Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The smell of meat and sauce flooded the eskuela so strongly.

The hallway was full of pompous and ridiculous decorations from Dib's point of view.

Valentine's Day was no big deal.

There was a cloying atmosphere and acceptance to the meat and gravy gifts that had the classrooms like a butcher shop.

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One of the students, he tried at all costs to avoid getting too close to the children and their persistent offering of poisonous love for him.

Zim found this holiday very strange, if anything annoying. He found it repulsive how these beings could deliver foul-smelling flesh, as an offering of love and friendship.

“How disgusting, those hairy monkeys only seek to breed with the least stupid and disgusting specimen with a piece of acid poison” thought zim to himself.

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A girl with thick glasses and a black trench coat looked at everything from the pink, gooey, poorly made decorations and young people handing out meat and eating with their mouths open.

Maybe she wasn't the most sociable or fun girl to hang out with, I knew that even with your family, but she didn't really like this holiday either, but for the meat she wasn't bad to eat.

As Dibra was walking down the hallway looking at the decorations and lost in her thoughts she didn't look ahead.

She bumped into someone unintentionally.

It was Torque.

-Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to run into you,” Dibra apologized.

She didn't want to be on bad terms or be rude to him, after all he never messed with her and that was important to her.

-Oh...uh...Dibra...how are you?

It seemed odd to Dibra that he would ask her that, but she didn't think much of it.

-Well, thanks, I guess...usually with the weird things that happen to me, but for now, with this holiday in itself, I don't really like it.

Torque waited a while before asking again.

-What do you think of this day?

-Particularly not much. It seems kind of ridiculous to me to be insecure about not getting meat or sausages with gravy...it reminds me of this weird change, where they used to give candy or cards.

-Well, I think people like the meat better.

They were interrupted by Zim's voice screaming and running in circles as if his body was being burned.

He dropped meat or water.

-He must be a vegetarian,” Torque concluded.

Before Dibra corrected that it's because he's an alien the bell rang and they decided to go to class before Miss Bitters locked them out.

Staying in the hallway of this school was not an option.

Oddly enough this one left near her.

That was kind of weird.

Or more so because someone talked to her for over 5 minutes without calling her crazy or insulting her.

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Classes were no different than other days. Miss Bitters pointing out the awfulness of life and how the farthest most would go would be the subway classrooms.

Nothing new, except that the teacher let the students hand out the meat and sausage samples to the others.

After class the students went to the dining hall.

Today the special Valentine's Day menu was hearts.

Literally steamed cow hearts.

Some even hesitated to order the special for themselves or their sweethearts.

There were certain people who were disgusted by it, that person was Zim.

-How disgusting humans offer organs and entrails to give pathetic displays of meaningless love?

-I know it's stupid,” said a boy wearing a shirt with a heart crossed out with an x.

Zim just raised his non-existent eyebrow at the not-so-stupid human (miracle).

-They give flesh and blood only to receive a measly hug or a horrible kiss at best. In other cases it's giving hearts as tokens of your preference for someone.

-Horrible kiss? What is that for? - Not really understanding that word, but not wanting to admit it.

-Not at all. It's just contact of your mouth with another mouth to give a sense that the other one belongs to you...or so my uncle Edgar says.

Zim only became even more disgusted. To join the disgusting jaws of one human to another.

Don't they know that's where the highest concentration of bacteria and saliva is? Exchanging secretions, gross.

-Wait ugly boy Do humans claim each other with saliva? They are nauseating.

-I know, good luck surviving,” commented the same boy with apathy to leave as if nothing had happened.

That made the alien alert.

Zim took note of this new fact about humans, they were of little use, that's why the Irken were superior in all aspects.

For a moment he wanted to look at his rival and nemesis to death. Maybe trying to exterminate her would cheer him up.

He turned his gaze to where that hideous hairless creature sat, hoping to provoke her, but saw her conversing with another creature that was not her terrifying sister.

-Huh? - Zim was confused.

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Dibra and her sister were sitting at their usual table talking. Well she was chatting and Gaz was half listening to her while eating with one hand and in the other playing with his game slave 2.

