There's Always a Light in the Darkness

Chapter 16: Goodbye Cruel World

By: The Talking Absol

'Dib, look, there's something we have to tell you-' Fwoof started as Dib and Gaz ran towards their neighborhood.

'Look, Fwoof, and uh, everybody else in here,' Dib thought, starting up towards his house, thinking to quickly pack, 'While I do appreciate your help the past few weeks, it's getting really annoying to have to constantly communicate with all of you and the outside world. Don't get me wrong! Powers are cool and stuff, but this is my fight.'

He was yanked back as his foot hit the curb a block from his home, courtesy of Gaz. He gagged and fell backwards at the sudden-opposing force-jerk, and landed hard as Gaz dragged him back.

"But what about clothes? And food? I thought it took months to get here from Irk! And what about Dad? What if we get killed?" Dib protested, feeling a headache coming on. They'd come to the conclusion, naturally, Zim's was the only place to go to follow him, because he either had Tak's ship or another ship they could use.

"Warp speed, duh," Gaz tossed him out into the street again, and pushed him in the direction of Zim's house, "Zim probably never used it 'cause he's an idiot. And we'll be fine- Dad probably won't even miss us."

Dib stared at her for a full few seconds before asking, unable to control himself, "Are you sure you aren't the least bit hurt by Zim's betrayal?"

Gaz glared hard at him, and her hands balled up tighter.

"No." And that was it.

Dib grimaced with regret of bringing it up, and began to run again. He glanced down, seeing something bright out of the corner of his eye. He let out a choked gasp- the mark on his shirt was glowing. And pulsing, like a heartbeat, only slower.

'That's what I meant!' Fwoof snapped, 'We've managed to keep the Logic at bay from your head up until now, but we can't control it much longer! Soon, it will take over your thoughts, crush your heart, and then-'

"Dib, stop that thing before I hurt you." Gaz snapped.

"Crush my heart? Nobody said anything about that!" Dib exclaimed aloud, panicking too hard to hear anything else.

'Oh, you didn't know? Logic has to crush your Magical heart before it begins to rebuild a new, Logical one,' Burhn said, voice coated with venom, 'That's how it spreads. Don't ask me how it works- it just does.'

'That's how it'll take over my head,' some distant part of Dib pointed out, 'It'll make new veins, which will connect to new, Logical bones and tendons and form lactic acid-'

Pictures filled his head from books he'd never even known existed, and he hissed and clutched his head as the pulsing rattled his entire frame.

"Dib!" Gaz whacked him in the chest with her arm, "Stop freaking me out!"

Anger initially filled him. For a second he wanted to hit back; hit back and spread whatever this was. But what she'd said hit him harder than her fists.

"I...I'm freaking you out?" Dib asked slowly, the pulsing and thoughts edging away hurriedly, as if frightened by something.

Even Gaz looked stunned at her choice of words. She huffed, and then turned away, glaring fiercely ahead as she attempted to make herself look nightmarish again.

"No. I just wanted you to stop acting weird, especially when I'm driving."

"Hey!" Dib suddenly came to realization after a minute, "I'll be driving!"

"I'm driving."

"I know that, but it's still-"

She whipped around, the shadows pooling around her and boiling, causing her hair to flow all around her head, and she growled, "I'm. Driving."

"Okay." Dib said in a squeak, shrinking back.

The effect immediately stopped, and they continued on to their nearby destination.

'Dib, you've got to stop letting those thoughts through. Fight back! If you don't, we won't be able to help you any more!' Quezu protested.

'I can do it! Just...just be quiet for a while and let Gaz and I do this!' Dib felt horrible for thinking it, but he had to concentrate. Even if Gaz wouldn't admit it, she'd need his knowledge of the galaxy, thanks to all the tapes Tak's ship had held.

'Hmph! So, big, smart son of Megan Membrane thinks he can handle himself, does he? Fine! I'm out!' Dib felt Burhn go 'pop', and was gone.

'Don't worry! We'll be here when you need us, Dib.' Quezu said, and was gone too.

There were several other quiet 'pop's (Dib felt himself wonder if he'd had more voices than he'd thought), and Fwoof was left.

