Out of Darkness- Chapter Ten- Anything
WARNING: Character death (or something) and mentions of blood.

Ellic had smiled an insisted that she didn’t need him anymore for about the twelfth time before Chin finally sighed and walked away from her. He wandered down the halls, trying to look bored. He attempted to stop every once in a while to talk to someone, but everyone he really even had an ounce of interest in having a conversion with had somewhere to go or seemed pretty tired or irritable.

So Chin wandered. He contemplated going back to Ellic and just watching her mutter to herself and attempt to add new features to a robot that was already full of bugs. He also walked toward the ship bay where Zim was for about three feet, but decided he wouldn’t be able to be around him without giving something away.

He really wanted to know what was going on with Shadow, but he knew he couldn’t place himself anywhere near his room for the time being.

Suddenly, he found himself being half-pushed, half-guided into a small supply room by a rather tired looking Vortian. As soon as the door slid shut, he sank to the ground, sighing.

“Our human is quite hard to control.”

Chin cocked his head, and the Vortian nodded a little to the dark corner of the room. There were two figures that Chin couldn’t believe he hadn’t noticed before. One was wriggling fiercely, but not making a sound. The other, apparently, was trying to hold him down, making tiny grunting noises with his efforts.

“Who’s the other one?”

When his head was turned, Shadow had switched back to his Irken form, and was shaking his head and rubbing his temples. “The Vortian that we are framing for this.”

He took off his gloves and scowled, scraping some scarlet flakes off of his skin. Chin wondered what the flakes were for a while, but then the silence began feeling awkward to him. “So… what else can I do?”

“Do you possibly think you may have a spare hologram device lying around? I do not believe I will be able to waltz around this place with the human looking like it does now.

“Wha-What do you mean?” Chin turned his head once again to Dib and the Vortian, and began walking, very slowly, over to them. Shadow quickly grabbed his wrist, which froze the worried Irken immediately.

“Lets say… that I had to take some rather primitive measures to get it into enough of a daze just to shut up.” Chin suddenly understood. Shadow had an implant that helped him control minds, like a few other Irkens. And the human’s mind was so strong that he could only control his speech. “The Vortian… well, you know how simple it is to control those easily-swayed fools. He is helping me keep it… physically tame. Now, I need you to go be with someone… Maybe even Zim, if you can handle it. Make sure the hall is clear before you leave- Your cloaking device is in your room, yes?”

It took Chin a few minutes to process everything he was saying. “Oh, um… yeah. There’s a couple on the third cabinet to the right, seventh row from the bottom.” Like he had been many times before, Chin was glad he had all of his cabinets’ contents memorized.

Shadow smiled for the first time Chin had ever seen. “Good. You are doing a great service to the Irken Empire, Invader Chin.” Invader Chin. His proper title hadn’t been used in so long. Chin started smiling, too. Yes. A great service to the Irken Empire.

“No! He’s lying to-” Chin was just three feet out of the door when he heard the muffled shout. He spun around quickly, scurrying to the door. He didn’t want to open it- he just put his antenna as close as it could get. There was no more noise, though. The only thing he could hear were two people breathing. As he walked away, he silently cursed his antenna, too caught up in the fact that it couldn’t hear the third person’s breathing to wonder if the third person was even breathing at all.

XXX

Chin sat quietly in the corner of Ellic’s room. As soon as she saw him walk in, she frowned quizzically.

“What brings you back here?”

Chin sighed, trying to smile. “Everyone’s too busy for me right now. I’m just kind of lonely.”

Ellic smiled and nodded.  She quickly sat back down beside her overturned robot, and a scowl set back into her features. Chin didn’t ask her how she was doing or if he could help. He didn’t want her to get too upset-  he was already feeling guilty about the trouble Shadow’s task would cause her.

XXX

Having experience as a guard, Chin knew a thing or two about weapons used for punishment and execution. There was one particularly gruesome one that the executioners had used for Vortians that had been particularly unruly.

The flamk ray. Chin had only seen it used once- because, well, he had barely been able to sit through one of the weekly executions held at the prison. First the- rather bulky- gun was forced into the mouth, aimed down the throat. The trigger was then pulled, releasing an acid into the unlucky person’s  body, that slowly- very, very, very slowly- ate the prisoner up from the inside out.

