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Description
Glass Wings

Chapter Two-Nightmare

Welcome to my nightmare, Welcome to my breakdown, I hope I didn't scare you, That's just the way we are, When you come down, We sweat laugh and scream here, 'Cause laugh is just a dream here, You know inside you feel right at home, Welcome to my Nightmare-Welcome to My Nightmare (Alice Cooper)

Screams rent the air around her, cascaded through her ears like a freight train, blocking out all other sound. Wails belonging to neither male or female, but a disturbing mix of both, thundered in her ears, causing a stinging pain to blossom in her head.

Please, She pleaded, her hands pressed hard against her ears, the muscles quivering as she used all of her strength to try and block out the noise. She felt as though her skull were being slowly torn apart. Stop this...I can't listen to them anymore... Her hands pressed harder, until she was sure her skull would crack, yet it did her no good. The screams penetrated her brain, still filled her with a deep and gnawing ache that she couldn't escape.

It was only made worse when the voices started.

I can't believe how foolish you were, They taunted her, using a voice that tore at the very essence of her heart, which throbbed in agony with each painful beat it took. It's all your fault, you know. This destruction, this pain, this suffering-this sin. The voice took on a mocking tone. It's all your's, Gazzy, and your's alone to bear. That voice...that damn voice. Why did it have to use his voice? She was utterly helpless against it, and it infuriated her. She shouldn't be cowering from this...thing, just because it used his voice.

"Just...shut up," She whispered between clenched teeth, her eyes screwed shut. "Leave me alone." She heard a dark chuckle from above her, sending an icy shiver down her spine. She pressed her face into the cold ground, struggling not to open her eyes; she knew what image she would see if she did...

Don't you hear it? The voice whispered, filled with sadistic glee. All of those beautiful screams...that exquisite suffering...and it's all because of you, Gazzy.

"Stop calling me that!" She screamed. "Stop using his voice! You're not him, no matter what form you take, no matter what voice you use! This is only a stupid nightmare!"

A laugh echoed from above her, while a ghostly hand trailed down the side of her face, two distinctly clawed fingers slipping beneath her chin and lifting her head. Amber eyes, despite every protest from their master, drifted open, colliding with a pair of familiar crimson eyes, blood red shining in spite of the darkness that engulfed them.

Even though she fought them back, tears rose to her eyes, spilling past her lashes to trail down her pale cheeks. Her fists clenched as those same clawed fingers reached up to wipe them away.

Keep telling yourself that, Gaz, He whispered, his red eyes glowing faintly. Maybe someday you might actually believe it...

-

"Gaz? Gaz!"

Gaz awoke to someone frantically shaking her shoulders, her brother's voice ringing in her ears. She pushed his hands away as she sat up, wincing as sharp pain shot down the length of her spine. Wearily, she wiped away the sweat that clung to her forehead, shaking her head to rid herself of the lingering images of her very vivid nightmare.

"Gaz?"

"What is it?" She muttered, glancing at her brother. His hands were wrapped around the bars of his cage, his dark eyes concerned.

"Nightmare?" He questioned. He knew about her nightmares, how they haunted her every night. He had heard her, on countless occasions, crying out in her sleep. The night, when she was asleep, was the only time in which his sister ever truly let her vulnerability show. He didn't know what happened in her nightmares-she never told him, so he never asked-but he knew that they hurt her, each and every night.

Gaz silently nodded, too drained to do much else. She leaned her back against the bars to her cage, sighing. "What else is new?" She muttered, glancing towards the doorway. It was still dark in the room, but, if she strained her eyes enough, she could make out its outline. "What happens," She wondered, her gaze stony, "if I don't come back today?"

Alarmed, Dib's hands tightened on the bars, his eyes wide. "What do you mean?" He asked, his voice taking on a frantic quality.

