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All Things Lost...All Things Found_1

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All Things Lost and All Things Found (title may change)
Written by Qrzi and Sydia
ZADR, a multi-chaptered RP fic.


CHAPTER 1



Chaos.
Buildings rip from pavement, cars float up, up, up, and screams fill the air.
Rising and spinning wildly out of control, but all the while world-weary golden eyes stare into his, hands holding tightly to the other as the world around them collapses.

The dying light reflects off of a strangely familiar pair of glasses, drawing nearer and nearer-
'And kiss the one you love with reckless abandonment;'
So soft, warm and familiar, are the mock-lekku that brushes his own as are the smooth lips that touch his..

Zim fell out of his chair and gasped. What was that? INVADERS DID NOT DO THOSE SORT OF THINGS-! He shook his head wildly, burning with anger. How many times had he had that dream now? Zim pulled himself up, scowling, and counted off to himself on his claws. One, two, three, four, five, six - almost every day out of this solar cycle!

He tapped the desk impatiently. This was becoming serious. Something must have become faulty with the rest-cycle mode on his PAK. That was the only reasonable explanation. Yes, of course that was it. Something faulty with the rest-cycle mode, not him. He didn't even recognize that strange planet that was always in his visual sleep-cycle disturbances, a dreary back-water-ish hodgepodge planet of horrible technology and concrete. For sure, he had NEVER had the misfortune to step foot on such a filthy world.

And even worse were the filthy inhabitants of that filthy world. Or one in particular. Zim straightened up, and banged the desk impatiently. Flashes, echoes, that was all his strangely vivid visual sleep-cycle disturbances ever gave him. Short sharp images of -- something. He closed his eyes for a moment, attempting to remember and opened them, moments later, to find strange liquid dripping continuously from his eyes.

WHAT WAS THIS? Zim rubbed his eyes hurriedly and blinked the liquid out. He HATED how these VISUAL SLEEP DISTURBANCES affected HIM. Every time he entered a sleep cycle, HORRIBLE visual sleep disturbances (AND THAT WAS ALL THEY WERE, because they certainly couldn't be -ugh, he hated to even think the word- dreams) were waiting for him, giving him such strange feelings within his squeedily-spooch, and leaving him with such a strange feeling of emptiness when he awoke-- NO THAT WASN'T THE CASE!  Something that didn't exist on a planet he never visited COULDN'T AFFECT HIM! He shook his head furiously, back and forth.

Besides, if ZIM ever went to SUCH A DISGUSTING PLACE, he'd pave it over and turn it into a parking lot planet! He clicked his claws distastefully. Why was he occupying himself with this nonsense again?

And on top of that bit of nonsense, he, the ALMIGHTY ELITE IRKEN INVADER ZIM would NEVER ALLOW such a DISGUSTING STINK-BEAST's mouthy orifices to TOUCH HIS OWN-

Hold on, stink-beast? Holy Irk, where had that word even come from? Zim shook his head spastically from side to side. He had never used that insult before! Yet, it floated to the top of his consciousness so easily whenever he pictured those strange burnt gold eyes-

In a rage, Zim picked up his desk using his PAK legs and threw it at the wall with a resounding crash. The visual sleep cycle disturbances (AND THAT WAS ALL THEY WERE SINCE HE WAS AN IRKEN INVADER and IRKEN INVADERS MOST CERTAINLY DID NOT DREAM) were getting worse. Now they were affecting him while he was awake!

"El-elite Irke-e-n Invad-der Zi-im, conq-ue-rer of the Kie-fv sir?" stammered out a young service drone, who had cautiously opened the door to check on his master "I-s a-anything wr-rong?"

Zim glared viciously at the service drone, maroon eyes narrowing as he contemplated launching the service drone out of the atmosphere. No, not enough of a reason. If he launched another one, that'd make five this week and for sure, the Tallest would not enjoy such wastefulness. He sighed. The room with a moozek would have to do.

He had never quite understood the inspiration that led to him to creating this new form of punishment, now legendary and feared throughout the empire, sending Irkens who annoyed him to a large white room with nothing in it but a strange four-legged brown creature with horns on it's head.

To be sure, it was terrible punishment, one that the mere mention of made all other Irkens tremble, but it never was truly enough to satisfy him. He always felt like he was sending the wrong person ther-

WHAT WAS HE SAYING? For Tallest' sake, ANY person that he sent there DESERVED it because they had incurred HIS WRATH. But yet, he could never shake the feeling that the punishment was fitting only for one being, one with burnt golden eyes and soft, soft li-

SMASH! The wall groaned and then broke under Zim's fist. Finally. Something was working the way it was supposed to. Zim laughed delightedly, the damage satisfying him for the moment. He withdrew his hand and turned to face the service drone.  Claw hovering over the trapdoor button located on his handy remote, Zim motioned the service drone forward, his mouth twisting into a demonic zippered grin.

"Yes? What is it that you want with the ALMIGHTY ZIIIM?" The unfortunate service drone cowered under Zim's grin, staring at the floor.