The “friend” that had brought him there had leaned near Chin’s antenna, and muttered that sometimes the prisoner tried to be brave, not screaming or sometimes not showing any emotions in their features. “But you can always see it in the eyes. They’re burning.”

Needless to say, Chin never, ever, even considered sitting through one of those horrid things again.

But, that was what he was doing right now. He was watching another living being- his friend, even- burn. Not thrashing, not screaming. Just silently burning. Drinking in the quiet grumbles about all of the recent losses, head traveling with Ellic’s pacing body. He could probably fool someone who wasn’t paying much attention into thinking that he was actually watching her. His eyes, though, were distant and wide with a panic that hadn’t quite reached the rest of his face, nor his body- and probably never would.

“Oh, Zim, it’s-” Chin’s mouth was quickly covered by Zim red-stained hand, though the Irken never once stopped pretending to watch Ellic. Chin’s hands flew up to grab his wrist, already feeling queasy. Zim’s hand stayed in its place for a moment, but then fell limply back to his side.

Chin frantically tried to wipe the blood- the human blood- off of his face. He did his best to quiet his gagging noises, but he did end up attracting the attention of a few people.

Finding out what the dried flakes on Shadow’s hands really were was not a fun experience for Chin. He had entered his room about an hour before Zim was supposed to come back, and found the walls red-streaked. It hadn’t taken him long figure out that it was human blood- he could vaguely remember Zaccai’s nose dripping a tiny amount of the same substance. At the time, the human had acted as it was absolutely no big deal, even though he was a little dizzy afterward, but this… this was a lot more. Upon very, very, close inspection, he found at the end of each blood streak, there was a barely noticeable imprint of a three-fingered hand.

Chin was extremely happy to find the smeet hadn’t really been smashed against the wall, that the blood had just been applied by hand. In the back of his mind, though, he was still utterly horrified that all that blood did come from the human some way or another.

He vaguely wondered why Shadow felt the need to make the “crime scene” look gory. It was probably the one of the same reason he didn’t want Chin to go in until it was time to act out his shock for Zim. It really helped his faking, because deep down he really was shocked and afraid. The blind misconception that the human wouldn’t be hurt at all was shattered.

Eventually, Ellic got tired. She stopped her pacing and just sat down on the middle of the floor.

“This isn’t over,” Chin could just barely hear her whisper. “There’s going to be more.”

Almost instantly, Zim was looking at him. His eyes had changed. They were dull. His energy was completely gone. His will to fight the pain had vanished, but the pain was already numb.

“You know,” he began in an even, quiet voice, “I think we should fix your door. It’s slamming all of the time now- not just because of me.”

Chin’s eyes widened as he tried to understand, but then, abruptly, he decided that fixing the door was one of the most excellent ideas he had ever heard.

XXX

Ellic kept herself busy. Chin convinced himself that nothing had ever happened.

Zim just stopped thinking.

And so, together, the three went about making the door impervious to slamming. No one seemed to have any problems working in… the room.

When they found that it only needed a few tweaks in it’s programming, Ellic immediately suggested that they gut the whole thing out and make it a hinged door instead. Chin agreed, and they both assumed that Zim had too, though he never actually answered.

And soon, the three, among other people, began living like no Lard Nar, Resisty member, or Dib ever entered their lives.

Every one else, meanwhile, assumed that they were all dead. Most normal people don’t survive when the ships they are in explode. Similarly, most don’t survive large amounts of blood loss like the child had suffered… or betraying the Meekrob.

XXX

It became obvious that the Vortians had been holding back for Ellic’s sake when there was no more work for her to do around Zim.

Ellic grew accustomed to calling Zim by his nickname, though she rarely spoke directly to him, knowing she most likely wouldn’t get much of a response. In fact, no one really spoke to Zim but Chin (behind closed doors, of course.).

All of the children had eventually found out about what happened to Lard Nar, and the people who seethed about his death, and hated all Irkens for it, had gotten to most of them first. Soon, the fire spread almost all of the Vortians (except for the apparently oblivious technically-ruler-of-Vort Neria, who grieved the same way as Chin and quickly became attached to Zim) and every day for Zim became a battle against their revenge.