-Hello? - I hear someone's voice interrupted with the older sister's butta with a tray of food in her hand.

-Torque? Do you need anything?

He seemed a little hesitant about what to say.

Yes... Can I sit here?...many tables are occupied or filled with half-eaten or somewhat vomited hearts.

Both sisters looked at each other and the younger one shrugged, as if she didn't care.

-Don't bother me while I'm playing and you'll live.

-Done.

It was a little awkward, but they didn't know how to continue conversing with the three of them at the table.

The young paranormal investigator made an awkward gesture, but trying to appear calm, but she looked stiff.

Torque looked at the young gothic girl's game and commented something to her.

-Is that game Vampire Piggy Hunter 2? Did you know there's a secret level?

That quickly caught Gaz's attention.

-Go back to what you said,” he said without giving time to turn the conversation around.

-My older brother is a game streamer and has a video game forum. He found out that if you head to the pet cemetery and go to grave 666 there is a subway passage, and you will fight zombie pigs to find more weapons and a secret boss.

Gaz listened carefully and apparently did just that. Being more focused on nothing on discovering the secret level.

-I didn't know you liked video games,” said Dibra.

-Not really, my fingers cramp up and I mix up the controls, I prefer sports.

Before they could continue talking, they were interrupted by Gaz's shout.

-YES, HERE IT IS,” he said, pointing obsessively at the game.

-And do you like video games? Besides...the paranormal? - he asked with a doubtful tone.

Dibra blinked in surprise. They hadn't expected to ask her about her. They always avoided talking to her about her paranormal investigations, but not other tastes.

-Nah, she's lousy at them. It doesn't last a minute - answered Gaz for her.

-Wow thanks Gaz - said the young woman with glasses - well...I also like mechanical engineering and technology, something I help dad sometimes - she said stirring her food trying to guess if she was given mash or chicken.

-Really? Understanding less about that than the paranormal... Do you use it for your research?

Before she could explain more about it, Gaz interrupted her.

-Forget that, Torque What more secrets do you know about Vampire Piggy secrets?

The talk was pleasant in its own way. Not like one they expected, but better than expected.

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The rest of the school day passed rather quietly, even for Zim and Dibra who had not faced each other all day. Dibra didn't notice, being busy with her thoughts, but Zim noticed him and the guy approaching her.

He was frowning, looking out of the corner of his eye at Torque in class and noticed how Torque was really looking at Dibra during the whole horrible lesson from teacher Bitters, staring at her for long stretches and when someone looked at him he would quickly lower his head.

Zim felt there was something he was missing and decided to shake off that sense of irritation he felt at the sight of the pathetic human obsessively watching his enemy.

Only he could watch to kill.

When the bell rang the students were rushing off to go home and enjoy the rest of the day, others had different plans.

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-Hey Dibra,” she heard a voice somewhat familiar to her.

It was Torque again.

It was strange to her, they were not close, but all day long he approached her to talk and that was unusual.

The twelve year old girl turned to the boy who was talking to her.

-Hi Torque, do you need anything? - She closed her locker and looked at the young man who was talking to her.

He started looking down the hallways as if hoping to see no one in them and waited to see that there was no one in sight.

This put Dibra on alert. This behavior did not give him a good feeling, something was wrong.

-Hey Torque, is there something you want to tell me? You've been really weird and normally you wouldn't come up and talk to me,” she raised an eyebrow questioningly.

-Eh...I...-he was very nervous as if he wanted to tell her something.

-Yes?

She didn't expect him to approach her so quickly, grabbing her shoulder and stealing a surprise kiss.

That was unexpected and crazy, even for her.

She felt shocked by this unexpected moment, she never imagined that someone would dare to kiss her unexpectedly.

Not knowing how to react to this situation, she pushed Torque and left practically running to leave as soon as possible.

Her mind was spinning in circles and her nerves were eating her stomach with shock. She had a huge heat on her face, clearly ashamed of this.

Why did Torque kiss her, did he like her or did he just want to kiss her?

Nothing helped to clarify this and only her mind was going in circles.

She stopped almost outside the staircase, breathing heavily.

