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Chapter Text

Zim bit his lip, the Tallest had not been picking up his calls for several months, and much to his dismay, they hadn't made any effort to call him back either.

Zim had always been the one calling them though, so the last fact didn't bother him as much, but it still irritated him how he couldn't get in touch with the irken empire at all these past few months. had something happened? was there an attack, why did he have no knowledge of it?

He felt helpless, he hated how he felt like this, like a hopeless, filthy earth child, small and pitiful. These pathetic feelings were a show of weakness to an irken, they weren't supposed to be this needy, irkens are the most independent life forms known! Their PAKs heal them, and just minutes after birth irkens PAKs receive all irken knowledge, they don't need to learn for years or "grow up".

All the way down to their very coding in their PAKs, they were not supposed to have such feeble feelings.

But yet, Zim found himself surrounded by them, it was like being submerged in disgusting earth water, being so helpless, drowning in self pity made him feel physically sick.

He took a sharp, but shaky breath as he prepared to speak.

" Computer! Call the Tallest! " Zim commanded, his voice coming out more unsure than he'd liked.

For what felt like decades, Zims whole world was fixed on that screen, his insides screeched and clawed out in desperation, his antenna twitched with every passing second, waiting, hoping.

The screen flashed with colour, almost making Zim chirp with glee, but he but back his squeak, trying to appear as unphased as possible. This has not affected me, see? I'm perfectly fine without having contact with you. He tried to calm his mind, he did not need the tallest figuring out he was so nervous.

"My allmighty Tallest! '' Zim vowed, respectfully saluting to the two irkens that glared at him through the screen.
"I can't help but notice it's been a whi-"

"I'm gonna stop you right there, " Tallest Red interrupted, his tone annoyed and irritated.

Zims antenna twitched at the sudden cut in, and he held back the words that so desperately wanted to flow out of his mouth.

"Zim, this has gone on long enough" Tallest Red continued, drawn out and sighed.

"What do you mean, my Allmighty Tallest? " Zim tried, though something inside him squirmed, as if to already know what they'd ment.

"Your mission, Zim. " Tallest Purple clarified, glaring at him, looking as if they wanted to erase Zim from existence entirely.

Zims antenna perked up at the mention of his mission, was it something about his progress? He swallowed, he wasn't sure why his insides felt so nervous and dreaded, surely the Tallest wouldn't be calling him off just because his mission is taking longer then the other Invasions. This is was a top secret mission after all, it made sense that it took longer, right?

The Tallest galnced at each other,, before turning back to him and revealing in unison,
"It was a lie. "

Zim froze. His mind ran a mile a second, millions of emotions washed over him, but none seemed to actually crack through to him. It felt unreal, the pathetic way his throat seemed to close up, denying any words from trembling out of him.

"..What?" His voice finally whispered, trembled and disbelieved, it was almost just as faint as the quiet buzzing that emitted from the electronics.

The Tallest heard though.

"We never sent you on a 'Secret Mission". You weren't supposed to find a planet, you aren't apart of Impending Doom Two, Zim. You never were. " Tallest Red explained, his annoyed tone not faltering.

His antenna drooped and he begin to chuckle, nervous, pathetic chuckles.
"You guys and your jokes! " Zim chimed, desperately trying to save his delusional world.

Tallest Red growled at the shorter irken.
"We're not joking Zim! You aren't an invader, you aren't and never were apart of Impending Doom Two! You were never supposed to find a planet, you were supposed to- I don't know- Die or get lost! You weren't supposed to call us back. " Tallest Purple snapped, his voice was loud and intimidating.

He was not joking.

Zim flinched at the shout, the room filled with a burning silence as his mind processed everything. The Tallest wanted him dead. They hated him, his own leaders- No, his own people, they all hated him.

He gritted his teath in a troubled frown. They had made him waste so much time on this filthy planet, for nothing!

He shook his head in frustration, before letting out a small grunt of emotion.
"But why would you make me spend so much time here? This couldn't of all been for nothing..! " Zim argued, he didn't, he couldn't gasp this information. It made.. No sense.

"Because we didn't want you bothering us. We didn't want to deal with you near us. " Tallest Red answered blankly.

"And we're fed up with your calls too!" Tallest Purple added, and the other irken nodded in agreement.

Zim opened his mouth to speak, but his couldn't find any words to express what he wanted to say. This angry, miserable feeling was swelling inside him, brewing and bubbling madly.

"Consider this planet your new foodcourtia. "
Tallest Red said, every word dripped with annoyed venom, it made him want to scream out his vows of loyalty and cries or anger.

"No-no, no! '' Zim stumbled over his words, desperately trying to change his leaders minds, but the screen display flashed black to the same, miserable dark grey colour it was before he had called the Tallest, bold Irken words displayed over the bleak screen in pinkish red letters.

He stood there for a moment, unmoving, everything around him seemed to go in slow motion as his mind wrapped around the information.

It make him angry, how small he felt in that moment. Stupid, pathetic and feeble, unirkly feelings brimmed and drowned his insides.

Zim let out a cry of rage, crashing one of his PAK legs into the now static screen. His mind felt like it was going to burst, so many feelings swirled inside of him, he couldn't think. He just kept swinging at anything in front of him, the sharp pain of the shattering glass cutting through his gloved hands felt better than the pain that swelled inside his head.

Many angry mutters seemed to slip out of his gritted teeth as he continued his blind rampage, he didn't even know what he was saying.

He felt numb, his claws stung with distant pain, though everything seemed like a blur, just blind emotions and sounds that would've been annoyingly loud if his mind wasn't so dazed in his own mind.

"..Master? " A high pitched, robotic voice asked him, it seemed to drag Zim out of his violent trance.

Zim froze for a moment, extracting his PAK legs from one of the many things he'd destroyed with them, taking in heavy pants as he gripped himself back into reality, the pain in his now ungloved hands slowly ached into his focus, same for the headache that must've formed while in his episode.

"... Yes, GIR? " Zim answered his SIR , who was now by his side.
Zims tone, admittedly came out more raspy and exhausted then he'd expected it to, his outburst seemed to make his throat a bit horse.

"Are youu ookayyy?? " GIR asked, his words stretched out with concern, as the robot grabbed one of his master's bloodied claws.

Zim winced at the sudden sharp pain the touch brought him, making him almost pull away.

"I'm fine. " The irken replied, his voice was a bit sharper than he'd intended.

Zim glanced around at what was now more of a dumb than his lab, he noticed his eyes felt damp and heavy. Had he been crying?

"But maastas bleedin'" The little SIR unit pointed out, moving his masters claw to show him. This earned another jerked wince from the irken, the movement sending more shorts of pain through his arm.

Zim looked at the hand GIR had lifted, it was coated in bright pink irken blood, it looked shredded, he grimaced at the amount of blood before turning to his other hand, which was about the same, though the pink liquid was now dropping other his uniform and the floor, he noted that GIR was also getting pretty messy.

He snarled at the shredded claws, before turning to a now pinkly speckled GIR.

"GIR, go get the bandages. " Zim commanded, irkens heal on their own, but it'd still take a few hours for this to heal and he didn't want pools of blood everywhere.

"Yes sir! " The robot saluted, his eyes turning bright red to signal he's in duty mode. His eyes remained red as the SIR unit ran out his orders, which admittedly surprised Zim a little, as he'd normally go back to his normal teal almost immediately.

The irken sighed, his body seemed to ache now that the adrenaline had faded, he slouched down onto the cold floor and leaned on one of the walls. Surrounded by the scraps of metal he'd made when in his rampage, he felt tired.

Zim had already gotten his monthly rest needs, but even though he had, he still felt himself yearning for sleep.

GIR appeared in front of his master, a packet of bandages in one of his hands, and a taco in the other. Zim took the bandages, then paused to raise a brow at the taco, how did he even get a taco so fast?

Zim shook his head, it didn't matter. He turned back to his pink stained claws as he began to wrap them with the bandage, each touch making him wince in pain. The bandages soaked with pink colour as he applied them, until finally the blood seemed to stop leaking through.

Feeling exhausted, Zim curled into a ball and shut his eyes, sleep dragging him in, getting an extra few hours of sleep this month might be a good thing.

Chapter Text

Dib stared at the aliens' odd green base, he had heard a concerning amount of loud, crashing sounds from the house before he had rushed over to investigate.

Though the base was quiet now, Dib was going to stop whatever evil things Zim was doing.

He stepped up to the door of the irkens base, the gnomes didn't move at all, not even rotating to look at him. Had Zim deactivated them? Why?

Dib shook it off as he began to knock on the door, it was probably nothing, and it made it easier for him to get to Zim's base anyway.

The boy had knocked around five times before the door had swung open, revealing Zim's tiny robot, GIR.

"HII MARYY!!" Screamed GIR, waving to dib.

Zim was not with him, though that didn't concern Dib, as he never usually was.

"Where's Zim? " He asked, ignoring the robots greeting as he glanced around the base for signs of the alien.

GIR placed one of his metal hands onto his face for a moment, which made Dib note that he wasn't in his disguise.

"Maastas down in the lab, he eepin!" The robot cheered, sticking his tongue out at the human. How did the robot even have a tongue?

He shook the question off and considered what GIR told him, Zim was sleeping. Did he even need sleep?

"Can you.. Take me to him? " Dib hesitantly asked, GIR usually wasn't too strict on Zim's 'don't let anyone in' rules, he rarely followed them, actually.

GIR thought for a moment before he squeaked, "SURE!! " .

He pulled the human inside, catching Dib a bit off guard by how strong the robot really was.

Dib stumbled for a moment, before following GIR to where Zim was supposed to be, they stopped at a… trash can?

He raised an eyebrow at the robot, but before he could begin to question it, GIR had pulled him into the trash can.

Dib squeaked a scream of surprise as they fell down the bin. Once he had stopped moving, he had fallen out of the elevator, landing on something hard and sharp.

Dib quickly jumped back as the object pierced his skin, a small line of red blood now dripping from his arm.

He grunted at it and quickly wiped at it, luckily it was just a shallow cut.

The human looked around at his surroundings, everything was destroyed, shattered glass and pieces of metal scattered throughout what had been Zim's lab.

"...What happen.. " Dib trailer off as he spotted the figure laying in the middle of all the mess, Zim.

Dib quickly ran over to the irken, careful to not trip over any of the scraps littered on the floor. He wasn't concerned, he was just… curious! Yes, he wasn't at all concerned for his arch nemesis.

He crouched beside Zim's unconscious body, he didn't exactly want to wake him. This could be a great opportunity to snoop through some of his stuff…

"Mastaa!!! Mary's here!! " GIR screamed cheerfully as he ran up to Zim and began shaking the alien, much to Dibs dismay.

Zim's antennae shot up, and a moment later so did his body. The alarmed irken sat up right, seeming to pause for a moment, before whipping his head around to the human.

"Dib-!? " Zim blurted out while jumping to his feet and stepping away from him, almost tripping over a price of debris.

"What are you doing in my base? Get out of here! " He yelled, or well he tried to yell. Zim's voice was scratchy and horse, uncharacteristically weak.

"I- I heard lots of crashing sounds! I knew you were doing some bad- stuff! " Dib huffed defensively, he was now up on his feet, his hands out in a reasoning gesture.

The alien squinted an eye at him, not talking.

Dib looked around the room again.
"What.. Even happened? " He broke the silence, lowering his arms and moving his head around the room, as if to gesture to it.

Zim snarled and pushed him, making the human trip over a piece of metal once again, the irken now towered over him, his face was cold and angry, and in a very unZimly way, it intimated Dib.

"That doesn't matter. Get out. " The alien spat, his tone was uncharacteristically dark and his words dripped with venom.

Dib swallowed, Zim's newfound intimidation almost made him scramble to his feet and rush out of the base. But he couldn't, he was sure Zim was planning something!

"N-No! I won't get out, not until you tell me what evil plan you're working on! " He argued, trying, and failing to sound confident and authoritative.

Zim's mouth contorted into an angry scowl, and he mumbled something that Dib wasn't able to make out.

"Just get out! " Zim finally snapped, extending his PAK legs and throwing Dib into the elevator.

The alien leaped up, carrying Dib along with one of his spider-like legs, this made the human realise that the elevator was broken.
Probably because whatever has happened down in Zim's lab.

Dib grunted as he was thrown onto the kitchen tiles, but Zim did not wait for him to process what had just happened, as he continued to drag the human to the front door.

"Stop bothering me, stupid human!" The irken shouted, before kicking Dib outside and slamming the door shut behind him.

"Hay- You won't get away with this, Zim! " Dib shouted back, grunting as he got on his feet.

He would've forced himself back in, but upon glancing at the sky, he noticed it was starting to get dark. He'd make Zim spill his plans at skool, tomorrow.

"Just you wait, Zim. I will expose you." Dib declared through a mumble, before begining his walk back home.

Chapter Text

Zim sighed, he had already felt exhausted before the stupid human had come over and disturbed him, but the interaction just seemed to tire him more.

His arms still hurt, but the pain seemed to be slowly fading. Zim didn't know how long he'd been asleep, though he'd thought his PAK would've been finished healing everything by now.

Wearily, he began to unwrap the bandages on his left hand, his green skin was stained with dried blood, making it have the effect of a pinkish hue.

Zim's claws trembled slightly, pain prickled as the bandage finally came off fully. He raised a brow at the injured hand, it hadn't really seemed to heal. That was weird, it should've been at least halfway done by now, it'd been around an hour or so since he'd injured them.

Hissing quietly, Zim retrieved a new roll of the bandages, and wove them around the exposed wrist. It's probably nothing, Zim's injuries had always taken longer to heal than other Irkens.

Finally, he clipped off the bandage, resting his arm. It lowered down to his side with careful grace.

Zim now stood before his TV and couch, everything around him seemed strange and lonely, he felt strange and lonely.

With his mission turning out to be fake, Zim found himself without purpose. There were no plans to make, no objectives to do, no goals to meet, there was nothing anymore.

Zim winced, Foodcourtia might've been better than this. At least he had a job to do, a purpose, even if it was just being a meekly service drone.

But now, he has nothing. He didn't know what to do, he couldn't even turn to his own leaders for orders. He was nothing, he didn't even have a home anymore.

He hadn't even gotten a real mission, he should be on a real invading mission, on an actual planet the tallest had planned, not this lump of dirt! They hadn't even known earth existed, he'd been invading the wrong planet from day one.

Zim felt his eyes beginning to threaten tears, he shook his head and squeezed his eyes shut, he'd already lost his purpose, his mission, his home, and so much more. He would be holding on to every last bit of his dignity.

Zim but back his tears as he began to stumble to the couch, his exhaustion still heavily present. Perhaps this would also speed up his healing.

Zim awoke to the sound of GIR screaming wildly in the kitchen, and for what he could smell, he'd guessed he was making waffles.

Zim groggily got up from the couch he'd rested on, He realised he'd also been sleeping with his boots on, it's whatever.

He made his way into the kitchen, where GIR was, as he'd predicted, cooking waffles.

He usually likes waffles, they were one of the few human foods Zim could eat without struggle or some sort of side effect.

"Goo'mornin masta!! " The robot greeted, while carrying a large plate with a waffle tower towards the table Zim was settling at.

"Morning, GIR. " Zim replied, his voice still sounded bleak and tired, as much as he disliked it.

The Irkens stared at the towered waffles that sat in front of him, he didn't feel hungry at all, and the waffles' unappetizing scent and appearance was starting to make him feel a slight bit sickly.

He watched as his SIR unit prepared more waffles, Zim felt a bit bad. Perhaps Minimoose would eat these instead?

Zim glanced around for his little moose, but he couldn't seem to spot him anywhere.

"Hay GIR, " Zim began, still glancing around the kitchen in hopes to spot a tiny purple, flying moose.

GIR turned to face his master, as to show he was listening.

"Where is Minimoose? " The Irkens asked, stopping to look back at GIR.

GIR hummed in thought for a few moments, his metallic hand up on his face in a thinking position, Zim didn't understand why he liked to do that so much.

"I don't know! " He replied, spitting his tongue out in a silly gesture.

Zim sighed lightly, he hadn't exactly expected too much from the robot, but it was still a bit annoying.

GIR continued cooking more of the waffles, while zim began picking at the already made ones in front of him.

Zim ignored the fact minimoose was missing, he had more important things to ponder on. Like what to do next.

He didn't know what to do, should he just leave earth entirely? The tallest said this was my new foodcourtia, my banishment. So it means I shouldn't leave, but would they really care if I left?

Probably not, as long as I stayed out of their path they wouldn't even notice.

But, something still urged him to stay on this filthy planet. Zim didn't know why, but he felt a sort of… attachment to the.. Earthly things.

Zim huffed a little, this was currently his only shelter, he'd have to put up with it.

"GIR! I'm going to the human skool today. Don't destroy the house while I'm gone. " Zim announced, standing up and beginning to walk out of the room.

Zim marched to the front door, but as he reached for the handle, he'd been reminded of the injury he'd gotten the night before.

With a little grunt, he began to check if it had healed yet, it should have by now.

But upon unwrapping the bandages, he'd found that, although the sounds had closed, it had scarred.

This was concerning, normally an irkens PAK is finished healing a injury like this in a few hours, but it had almost been a full day since he'd injured himself. Was there an error in his PAK?

Zim shook his head, he'd have to check when he got back from Skool.

He proceeded to change the bandages, he didn't even know if they were helping the healing process at all.

But he put them on anyway. It was admittedly easier to look at bandaged hands rather than scarred ones.

Once the irken had finished, he opened the door to his base, cold air hitting his skin and ruffling his uniform.

He didn't really even know why he was going, he didn't need to. He already knew everything that those filthy humans were learning, and now that Zim. didn't have a mission to fulfil, there was no need to go anymore.

But he still did. He didn't know why, but he was going to continue going to the filthy place.

With a final sigh, Zim left his base and headed to skool.

Chapter Text

Zim shared a glare with Dib as he sat down, scowling at him.

The human seemed like he was about to make a snarky comment, but the bell had cut him off before he even started, which was one of the only times Zim felt grateful for the irritating sound. He didn't feel like dealing with Dib right now.

He tried to turn his attention to his teacher Mrs Bitters, who was now speaking, but he found that none of her words seemed to peak his interest.

All boring, inferior human stuff. With a roll of his eyes, and an internal sigh, Zim began to carve small drawings onto the desk before him.

He had no interest in the lesson, so he spent his time on what humans had called "art". Carving many different lines into the desk, he found himself zoning out before he knew it.

Zim had been halfway through scratching a random portrait when something wet and slimy was splattered on his face, admittedly catching the irken off guard.

Whatever had been thrown at him had started to burn, and with a gasp, Zim realised some sort of water was in it, and quickly swiped the glob of filth off of him with an annoyed growl.

He zipped his head around to the origin of the attack, Dib.

The irken was about to return his attack, but was quickly shut down when he noticed Mrs Bitters approaching his desk, with a handful of papers.

" Zim, hand these out. " Mrs Bitters ordered, and Zim realised that she kind of reminded him of his Tallest.

His teacher was about to plop down the stack of sheets, but paused. He squinted an eye in suspicion, not getting why she had stopped.

