Chapter Text
“Dad, do you know what this means? This device... it is Zim! It's his brain and his life support. That means his body is just.... something to carry his PAK around. It's... I AM ZIM AND I WILL RULE YOU ALL!”
The Membrane household was not a typical place one would want to spend their afternoon in. Living in the same household alongside the world’s greatest scientist and his children might sound like a fun time at first, but in reality, the place was almost always in complete and utter chaos for one reason or another. More often than not, there would be some kind of dangerous experiment destroying the downstairs laboratory. Or a random game console would be angrily tossed outside the upstairs window. Sometimes, even the fire department would have to be called just to put out another blaze that had accidentally sparked in the garage. Again.
Unsurprisingly, the biggest source of this frequent chaos could usually be pinned on the professor’s preteen son, Dilbert Membrane. Usually referred to as 'Dib', that boy was almost constantly adding to the already existing mayhem with his ‘annoying paranormal interests’, as his sister would so graciously put it.
But every once in a blue moon, even the Membrane household could manage to become peaceful. The youngest child, Gaz, was certainly enjoying this rare occasion, as she seemed to be making herself comfortable on the sofa while also preparing for an all-night session on her brand-new video game.
Her dad was on a business trip, and her brother was most likely off somewhere doing something stupid, or so she figured, leaving just her completely alone in the house. In that specific moment, life honestly couldn’t be better.
Unfortunately, that brief moment of calm was suddenly interrupted by a loud, frequent banging against the front door. The young girl couldn’t help but groan in irritation, trying hard just to concentrate on only the television set instead of the persistent noises outside.
Whoever that is, they can wait a few more minutes.
But at the same time, that was when she heard it. Her brother was yelling at her to open the door. Practically begging, in fact.
Crap.
She had risen from the couch, reluctantly dropping her controller onto the carpet below. This wasn’t the first time something of this nature had happened, but her brother’s behavior still piqued her curiosity. Dib tended to overdramatize even the most minor of situations, and very rarely did something bad actually happen. So Gaz wasn’t entirely alarmed just yet.
“I MESSED UP! I MESSED UP BIG TIME, GAZ!” She could hear him frantically repeating.
I messed up?
Now that was something you didn’t hear that often from Dib Membrane.
“What are you on about Dib?” Gaz snapped, finally opening the door as her permanently squinting eyes peered upwards at her brother.
Only what she saw wasn’t Dib’s usual ‘I messed up’ expression. No, he looked hysterical, his expression morphing into one of pure, unadulterated horror. He seemed genuinely terrified by whatever had just happened. The look on his face was enough to even shake Gaz to her core.
What the hell happened?
“Woah dude, are you ok?” Surprisingly gentle, she had reached out to put a hand on her sibling’s shoulder, only for him to flinch away from her touch.
“I’m not Gaz! I’m REALLY not! Everything just went wrong, and I can’t fix it!” he frantically cried, his fingers digging into his scalp as he seemed to be violently pulling at his own hair.
She was awful at handling these kinds of situations, no thanks to her father’s poor examples over the years, but Gaz couldn’t just stand there like an idiot while her brother was having a full-blown panic attack. Something had to be done, and quickly, before he spiraled any further. Her voice suddenly broke through his rambles, hopefully sounding firm enough to get his attention. “Dib, get a hold of yourself for a second! Weren’t you just at Zim’s house?! Is this about him?”
He was still breathing too heavily, and too quickly. Gaz really wasn’t good at handling this. “Alright, uh… You should REALLY come inside the house. Right now. Do you feel like sitting down or…?”
He slowly nodded, unable to find his voice as he tried to swallow the obvious lump in his throat. Taking this as an invitation, Gaz stepped aside, allowing him to dazedly stumble over to the old couch so he could roughly collapse on top. Without a word, she had joined his side, trying her best to be patient as he composed himself.
What on Earth happened out there?
A few minutes seemed to pass, and as Gaz had kept an eye on the living room clock, Dib seemed to finally calm down. Or at least, partially. He was still shaking badly, but those brown eyes seemed a little bit more focused than before.
That was a good enough sign for her. “I’ll get you some water”, she said walking off, only to quickly return with a full glass of water, handing it over to him.
He took small sips, as he was finally cooling off.
“So um, what happened?”
“It’s Zim”.
