Archive of Our Own

Winter was a time full of cheer and excitement for many people- and why wouldn’t it be? It was the home season of one of the more popular Earth holidays, Christmas, validated people’s urge to drink copious amounts of hot chocolate to stay warm, had numerous movies to its name, and the weather that came with it turned the entire landscape into something completely different. It was a time where most people felt their spirits rise more so than usual and their hearts opened up- metaphorically rather than literally (which Zim found slightly disappointing upon first learning about the time).

Winter was… less exciting to Dib and Zim, though. 

Zim, for one, was not a fan of the extra cold nor the snow. Snow was nothing more than water in a different state of matter and Zim absolutely loathed it. It burnt his skin just like regular rain would, but the cold of the snow made the pain worse, bringing a different, strange kind of sting to his skin. Since snow was almost constant during the winter times, Zim had to drench himself with paste every single day before he could even think about leaving his base. It was a massive hindrance to him. 

Dib generally disliked the constant obnoxious music and the fact that everyone put on different masks when Christmas rolled around. So many people around him wore masks of love to everyone without actually giving love or acceptance to anyone other than themselves. They made claims about saving and helping those less fortunate than them and then without making any moves to actually do so- just pretending to be better people than they actually were. Perhaps Dib was being jaded. He knew that there were some people who were amazing and genuinely did do good things during that “festive” time of year, but the falsified cheer of so many others left a sour taste in Dib’s mouth.

Thankfully, though, there was one thing that both Dib and Zim could look forward to when it came to winter, and that was wendigos. 

While wendigos weren’t exactly exclusive to the hellscape that was winter, sightings occurred more frequently during winter as the wendigos became more and more stir-crazy, desperate for their next meal and fro some warmth in their cold hearts. Since wendigos were already associated with the cold- likely because the majority of wendigos turned during the winter- it was considered the best (or worst, depending on how you looked at it) time to find the creatures. 

Either way, it was the perfect opportunity for them to discover the creatures foretold in that particular legend. With Dib’s winter break from university, they even had a time where the two of them were able to get away and go in search of the strange, cold-hearted creatures. Plus, immediately afterwards, they would be able to retreat the safety of the Membrane household for a tradition that had faded from their house for a long time- and had barely even been there in the first place. 

For the first time in ages, Dib would actually be spending Christmas with his family (and, of course, his “strange foreign friend”). 

Monster hunting followed by a nice family gathering (something he hadn’t experienced in what felt like years- though his father was taking steps to fix that), in Dib’s opinion, was the perfect way to spend winter break. He truly did find himself looking forward to the time that he would spend with all of them. 

It hadn’t been too difficult for Dib to convince his father to let him bring Zim along on their family gathering for the holidays. While Membrane had been hoping to do nothing beyond spending time with his family- something that he had been attempting to do more and more often now that he was aware of his painful relationship with his children- considering the fact that Zim was so close to Dib now and didn’t truly have a family of his own, it didn’t take much convincing. Perhaps it had to do with Membrane finally understanding how terrible it had been for Dib and Gaz to go through so much of their childhood feeling ignored by their father and him wanting to help others with the same problem, even if they weren’t his own spawn. Or perhaps it just had to do with the fact that Membrane was glad that his son finally had a good, strong, healthy relationship with the alien. 

Either way, Dib was thankful that he wouldn’t have to ditch Zim after their expedition. 

Zim may not have been human and Dib was well aware that Zim didn’t exactly handle nor experience emotions quite as the typical human did, but leaving him alone on a somewhat major holiday immediately after putting him in a potentially death-defying situation for fun felt wrong. 

Besides, being able to spend the holiday surrounded by several people that he loved and who loved him in return sounded nice, even if the group that would be there was a tad nonconventional. Dib really found himself looking forward to the entire ordeal.

Considering Dib and Zim wanted to be able to dedicate as much time as possible to searching for the wendigos before making their way back to Dib’s childhood home, they did as much as they could to gather all of the required information as they could.

Despite the constant reassurances from Zim that Dib was an absolute idiot, it was far from the truth in many ways. He knew that he couldn’t slack on his studies before winter break, even if he did have something that he considered to be far more interesting and important to be focusing on instead. Dib knew that he had to find a balance between his research, his regular schedule for university, and sleeping enough to function in his classes like a sane person. Even if Dib didn’t want to admit it, finding balance was important.

Dib was nothing if not resourceful, though.

To help with finding the balance, he decided to combine the items on his schedule as much as possible. While that didn’t work out in a lot of aspects of his life at school, there were a few things here and there that he could do to ensure he got everything that he needed to do done before winter break started. 

For instance, in one of his classes, they were given an assignment to write about differences between the portrayal of cultures compared to the actual cultures. It was the perfect excuse for Dib to examine differences in the origins of wendigos and their portrayal in pop culture (of which there were many). It not only gave him a far better idea of what to expect when they went on their trek to discover wendigos, but it also made for an incredibly interesting portion of his essay (he was thrilled that his teacher seemed so intrigued by his research into the topic).