But then Zim realised what she must be staring at.

He glanced down at what he had carved while zoned out, and winced a little at the amount of the Tallest he'd drawn. Along with other irkens, and there was one of GIR in his disguise.

Zim swallowed, embarrassed. Before trying to act if he had no idea why his teacher had paused.

"Of course" Zim complied, with what he wanted to be a warm smile, but was unsure if it looked right.

He speedily grabbed the papers from her hand, attempting to distract her from the scribbles on his desk.

"Zim." Mrs Bitters harsh tone made Zim freeze mid step, nervous smile still bearing on his face as he clutched the papers.

"Yes, Mrs Bitters? " Zim said openly, turning to face his teacher with the most innocent face he could bare.

"Detention after class. " The teacher bleakly stated, turning to go back behind her own desk.

The irken bit back a snarl, and instead just nodded with his fist clutching the stack.

He began to hand out the papers, sliding one onto his own desk in the process.

Zim squinted his eyes and scowled when he reached Dib, who now stared at him with a cocky smirk. He felt his teeth clutch in anger, stupid human thinks he's so superior! Well he isn't!

"Whatcha got in trouble for this time, Zim? Planning some evil, alie-" Dib's confidently spoken taunt was cut off by a paper shoved in the human's face. Delivered by Zim, of course.

"Ahk!- hay! " Dib spat angrily, grabbing hold of the paper and shaking his head, grunting.

The alien smirked, not so high and might now, huh?

Feeling energised by his new victory, Zim marched back over to his desk and sat down, turning his attention to their teacher.

He kept his attention on what Mrs Bitters was instructing, it sounded boring. But Zim would do it anyway, majorly to avoid another detention.

"You will be working with partners that I've assigned. " Mr Bitters informed, picking up a sheet from her desk.

Zim didn't even think he'd care who he was paired up with. He already knew how to do this so he wouldn't even need the help.

"Our first pair, Dib and Zim. " She continued, looking down at the paper, that likely and the pairs pre-written.

Nevermind. He took back what he'd been thinking, he actually minded a lot now, why did he have to be paired up with Dib out of all people?

Zim scowled and glared at Dib, who looked equally annoyed.

When Mrs Bitters had finished listing the pairs, they were instructed to sit next to each other, so they could both work on the project.

He wasn't going to move though, the big headed human would have too.

Once the Dib-Human had finally got off his high horse and moved, the teacher had already handed out the extra supplies needed for the project.

It was a simple cut-and-glue task, but Zim didn't care, he just wanted to get this over and done with, so he could get away from Dib.

Zim began to cut some of the pieces out of the paper, there was an awkward silence between the two boys as Dib picked up the cut pieces.

"I'm going to expose you, Zim. " Dib sliced through the silence, threatening him.

The irken rolled his eyes, ignoring the human. Zim did not need to waste time speaking to this inferior smeet.

Dib seemed annoyed by his comment going unanswered, as he glared down while glueing the pieces to the other sheet of paper.

"Just because I haven't managed to yet- doesn't mean I won't do it! " He spoke again, this time leaning in a bit, glaring at Zim.

"Shut up, Dib-thing. Your inferior human Brian could never come up with a plan to expose me, the superior Zim! " Vowed Zim, holding a fist above his head in confidence.

" You may think you're winning, but you're not, Zim. I'm going to expose your alien identity before you can even be a tenth done destroying earth! " Dib Continued, his tone confident and sure.

Zim slowed down for a moment, feeling like his wounds had just been poked with needles, re-opened slightly.

He was about to snap something back when Dib interrupted again, seeming to not notice the irkens reaction to his last statement.

"You invaded the wrong planet! " Dib disclaimed, pointing a finger at the alien before continuing on his rant, he didn't seem to notice Zim's reactions at all.

The rest of the human's words seemed to fade into the background, everything was blurry again, time felt as if it was going both slower and faster.

He had invaded the wrong planet, he had been from the start. He knew this. But Dib was just spreading salt in his wounds now, he was taunting him.

Zim clutched the scissors in his hand, making them cut through the paper, he didn't care about that though.

Zim's eyes were arched in emotion, he thought he might've even felt his tears threatening to flow again.

He felt as if he was going to shatter right then and there, like his insides would just explode entirely. He was breaking.

He felt his calmness dropping just as the paper in his hands had.

He met Dibs eyes, who dragged off whatever sentence he'd just been chattering about, pausing, noticing his reaction.

He couldn't. He couldn't do this anymore. He didn't want to put up with any of these annoying feelings, or this annoying human.

Zim let out a cry, a grunt of fury and out of a fit of rage, used the scissors in his hand, and aimed straight for Dib.

Chapter Text

Dib shrieked at the irken now leaping for him, attempting to jump out of his seat to dodge.

A sudden sharp pain pierced his shoulder, falling to the ground with a thump, something heavy held him down.

Dib squirmed, grunting and glaring at Zim, who gave him a hard punch in the face.

Retailing, he threw a punch at the alien, knocking Zim off balance before he steadied himself again, though Dib had kicked his scissors as far away as possible.

In reply, the alien growled and delivered a second hit to the human, this time much harder than the first.

Dib's jaw burst with pain, and he held his eyes sharply closed, scowling.

Before he had gotten a chance to get another hit in, something sharp had pierced his skin, making Dib snap open his eyes once again.

Zim's claws were cutting in his skin, which made Dib note that the alien wasn't wearing any gloves, his arms were bandaged, a very rare sight, he'd assumed.

The pain continued, and Dib finally hit the alien again, a pain rippling in him as Zim's claws dragged off.

This time, Zim had fallen off the human, and something laid crumpled just beside the unbalanced alien, his wig.

Dib grinned, everyone was going to see that he was right.

Zim didn't seem to notice that his disguise was half off, or maybe he didn't care, because the alien grunted as he stood up, Dib following suit.

His antenna buzzed and twitched, and he began approaching the human, Dib looked around the room, hoping to see some sort of amazed face, anything.

While his classmates stood around them, they didn't talk, there was no clapping, no praise of him being right all along.

Dib grunted, but regretted getting distracted, as Zim threw a fist at his stomach, almost making him fall to the ground.

"Z-zim! " Dib puffed, still gasping for air after the previous attack.

The alien replied with a squinted eye, his antennae twitched as he came to a stop in front of the human, who was now leaning on a desk.

"Look! Your disguise! I told you I'd do it. " Dib pointed out, grinning in victory as the aliens' antennae perked up and his eyes widened, realising.

Zim didn't seem to have any words, but even if he did, the teacher had interrupted.

"Principal's office, both of you. now. " Mrs Bitters commanded, her voice authoritative and annoyed.

Dib frowned, did she not see the half exposed alien? Why isn't she reacting?

Zim gathered his wig, getting back in disguise as they both stood, and headed to the principal's office.

No one had acknowledged he was right, not even a comment about the alien.

Dib scowled, they should be clapping and praising him, why didn't anyone care?

He thought back to the Florpus incident, many people, including his father had seen Zim out of his disguise, but none of them cared, he didn't get why no one was taking in how much of a threat this really was.

Maybe they just needed time to process everything, yeah. They would soon come around and see how right he was.

Dib tried to clear his mind as they approached the principal's office, trying to think of how he'd get out of this instead.

Surprisingly enough, Dib had gotten off with a two day suspension and a week of after skool detentions, Zim had gotten a weeks suspension, since he attacked first, with a weapon.

They'd then been sent to the nurses office, where Dib found that the alien had pierced his shoulder with the scissors, along with cutting through his jacket.

Interestingly enough, the fight felt like it lasted an hour or more, but it was truly only less than 5 minutes.

But still, even when walking past his classmates on his way to the nurses office, no one spoke about the aliens' exposed form.

Zim hadn't let the nurse check him, and even if he did, Dib had a feeling nothing would come from it.

He sighed, their fight had been in the last session, and they both had detentions after that.

The two boys hadn't spoken the whole time, the only exception being in the principals and nurses offices, and Dib wasn't sure if he should break the silence while they headed to their class for detention.

"Uh, so why'd you attack me? " Dib tried, and the alien snarled and glared before answering the human.

"Because you're annoying. " Zim spat, still glaring at Dib.

Dib had the feeling that wasn't the only reason, before the alien had attacked him, it'd looked like something snapped within Zim.

"Yeah, but even you're not normally so easily provoked." Dib pushed, trying to get some backstory while also making the walk less awkward.

Zim ignores his reply, much to Dibs dismay.

They walked inside the class, taking their seats and preparing for some dreadful hours of detention.

Detention had been decently uneventful, mostly consisting of the two catching up on extra work.

Dib noted how Zim was uncharacteristically quiet, though.

While walking to his house, he didn't think there could be many more surprises waiting for him.

But upon opening his front door, he was proven quite wrong, as his father stood in the kitchen.

Dib swallowed, he'd forgotten that the school had called him, he didn't really want to be scolded for half an hour on it.

He tried to quickly usher up the stairs to his room, but didn't get far before his father stopped him.

"Son, you got into a scuffle today, yes? " Professor Membrane questioned, putting a hand on Dib's uninjured shoulder.

"Yeah, dad, I got into a fight today. '' Dib stated the obvious, biting back his annoyed tone.

His father stared at him, and dib held back a sigh as he knew what his after was expecting, more info.

"With one of my classmates. " Dib added bleakly, trying his best not to run up the stairs to his room.

"Is your classmate ok? Why did you attack him? " His father pressed, hand still on his son's shoulder, as if to ensure he wouldn't leave and avoid the conversation.

"He attacked me! I was defending myself! " Dib defensively argued, frowning at his fathers lack of concern for his son.

He could almost see his fathers brow raise, he didn't believe Dib at all.

Dib scowled at his father, he never believed him. Not even when he had seen Zim without his disguise.

He shuffled out of his fathers hold and ran up the stairs.

"Son-" Professor Membrane was cut off by Dib slamming his door.

Dib let out a heavy sigh as he leaned against his door, trying to process everything that happened.

He'd investigated Zim's house, only to find his lab destroyed and him asleep.

Then when he'd came to skool, Zim had attacked him with scissors.

And now, his father was home and probably was going to scold him even more when he finds out who he got in a fight with.

Dib flopped himself on his bed, sprawled out with his eyes shut.

As exhausted and confused as he was, he couldn't seem to drift into sleep at all. Something kept his mind awake, he didn't know what though.

Dib laid there, awake, for at least an hour before he brought his hands to his face with a groan.

He sat up, deciding not to lay in his bed for hours without getting any sleep.

Something lured him to look out his window, which he did. Dib stared at zim's house, it seemed quiet, should he go investigate?

Dib shook his head, the alien would probably just beat him up, and he wouldn't have a teacher to save him this time.

The human was about to turn away, when he spotted something, someone.

Zim was outside his house, closing the door behind him.

What was he doing? Dib was intriguingly alarmed, he wondered if the alien was up to something.

After a moment of pondering his options, he decided to follow the alien. Just in case he was up to something.

Dib slid open his window, wanting to avoid his father, who would probably not approve of him going out after his scuffle at skool.

He took a breath, getting ready to jump down from the seal, then he slipped.

Dib tried his best not to shriek as he crashed into the bushes, his bag landing a bit away from him.

He didn't know how much noise he'd made, or how many people had heard, and he didn't want to stick around to find out.

Dib hastily grasped his bag and rushed off in the direction of Zim's house, his body aches slightly from both the fall and his fight with the alien, but he still ran.

Chapter Text

The air was cold, and the night seeped through the sky, as Dib found his way to where he'd last seen Zim.

Huffing from the running he'd done to get there, he debated whether he should ask GIR where Zim had gone or not.

Ultimately, he decided too. It wouldn't hurt to just check, if he didn't then he'd go looking for the alien himself.

Dib took a careful step In his yard, unsure if the gnomes had been fixed or not. They hadn't, fortunately for him.

Knocking on the door, GIR opened it quickly, he was in his disguise.

"GIR, do you know where Zim is? " Dib asked, not letting the robot greet him first.

"HMM,, nope! " GIR buzzed, bringing his arms up cheerfully.

The human sighed, he guessed he'd have to go looking after all. Luckily he brought the flashlight.

"Alright, thanks. " Dib said before he began to leave.

"BYE MARRYY!!! " The robot echoed, waving before slamming the door behind him.

Dib set out in the direction he'd last spotted Zim, hoping he hadn't been too late to track him.

It was dark, and it was seeming to get harder to see every step.

As Dib switched on his flashlight, the streetlights were dim and unhelpful as he moved along.

He hadn't seen exactly where the alien had gone off too, but he tried to follow whatever he could.

He soon spotted a path of indents in the grass a bit away from the local park, he smirked at the footsteps, he'd found a lead.

And with that, the human set off to the trail, hoping they were in fact Zims and not some random kids.

Eventually Dib found himself walking up a sloped cliff, the slightly wet grass made it a annoying to walk.

He could hear the quiet splashes of the river just below the cliff, and as he got closer, he began to see a figure standing by the edge.

It was Zim.

Dib froze, his insides squirmed with unnsure concern. What was he doing?

Dib watched the alien, he was just standing there, unmoving, looking down at the river below.

Zim didn't seem to notice that the human was there, he didn't really look like he was aware of anything around him actually.

His eyes were glazed over with an unexplainable expression, Dib didn't know what to do.

He wasn't sure what the alien was doing, he hoped desperately that he was just cooling off after their fight, and not anything else.

The chilled air prickled against his skin, the sound of rushing water faded into the background as he started to grasp the seriousness of the situation.

After all the uncharacteristic snaps Zim had shown Dib in the past few days, he wasn't sure if he was just cooling down. He was afraid that the alien before him was doing something much, much worse.

A sudden movement from the figure snapped him back to reality, and he felt a chill down his spine as he saw Zim moving, inching closer to the edge.

In that moment, time itself seemed to stop, and just for a moment, all his grudges against the alien were non-existent. He needed to do something.

Chapter Text

Zim stared duly at the river that flowed beneath him, the sounds of water splashing where distant and almost entirely muted.

He thought about the recent call with his Tallest, specifically how they wanted him to die.

Zim had tried to prove that maybe, just maybe this planet was worth living on, that living in general was worth it.

But he ended up proving the exact opposite, he had spent enough time on this filthy planet to understand that nothing went right here.

He had spent enough time being alive, to know that without a mission, when you're banished from the irken empire entirely, it's not worth going on.

The irken knew it wasn't his Tallest fault for exiling him, though.

Zim had been in denial about the things he'd done for much too long, he'd murdered two Tallest and thousands of other irkens.

After that call, though, it had been like something snapped, something broke.

And he found himself realising all he'd done, all he'd damaged, he truly was a defective that destroyed all he touched.

He knew that the only answer to this was self elimination, maybe then, his Tallest would forgive him.

Normally an exiled or banished irken would just remove their PAKs and wait it out, but Zim knew he didn't deserve such peace.

He took a deep, determined breath, as he stepped towards the ledge, the sounds of the river ripping and splashing slowly creeping into his focus.

Zim closed his eyes, ready to feel the burning sensation of water as he drowned in it.

He did feel a sensation, but it wasn't the one he'd expected, maybe even hoped to.

It was the sensation of being pulled back with the kind of force that rips the air right out of your lungs.

Hitting the ground with a violent thud, Zim spat at whatever had interrupted him.

His sour expression seemed to dissolve into a shocked, maybe even horrored expression as he saw who had pulled him from his attempt to write himself out of the narrative.

It was Dib.

Dib had stopped him, for some unirkly reason that Zim couldn't muster an explanation for.

The humans expression seemed to be that of horror, confusion and desperation, the irkens not differing too much from his.

He had literally attacked Dib less than a day before this, Zim didn't understand why he wasn't clapping at him paying his own debts.

They both seemed to just stay there, frozen, for what felt like years, unsure what to say.

Until Zim decided that he wasn't going to let a stupid human interrupt his chance at doing what every other exiled irken would do.

Determined expression now plastered on his face, he made a quick run for the edge, trying to use his PAK legs to assist him.

Dib seemed to somewhat expect this, as he snatched his uniform's collar briefly, before Zim's PAK legs boosted him and the human fell forwards.

He was annoyed at how the peace of his last attempt had been completely demolished, but understood that if he tried to regain it he would lose the chance to end everything entirely.

The irken could hear Dib behind him, stumbling after him, but he wasn't fast enough.

He smirked and closed his eyes as he made the final leap, PAK legs retreating for the last time.

Zim could hear a distant yell, but couldn't register it before he felt himself screech in pain.

Burning, acidly water melted into his skin, it hurt, it hurt a lot. But he understood this was exactly what he deserved, so he held back from his reflexes, his mind screaming at him to get out.

Everytime his body tried to breathe, it was met with a fierce burning, painful sensation, making Zim regret this for just a moment.

But he knew it would be over soon, the water was killing him from both the outside and in, no matter how much his PAK tried, it wouldn't be able to heal or revive an Irken with melted insides.

The irken swore he heard something near him, but he couldn't confirm anything, as the world around him started to fade in blotches of black, it all becoming fuzzy and strangely comforting.

Zim's drowsily came back into consciousness, and was immediately met with the feeling of being scorched from the inside out.

Reflexively, he began coughing, coughing hard, he felt his lungs burning, his mouth too, his whole body.

The irken laid on his side, slowly trying to sit up, as he began to remember why he was so burnt anyway.

He wanted to open his eyes, to see who had saved him again, but he already had a feeling he knew.

It was likely Dib, and he found his eyes tightly shut as he continued coughing up whatever mixture of earth water had been frying his insides.

Zim wanted to yell, he wanted to growl, he wanted to do anything but this, he hated how vulnerable he was, in front of his enemy.

He couldn't even successfully die, not only did he fail the empire, he failed, and continues to fail everything he tries to do.

He could feel tears starting to flow down his cheeks, but the irken didn't stop them, he didn't think he could even if he wanted to anyway, as he was heaving and coughing.

Zim finally gathered himself enough to squint his eyes open, they were blurry from the built up tears that continued to spill, but he could see Dibs' silhouette next to him.

Seeing the human also made him realise that he had his hand on Zim's back, he wasn't sure how to feel about Dib touching him, but he let it go.

His body aches and burns, but he was thankful that his coughing had mostly stopped.

He was not grateful for how Dib Intervened his attempt not once, but twice, though..

Zim tried his best at a glare, but in his weak state he couldn't manage it, and he despised everything that's happening right now.

He's currently in his most vulnerable, weak state infront of his arch nemesis, and he can't even glare at him.

The irken just rested his gaze, giving up. Like he was supposed to, but not just on his glare.

".. Why..? " Zim asked, his voice quiet and horse from the water that burned his throat.

Dib opened and closed his mouth a few times, seemingly unsure what to say.

"I.. I just needed- uh- I…couldn't let my great arch nemesis die before I got a chance to properly defeat him." Dib lied, his voice cracking as if he was attempting to say a little more.

His antenna dropped a bit, lies, he hated lies, but he seemed to only attract more of them.

But then the irken noticed how he had been lying too, Dib still thought he was an actual invader.

He found his face scrunching slightly, a sour expression written all over him.

