it a time or two myself.”
Having pushed himself up enough to make a small space, Dib turned onto his back, pushing bits and bars out of the way until he could find an opening. “Nice try, asshole. A Tallest wouldn’t let you touch him, stolen body or not. You never amounted to anything. Tak told me all about you. The only reason why the Tallests sent you off with Vermeil is because you and Tenn were fucking, and they didn’t trust you not to talk.” He grunted, shoving another beam off to the side. “Is that why you berate the kid like that? Projecting your own insecurities? Talk about cute!”
Tzin seemed unaffected. “All the girl’s insecurities, all her thoughts, our Tallest has access to each one. Wouldn’t you like to know what she thinks about you? You sure did miss her, huh? While you were partying it up on Kharna.”
“YOU took me from her!” With a shout of anger, Dib broke through the pile just as Tzin moved to stomp on it again. Grabbing his leg, he looked Tzin right in the eyes. “Let’s party right now.” He twisted and Tzin’s head rolled backward, mouth agape. The leg gave way and beneath the uniform pants he saw crackling wires and spewing oil. “What the…?”
Tzin’s face blurred, then fizzled. Then his whole body seemed to blow away and Dib realized that it had all been a holographic projection, a glamorous shell for an amusement park robot. It fell back onto the pile of junk, limbs spasming. Tzin’s voice still issued from it, laughing uncontrollably. Dib cursed and crushed its head, silencing it forever.
“Goddammit!” Dib jumped down onto the ground, looking frantically about. He’d been fooled by the Irken equivalent of Mickey Mouse. Purple had wiggled into his head—No, Megami’s head, she’d read that fucking memoir—so easily, and goaded him in the most effective way possible. And now he’d lost track of Zim and Vermeil. He tried to sense Zim, eyes squinting up at the bright street lamps to get his bearings.
Then four soft little arms curled around him from behind, a face pressing against his back. “Daddy…”
Dib’s heart leapt into his throat. He’d never heard that word from Megami before. “Meg…” Had she remembered herself? Likely not… But he looked down, powerless to do anything more. Wires squirmed through her bare skin, emerging at various points, snapping and curling in the warm night air. “What did that fucker do to you…” His heart ached.
“Mmm, daddy~” She grabbed his crotch and he squawked, moving to extract himself from her arms. But it was too late. She struck, impaling him from behind with a piece of rebar. He howled in pain, stumbling forward. She shoved him against the nearest building, pinning him to it with another piece of metal through the back. Giggling, she kissed him on the cheek and took away his tranquilizer gun. “We think you were better off with Tzin.”
Mind reeling from the pain, he turned his head the mere fifteen degrees the position allowed, getting a glimpse of her. All he could see was wild hair and wide eyes, glowing unnaturally in the dark. Then she was gone. He pushed hard against the concrete, attempting to dislodge himself, but she’d managed to cross the pinions in such a way that his pushing simply locked them together behind him. If he struggled too much, he could easily rip himself in half. “Not a desirable result…” This would take some thought to get out of, rather than brute force.
Vermeil heard Dib’s initial cry, and struggled with the decision to ignore it and continue on. After walking another block, he sighed angrily and turned on his heel. Ten minutes of searching finally yielded his quarry; a pile of building material and Dib pinned to a wall nearby, his blood already soaking the ground beneath him.
“Did Tzin do this to you?!” Vermeil asked, jogging up to assess the damage.
“No,” Dib grunted, fingers clawing at the concrete to deal with the pain. “Tzin… was an illusion. Megami… did this.”
“Shit,” Vermeil breathed, running fingers over his antennae.
Squirming in discomfort, Dib gasped, “You’ve gotta… pull this shit out. Can’t free myself.”
“What?! But… you’ve been impaled—“
“Yeah. Hurts like a bitch. But… no alternative. Can’t heal otherwise. Just grab and… pull straight out.” Vermeil hesitated, and Dib suddenly remembered all those years before when he was holding a knife to his throat… “Take your aggression out… Dig your elbow in my neck for leverage… whatever. Make me hurt. Just pull the goddamn… bar out.”
