...Gaz groaned, throwing back the blanket and forcing herself to wake up quickly. "So help you, if you've gone off to get revenge..." She muttered, rushing from her room. She first checked Dib's room, which was an even bigger mess than it had been the previous night. Then she checked the bathroom - no dice there, either. There wasn't anything by way of food being cooked; she would have noticed by now.
Feeling more than a little panic rise in her chest, Gaz headed downstairs and checked their father's lab. But her brother wasn't there, either. He hadn't fallen asleep on the couch after getting a middle-of-the-night can of cola, he hadn't accidentally locked himself in the garage like he had done in the past...
Gaz ran by the back door a few times before stopping to look out it. The snow had melted quite a bit. The level in the back yard had dropped a lot. Enough for her stupid brother to make a number of Snow Piggies attacking awful Snow Zims.
Throwing the door open, briefly shivering as the cold wind hit her half-dressed form, Gaz called out, "Dib, you idiot, what are you doing out there?"
Dib blinked, looking up from his his latest snow sculpture - a vampire piggy biting one of Zim's eyes off - and smiled. "Oh...morning, Gaz! Sleep well?"
Gaz disappeared from the doorway long enough to slip her boots and a jacket on, then trudged outside to glare at Dib at close range. "It doesn't matter how I slept. You got your ass handed to you yesterday and should still be laying down! I nearly had a heart attack when I couldn't find you."
Before Dib could reply, Gaz grabbed him by the ear and proceeded to tug the boy back inside, despite his protests. Gaz quickly shed her jacket and boots once back in, turning to look back at Dib, her arms crossing.
"Explain yourself."
Dib blinked, then made a face. "I felt fine. I tried staying awake, but I fell asleep, anyway. When I woke up, I felt much better. I think the blue stuff got into my system and helped fix whatever else was wrong with me."
"Convenient."
"Yeah, I thought so. I was gonna make breakfast, but I saw the snow had gone down. I dunno about you, but I needed to get outside for awhile."
"You could have just gone back to your room, you know. There's plenty of snow built up in there."
"You know what I mean."
"Do I?"
"You should."
"Hmph."
"Oh, come on!" Dib cried. "What are you angry about?"
"You constantly worrying me to death, that's what!" Gaz said, glaring.
Whatever Dib was about to say, his brain forced him to stop and think over what his sister had just said. He then smirked and leaned in closer. "Constantly? When did this start?"
Gaz blinked, realizing too late how she had phrased her reply. Blushing so faintly that even Dib barely noticed, she turned away from him and headed for the stairs. "Nevermind. I'm going to go get dressed."
"You have some 'splainin' to doooo!" Cried Dib as Gaz disappeared upstairs. Once she was out of sight, Dib went about shedding his heavy coat, hat, and gloves. He set his snow-covered boots near the door - any further in and Gaz would have his head for the resulting water when the snow melted. He then went over to the couch and flopped down on it.
The truth was, he wasn't feeling quite a hundred percent yet. Something in him still felt off, though he couldn't quite place what it was. He felt fine physically and mentally. He was annoyed that his room was an utter mess that probably wouldn't be fixed until the rest of the snow melted, but there was nothing to be done for it. A pizza boy might be forced to deal with the elements, but Dib was pretty sure the carpenters in the area definitely wouldn't.
When Gaz finally came back down, Dib raised an eyebrow. "You said you were going to get dressed."
"I did." Stated Gaz. She pointed. "See?"
"Pajama pants, a nightshirt, and thick socks counts as dressed?"
"It's not like I'm going anywhere. And dragging your miserable butt inside just about froze me." Gaz said, sitting down next to her brother and crossing her legs.
"Eh, good enough. I'm going to get you out there in the snow at some point, though." Said Dib, smiling cryptically.
"Oh no you won't." Said Gaz, opening an eye slightly.
"I'll find a way." Dib said, crossing his arms.
"Not unless you want another concussion."
"I didn't have one to begin with! ...At least, I don't think I did." Dib said.
Sighing, Gaz shook her head. "Lift up your shirt."
"Say what now?"
Glaring, Gaz reached out and tugged her brother's shirt up, peering. "...Guess it really does heal everything." She stated after awhile. "...You've got two new scars just above your stomach. They're pretty small, though."
"I've gotta ask dad what the hell that stuff is some day." Dib idly said.
"And why he isn't marketing it. Hospitals would pay a ton." Gaz added.
"That too. I need my own personal supply, though, just in case Zim decides to pay me any more surprise visits." Dib growled.
"Zim..." Gaz repeated.
Dib looked aside at his sister. She looked strangely in thought. And a Gaz at thought was a rare thing. She normally didn't need to go deep in thought. So when she did, it was enough to cause Dib some concern.
"What's on your mind?" He asked.
"Why don't you just give up on catching Zim?" Gaz asked.
"What?"