Several months ago, everything was fine. Well, that’s a blatant lie. It was as fine as things got, as nothing is ever really fine in Dib’s life. Still it was… slightly better. At the time, it had been about five days since his last encounter with Zim. The boy came up with an incredibly stupid irresponsible idea of stealing Zim’s alien backpack. Or as he would soon know it as by its proper name, Zim’s PAK.
Those five days weren’t easy for the boy. Five days of long sleepless nights filled with recurring nightmares, five days where the boy had to reevaluate everything he thought he knew, everything that made sense. Well up until that point.
It was supposed to be just a regular day. Well, as regular as any of those got for the boy. Yet another long venture of the endless battle with his arch nemesis, Zim. Suppose what Dib was doing that day wasn’t that heroic, in retrospect at least. He got Torgue Smacky, the school jock, to torment Zim a little by hitting him with a ball. With the fact that Torgue was the athletic, strong-built type, the impact of his hit was so strong. The throw ended up knocking Zim off the ground. Making the dreaded PAK come off.
PAK, the mechanical device on Zim’s back, that Dib soon learned kept Zim alive. But it was more than that. It was quite the technological marvel. The child was certain it would impress even a world-class scientist like his father. If he were to believe him that is.
That day, Dib discovered that the PAK acted as a parasite per say. He would never forget the dreaded events that occurred. Much like some parasitic animal, the device immediately attached itself to the nearest host, and that host… was Dib.
The things that proceeded, were needless to say, terrifying. His whole personality, mind even, was being ripped away from him. Piece by piece. And as if that wasn’t bad enough, it was being replaced with something vile, something evil.
It was being replaced by an all too familiar person. Zim.
Thankfully, with the help of his father, together they managed to detach the PAK from Dib and give it back to its rightful host.
Not owner, Dib made sure to clarify to himself every time. But a mere host. Zim’s body was in a sense, a carrier, nothing but a victim infected by this virus. It only made sense to the boy. As while he was serving as a host to the wretched device, he began changing into a completely different person.
The PAK was a parasite. There was no other way of describing it.
After the incident, he skipped a few days of school. He had caught a flu. He remembers feeling weak during those couple of days. Completely and utterly helpless, as who knows what Zim could have done when Dib’s was not there to stop him.
He had no idea if his body was having a reaction to the PAK toying with it previously that week, making his immune system all messed up. Or if it was simply due to the sheer magnitude of the situation that happened.
Dib wasn’t weak. He has seen some shit. Been through a lot of it. He dealt with horrifying events on pretty much a regular basis. But that event... it was different.
The whole experience left Dib with many thoughts.
He had seen other Irkens before. All of them, mean spirited, rude, evil creatures, hellbent on destruction. All of them equipped with a PAK. Hell, the main goal of their entire species seemed to be to invade and destroy.
It made no sense to him, why a race of creatures would be so devoid of empathy, compassion, anything good-! …there had to be an external reason.
Now it all fell into place. It all clicked, one could say.
It was the PAK. Clearly, at some point in the, what he could only guess as, long far-away Irken history, the PAKs were forced onto them, making Irkens into the monsters they are today.
‘But that couldn’t be the end of the story? Could it?’
He remembers turning a lot in his bed that day, even with his sickly appearance, his determination couldn’t be unnoticed.
‘There must be some way to reverse the damage this device has caused.’
‘The Irkens were depended on it, their bodies can’t function without some sort of life support.’
Dib’s new mission was clear.
What would be the point, of chasing Zim around for days and day, when essentially, Dib was simply tormenting a victim of this vile virus? The PAK was at fault for the Irken’s negative traits. Irkens weren’t the ones to blame! Eliminating this device should be his goal. Then and only then, can he save the Earth, and not only that, but perhaps, even the entire Irken race!
And…
Zim too.
Although this thought was what initially brought conflict to Dib.
It was hard having his entire worldview changed in a short span of ten minutes.
Zim, his mortal enemy, his arch rival, the creature threatening to destroy everything he loves, everything he holds dear! The same creature he planned on having exposed to the world, making everyone see how much of a monster he was.
And most importantly, making them see that Dib was right. He was right about aliens, he was right about Zim! Even his father would see that his son wasn’t a screw up.
But now? All of that was put into question. His entire goal had to be reevaluated. He couldn’t just, torture a victim, can he? If he were to expose Zim, than the innocent Irken, the owner of the body of this mechanical prison, would suffer. He hated to admit it, but the mere thought of it made him feel horrible.