".. Ok." Zim bleakly replied, his voice still weak.

Zim then attempted to get up on his own, which miserably failed, as his legs were wobbly and his whole body trembled, making him almost fall, before the human made a hasty save.

He growled weakly at Dib, as he extended his PAK legs to stabilise himself.

"Wait- where are you going? " Dib quickly blurted, his tone alarmed as he gripped Zim's shoulders.

The touch made him wince, a burning sensation frizzing from his shoulder.

"Hom-...My base. " Zim paused, shaking his head at the first word he almost rambled out.

"Oh no you aren't. Clearly you aren't in any shape to be going back to your base alone, and you'll probably try something stupid again. " Dib decided, getting a very tight grip on Zim's collar, as if he were about to drag him.

He snarled at the human's audacity to touch him.

"And where do you expect me to go then, huh? Your stinky human base? " Zim snapped back, his snarky comment wasn't nearly as confident as he wanted it to be, as the cracking and weakness of his voice gave off a different message.

"Yes." Dib bleakly answered, Dragging the irken.

Zim was a bit taken about of his quick agreement, and he tried to get out of the humans grip, to no avail,

His PAK legs seemed to bail on him, retracting back into his PAK without a command, he snarled at this.

But he eventually just accepted it, as Dib dragged him along to where he assumed was the way to his base.

"Y'know, " Huffed the human, stopping for a moment.

Zims antenna perked, showing he was listening.

"It would really help, if you tried to walk with me. " Dib finished, pulling Zim off the ground and onto his legs.

He rolled his eyes, but nodded.

His legs still shook and he almost fell over multiple times the rest of the walk, but other than that he was fine, his PAK legs only seemed to come out when he was falling, it made Zim wonder if his PAK had been affected by the water, too.

Eventually, the two reached Dibs house, the irkens legs felt almost numb by then.

He began to stumble towards the base door, but was hastily stopped by Dib, which made him perk an eye at him.

"We have to go through the window. My..father is home. " He spoke in a whisper, gesturing to an open window.

Zim sighed, exhausted, but nodded again, not having energy to engage in small talk or an argument.

He watched as Dib climbed a tree nearby his house, which just happened to have a thick branch that reached close to his window.

The human made a leap for his open window when he reached the end of the tree, poking his head back out to make sure Zim came.

He tried pulling out his PAK legs, which luckily worked, as he jumped with them to the window seal.

The legs retracted as Zim came into the human's room fully, and he collapsed onto Dibs bed.

He didn't even care it was Dibs, his body was exhausted, and the human wasn't even really his enemy anymore, if he wasn't invading the planet.

So for the first time, Zim willingly let himself be vulnerable around Dib.

It was mostly because he was extremely worn from what had just transpired, but he didn't care as long as he wouldn't have to feel the constant burning.

Chapter Text

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.

Chapter Text

Zim felt his organs churn dreadfully at the question, a part of him knowing it'd come soon.

His antenna drooped, and he found his throat closing up, not allowing any words to be spoken.

He found himself with a scowling expression as he began to wonder how to reply.

Zim sat silently for what felt like hours, his mind replaying all the things that happened, making him feel weird.

The irken didn't want to tell Dib, he'd probably throw him out right then and there, and Zim wouldn't blame him.

The human had been trying to stop him since he'd arrived, Dib would probably be furious, spending so much time trying to solve a problem just to find out it didn't matter.

He shook himself for even considering the idea of the two being alike, he was a superior irken, and the other was an inferior human.

But something still urged him to not go and destroy the little peace between them, and it made him even angrier.

He didn't care about the human, he didn't, so why was part of him wanting this moment of peace to last longer than just a few hours?

Zim internally hissed at himself, finding all of this sickening, he hated lies, but he still opted to use them anyway.

".. Nothing" The alien choked out, his voice low and uncertain, not maintaining any form of eye contact with Dib.

"Oh cmon, you know that isn't true." Dib pushed, his tone a bit more agitated as he lightly placed his hand on Zims shoulder.

He hissed in retaliation, slapping the humans hand away, his antenna pressed glad against his head.

He squinted down, knowing that he probably wouldn't get out of this, he wasn't in any shape to fight, and probably couldn't walk back to his base from here either.

Bearing his teeth, the alien grunted his teeth in defeat.

"Fine. Whatever- if you're so pressed about my- what happened, I'll-.. " Zim blurted, voice cracking as he trailed off.

He swallowed, pushing back the urge to just admit he was upset, and wanted comfort, like a defective smeet.

"I'll tell you. " he finished, trying to sound more sure, as if he didn't really care and wasn't affected by anything.

But it failed, and Zim realised he didn't really know where to begin explaining.

The irken took a shaky, quiet but deep breath before he started, admittedly nervous about how this was going to go.

"M-My, er, tallest- Almighty Tallest, " Zim corrected as he began trying to ignore how choked his voice sounded, and how his whole body seemed to tremble slightly.

"Your leaders? " Dib mumbled, seemingly unsure of what to expect next.

"Yes, Almighty Tallest Red and Purple, rulers of the irken empire. " he continued, more confident this time. Talking about his tallest, in a more praising matter, was something he had lots of practice with.

Zim swallowed before continuing, having to focus on actually getting what happened out of his mouth.

"They- I called them, a few, er, days ago. " Zim tried, not sure if he should reveal specific dates.

He could see the humans interest peeking from the corner of his eye, and he turned to face him, recalling back to some of the things he'd learnt over the years, to face someone when you're trying to sound honest.

"They, uhm, well- they acted differently, then I'd expected them too, " he continued, finding himself fiddling with his uniform's collar.

"... I-they, told me some information- About my mission- i-" Zim found himself unable to finish that sentence, as a sudden wave of emotion hit him, and he immediately turned his face opposite to the human.

He felt, without any warning, a hot stream of tears rolling from his face, he didn't even know why he was crying. He shouldn't be, he's an irken, irkens don't cry! Especially not invaders-

Zim didn't finish that line of thought, already knowing what realisations would hit him, as he tried to focus on making it sound like he wasn't crying at all.

"... They- they told me, that my mission, my second chan- my purpose, as an invader-.. Irken invader, was a- a.. " Zim's voice strained and cut as he tried to make sure his voice wouldn't crack, but he of course failed.

He didn't know if Dib noticed his sobs, he hoped he didn't.

Irkens don't cry. Zim doesn't cry! I shouldn't be crying, I'm acting like a smeet, no, even smeets don't cry like this.

The irken forcefully stopped tears flowing from his eyes, aggressively wiping them off his moist face.

He didn't look back up as he continued, though.

"My mission was fake. '' Zim spat, not truly believing the words that slurred out of his mouth, it felt so wrong to even think of this, but here he was, saying it.

Something seemed to break inside of him, not in an aggressive way, not sad, just in an unreal, sort of disconnected way.

It felt unrealistic, fake even, it didn't feel true, but he knew, it was, but something in him still couldn't accept it.

Zim shook his head, slowly, and then turned to face Dib again, preparing to get yelled at, slapped, just anything.

"..what? " the human said, hesitantly as he stared at him.

He found his face distorting into an ashamed, even disappointed expression, feeling guilty for this, he knew, anything and everything that came next, he'd deserve.

But nothing happened, Dib just stared at him, he looked just as disbelieving as he felt, Zim couldn't tell if he was angry, or sad, or both, or none.

A few more moments of silence passed, before Zim came to the conclusion that the human may not know what reaction was correct for this situation.

"You can attack me now, or yell, or whatever you do when you're extremely mad. " The irken offered, quietly, trying to give Dib a reason to break the silence, or just something other than the dreadful silence.

"What? Why would i- I mean, I'm mad and confused, and you're my arch nemesis- but I wont- I won't attack you, yelling, maybe later. But right now? I don't want to gather attention from anyone in my household. " Dib fumbled over his words for a moment, seemingly caught off guard by Zim's allowance.

Now Zim was the one to look surprised, he had honestly expected him to slap him, or just do something, isn't that what you do when you're mad?

Especially after finding out you were trying to save the world, putting all your effort into it-just to find out he was never a threat, most irkens would probably want to have his head on a stick if he'd done that to them.

Seeming to notice something more than just his surprised expression, Dib began to speak.

"Look- how about we just go to sleep for now, we'll talk about this more in the morning. Since you'r-.. Since I'm getting tired. " The human quickly added, almost trailing off, as he began to move the medic kit off his bed.

Zim nodded, hating to admit it, that he was tired too. He shouldn't be, he's had well over his monthly recharge needs, he really needed to have a look at his PAK.

Shaking off his train of thought, he looked around before realising there was only one bed.

"Er.. Where are you going to sleep? " The irken questioned, glancing at Dib.

He gave Zim a quizzical expression for a moment.

"On my bed? " He answered, gesturing to the bed they both sat on.

His antenna flattened slightly in a defensive position.

"But.. Where will I sleep then? " Zim hesitantly asked, a bit irritated .

Dib seemed to realise something, as he looked to be thinking.

"Well.. I can't let anyone see you, so, I can give you a blanket and pillow and you can sleep under my bed.. ? " The human tried awkwardly, gathering the two objects hastily.

"But- ugh. Fine whatever. " He hissed, feeling this argument wasn't worth it.

The irken snatched the blanket and pillow from Dib, and looked at where he was supposedly going to sleep.

It was surprisingly spacey, for under a bed- it had enough room for him to lay down comfortably without touching the mattress.

Slightly pleased by this, Zim pushed the objects under the bed, before following suit, curling up in the corner side of the beds range.

Before he drifted off, he found himself rethinking how he'd handle the rest of his experiences, and if Dib would lash out to him tomorrow, when he doesn't have his family units around.

The irken didn't get to think about this for long, though, losing his grip on his consciousness, he was pulled into a deep slumber.

Maybe he just needs these extra hours for his injuries.

Chapter Text

Dib awoke, groggily sitting up as he reached for his glasses.

Upon putting them on, he glanced around the room for a moment, his mind gathering what had happened the night before.

He then remembered the alien that should be in his room.

Suddenly feeling very awake, Dib got off his bed, and then looked underneath it.

Much to his relief, Zim had not gone and ran away, and was still in his room, asleep.

Well, not so much asleep anymore, as the alien's antenna perked up, and his bug-like eyes soon followed after, staring straight at him.

Zim shot a quizzical expression at the human as he sat up slightly, slowly moving towards the end of the bed.

Dib didn't know what to do, not expecting for him to wake up so suddenly, and quickly.

"Move! " The alien demanded in a quiet hiss as he approached where he was, making Dib realise he had been frozen in place.

He quickly scrambled to his feet, getting out of Zim's way so he could get up.

He just rolled his eyes as he got up, seemingly not actually that bothered by Dib being there.

There was silence for a few moments, a very awkward silence, that the alien did not seem to notice.

Zim's antenna suddenly perked up again, and he turned his head back to Dib, as if about to say something.

But the opening of his door interrupted any chance of whatever he'd wanted to say.

Gaz stood in the entrance, console in her hand.

"Foodio made breakfast. " She said bleakly, her expression looking as blank as ever as the two stood, frozen and staring.

Gaz squinted an eye at the alien and him, looking ever so slightly more surprised.

"Zim? " Gaz questioned, though he could tell the question was meant for him.

Dib opened his mouth, but couldn't seem to find any excuses to use.

"Err- Zim broke into Dib-stinks house! " Zim suddenly shouted, his voice lingering with a croak, pointing at the human next to him.

Dib found himself mentally face palming at Zim's ridiculous excuse, but he'd go with it.

"Right… and that's why he's bandaged up, with your bandages? " Gaz teased, gesturing to the open medicine kit that he'd forgotten to fully pack up.

He sighed in defeat, their bluff being called out.

"Look I don't really care if you and Zim had a sleepover, dads left for work a few hours ago, just come and eat. " She informed, while walking away, her voice sounding bored, but still slightly caring.

He bit back the urge to argue that it was not a sleepover.

Once Gaz was out of hearing range, Dib spoke.

"I know you can eat some human foods, and you probably need to eat. " Dib whispered, pulling Zim out of the room and to the kitchen with him.

This received a hiss from the alien, but ultimately he complied, and a few moments later, they sat at the table while foodio gave the humans their plate.

The robot seemed to notice the new guest at the table, spinning around to Zim.

It suddenly hit Dib that he probably didn't know how to tell foodio what to make.

But before he could instruct him, he was interrupted.

"Waffles, no soap. " Zim instructed the robot, and a few moments later, his dish of two waffles was served.

Dib glanced at the alien, a bit surprised that he knew how to, but then shook himself for even thinking he wouldn't. He'd seen the kind of technology his species had.

Turning back to his food, the three all ate in near perfect silence, other than the scrape of utensils on other plates, and the low hum of foodio doing something else near them.

"So, " Gaz spoke up, breaking through the silence.

The two boys looked over to her, listening.

"What happened to him? " Gaz finished, gesturing her utensil to Zim.

The alien froze, and Dib just stared, not quite sure how to explain.

"Uhm, we got into a fight. " Dib inquired hesitantly, lightly nodding to himself when he saw Zim relax slightly.

Gaz raised a brow, but didn't push, seeming to read the room.

Silence filled the room once more, though this time slightly less comfortable.

Gaz finished her plate, and after putting it out for foodio to clean, retreated back to her room.

The awkwardness lifted, ever so slightly more comfortable for some reason that Dib couldn't grasp.

He turned to Zim, staring as his gaze stayed on the waffles in front of him.

He realised then, just how badly the water burned him, his face was covered in burns, as well as any other parts of his skin that were visible.

And his antenna, they were wrapped to the edge in bandages, and Dib took a guess that those were probably one of the most sensitive parts of his body.

Said antenna suddenly made a twitch, and he realised the alien was staring back at him, and with an embarrassed expression, he turned his gaze away.

"S-so, how's…How are you feeling? " Dib inquired quickly, eyes still locked on his plate, the unfinished pancake staring back at him.

Zim didn't reply for a moment, presumably thinking.

"Zim is fine " The alien spoke, staring off in no particular direction, for what Dib could tell.

"Are you sure? Your uh.. Burns, they look… painful. " He tried, gesturing to him with his utensil.

His antenna twitched for a moment before he answered.

"Er, Zim's burns are.. irritating, but nothing an irken cannot handle. " Zim vowed, with an unreadable expression, that made him guess that Zim was looking at him.

Dib thought for a few minutes, he didn't think he had anything like burn cream, he had more bandages, but he'd take a guess that Zim didn't enjoy having things on his face, as he only had a single bandage near his eye.

"Well, I don't have any burn cream, or anything like that… But we could go and get some, I think I have some spare money. " Dib offered, glancing at Zim.

"Wait- do you have your disguise? " He suddenly blurted, realising that he hadn't seen him come back with it.

The alien's antenna perked, and he paused, much to Dib's horror, it didn't seem like he did.

Zim shaking his head lightly confirmed his fears.

With a sigh, he got up, gesturing for him to follow.

The alien complied, curiously squinting an eye at him.

They reached his room, where Dib began to scramble through his closet.

"Dib-thing? What are you doing? " Zim asked, glancing over his shoulder.

"You don't have your disguise, and I don't trust you enough to leave you alone at my house- or yours, so I'm going to give you a temporary disguise so we can find your other one." He answered, while picking out a bright pink sweater.

"Zim is not wearing your filthy human clothing! " He screamed, offended as he kicked the sweater away.

Dib roller his eyes as he reached for the sweater, placing it beside him.

"Well would you rather be discovered as an alien, or be in my 'filthy human clothing' ? " Dib shot back, reaching for a similar coloured cap.

Zim let out hiss, crossing his arms and glaring as Dib picked out some pants, along with a pair of sunglasses, and a mask.

He stood up, laid the clothing items on his bed, then looked to the alien beside him.

"This is what you're wearing, do you want me to leave while you… change..? " Dib stated, gesturing to the clothing.

Zim rolled his eyes as he examined the items.

"I do not care if your inferior human body is here or not " Zim insulted as he pulled the sweater on, looking at it with an annoyed expression.

Dib just sort of stood there, unsure of what to do.

He didn't seem to care, though, as he continued to slip the clothing on,

He paused after putting the sunglasses on, staring in a small hand mirror close by, his expression looking more than annoyed.

Zim then faced the human, his teeth beard as he stood out, mask and cap still laying on the bed.

"This is so stupid. " The alien mumbled with a low growl.

"Better than nothing. " Dib pointed out, smirking at his frustration.

"Shut up! " Zim demanded, antenna flat on his head.

Dib found himself chuckling, before he finally gathered himself and spoke.

"Alright, alright. We should get going now. " He gestured to the door as he pulled his bag on his shoulder.

Zim took a step forward, seemingly ready to leave. 

Chapter Text

Zim found himself following Dib, the bright light of the outside world burning through his vision, making the walk more dreadful then it already was.

His burns rubbed against his uniform and the clothing on top of it, making the alien very uncomfortable.

The alien continued on though, only now realising how much he, admittedly, liked the disguise.

He internally scowled at the fact, feeling disgusted at himself for missing something as small as a wig and contacts.

Zim's antenna twitched slightly as he realised he'd probably have to get completely new contacts.

"... Do you… maybe want to continue talking about what happened- has- is happening? " Dib spoke up, glancing at the irken.

His antenna rose slightly, and he glanced around for any humans before he nodded.

He knew it was unirkly, to need- no, want help. Especially from the enemy, but he couldn't find the will to resist whatever urges pulled him to tell the human everything.

"After my tallest had informed me of- about my missions… truth, I.. Didn't take it well, " Zim began, staring at nothing in particular as he continued walking.

Dib gave a nod, ensuring that he was listening.

"I took out my… er- feelings- anger, on my lab. " He continued, fumbling for the correct word, that he didn't truly find.

"A-as you would've noticed, of course. By the time I was finished, my lab was completely demolished, and the majority of my security was cut. " Zim winced at the memory for just a moment, his antenna lowering.

"That's how you got in, right? Because the gnomes were deactivated " the irken questioned Dib, slightly trying to change the subject.

"Yeah, they didn't attack me. " Dib confirmed with a small nod.

There was a small silence as Zim debated what to say next, fiddling with the strings that hung from the sweater.

"Why did you attack me? At school, I mean. " Dib blurted, glancing curiously at him.

He opened his mouth for a moment, antenna bobbing.

"Er, well uh- " The irken started, his fidgeting becoming more noticeable.

He swallowed, turning his gaze far away from the humans.

"Zim was, not… very happy that day. And you were… annoying me, yes. " Zim nodded lightly at himself, hoping Dib wouldn't push for more information, like he often did.

Fortunately for him, Dib didn't pry for anything more, welcoming the silence that followed as the two continued on their walk.

The two walked like that for a while, a comfortable silence lingering around them as they passed houses and parks, before Zim finally began to recognize his forestry surroundings.

Just the night before, the irken had laid crumpled up on the grass in this very location, after a failed attempt to take his own life.

He winced at everything, if Dib hadn't interrupted, he would've been free.

The splashing water seemed to taunt him, mocking his failure to do the most simplest of things, die.

A hand was placed on Zim's shoulder, making him jolt out of the trans he was slowly sinking into.