“Or I can leave you here and go rescue Megami myself.”
“Ha!” Dib sputtered, licking blood from his lips. “Good luck with that, Champ. Zim will find me eventually… Or I’ll figure something else out. I can hang out here…until then. Then I’ll cave your cute little… face in.”
“No you won’t.” But Vermeil didn’t abandon him. Pushing against Dib’s head for leverage, he grabbed the piece of rebar firmly and pulled. Cheek jammed against the concrete, Dib screamed in renewed pain. The ridges in it had already done massive damage, and when it finally came free blood splattered against Vermeil’s skin, burning him. He tossed the bar aside and cursed to himself, wiping it away as quickly as possible.
“Sorry about that,” Dib laughed, dizzy from the intensity of it. He pushed himself backward, dislodging from the building, but the other piece was still embedded in his body. “This one too. Let me dig my heels in—there.”
“I hate you,” Vermeil said, grabbing the metal plate and yanking it free. This was less messy, and once he discarded the metal, he took several good steps backward. Looking around, he asked “Where did she go?”
“No idea,” Dib grunted, holding his stomach tightly as blood continued to pour. “But she got me good. Can’t do so much like this. Where’s Zim, anyway?”
Vermeil shrugged.
“Goddamn you both,” Dib growled, limping down the street.
Zim heard Dib’s howls of pain, turning frantically in place in the middle of the street. “Dib!! DIB!”
“You’re too late.”
He turned to see her approaching, clothes tattered and dragging behind her, limbs jerking with each careful step. All Paklegs had engaged, feeling at the ground before and behind her as if she were blind, while wires burrowed deep into her skin from the Pak. That body was fighting Purple every step of the way; even Zim could see it. But what he noticed first was the blood on her hands, hastily wiped on the little bit of clothing that remained.
“We left his corpse pinned up nice and pretty for you to see. Would you like to come check it out, Zimmy?”
“I don’t believe you!” Zim cried, gritting his teeth. “And… even if you had managed to take out the Dib, I would just bring him back! I’ve done it before and I’ll do it again! Just as I’ve done with YOU!”
“Just as naïve as ever… The whole universe thinks you’re such hot shit, but we know the truth.” She moved out of reach of the street light overhead, the glow from her eyes illuminating the rest of her face. Her lips were stretched unnaturally wide, seemingly from the effort of controlling them. “You were pathetic and weak from the moment you hatched, so you had to attach yourself to the Tallest Purple…”
“It is ZIM who had to put up with YOUR attachment! You abused my brilliance from day one! And even now you steal MY creation, MY smeet with the Dib, because your own smeet rejects you! Even your own creations spare no sympathy for you!”
She lunged. Though her motor skills lagged, the Meekrob solved that problem easily. Lifting off of the ground, she flew at him, Paklegs coming together and beginning to charge. Squeaking, Zim turned on his heel and took off. He sensed the energy beam firing before it came and managed to dodge to the side. It hit the ground with a thunderous roar, shaking the nearby buildings. Zim turned and fired both tranq guns but she shielded herself. The darts glanced off of her, plinking on the pavement.
It occurred to Zim then that without Vermeil, he could not run the Interrupt program. And so, tucking his guns away, he chose to retreat.
“What’s this?? You’ve changed so much, Zimmy! Running away?!” Purple pursued. Shots of Meekrob-charged lasers interspersed with her maniacal laughter. Zim staggered through the streets, darting from stall to stall as she blew away each in turn. He could not remember an escape route, and each machine he passed activated to obstruct his path. Pulling out his own pistol, he began to fire wildly just to clear the way.
Purple had always been well aware of Zim’s weaknesses, and soon she’d managed to corral him into a cul-de-sac. The moment he realized he was trapped and turned, she fired. He dodged at the last moment, but the residual heat alone burned through the side of his tunic, scorching his skin. Sudden flashbacks to his last moments with Irk flooded him and he wailed, stumbling.