Working on that particular essay gave him plenty of information to work with- all of which he compiled into a Google Slides that Zim also had access to. He was able to discover the differences between how wendigos were typically drawn as opposed to how they actually were supposed to look. Unlike most movies, wendigos typically looked like tall, ridiculously emaciated people with sharp, yellow fangs, and bloodied, bitten-down lips. Rather than having antlers or horns protruding from their skulls naturally- or supernaturally, Dib supposed- they sometimes wore antlers, furs, and animal skins to draw in unknowing hunters looking for a good catch. Honestly, it was a pretty smart hunting tactic on their part, Dib had to hand it to them, and the thought that they were more humanoid somehow made them slightly more unsettling.

Despite what Dib had been able to discover while researching for that essay, he couldn’t find information on how to find them. It seemed that, no matter what article Dib read or what website he visited, he couldn’t find anyone who was willing to share information on how to find them beyond the typical “look in the forests of North America”. Instead, they all simply warned against seeking them out- which Dib supposed was a fair move. Still, it made his job much more difficult.

For ideas on what to do since he couldn’t find much online, he texted Zim. 

The alien didn’t have any easier of a time locating that particular information, but, together, they were at least able to formulate a decent plan.

“Wendigos traditionally suffer from unceasing hunger, correct?” Zim asked. The two of them hadn’t been able to find much time to get together in person to work on their plan with all of the chaos going on at Dib’s school and Zim’s work. Instead, they ended up calling one another when they could to discuss whatever it was that they needed.

“Yes- and that will definitely be something that drives them towards us since we’re an easy target for their next meal, but I don’t know if that’s enough to rely on going in.”

“I can’t believe you guys are planning on fucking with wendigos-” Mason cut in from where he sat atop his own bed, earning him a sigh from Dib, “-and without me!”

“If you weren’t already busy, you could come with us, but you have plans with your family like a functional human being,” Dib rolled his eyes, earning a snort from his roommate. 

“Is that Mason?” Zim asked, “Tell him he’s a moron and that he needs to stop complaining. We have things to figure out.”

Dib rolled his eyes, “I’m pretty sure he already knows what you think of him.” All three of them knew that that wasn’t entirely true. Zim had nothing against Mason and the fact that he was incredibly similar to Dib in some ways somewhat endeared him to Zim, despite how prickly and uncertain he was about the human, at first. Regardless, they were on decent terms and Dib was relieved that his two friends could get along.

“Anyways, do you have any ideas.”

“Yes, as I was saying before Mason so rudely interrupted, we should use that to our advantage.”

“How so?”

“Computer discovered that some wendigos are able to be deterred by offerings of fruits and meats, especially if given to them by more powerful beings,” Zim explained, “If we bring those things along with us, we’ll not only be able to potentially deter them if they attack, but they may be able to smell the food and come in search of it.”

“You’re right!” Dib grinned, “Zim, you’re a genius, sometimes.”

Zim practically crooned at his words, “I know.”

Dib snorted softly, “They’re sensitive to sounds as well, right? Maybe we can use that.”

“You want to run around the forest with a bag of raw meat- and I don’t mean just you- screaming to get their attention?” Zim practically deadpanned, “That might draw more attention to us than we want, Dib-Thing.”

“That depends on how deep into the woods we are,” Dib shrugged, “And I am not a bag of raw meat . I’m way more dignified than that!”

It was Zim’s turn to snort at the human’s words, “Whatever you say, human .”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence, Irken .”

They shared a moment of laughter before they were forced to disconnect, both of them having other things to attend to. Despite the shortness of their discussion, it was nice to be able to talk to one another after such a long time of not being able to and both of them hung up happier than they had been before the call.

~~~

Unlike their expedition to find Siren Head, there weren’t many things that Dib and Zim found themselves wanting or needing to make before they went out in search of the wendigos. Instead, most of the things that they needed consisted of items that they could easily obtain without having to put forth much work. 

Hence why Zim found himself standing with GIR in the aisle of raw meat at a butcher’s shop.

He had offered to go since Dib couldn’t with his chaotic and overly busy pre-break schedule. The longer Zim stood there, looking at all the shop had to offer, though, the more he regretted doing so. While he was more than willing to do the things that Dib couldn’t when he was too busy, this experience was testing his patience. The entire building reeked of blood, sweat, and too many humans for Zim to enjoy the experience. On top of that, GIR was absolutely thrilled to be there and was sprinting around the store like he was on crack- though that was fairly typical for him. 

Zim paid his small, robotic friend little mind as he examined the selection of meats. Considering the fact that the alien had little to no interest in eating Earth meats himself, he wasn’t quite sure what would be considered good enough to attract a wendigo or to appease it if it grew too violent. There was nothing he had read online that had given him any indication what a wendigo would like the most or what meats he should stay away from, so Zim found himself picking the most pungent smelling pieces despite his disgust for the revolting foods he found. 

When he looked up, arms full of disgusting things he had gathered from the selection, he noticed GIR excitedly digging through some other pre-packaged foods there. 

“GIR! Stop that!” Zim demanded, rushing forward in an attempt to stop the foolish robot from doing any damage. 

“Look at what I got!” GIR grinned, holding packages of raw meat above his head. Just glancing at it, Zim could tell that the meat was incredibly raw, practically dripping with blood inside of its package. It was clearly fairly fresh- something that took Zim by surprise considering the state of the rest of the establishment. 

Despite the fact that Zim’s stomach rolled the moment he laid eyes upon it, he had a sudden realization upon seeing it. Considering how fresh and bloodied it still was, it seemed to be the perfect bait for wendigos. It would likely have a strong enough scent to draw them in and seemed to be a pretty decent cut of meat by human standards, considering the price of it.

Zim tilted his head as he took the package from his SIR unit, inspecting it carefully, “Good job, GIR!” At the excited squeal that escaped the robot, Zim patted his head, “Now! Let’s get out of this place of filth.” 