"Ah, sir...I-I...that is.." Inwardly, Zim scoffed. The service drone should have run while he was occupied with the wall. That was what any intelligent Irken would have done in his place. But then again, there are reasons why most short Irkens are service drones. They're inferior to elite Irkens, and therefore less intelligent. Obviously.

"Wrong answer inferior-shorter!" Zim called out with a gleam in his eyes. "Goodbye." He punched the button and simultaneously, a trapdoor opened below the Irken service drone, carrying him through many long tubes and into the dreaded room with a moozek.

A long scream echoed from the trapdoor before it finally slid shut with an ominous snap. Zim turned and exited his living quarters, humming happily. Making service drones scream in terror was always a fun way to start the day.

   "I feel good about how today went." He said to himself smiling. But then he remembered. He had a job to do. Conquered planets couldn't run themselves after all. "GAR!" Zim shouted. Where in the name of the Tallest was that infuriating SIR unit?

  "GIR, IF YOU'VE BEEN WATCHING THE SCARY MONKEY SHOW AGAIN, I'M TELLING YOU-" His SIR unit appeared promptly, glowing with red eyes- how strange.. Holy Irk! Had they always been that color? Hadn't they been a different color? A completely different one...teal, wasn't it? And hadn't his SIR unit had a mouth? Yes...a large mouth in which he stuffed all sorts of things a SIR unit shouldn't be able to eat..

   "Sir, I believe you were mistaken!" His SIR unit said in an oddly wrong deep voice.

    Wait, what?
   Zim snapped out of his contemplation and glared at the SIR unit.
   "What are you talking about, GAR? THE MIGHTY ZIM IS NEVER MISTAKEN!"
   "But you were, Sir."
   "NEVER!"
   "Approximately one minute and thirty-two seconds ago, Sir-"
   "LIES!"
   "My name is GAR, not GIR, Sir!"
   "ZIIIM DOES NOT MAKE MISTAKES!"
   "And I do not watch the show of the terrifying monkey, Sir!" GAR saluted Zim.

    Zim opened his mouth to scream yet another "LIES!" but was then sidetracked by what GAR had said. His SIR unit didn't watch the Scary Monkey Show? But GIR, no that wasn't right.. (why did he keep getting the name wrong?)..GAR loved that show! Wait...Zim eyed his SIR unit suspiciously. Why would any SIR unit of his watch 'the Scary Monkey Show', instead of following his loyal master's orders?

With a shock, Zim realized that he didn't even know what a 'monkey' was. His PAK certainly didn't know. Where had that word come from? And what in the name of Irk had possessed Zim to mention such a thing? 'Scary Monkey Show'.... Where had he heard that before? He must have somewhere...He certainly would have never come up with something so ridiculous on his own. After all, what was more stupid than a monkey scowling at the screen- Wait..

How did Zim know what the 'Scary Monkey Show' was if he didn't even know what a monkey was?

But he did know what a monkey was. And since his PAK still couldn't provide any information on the subject..How had Zim known?

He shook his head, tried to make sense of it all and ultimately failed. He glanced over at his SIR unit who was standing there. With his strangely wrong RED eyes, watching him.

With no logical reasoning to give, Zim simply sneered at his SIR unit and said "Your legs are STUPID!"

GAR bent his head and saluted his master once again. "It has been noted, Sir!"
Zim blinked at his SIR unit. GIR was being this cooperative? No, wait, Zim frowned, his SIR unit's name was GAR not GIR. And it shouldn't have been a surprise that the SIR unit was cooperative since it was built to serve the MIGHTY ZIIIM AFTER ALL!

Zim cackled wildly and nodded, satisfied with himself. Of COURSE! Why was he being so silly, occupying himself with this ridiculous nonsense? HE, THE ALMIGHTY ZIIIM, had a conquered planet to rule! And a conquered people to humiliate and run HORRIBLE experiments on!

He snapped his fingers dramatically. "GAR," he said, over-emphasizing his SIR unit's name, "TAKE ME TO THE LAB! I WISH to run some DELIGHTFULLY HORRIBLE experiments on the natives, the orange-furred and clammy Kievf!"

"RIGHT AWAY, MY MASTER!" The SIR unit transformed and Zim climbed aboard, cackling wildly all the while ignoring the strange wrongness of it all and the cold numbness that crept inside him with every breath.


Weeks later
He fought the visual sleep disturbances, tooth and claw, refusing to go into sleep mode.
Not that that plan lasted long. No. Because then the visual disturbances simply followed him into consciousness.

Every moment now was a battlefield, another moment of him being assaulted and barraged by moments, whispers, images -of another reality-
Which made no sense, of course. Zim had only ever known this one.
The one where he was an Elite Irken Invader who had easily conquered the Kievf, a race of orange-haired clammy creatures, and had been awarded the highest medals by the Tallest themselves, Miyuki and Spork.
The one where his SIR unit was capable. Not a fool. Not a piece of junk. Not dead. And had RED eyes.
The one where he was praised. Honored.

But this reality was the real one so in the end it didn't matter. No.
Of course not.
But the ones, the images and moments that haunted him the most-
were the ones with a certain big-headed human and himself...