“Pathetic… You’ve taken all the fun out of this,” she barked, sailing closer until he stood within reach of her paklegs, skewering him through the left shoulder and jerking him forward. “Give us a last kiss before we tear you limb from limb.”
Lip curling, Zim pressed his pistol to her temple and fired. In that instant, he remembered that this was his creation, his creation with Dib, that Dib loved dearly. If he killed it, Dib would be furious with him…
…and he also remembered that her body was fully charged with Meekrob and shielded. Her head recoiled from the shot as she shrieked in surprise. He slid off of the Pakleg, darted between her legs and back out into the street. He held his left arm, now barely functional, against his burned skin. If she caught him again…
“OUCH.” Purple growled, pressing a palm against her scorched and bleeding forehead for a moment before turning to glare at Zim’s retreat.
“Vermeil! Return to ZIM! Assist Zim!” Zim screeched, looking frantically about for any sign of life.
Both Vermeil and Dib had been in the process of returning since the explosions began. Dib moved slowly, however, due to his injuries. He ripped off his shirt, tearing it into strips and tying it tightly around his midsection to keep all the important pieces in.
Vermeil kept near to him, trying to come up with a plan of attack. “If she could just kill us so easily, why hasn’t she done it yet?” he asked, watching the flashes of blue light disperse on the horizon.
Jerking the last knot into place and beginning to run, Dib replied, “From what I know of this Purple… He enjoys the chase just as much as—if not more than—the kill. He’s fucking with us on purpose.”
The end of the street opened before them as the side of a building was blown away. Zim exploded from the dust and debris, yowling angrily. His eyes grew wide as he spied Dib and Vermeil just half a block from him. “My Diiiiib!” he cried, elated. “I knew you would not be dead!”
Zim ran to squeeze him tightly with one arm, making him grunt. The cloud grew from a deep blue, to white, and Purple emerged from it. Blood leaked from her forehead, down her cheeks, past eyes narrowed to angry slits. Her paklegs came together above her head, charging…
Vermeil gasped at the sight of her: Her unnatural face, her coiled limbs, the wires and rods desperately pulling them into place. And he despaired.
“Now is not the time to falter, Champ.” Dib commanded, thumping him on his Pak. “Now is the time to—MOVE!” He shoved Vermeil hard and put up a shield, dispersing the blast before it blew both he and Zim away. Throwing up a hand, Zim added to the charge, and they were soon pushing back against their attacker until she was pinned to a brick wall.
“Nooo!” she screamed, curling up behind her arms and paklegs.
Vermeil sought cover behind an overturned car, the heat and static charge making his antennae tingle unpleasantly. The very ground was rumbling beneath him, creating a sensory overload. He barely registered when Dib barked his name.
“Vermeil!! I’m gonna count to five, and we’re gonna turn this shit off. Then you go in and do the deed before she recovers!”
Nodding, Vermeil jumped to his feet and ran for her, the light from the Meekrob blast burning the back of his eyes. At the count of five, it dissipated and she slid to the ground, crumpled and sobbing. The rumbling, strangely, had not ceased. Ignoring all but her cries, he grabbed her arms and attempted to flip her onto her stomach and access the Pak.
“What are you doing?! Rape!!” Purple screamed, kicking him. He was more powerful than her at the moment, but her antennae sparked dangerously as she struggled to call the Meekrob back to her. She managed to headbutt him, the magical reverb sending shockwaves of pain down his spine, paralyzing him temporarily. “Is this the only way you can get pussy when you’re not with girls who’ve had their legs blown off?!”
“You’re… reprehensible…” Dizzy, he groped in his utility belt for the hunk of amber he owned; the same hunk he’d beaten Purple into submission with so many years before. “I’m sorry, Nymph,” he growled, bringing it down hard on her face. It sheared through the shield she was trying to conjure again, splitting her lip and making her howl in pain. The noise made his guts twist in sorrow, but he managed to grab two of her arms and flip her over.
Soon Dib joined his side, attempting to corral the thrashing arms and paklegs and wires as a thick cord emerged from Vermeil’s own Pak. Claws scraping at the circular port, Vermeil tried to pry it open and gain access.
