iz: regret

[prismaticbleed]

 

It was terribly early.
3 AM, to be precise… too early for the sun to bleed, too late for the world to breathe.
That elusive hour of morning in which reality closed its eyes, waiting.
Waiting for the towns to bloom with life again. Waiting for the streets to shudder, black and broken, beneath the roaring blur of traffic.
Waiting to be called to life.
This morning it came with a scream.


“How could I have been so stupid??"
The unearthly sobs shuddered in the cold morning air, cracking, breaking.
“I was so blind… so stupidly blind!! How??”
The purple light reflected in the alien’s pink eyes, a sickened sob escaping his throat as he surveyed the room before him… cluttered with the ruins of so many failed plans, so many broken dreams.
“I could’ve conquered this world so easily by now, had I only seen--! I could’ve conquered it ten times over!” He rose to his feet, sick with forgotten glory. “A HUNDRED!!” He sobbed again.
“But no. I could never get my priorities straight. I could never see what was truly important… what power I truly had! I’m an Irken invader!!” The tearstained creature cried to the empty air. “I am ZIM!!”
He dissolved into sobs.
Invader Zim. Yes, that was his name… a name that deserved to live in glory for all time, which deserved to be honored for what its bearer had done.
And here he was, Zim, the one and only… wasting his life away on this filthy planet.
All because he had been so blind…!
“I’m supposed to be conquering this planet, not playing with it! Look at what I could have done!” His dark claws reached for the useless weapons before him. “Look at the destruction I could have wrought! Look at the doom I could have inflicted! And I was so stupid!!” His head fell into his remorseful hands. “All this power I have known… and instead of using it for victory, for the Irken Empire, I spent all my time chasing that foolish human boy… that big-headed boy who never told me a thing…”
Three years worth of burning misery finally exploded.
“…Diiiiib!!!”


Dib Membrane woke with a start.
His eyes snapped open, shocked, and he immediately sat upright. What was it? A nightmare?
Rubbing the sleep from his face, Dib took the glasses from his nightstand and yawned. Shivering once, he settled them upon his nose. Terribly cold, he thought distractedly as he blinked at the digital clock. Now what time was—?
He had to look twice.
Three A.M.??
The young investigator shook his head in disbelief. It couldn’t be…!
But the pale green numbers held no pity for him. 3:07 continued to smolder in their sickening glow, silent in their solemnity.
Wow, Dib thought simply, running a hand through his sparse black hair. That’s odd. I’m never up this early. In fact-- he remembered with a touch of amusement-- the only time I ever did wake up at this hour was in a dream… a dream fully choreographed by—
“DIB!!”
Immediately the young boy’s blood turned to ice.
That voice!
A sickening wave of fear swept through him. That was what had woke him up, he realized… His name. Screamed by that same hysteric voice.
He could never mistake that voice, not for as long as he lived.
Quickly he spun around to face the moonlight behind him. Dib caught a moment’s glimpse of his bedroom window, flung wide open, the icy air biting at his pale face… and suddenly all he could see was red.
No, not red…he realized. Pink.
Zim!
Dib gasped in shock as the alien grabbed his collar in a death grip, forcing him to stare into that familiar Irken face. But something was wrong, he suddenly realized. Something was terribly wrong…
“Why didn’t you tell me??”
The question echoed in silence. For an awful moment, Dib was afraid his father had heard, but the empty ringing in his ears remained unbroken. Not much of a relief, he thought anxiously. But what was Zim talking about?
“…Tell you what?” Dib nervously began, his voice barely audible. He had never seen Zim like this before.
The grip on his shirt tightened, Zim’s pink eyes now frighteningly close.
“That I was doing everything wrong!!”
Wrong?
Dib blinked. For a moment, his total confusion overrode all apprehension at this Irken being in his room. That sure wasn’t the question he had expected. Knowing Zim, Dib wouldn’t have been surprised if the invader had asked why he hadn’t told him about the water content of ice cream, or why you should always look both ways before crossing the street. Inane questions like that.
But this… what on earth was he talking about? What on earth was making him look so… different?
Dib swallowed hard, remembering his situation. “I- I don’t know what you—“
“You know what I mean!” Zim screamed over him. “Why every effort I made to conquer this planet turned out wrong!! Why I was always so stupid!!”
The Irken’s voice broke, and he let go, his breath hitching. His eyes were furious but he looked on the verge of tears.

(unfinished)