He touched his lips with his fingers still feeling a tingling in them and a strange sensation.

This was without a doubt the strangest thing that had ever happened to her in her life.

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Zim just looked at the exchange with total surprise and indignation.

It was totally disrespectful to him.

He was Dibra's rival and mortal enemy. Why was that fool claiming it as his own?

He was his adversary, he was the one who could only claim.

This brainless maggot wasn't going to take that away from him,

Then he remembered what the other stupid larva told him.

“In other cases it's giving hearts as tokens of your preference for someone.”

He saw the boy banging his head on the locker repetitively muttering nonsense and insults to himself.

He saw no one in the hallways of the school, not even the teachers who were probably in a classroom meeting or going home.

It was perfect for what he had planned.

Using his spidery legs he slithered across the ceiling, unobtrusively until he was on top of his prey.

The latter was still in his show of self pity that he didn't notice the small figure with macabre intentions hovering over him.

“This would be too easy” thought Zim.

The sound of a sound caught the rejected young man's attention, but he didn't know where it came from. He thought no one was around at this hour.

Torque sensed something was wrong when he felt his skin crawl and the metallic noise was above his head.

When he involuntarily looked up he saw Zim rising above him with a dark smile full of sharp teeth, clinging to the walls and ceiling as if he were a spider about to catch his victim.

-BUT WHAT...” was all he managed to say before one of those sharp legs attacked him.

“I already know what I need.....”

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-This day has been really weird Gaz.

She didn't say anything about the interaction with Torque and that kiss.

She couldn't even think about it herself. She was turning red just remembering it, I mean... Why did he kiss her?

-All your days and mine when I'm with you are weird - without taking her eyes off her game -And that impresses you?

-I mean weird for us and that's already a lot.

Gaz raised an eyebrow as if considering his sister's words, but didn't answer anything.

There was a loud banging on the door, almost as if they wanted to break it down, and both sisters were exhilarated by the thunderous noise.

-You're standing there, go open the door,” Gaz said and went back to playing his video game.

Dibra just rolled her eyes, but went to the door to open it anyway.

The knocking on the door echoed loudly in the entryway, for a moment Dibra worried that whoever was on the other side of the door might break it down at any moment.

This put her on immediate alert, this had a warning sign everywhere one looked.

Very slowly she approached the door and the closer she got and the more suddenly...the knocking stopped abruptly.

It was as if they knew she was already close to it.

This chilled her blood all at once, beyond the situation. Something about the whole thing told her that it was horrible was going to happen if she opened up.

She looked through the peephole of the door and saw only the little light that illuminated the street and saw no one standing on the other side of the door.

 When he opened it carefully, he realized that there was indeed no one there.

Except for something that was on the step of her house.

It was a gift box.

It was wrapped rather oddly and messily, as if it had been done in a hurry.

It also looked sloppy and battered, with stains of a rather particular color.

It was red with a metallic smell that was easily recognizable to the young paranormal investigator.

It was blood.

The bile began to accumulate when she carefully lifted the box to find out what was inside, but when she did so she realized that underneath it was soaked with the same liquid as the stains.

He dropped the gift, almost throwing it to the floor.

She was almost going to throw it away, however, a part of her told her not to open it, the morbid part made her open the box.

Ignoring her instinct, she cautiously opened the box.

Dibra should have listened to her instinct, but it was too late.

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Gaz continued to play video games while he let his sister answer the door or the madman banging on it.

She heard the basement door open and saw her father come out of it.

-My dear daughter, I have finally finished my scientific and important work. Do you know where your sister is? I wanted to ask her if you want food to order.

He saw Professor Membrana look around for his other daughter.

-It was opening the door of someone who did not stop bothering.

He paused the game to look at his father.

-You're going to order pizza, right?

-Would your sister want some?

-Of course, she loves it,” he said without really thinking about it, ”especially if it's bloaty's pizza hog.

-Magnificent, my child, I...

I didn't finish the sentence when I heard Dibra scream.

Her father practically craned his neck in a jerking motion that made it look as if he had broken it because of how quickly he turned around when he heard his daughter scream.