“Dib—!”
“I’m a little BUSY if you can’t figure it out, Zim!”
“But Dib—!!”
The sound of gunfire echoed through the alleyway and Dib finally turned. A mech approached from the end of the street, effortlessly knocking buildings out of its way as Zim’s shots plinked with no effect against its hull. It snatched the Irken up in one massive hand, swooping down to grab the other two. Dib jumped away but it scooped up both Purple and Vermeil in one gesture.
As it returned to its full height, Purple laughed and kicked Vermeil again. He tumbled off of the mech’s palm, barely keeping his grip on a fingertip as he dangled several stories above the ground. Purple scurried up along the machine’s arm, scrambling into the cockpit. “Can you hear us now?!” she cried, her voice echoing through the mech’s speakers and rattling windows along the street. “We worked on a – ahem—small project while you all were away. We were trying to find some ships, which we couldn’t find… Buttttt we found this awesome battle mech they used for arena shows! Pretty neat, right?” Then the mech’s fists clenched. Zim gasped and wriggled as the left fist attempted to crush him; on the right, one of Vermeil’s hands was effectively crushed between two fingers.
He screamed in pain, and the chunk of amber tumbled out of his free hand as he tried to keep from falling. Dib saw the orange glint out of the corner of his eye, running to catch it up before it shattered on the ground below. It was much larger than the bit Tzin had used on him all those years ago; despite building up an immunity, it still burned his hand and made his limbs go weak for a moment. He surveyed the creature towering above him. No obvious turrets or other offensive devices… Like most of the crap in the park, it was probably all flash and no substance.
Zim, for his part, could feel his ribcage giving way beneath the extreme pressure… Being burned to death and having chunks cut out of him seemed insignificant compared to this. Was this the kind of life Dib lived before? Always discovering new injuries? How did he find the strength to carry on? Zim could barely draw the breath to yowl in pain, but it happened.
“Be strong, Zim!” Dib cried, tearing a strip free from the makeshift tourniquet he’d fashioned earlier. He tied the hunk of Amber inside it, tightly against his thigh, hoping that it’d stay in place and not affect him too much. The mech’s knees creaked as it lifted a leg, intent on crushing Dib beneath it. Fortunately for Dib, the machine’s size kept it from moving quickly enough to catch him. He darted between each thunderous foot-fall, trying to find a means of moving upward. Between the rock on his thigh and his injuries, he had no energy to levitate…
Due to the confines of the small street they were on and its “dance” with Dib, the mech fell off-balance momentarily. It slammed into a nearby building to catch itself, crushing Zim against its flat palm. The world spun for a moment and Zim struggled to keep consciousness. He stared up at the sky, the dark clouds obscuring everything above it. This had been Dib’s world… That he once sought to conquer in a desperate attempt to win Purple’s affection. And, as usual, Purple took that victory away from him, conquered the planet himself, and completely ruined it. He had ruined Zim’s career, Zim’s life, and killed his lover for his own vindictive amusement.
Zim managed to draw another breath. “Never again!” Gritting his teeth, he struggled to lift both arms. Function returned to the injured one, and he grabbed two of the mech’s fingers. Screaming in anger, he pushed back, the Meekrob within him beginning to boil to the surface.
“Yeah, baby!” Dib yelled, pumping a fist. The first burst of energy dispersed into the air, passing over Dib and invigorating him. As Dib’s voice reached him, Zim growled and pushed harder. Soon, two white-hot arcs of the Meekrob shot from his arms, traveling along the mech’s skin and to its core. Purple squealed in terror as it shorted out, the arms dangling at its sides as it reared backward. Zim dropped to the ground, panting.
Dib took his chance then. Grabbing onto the back of the mech’s foot, he quickly scaled upward. He had made it to the torso by the time the robot regained rudimentary movement.
Purple pushed every button in sight in an attempt to assume proper operation, completely unaware of Dib’s approach. In moments, he was tapping on the glass dome over the cockpit. Just as Purple turned, his fist broke through, clutching the Amber.