Gaz sighed. "You know as well as I do that if Red gives me to a Tallest, or keeps me for himself, I won't ever be coming back here." She cut off his feeble protests with a wave of her hand. "You know it's true, Dib. Slaves to the Tallest are kept with them-they don't stay here, like we do now." She watched as his face fell, feeling a brief stab of regret that she had said anything at all. But, she was nothing if not brutally honest, and it was far past the time that they accepted the reality of what their lives had become. They were nothing but humans, slaves to the Irkens and nothing more.

"Why don't we fight back?" Dib questioned bitterly, leaning against his bars, much like Gaz herself was doing. "Why do we let them treat us like this without fighting back?"

"We do fight back," Gaz muttered. "We're outnumbered, Dib, by a million to one, and those who do put up a fight are either exterminated or beaten to submission. There's nothing we can do."

Dib lowered his head, defeated. Gaz was right, he knew. They had fought back, they still did, but it was never enough. There were just too many of the Irkens, and not enough humans who could or would form a resistance against them.

There has to be a way, He thought, unable to admit that all hope was lost just yet. There has to be...

"They're coming," Gaz announced, her gaze drifting back towards the doorway. Sure enough, in just seconds Dib could hear the approaching footsteps of what must have been a handful of Irkens. His eyes narrowed as the doors slid open, revealing four Irken guards, each of them armed with a powerful tranquilizer gun.

"Is this the one the Tallest wanted?" One of them asked, gesturing with his gun toward Gaz. One of his companions-a green-eyed Irken- nodded, already unhooking a set of keys from the belt of his uniform.

"That's the one," He said, sliding one rusty key into the lock of her cage. The other three Irkens crowded around him, their guns at the ready, a wary look in their eyes. Gaz barely hid a smirk-they had heard about her.

She glanced over at Dib, her lips drawn down in a frown as she saw the murderous look in his eyes. She silently prayed that he wouldn't do or say anything rash.

"Restrain her," The green-eyed one commanded, obviously the leader of the group. He opened the door of her cage, and almost immediately Gaz found herself being pulled to her feet by two of the Irkens, their claws wrapped around her arms in a vice-like grip. She barely heard Dib's cry of outrage as she was forced to the floor, her wrists pinned behind her back. Her teeth clenched as heavy iron shackles were snapped around her wrists, the metal biting into her skin. The restraints were secured as tight as possible, preventing all movement from her wrists.

As soon as they were sure her shackles were in place, they hauled her to her feet, where she swayed unsteadily for a moment before regaining her balance. She was unable to contain a cry of pain, however, as a gun was prodded into her back, the barrel digging into her still fresh wounds. Her vision swam before her eyes as a result, and she clenched them shut, nausea rising within her stomach.

"Move, human!" The green-eyed Irken demanded. He prodded the barrel of his gun into her back once more, harder than the last time to get his point across. Gaz thought she would pass out from the pain-she could feel her wounds re-opening by the second. Already a very familiar warmth had begun to trail down her cold skin, sticking to her tattered shirt.

"Leave her alone!" Dib cried, his hands fisted around the bars of his cage, a merciless rage feeling his eyes. His knuckles were paper-white as he gripped them, the muscles in his hands popping and hissing with the amount of pressure he used. He wouldn't let them hurt her anymore. Even if it meant risking his life, he had to do something-he wished desperately that he wasn't a trapped and helpless human stuck in a cage, that he could do something to save his sister. But there was nothing he could do, not while he was confined within these bars. Gaz was utterly defenseless against the Irkens on her own and injured as she was. Her reputation for fighting back was useless as long as she was too wounded to defend herself.

"Shut your mouth, human-scum!" Another Irken, this one with scarlet eyes, snapped. He placed the barrel of his gun against the bars of Dib's cage, his finger resting lightly on the trigger. "This is none of your concern."

Dib's dark eyes narrowed behind his glasses. None of his concern! He reached out between the narrow spaces of his bars, his hand gripping the Irken's wrist. His anger towards the entire alien race flared within him as he squeezed the Irken's wrist, using as much strength as he could muster. Red swam before his eyes, anger like none other he had felt before swimming through his veins.

He barely felt it as the other Irkens rushed to their companions aid, their claws digging into his wrists as they struggled to release the howling alien in his grip. All he could feel was the crunching of bones as he squeezed even harder, a deep satisfaction filling him as pain etched itself across the Irken's features.

