The Crown Gets What the Crown Wants (royalty zadr au)

Chapter Eleven

Zim held the dead smeet close as he was visibly sobbing and looked up at Dib with a terrified face. Dib's eyes went wide, Membrane looked down into the crawl space. Zim shook as he held the smeet.
"I-"
Zim's voice cracked and Dib could see a pink liquid around the irken.
"I killed it..."
"What?"
"I- I got scared and I tried to get rid of it..."
Dib picked Zim up from the floor and held him close.
"What, when did this start?"
"T-today... just after we saw your father is when I first found out...
I hid it because I didn't want you to get in trouble or yell at me..."
Dib pulled him closer and kissed his head lightly as he cradled him.
"It's okay Zim...I wouldn't have gotten mad at you ,I promise it would've been okay..."
Dib averted all his attention away from his dad as he spoke, Membrane searched for words and finally settled on,
"I'm sorry, losing a child is never easy..."
"How would you know..."
Dib growled as he tightened his grip on Zim,
"Because Dib, you were attempt 34..."
"What?"
"In cloning, I've told you this Dib..."
Dib looked away as Zim held onto him and whimpered
"I'm sorry..."
"No, it's okay. I'm glad I got here."
Dib cooed softly to his boyfriend. Zim smiled a bit, but it faltered as he looked down at the smeet
"I should probably rid of this..."
"Can I see it first?"
Dib asked, curious about the thing. he nodded as he unfolded his arms to reveal the small smeet. Dib looked at the tiny thing, a sickly pale green in color, with tiny deformed limbs, it's wiry antennae were limp and lifeless, it's small eyes forever closed. Zim started to cry again when he looked at the smeet, small light pink tears falling onto its lifeless body as he held it close again. Dib hugged Zim close and felt his own eyes water,
"I won't let this happen again, I promise."
Membrane opened his mouth to say something but didn't as he walked out and rubbed his head.
Zim sniffled a bit as he rested his head on Dib's chest.
"You should get some sleep, I'll go bury the lost one."
Dib held his hands out for Zim to hand him the smeet, Zim head butted it like a cat and chirred mournfully before giving it to Dib. Dib looked at Zim worriedly as he kneeled down and kissed his head before walking to go bury the smeet.
Zim walked to their special spot in the closet and laid down as he curled up in the soft blankets.
Dib walked to the garden, he knew that his ancestors buried their dead children in this garden if they didn't survive their childhood, family legend told that the trees were once a lost child and that the trees grew without even being planted. Dib hoped the legends would welcome the new member. Dib sunk to his knees near and empty plot and began to dig with his bare hands. The small smeet laid by where Dib was digging. It looked almost deflated as the skin by its stomach was all wrinkled from its organs not developing and its antenna looking like dried up leaves, ready to snap at any moment.