Even Gaz got excited. More than once he'd heard his sister scream, whether it was screaming paranormal nonsense, to curse Zim or even in pain, but this scream was different from many others he'd heard.

It was one of absolute terror.

-DIBRA, Daughter, what's wrong, are you all right? - she saw her father quickly disappear to the entrance of the house to see what was wrong with his daughter.

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Standing far away from the horrifying scene were two hidden figures listening to everything.

-HAHAHAHAHAHAHA - laughed Zim - Did you see Gir? The human Dib is amazed by my gift - Zim praised himself to Gir who was listening closely - victory for the incredible Zim.

-SIII, MARY LIKES THE COW CHOP - laughed Gir innocently.

But it wasn't exactly exclamations of joy or anything.

It was a terrible experience.

It was a heart...

A human heart.

She could tell just by looking at it.

The bottom of the box was wet with blood and the heart as if it had been ripped out.

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At least Torque was able to accomplish what he set out to do....

He was able to give his heart to Dib.

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Thank you for reading, this was an overdue Valentine's Day special. I had a lot of writing and ideas, but I didn't have time to write and update, even so I bring you this story that has been on my mind.

If I feel like writing more I would do an extra.

I hope you liked it.

Chapter Text

/The extra I promised/   (It took me a while to post it)

The next day was quite cold, but not just because of the temperature, but because of the heavy atmosphere in which the entire student body was going through a horrible time.

Everything was very quiet at school, too quiet. More like a sepulchral feeling for everyone.

Even so, everyone lived with a feeling of terror and fear among the kids. Yesterday had been a special day, all sweet and cloying. With hearts and flesh about to turn into a real carnage.

Everyone was talking about what happened and how gruesome his death was. Things weren't kept quiet, neither by the teachers nor by the students, with a morbid curiosity among them.

Torque's body was found the day before in a dumpster behind the cafeteria. Everyone speculated and talked about their gruesome discovery. A garbage man, who had taken out the garbage at night, was late finding the boy dead and disemboweled.

The poor, traumatized man called the police and breathlessly recounted what had happened.

Upon examining the body, they saw that several organs were missing, including the heart.

It was sent to the Membrana family home. Dibra received it as a horrible Valentine's Day gift.

Many were talking in terror, saying that Torque had been killed by a teacher, that a madman had broken into the school and killed him.

Everyone was very upset. Some were friends of Torque, and others liked him. The news that he had been murdered in such a horrible way was horrifying.

Especially on Valentine's Day.

Dibra was very quiet, with a rather dark expression.

She went to school out of necessity so she wouldn't be left alone at home, as her father had said. He asked her to go and personally pick up her and her sister so that nothing bad would happen to them.

In addition, the police wanted to continue questioning her, asking her what she knew about Torque and if she had seen anyone strange.

When they confirmed that it was a human heart and the alert was given that Torque had appeared dead in the dumpster, she already knew what had happened.

The other option was to accept it, but she couldn't believe it. Today there would only be half a day of classes, and then they would be on hiatus until further notice.

She was lost in thought about everything that happened yesterday. She spent her day with Torque, and that night they found him dead.

She rubbed her eyes under her glasses, wanting to calm her restless mind and the mania she was about to suffer.

She didn't talk to her sister about what she saw, but she suspected she already knew what happened, but she never said anything to her.

"Hey Dibra," she heard someone approaching her.

It made her furious, making her hair stand on end. She only calmed down when she saw it was a classmate.

It was Zita.

She generally avoided her like she sucked. She didn't insult her often, and only when she ranted did she say things like she was crazy.

She approached her.

She seemed conflicted, looking around as if she didn't want to be seen with her, or she was just as worried about what had happened to her being alone in the school hallways.

"Are you okay?" she asked cautiously.

That threw her.

Maybe she was saying that because she saw she didn't look well. She looked quite disorganized and more paranoid than usual.

"Me? Why are you telling me?"

She saw her shifting uncomfortably on her feet, looking anywhere but at her.

"Because of Torque... and well... my uncle is a lieutenant, and well..."

I already knew what she wanted to say, but it was too late to ask her not to say anything.