Suddenly a crippling pain shot through his hand, and he yelped in agony as he pulled it back within the confines of his cage, simultaneously releasing the alien from his hold. He glanced at his hand, which had already begun to swell from the blow the others had dealt.

"Dib!"

The cry of his name drew his attention back to his sister. She was struggling to break free of the green-eyed alien's grip, but her efforts were proving to be in vain. A clawed hand was wrapped around her waist, and in her pain-riddled state she could do little to fight against it.

"Enough!" The Irken snapped, his patience finally wearing thin. Tallest Red had said to take whatever actions needed to bring the female to her new 'home', and right now there was only one option available to him.

He raised his gun, bringing the butt of it down on her head. Her amber eyes widened in shock and pain for one brief moment, before they fluttered shut, her body falling limp. The male in the only other occupied cage cried out in fury, his screaming drowning out all other noise within the room.

"Shut that human up!" The Irken roared, his green eyes flashing. Grunting in annoyance, he lifted the human female up off the floor, throwing her over his shoulder. "Return to your respective posts as soon as you punish the human whelp for his..disrespectful attitude towards his superiors." A chorus of eager 'yes, sir's echoed in his ears as he stepped past the sliding doors, a smirk sliding onto his features as the sound of torture drifted to his ears.

I love this job.

-

Gaz awoke with a great, shuddering breath, her hand flying to the back of her head. Pain rushed through her, her vision darkening as she pressed her hand to the wound. Her fingers were wet and sticky with blood as she pulled them away, and she bit her lip to keep from crying out.

What happened? She wondered, broken images flashing before her eyes. She remembered being taken out of her cage, and put in shackles, and then her brother yelling...But then nothing.

She scowled, her eyes narrowing. That damn Irken had knocked her unconscious.

"So, you're finally awake."

Her head snapped toward the sound of the voice, and her scowl deepened as she saw who it was. Red stood on top of a raised dais, his arms crossed over his chest as he smirked down at her. Behind him were three identical thrones, made of some type of material she couldn't recognize, though they were all unoccupied. Behind the dais was an enormous mechanical ball, with wires running from its every side, connecting to the walls of the massive chamber they were in.

"Where am I?" She hissed, her fists clenching. Only now she realized that her shackles had been replaced. Iron manacles were wrapped around her wrists and ankles instead, connected to chains that secured her to the floor.

Red's smirk seemed to broaden at her question. He raised a solitary clawed hand, pointing to an area beyond her. "Look for yourself," He said.

Gaz turned her head, and immediately gasped at what she saw. Huge windows covered the outer wall of the chamber, through which she could see a never-ending sea of stars. The only solid object that stood out was a small, round ball, miles away from her, covered with mists of white foam.

Earth...

Angrily she turned back to Red, a murderous look in her eyes. "Why did you take me here!" She demanded, her wrists straining against her restraints as she moved.

Red laughed. "I told you yesterday that Furor was not an adequate master for you," He began. "You're rather...difficult to brake, human. More so than any other of your pathetic race at least."

"Is that supposed to be a compliment?" She growled, smirking as she remembered Furor's frustration with her.

"As I was saying," Red continued, ignoring her, "I knew only a member of the Tallest would be an appropriate master for the likes of you. But which one would be the right choice?" He smirked. "It was actually a very easy decision. I knew Purple wouldn't be enough-he seems to think of his humans as pets, rather than slaves...And of course, I wouldn't be the right choice-regardless of how much I would love to see you broken, of course. So, you see, there was only one other possible choice..."

Gaz growled, her hatred for Red increasing ten-fold. "You son of a-"

The sound of a door sliding open cut her off, and both human and Irken turned toward the doorway.

"Ah, here's your new master now," Red drawled, eyes alight with dark amusement as the human's eyes widened.

Gaz's breath caught in her throat as her eyes locked with familiar crimson orbs, her heart pounding in her chest.

"Zim..."