"Do you remember where, or do you have any theories as to where your disguise may be..? " The human beside him asked, turning to him.

Zim noticed how Dib positioned himself, a casual, yet read and almost guarding stance, he wouldn't need to ask to know what the humans body language meant though, it was obvious.

He shook his head, eyes locking back onto the water as he thought.

"Zim's contacts wouldn't be usable even if we did find them, and the wig, it probably got wrecked and washed away in the water. " Zim noted, more so to himself than Dib.

Dib made a loud groan of what he could only imagine was disappointment.

"Well… you're gonna need a disguise one way or another, and I don't think we can keep you in.. That. " Dib Stated, gesturing to the messy outfit.

The irken nodded, knowing he could barely tolerate wearing the wacky clothing items.

"What do you have in mind then? Zim does not have any spare disguises. " He replied smartly, not admitting that he actually had no ideas, and wanted advice from the human.

Dib thought for a second, staring at the pinkish, red sky that the town always seemed to be misted with.

"Tak had some sort of holographic disguise didn't she? Can you make something like that? " He questioned, facing Zim once more.

Zim wasn't actually quite sure on why he didn't have one like Taks, all Invaders usually had them. But for some reason that he couldn't grasp, he chose to wear a wig and contacts.

"Er, I did have the resources to make those kind of disguises, yes but GIR had gotten into-" He froze, realising that he had left the robot in his base, alone with no supervision.

"GIR! Ohmytallest he must've burnt the base down! " Zim rambled in horror as he realised the consequences of what he had done.

"... Oh, right.. " Dib mumbled under his breath.

The human seemed to understand why he was so horrified, seemingly calmer though.

"We can check on him after we run to the store..? " Dib offered, sounding unsure.

Zim hesitated before he nodded, realising that they'd probably get to the store faster than his base anyway.

His antenna twitched as he tried to dismiss the anxiety that started to swirl in his squeedlyspooch, silently hoping that his computer had handled the robot.

The walk to the store was relevantly silent, an unsaid peace between the two.

"Maybe we could get you a new disguise, " Dib decided to suggest, slicing through the quietness.

The irkens antenna pricked, in both confusion and interest at his words.

"Like I mean- buy you a new one. New wig, new contacts.. Maybe new clothes too. The ones you've got on aren't in the best shape and.. " He trailed off at the last words, but Zim already knew what he was about to say.

He thought for a while as the shops slowly got closer in his vision, wasn't it betraying the empire if he wore something other than his uniform by choice? Invaders weren't permitted to change into anything other than their uniforms under any circumstances.

But he wasn't an Invader, not anymore.

Zim winced at the small reminder, then shook it off.

"Yeah. Sure" Zim agreed, more out of impulse than choice.

Dib seemed slightly surprised, but didn't say anything as they walked in the store.

The store was recently sized, in irken standards at least, aisles side by side, stacked with various human items.

Dib led them to a particular aisle of the store, its shelves lined with many different colourful products, stopping when they reached a particular section- the wigs.

The section was filled with colours that majority of irkens wouldn't be seen dead wearing, vibrant, saturated, some grey, black, white or even a mix of them all.

"So, is there any you… like? " The human asked, gesturing to the various faux hairs that hung on the racks.

Zim scanned the wigs, spotting a few that weren't as vibrant as the others.

He reached up for the few blackish, whitish coloured ones, some were speckled with colours through streaks or ombres.

His antenna buzzed lightly, imitating a light and quiet hum, a thinking gesture.

He ran his claw over the majorly white wig, examining, the 'roots' were a dark black colour, the same black streaked through the rest of the white, like spots of some animal's fur.

Zim placed down the first wig, examining the next one, it's faux hair majorly a blackish, grey colour with pink and blue streaks throughout.

His antenna buzzed up lightly, amused and slightly interested at the design of the wig.

The irken began to inspect the third, and last wig, its colour mainly blackish, with a few off-white streaks in the front and on the back.

It was spiked and thick, with a sort of side fringe.

He eyed it with a sort of appreciation, its resemblance to his previous wig was sort of nice.

Placing down the other two wigs, his antenna stopped emitting the low hum, and he glanced up to Dib.

"Zim thinks this wig is superior to the other filthy earth wigs. " The irken said confidently, holding out the wig in show.

Dib nodded, and took the wig, he inspected a tag that Zim had not bothered to read before, then put it into a basket he assumed the human grapped when they walked in.

"Alright, so I don't think I have enough for contacts- so you'll have to wear those glasses for now. '' Dib informed, already beginning to walk towards the next aisle.

" Zim will not be wearing your inferior human glasses. " Zim stated in a hiss as he eyed the aisle, searching for the contacts.

Spotting them, he glanced back at Dib- who was luckily not looking back, and ran up to them.

He quickly searched for a purple colour, which he found, it was not the same periwinkle as his old ones- but it would do.

Extending a PAK leg to collect the item, he hastily stuffed it into his PAK, mentally smirking as he caught up with the human, quiet enough for him to not be noticed.

They reached the aisle Dib was leading them to, bottles and packets of medication laid on the shelves nearly.

He watched as he picked up one of the containers, which, upon further inspection, read 'Burn Cream' on the label.

Dib placed the burn cream in the basket, turning towards Zim.

"I may have overestimated how much I had, we can go out another time for your contacts and.. Clothes? " The human hesitantly offered, rubbing the back of his neck.

Zim shook his head and smirked, knowing that there was no use of coming back.

He headed off to where he suspected the clothing area was, Dib following close behind with a confused expression.

"What are yo-" Zim cut him off with a hand to his mouth, shutting him up.

In return, he got an offended glare from him, but no more words.

He began to search for something, a piece of clothing that is worthy of being worn by Zim.

He picked out a long, pinkish item, it had sleeves and a turtle neck.

The bottom half of it was a lighter shade, and Zim's antenna twitched and he nodded.

He turned towards Dib, glanced around to make sure no one was near- and then brought out a PAK leg.

Dibs eyes widened as he realised what he might be doing, whispering what he would assume was a warning before Zim promptly and confidently stuffed the item in his PAK.

Dibs jaw was left open, stunned with irritation.

"If you get caught, I don't know you. " Dib threatened through a whisper, dragging out into a sigh.

"Yes, yes. " The irken nodded with ignorance, like the almighty Zim would get caught!

The two made their way to the counter in silence, Dib paid and they began to exit the store.

Zim could sense the humans heart rate rise slightly, and held back a chuckle at his nervousness at something as small as this.

As he'd expected, they got out of the store with no problem, and he continued to follow Dib until he stopped a bit away from the store.

"I can't believe you did that. " He spat, drawing out a long breath, or a sigh.

He just smirked in response, turning his attention back to their surroundings.

"Zim demands to try on his new disguise! " The irken vowed, snatching the wig from the basket.

"Yeah, yeah alright. " Dib nodded, walking towards a nearby restroom.

He followed, and when the two reached the stalls, the human turned towards him.

"You can dress in there, I'll be out here when you're done. " Dib gestured to the restrooms.

Zim rolled his eyes, but nodded and marched into one of the stalls.

Zim began to change, making sure to not get anything- other than Dibs stupid clothes on the filthy bathroom floor.

Once the Irken was finished, He walked out of the stall, PAK leg carrying the dirty clothes far behind him as he took a quick glance in the mirror, smirked and then threw the human clothes at Dib.

He stumbled, then briefly shot Zim an annoyed look, before it washes into a neutral one.

"... Did you steal the contacts too? " Dib blurted, suspecting expression plastered on his face.

"It wasn't stealing! It's just not worth Zim's moniez! " He vowed with confidence, making a dismissive hand gesture.

Dib rolled his eyes at him.

"C'mon, stupid human, I need to make sure GIR didn't turn my base into a taco or something! " The irken tugged Dib before beginning to head back to his house.

Chapter Text

Dib stopped in front of Zim and his base, observing as the alien stood and Dib guessed, listening.

Following suit, he eyed the house, looking for any sign of GIR or his creations, messes.

He didn't fully understand why they were being so cautious, but he guessed that they'd never be truly sure if the little robot would come running to them with an edible taco, or some sort of poisonous object.

A few moments passed, the two observing the green base in a concentrated silence.

"He didn't blow up the base, and it doesn't look damaged either…" Zim mumbled with a nod.

The human nodded in response, turning to face him, as if to push the idea to head inside.

He watched as the irken stepped towards the door, following behind as he took a deep breath.

Zim swung open the door, pausing at the sight that laid inside.

Dib grimaced as he looked over his shoulder, saying the house was a mess was an understatement, there were various items scattered on the floor, along with a few food items that he wasn't entirely sure were edible, and just the absolute opposite from clean.

The strong smell of soap and waffles attacked his senses, and Dib found himself already feeling nauseous.

The alien seemed to feel the same about the situation, judging by the sour, unapproving expression that grew on his face.

"HI MASTER!!! " GIR excitedly squealed, earning a hiss from Zim as they both jumped back in surprise, where had the robot even come from?

"GIR! What is this filth? " Zim demanded, pointing an angry finger to the insides of the base.

"I was playin! " the robot poked its tongue out in an uncaring gesture, smiling at his master.

Zim dragged his hand across his face with a growl, annoyance basically radiating from his figure.

GIR poked his head up, spotting the human.

"HI MARRY!!! " GIR squealed again in greeting, waving at him.

Dib just gave a polite wave in response, feeling that informing the robot that Mary was in fact, not his name, would be a waste of time.

Zim let out a grunt, looking back into the base.

"Let's just get this over with. " The irken sighed, stepping into the base with a silent gesture that he should follow.

Carefully, he stepped into the house, careful to avoid all the muck and mess.

He paused at one of the items, a toy car, it prompted him to glance at the other items.

Most of them were toys of sorts, cars, stuffed animals, figures, just about anything I a kid would have.

"You buy GIR toys? " Dib mused, finding the fact that the alien had a soft spot for GIR sweet.

Zim froze, before whipping around to him with an embarrassed expression.

"No! Zim does not spend such moneys on these- er, toys! GIR stole them all! Yes! " Zim clarified through what Dib could tell was a giant lie.

"Uh huh" The human grinned, continuing to follow Zim as he marched to the kitchen.

Upon stepping into the kitchen, he was surprised at the lack of mess, other than a few waffles randomly thrown about, it was actually quite clean.

Zim didn't acknowledge this, simply grabbing hold of a broom, after a bit of looking, he found another one and handed it to him.

"You are to clean with Zim. " The irken said forcefully, dragging him into the lounge room.

Dib groaned, but didn't argue as he scouted the room in more detail than before.

"Where do I start..? " The human hesitantly asked, standing awkwardly with the broom.

Zim hummed in thought, glancing around the room, before pointing to one side of it.

"You will clean that side of filth, I will clean this side. " He gestured Dib to the left side of the room, which he noted was a bit dirtier than the opposing side.

Holding back a complaint, he stumbled over to his side of the room, and began to brush and clean the mess.

Zim was finished in a little shy of ten minutes, which earned Dib the teasing of having taken an extra five minutes.

Though Dib had noted how Zim seemed a little irritated, he guessed from the, still present burns.

"My side was dirtier than yours! " He pointed out in a playful argument.

"Lies! We both had the same amount of filth! " Zim barked back.

"Nuh uh! " Dib countered shortly.

"Yeah-eh! " The irken spat.

"Irk! Let's just move onto the kitchen! " Zim shouted before Dib could, making the human roll his eyes in slight amusement.

"Yeah alright " Dib complied, following him into the kitchen.

Dib looked to Zim expectantly, his mind distantly realising that they hadn't spotted the robot since their entry.

"Wait, where's GIR? " He inquired, hesitating for a moment.

Zim paused, eyes making a swift search around the space.

"Er, probably out playing with a filthy earth animal, " The alien spoke without concern before adding, " I don't hear him destroying things so it's not our problem. "

Dib nodded, taking notice how the base was practically silent other than their conversation.

"Alright, well what side are you cleaning? " The human asked with a gesture.

A few hours of cleaning later, the whole base was spotless, Dib was amazed at how clean they'd got it, it basically sparkled.

If it wasn't for the weird colours and house design, it probably would've looked straight out of a TV show.

His train of thought was interrupted by a sigh of relief from Zim, who was now laying on the couch looking exhausted.

The sight made Dib recall the burn cream he had gotten hours prior.

"Oh, here. Put this on your burns, it'll help" The human offered the small container to Zim, who, after a few moments, took the container.

"Eh- okay. Zim demands privacy! Go away while I apply this burn cream. " Zim ushered with a dismissive gesture.

Dib nodded, leaving to sit in the kitchen while he waited.

Sitting down on a chair, the human decided to check his phone, realising it was probably getting late.

He bit back a small gasp when he saw the time.

9 : 28 PM

"How is it 9 already? " Dib mumbled under his breath, shaking his head at the time they'd spent.

Glancing around, he realised he didn't really want to go home, maybe they could just stay here for the night.

He'd brought his laptop and phone, so it's not like he'd risk missing messages or anything.

He debated staying at the aliens house, before being interrupted by the latter walking in, as to silently announce he was finished.

"Is it working? " Dib asked, eyeing Zim, he noticed that he'd taken off the contacts and wig.

"It is better than before " Zim shrugged and sat in a seat across the table.

A sort of awkward silence creeped in the air, neither really knowing what to say.

"So, it's pretty late. I was thinking maybe we should just sleep here for the night. " Dib began after taking a deep breath, glancing at the phone that laid still beside him.

"Yes, of course! Zims base is much superior. " Zim agreed with confidence, nodding with perked antennae.

"Uh huh, " The human mused, a slight smile appearing on his face.

"So, do I just sleep on the couch? " He glanced at Zim with a gesture to said couch.

The irken hummed for a few moments, before his antennae bounced and he gave a nod.

"Yes, Zims base does not have any of your… human resting chambers. " He informed.

Dib nodded in response, though he wasn't really tired enough to sleep yet.

"Do you wanna watch a movie? I brought my laptop. " The human offered, searching his backpack before pulling out the device.

"Why would Zim want to watch the pitiful media you humans call entertainment? " Zim mocked, looking at him with a sceptical expression.

"Well what else are we gonna do then? " He asked blankly, raising a brow.

The alien pouted with a growl, looking at him with annoyance.

"Fine " Zim complied, following him onto the couch.

Once they were both settled, Dib opened his laptop and went to Netflix.

"What do you want to watch? " He asked, glancing at Zim.

Zim eyed the screen, his antennae flicking for a moment before he paused.

"That one! " The irken pointed at a fantasy looking movie that Dib, admittedly, was curious about too.

Nodding, he clicked on the movie Zim had chosen, both of them paying attention to the screen.

And as the movie progressed, slowly, he found himself drifting into a peaceful sleep.

Chapter Text

Zim found himself in an endless, dark shadowy void, his presence unacknowledged and lonely.

He swirled his head around, not truly knowing if he was even moving, everything stayed unchanged.

Not a shadow, highlight, nor even a colour tried to break the parallel image of the space.

His body felt weightless, as if he were in the star's zero-gravity atmosphere. Maybe he was.

But there were no stars, not even a speckle of brightness anywhere, no planets, supernovas or Nubelas.

Perhaps he was in some sort of black hole, unknowing how he'd even end up there.

His antennae flickered as he picked up on a presence, and Zim turned to see another Irken.

This Irken seemed familiar, short and stubby, was he a service drone?

No.. No,

Zim shook his head lightly, this was Invader Skoodge.

He began to approach the Invader, but as he needed, his squeedlyspooch started to churn.

Skoodge was starting to look really weird, his face warped and twitched at the sight of Zim.

The ex Invader found himself slowing to a stop, Skoodge looked at him with an expression he'd grown much too familiar with, Disappointment.

"...Skoodge..? " He called with a hesitant swallow, trying to hide the fact his antennae drooped slightly.

The shorter Irken looked at him with narrowed pupils and the same sour, disapproving look on his face.

"You're a disgrace to the empire, Zim. " Skoodge spat, his voice tired and angry.

Zims eyes widened, wounded expression plastering onto his face as if he'd just been punched in his spooch.

"N-no! That's not true and you know it. Zim was the best invader known in galactic history! " Zim sputtered defensively, trying his best to save any last drop of denial that swirled in his head.

"You're not an invader! " A sudden, sharp voice shouted from behind him, making his antennae throb with the loudness.

He swooped his body around to face the second figure, another Irken.

Before he could get a good look, the Irken made a swift and effective attack, punching him square in his squeedlyspooch.

The ex Invader made a groaned shriek of surprise as he fell off balance, the pain making him feel nauseous.

He quickly squinted open his eyes to see a pair of sharp purple ones staring right back at him.

Oh.

"You're a defective. " Tak finished sourly, expression vengeful and angry as she lingered over him.

Zim knew she wasn't that tall, in fact- they were around the same height.

But now, she seemed to tower over him with an intimidating stance.

"I'm not defective! " He spat back, whipping his head around, to find that thousands of Irken were now watching him.

"Yes you are! " She shouted once more, pulling the defective Irken up by his collar.

Zim glared, looking down at his clothing- his uniform, it felt weird to see himself in it. Has he been wearing this the whole time?

It made sense for him too, but it didn't feel right.

A tug from the angry Invader brought his attention back, as it did his glare.

"Zims-"

"You don't even deserve to wear this uniform." Tak cut him off, like a hot knife cutting through ice.

She gripped his arm, and took a deadly hold of his uniform with her gloved claws.

With one swift movement, Tak ripped off his uniform, it tore through the middle, revealing an equally long dark pinkish shirt.

His old uniform fluttered down into the unending voice, and Zims found his antennae bobbing up slightly in recognition of the new outfit.

His moment of peace was short lived, though, as the crowd of Irkens erupted in laughter.

Zims insides swirled with shame, what an embarrassing moment.

He glared sharply at the opposing Irken, emitting a low hiss.

Tak grabbed hold of his new collar, staring at him with a deadly purple gaze, before she grinned with intent.

"The empire doesn't need embarrassments like you. " Tak learned in, before carelessly throwing him away, into the abyss.

Zim yelped as he fell, Taks words echoing through the space with the loud, insulting laughter that seemed to repeat through his head no matter how far he fell from the grinning Invader.

He plunged into darkness with terror, it seemed as if he'd never stop falling.

Zims eyes flared open as he hastily sat up, antennae twitching as his pupils wildily darted across his surroundings.

He wasn't in the void any longer, no, this was a house.

It was his base.

His heavy breathing slowly steadied as he glanced to his side, Dib was lying fast asleep with the laptop they'd been watching a movie on just before.

Zim also took an amused note of the tiny robot that'd snuggled his say in between them.

He sighed, gathering himself and trying not to wake the human or disturb GIR as he attempted to leave.

He carefully stepped foot onto the room's floor, biting back a Yelp as a sudden zap emitted from his PAK.

Zim dropped to the floor, wincing from the sudden pain that was brought to him by his PAK.

His antennae twitched as he also picked up on the loud buzzing coming from the device, like an overworking computer.

The PAK grew irritatingly warm, to the point it was actually causing him physical pain.

