Truthseeking

Helping the Enemy

Dib took a deep breath, readying himself to find out why the alien did it, this was going to be a touchy subject to approach.

He turned to face him, but sighed when he saw that Zim was unconscious next to him.

Admittedly a bit disappointed, the human turned the alien over, trying to assess his injuries without touching him too much.

Dib knew how painful touching burns could be, he'd learnt that lesson many, many times over his years of paranormal investigating.

He winced at the green, burnt skin, wondering how Zim had even managed to walk to his house without fainting.

He guessed the alien wasn't exactly bluffing when he said his species was superior to humans.

Upon all the, now more of a greyish from the burns, green skin, Dib had also noticed something else.

Zim's arms were bandaged.

Dib swallowed, after he just seen this very alien attempt suicide, he worried that the injuries on his wrists weren't from any kind of fight.

Carefully, he unwrapped the damp material from Zim's arms, revealing several, not fully healed cuts and scratches.

He stared at the scars, unsure of what to sum them up to.

They looked random and unintentional, and they all varied in size and depth, so hopefully they weren't what he was thinking they were.

He recalled what the aliens' base had looked like when he'd gone the night before, suspecting he'd earned these scars from whatever happened there.

Dib felt himself relaxing, and he started to scramble through a medical kit that he'd hid in his room when his investigations began to get him more injured.

Bringing out a fresh roll of bandages, he suddenly realised that if he wanted to get these on Zim, he'd probably have to undress the alien.

Nope, he's not doing that, too weird, even for him.

He debated on what to do, he'd have to wake Zim up if he wanted to actually get these over his burns, but he probably needed rest after that.

While debating, another realisation hit him, he'd brought Zim to his house, without telling anyone. How was he going to explain why he brought his injured enemy home, and he'd probably also have to admit he'd been sneaking out.

Dib groaned, he'd have to deal with that after, he needed to focus on the aliens' injuries right now.

Begrudgingly, he began shaking him lightly, an attempt to wake him up.

"Zim, cmon, wake up. " The human whispered, shaking him a bit harder.

Zim let out a weak groan as he squinted his eyes open, he didn't move for a good few seconds, Dib assumed he was recalling the recent events.

His antenna suddenly perked, as he realised what had gone down.

"What? " Zim croaked, his voice raspy and quiet, matching his volume.

The alien winced as he sat up, looking at Dib with a confused expression.

"Uh, well- you need to put these bandages on, over your body. " Dib explained, handing the bandages over to Zim.

The alien didn't take the bandages, he only raised a brow at him.

"I won't look, I can't really leave the room, so that's all I can really do. " He tried, gesturing the bandages at him again.

Zim chuckled, quietly and weakly.

"Zim does not need such inferior human materials, my PAK will heal me just fine. " Zim vowed, trying to sound confident, but failing as his voice cracked midway through the whisper.

Dib perked a brow at him, half amused by his obvious bluf, half interested in the opportunity to learn more about his PAK.

"You were wearing those 'inferior human materials' just before weren't you? Actually- you were wearing them last night, too. And what do you mean your PAK will heal you? " Dib inquired, noting the past night's events.

Zim looked down at his hands, embarrassed expression sprouting on his face as he realised the human was right.

"Well- that was different! And yes, our superior PAKs heal us irkens, just give it a few hours. I do not need any healing drones! " Zim defensively argued, his rattly voice raising just a bit.

"Then why aren't those healed? " Dib asked, pointing at his scarred wrist.

The alien opened his mouth, as if to spit another argument, but paused, suddenly looking like he was at a loss for words.

Ultimately, he arched his eyes at Dib, angered and defeated.

"Just put them on, " Dib sighed, placing the bandages in the alien's hand as he got up and turned, trying to give him privacy.

He heard Zim emit a small growl, before hearing what he'd assumed was some sort of zipper.

After a few minutes, he heard the sound again.

"Can I look? " Dib asked hopefully, his legs beginning to ache.

"Yeah" Zim answered blankly as the human began to turn and take his place next to him.

Dib could see some of the bandages on Zim's body, on his neck, arms, some on his legs, and he even noticed some on his antenna.

The two sat silently, not a comfortable silence, but it wasn't awkward either.

The human pulled out his phone, checking the time, a bit taken aback of how late it was.

The phone's screen read '12 : 34 AM' brightly.

Putting his phone back in his pocket, he took in a deep breath, and turned to Zim.

"So… What happened? " Dib asked, genuinely as possible, as he watched Zim's antenna droop at the question.