‘Is that it now? To never expose Zim? To never let the world see the truth? To throw away all those months of hard work?’
‘Is doing the right thing… as important as being accepted?’
A true dilemma was taking place inside the confines of Dib’s mind that day. He remembers the sweat that poured down his face, as the choice was incredibly difficult to decide upon. Perhaps he was selfish. No, he definitely was. While twisting and turning in his bed, due to the sheer frustration of the war inside his mind…
An idea occurred.
“I thought, if I could just, get rid of his PAK… Replace it with another life-support-like device. I would break his chains, free him of this oppressive regime his species has been put under!” he waved his hands around in the air, putting emphasis on nearly every word.
That was when he lowered his head, so much his glasses nearly slipped off his face. He didn’t want to look at Gaz. Was it shame over his naivety? Was it embarrassment over his stupidity? It was clear to the girl that her brother’s hero fantasies were coming to an end. As whatever happened mere minutes ago before he stormed through the front door, changed his perceptions enough to self-reflect.
“My theory was wrong”.
When he said it, Gaz stopped for a minute, as if she was frozen in time. Silence filled the room, as only deep irregular breaths could be heard. Regaining her composure, she opened her mouth to speak. As her brother clearly wasn’t ready to yet.
“Wait- don’t tell me you actually tried it?” Dib stayed completely silent. “No way…”she mumbled to herself, looking away at the floor.
“You did it?” Gaz was speechless.
Her brother nodded.
A long uncomfortable silence graced the room once more. The tension was high in the air, but it would be a lie to say that the young girl wasn’t hungry for answers.
“So what, did you kill him?”
Dib’s eyes went wide. His expression turned grim, as he shot her a nasty look: “Why would you say it so matter-of-fact-ly?” he yelled, clearly bothered by her wording.
“Holly shit, you did?” She didn’t know if she was impressed or shocked. She never imagined the day her brother would actually do it. Actually get rid of his dumb alien nemesis. Gaz was out of words for a few seconds, before her brother nervously retorted.
“I-I didn’t! He’s still alive. Just…”, he continued to ramble, dropping his head into his hand.
Taking a deep breath he added:
“His body didn’t react well to the new device”.
Crossing her arms, Gaz raised a brow: “In what way?”
That was when Dib finally looked at her again, with a look of pure regret.
“Come with me, please”.
They were now in front of Zim’s base. But it was… somber. All the lights were turned off, which Gaz took note of immediately. It was not as if she visited Zim’s house often, especially not as often as her brother. But she did notice a particular lack of that green, radiating light that made Zim’s house so recognizable. The iconic flare seemed to completely leave the base, as it seemed the entire place was shut down.
Upon entering the dimly lit living room, they were met with two cyan glowing eyes, they only things illuminating the room. The eyes weren’t quite staring at them, more-so at the TV, that was very clearly turned off. The owner of the big cyan eyes, was non-other than Zim’s little robot.
“I don’t like dis show master”, the tiny robot complained. The robotic minion was simply staring blankly at the black screen of the television, as if he was expecting a show to begin. It was earie. In any other context, Zim’s alien robot dog thingy being weird would have been funny, but in this case. It just added more discomfort to the whole atmosphere.
And there, right next to the place on the couch where the little robot laid, stood Zim. A very sickly, dead-looking Zim. Only he wasn’t dead, as the Membrane siblings could clearly see small but steady movements indicating breathing under the blankets.
“Hiii DIB! How is you?” The robot greeted with a friendly smile, as he seemed to have finally noticed the visitors. But Dib didn’t respond. His eyes were very clearly avoiding looking at anywhere near Zim’s direction. Gaz noticed her brother’s discomfort.
Something messed up happened in this room.
“Are you sure he’d not dead?” the girl interrupted the silence. The third time that day.
“Would you cut it?!”
Gaz was taken aback. Did Dib just… yell at her? Twice today? She didn’t mean anything by her comment, it was more of an observation. She has said far worse things than this. Why was he this upset? Didn’t he hate Zim?
“What the hell happened here Dib? Tell me”, she was getting impatient. The earie atmosphere of this whole place didn’t help. She wanted to know what the fuck happened.
But Dib just stood there, clearly fighting with himself to spit those words out already. Finally, his lips moved:
“I think he had a seizure”.