Hastily, he reached and tugged it off, it's wires retreating from his spine as he inhaled sharply.

The irkens vision went black for a few moments, before his life clock appeared in the corner of it.

He blinked open his eyes, looking at the PAK that sat next to him, he noticed a few small tendrils of smoke rising from the inside.

Biting his lips, he cautiously picked up the device as he stood, his claws luckily weren't burnt by it.

He quickly took a glance at his clothing- it wasn't his uniform, he felt relieved by the fact.

But he did notice slight tethering and burnt edges on where his PAK would've been.

He debated for a second, taking a glance at his life clock, he had 9 minutes left.

Sighing, he placed the PAK down once again, before lifting off the long, dark pink shirt he'd gotten with Dib.

He wore a black, singlet-like shirt underneath, he figured it'd be better to not ruin his brand new clothing.

Taking a moment to quickly brush his hands over the fabric, he picked up both his shirt, and his PAK, in opposite hands.

Zim tucked the clothing neatly, placing it on a small table before he made his way down to his lab.

His PAK obviously needed fixing, and as soon as possible.

Jumping into the elevator, disguised as a trash can, he quickly was reminded of why he hadn't checked his PAK sooner.

The elevator was not working at all, and he found himself falling down the tunnel that led to his Lab.

He gasped, clinging and shielding his PAK with his body, regretting not checking the elevator before jumping down.

Zim hissed as he hit the bottom, his shoulder side banging painfully against the metal floor.

His eyes popped open quickly, checking on his PAK-it wasn't damaged, luckily.

He also realised it'd been a while since he'd checked his clock.

He had five minutes, two of which he couldn't function properly with. He was already beginning to feel weaker.

He stared at the PAK, maybe, maybe he should leave it off.

If he left it off, he'd be gone within the next five minutes, without any interruptions.

A quiet death via taking off his PAK in his own base.

That sounded nice.

But a simple, almost painless death like that wouldn't pay for even a quarter of what he's done.

It'd only start hurting in a minute or so, and even then, it's just your whole body aching.

Zim knew he deserved worse, a painful, perhaps slow, horrible death.

His last attempt would've been almost perfect for that, almost.

The water would burn him from the inside out, while also drowning him.

It was painful, but it was not the worse he'd could've done.

He could've, should've, been more smart and brutal with it.

Zim was known for destroying everything he touched, but it seemed he couldn't destroy himself.

Grumbling, he sat up and looked at the device, it wasn't burning hot anymore, and the buzzing had stopped.

He'll wait for another opportunity, a worthy one.

Placing the PAK on his back, he felt the cold wires routing back into his spine, shivering at the uncomfortable sensation.

Once again, his vision faltered as his life clock disappeared.

He stood up, eyes duller than they had been a few moments before, but this time, not because of the fact his body was dying.

Zim scanned what was his lab, it was evey, very ruined.

"This is going to take forever" Zim groaned in Irken, dragging a dramatic claw over his face.

With a final sigh, he stretched, and began to unravel the wires and debris.

Chapter Text

Dib opened his eyes, exhaustion fading as he woke up.

His laptop rested on top of his knees, turned off and cold.

Slightly surprised at how the device managed to not fall off, he placed it on the arm rest next to him.

He noticed a weight on his side, and was pleasantly surprised when he saw GIR cuddled up next to him.

Dib smiled in amusement at the silly robot beside him, before he noticed another, not so nice thing.

Zim was gone.

Suddenly feeling fully awake, he wildly whipped his head around in search of the alien, but to no avail, he wasn't in the room.

Carefully but hastily, he stood from the couch, quickly stopping to listen, or look, for any signs of Zim.

The base was completely silent other than the low hum of the computer that radiated through the rooms.

Wait.

Wasn't the power completely cut off before?

Dib paused to listen to the quiet machinery, it was certainly on, had Zim fixed it?

"Zim? " The human called as he stepped foot in the kitchen.

He stopped for a moment, waiting for a reply, but only received the same low hum from the computer.

"Zim! " Dib repeated, louder than the last, as he looked around the room.

Finally, a sound came.

The scuffling and moving of metal met sounded from the bin, and he eagerly walked towards the object.

A few seconds passed before he heard the hiss of the elevator activating, along with the electric whoosh that followed.

Zim jumped out of the bin, staring at him with big Ruby eyes.

Awkward silence lingered around the room for a few moments.

He stared at the human with a confusion before speaking up,

"Dib? Why are you awake so early? " Zim questioned, antenna perked in confusion.

"I, uh, Just…woke up? " The human trailed, realising he actually had no idea what time it had been when he'd awoken, nor what it was now.

"Did you fix the computer? " Dib blurted, gesturing with his head to the bin that Zim'd came out of a few moments prior.

"Yes! Zim fixed the computer- and the lab! " Zim proudly announced, head high.

"How- How long did it take? " He fumbled, turning his attention to Zim.

The alien thought with a low humm for a few seconds, seeming to calculate the time.

"Around three of your earth hours " He answered, nodding his head.

"Really? " Dib questioned, the lab was really trashed last time he'd seen it.

"Of course! Irkens are much quicker and superior at such tasks. " Zim gloated, claws waving dismissively.

Dib gave him a quizzical stare, and got an annoyed eye roll in return.

"You don't believe Zim? Come see it for yourself then! " He challenged, or more so invited, judging by how he pulled the human in the elevator before he could reply.

Dib tensed with a quiet yelp, half expecting to plummet down a broken elevator.

But he didn't, there was no falling or thumping against metal, just the low hum of the elevator starting up.

He looked around in a sort of amazement, the elevator looked brand new- not that it had been particularly destroyed before or anything, it just looked.. Polished and well, new.

"wow. " Dib whispered under his breath, bearly loud enough to hear, but of course a certain alien did.

A very proud and shit-eating grin made its way onto Zims face as he heard the astonished mumble.

"Very impressive, I know. " he smugly teased, the ping of the elevator stopping following behind his words.

Dib almost scoffed at him, but the sight of the lab threw the urge out the window.

The lab looked as if it'd never been destroyed, everything was untouched and clean.

It made him distantly wonder how the irken had even mended the snapped cords, or the ripped metals.

His amazed trance was cut short by Zim walking forward, eyes floating around the room he'd fixed.

"You see, irkens and their technology are much superior to the technology you humans call 'advanced', " Zim began, gesturing to the various machines around them.

Dib would've argued, but it was so very obvious that Zim was correct, not even his fathers labs could compete.

"Uh huh. " He spoke simply, in neither a taunting, nor annoyed tone.

"Even so, Zim was.. Zim would like to modify your base, with Irken technology. As a th- In return for..helping me. " His words came out slowly, stutters sneaking their way in his sentences as he turned to face, but not look at him.

Dibs' mouth sat slightly agape at the offer, he wanted- he was willingly saying he'd like to give him some of the irken technology.

Maybe it was all a trick, to get revenge for… angering him? Saving him? He wasn't quiet sure, actually.

"W-what? " Is all he could blurt before the alien looked him in the eye, his expression was as if he were cringing, but the look he gave him told a different story.

Suddenly he wasn't so sceptical.

"Yes yes, be so very amazed by my generous offer! " Zim shouted, ruby eyes darting away from his amber ones.

"What kind of 'modifications' would you put in place? " He asked with genuine curiosity.

"Err, I'd… connect a.. Computer to your house system! Yes, I'd connect a version of my computers ai to your base. " The Irken stuttered, sounding half unsure.

"You… sure? That seems like a lot- from you.. " Dib trailer off, trying not to sound like he didn't want the offer- he totally did, an opportunity to research alien tech!

"Zim is always sure! I will install the program when we go back to your base. " He vowed, nodding his antennae for extra measure.

"Now go back to your resting place, human. It's three thirty nine A-M in earth time. " Zim ordered, waving him away.

"What- no! Zim, cmon, I've stayed up later than that! " Dib tried, desperately spreading his arms out in reason.

"Zim does not care, go to sleep. " He ordered again.

"No-"

"Computer! Send the dib-beast to the couch! " Zim interrupted with demand, smirking as the computer groaned, but followed the order.

"Hay-! " Dib wiggled, trying to stop the machine, to no avail.

As he was plopped on the couch, he sighed.

He distantly wondered why Zim had wanted him gone so quickly after his offer, and how he'd told the time without even looking at a clock.

Wanting to test the aliens words, he pulled his phone out, and sure enough,

The bright screen read : '3 : 41 AM' .

His eyes wandered down to his notifications- and his calm, mildly demeanour immediately warped into one of panic and urgency.

A text from Gaz.

" Where are you? "

Ok, so in truth it wasn't that scary.

But even so, he still jumped to reply.

"Sorry spending the night at Zims"

He'd written back, not caring much for the Grammar of the sentence.

He put the phone back after staring at the text for a while, making sure he had not missed anything else important.

Dib let out a relieved sigh, and with the reassurance that Zim wasn't doing anything particularly dangerous- even if mildly suspicious, he felt sleep gnawing at him once more.

And this time, even if a little hesitantly, he fell into the pleads of rest.

Chapter Text

Zim sighed as the human vanished from his sight, his back beginning to burn from his PAK once more.

He didn't want Dib around while he was doing this.

Taking it off with a huff, he stretched.

His vision flashed with his life clock, but Zim ignored it, it was time to get to fixing the thing.

Now, by all means, he was not a PAK technician.

But he'd been a scientist before he became an invader, so he was familiar with the subject of engineering and such.

So he'd have to hope he knew enough from the pre-installed knowledge about PAKs, and his previous engineering knowledge.

What else could he do anyway? He couldn't just call in to get the device looked at, not anymore.

Zim grimaced at his thoughts, trying to brush off the thoughts. He needed to focus.

He reached for a pair of goggles that he often wore when working on machinery.

Grabbing the screw driver from beside him, he undid the 'lid' of the PAK, sliding it off.

The wires in the device were messy and looked undone, making Zim frown.

This was normal, right? PAKs were just normally messy, he wasn't defective.

But, he couldn't help the creeping feeling in his gut.

"Computer, show me a diagram of an average Irken PAK. " He commanded, his voice not a yell, nor a whisper, just a normally said sentence.

"Do I havee tooo? " The program complained, ignoring how uncommon it was to hear Zim speak in a normal tone.

"Yes, do it now! " He clarified, in his very-Zimly tone of yelling.

The computer grumbled, but complied, presenting the Irken with the diagram.

Zims gut churned, it was not normal.

The PAK on screen was clean and well done, its wires smartly straightened in neat formation with the other parts of the device.

His was not.

His PAK was undone, the wires randomly thrown, parts in the wrong place, anything but neat.

Wires were cut where they should be long, and others were long when they should be cut.

It was so different.

He was so different.

Zim frowned, grimaced even.

He hadn't even noticed how he'd been biting down on his tongue until he tasted the sweet, sugaryness of Irken blood swirling in his mouth.

He hadn't noticed the way his Life clock had reached three minutes, the way his body started to weaken.

Until his eyelids started to droop, and his hands started to shake, only then, only then did he notice the alarmingly low time.

Hastily, he redid the PAKs lid, popping the device back into his spine.

The sensation was anything but pleasant, but he wasn't going to die such an undeserving death.

Letting his body recharge for a few minutes before he restarted the process, he looked at the room.

The room that he'd done in three hours, knowing it would've been quicker if he hadn't had to take off his PAK every thirty minutes because the device would start to heat up.

He let out a little sigh, popped off the PAK once more, and refocused.

He'd be normal.

He could fix this, right?

He shook his head, focusing on re-ordering the wires and parts first.

Zim lined the coloured wiring in straight, neat ways that resembled the PAK on the screen.

He knew it wasn't perfect, but it'll have to do.

Continuing, he picked carefully at the misplaced parts, delicately moving them to the correct area.

The PAK was a complicated device, layers of wires and parts for the first half of the thing, and the last half was where the spider-like legs were stored, along with any other tools, tablet-like devices, switch outs for the legs, like guns and lasers, and other small gadgets that he'd stored in the space.

That's why he needed to be careful, to not mess things up. One small wrong cut, or accidentally breaking the smallest parts, could easily break, or severely damage a PAK.

Zims antennae vibrated and buzzed, creating a low hum that he usually emits without knowing when focused or thinking.

It was calming, in a way.

The low humming in the background of the most stressful task an Irken could be doing.

Most wouldn't even dare to touch their PAKs, in fear of breaking the thing.

But Zim wasn't like that.

He knew most Irken would break under the pressure of getting everything right.

Especially without ever studying the PAKs technology.

But not him.

He wouldn't break.

Zim couldn't break, not under a task like this. Any who did were obviously weaker.

But he had already broken long ago. And he wasn't even going to acknowledge the fact. He wouldn't.

He tried, he really did try not to feel defeated by the way his PAK was so… different.

But it was slowly biting at his ego, destroying any confidence about himself left.

Glancing at his life timer, he repeated the routine of popping the PAK back on.

Sighing at the realisation that this was going to become a common occurrence into the next hour or two.

But even so, he pushed on.

He'll push on until the PAK that he held in his hands, and the PAK on screen matched.

And he did.

But it didn't look the same.

All the wires, the parts, were all In the correct place.

Everything was identical.

Except it wasn't.

Something, just something, something wasn't right.

There was nothing out of place, but he still found something off about it.

He'd even fixed his PAK legs, they worked effortlessly now.

But it was just different.

Would that always be how it is?

Would he always be different?

No matter how much he changed?

His eyes squinted into angered slits, no. He wouldn't be.

He'd change. He'd be normal, he would fix himself.

Placing the newly adjusted PAK onto his back, he stretched as the life clock disappeared from his vision.

Now, any Irken would've called it a day.

But Zim wasn't finished, not yet.

He knew this was extremely forbidden for any Irken that aren't PAK technicians, or of course the Tallest.

But if he wanted to be completely normal, he had to.

"C-computer, open my PAKs files- I need to… check them. " Zim stumbled, his sentence nervous and unsure.

He felt guilty for this. He didn't know why, he was doing the right thing, fixing himself..

"Are you sure, master? It would be unwise, tampering with the PAKs code could result in fatal errors, along with it being highly illegal on Irk. " The computer reasoned, with no sassiness in his voice.

"I.. I need to do this. Connect my PAK! " He dismisses the warnings.

"Alright, if you say so. "

A thick tube-like wire connected onto his PAK, and after a few moments, a screen appeared in Zims face.

The screen was bright and had many different options and words.

He scanned the screen, not knowing where to start, he tapped on a folder titled 'Attributes'.

The folder opened, revealing many more files.

One in particular caught his eye, the 'emotion' folder.

Clicking on it, he was immediately faced with a graph of his emotion levels.

First was his pride, which he smirked at, hoping it was accurate.

Then his anger, a bit higher than he'd expected, but anger is always seen as good in an Irken!

But then was sadness, why was it even there?

Turns out, it was very closely levelled with anger.

"Why is the sadness so high? " Zim blurted in disbelief, surely it was wrong.

"I dunno, you're just really sad I guess. " The computer Hummed.

"Silence! " He shouted.

Turning back, he analysed the screen, there was an option to look into more emotional data, an emotion stabiliser, that was turned off, and-

"Is that a loyalty enforcer?" He almost yelled, there had to be a mistake, maybe it just looked alike.

"Seems like it " The computer confirmed his worries.

"What? But those are only used on inferior foreign species!" Zim blabbled.

"Yep, and it's cranked up much higher than it usually is on the average foreign species. " The machine showed the surprised Irken the percentage.

Zim gasped at the pop up- 200%!

Even the most rebellious species only get up to 150%, why was his so high? He was one of the most loyal of his kind!

His eyes widened, maybe that was why.

Does this mean he isn't loyal without it? Impossible!

"Turn that thing off! " Zim shouted urgently, antennae perked.

"kay' " The computer complied, turning off the enforcer.

Zim froze, eyes widened as his spine made a cold shiver.

He felt… different.

Something was right, or maybe wrong. Changed.

It was as if he'd broken out of chains, the invisible bounds that held him back.

He felt.. Free.

And he didn't feel guilty.

He didn't think he did.

He felt like himself, it was funny really.

For many, many centuries, he'd lived thinking that he was his fullest self. But he wasn't.

He hasn't ever been, not until now.

It was actually kind of sad.

Ever since his PAK was placed on him- that over enforcer PAK, he'd never been himself, always restricted.

The tallest had done that.

The realisation shook him, the Tallest, the leaders of his species- his leaders, had encoded him to forever be loyal.

Was it the same for every Irken? Did they all have higher loyalty enforcer percentages than the species that we enslave?

Or was he the only one?

Was he the only one who had enforcers, or was he the only one who had such a high percentage?

He felt so confused.

Too many questions, not enough answers.

His face scrunched up, anger swirling Inside him.

Why had they done this to him?

His claws dug into the metal of the counter, making him recoil, he knew from last time, not to let his emotions destroy his base.

Huffing an angered breath, he sighed.

He'll have plenty of time to be angry later.

Turning his attention back to the screen, he looked everything over.

Not much more was in there, so he opted for a different folder.

His antennae twitched annoyingly as he tried to focus, his mind still fogged with confusion and questions.

Zim ended up choosing the file titled 'Anatomy '.

This folder opened to reveal more folders, and he stared at the irken symbols in search of something, anything..

He curiously opened the 'height' section, not seeking any interest in the others for now.

It opened to a diagram of different Irkens- particularly measuring the heights.

First was the Smaller, represented by a service drone.

Second was the average, or more so, the acceptable height of an Irken, he took note of how his height laid around this point.

Third was the Taller, represented by a (tall) military Irken.

Then, forth and last, where Tallest. Represented of course by the current tallest, he frowned slightly.

Maybe if he had grown just a bit taller, he'd be more respected by them.

Maybe then they would have seen he didn't at all need a loyalty enforcer.

He looked around the screen, a option for a more detail, stats of his height, and-

A height setting.

Well, it was actually the amount of hormones released, but it might have well been a height setting.

The higher the amount of hormones, the taller his body would grow.

This was his chance!

Clicking on the redirecting button, he was shown a sort of moveable bar, representing the hormone levels.

It also had a typeable setting, for more precise measurements.

Biting his lip, he took a look at where his currently sat, and was surprised at how low the bar was.

Well to be fair, it was actually just one third under the halfway point, but he still thought it was pretty low.

His claws trembled slightly as he reached to adjust the bar, he wondered how fast it'd work.

He'd never studied Irken anatomy, other than the information already provided in his PAK- but he'd assume he'd probably have to take this stuff slowly…Right?

That's how humans worked.

But he was Irken.

And they were different, but by how much?

He shook his head, they were literally from different planets galaxies away.

Their appetites were completely different, their appearance, lifestyle, life span, there were too many differences.

But it still seemed logical.

Irken were superior species and were fast healers and such, but they were still organisms- they weren't completely invincible.

So he'd take what he did know rather than what he didn't.

Sliding the bar up slightly, enough to make a difference, but not enough to make it a drastic one.

Satisfied with his findings, he made one more search before he'd stop.

Clicking out of the hormone adjuster, he took a look at what else laid in the folder.

There wasn't quite too much..

Not anything that would majorly help his situation- all things he could come back to later, but he only wanted the things he needed now.