"I heard my uncle talking to my parents secretly... and they say they sent you something horrible..."

She remembered it, remembered the disgusting and macabre gift they sent her that night, like a horrible joke from a psychopathic mind.

She thought of Torque, and her mind returned to that human heart in an ornate box.

She just covered her mouth, as if she wanted to vomit, and ran off in another direction as Zita looked worried, watching her leave as if she were on fire.

"Dibra... wait... I'm sorry..."

She ran down the halls until she was lost in it and entered an empty classroom, trying to catch her breath and prevent the nausea from overcoming her.

She just sat on the floor, thinking about how all this came about.

She was never afraid of people or any creature, existing or non-existent.

Until now...

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And with this, I don't know if I should add more chapters to this story to see more than one side. This was Dibra's, maybe I'll put the point of view of other characters close to Dibra.

Chapter Text

In another part of the school, filled with children talking or whispering about the terrible tragedy that had happened to one of the students at the school,

The hidden alien listened to all this with a certain pride. Apparently, he had caused quite a stir with what he had done.

Everyone was talking about what he had done and how the students were terrified or scared that they might be the next targets of his attack.

Zim just looked around with a certain superiority, believing his gift was so incredible that now everyone trembled at it.

"At least this kept all these foolish Earthlings quiet without acting like crazy dogs," he thought sarcastically.

Maybe he should do this gift-giving more often, and apparently he was the most outstanding of all; no one had stopped talking about it and the disemboweled child.

Torque... Zim began to think about his former classmate. He was one of the bunch who, unlike the others, was stronger and didn't speak to him. The only thing that was acceptable about him was that he kept his distance from him and didn't bother him with his stinking existence.

Until yesterday, when his archenemy and rival, Dibra, tried to claim what was his since he arrived in this stinking world.

If he thought he could steal what was rightfully his from the amazing Zim, he was sorely mistaken.

So when they were alone, it only took a single stab to finish off that human child. Of course, it took him a long time to find the blessed heart the Earthlings talked so much about.

With his spidery legs, he rummaged inside the human abdomen and pulled out various bits of junk until he found what he wanted, which they told him he had to send.

It didn't look anything like the ones decorated in the hallways, but according to the book he took from Torque's locker, this was what the human heart looked like.

He ordered Gir to give him a box and paper and sent it to the girl, who didn't hesitate to applaud his gift.

He wondered if she had any idea what this meant. He'd have to find her and rub it in the Earthling's face that even she recognized the kind gift Zim had given.

Supposedly, they were told that today would be the middle of a class, and then they could leave until further notice. That made things more practical and more manageable. They still hadn't entered classes. Many didn't even enter classrooms; in fact, some teachers were even absent and stayed in empty classrooms until it was time to leave.

It was hard for him to find her among the people, which was strange.

Just as he was about to look for her, he saw Dibra running from the hallway to a classroom, not acknowledging his presence at all; she seemed to be running without looking at anything or anyone.

"HEY, STINKY HUMAN, ARE YOU IGNORING ZIM?" he shouted, not believing what was happening.

Zim just raised an antenna under his wig, somewhere between stunned and indignant.

He hadn't even recognized him enough to point him out or attack him.

Had the clear display of human ownership failed?

"Whatever it is, Zim must find the crux of the assumption. It must be the brainless kid's fault," he concluded as a final thought.

He decided to stroll down the hallway to try to locate the human from yesterday.

"Hey you," Zim said, approaching a boy he'd been telling him the other day about how Valentine's Day worked.

The boy was in a locker taking a book out of there.

"It's you," the boy commented matter-of-factly. "Didn't you die of boredom yesterday?"

"Almost. But I'm not coming with that hairless monkey."

"So tell me," he didn't seem particularly talkative. "Did you hear what happened to Torque?"

"Zim couldn't care less about the gutted boy. Zim comes to complain that you tricked him. The gifted item didn't work at all," he complained, pointing at it with his gloved claw.

"You fell for that love nonsense, poor you. Didn't she like the gift or that it came from you?" the boy asked, looking completely at the green boy, looking confused.

"Should I have told her it was from me?" Zim began to think aloud.