“Give me back my little girl!” Dib growled, pressing the rock flush against the front of Purple’s neck. He leaned in and the rest of the dome gave way. Gasping through the rain of glass, Purple tried to grab Dib’s hand but failed. After a moment of struggle, her limbs fell weakly to the side.
Dib looked down over the edge of the cockpit and located Vermeil, who was desperately trying to claw his way up the right arm with only one usable hand. His mangled Paklegs jerked and dragged as he hauled himself upward. “You can do it, Champ! Come on! This is the last push!”
Vermeil merely shook his head, staring at the clouds above. He told himself he didn’t need Dib’s pep talk… The goal was in sight; he’d save Megami and keep his promises to her.
“Don’t need… Meekrob… to KILL you… DADDY.” The cockpit exploded with wires and paklegs, lashing furiously at Dib from all directions. He couldn’t shield himself; the both of them knew that the rock kept him from expressing his powers at all. His skin ripped, but still he held fast, pushing Megami’s body down against the floor. Blood began to blur his vision but he suddenly heard Purple curse.
Vermeil pulled himself up over the lip of the dome, brandishing a tranquilizer dart in his good hand. He burst in through the waterfall of wires, long arm easily sliding inside and stabbing Purple in the neck.
The Paklegs slowed, then ceased, and Purple’s eyelids fluttered. She looked to Dib, then to Vermeil, eyes glazing. As the tranquilizer set in, she became confused; she reached upward and touched Vermeil’s face softly. “Red…? Is it you? Red, I missed you…”
“You’ll never see Red again,” Vermeil breathed, rolling her onto her side much more easily this time. After a steadying breath, he cracked open the port and interfaced with her Pak. The Interrupt program downloaded quickly, and her body jerked, eyes going wide and blank.
Looking down on her visage, Dib breathed, “God—“ Shaking off his shock, he reached down to close her eyes.
Vermeil issued another command. The paklegs and wires retreated back to where they belonged, withdrawing from Megami’s arms, legs and cranium. Then the Mech swayed.
“What if he programmed a self destruct into this thing?!” Dib cried, looking over the blinking control panel in panic.
“Then we should not be sitting here,” Vermeil answered quietly, gathering Megami up into his arms as Dib chucked the Amber to parts unknown. Cursing, he grabbed Vermeil around the waist and jumped, hoping his power would recover before they hit the ground.
“What the fuck are you doing?!” Vermeil yelled, legs curling up as the concrete rushed toward them. “You crazy son of a—“ They stopped five feet from the pavement, gently levitating as Vermeil uncurled and planted his feet on the ground.
“Now: Run.”
All three of them dashed for the end of the street as the mech groaned and tipped backward. It fell to the ground with a final rumble, then lay still. Throughout the park, lights began to flicker and die. “He probably had everything dialed in to his Pak ID,” Vermeil observed. As the city grew quiet and still around them, he lowered Megami’s body to the ground. “Time to copy her files back over. This may take a little time.”
“It’s fine. We’ll cover you,” Dib replied, though he could barely speak through a split and rapidly swelling lip. Rubbing it, he concentrated some power into repairing it.
Eyes flashing, Vermeil began the process. Megami’s body did not react. He retreated into his own files, shutting out the world around him. Halfway through the transfer, an error message blinked into view.
OPERATING SYSTEMS INCOMPATIBLE
NEWER SYSTEM DETECTED
DUPLICATED FILES MAY BE UNREADABLE ON THE NEWER SYSTEM
COPY ANYWAY? »YES »NO
It never even occurred to Vermeil that his outdated Pak would cause compatibility problems. If Megami’s biological brain no longer contained any memory data, the part of her that knew him could be lost forever… Feeling despair, he copied the files anyway.
Dib watched the exchange anxiously, unaware of the issues Vermeil experienced. Zim, in turn, watched him, fingers sliding fitfully over one another. He didn’t dare speak, though his bruised ribs did not encourage him to do so.