~~~

Zim’s pak legs were incredibly powerful things. They moved with equal- if not greater - fluidity than any other part of his body. Pak legs were made of only the best materials- Irkens would stand for nothing less- and were sharpened to perfection, giving them glinting, spear-like weapons of mobility. Not only that, but they were incredibly long appendages, giving them fantastic range as well. Zim had complete belief in his pak legs in nearly every aspect and didn’t doubt them for a second. 

Wendigos, however, were different than most things Zim had encountered before. While he wasn’t a complete stranger to the concept of creatures only being damaged by specific types of weaponry or certain materials, there were few creatures that couldn’t be killed by the powers of Irken weaponry alone, so Zim was a bit put out by the fact that it was at least a possibility that these monsters could get by without a scratch.

While Zim wasn’t completely sold on the idea that wendigos were immune to anything aside from silver- and he sure didn’t believe that any creature could survive being completely torn limb from limb, if worse came to worse- he wasn’t going to test his luck. 

That was why Zim found himself in his lab late one night while working on silver weaponry for him and Dib while the two companions were in a call together. 

On the other end of the line, Dib was working on some school project, though it was abundantly clear to the both of them that he was paying far more attention to Zim and what he was working on than the project at hand. At that point in their conversation, what Dib was working on had become almost background noise to him, as bad as that was for his productivity, and Zim pointed that out. 

“You know,” the Irken drawled as he meddled with a gun, attaching a silencer to keep it from getting too loud (they didn’t need to draw the attention of other wendigos while attempting to take one down), “You could get more done if you actually paid attention . You know, that thing that people do when they want to succeed?”

Dib scoffed, “And leave you alone to make our weapons, completely unsupervised? That doesn’t sound like a good idea.”

Zim let out an affronted noise, “Unlike you , some of us have actual training in battle and weapon-making.”

“Oh, as if you’re the only one between the two of us who’s ever made a gun ,” Zim could practically hear Dib rolling his eyes, “Besides, adding a silencer to a gun isn’t exactly rocket science.”

It was Zim’s turn to roll his eyes, “No, but that I can do.”

“Considering the fact that you were once taken down by a bee while flying, I find that hard to believe.”

“I am a fantastic pilot and I do it with perfect grace, Dib-Stink!” Zim gasped in offense, “Just- go back to your stupid human homework or whatever and leave me to do my work.”

Dib hummed, “I dunno. Computer, do you think it’s safe to leave my little alien friend alone to do this?”

“HEY!” Zim snapped, "Zim is not small !"

Computer piped in for the first time that conversation, “I find it doubtful.”

“ Computer, you absolute traitor -” Zim hissed, but whatever he was going to say was cut short by Dib’s intense laughter. 

Dib had a strange kind of laugh, a laugh that came in a sudden, intense burst or cackles and wheezes, only leaving once it died down into restrained giggles and choked chuckles as he attempted to calm himself down from whatever had amused him so deeply. This particular laugh was one he only heard once in a while- usually when something incredibly amusing happened after a stressful situation. The genuine joy and amusement in Dib’s laughter made it difficult for Zim to be irritated with the human despite his jokes at the Irken’s expense. 

“Dib Membrane, you are incredibly lucky that I am your ally.”