'I don't care what you have to say, you oaf,' Fwoof said sternly, 'I'm staying. I'll just...keep my commentary to myself, then.' And he fell silent.

'Jeez, so-rry!' Dib thought, rolling his eyes, and then thought better of it, quickly adding, 'Sorry. And thanks, for all your info and help.'

When they reached Zim's house, Gaz rang the doorbell, and kicked the Roboparents down just as they opened the door.

"So good to see you, son! Let's eat the dog." RoboDad said, sparking wildly from the floor.

"Aww, how cute! I'll go get my Martha Stewart oven." RoboMom said, grinning wide and rolling away.

Gaz took the garbage entrance, and Dib got into the toilet in the kitchen (albeit reluctantly, even after all the times he had used this entrance to follow Zim into the base), and they were taken down the tubes into the heart of Zim's house.

Once there, Gaz followed Dib (who knew the base by heart) into the small ship locker Zim had under his base, with a lift to the roof for exit. Dib let out a breath of relief when he saw Tak's ship, and mentally thanked himself for thinking ahead and fixing it to be big enough for three.

Gaz started to climb in, but Dib held up a hand and started back into the base.

"What is it now, Dib?" she asked angrily, "We don't exactly have a lot of time!"

"I know, but...What if Tak knows Zim's real plan? We've gotta help her!" He ran back through the corridors, and followed his own directions to the medical room. There, he took a shuddering gasp at what he saw.

Tak was there, but he could barely see that it was Tak any more. There were long gashes on her head, and Dib got a feeling they weren't from Zim, but rather from...ugh. He'd better not think about it. Her antennea had also become ragged and bent all to pieces, and she wouldn't stop trembling, eyes closed and twitching.

'At least she's still alive.' Dib's optimistic side offered. He started to pick her up, but the booming voice of the base stopped him in his tracks.

"WHO DARES ENTER- oh it's you." The Computer settled a bit, and lowered its electronic voice.

"Look, do you know anything about Zim's plan? And if Tak's going to be okay?" Dib asked, noticing the wires connecting her Pak to the wall.

"Nope. Sorry. He wrote something down, but I think he took all that paper with him and that Dire guy. As for her, yeah, I think so. She's traumatized- Zim wouldn't let me help heal her, and he did something that only made her worse- but with some rest, her Pak will hopefully heal her."

Dib's shoulders slumped, but he straightened again when he realized he still had a job to do. The wires disconnected from Tak, and with a grunt, Dib picked her up (even though she was really light for her frame) and carried her back to the ship, where Gaz was waiting impatiently.

Dib adjusted the rear seat so it became more like a table, and strapped Tak in gently before Gaz backed the ship into the lift, allowing the Computer to take them up to the roof.

"And hey, when you see him," the Computer added as the roof opened up for them to lift off, "Tell Gir hi for me."

"We will!" Dib said, and Gaz took off towards the sky.

After a few seconds of silence, Dib looked back at Tak and then up at Gaz.

"Are you sure you don't want me to drive?" Dib asked, a bit hopeful.

Gaz turned the ship upside-down, simultaneously opening up the front and letting Dib hang by his buckle for a few seconds, hearing him scream in terror, before turning it right-side up and closing the plasmic window.

Frightened out of his mind, Dib clutched his seat with white knuckles, eyes stuck in one position through disheveled glasses.

"Does that solve the problem?" Gaz asked, smirking.

No answer. She took that as a yes.

…::Later::...

Exiting the atmosphere was a little rough, and Dib managed to repress the thoughts of why it had happened, but with a push of a button they were now zooming through space and dodging planets like a large-scale game of Asteroids. Speaking of which, astronomers back home would probably be wondering why there was a large hole in the asteroid belt. Oh well.

Dib was alternating between watching the dark space around them and looking back to check on Tak. He couldn't help it- she looked bad, and he was worried both about her and if that's what Zim would do to his own race. From the way the tapes on Irken culture had presented it, for an Irken to betray his own kind was the worst crime possible on Irk. They wanted a symbol of unity; of the one soldier becoming and helping the many. To go against that was unthinkable to any Irken, except the Defectives.