Tbc

Description
Glass Wings

Chapter Two-Nightmare

Welcome to my nightmare, Welcome to my breakdown, I hope I didn't scare you, That's just the way we are, When you come down, We sweat laugh and scream here, 'Cause laugh is just a dream here, You know inside you feel right at home, Welcome to my Nightmare-Welcome to My Nightmare (Alice Cooper)

Screams rent the air around her, cascaded through her ears like a freight train, blocking out all other sound. Wails belonging to neither male or female, but a disturbing mix of both, thundered in her ears, causing a stinging pain to blossom in her head.

Please, She pleaded, her hands pressed hard against her ears, the muscles quivering as she used all of her strength to try and block out the noise. She felt as though her skull were being slowly torn apart. Stop this...I can't listen to them anymore... Her hands pressed harder, until she was sure her skull would crack, yet it did her no good. The screams penetrated her brain, still filled her with a deep and gnawing ache that she couldn't escape.

It was only made worse when the voices started.

I can't believe how foolish you were, They taunted her, using a voice that tore at the very essence of her heart, which throbbed in agony with each painful beat it took. It's all your fault, you know. This destruction, this pain, this suffering-this sin. The voice took on a mocking tone. It's all your's, Gazzy, and your's alone to bear. That voice...that damn voice. Why did it have to use his voice? She was utterly helpless against it, and it infuriated her. She shouldn't be cowering from this...thing, just because it used his voice.

"Just...shut up," She whispered between clenched teeth, her eyes screwed shut. "Leave me alone." She heard a dark chuckle from above her, sending an icy shiver down her spine. She pressed her face into the cold ground, struggling not to open her eyes; she knew what image she would see if she did...

Don't you hear it? The voice whispered, filled with sadistic glee. All of those beautiful screams...that exquisite suffering...and it's all because of you, Gazzy.

"Stop calling me that!" She screamed. "Stop using his voice! You're not him, no matter what form you take, no matter what voice you use! This is only a stupid nightmare!"

A laugh echoed from above her, while a ghostly hand trailed down the side of her face, two distinctly clawed fingers slipping beneath her chin and lifting her head. Amber eyes, despite every protest from their master, drifted open, colliding with a pair of familiar crimson eyes, blood red shining in spite of the darkness that engulfed them.

Even though she fought them back, tears rose to her eyes, spilling past her lashes to trail down her pale cheeks. Her fists clenched as those same clawed fingers reached up to wipe them away.

Keep telling yourself that, Gaz, He whispered, his red eyes glowing faintly. Maybe someday you might actually believe it...

-

"Gaz? Gaz!"

Gaz awoke to someone frantically shaking her shoulders, her brother's voice ringing in her ears. She pushed his hands away as she sat up, wincing as sharp pain shot down the length of her spine. Wearily, she wiped away the sweat that clung to her forehead, shaking her head to rid herself of the lingering images of her very vivid nightmare.

"Gaz?"

"What is it?" She muttered, glancing at her brother. His hands were wrapped around the bars of his cage, his dark eyes concerned.

"Nightmare?" He questioned. He knew about her nightmares, how they haunted her every night. He had heard her, on countless occasions, crying out in her sleep. The night, when she was asleep, was the only time in which his sister ever truly let her vulnerability show. He didn't know what happened in her nightmares-she never told him, so he never asked-but he knew that they hurt her, each and every night.

Gaz silently nodded, too drained to do much else. She leaned her back against the bars to her cage, sighing. "What else is new?" She muttered, glancing towards the doorway. It was still dark in the room, but, if she strained her eyes enough, she could make out its outline. "What happens," She wondered, her gaze stony, "if I don't come back today?"

Alarmed, Dib's hands tightened on the bars, his eyes wide. "What do you mean?" He asked, his voice taking on a frantic quality.