Chin had even joined in. He was know for bursting out in sudden, raised-voiced rants directed a Zim, and warning him that if he left, he would tell the Meekrob he was out there. Zim acted along, pretending to have a deep-rooted fear/hate for Chin, shrinking away whenever he was near and scowling at him every chance he got.

Both of them knew, though, that his charade was halfway real.

XXX

“So we’re all smeet killers now, eh?”

Chin sighed for when felt like the thousandth time during that conversation. “No Zim. You know that… you know that this is important for the Empire. We need to let everyone know that we’re back.”

“By killing a smeet?”

“No! Stop calling her that! She is a filthy Vortian- nothing more.”

Zim answered with his small, wry smile. “You’re starting to sound like him.”

“Augh! Why do you never say Shadow’s name?!”

The smile stayed on his face, but became more worn. “Why do never say Neria’s name? Or…” He stopped himself. He couldn’t bear to say Dib’s name either.

Chin sighed again. “Please, Zim. If not for me, for the Empire?”

Zim half-heartedly gave in. “Yes, Chin. For the… empire.”

XXX Two Years Later XXX

“I’m leaving.”

Zim couldn’t believe that those two words could trigger such a reaction from Chin. He had expected the normally nervous and submissive invader to nod sadly, or maybe even start crying. But, as he stared fearfully down a gun pointed to his chest, Zim quickly found that he had underestimated the somewhat scary attribute of all intelligent beings- his temper.

“Chin…” Zim’s ever-present survival instinct kicked all of his other emotions, including his ego, out of his mind. “Really. This isn’t necessary.”

“What!? N-no. No, really, it is. You have to be here. You-Ya gotta be here to help…”

“Why?” Zim almost threw his arms in the air out of frustration, but stopped himself. Chin’s hands were shaking. They always shook when he was extremely jumpy. One singe movement, would make Chin worried about Zim trying to attack him.

“Because!”

Zim stared at him for a few seconds, hoping he would continue. “You can do this without me. You spent years of training for this. I know that I’m an amazing killer, but you-”

“Augh! You don’t get it, Zim, do you? She loves you! Well, she loved that boy you used to take care of, so she would do anything for you! I need you here so her death can be twice as painful, twice as shocking. Everyone will know that the Empire has become stronger by reducing ourselves to filth- by gaining people‘s trust!”

“That’s exactly why I am leaving.”

“That’s stupid! If you kill her, you’ll be a hero!”

“I have something,” Zim paused “someone more important to take care of.”

“What could be more important than this?!” Chin finally dropped his gun with a frustrated sigh.

Zim didn’t move. He didn’t even seem to be breathing as his antenna twitched. “Get your disguise back on.”

Chin obeyed, pressing a few buttons on his wrist to turn his hologram on. He waited, and stopped moving, too, trying to see why Zim had suddenly become so nervous.

Suddenly, the door was thrown open, giving Zim just barely enough time to trip out of the way before he was crushed by the heavy square of metal.

A Vortian child sauntered into the room. “Oh, I’m sorry, Irken,” he sneered. As he turned to walk to the middle of the room, he made the extra effort to spit at Zim. Chin cleared his throat.

“Oh, hello, sir!” the boy chirped like he had done nothing wrong. “Can you help me find this thing Ellic wanted? I think she called it a broom…”

“Oh, sure. It’s in… I’ll show you. Wait a minute.” He quietly walked to the row of file-cabinet like drawers and kneeled down to lock his gun away.

“Woah! Were you killing the Irken?! Or at least threatening him?! Don’t stop because of me! Dumb, old, Ellic can wait for her stupid broom.” He looked from the locked drawer to Chin, to Zim, practically bouncing on his toes in excitement.

“Come on, kid.” Chin ordered, already walking out of the room, trying not to look at Zim.

The child grumbled and made small whining noises. Chin stopped and waited for him, but didn’t say anything else. He finally turned, giving the boy a pleading look to follow him.

“Fine.” His head bobbed down in disappointment, but perked up in just seconds as he ran forward and kicked Zim’s leg. It wasn’t quite like seeing the Irken killed, but it at least made up for it the tiniest bit.