"Well, how would she know it was from you without a return address?" the boy pointed out the most obvious thing.

"Shut up, sieve grease. What I have to do is let the human Dibra know that she's capable, I'm the amazing Zim. Zim is a genius."

This time he quickly left to find the girl with glasses.

"...If he was so smart, why did he fall in love?" he said aloud and closed his locker to go somewhere else.

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Zim searched everywhere and saw Dibra coming out of a classroom to head to the girls' bathroom.

He followed her, not caring if they saw him go into a bathroom he clearly shouldn't be in.

"AHA!" he exclaimed when he found the girl washing her pale face. "I FOUND YOU, HUMAN!"

Dibra was excited when she heard that scream, but when she saw it was Zim, she sighed, both annoyed and deflated.

"I told you, Zim. I know your race doesn't understand gender, but you can't just walk into the girls' bathroom," she said, splashing water on her face again.

"And why should that stop the amazing Zim?" the green creature asked arrogantly.

At that moment, a girl in a blue dress came out of the stall and was very upset to see him in the bathroom.

"Pervert," the girl said, slapping the alien as she headed to the sink to clean her hands before leaving the bathroom. "That's why," Dibra pointed out, seeing Zim angrily yelling at the girl who had already left the room.

"Damn human, you'll be the first to be destroyed when Zim takes over this filthy planet, do you hear me?" Zim shouted from the bathroom door.

He'd have time for that girl later; he had more important matters to attend to.

"Well?"

Dibra wasn't in the mood to fight Zim right now. She couldn't get those horrible images out of her head, and the last thing she wanted was to see her enemy leave more of a burden on her.

"Well, what?" she asked, not wanting to hear more.

"Just get out, space cockroach... no... I'm here to listen to this, just not right now." She took off her glasses, looking tired as she carefully examined them before putting them back on.

"..."

Before leaving, Zim stepped in the doorway, blocking her way.

"So you won't thank Zim?"

At that, Dibra's expression changed from anger to surprise. "...Thank you for what, exactly?" the girl asked cautiously, without taking her eyes off the alien.

Zim, growing more confident, approached, invading the girl's personal space with a sharp smile on his face.

"Well, obviously with your monkey brain you wouldn't understand, but Zim marked his territory with what you call a gift yesterday," he replied proudly, waiting for the black-haired girl's reaction.

When she heard the word "gift," Dibra suddenly paled as the image of what happened yesterday hit her again.

"You... Torque... didn't... God, no..." the girl stammered, horrified by the implications of this, clenching her fists anxiously.

Zim was responsible for killing and maiming Torque. She felt panic and anger in her, a strange combination that made her remain still, but she trembled with fear and anger.

"How could you do that, you damn miserable bastard?" she whispered. This seemed to encourage Zim to continue, and he decided to have a little fun.

"So, did the human organ do its job or not? Apparently, the experiment turned out better than expected," Zim gloated, leaning closer, forcing the girl with glasses to back away.

"You know what? I'll tell everyone what you did? You disgusting monster." It was impossible to deny that Zim was a threat, especially when he easily killed someone yesterday.

"You've been doing this for almost two filthy years, and no one has ever believed you. You can do it, and still, no one will listen," the alien mocked. "They'll say you made it up, and even if Zim wants to claim credit for it, they won't do anything if you say so."

Dibra had no answer for that.

He gloated that this brought better results than he expected.

Apparently, he achieved what he set out to do, because Dibra was looking at him with something he never thought he'd see, and that excited him more than anything. She wanted to be Zim's sole property, and no one could claim that.

But she got something she didn't expect from the human Dibra, and it brought her satisfaction when she saw her like this.

Fear and horror.

She got what she truly wanted.

And the best part was that she would surely continue to look at him that way from now on.

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This is about Zim's side of the story, and how he viewed everything he had in mind, without realizing the damage he had done and the madness he caused.

Chapter Text

"…Thank you, Professor Membrane…I'd like to continue asking your daughter questions when I arrive," said the officer, taking what notes he could from the man in the lab coat.

"Is it necessary for my daughter to continue being subjected to such uncomfortable exposure? My daughter has already been through so much with this," he said calmly, but the complaint could be heard in his voice.