Tapping out, he spotted the thing he needed.

The 'ranking' file.

He didn't actually need it, but he was too curious to save it for later.. Would he still be ranked an invader even though…

He opened the folder, his breath held when he saw his rank.

"Food-drone? " Zim breathed, his expression defeated and almost hurt.

He frowned. He knew he wasn't an invader anymore, but he wasn't a food drone!

He scavenged the page for anything that could help- but his mind seemed to buzz out every letter and symbol he tried to read.

"Computer, remove me of that filthy rank. " He finally demanded after a while of looking with dazed eyes.

"You will be rankless, sir. " The machine hummed with point.

Zim opened his mouth to speak, but found that he didn't know if he wanted that.

Would being rankless really be worth it? He'd completely leave the empire!

But.. It was so much better than being labelled as a food drone.

Maybe if the tallest called him back.. They'd realise they've made a mistake. They'd re-rank him.

"Do it." He decided with a sure nod, expression unreadable.

The computer hummed for a few seconds, before he saw the rank reload, replaced with rankless.

"Done." The computer assured.

"Good! Now save everything and unconnect my PAK. This is finished for now" Zim demanded with a satisfied click.

"Aight' " The computer sighed as he undid the PAK and took away the screen.

He stretched, yawning as he made his was to the elevator, maybe now that things were fixed, he wouldn't have such a strange dream again.

Chapter Text

Gaz stared at the game console that sat in her hands, looking over the start screen.

She pressed the play button without much thought, it was basically muscle memory at this point.

Her hands seemed to fly effortlessly over the screen, allowing her mind to wander as the game progressed.

The house was quiet, apart from the quiet buzz of her gameslave two at least.

It wasn't unusual, her father wasn't around much anymore. Too busy with his work.

But she guessed was used to hearing the humming from her brother's computers and his loud monologues he'd vow to no one but himself.

It was nice, not having to hear his annoying loud voice, it reminded her of the various other days he'd spent out.

It wasn't common, but not uncommon either, for Dib to not come home until very late, or sometimes, not till morning.

She'd never paid too much attention to what he did on those nights, whether it be hunting some weird Cryptid, ghost, or gazing up into the stars with his laptop, searching with his glassed eyes for alien life.

Or of course, chasing the alien life he'd found.

Considering recent events, it was probably the last factor.

Though, she had a feeling it wasn't quite chasing. The room she'd walked into least morning wasn't hostile at all, dare she say the opposite.

The bandages on his bed, that were also dressed along Zim's undisguised green body, and the way Dib had swept in when she asked about what happened to him.

She wasn't at all sure what happened between the two, but considering the burnt green skin, and the worried glances, she knew it was something.. Different for them.

It could've been a fight, it wasn't too far-fetched, but she felt that Dib would've been standing with a proud posture and gloating about a victory if it were the case.

And it's not like Zim could've won, not only judging by his injuries, but the way he acted as well. He was known to be loud and obnoxious, and totally would've rubbed a victory in Dibs face.

But no, the Zim she'd witnessed was more reserved, quiet and almost depressed.

Gaz was usually decently efficient in finding out what happened to her brother, but this admittedly was harder to figure out.

Dib would tend to spew words out in a hasted tone, speaking about whatever mystery he was supposedly solving.

But he didn't, not this time.

He hadn't rambled about anything that happened between the two, he hadn't ever since Zim had shown up.

No, no. It had started before that, not buy much, but it had started the night before she'd found them.

Something that happened while he was out of the house that afternoon.

When she'd walked into Dib's empty room, the window opened, after she'd heard a crashing sound from just outside.

She remembered hearing their father scolding him for getting in a fight, Dib trying to defend himself, and then the loud echo of his door slamming.

Then of course, the obnoxiously loud thump from below his bedroom.

The thought made her want to roll her eyes, he was so terrible at hiding the fact he's sneaking out. He was lucky that only Gaz paid mind to the sound, their dad was too busy with whatever science stuff he always did.

And she wouldn't ignore how loud he was getting back in, she would've barged right in if it wasn't for the way his hushed voice spoke in ways that were so unDibly.

If it wasn't for the way that another voice joined in, quieter and more cracked than the other.

She'd pretended not to hear, that she was fast asleep, for once being grateful for their dad for being too busy with his stuff.

Gaz sighed, her brother truly was more trouble than he was worth.

But, even so, she wouldn't admit this out loud, but she didn't mind the trouble.

Well, ok, maybe she did.

But it was entertaining sometimes, to eat breakfast with your nerdy brother who's telling you about his adventures.

It was annoying, but in a way, it was nice. It was like having a book read to you, even if it's not a genre you like, it's still cool to just listen to.

She wasn't really sure why she was fussing so much about him.

Gaz wasn't too worried about her brother, the worst he could do is come back super early and wake her up.

But she should probably text anyway.

She reached for her phone, it was 2:38 AM, decently late, but Dib would probably still be awake.

' Where are you? '

Gaz sent the message through, shutting the phone off once again afterwards.

Turning her attention back to the console in her hands, she smirked to see she'd moved up a few levels already.

It took around an hour in her dazed thinking and game playing before he replied.

It was 3:42 AM now, Gaz wasn't overly surprised by his late reply, it was likely he was just doing one of his random nerdy things.

'Sorry spending the night at Zims"

She lightly chuckled at her brother's lack of concern for his grammar, before taking the message in.

Spending the night at Zim's huh? So much for being enemy's.

She smiled, stretching as she finally turned her gameslave two off. She admittedly felt a little more at ease knowing her stupid brother wasn't getting killed or something.

Curling up in her bed, her plushies watching the room, Gaz closed her eyes and let sleep sink in.

Chapter Text

Zim sipped at the soda in his claws, it was late, but he held no desire to rest.

Maybe he should go back and fix more of his PAK, it'd make use of the time.

Yet he felt little desire for that either, he wasn't even sure why.

He wanted to fix every error in his PAK, but found himself reluctant to finish it just yet.

Zim tapped the can, its metallic beat echoing quietly.

He had a lot of free time now.

It was actually kind of worse, he liked doing things, he liked not having free time.

He liked to be fulfilling task every second of the day, to have purpose.

Having all of that replaced with essentially nothing, it made a weird kind of haze.

Haze, yes. A haze, that's what all of this was.

His enemy was sleeping on his couch. Zim was letting him.

Zim was inviting him, even.

How strange. Just a few days ago, they'd been at each other's throats, and now?

Dib was helping him. He didn't even know why, did he pity him?

He hated when people pitied him. All the fake empathy, pretending to care.

It made him feel smaller, like some sort of smeet.

Zim's antennae were flattened, he felt weird.

It was probably because of the changes to his PAK, yeah.

The loyalty enforcer.. Why had the Tallest put one on him, was a question he had no answers for.

He let out a groan, everything was getting confusing.

His PAK had looked so different from the normal ones, and he didn't even know if he'd fixed that.

He could only hope, he supposed.

Zim took a large gulp of the liquid, his claws firmly wrapped around the can, leaving dents.

It had only been an hour or so, it was around 5:18 AM.. So two. Yeah.

Should he wake up Dib? No, no. His inferior body probably needed the rest.

GIR would make too much noise, perhaps he should just watch something.

He'd put the volume on low, subtitles were always on anyway.

Zim carefully walked into the lounge room, glancing at the two sleeping figures.

"Computer, turn on the TV… and put..er, something on. " He commanded in Irken, a preferable language when he was trying to be quiet, as it was just a combination of hissed and clicks.

"Do I haave to" The Computer complained, matching his quiet toned irken.

"Yes! " Zim hissed, sitting at the foot of the couch.

The television soon buzzed to life, making Zim hissed for the computer to turn the volume down.

"... What do you want me to put on? " Computer asked generally.

"... Err, I don't know! Anything. " He waved carelessly, before pausing.

"Not that weird monkey show that GIR likes, though. " He added.

The TV flashed with a few images for a moment, before settling on a random cartoony styled video.

The screen showed colourful ponies, and even though the volume was low, he could see how cheery it was.

He didn't really care though, anything to pass the time.

"Zim? " A groggy voice cut through his focus on the TV.

Zim turned around to see Dib, and he hummed in response.

"What.. What are you watching? " The human asked, his tone slightly surprised as he glances at the screen.

"Eh.. " He turned to the screen again, what was this show?

He shrugged, both at himself and Dib.

He shook his head, turning back to the Irken.

"Ok.. What time is it? " Dib genuinely asked, sitting up carefully.

Zim thought for a moment, it was.. 10 : 03 AM.

Wow.

"I-It's 10 : 03 AM right now. " He fuddled, almost speaking in Irken once more.

How long had he been watching this?

"Oh, " Dib mumbled, realising he'd slept in.

He stood off the ground, stretching his limbs before turning to the Human.

"You need your.. Eh, 'breakfast' meal now, yes? " Zim asked, trying to ignore the awkwardness that always swirled the air around them.

"Oh, yeah I guess. What do you have? " Dib chirped, stretching too.

"Mm, well Zim has waffles-"

"Waffles?? " A loud robotic voice suddenly cheered, cutting off the Aliens sentence.

Zim groaned, annoyed.

"Yes GIR, we have waffles. " He continued, waving his claws dismissively.

"We uh.. " Zim paused as he faced Dib once more.

"I think GIR also got pancakes. " He concluded with a nod, he didn't really have much human food in his base.

"... Unless you want to try Zim's Irken food! " He smirked, antennae perked confidently.

Dib looked like he debated for a second, before shaking his head.

"Very tempting.. But knowing my luck I'll probably get food poisoning from it. " The human loudly sighed, glancing at GIR, who was now indulging in the show on the screen.

"Waffles sound good? " Dib offered, smiling awkwardly.

"Ok, " Zim clicked for a moment, before deciding he doesn't trust GIR not making hundreds of batches of waffles.

Zim walked into the kitchen, hands darting around to find the supplies he needed.

The packet of what GIR called 'Store waffles', And one of his superior Irken cooking devices, it was suited for much sweeter things, but it would still work.

Ah, and also the syrup. Or should he do honey? He was never sure of what GIR used.

Syrup seemed like a better choice.

He plopped the waffles into the machine, only taking a few seconds before it finished with a quiet click.

He placed them onto plates, one for him, one for Dib. He liked waffles when there wasn't so much soap in them.

Passing the plate to Dib, they sat at the table, next to each other.

The bottle of syrup was placed in front of both of them, Dib was the first to began layering his in the sweet substance.

Then Zim did, he used a lot more that the human.

They ate in near complete silence, other than the occasional small talk, the few minutes were soundless.

"Don't you need to go back to your house soon? " Zim suddenly asked, antennae bobbing slightly.

"Oh! I almost forgot. Yeah, we should go there soon.. * Dib sputtered, picking up his finished plate and putting it on the counter, just as Zim had.

" mm, yes… Computer! Clean these dishes! " The Irken commanded, he usually did it himself, but figured skipping it once wouldn't hurt.

The machine groaned, but complied. Taking the plates with small claw-like tools.

"We can go now. Just let Zim get his disguise on.. " He fuddled with the wig and contacts as he put them on.

Walking into the lounge room to retrieve his outfit, he slightly smiled at the small robot paying all its attention to the TV.

Throwing on the pink material, his antennae perked as he recalled what he'd promised the night before.

Biting back a small sigh, he called for his Computer to bring him the tools he would need. In Irken, it felt needed.

Once he had everything gatehred, he stepped back into the kitchen.

"Why didn't you go get your stuff? " Zim perked brow at the human.

"I was waiting? You were getting dressed so.. * Dib trailed, looking slightly embarrassed.

" I'll go get everything packed up." He hastily left the room to get his things, leaving Zim standing, amused.

He smirked as he peeked into the room, watching him scramble to pack his belongings away.

It didn't take long, only a few minutes before they were both standing at the front door.

"You ready to leave? " Dib inquired, facing him briefly.

"Zim is always ready! " he vowed with pride.

"Er.. Actually.. Computer! Keep an eye on GIR! Don't let him mess up the base! " Zim spat orders, before he turned back to Dib with a nod.

The human opened the door, and they both set off, bright sun brushing against their figures.

Chapter Text

Gaz groggily willed her eyes to open, a loud repeated sound attacking her ears.

The knocking continued as she slumped out of her bed, annoyed scowl carving onto her face.

She swore, she was going to make whoever woke her up pay.

She went down the stairs with heavy footsteps, she was still in her pyjamas, but she knew she could look just as threatening with them.

Approaching the door, she found her steps slowing, hesitating.

Two muffled voices seemed to argue outside the door, it was impossible to make anything out over the continued knocking, though.

But she could recognize those voices from miles away.

It was her brother and Zim.

She sighed, gaze softening slightly as she opened the door, Zim's fist retreating at a surprisingly fast rate.

"D-Dib-sister! We have returned! " The alien somewhat greeted, his stance slightly tense, and very formal.

Gaz perked a brow, did he change his disguise?

"Hi Gaz" Dib shortly waved, sheepishly smiling.

"You're lucky I'm not in the mood to deal with the fact you both just woke me up. " It was a lie, she totally was in the 'mood'. But something compelled her to go easy on the two idiots.

Zim made a squirmish, nervous laugh at her response.

She rolled her eyes, stepping aside so the two could come in.

They scuffled in, the alien seemed to pause for a moment before mumbling something to Dib.

Gaz was slightly annoyed by this, but didn't speak up about it, simply pulling out her Game Slave 2.

Don't ask where it came from. She didn't completely know either, all that mattered was that it was there.

"Uh, Gaz? " Her brother spoke up, hesitantly glancing towards Zim.

"Hm? " Gaz grunted, giving him a soft nod for further assurance.

"You know how Zim's base has… his computer- AI thing? " He made a wavy gesture with his hands, trying to add some emphasis on the description.

"Yeah? " She slightly tilted her head up, still half focusing on the console in her hands.

"Well, he's gonna install it in our house- it's the same AI, so it'll act just as the original one does. " Dib explained, sounding half confused about it himself.

She was a little surprised he didn't seem to have any scepticism, maybe he'd already done his nerdy checks or whatever.

"Ok." Gaz dismissively shrugged, she didn't really care.

He made a quick nod to the alien, before they headed into the lounge room.

Gaz followed, probably much to their surprise, honestly, she didn't really know why, maybe she was just bored.

She sat on the couch, paying little mind to what the other two were doing.

After a few annoyingly loud, repetitive bangs, she finally peeked over at them.

Zim was… doing something to their TV? She supposed he was installing the AI.

He seemed to explain, maybe teach? Dib while he did it. Gaz wasn't too surprised, he'd always been a nerd for this stuff.

It was a long while until all was done. But she assumed it was quick, for human standards at least.

Zim had installed all of his computer's AI. All of it, she wasn't one to praise, but she would acknowledge the Aliens skill.

Admittedly, she'd zoned out on her game for most of it.

Gaz wasn't really into all the Alien-Tech or whatever. From what little information she'd gathered, Zim's species usually didn't install gaming software on their devices. So yeah, she didn't really care.

She did still follow them around the house, only when they got out of her view.

She'd told Dib it was because she wanted to make sure they didn't destroy the house while she wasn't watching. Which was true, but not the only reason.

Gaz didn't care much about what happened between the two, yes, but in a way, she was also a little curious.

So she stayed in ear shot, and every now and then she'd glance and observe the two.

She liked to keep track of things, whether it be how much her brother and his so-called enemy are willing to fight, or how willing they were to destroy the house.

"Look amongst Zim's mighty Irken-AI! " The alien called, confidence radiating off his loud words.

Gaz looked up, if she's gonna be honest, not too much changed visually.

But she'd seen enough to know there was, infact, an 'Irken-AI' in the house.

"Cool" she commented, knowing that even if Zim wouldn't admit it, the announcement was aimed at her.

She knew damn well Dib had already praised his head off with small comments like "so cool! ", " woah! ".

And the Alien would eat the words up as if they were his last meal.

It was kind of funny how much he desired positive attention, honestly.

Zim smirked, even if the compliment was small, he took it as if he'd just won a first place medal.

Her brother, on the other hand, was gazing over some of the exposed machinery with a wowed expression.

Gaz smiled slightly at the scene.

" Yes, yes! Be impressed by the all mighty Zim! " He vowed gleefully, luckily more so at Dib.

He talked a lot. Almost as much as her brother.

"So what do we have access to? Is it the same as yours, or? " speaking of her brothers rambling.

"Well, of course I had to adjust and just some things. I would've changed the signal from my own, but it's nearly impossible to do without hiring a proper Irken engineer, or ordering a new model. " Zim started his explanation, making Gaz bite back a sigh.

"So, unfortunately, some of Zim's privacy is taken. You will receive any signal-sent notifications, just as I would. This includes calls, messages.. So on! " and he continued.

"I would highly advise against answering any calls through your system unless I, Zim! Demands. There will be consciences If you defy me." The Alien threatened, his tone lowering at the last sentence.

"Oh " Dib mumbled, seeming sort of suprised at the access.

She mentally rolled her eyes, so basically we can see his private messages? Well, he said specifically notifications. And Zim's one to be quite literal.

So we can see when, and probably who, or where? The person sending the things are. Their 'signal' maybe?

She sort of mentally shrugged, it didn't really matter. She had no internations on snooping in whatever conversations Zim was having, that was more of a Dib thing.

" Well now that everything… here is finished, wanna, I dunno, watch a movie? " Her brother offered as he stood up properly.

"Zim will accompany you with watching these human movies. " The alien affirmed, speaking in his usual, weirdly worded sentences.

"I don't care," Gaz shrugged openly, In a way more hinting at yes than no.

Dib nodded with a grin as he walked back into the living room.

Gaz and Zim followed him, she still held her console in her hands as she walked.

Once they'd all sat down, Dib grabbed the remote and started scrolling through some movies.

"... Any suggestions? " He asked, slightly desperate.

"Horror." She smirked at her brother.

He glanced at the alien besides him, who said nothing, before following and clicking into the horror section.

A little bit of scrolling later, and they've found a decent looking movie to watch.

"Does your filthy base have snacks? " Zim spoke up, she couldn't really remember when he'd taken off his wig and contacts, but they were gone, antennae perked in question.

"Yeah, in the kitchen. " Dib informed with a gesture.

"Zim shall collect the snacks! " He announced before jumping off the couch and running towards the kitchen.

Gaz quietly grunted in amusement.

She knew now was probably not the time to ask but, she was curious.

"Dib, what was with all those burns on Zim the other day? " She kept her voice steady and demanding, acting as if she was unaware of how sensitive the topic seemed to be.

And ignoring the fact the burns were still visible.

Her brother sucked in a sharp breath, he looked to be biting his lip.

It seemed like hours of tension before he sighed and gave in.

"He tried to kill himself, Gaz. '' Dib spoke in such a low, yet such a loud mumble that she almost didn't completely register it.

He what?

She knew something bad had happened but… to say she wasn't exactly expecting it to be this extreme would be an understatement.

it could've just been a fight that got too personal, or something.

But, a failed suicide.

She just didn't expect it from someone like Zim, she guessed.