As Dib finally came down from his laugh, he let out a fond, almost dream-like sigh, “I know, Bug.”

~~~

It was no surprise that the surrounding area was practically sparkling with white. It had snowed nearly non-stop the previous two days, giving the scenery a thick blanket of fluffy, blindingly bright snow to rest atop it and giving Dib and Zim the perfect setting for hunting wendigos in. 

The cold certainly had an effect on the creatures- it was one of their driving factors, after all- so the heavy snow from the past days made for the ideal working conditions for the two of them- at least as far as wendigos went. 

Similar to the creatures they were hunting, Zim and Dib were far from immune to the effects of the biting cold that came with winter in their area. The air was frigid and dry, making it difficult to keep warm, and the snow only hindered their attempts at staying comfortable while facing the elements. 

They refused to let that stop them, though (despite how much Zim liked to complain about it), and packing several layers of thick, warm clothing to put on once outside the car as well as everything that they would need to find and potentially subdue any wendigos that may be lurking in the forest. 

Unfortunately, there wasn’t a specific place near them where several wendigo sightings had happened, so they had to go off of their own research fo what seemed like a good wendigo habitat rather than just going somewhere where several others had supposedly discovered the creatures before them. It was definitely a little more difficult and made for less confidence that they would be able to find anything of interest, but the two scientists were still fairly confident that things would work out in their favour. They had put plenty of work and research into their adventure beforehand, so they didn’t let their minds linger on the potential concern of that particular forest being a bust. 

Unlike their previous adventures off into the unknown in search of the strange creatures if the world, GIR came along on this one. While they definitely foresaw him getting into trouble while they were out in the forest and beginning their search, they had wanted to bring GIR along to the holiday gathering with the membrane family and that meant that he would have to come along with them on this particular adventure. 

Before getting out of the car, they wrapped themselves in warm clothes, Zim wrapping a thick scarf around his throat and Dib putting a sweater on- of course, putting it on beneath his trenchcoat so he could keep the aesthetic. Zim wore the aspects of his disguise that he always did- more for the extra warmth that the wig gave him than for any real concern about seeing any people out in the forest. GIR didn’t particularly need anything to keep him warm- especially considering the fact that he was already wearing his puppy “disguise”, but he wore a small, festive sweater and a hat regardless.

Dib and Zim each carried with them one of the silver weapons they could use against the creatures as well as Tupperware containers of raw meat (Zim refused to carry the meat without having it in some sort of protective containment unit). GIR, of course, was not allowed to transport the bait considering the likelihood of him simply devouring all of it himself. As far as weaponry went, Zim had merely loaded the silver bullets into the launcher of his pak- making small updates to it so that he could do so without causing any difficulties. Dib, on the other hand, didn’t have the luxury of having another appendage specifically for fighting and carried both a silver knife and a gun loaded with silver bullets on holsters at his hips. GIR was enough of a weapon on his own to not need anything to fight with.

Underfoot, the snow crunched pleasantly, but the thickness of the layers of the substance made for a difficult time to manoeuvre through, leading to them sinking into the abyss of freezing glitter with every step. Thankfully, Zim had his pak legs if it became too difficult or annoying to fight their way through the snow.

“So,” Dib checked his phone one last time before slipping it back into his pocket, “We have exactly eight hours and twenty minutes before we have to leave and start heading to my dad’s house.” Of course, it wouldn’t be a big problem for them to be a little late, but Dib wanted to make the best of their time either way- and neither of them was too keen on spending much more time than what they already had allotted for the two of them in the fridged outdoors. “Let’s make the best of it.”

“How do you want to go about this?” Zim asked as the made their way into the forest. Obviously, they had discussed what they were going to do well before they even headed out to begin their journey- they weren’t idiots - but Zim still wanted to bring it up considering all of the potential ideas they had discussed. 

As Dib thought it over, he let his eyes scan their surroundings. Despite the heavy snow, the forest was so dense that the elements didn’t seem to be as much of an issue within the woods as they were outside. That certainly made it easier for them to move around without sinking into the quicksand-like snow, but the density of the forest certainly wouldn’t make it any easier for them to escape if they needed to. “We shouldn’t go too deep in or we might have a hard time getting back out.”

“We still need to get close enough to draw them in, though,” Zim pointed out, head tilted to the side, “They aren’t going to come to us if we can’t get their attention.”

“That’s what the bait is for.” Dib dug one of the containers of raw, still bloodied meat out of a pocket of his trenchcoat. “Let’s find a good place to put some of this.”

Their pace slowed as they scanned their surroundings. Considering how similar everything was, it wasn’t as if one place was far better than any other locations within the densely packed forest. Perhaps without the snow, it would have been easier to navigate throughout it, but the glaringly bright snow made it mildly difficult to tell anything apart in there. At least they had their footprints (and pawprints, in GIR’s case) to help them keep their bearings. 

The sight of tiny legs flailing frantically to the side caught Dib’s attention and he looked over to see GIR with his head stuck in a snowbank. With a quiet snort, he went over to fish the small robot out from where he was. 

Upon reaching freedom, GIR flailed around violently, sending partially melted snow splattering all over. Zim glared as the melted snow hit him directly in the face while Dib just laughed at the two of them. 

With the arm not cradling the small dog, Dib gestured towards the pile of snow that he had been stuck in, “Well, this is as good a place as any.”

“I suppose you’re right,” Zim took the SIR unit from Dib to free up his friend’s hands. Zim held GIR over his head, dropping him into the hood of the sweatshirt he was wearing so that the Irken knew where he was at all times and wouldn’t have to worry about him getting into trouble. 

Dib began opening up the containers of meat to scatter over the mound of snow. He couldn’t help but smirk at the sight of Zim practically recoiling at the scent of it out of the corner of his eye. Were Dib’s senses as powerful as Zim’s he was certain he would be doing the same thing. It wasn’t often that Dib was thankful that his sense of hearing and scent were weaker than Zim’s, but now was one of the few moments where he was glad to typical human senses rather than the strengthened Irken ones that his friend had.

By the time that Dib emptied the containers he had on him on top of the snowbank, it looked like a small, strange murder scene, blood staining the snow varying shades of pink.