Soon Vermeil emerged from his trance and withdrew the cord between the two of them. He held Megami close for a moment more, his antennae sliding slowly against hers. He hoped she could feel how sorry he was, and how much he would miss her. Her body lay unresponsive but warm against him.
Finally, Dib broke the silence. “Are you done? Let’s go back. She’s covered in wounds from those wires…”
Nodding, Vermeil gathered her up again and stood. Dib immediately reached out, taking her from Vermeil’s arms. Zim and Dib passed the young Irken then, heading for the park gates.
Looking back at the Mech, Vermeil felt as if Purple’s ghost lingered there. He lived an entire life on this planet in such a short span of time… Shaking his head, he put those thoughts away and followed his companions back to their ship.
Once they reached the parking lot, Vermeil saw a second, much smaller vessel sitting beside Dib’s ship.
“That’s yours, Champ. I had GIR bring it out. It’s loaded up with supplies.”
Vermeil looked between it and Dib, brow furrowing. “What? I don’t understand—“
Dib passed Megami to Zim. “Take her to the med bay. I’ll join you in a few.”
Longingly, Vermeil watched the Betrayer take Megami from his sight forevermore. His antennae merely flicked forward slightly when Dib continued, “I told you that I wanted you gone when this is all over. Kind of hard to do if you don’t have a ship.”
After digging in his pocket, Dib found his quarry; a card that he pressed into Vermeil’s good palm. “I put a few thousand credits on it for you. Should last awhile if you’re careful.”
Snarling, Vermeil jerked his hand away and it clattered to the ground. “I don’t want your fucking charity.”
“This isn’t charity. This is me telling you to get the fuck out of my face.” Getting Megami back had calmed his temper, and he took Vermeil’s obstinate tone in stride.
“This is you trying to make up for everything you’ve taken from me! It’s not going to happen. I’ll never forgive you!” Vermeil grabbed at his throat; it constricted painfully as emotion suddenly threatened to spill forth.
Dib merely stared at him for a moment, chewing on the inside of his lip. “Holding on to that shit will kill you. Trust me, I know. You don’t want revenge against me. Or you would’ve killed me by now. You just want to survive and be left alone. Just like me. That’s all I ever wanted.” He stared at the ground and the dusty card, groping for a point. “I don’t want your forgiveness. I just want to leave all this shit behind me. Don’t you?”
“I’ll never leave this behind. What I just did.” Sighing, Vermeil bent to pick up the card. He turned it over in his fingers, contemplating it. “…I think he really loved Red. And never intended to betray him. In the end… was Red the villain in all this? Am I an accessory to murder?”
“It’s not about heroes or villains or right or wrong.” Shaking his head, Dib turned to walk away. “He tried to kill you. He tried to kill Meg. You protected yourself and Meg. That’s all anybody could ask out of you.”
“And I’m letting you take her away from me. Just like that.”
Smiling, Dib stopped, turning to face him a last time. “Because you’re a smart kid and you love her. And she will understand that. I’ll make sure she understands.”
As Vermeil turned the card over in his fingers, it caught a glint of light. Dib looked upward. The clouds broke overhead just enough that some sunlight filtered in, scattered by thousands of dust particles.
Looking up as well, Vermeil said, “In a hundred years or so, perhaps it will be okay again.” Whether he spoke about Earth or his own race was unclear.
“Will you be alive to see it?” Dib asked.
“I don’t know. What about you?”
“No fucking clue.” Waving his hand, he turned again. “Take it easy, Champ.” Without a glance back, he boarded the ship and told GIR to take off. Then he made his way to the med bay, where Zim had managed to lay Meg out on a table and hook up monitoring devices.
As Dib entered, Zim turned to him with a triumphant smile. “All her brain waves and vitals are normal! This smeet I created, she’s resilient. As expected.”
“Now we just have to wait for her to wake up.” Kissing Zim on the top of his head in passing, he grabbed up some bandages. “Gonna patch up all these puncture wounds.”
“Yes, yes, of course. I shall assist.” They smiled at one another over the table and got to work.
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Goddess Risen