" Oh. " She finally mustered out the mumble. She didn't want it to seem like she didn't hear, or was ignoring him.

It was surprising, but not shocking.

It was unexpected, but not completely far-fetched, it wasn't a lie. She could tell.

"Zim his back! With snacks! " The alien's vow broke her out of her thoughts.

Turning to him to see a large stack of packets and such in his arms.

Well, he certainly did have snacks.

Chapter Text

The Tallest stood in the Massive, the usual quiet chitters and small buzzings of the machinery in the background.

They stood straight as an incoming call popped up in front of them, Red sighing slightly.

"Answer it! " Tallest Purple ordered, his voice bubbly as ever.

Complying, the submission blared onto the holographic screen.

An Irken with greyish-blue irises, light off-white pupils and a strange looking spot under his left eye stood straight in front of them, wearing a scientist uniform.

"Irken scientist, Beo reporting in. " The figure now known as Beo saluted, curled antennae stood formally.

The tallest shared a glance, a light shrug, before Beo continued.

"I have found the desired results from my last assigned task, " He paused, seeming to note the slightly confused expression on Reds' face.

"T-the search for more planets with resources that could be used for snack production, my Tallest? " Beo reminded carefully, antennae now resting just above his shoulders.

"Ah yes, yes. Continue. " Tallest Red affirmed with a small nod, along with Purple.

"I've found a variety of planets meeting the requirements, though I found three in particular that stand out with richer, and sweeter resources. " The scientist informed, pulling out a tablet-like device that showed diagrams of three planets, he tapped into one.

The orb was a dusty, pinkish colour, with spots of a more saturated ruby colour splattered around it.

"This is 'Orue'. Home to the Oruecs, a relatively early civilization. The planet's surface is covered in Sucrose, a compound found in sugar. '' Beo explained, zooming in on the area.

"These darker parts are crystal-like, natural structures that are primarily made of fructose. On my mission to collect samples, I found there's an outer layer that's solid, with a syrup-like solution in the crystallised shell. Fructose in particular is much sweeter than sucrose, but both are important compounds. " He gestured to a small pink crystal in his claws, cracking it to show the liquid inside.

The Irken scientist took a glance at the screen, taking a breath at Red's nod and Purple's interested expression, before putting the sample away.

He pulled up a different diagram, the sphere had a greeny-blue colour, with two lighter stripes of colour cutting through the surface, like a river. It had splotches of dark green and purplish blue's around the space.

"A-and this Planet is 'Squol', it's Inhabited by Squolie, an unintelligent species. While this orb may look uninteresting, its dirt and general undergrounds are rich in resources. Majority of the soil contains lots of sugar, and not to mention that various of the trees and plants grow sweet, candy-like fruits that would make excellent snacks. " Beo held a weirdly shaped item, it was a light yellow colour with a glassy look.

"These are some of the samples I've taken from the plants and such. " He placed the yellow fruit on an observation deck close to the screen, along with three others.

Besides the first item was a dark red sphere that seemed to be coated in sugar, or something of the like.

Then there was a tealish-green, leaf-looking plant. It had speckles of white all over, less than the red fruit- and more spaced out.

The last item was in a weird shape similarly to the first, but this one was an orange kinda colour, with the same glossed over look. Except this one seemed to have some tiny bits of sugar along it's surface, bearly noticeable, but there.

Tallest Purple hummed, sipping on the darkly coloured soda in his hand.

"You see, these organic foods are naturally sweet, though they could already make promising snacks- they obviously could be made better. " Beo placed the tray of fruits out of view, before turning back to the Tallest.

He swiped the tablet, clicking into a different planet.

It was similar in colour to Orue, but more saturated and purple. Instead of small dots, it seemed to have a clean surface with swirls of darker colour, along with two bright golden rings around the orb.

"This planet goes by the name 'Eirro', only a small civilization of Intelligent life forms take habitat here, called Eirroons. Without many species-built structures, it's all mainly natural. The surface doesn't have much, but underground, there's many layers of crystallised fructose that would be extremely useful for snack production. " The Irken scientist presented a piece of the solidified solution.

Placing it down, he stood formally once more, looking at the two tall figures.

"Very good, Beo. Your work is satisfactory, we'll take these planets into consideration for the next set of Invaders and such. " Tallest Red nodded, antennae perked.

"Mm' yes. " Tallest Purple nodded along.

The tall Irkens turned their attention back to the screen.

"Well if that's all, we'll contact you about your next task soon. " Red finished, looking at the Irken.

"W-wait, my Tallest. " Beo called, hesitance lingering in his voice.

"Hm? " Tallest Purple inquired.

"W-While I was researching this task, I decided to do some extra work. I looked not only for resources, but also for intelligent species that could be potentially inslaved and used to make snacks for the Irken empire. " He gestured with his hands to nothing in particular, antennae perked in anticipation.

"Go on, " Red nodded, allowing the Irken to explain.

Beo relaxed slightly, pulling up a diagram of a strange looking species.

"I found lots that could be trained, but I wanted to look for life that already knew how to make things like snacks. Unfortunately, there isn't too many species that meet those requirements. " The scientist sighed slightly, but continued.

"But nonetheless, I did find around ten species close to the Massive's line of movement. Though I ventured further and found two species that are excellent at baking, but they are many, many thousand of lightyears away. "

"B-but! I promise it would be worth it to enslave such species, even if they're so far away. I'll explain. " Beo swallowed, formally straightened as he waited, incase the Tallest interjected.

They didn't, merely giving him a curious glance and a nod.

"Firstly, these guys are called 'puorle', though their planet doesn't have resources nearly as sweet as others, they're excellent at cooking things such as candies and snacks. I assure, given the right resources, they'd make delicious treats. " He vowed, gesturing to the picture on his tablet.

The creature shown had a light brown furred body, it stood upright with digitigrade-type legs that ended with hooves. It had two sets of arms, one was larger, on top. The other was smaller and beneath the first, both had five fingers that ended in claw-like nails, almost flat digits present of each. It had a short muzzle, with nostrils, a sharp jaw, and its face generally short furred. Decently sized, completely white glassy eyes, along with thin folded ears that went upwards, almost looking like horns. It seemed to have a thin, short tail with the fur longest at the end.

Bro took a breath before continuing, replenishing his formal posture.

"And this is called a 'Human', their population is larger than the majority of the species on their planet, 'Earth'. The-"

"Earth? " Tallest Red interjected in disbelief, turning to the Irken next to him.

"Zim's planet! " Purple almost shouted, spitting out the soda he'd been siping.

The Tallest eyes were wide, antennae struck up in a truly shocked display.

Beo's mouth hung open slightly , the air was suddenly quiet at their leader's reaction, as if the atmosphere itself was hushing everything.

"Y-yes my Tallest. T-that would be Earth, where you'd sent Zim to. " He stumbled, gloved hands pulling away from his tablet that now displayed a Human.

The scientist fidgeted slightly, his claws embraced with a light taping.

"I-I see that you are not so fond of the idea. T-though, I do hope my other research proves helpful. Scientist Beo signing off. " He finished rather hastily, saluting before the screen buzzed off.

The two figures stood, still frozen from surprise as they stared at where the transmission was.

Red shook his head, grumbling as he ran a claw over his face.

Purple blinked, turning to his partner as if to ask 'what now?'.

He turned his head away from the air question, he didn't know.

The purple eyed Irken looked slightly distraught, or maybe disappointed, Red couldn't quite tell.

The planet that they'd originally marked so useless that they didn't even bother to actually look at what was on it- that they'd cared so little that they sent a defective, delusional Irken there just because they didn't want to deal with him.

And of course, just short of three days after they'd cut him off, it's revealed that, hay! That planet could be super useful.

Red half wished they hadn't interrupted, so he would at least know how capable those Humans were.

But, even so, what would they do?

What do they do?

What now?

He sucked in a tight breath, antennae shot down in displeasure.

He knew, he had an idea of what to do.

"We could call him… He's stupid. Maybe he'll believe us if we said it was a joke.." Tallest Red whispered to the Irken next to him.

Purples antennae perked slightly.

"But then, we'll have to deal with him calling us every day. "

Red hummed consideringly, maybe they could just send a different invader?

No, that wouldn't work.

"... We'd get more snacks, though? " He tried, not too sure of his own words.

Purple sighed, antenna falling back.

"Yeah. Yeah I guess so, alright, we'll call him. " The tall Irken agreed hesitantly, glancing at the stars from the windshield.

"... Soon. "

Red nodded, turning to look at the galaxies himself.

They'd call Zim.

Soon.

Chapter Text

Zim cackled, pointing to the TV.

"Foolish humans! " he barked, referring to the horror movie that was blared across the screen.

Two people walked through an eerily dark hallway, towards where the killer had been seen in the last shot.

Dib giggled, though he looked tired.

How late was it? Humans have to rest when it gets late, right?

The Irken, still with a smirk, scanned the room. Well it was dark, and the Dib-sister had already left halfway through this movie.

Zim paused, how many of these movies had they watched?

He mentally shrugged, probably didn't matter.

His attention was pulled back to the screen as the computer program he'd installed earlier spoke up, a pop up appearing on the TV.

" Tallest are callin'." The program informed with a bored tone.

What?

Zim froze, antennae shot up in a supposed manner.

The tallest were calling him.

"W-what? Answer it! " He found himself jumping off the couch hastily, wiping himself down of any crumbs.

The Irken stood formally as the call connected, a strange unease settling in his squeedlyspooch.

"M-my tallest! " Zim blurted as the two figures appeared on the screen, he wasn't sure if he was supposed to speak first. His leaders rarely called him, it was usually the other way around.

Well, it used to be the other way around.

He shook off the thought, focusing on the red and purple Irken that blared on the screen.

"Zim… where are you? " Tallest Purple squinted an eye, reminding him that this was not his base.

"Oh- uh, " he whipped his head around the space quickly, merely scanning the area.

"Whatever. Zim, we uh.. You know our last call? " Tallest red began, hesitancy lingering on his voice.

The small Irken swallowed. That call…

"Yes, my tallest. " Zim affirmed, his voice ever so slightly deflated, and his eyes just slightly less focused than before.

The two Irken on the screen exchanged a glance.

"Well, it was a… " Tallest red paused.

"...A test! Yes, we were merely testing your loyalty to the Irken empire. " Purple quickly added, with a small smile on his face.

He bit the inside of his mouth, why… Why did this sound so fake? Why didn't they sound serious?

No, he shouldn't doubt his tallest, he was probably just making things up.

"Oh! " Zim felt guilty, he had to force his antennae to perk. Irk, he really needed to be more grateful.

The tallest were giving him another chance, after all.

"Yes! I knew the Tallest wouldn't abandon Irks best invader! … I did.. Pass right? " He found his words sounded weird, not vocally, just the words he spoke. They didn't sound correct, in fact, everything felt a little strange.

"Yes yes, of course. " Red lazily gestured, rolling his eyes.

"We want you to continue your… er, invasion. " The purple eyed Irken offered, well more commanded he supposed.

His invasion… right. That's what he was here for.

"O-of course my tallest! An invader like myself could easil-"

"What? " An annoying, much too familiar voice chimed in.

Dib.

Zim turned around to the human, attempting a scowl, but had a feeling it looked all too nervous.

"Go away. Human. " Zim hissed quietly, antennae falling into the unsure, flattened position that he'd been trying to keep away.

"No! Zim, I thought you were done with all this! " Dib wildly gestured to the screen, where his tallest stood with confused, but amused expressions.

"I'm Zim! Zim is an invader, invaders invade! They don't stop. " Why were his claws trembling?

He scrunched his hands into a fist, trying to hide the way they shook. It wasn't because of anger, so what was it?

"B-but you're not! You're not an invader! They're liars, your 'tallest' literally left you to die less than a week ago! " He shouted, earning a gasp from the screen.

Why must he do this now?

"M-my tallest, do not be offended. This foolish human doesn't know what he's talking about!" He quickly turned to the screen with a plead.

"Yes I do, Zim! I had to pull you out of a goddamn river because of them! A river that you jumped in! " Dibs face was determined and angry, his stance looked prepared for a physical fight.

Zim froze. His jaw hung slightly open, antennae flattened more than he knew was possible.

He couldn't move. Irk, why did he have to tell the tallest of his pathetic 'rescue'?

He was right, though.

He grunted. Or he thinks he did.

He was not right.

The tallest were not liars. They aren't lying, they wouldn't.

Dib just doesn't know what he's talking about.

The room was eerily silent. The tallest hadn't hung up, had they?

They hadn't, they looked just as shocked as he felt.

Not really, actually, it was more of a 'is this serious or a joke' shock.

"He's- y-you speak lies! F-filthy human! " his voice trembled at every word he spoke, he'd turned to face Dib.

He tried to look angry, but he wasn't sure if it showed over the worry.

"A lie! Yeah? Then what's this? " Dib pulled one of his clawed hands up, revealing the still healing burns.

He yelped at the sudden movement, trying desperately to pull his wrist away.

The humans grip didn't budge, he felt tears burn the rim of his eyes.

He was Irken! And Irken invader at that, why was he being so weak? Why can't he just simply pull his wrist away from him?

"Stop it! Stupid human! You- ugh! " Zims voice trembled and cracked as he tried to fumble a sentence, his face scrunched in a variety of emotions, trying not to let any of them seep out into tears.

He pulled, tugged even, but Dib just gripped harder in response. It hurt, his rough skin tightly rubbing his burns.

Zim sharply inhaled before using his free hand to throw a punch at his opponent.

Getting a hit in his stomach, the humans hand finally slipped away from his own, and he doubled over.

He retreated his hand as quickly as he could, holding it to his chest as he shook away the tears bubbling in the rim of his eyes.

The Irken took a shaky breath, before turning back around.

His tallest looked surprised, not as surprised as before though. Were they disappointed about his inability to pull away?

Zim swallowed. Irk, this would've gone fine if it wasn't for the human.

He could almost feel Dibs glare at him.

"U-hm, ignore what he said, my tallest! These uh… burns were merely from one of my genius works! " His voice felt fake, he tried his best to stop the tremor of his words, but his voice was deflated.

It angered him. Or maybe it made him upset, he couldn't tell.

He didn't like the sound of his words, or the sentences they made.

"Um. Yeah… ok. " Purple sounded unsure, but no sympathy played in his voice.

"Anyway, Zim. The Armada will be coming around 'earth' soon. Be ready. " Tallest red finishes, seeming uncomfortable with the awkward weight of the air.

"Y-yes, Zim is always ready, my tallest! " He vowed with a salute, before the transmission flared off with a click.

The Irken found himself letting out a trembled breath he didn't know he'd been holding.

This felt wrong.

Why did it feel wrong?

"T-there's no way you actually believe those guys. Zim, cmon. " Dibs voice was slightly strained, probably from his punch.

"They wouldn't- they wouldn't lie. " He didn't know if he believed his words. He should, they were his leaders.

"They will and have! Do you really think they've come back for you? They haven't! Your leaders are selfish, they sent you out here to die, didn't they? " The human's voice lowered slightly at the last sentence, though his face stayed determined.

"T-they're not selfish, You just don't understand! You're not Irken. " Zims tone was calmer, but still agitated.

He felt oddly tired. Drained even, it felt… confusing.

"Well it doesn't seem like you're very 'irken' either. You may genetically be an Irken, Zim, but it's not hard to see how you act from say- Tak! Or even your leaders- you're different. "

"And I don't think you understand this either. " Dibs' stare softened, just slightly, but his words stayed stern.

"I'm not defective. I'm Irken Dib. I- I'm not 'different'. " He argued, shaking his head.

"Yes you are!-"

"I am not! " Zim cut in, anger spilling through his cracked voice.

"Zim is not defective- Y-you're defective! "

"Yeah okay- I'll be defective! But at least I can admit I am! At Least I won't live in a delusion, being loyal to the two leaders that don't give a damn about you! " Dib's voice was loud and sharp, paying no mind to the way the Irken stepped back.

"And now- because you wanted to live in your fake reality, you've doomed a whole planet! You've doomed my planet, Zim! " his voice sounded pained, dripped with emotion.

Zim clenched his fist, his face contorted into an ugly, upset scowl.

"I- it was bound to happen! I was sent here to invade- the armada was supposed to come anyway! Earth was doomed from the start. " He tried, antennae flattened.

"No Zim! The armada was never going to come- you know this! You said it yourself! But now- whatever you did, made them come. " The human pointed out.

"What do you think they're gonna do with you after this is all over? You're not going to be praised! I bet they'd just send you out on another fake mission- or exile you! " He pointed accusingly to add emphasis to his point.

"They wouldn't! " Zim felt like his mind was reeling.

"They would! They have! " Dib flailed his hands out, his posture hostile.

"No! Stop it! " He shook his head wildly, not wanting to admit that he knew deep down, it was true.

"They sent you here because they didn't want to deal with you- right? And now that you have something they want- they're taking you back! They're using you Zim. " Dib's tired eyes flared with a determined fury.

"No they didn't! They didn't- they sent me here to invade, because I'm an invader! I was created to be an invader! " Zims body shook as he pushed Dib back, his words huffed.

"You're not an invader! You- you're just some defective Irken that failed to accept reality! " Dib yelled, wincing in what looked like guilt after the words echoed.

He kept his eyes squeezed shut, trying to prevent the liquids that brimmed within.

"I- ugh! " The human puffed, turning and running up the stairs, to where his room was.

There was a slam, and Zims body just let go.

He fell into sobs, claws wrapped around himself.

He hated how he cried over such little things.

But he couldn't bring himself to stop.

His mind felt overflowed- it was all too sudden. And he was pretty sure he hadn't even processed half of the information yet.

It was pathetic.

Here, an irken, one of the most intergalactically feared species- crying on the floor of his supposedly enemy's household.

Yeah. That's what this was, they were enemies again.

He means- they always were. They never stopped.

It's just, more real this time.

Maybe it was always this real.

Maybe the pitying just fogged his view. This is why he hates stupid human feelings.

But again, here he was. With said 'human feelings'.

He wiped his eyes, but found that the tears wouldn't stop flowing.

Why was he even crying?

He shouldn't be. So why can't he stop?

He's an invader, he should be able to suck it up.

Like a real Irken.

Forcing his eyes shut, he rubbed aggressively at them with a quiet grunt.

His eyes were moist, and sore, stinging with the urge to cry more.

Which he would not do. Crying is weak, and he'd already been weak enough.

His tallest were coming soon. He needed to get himself together, what would they think if they saw him like this?

Zim briefly recalled the incident from earlier…

He shook his head. His tallest should ignore it, he'd prove himself.

He'd.. He'd make sure he won't be weak again.

Not now, not ever.

Chapter Text

Dibs eyes blared open as his door swung open, a tall, blocky figure standing confidently as his body jolted into a sitting position.

He blinked for a few seconds, reaching for his glasses as his ears began to register the voice talking to him.

"-Son! " A familiar, deep voice spoke with the same wise tone the professor always seemed to have.

Seeing his father clearly now- he squinted slightly, his body was stiff and his hair messed.

".. Dad? " Dib mumbled in a groggy, confused tone.

His father was rarely ever at the house, let alone long enough for him to be greeted by the man.