"Dib. He's a bigger idiot than you are. Name one time he's accomplished something. One time."
"He almost got me and my class sent to a room with a moose!" Dib declared. "If it weren't for their searing hatred of me, he would have won, too. And he turned us both into bologna!"
Gaz snorted.
"What?"
"Nothing. Just remembering the way you looked." Gaz said.
Dib hmmed. He then grinned. "Gaz."
"What?"
"Taste me, I'm delicious! Oww! Okay, I deserved that." Said Dib, rubbing the spot on his arm that Gaz had just slugged. He was still having a tough time biting back a grin.
"Yes. Yes you did. And in case you've forgotton..." Gaz began, placing a finger up to Dib's lips for a moment. "I have tasted you. Remember?"
Dib blinked, then blushed, then hopped back slightly. "That wasn't what I meant." He mumbled feebly.
Smirking, Gaz replied, "I'm well aware of that."
"You're evil. Has anyone ever told you that?"
"Yes."
Dib glared. "Anyway, Zim's gotta be up to something bigger than what he lets on! What if he tries summoning his leaders again! I don't want some massive ship firing death rays down on us. Not much I could do to p-- ...um... not much I could do to save people from something like that..." He said, quickly shifting gears mid-sentence.
"I'd rather die in a giant, burn-y death ray than try to deal with a world where Zim's people ruled." Gaz said. "...But they can't all be as stupid as he is."
"Tak almost pulled it off." Dib said, leaning his head back against the couch and staring up at the ceiling.
"Yes, Tak." Gaz said, watching her brother carefully. "...You really cared about her, didn't you?"
"Eh? Oh, uh... I guess I may have... before I learned she was an Irken invader hellbent on killing Zim and filling the planet with snacks." Dib said, now glaring at the ceiling. "...She kinda reminded me of you, y'know."
"Excuse me?"
Dib felt his face warm up. "Don't make me say it, it's embarassing enough to think about. Besides, if I tried, it would just come out all horrible and mushy and hideous."
"Your point?"
"Gaaaaz!" Dib half-whined, half-groaned. "Come on!"
Gaz smiled briefly, then let herself get overcome by a big yawn. "Ugh... it's your fault I didn't get to sleep in."
"It's noon." Dib pointed out.
"Yes, and there's also no reason at all to be up before it." Gaz stated, shifting herself so that she was laying down. Resting her head on Dib's legs, her eyes slipped shut. "Don't run off again."
"Hey! Don't I get a say in this?" Dib asked, staring down at his lap.
"No." Murmured Gaz.
"Great." Said Dib, watching - as he could do little more from his position - as Gaz quickly drifted back into dreamland. "...Sleep well."
oOoOoOoOoOoOo
"The snow melted about a week later. The wall of my room was fixed up. And life sort of fell back into a more familiar pattern. Gaz and I remained close, however, and continued our habit of falling asleep next to one another. I think both of us felt safer that way, if that makes sense.
"Nearly two months after the 'incident' occured, something happened. To this day, I'm not sure why things shifted like they did. All she said was that she was tired of all the constant fighting between Zim and myself and that, if I could turn him in, then she and I could enjoy the rest of our lives together. Maybe it was how she said it... maybe it was that she honestly wanted to be with me for that long. Whatever it was, it set events in motion.
"The very next day, before Gaz woke up, I set out. It didn't take long to reach's Zim's base of operations, and even less time to get inside. Whether Fate was smiling on me, whether I just lucked out, or whether I actually got the victory on my own, it all meant the same thing: I had captured Zim. Strangely enough, a gun shooting out giant bubble gum bubbles was the thing to do the trick. It was just one of a handful of dad's gadgets I had picked up during my pre-fight ritual. It was also the first thing I tried against him.
"I was in contact with the FBI within minutes. They arrived bizarrely fast... I'm still a bit unnerved by that. After handing over the Bubble Gun and explaining how it worked and what had happened, they carted him off, just like that. There was no big fanfare, no parades in my honor. He was just... gone.
"Nearly a week later, GIR showed up on our front step, sobbing and covered in stickers from the places he had travelled to, like some sort of living suitcase. I hate to say it, but I actually felt sorry for the little guy. He had lost his master, for better or for worse, and didn't have anywhere to go. I took him in and reprogrammed him. Whoever did it the first time around did a horrible job on it. All I found was a bunch of junk in his head. Still not one hundred percent sure how he was even running. He's basically a glorified waiter now, though he does seem relatively happy about being of use to somebody. I buy him waffles. He likes waffles.
"And that was it, really. GIR was working for us, Zim was off being dissected somewhere, and... well, that was about all that had changed. The FBI had made me promise not to tell anyone of what I had done. And really, who would believe me? Part of me misses the daily routine I had fallen into over time. But part of me was glad that it was finally over. Oh, I still had my hobby... Gaz would never be able to get me to part with that,just like she would never part with her videogame obsession."
"Are you ever coming to bed?"