Chin couldn’t take it. Of course, it was just Zim, and everyone hated Zim, but he was still an Irken. He forced himself not to cringe, and reminded himself he had seen worse, but that only made him want to cringe more. He couldn’t get mad at the child for hurting Zim while he was in his disguise, and all of them knew Zim couldn’t do anything about it, so Chin gave himself a moment to think of another excuse to punish the boy.

“You should have more respect! I birthed you and took care of you for so long! Keeping me waiting for my broom- The nerve of you silly child!”

She passed Chin swiftly and grabbed the boy’s hand. “Neljas… I asked you for that broom three hours ago!”

“…I got lost?”

Ellic sighed. “In Chin’s room?” She glanced over at Chin “Oh. Hi…” She glanced around more. “Why is Adna in your room?”

“I was just… shaking him up a bit, you know?”

“Why? He never does anything wrong…”

“Well, he was giving me this… weird look that made me feel uncomfortable.”

Ellic stared at Chin like he had just grown another head. “Well, that‘s no reas-”

“Ma! C’mon! He needs to be shown his place every once in a while!”

“Why would you actually pity Irkens, anyway, after everything they did to you- er, us?”

She let out a small, light-hearted laugh. “No, I don’t feel sorry for the Irkens at all. Just Adna.” She attempted to whisper, but the way Zim’s antenna twitched, Chin could tell that he could hear her. Of course he could- Zim could hear just about everything. “I think it’s tragic, don’t you? Everything.” She tried to turn her voice down even more, but it was still loud and clear. “Especially about that boy…”

Zim hadn’t moved or said a word since Neljas came in, but he snapped his head up, and stared at Ellic. Chin knew not to remind him about Zaccai. In fact, most of the people who knew the boy chose to forget the whole ordeal.

“Okay, well, I guess you should go deal with Neljas.” Chin somehow managed to usher the two out of the room and lock the door behind them. He then turned to Zim, searching for an apology he hadn’t used before. Finding none, he screwed up all of his courage.

“Dib isn’t alive, so stop thinking about him. It doesn’t matter how much you look if you leave. He’s dead.”

At that moment, Chin found himself wishing he hadn’t put his gun away.

Zim was so close that his hot breath wisped across Chin’s face. All of Chin’s efforts push the other Irken away from him were in vain, and he quickly gave up, feeling weak. Why was Zim always so much better than him?

He didn’t even look angry. He was giving him that same expression that Ellic always gave Neljas- baffled at his behavior, but loving.

“Chin…” It came out as a soft breath- he wasn’t even trying to be scolding or aggressive. “Chin,” he repeated, even softer.

His face twisted bravely. “What?”

“Shadow. I… I can’t believe…” He let out a laughing breath, and Chin tensed in fear at the assumption he thought Zim was about to make. “Shadow’s your Empire now. He’s your smeet.”

Chin sighed in relief, and thanked whoever gave Zim such a small attention span, but then quickly took it back in, the odd realization hitting him, too. “That’s… that’s crazy.”

Zim tilted his head back, smiling superiorly. “Is there anything you wouldn’t do for him?”

“Well, of course-” He blinked. Honestly, except for killing someone, what request could be not bear to refuse?

He continued to blink as it sunk into his brain. Gears now turning, he relized that Zim had obviously been thinking about this for a while, and remembered how he had assumed the same relationship between Zim and Dib. He didn’t even noticed when Zim stepped away from him, freeing Chin from the wall he had pinned him to. The only thing that snapped him out of it were Zim’s few last words as he slipped out the door.

“I know it was you two who did it. I forgive you.”

Chin breathed for a few beats, his eyes darting around the room. Then, suddenly, with a burst of adrenaline, he propelled himself away from the wall and through the door. He landed against the wall directly across from it, his left arm just barely pushed out in front of him in time.

Zim was gone. The hall was completely barren. Breathing defeated, shallow breaths that were on the verge of becoming sobs, Chin made his way to his door, locked it, and sat in front of his computer until he had pulled himself together enough to call Shadow.

“Is there anything you wouldn’t do for him?”