"Zim. I can't live without you."
Earnest eyes, golden and world-weary, stare into his..
He hated this. This weakening within himself, how quickly his former long-time enemy could crumble his resolve.
"Silence. Leave me in peace."
He was breaking into pieces, slowly, every wall crumbling..
Cautious and slow, arms wrap around him, warm and safe-
"No."
"Zim."
He feels himself shattering, all the walls he's put up to hide crumbling, he's exposed, he's weak

'I love you.'

He jumped up, squeedily-spooch thumping hard, eyes widening, looking around.
Nothing. Zim closed his eyes and opened them again, half expecting a pair of foolishly earnest golden eyes to meet his.

Nothing. Zim laughed nervously to himself, checking behind him. Why was he being so stupid, so immature like a smeet? It wasn't real. Any of it, his visual sleep interruptions.... Just- pure and utter dookie. That was it.

Zim raised a claw to his head for a moment, aware of a throbbing insistent pain in his skull and lowered it, distracted by an image at his desk, a shiny metal surface which reflected himself. Zim. Elite. Irken. Invader.
Certainly not someone who acted like an immature smeet, or worse, a defect.
Certainly not someone who was haunted by moments of another life.
Certainly not someone who felt like he was empty. Numb. Like there was a void. No.

Zim snapped up, eyes wild. It was because he had nothing to do! Yes, that was it, that HAD to be it, all this free time, it was getting to Zim's head, that was all! Yes!
And he could fix that, he could, just walk over to the stink-creature's house and annoy him..
Yes, that would fix the boredom-!

But, no it wouldn't. Because the stink-creature didn't exist. And neither did that wretched filthy planet, or any of the other wretched filthy creatures on it or the Stupid Monkey Show or an idiotic SIR unit named GIR. Zim closed his eyes again and gritted his teeth.

He hated how the visual sleep disturbances affected him. Making him think that that was real and this was not. How stoopid. And lately he hadn't even gone into sleep mode. The...-how did he term it?-hallucinations had just swept over him.
Zim shuddered. Was it possible something was wrong with his PAK?
No... It couldn't be. ZIM WAS NOT A DEFECT! Zim was PERFECT and his PAK was PERFECT and his life was PERFECT!

Zim got up with a forced grin, grabbed some snacks and went down to the labs to experiment on the Kievf.

Again.

And later as he experimented gleefully with lasers and bubbling poisons, the void inside him, the numbness that was quickly overtaking him, silently screamed.

A few days after that
Zim walked outside of his base, tired. It had been surprisingly simple. He had disabled GAR, stunned all the drones, knocked out the guards and here he was.

Outside. Alone.

Zim looked around. It looked just like he remembered.. A dark world, having a small sun, that was cold. And filled with strange bluish-gray plant life.  
He knew that he had come here, had conquered the Kievf by infiltrating them as one of their own, but if that was so..

Why didn't he remember anything?
His memories were hazy, jumping from him arriving to him conquering.
And being given medals.
He remembered that part vividly. They were shiny.

He couldn't help but wonder, if nothing was wrong, if everything was as it truly was, why had the guards, the drones and GAR made such a mess over him going outside alone?
It was ridiculous. But it was there. That stubborn resistance to him going outside. Which meant, of course, that he HAD to go outside.

Duh.

Zim looked around. Kicked a rock or two. Things were the way they were supposed to be.
And of course they were. THIS WAS THE REALITY!
Him coming out here was just to show that he, ZIM, took orders from NO ONE!
Certainly not because he was becoming suspicious, that he, Zim was being lied to.
No, of course not.

Zim considered walking back into his base. Why bother? It wasn't like he'd be any less bored out here instead of in there.
He sat down and yawned.
How long had it been since he'd had a proper sleep cycle?
His PAK beeped a reply. Zim snorted and stretched his arms.

"Since those pathetic visual disturbances DISTRACT ZIM NO MATTER WHAT, ZIM will go into SLEEP MODE RIGHT NOW and just DARES those PATHETIC visual sleep disturbances to APPEAR!"

With that declaration, he found a comfortable spot beneath a tree and settled on the ground, closing his eyes.

That night he was not visited by any sleep disturbances.
Or was he?

"Zim! ZIM! I found you! Oh god, finally! I was so worried about you, Zim...."
(*)
This is a follow-up of Cupidty11's one-shot, "Reckless Abandonment", WHICH I HIGHLY SUGGEST YOU GO READ.
It'll still make sense without reading that though.
This is also a ZADR fic! If you dislike slash/boyxboy, DO NOT READ.

P.S.- IZ belongs to Jhonen Vasquez. Not us. Let's let that be our disclaimer for the whole story, yes? Ok, good.

Also, while I wrote the first part of this chapter, Qrzi wrote the rest, so she should get the credit for this chapter.

EDIT: NEXT CHAPTER HAS BEEN UPLOADED-->[link]

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SaintHeartwing's avatar
Uhhhh...how can this be a follow-up if everyone is DEAD?