He gazed into the container he still clutched in his hands and peered into it. The bottom of the container was still filled with a small amount of blood and other such liquids from the meat. As disgusting as it was, a malicious grin spread across his face. Quickly checking over his shoulder to ensure that Zim was still distracted with GIR, Dib swiped two of his fingers through the substance before turning to his friend. 

At the sudden movement, Zim looked up to face Dib, but he didn’t move fast enough. Before he could process anything, a cold, wet, slimy substance was smeared over each of his cheeks like warpaint as his companion cackled. 

“BLEGH!” Zim jumped back, batting Dib’s hands away from his face, “You revolting Earth creature!”

Dib just grinned, too amused to feel anxious about a slightly intimidating alien who was clearly irritated with him, “What’s wrong, Space Boy?”

“You’re absolutely disgusting!” Zim lunged forward, attempting to wrestle the container out of Dib’s hands. 

Dib wasn’t too keen to give up his weapon against the Irken, though, even if they were far from engaging in actual, violent combat as they had long ago. Unlike those times back in middle school, they genuinely liked one another, now, and any play fights they had were just that- play.

Zim managed to get the container from Dib’s death-grip, splattering some of the contents on the human’s face as well in retaliation. Once he finished, he stepped back with a pleased grin on his face, “What’s the matter, Dib-Thing?”

Dib stuck his tongue out and tossed the container in Zim’s direction, chuckling when the Irken leapt to the side to dodge the weak attempt at a projectile. 

“Stop LITTERING, Mary!” GIR screeched, leaning over Zim’s shoulder to do so.

Zim cringed at the loud noise, getting the brunt of the screams due to his closeness to the SIR unit. He unwittingly bared his claws slightly, squinting his eyes shut. 

With a soft snicker, Dib retrieved the container, patting GIR’s head as he passed (and doing the same to Zim to tease his friend further), “Good boy, GIR.”

Zim scowled at the back of his friend’s head as he fixed his hair and attempted to wipe the liquid away from his face, though his gaze held no real malice. Considering where their relationship had originated and knowing full-well what Dib was capable of and what his dark side looked like, these playful interactions seemed like nothing. After everything that had happened between them, Zim rarely found himself feeling genuinely angry with his human. Of course, Dib still irritated him and got on his nerves- everyone did- but it was nothing compared to when they first met. 

“You’re such a prick, Dib-Beast.”

Dib just flashed him a shit-eating grin as though he took the other’s words as a success, “I know.” 

Zim rolled his eyes and was about to begin searching for a clever, witty retort when a sudden, distant thundering sound breeched his focus. It was quiet due to the obvious distance between them and whatever it was that was approaching them, but the sound only grew with each passing second. The vibrations of whatever it was shook the ground beneath their feet slightly and, as the thunderous rumbling grew louder, small clouds of snow puffed up into the air around them. 

Something was coming towards them and it was not slowing down. Whatever it was moved at an incredibly rapid pace and had to have been massive to create the thunderous roar that echoed throughout the forest. If the clouds of swirling snow- which GIR seemed very interested in- were any indication, it was only getting closer.

Dib stumbled back slightly as the very ground beneath him shook, knocking him off-balance and forcing him to fix his stance. The whirlwinds of small flakes and snow blew up around him and into his face, fogging his glasses and clinging to his hair and eyelashes. 

"That must be…"

"No shit-" Zim breathed. Despite knowing perfectly well what they were in for, he couldn't help the absolute awe that he felt upon seeing the creature's figure from afar. Despite the distance, the wendigo's absolutely massive size was obvious and intimidating. The silhouette of the horns that it wore atop its head- no doubt a skull that it wore in an attempt to lure in hunters (or so the legends said)- was clear even from afar and only became clearer as it rushed towards them. 

Dib and Zim readied their respective weapons, both stepping back into sturdy fighting stances. Zim’s pak whirred quietly as the large cannon emerged from the device, aimed in the erection of the monstrous creature. Dib, on the other hand, whipped out his gun and levelled it at the cryptid, squinting to focus on it. 

As it drew closer though, the wendigo began to slow down, skidding to a halt mere metres away from them. It didn’t even make a move to come any closer to them or attack in any way. 

The two friends were far from idiotic, though, and refused to drop their weapons, even as the wendigo stared at them silently. 

Closer up, the creature was even more terrifying. It was massive- nearly five metres tall- but the rest of its body didn’t match the gargantuan height. The skin was radically thin, stretched tightly over the monster’s sharp bones, showing off nearly the entirety of its skeleton. Its mouth hung open, exposing every single rotten, razor-sharp tooth that lined its terrifying maw. The long claws that protruded from its fingers dug into the ground beneath it as though it were attempting to stabilize itself for the battle that was sure to come. As frequently depicted in movies, a pair of twisted antlers were perched atop the creature’s head. Unlike those movies, though, they clearly hadn’t naturally grown from the wendigo’s body, instead, it was some sort of garment that the creature was wearing. Most unsettling of all, though, were the eyes that stared back at them. Unlike Dib and Zim’s there was absolutely nothing behind those eyes. No fear, no anticipation, no thought, no desire. Just cold, mindless dark.

The wendigo looked far more human than they were usually portrayed- so much so that the two found themselves slightly taken aback by the very sight of it, despite knowing what it was actually supposed to look like. Wendigos were shockingly humanoid, yet still so far from being human . They walked a strange, narrow line between the two entities and it was incredibly unnerving. 

Zim couldn’t tear his eyes away from the beast. 

Dib covered Zim’s eyes with his immediately upon noticing that the alien had locked eyes with the creature. He wasn’t sure how the gaze fo the wendigo would affect Zim- or any alien species for that matter- but knowing what it could do to a human made Dib wary. He wasn’t going to take that chance. 

The aforementioned alien’s bright red velvet eyes flickered over to meet Dib’s own amber ones, eyes locking together. 

Before Zim could yell at Dib for that, the human brought a finger up to his lips. Wendigos’ sensitivity to loud noises wasn’t going to work well in their favour from this distance. If they wanted to defeat this creature and get evidence of it while it was still alive, they would have to work efficiently and quietly. Silence was key in this mission and they both knew it.

“Is that a giant?!” GIR’s scream echoed through the near-silent forest, piercing their ears and making all three creatures flinch. While Dib and Zim recoiled, though, the wendigo lunged forwards, rushing towards them. 

Letting out startled gasps- hey, there was no sense in being quiet, now, was there- Dib and Zim dove in opposite directions to avoid the creature hurtling at them. 