Dib paused in his writing, looking from the glow of the computer's monitor to his bed, where Gaz's head could barely be seen over a mound of blankets. Smiling crookedly, he turned back to his journal entry, saving the document. "Yeah, gimme a minute." He said.
Shutting the computer down and then off, he stood and walked over to his bed, sitting on the edge. "Sorry. Just getting some stuff out of my head."
"Like what?" Gaz murmured, shifting back to make room for her brother.
Dib slid into bed properly and, after Gaz had curled up against him, he replied, "Just everything that's happened lately. Sometimes it feels like my mind's too crowded, you know? It's been busy lately."
"Ah..." Came Gaz's reply. "What are we doing tomorrow night?"
"Dunno. Haven't thought ahead that far." Dib said. "Hey, what were you swearing up a storm about earlier, anyway?"
"What, before I came up?"
"Yeah."
Gaz shifted her weight slightly. "Vampire Piggy Hunter Z level 8. Can't figure out how to get past the Hall of Kill-y Stuff."
"You don't. You take the hidden passage behind the portrait of Count Blarloch." Dib said.
Gaz jerked her head back to stare, wide-eyed, at her brother. Dib blinked back at her and, after realizing she was too stunned to say anything, asked, "What?"
"How the hell do you know that?" Gaz demanded.
"What? You think you're the only person who plays games in this house?" Dib asked, starting to grin. "I need something to do in the time I usually spent chasing Zim.Had trouble there myself until I checked online and found out the real way through the level."
"...I don't think I like that you figure out something that I didn't." Gaz said.
"Aww, is little Gazzy jealous?" Dib said, laying on the sweetness in his voice. "Well, if you promise not to cave my head in, I'll show you the place I'm talking about. It's not exactly a safer route, but you won't go mad trying to get through the Slightly Easier Hall of Kill-y Stuff."
Gaz made a noncommittal grunt and stretched out slightly, her nose barely nestled against Dib's neck. He smiled at her and shut his eyes. He had been hoping for a moment like that, where he could pull a bit of random knowledge out of his head and score bonus points with his sister. And the look on her face would have been worth any beatings she might have dished out.
It was weird that Gaz was starting to mellow out around him. When she had finished being frustrated at her game, Dib had heard her stomp upstairs - swearing all the way - and into her room. Moments later, she walked into his room, considerably less grouchy and in her pajamas, and climbed into his bed.
Sure, life wasn't perfect. He wasn't rich and famous like he wished he could have been. The kids at school still made fun of him and he still got bullied often. But his situation at home had improved so much that it negated anything bad that happened to him during the day. Maybe, just maybe, once he began regularly playing games with Gaz, he could convince her to go hunting some random monster with him.
Dib cracked an eye open to watch Gaz. Her breathing had slowed down quite a bit and the arm draped over him was hanging a little looser than it had before. He kissed the top of her head softly and stared up at the ceiling. Yeah, life wasn't perfect. But it was as close as it had been in a long, long time. And, if Dib had anything to say about it, it would keep getting closer and closer until it was.
"Sweet dreams, Gaz." He murmured into the silence of the room. Not long after, Dib had joined his sister in dreamland.
oOoOoOoOoOoOo
Author's Notes: Hoo-hah. I figured out how to END this thing. And, wouldn't you know it, it involved MORE SLEEP. Man, it took awhile. But last night, as I stayed awake for far too long, the answer came to me. Oh sure, I COULD have written about the actual encounter between Dib and Zim. But this isn't an action fic by any definition. So it was glossed over. And, because I didn't want GIR dismantled or roaming the earth on his own, I figured it was only right to give him a proper home. His basic personality was left alone, though Dib did tone it down so that the little robot wasn't bouncing off the walls.
Plus I have this mental image of GIR being really good at videogames for some reason, to the point of which he could form this weird sort of gamer rivalry with Gaz. I dunno,lots of weird ideas come to be when I'm exhausted.
So NOW I can finally say Daggers is finished. It was nice getting away from Potter fiction for awhile, but the break really was needed. It isn't healthy to spend mass amounts of time writing the same thing or you burn yourself out. At least, that's how it is for me.
Thanks to everyone who took a chance and read. I only wish I could find more DAGR fics. I like lesser-used pairings. And just because I can, thanks to Dibsthe1, whose insane, flailing spiels made me want to finish just to SPITE him (her?). So nyeh to you and all the folks who have nothing ebtter to do than leave rambling rants on ships you don't care to sail on.
I may write another Zim fic again in the future, but it'll probably be awhile and it'll probably be a one-shot. Multi-part fics tend to leave me with the worst of writer's blocks, as you can see. Until next time, dear readers! Oh, and before I forget - yes, I did get the Bubble Gun idea from Zombies Ate My Neighbors. Good game, that. Gaz and Dib would enjoy it. It combines things they both like - destroying crap and hunting monsters.