Which Zim was.

Suddenly, Gaz poked him, and he woke up out of his thoughts to stare where she was pointing. In front of them loomed a still-distant large, maroon ship with a gigantic Irken insignia on it, and Dib surmised it was the Armada, the most powerful ship in the Irken military. But Gaz was pointing to something much smaller.

"There," she said, her finger on a little purple dot in front of them, "That has to be Zim."

She typed something into the keyboard, and the screen zoomed in, allowing them a clearer picture of who they were behind. Dib and Gaz both immediately recognized the vessel- sure enough, it was the Voot Cruiser, with the same dents and scratches.

"Let's go kick some alien ass!" Gaz spat, and pushed forward on the control stick before Dib could protest. They shot forward even faster, and Dib heard a distinct whine coming from the read of the ship, similar to when a car began to think it didn't want to go any further.

There was a loud 'POP' following this, but the ship only jolted a little. Gaz didn't seem to notice the noises or Dib's terror. Her eyes and focus were on the steadily-approaching ship, and stopping it before it reached the nearby Armada.

Dib began to cry out as they zipped in towards Zim's ship, and closed his eyes to prepare for the impact, wincing. But, nothing came, and he heard Gaz curse. When he opened his eyes, Zim's ship was gone from their view.

"Where'd he-" Dib started, but a tremendous bump from their left side answered the question. Dib and Gaz looked over, and saw Zim grin widely at them, before continuing to try and shove their ship off to the side. His voice came across the intercom in their ship.

"Aw, I was hoping you'd come to see me take over my own race first-hand! I'll even get you front row seats!" Zim screamed the last word, and shoved even harder, beginning to push them down into the dark depths of space.

"In your dreams!" Gaz screamed back, jerking the control stick back and shoving Zim off, before zipping around and trying to face him head-on. The ship was falling apart from the stress Gaz had put it thorugh, though, and it took a few seconds to both brake and then turn around. By that time, Zim was racing towards them again, full-speed, and Gaz pulled up and then down the control stick, making the ship jerk around before diving down. Zim followed closely, and Gaz had to keep moving the ship around, constantly changing directions to dodge the barrage of missiles Zim began firing. Finally, as she started to pull up again, Dib heard the fateful "KA-puut" death-noise of all vehicles, and the ship suddenly slowed and refused to move any longer.

Gaz cursed and slammed her hand into the control panel, but the ship didn't respond in the least. Zim's ship fly around to face them from the left side, and Dib could clearly see Zim still grin at them with shark teeth.

"Guess nothing can compare to my Voot Cruiser!" Zim said happily, and laughed.

Dib blinked. Had he just seen...Zim's normal eyes there? Or was it just him?

He didn't have time to think about it, though, because Zim slammed the Voot Cruiser full-on into theirs, and screaming, they were sent flying through space.

END CHAPTER 16

I swear the next chapter will be longer. I will really try.

I was examining this last "arc," and realized it's not much of an arc at all. In fact, I hope to have this finished in just a few chapters. I never really planned beyond the takeover of the Armada, since the final showdown will take place there. Oh well! I had fun planning it all out anyway. I hope you guys will have patience with me again, because I will not abandon this if I can help it. I mean to finish it before the year is out. Or next January, on the 4th anniversary of this fic's publication. Whichever comes first.

You guys and gals have been so awesome. I'm so, so sorry for the long absence. I would explain, but mostly it was just I wasn't watching enough Zim. ;) And the fact I wanted to completely revamp this, but I realized that this is the fic you all wanted to read and kept reviewing, bless your hearts. Thank you, thank you, thank you! I will never be able to fully express my gratitude for your patience, except with more Zim-love.

Except, I want to keep the Deep Magic out of it as much as possible now. This is Dib and Zim's fight, not anybody else's.

Zim and all its characters and elements are owned by Jhonen Vasquez/Nickelodeon. Dire, Logic, Magic, and all that bull is mine, though. Song title is from The Wall, Disk One, and therefore owned by Pink Floyd.