Zim clamped a hand over GIR’s mouth as he and his companion both struggled through the snow to put distance between them and the wendigo for the sake of safely. It wasn’t going to be easy to throw it off their trail- it never was with these cryptids- but that wasn’t what they wanted. All they had to do was get it so distracted that the other could make their attack. 

While the two adventurers put distance between them and the creature, the wendigo made itself busy digging into the nauseating pile of meat in the snow. Any smart or sane person would take the time to escape while they still could, but Dib and Zim had a mission and they were not so easily shaken. Instead, they took the opportunity to ready themselves for the battle that would surely ensue.

It didn’t take long for the creature to devour all of the meat and was back to its feet and moving around before either of them had the chance to make the first move to attack it.

Considering Zim had the last of the meat in his own pak, he pulled a hand away from GIR so he could remove the container and crack it open. 

The moment Zim did so, though, GIR unleashed his terrible shrieks once more. The combination of the reek of the food and the SIR unit’s screams immediately caught the attention of the massive beast and it went wild, flinging its body towards the two creatures like an oversized ragdoll. 

Zim let out a grunt as he fell back into the snow, roughly shoving GIR away from him to avoid the little robot getting damaged at the hands of the massive creature before them. The wendigo was on him in seconds, but Zim was far from a novice. His pak legs shot out to plunge into the flesh of the creature, and, while they weren’t the right material to injure it- Zim was beginning to regret not coating his pak legs in silver for this encounter- they were at least powerful enough to keep the creature back. To avoid ending up as the cryptid’s next meal, Zim shoved the chunk of steak into the monster’s gaping maw, withdrawing his arm just as quickly in disgust. 

The wendigo dug into the meat, ripping it apart from where it hovered above the alien, practically suspended in the air by the pak legs it was skewered on. It hardly paid any mind to the attack from the alien, acting as though it didn’t even register the terrible pain that would normally come from any trauma inflicted by the pak legs. 

As the last of the meat was devoured by the wendigo, it turned towards the helpless alien beneath it, ready to move on to the next part of its meal. 

Before it could move any closer to Zim, though, a muffled shot rang through the air and the massive body above Zim went limp, practically becoming boneless where it hung. Considering how incredibly emaciated the creature was, the glimmering silver bullet went straight through its entire body. Thankfully, though, when it protruded from its chest, the bullet missed Zim. He couldn’t tell whether it was due to sheer luck or Dib actually having a good aim, but, either way, a wave of relief washed over him.

“Zim?” Dib was breathing heavily, concern clear on his face as he went over to his friend, “Are you alright?”

“Of course I am. I’m the almighty Zim!” Despite his words, the alien did feel slightly unnerved after that experience. 

Dib just snorted, relaxing as he heard Zim’s words. He was relieved that his friend hadn’t gotten hurt- or, at least, hadn’t suffered any substantial wounds from the battle.

“Now, are you going to help me get this beast off of me?”

“I thought you were almighty. Why would you need the help of a lowly human such as myself?” Dib asked, quirking an eyebrow. He was already moving to help pry the beast off of his friend, though. 

A few minutes and a slight struggle later, the two stood before the debilitated body of the wendigo as GIR busied himself with playing in the snow. 

“What now?”

“Well, a lot of sources said that we should remove the heart, shatter, it, dismember the body, and then burn it and scatter the ashes.”

Zim’s face twisted in disgust, “ That’s quite the ritual.”

“Yeah…” Dib looked up to the sky, taking in the position of the sun, “We should get moving if we want to make it back home in time.”

“I can’t believe that you’re completely fine with arriving at your paternal unit’s house smelling like raw meat and covered in ashes.” As he spoke, Zim brought a pak leg out to slice at the creature’s chest, searching for its heart. 

“Hence why we brought extra clothes and your cleansing chalk stuff.”

“Fair enough,” Zim muttered, peeling back the flesh to peer within the creature. It wasn’t too difficult to locate the heart as it was exactly where it should be on a normal human- or, at least, a large-scale version of a normal human. 

The primary difference between and a human heart and a wendigo heart, though, had less to do with size and more to do with composition. Unlike human hearts, wendigo hearts were made of solid ice- supposedly, ice frozen so deeply that it would never melt.

Not wanting to put his hands anywhere near the creature, Zim stepped back, allowing Dib to do the honours of fishing it out from the chest cavity instead of doing it himself. 

Once the human had the heart in his grasp, he held it up to the light, examining it. It looked nearly identical to a normal human heart aside from the very obvious difference of it being made of ice. The main part of it was a crystalline blue, so incredibly translucent that he could see into it and catch sight of the intricately woven veins and arteries of the heart also tinged deeper shades of blue from the cold. 

“It’s beautiful…” DIb murmured. 

Zim tilted his head to the side, eyeing it carefully. The dangerous of the wendigo heart not being shattered was made abundantly clear in every article they had read while preparing. It wasn’t safe enough for them to merely keep the heart fully intact. 

Once his human companion snapped a few photographs of the artfully crafted heart of ice, Zim took it in his own hands, “You want to keep it, don’t you?”

Dib’s face flushed slightly- though it wasn’t too obvious due the cold, “Well, yes , but it’s not like we can .”

“I have an idea.” 

Dib raised an eyebrow and watched as his friend dropped the heart to the ground and raised his pak leg high above it. In a flash of silver, Zim’s pak pierced the heart, splitting it into pieces. There were several smaller pieces that shattered off where the pak leg had struck the glassy ice, but there were two larger chunks on either side of the heart that were still mainly intact.

Zim knelt down to scoop everything up, slipping the smaller shards into his pocket and holding out the two bigger bits of the heart for Dib to see, “This should suffice.”

GIR’s attention was finally drawn back in to the other’s and his expression lit up at the very sight of them, “Make matching necklaces!”

Dib quirked a brow, “Like some fucked-up friendship necklaces?”

GIR nodded, tongue poking out from the side of his mouth.

“Well, it isn’t a terrible idea,” Zim shrugged, “Good job, GIR.”

“You’re really okay with wearing a body part from something we killed?”

“It isn’t as if it’s a bloody sack of meat like a human heart. At this point, it’s essentially just a crystal, anyway. Not particularly unsanitary.” Or, at least, not as unsanitary as it would be for them to turn an actual heart into a piece of jewellery.

“Alright.” DIb smiled a bit, taking one of the halves of the heart and turning it over in his hands a few times before slipping it into his pocket. Upon looking back down at the mess beneath them, he cringed slightly, “We should probably start disposing of the rest of the body…”