"Believe me, I'm sorry about this, but we haven't been able to obtain any clues or fingerprints, and all we're looking for is for your daughter to be able to provide at least a clue or point us in the right direction to continue solving the case," the officer revealed.

"…

"…

"I understand, officer. I just don't want to put my daughter through any more pain. I'll see you later," Professor Membrane said, opening the door for the officer.

"Of course. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to contact us. See you later." And with that, the uniformed man left to go back to his patrol car and return to the station.

With that, he closed the door and was left alone with his hidden thoughts and fears. He had just finished talking with one of the officers handling the case of the dead school boy.

His daughter spent over an hour yesterday being interrogated, searching for the slightest clue about possible suspects. They still had no clue who committed the murder.

That word made the man's blood run cold.

Murder.

The man had to sit for a while, trying to calm his nerves and think rationally, as he always did before, but this time he found it impossible.

That poor boy was barely 13 years old, and they killed him in such a way that they practically gutted his abdomen and removed various things until they ripped out his heart and sent it to his home.

He stood up from his seat and paced the halls of his house, trying to keep his mind occupied with every distraction that wouldn't bring to mind what was happening in the present and what could possibly happen in an unwanted future.

As much as he was a man of science, he knew it was useless to deny the facts. Sighing, he couldn't help but remember yesterday and what he saw.

Flashback…

He was talking to his youngest daughter when he heard his daughter Dibra scream in terror.

That put him on high alert and alarmed him when he heard her.

"DIBRA, daughter, what's wrong? Are you okay?" asked Professor Membrane.

He almost ran to the door where the young woman was.

He saw her back away, covering her mouth in horror and disgust, her face pale with fear.

"My girl! What's going on?!" This wasn't normal, at least from what he knew of his daughters.

He bent down to place his hands on her thin shoulders. He noticed she was trembling, even though he couldn't feel her skin with his robotic hands. He noticed the tremors in her body.

Grasping one part of her gown in a tight grip, he frantically pointed with the other at a fixed point.

He had raised both girls, and as far back as he could remember, he had never seen that expression of fear and horror on either of them. Not when Dibra broke her arm in three places when she fell off the roof, or when Gaz got her hand stuck in the garbage disposal.

He only saw her pointing again, a box lying on the doorstep of her house. Judging by the paper on it, he'd say it was a Valentine's Day gift.

"Did someone send that tacky one to your daughter? Was it a bad joke?" Professor Membrane wondered, trying to understand better.

Upon closer inspection, he saw what had scared his daughter so much.

Just by looking at it, he knew it was a real human heart, and the smell of fresh copper left no doubt it was.

This put him on autopilot. He quickly grabbed his daughter and brought her inside, slamming the door and activating the security system throughout the house. With that, he called the police without taking his eyes off his two girls and even more so the possibly traumatized one.

End of Flashback…

Professor Membrane did something he never thought he'd do for a long time in his life: He put his work on hold until further notice.

He put his scientific projects on hold.

But now he had a more important matter, to which he immediately owed his full attention.

His daughter Dibra and her depraved secret admirer.

The macabre gift some psychopath gave his daughter as the most grotesque Valentine's Day present still made him wary of letting his guard down.

He spent hours talking to the police about it.

Hours later, he learned that the heart belonged to one of his daughter's classmates, a young man his age named Torque Smackey.

His body was found in the dumpster behind the school, and that put many on alert, both parents and teachers.

He never considered worrying about boys becoming interested in his daughter until a few years later. Like self-interested or malicious types, this far surpassed her fears and increased her anxiety.

Her daughter could be being stalked by a monster, and she didn't know where to start. But one thing was certain: she was going to protect her daughter from any danger and wouldn't bow her head or anything for some idiot or bastard.

She looked at her watch and saw that her two daughters were almost home from school.

She locked the house with a double security system and went to get her daughters.

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What do you think about this story? This was supposed to be just a oneshot that went on to more chapters, but I'm not complaining, as writing this story has become interesting for many, especially me.

If you'd like, I have many more works for you to read. Thanks for your attention.