Dib had dug so deep his finger burned, he gingerly picked up the smeet and lightly kissed its small forehead.
"I'm sorry you couldn't see the world..."
Dib placed the smeet in the hole and started to cover it with dirt. Once he finished burying it the wind blew a small batch of petals over the grave and he smiled a bit
"Thank you.."
he said as he walked back inside of the castle. The servants whispered around as Dib walked back to his room. None of the things they said were good... Dib ignored them as he walked into his room.
"Zim? Where are you?"
He asked as Zim answered from the small room
"In here..."
Dib entered the room, Zim was curled up under the blankets, Dib noticed that the sheets and blankets were different.
Zim stood up when Dib entered, he had actually changed out the sheets before and had put the old ones in a small bag for the servants to get.
"Are you okay?"
Dib asked quietly, Zim nodded as he leaned against Dib.
"I'm just thinking about things."
They were silent for a while. That while became minutes. Dib kicked off his shoes and lied down, he needed a break from the stress of today, days felt so long... Zim laid with Dib and held onto him as he nuzzled his chest and smiled a bit in his warmth Dib wrapped an arm around Zim and shut his eyes.
"I love you Zim."
"I love you too Dib-love"
Zim returned softly as he kissed his cheek and fell asleep.
Dib fell asleep with a smile on his face. Zim sat up and stretched the next morning as he let out a small yawn. Dib was still out cold and snored quietly, Zim smiled at his lover and kissed his cheek sweetly.
"My tallest,"
Zim said happily. Zim then got out of bed as he headed to the main room to clean up a bit but paused when he saw the door open. Zim blinked at the stranger in the doorway.
"Who're you?"
They didn't answer as they grabbed Zim by the arm
"You'll be an easy one to take."
They said quietly as they picked Zim up. Zim immediately started screaming for help and struggled against the person. He covered Zim's mouth immediately as Dib stirred in his sleep and groaned. Dib turned and went to pull Zim closer, but was met with only air. Dib shot up and looked around frantically, getting up and calling Zim's name. Zim's mouth was griped onto tighter as he whimpered a bit and was immediately carried out the window,the strong gust of wind pushing the rain into Dib's room
Dib jumped out the window after them, hair stuck to his face as he ran. When the guy heard he as being followed he grumbled, he knew he couldn't outrun Dib with Zim in his arms as he dropped the Irken on the muddy ground. Dib continued running after the man and tackled him into the ground.
"Who are you? And who sent you?"
"I'll never tell you!! I was promised big money if i got a royal, but that's all I'm saying!!"
Dib scoffed and called for guards, he'd break eventually...
Dib ran to Zim after the man was carried away.
"Shit, are you okay?"
Zim wiped the mud off of his face and nodded as he sat up a bit.
"I'm fine...its just a bit of mud"
he said as he looked up at dib. Dib wiped some leftover mud from Zim's chin and sighed.
"Gods, can't we go a day without someone trying to kidnap you or my father yelling at me?"
Zim shrugged a bit as he held onto Dib and sighed,
Dib held him close and headed back into the castle as some servants jumped a bit when Dib walked through the gate and started to mutter things again. Dib set Zim down on the floor,
"You go wash up and get dressed, I'll go talk to my father about this."
They gave eachother a goodbye kiss and parted ways. Zim yawned a bit as he headed to the shower and sighed, thinking about what had happened...who could that have been...it couldn't have been the northern kingdom...and Zim didn't know any other bad kingdoms. Zim stepped into the shower and started washing up,
Once he was done he put on the tunic Bethany made him long ago. It still fit like a glove. he smiled a bit as he spun around in it before putting his disguise back on and walking out into the hallway to find Dib. The prince was currently explaining the recent attempted kidnapping to his father, Howard stood in the hall outside patiently waiting for the two to be done, Zim found Howard here.
"Can I go in?"
"Sorry kiddo, we gotta wait a bit for them to finish."
Zim sighed and nodded as he leaned against the wall next to Howard and looked up at him
"Heyyy...weren't you like...the husband to the northern queen...the one that declared war on our entire kingdom?"
"Oh yeeahhh, that was me. I'm sorry 'bout that, it was a poor life decision to marry Vanessa..."
"But..then you had an affair with the king...isn't that also bad to cheat on someone even if they are evil?"
"Look I never said I was in a good moral place!"
Howard snapped, eerily similar to the old northern royals, but snapped out of it when Zim flinched and shivered.
"I'm sorry, I was used to being horrid to others to get my way back then... but no longer, I'm trying to be the kindest person I can be."
"Just don't try and hurt anyone or I'll do the same thing I did to your son."
Zim snapped back with a slight growl in the middle before walking to the library. Howard gave a slight smirk and Zim stalked away, the door of Membrane's office opening. Howard stepped in with a smile. Dib had his arms crossed and Membrane sighed.
"The castle is on lockdown until further notice...we cant have this happening again"
"Thanks dad,"
Dib hugged his father and shot Howard a suspicious look, before he exited the room, Howard stepped in with a grin,
"How are you my king?"
"Oh Howard I'm stressed up the wall,"
Membrane went right past Howard with a worried look.
"I haven't seen Gaz in a while, I hope she's alright..."
Howard, upset by Membrane not focusing on him, but calming down, wrapped his arms around Membrane from the back.
"She'll be alright."
"I should check anyways..."
Howard sighed as he tightened his grip on membrane slightly, putting his head on the towering King's shoulder.
"You can get one of the guards to do it... meanwhile we can go to your room~"
He purred quietly as he stepped flush to membrane.
"Howard, this is my daughter we're talking about! I can't just send a guard!"
Membrane exited the office, making a b-line for Gaz's room, Howard behind him, grumbling quietly zim stayed in the library and perked up when he heard Dib come in as he smiled and stood up, putting the book back as he walked over.
"Dib, I missed you so much!"
Zim hugged Dib tightly and nuzzled into his chest.
"You saw me ten minutes ago!"
Dib responded with a giggle.
Zim smiled and shrugged a bit
"It felt long..."
He said as he stayed hanging onto Dib.
Dib picked him up and kissed his head as he walked out.
"Zim, I have a bad feeling about that Howard fellow..."
"What do you mean? He seems nice"
Zim said as he tilted his head a bit
"I don't know, it's just a gut feeling...
Haven't you noticed anything odd about him?"
Dib asked, Zim furrowed his brow in thought,
"Now that you mention it..."
"He did seem to be comfortable with what had happened..."
Zim said as he let go of Dib.
"Even if he was the guy we have no proof."
"I just- he seemed like he wasn't shocked or angry when I told them you were almost kidnapped, then dad sent him out to talk to me in private... I got quite a scolding..."
"why did you get a scolding? What did you do?"
Zim asked with a shocked and slightly angry look on his face as he crossed his arms Dib blushed,
"It was just about being safe in bed and how stupid it was to not use protection..."
Dib mumbled.
"Oh..."
He said as he leaned against Dib a bit and held his hand
"Speaking of bed..."
He hinted as he looked up at Dib.
"Right now?"
Dib asked, his face a dark pink.
"I-I mean we don't have to!"
Zim stuttered as he stood up again and looked down a bit,
"I mean, if you want to, I'd be happy to oblige."
"No, its okay....we have a lot we should be doing right now anyways..."
Zim mumbled, feeling embarrassed. Dib sighed,
"You're right, but I'll make it up to you okay?"
Zim smiled and nodded as he kissed his boyfriend's cheek and headed out the door.
(Little break for dumb author interactions, enjoy