~~~

Thankfully, even with how long it took them to properly dispose of the wendigo corpse- they had to be careful since neither of them was willing to take the risk that came with not doing so- they arrived right on time. Considering Gaz very likely would have made them regret coming late, they were both relieved to get there when they did. Plus, with it being Christmas eve and the wrong time of day, they didn’t have a fun time making their way through all of the traffic (and, not to mention, the snow). They were glad to finally be home.

On the drive there, Zim had taken the time to clean off while crouching awkwardly in the backseat of Dib’s truck (something that he considered to be completely undignified, but far easier than waiting). The rest of the time was dedicated to carefully forming the smaller pieces of the shattered wendigo heart into a bracelet as a gift for Gaz. It had been dib’s idea to make something for his sister from the remains of the heart since it was very clearly something that she would love, even if she wasn’t passionate about cryptids. Since Zim didn’t have anything better to do with the shards (or with his time in the car), he agreed.

In all honesty, Dib was a little apprehensive of how things were going to go. This was the first time Dib had celebrated Christmas- or any holiday, really- with his family in ages. As much as he looked forward to it and had been excited, he couldn’t help the nerves he felt. The thought that Membrane would actually set aside the time to be with him and Gaz was… foreign, and, despite how long he had wanted this- to feel loved by his father- he couldn’t help but feel nervous. There was always the chance that things wouldn’t actually work out. That his dad would up and leave in the middle of their visit or something. 

For years, Dib told himself that he wouldn’t have to spend holidays either alone or with no one other than Gaz for company once he finally made it to university. He wouldn’t have to worry about how things were with his family once he graduated from high school. 

Clearly, that wasn’t the case and Dib felt like he was just setting himself up for disappointment by even walking in there. 

Regardless, he did it. 