Gaz sighed. "You know as well as I do that if Red gives me to a Tallest, or keeps me for himself, I won't ever be coming back here." She cut off his feeble protests with a wave of her hand. "You know it's true, Dib. Slaves to the Tallest are kept with them-they don't stay here, like we do now." She watched as his face fell, feeling a brief stab of regret that she had said anything at all. But, she was nothing if not brutally honest, and it was far past the time that they accepted the reality of what their lives had become. They were nothing but humans, slaves to the Irkens and nothing more.

"Why don't we fight back?" Dib questioned bitterly, leaning against his bars, much like Gaz herself was doing. "Why do we let them treat us like this without fighting back?"

"We do fight back," Gaz muttered. "We're outnumbered, Dib, by a million to one, and those who do put up a fight are either exterminated or beaten to submission. There's nothing we can do."

Dib lowered his head, defeated. Gaz was right, he knew. They had fought back, they still did, but it was never enough. There were just too many of the Irkens, and not enough humans who could or would form a resistance against them.

There has to be a way, He thought, unable to admit that all hope was lost just yet. There has to be...

"They're coming," Gaz announced, her gaze drifting back towards the doorway. Sure enough, in just seconds Dib could hear the approaching footsteps of what must have been a handful of Irkens. His eyes narrowed as the doors slid open, revealing four Irken guards, each of them armed with a powerful tranquilizer gun.

"Is this the one the Tallest wanted?" One of them asked, gesturing with his gun toward Gaz. One of his companions-a green-eyed Irken- nodded, already unhooking a set of keys from the belt of his uniform.

"That's the one," He said, sliding one rusty key into the lock of her cage. The other three Irkens crowded around him, their guns at the ready, a wary look in their eyes. Gaz barely hid a smirk-they had heard about her.

She glanced over at Dib, her lips drawn down in a frown as she saw the murderous look in his eyes. She silently prayed that he wouldn't do or say anything rash.

"Restrain her," The green-eyed one commanded, obviously the leader of the group. He opened the door of her cage, and almost immediately Gaz found herself being pulled to her feet by two of the Irkens, their claws wrapped around her arms in a vice-like grip. She barely heard Dib's cry of outrage as she was forced to the floor, her wrists pinned behind her back. Her teeth clenched as heavy iron shackles were snapped around her wrists, the metal biting into her skin. The restraints were secured as tight as possible, preventing all movement from her wrists.

As soon as they were sure her shackles were in place, they hauled her to her feet, where she swayed unsteadily for a moment before regaining her balance. She was unable to contain a cry of pain, however, as a gun was prodded into her back, the barrel digging into her still fresh wounds. Her vision swam before her eyes as a result, and she clenched them shut, nausea rising within her stomach.

"Move, human!" The green-eyed Irken demanded. He prodded the barrel of his gun into her back once more, harder than the last time to get his point across. Gaz thought she would pass out from the pain-she could feel her wounds re-opening by the second. Already a very familiar warmth had begun to trail down her cold skin, sticking to her tattered shirt.

"Leave her alone!" Dib cried, his hands fisted around the bars of his cage, a merciless rage feeling his eyes. His knuckles were paper-white as he gripped them, the muscles in his hands popping and hissing with the amount of pressure he used. He wouldn't let them hurt her anymore. Even if it meant risking his life, he had to do something-he wished desperately that he wasn't a trapped and helpless human stuck in a cage, that he could do something to save his sister. But there was nothing he could do, not while he was confined within these bars. Gaz was utterly defenseless against the Irkens on her own and injured as she was. Her reputation for fighting back was useless as long as she was too wounded to defend herself.

"Shut your mouth, human-scum!" Another Irken, this one with scarlet eyes, snapped. He placed the barrel of his gun against the bars of Dib's cage, his finger resting lightly on the trigger. "This is none of your concern."

Dib's dark eyes narrowed behind his glasses. None of his concern! He reached out between the narrow spaces of his bars, his hand gripping the Irken's wrist. His anger towards the entire alien race flared within him as he squeezed the Irken's wrist, using as much strength as he could muster. Red swam before his eyes, anger like none other he had felt before swimming through his veins.

He barely felt it as the other Irkens rushed to their companions aid, their claws digging into his wrists as they struggled to release the howling alien in his grip. All he could feel was the crunching of bones as he squeezed even harder, a deep satisfaction filling him as pain etched itself across the Irken's features.