Zim could sense Dib’s unease about the situation. In an attempt to give his friend some form of encouragement, Zim took Dib’s hand in his and gave it a gentle squeeze, awkwardly interlacing their fingers, despite the number varying between them. 

When Dib looked to Zim, the alien gave him an encouraging smile, “What? Plan on standing out here all night?”

With a snort, Dib bumped his shoulder up against Zim’s before pushing the door open. 

At the dining room table, az lounged comfortably, playing on her GameSlave 5, deeply focused on her game- as per the usual, “Hey, doofus.”

“Hey, Gaz,” Dib rolled his eyes as he kicked the door shut behind him, focusing instead on his father.

Accompanied by Foodio 3000, Membrane was working on preparing some sort of food. Dib couldn’t clearly see what it was, but, if the scent that permeated the air was any indication, it was going to be delicious. 

“Son!” Membrane grinned as he headed over to Dib, pulling him into a hug, “I’m glad you two made it.”

Initially, Dib tensed up, but he was soon returning the hug, smiling slightly, “Yeah, me too.”

“AWWW!” GIR cooed loudly as the two broke apart from one another, wrapping his own stubby, pawed arms around Zim’s neck from where he was still perched on Zim’s shoulders, “I like hugs, too!”

The Invader rolled his eyes but reached up a hand to gently pat his tiny robot on the head nonetheless. Dib just chuckled at the sight. 

“Ah, I see you’ve brought your strange green robot dog.”

Zim hummed, “GIR is part of the package.”

Membrane simply nodded, “Well! You two- three - are just in time for dinner. I hope you like ham.”

Zim tried not to recoil at the very mention of meat as Dib struggled to fight back a snicker.

~~~

The entire night went surprisingly well. Membrane stayed for the entire dinner and no fights broke out. GIR spent much of the time making friends and playing with Foodio. The whole ordeal went far more smoothly than any of them anticipated- Membrane even kept up his promises of not belittling Dib’s work in paranormal investigation, and, while there were still awkward lulls in the conversation here and there, overall, it went well. 

“I told you that you had nothing to worry about.”

It was getting late, and, as much as Dib wanted to join Zim in the tradition of pulling an all-nighter on Christmas eve in an attempt to catch “Santa”, he was far too tired to even make the attempt. Zim didn’t need to sleep, but they couldn’t let Membrane know that, so Zim was sharing Dib’s old room with his human friend until daybreak.

There were definitely times in their past where Dib would have outright refused to fall asleep in Zim’s presence out of fear that the alien would conduct horrible experiments on him in his sleep. Now, after years of friendship, though, the concern didn’t even cross his mind. He was perfectly fine spending time with his alien friend and felt completely at ease in his presence. 

It was nice. 

Dib huffed out a laugh at Zim’s comment, “Easy for you to say, Space Boy.”

“I beg to differ.”

“Then beg.”

Zim crumbled up a stray paper on Dib’s desk and hurled it at the other’s head, “I try to learn your stupid human turns of phrase and this is how I am repaid? Disrespectful.”

Dib just chuckled, batting the paper back over at the alien.

A comfortable silence fell over the two of them for a few moments. 

“Do you think the wendigo will return, or did we do a good enough job at destroying it.”

At the mention of the creature, Zim dug his own piece of the heart of his pocket. “You can never really know with this ball of dirt- that’s why I hate your planet so much,” Zim turned it around in his clawed hands pensively, “I doubt it, though. We were thorough with our mission.”

“I think there are a lot more reasons that you hate Earth.”

“I was being dramatic, Dib-Thing.”

“Shocker.”

“I’m going to run out of paper to throw at you if you keep this shit up and then I’m going to have to start getting creative with my non-fatal attacks on your puny body.” Zim crossed his arms. 

Dib let out a quiet laugh as his head fell back to lay comfortably against his pillow, “I’m sure you’ll have no problem with that, Zimmy.”

“Yes, yes, I am amazing,” Zim waved a hand dismissively, “Now get some sleep before keel over.”

“That isn’t exactly how it works.” Regardless, Dib removed his glasses, folding them and setting them on the nightstand, “Goodnight, Space Boy.”

“Goodnight, Dib.”

~~~

Christmas day itself was nice, if not a little strange. 

Christmas held a sort of magic for younger kids, and Dib was no exception for that rule when he was little. The holiday had never impacted DIb the same way that it seemed to impact others, though. While Membrane was there occasionally, he frequently was distracted by work or ended up disappearing from home all together. This became even more common the older the two siblings got, and thus, over the years, the holiday lost all of its magic and excitement for Dib.

That year, though, things were different than they had been throughout the majority of Dib’s childhood. Their dad actually spent the entire day with them and, unlike years in the past, the day was spent with the five of them all together. They even ended up baking a batch of Christmas cookies (almost all of which were eaten the very same day). 

It was pleasant and calm and, while they didn’t follow the typical “rules” of holiday celebrations with family, it was nice. Dib couldn’t remember the last time his entire family was able to be today for an entire day and Zim had never really had a family to spend time with in the first place.

It had been hectic, but that year, the entirety of winter break was better than it had been in years.