Suddenly a crippling pain shot through his hand, and he yelped in agony as he pulled it back within the confines of his cage, simultaneously releasing the alien from his hold. He glanced at his hand, which had already begun to swell from the blow the others had dealt.

"Dib!"

The cry of his name drew his attention back to his sister. She was struggling to break free of the green-eyed alien's grip, but her efforts were proving to be in vain. A clawed hand was wrapped around her waist, and in her pain-riddled state she could do little to fight against it.

"Enough!" The Irken snapped, his patience finally wearing thin. Tallest Red had said to take whatever actions needed to bring the female to her new 'home', and right now there was only one option available to him.

He raised his gun, bringing the butt of it down on her head. Her amber eyes widened in shock and pain for one brief moment, before they fluttered shut, her body falling limp. The male in the only other occupied cage cried out in fury, his screaming drowning out all other noise within the room.

"Shut that human up!" The Irken roared, his green eyes flashing. Grunting in annoyance, he lifted the human female up off the floor, throwing her over his shoulder. "Return to your respective posts as soon as you punish the human whelp for his..disrespectful attitude towards his superiors." A chorus of eager 'yes, sir's echoed in his ears as he stepped past the sliding doors, a smirk sliding onto his features as the sound of torture drifted to his ears.

I love this job.

-

Gaz awoke with a great, shuddering breath, her hand flying to the back of her head. Pain rushed through her, her vision darkening as she pressed her hand to the wound. Her fingers were wet and sticky with blood as she pulled them away, and she bit her lip to keep from crying out.

What happened? She wondered, broken images flashing before her eyes. She remembered being taken out of her cage, and put in shackles, and then her brother yelling...But then nothing.

She scowled, her eyes narrowing. That damn Irken had knocked her unconscious.

"So, you're finally awake."

Her head snapped toward the sound of the voice, and her scowl deepened as she saw who it was. Red stood on top of a raised dais, his arms crossed over his chest as he smirked down at her. Behind him were three identical thrones, made of some type of material she couldn't recognize, though they were all unoccupied. Behind the dais was an enormous mechanical ball, with wires running from its every side, connecting to the walls of the massive chamber they were in.

"Where am I?" She hissed, her fists clenching. Only now she realized that her shackles had been replaced. Iron manacles were wrapped around her wrists and ankles instead, connected to chains that secured her to the floor.

Red's smirk seemed to broaden at her question. He raised a solitary clawed hand, pointing to an area beyond her. "Look for yourself," He said.

Gaz turned her head, and immediately gasped at what she saw. Huge windows covered the outer wall of the chamber, through which she could see a never-ending sea of stars. The only solid object that stood out was a small, round ball, miles away from her, covered with mists of white foam.

Earth...

Angrily she turned back to Red, a murderous look in her eyes. "Why did you take me here!" She demanded, her wrists straining against her restraints as she moved.

Red laughed. "I told you yesterday that Furor was not an adequate master for you," He began. "You're rather...difficult to brake, human. More so than any other of your pathetic race at least."

"Is that supposed to be a compliment?" She growled, smirking as she remembered Furor's frustration with her.

"As I was saying," Red continued, ignoring her, "I knew only a member of the Tallest would be an appropriate master for the likes of you. But which one would be the right choice?" He smirked. "It was actually a very easy decision. I knew Purple wouldn't be enough-he seems to think of his humans as pets, rather than slaves...And of course, I wouldn't be the right choice-regardless of how much I would love to see you broken, of course. So, you see, there was only one other possible choice..."

Gaz growled, her hatred for Red increasing ten-fold. "You son of a-"

The sound of a door sliding open cut her off, and both human and Irken turned toward the doorway.

"Ah, here's your new master now," Red drawled, eyes alight with dark amusement as the human's eyes widened.

Gaz's breath caught in her throat as her eyes locked with familiar crimson orbs, her heart pounding in her chest.

"Zim..."

Tbc