Wait, had he seen Zim?

"Yes, my son. I thought I'd wake you for your first day back from your suspension! " Professor membrane greeted once more, half explaining. He hadn't mentioned the little alien at all. Maybe he didn't see him?

But if that was the case- where was Zim? Had he gone back to his base?

He pushed the thoughts back, focusing on another fact- his suspension was up.

"W-what? B-but dad! I can't go to skool! " Dib panicked, hastily hopping out of his bed.

The man sighed.

"Yes you can, you're not sick, nor hurt. You're a perfectly healthy boy! Now you better start getting ready, skool starts in an hour! " He chirped, closing the door with a sharp click before he could protest further.

Dib grumbled under his breath, begrudgingly picking out clothes for the day.

His father would probably leave before he will, so he can just skip it.

Pulling on the clothes, he turned to look in the mirror.

He'd forgotten just how plain his outfit looked without the jacket.

He brushed his hair, restyling the scythe-like ahoge.

Pulling on his signature jacket and his shoes, Dib opened the door.

He wanted to know where Zim was, if he was even in the house,

Stepping down the stairs, he swooped into the lounge room.

"What do you think you're doing, son? You should eat before you go watch your silly shows. " Professor membrane called, shaking his head.

Dib froze, why was his father still here?

He turned around- completely ignoring the task of looking for Zim.

The scientist held a piece of what he'd called 'super toast', with another piece in the making.

He perked a brow, had Gaz already eaten?

It didn't matter. As long as his father was home- he would have to go to school.

"Don't you have work? " He asked hesitantly, his arm still held the frame of the lounge room.

"Of course! I just had to run some errands here at home. So I thought I'd quickly greet you and your sister! '' Dib couldn't see his expression, but he could basically feel the grin on his fathers face.

He stayed silent for a few moments, how long would his dad be here?

"I-i can't go to skool. " The boy stated once more, his stance slightly wobbly.

"Yes you can. " Professor membrane disagreed, voice stern.

"I can't dad-! I have to- to do something really important! " He stumbled, not quite sure how to explain the whole situation without sounding crazy.

"And what could possibly be more important than skool? " He pushed.

"T-The aliens-! They're coming- the whole Irken armada! Please-" The disappointed posture on his fathers figure bit into him like a pack of hungry wolves, and he felt the little hope that maybe, maybe he would be taken seriously for once- crumble.

"Now, son, Your fantasies are no excuse to miss out on crucial education. " The man shook his head with a sad, unimpressed tone.

"It's not! It's real- can't you just believe me for once? Just this once! " Dib's voice shook with desperation.

The professor just shook his head with a sigh.

He felt his shoulders slump, the sting of angry, sad tears brimmed at his eyes.

The feeling that he'd never be heard. It gnawed at him, gutting him out.

The same feeling that'd chewed and fed on him since the first day he'd seen Zim, how all of his classmates would sneer and call him insane.

The same feeling that swirled and boiled inside him every time he'd shown his dad- his classmates even- real evidence of the alien race that was sure to end life as they'd known it.

The same feeling that snapped at him as everyone on this planet, and his father, chose to deny life outside of earth even after the florpus incident, even after he'd seen and fought the little alien known as Zim.

The same feeling that choked him as his classmates did nothing, even after seeing the space creature without a disguise.

Dibs breath hitched and his hands shook, bitter fury snaking around him.

"You just don't get it! Don't blame me when an alien army comes and obliterates our planet. " His voice wobbled, but a bitter venom dropped from every word.

The boy glared for a few seconds before throwing his bag over his shoulder, and running out of the house.

The door slammed shut, and he felt the hot stream trickle down his cheeks.

He stepped away from his house, seething with anger, his face damp from the dripping tears.

Dib wiped at his face, stopping the tears before they became noticeable.

Why couldn't someone just hear him out for once? He's doing his best! Warning, fighting- defending.

But it seems his calls always fell on deaf ears.

No one ever listened to him, it didn't matter if it was about some strange cryptid, or an upcoming attack from the depths of space.

He realised with a low head, that it'd never change.

That no one would ever understand.

He'd always be ridiculed, labelled as just another crazy, delusional kid.

Just another lost cause.

Dib picked up his pace, letting his thoughts fade out and merge with the sound of passing cars and the windy breeze.

His eyes were glasses over with tears he wouldn't shed, not here, not now.

As the skool came into view, and his speed slowed, a thought resurfaced.

Where had Zim been?

The day seemed to go by frighteningly fast, yet dreadfully slow after he'd arrived at skool.

He'd tried to distract himself, but his mind constantly strayed.

The reminder grew into a desperate yell in his mind, and his thoughts explored every possibility.

Zim, he could simply be in his house somewhere, maybe even regretful.

Or, he could be planning. Calling his tallest even.

Dib almost sighed. A reminiscent of the past, scandals of the weird kid and an alien.

Scandals of him and Zim.

Things were a lot more simple then, he still had the whole wanting to save the would thing- but it wasn't as scary.

Sure, he knew the Irken empire was dangerous.

But deep down, he thinks he knew that they wouldn't actually send a whole armada.

But now it was different, it wasn't just empty threats anymore.

It was real, he was there himself, watching the whole call live.

And watching Zim try to brainwash himself, wanting to go back to before all of this happened.

Dib furrowed his brow, resentment building.

If he'd just stopped clinging onto an already dead reality- none of this would've happened.

He wouldn't be in danger.

He wouldn't be falling back into what other people called a 'stereotypical crazy kid'.

His leg bounced slightly under his desk, as his eyes glanced across the chitter filled room.

Luckily, no one paid any mind to him, too busy having actual friends to talk with.

And still, no word about what'd happened prior to the suspension.

No panicked shrieks about an alien in the school, no thankful vows of how he'd been right.

He glanced away, a sorrow filled pit formed in his stomach.

A loud ringing filled the space, the bell.

Dib sighed quietly as he stood, maybe he should just skip.

His father should definitely be gone now. And if he went now, there was more time to find Zim.

He mentally nodded.

He hastily left his classroom, heading towards the run-down bathrooms of the school.

Trying to take a direct route out of the school would be hell.

He'd tried it once, and he'd decided that a detention with Mrs bitters would not be worth it.

So he'd found a different way.

Sitting above one of the stalls, was a window.

The window may have been locked, but in his school? He doubted the… janitor? Would remember to.

Stepping on the toilet lid, he peered over the window, trying to get a good height.

After getting in position, he began to budge the seal open, and to his luck, it choppily opened.

His balance wobbled as he tried to get it open enough for him to fit through.

Hissing, Dib quickly regained his posture, and began attempting to climb out of the window.

It was an awkward angle, and it took a few tries- but he did it.

Unfortunately, not in a front-facing position.

His back hit the stale grass with heavy thud, earning a groan out of the boy.

Dib knew it wasn't a good idea to stay on school grounds too long, so much to his spines' dismay, got back onto his feet.

Fortunately, he'd tried this route before. And found a safer exit than jumping the fence.

There had been a small cut in the tall wired walls, an average kid probably wouldn't fit.

But he had become good at getting out of things, even if that meant being as small as possible.

The tough metal brushed his jacked, creating small cuts that were annoying, but better than cutting into his flesh instead.

With haste, he ran away from the skool.

He headed for his house, and just hoped that his father wouldn't be there.

And that Zim would be.

Chapter Text

Zim sighed as he heard the heavy steps of boots, followed by the click of the door closing.

It hadn't taken long for the bulky man to leave, less than half an hour after Dib left, actually.

He slowly stood from his spot behind the couch, antennae perked and alert.

Fortunately, he only sensed one other presence in the base, the Dib-sister, Gaz.

Zim wasn't completely comfortable with the other human, but he knew she wouldn't tell anyone or pick fights, so she was safe enough.

His antennae fell back, and he was met with the same unsure feeling he'd tried to avoid.

He… wasn't really happy about The Tallest calling him back.

He didn't know why, he should be the happiest Irken invader! They were taking him back.

He needed to be more grateful. Being with the stupid humans has made him soft and unloyal, this is the kind of behaviour he'd get deactivated for.

It was the kind of behaviour that was found in defectives.

And he wasn't defective. He wasn't.

Zim shook his head, debating matters like this was useless… He just needed to be more loyal.

He only had… how long until they were coming.

They didn't mention how long until they were arriving, only that they'd set the course.

Should he call them..? They wouldn't be annoyed right?

He intertwined his claws, tapping on the back of his hands.

An invader would need to know when their leaders would be there, so it should be fine..

Yeah, this is normal. They won't mind.

He took in a shallow breath, and tried to will his body to stop trembling.

"Computer, call the Tallest. " Zim commanded, though his voice lacked the fire and confidence it used to shine with.

There were no complaints as the screen in front of the small irken blared to life.

He stood straight, respectfully saluting as the Tallest appeared on the TV.

"My Tallest! " He greeted just a little too loudly, antennae stiffly perked.

They didn't reply verbally, just a slight nod. He hoped they weren't bothered.

"I couldn't help but notice you never listed a specific date for when you'd be arriving on Earth. " Zim half questioned, sheepishly smiling.

"Oh, yeah. " Tallest Purple admitted boredly, looking at his partner.

"We should be there in… '' Red paused, looking off to the side, presumably at one of the navigators.

"One of the planets' days. "

Zim froze.

A day.

Only a day?

"O-oh- Ok. Thank you my Tallest! " He saluted again, not quite knowing what to do or say. Wasn't one day a bit quick?

But… His Tallest were never wrong. This was for the best.

The call ended, the buzz of the TV fading into the background.

His squeedlyspooch churned with a sense of dread.

Why, why wasn't he happy? Why did this feel so wrong?

He growled, a sound of desperate, confused anger.

What was wrong with him? He shouldn't be doubting everything.

He was above this! He was Zim- Irks best invader..

He pulled on his shaken antennae with frustration.

Maybe Dib was right.

No- he can't be right.

He couldn't be.

Because if the human was right, he was wrong. Irkens were never wrong…

Unless they're defective.

He hastily, roughly shook his head, his thoughts swirling into the quiet fuzz of sounds.

He really, really needed to stop being so weak about everything.

Zim was an Invader. His job was to serve his empire, to invade.

That's what he was created to do.

So he will.

It felt like hours before Zim heard the door open, hours spent trying to distract or deafen his mind.

He scrambled back behind the couch, it wasn't a good spot- far from it, but it would do until he could find a better one.

He perked his antennae, it was Dib.

His shoulders relaxed slightly, before they tensed once more. Would he still be mad about last night?

He pushed aside the recalls of what the human had said that night. Focusing on the steps growing closer.

Should he get up? Confront him first?

It'd give him an upper hand if Dib came for a fight.

Going off the rough estimate, Zim slowly stood to face the human, trying his best at an annoyed expression.

He looked a bit surprised, but then looked to the side.

"..Look, Zim, I'm.. Sorry about… what I said last night. " Dib started awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck.

Zim didn't reply, but his antennae flattened slightly, and his expression was a bit less fake.

The human sighed.

"Yeah, yeah okay. I'd be upset too, I didn't mean everything I said then. I was.. Just really… conflicted. " He gestured with his hands as he went on.

"I… You can't invade earth- please. " The word 'please' sounded strange from Dib, definitely not something Zim'd heard often.

"I have to. " The Irken hissed, stance tense.

"You don't- before, you said that fighting back was useless. But how would you know, has anyone ever tried? " He pushed.

"Of course not! It's a suicide mission to even argue against the Tallest. " He shook his head at the humans' crazy idea.

"But-"

"No! My soul purpose- the reason I was created, was to invade. And I'm going to do just that, there's no 'buts' or 'maybes' in the Irken empire, human. " Zim interrupted, his voice loathed with venom as he pointed an angry claw at Dib.

The human glared, seeming to not believe his words.

He growled, if he wanted to doubt his abilities, that would be his mistake.

Dib sighed after a few seconds.

"Fine. Whatever. Just… stay at my house for the meantime. " He pushed Zim's claw away as he spoke.

He squinted an eye in suspicion.

"... Why would I stay at your base? " The irken questioned, stepping back slightly.

He shrugged.

"Its..Safer? " He tried.

"... Fine. " Zim hesitantly agreed.

His antennae perked, and he grinned.

"That just means I'll have to bring GIR here. " He stepped towards the door.

Dib groaned, but didn't protest.

"Just- If he breaks anything I'm going to make you clean it up! " He called as the Irken began to put his disguise on.

"Uh huh. " Zim made a dismissive gesture at the human.

He stretched, before stepping out of the door.

The sun seemed more blinding than usual, but he'd have to deal with it.

For just one more day.

Then… he'd be back home.

The word 'home' didn't seem right.. But it was the correct term. A place where he was made and 'raised'.

He shook off the thought as he walked down the sidewalk. It wasn't really important.

He'd focus on getting GIR first.

Chapter Text

Dib let out a frustrated sigh when the door closed, his stance deflating.

Zim was stubborn.

Amazingly so, actually.

But, it wasn't so amazing for him right now.

He needed to get Zim to listen to him. To agree.

But when has the alien ever agreed with him?

Zim has always been hard to convince, he wasn't sure why he thought it'd change this time.

Maybe it was the unnerved look in his eyes when he'd called his leaders, maybe it was the way his body trembled ever so slightly, or how he'd swore he heard sobbing after he'd left the room.

God, why did something always have to ruin things when they finally reached a normal?

Well, kinda normal.

Dibs expression softened ever so slightly.

If Zim had been in his house a week ago, it wouldn't have been a friendly sleepover.

It's really crazy how this all happened so fast.

It'd only been five days since he'd saved the Irken.

Only five days since everything started.

It had felt so, so much longer.

He shook his head. He was getting off track.

He needed to think of a plan, a proper one.

One that'd convince Zim.

Dib jumped slightly as he heard the door bang open, and he didn't need to look to know Zim was back, with Gir.

"Hi mary!! " The tiny robot greeted, peeking at him through the archway to the living room.

He gave a sheepish wave, as he focused on the slightly annoyed expression on the alien's face.

"trashed up the base again? " Dib questioned as he stood from the couch, stretching his limbs.

Zim didn't reply, just rolling his eyes with a 'tsk'.

Gir abruptly started giggling, and proceeded to speed off.

There was a slight pause, before he turned.

"Zim, " He started, not entirely sure how to begin.

"What? " The alien gave him a quizzical stare.

"... Are you sure you want to do… are you sure you want to Invade earth? " His voice was nervous as he looked away.

"We've been over this, yes. " He spat, glaring at the human with an annoyed expression.

"I know- but c'mon, Zim, there has to be something else you can do. Even if it means defying your leaders. " Dib pleaded, desperation clear in his words.

"I don't want to talk about this. You already know my answer. " Zim huffed, looking a bit more uncomfortable.

"You don't want to do it, do you? " A frown seeped onto his face.

"I do! " He tensed, antennae flattened.

"You just wouldn't get it. You're. not. Irken! " Zim held a threatening stance, claw pointed to emphasise his point.

"Yeah, but still! It doesn't matter if I'm not an alien, there's always a chance to fight back, or at least reason! "

"There has to be something we could do. " Dib knew he was repeating the same points, but what else would he do to get the idea across?

"Shut up. Zim's not arguing about this. " The irken marched past him, huddling on the couch.

"You know I'm right! " The human argued, following him to the couch.

"Shut up! " He growled.

Zim fidgeted with his claws, leg bouncing just slightly.

"No! I know you want to save this planet too! "

"It doesn't matter! There's only a day until the armada arrives! There's no time for a rebellion! " Zim stood up, his arms open in a wide stance.

He froze.

"What? " Dib blurted.

The alien paused, looking to realise what he just revealed.

"I'm not dealing with this. " He hissed quietly, hastily approaching the door.

"Hay! Zim stop-" Dib rushed to stop him.

He paused, threw on his wig and grabbed his contacts, then attempted to run out the door.

" Don't-! " He pulled on the alien's arm, trying to stop him.

"I'll be back. '' Zim mumbled, almost inaudible.

He pushed the human off, and ran, slamming the door.

Dib gasped, then whipped the door open.

Unfortunately, he'd forgotten how fast aliens could move. Zim was nowhere to be seen.

He groaned.

He didn't know if he should be worried or annoyed, or maybe both.

But.. He said he was coming back.

The human bit his lip, trying to justify the situation.

Slowly, Dib shut the door. With the hope that Zim wouldn't do anything stupid.

He hoped he hadn't pushed too far.

Chapter Text

Zim slumped against the smooth metal that made up his desk, dim blue light spread amongst some of the lab, but the Irken seemed to pay no mind.

He bore a conflicted expression, eyes squinted, seemingly focused on everything and nothing at the same time.

He blinked dully.

Dib was an idiot, foolish human. Filled with some sort of hope, a need for justice.

It was funny in a way, the kind of thing he'd look back at and be howling with laughter after.

But it didn't feel funny right now. This whole situation swelled with a confusing cry of emotions, emotions so strong that he'd been reduced to a useless, sobbing slump on the floor of his past enemy's base.

His antennae bristled at the memory, physically ashamed of his weakness.

Zim swore on his tallest, that he'd never, ever, shed a tear again. Not under any circumstances. The behaviour was below even that of a smeets, such vulnerability was fatal in the empire.

The empire… Right.

They were coming in just one day. One rotation of this strange planet.

He… he should feel proud about that.

The tallest had finally seen him as a real invader. Not just another failure.

But…

There was this sense of dread. Everywhere he went, it howled with ever thought of the invasion, ever since the night they'd called.

It was stupid. Truly and utterly stupid. Dread was the last thing he should be feeling, there wasn't a reason for him to be feeling it.

He'd been quite literally waiting his life for this, he was biologically designed to be an Invader.

And now he was having his invasion, just as an invader should.

He hated it.

He hated how Dib was right.

He didn't want this.

And he hated that.

Zim tugged on his antennae, frustration showing through the spikes of pain that slithered across them.

For some reason beyond any reasoning, he didn't want the invasion.

The realisation seemed to tower over him, making him feel impossibly inferior.

He distantly wondered if this was how humans felt.

He wondered if this was how Dib felt.

He was no fool to how different Dib was compared to others of his species, and it seemed that even they had an understanding of that.

From the moment he'd met Zim, he'd known. He'd seen through his act when no other human could.

The irken had seen how he was isolated from his peers, always sitting with either his sister or completely alone.

He was the odd one.

And Zim was starting to wonder if that's how the empire saw him.

But he wasn't different, was he?

He'd been deemed defective after impending doom II, but surely that wasn't because his PAK was faulty.

It was because he'd committed criminal acts. Been exiled.

It had to be.

Because he wasn't actually defective.

Then why didn't he want the invasion?

He was dragged out of his thoughts as he realised the room's lighting had changed.

It was sharper, harsher, and it seemed to fill the room with robotic light.

He looked up to see an impending transmission on his screen.

He paused.

From the Tallest.

The irken almost tripped over himself as he stood.

“Computer! Answer! “ He spat the demand hastily, voice pitched with an urgency.

He stood straight, antennae stiff as he waited.

A few moments of quiet air passed before the robotic voice of the computer replied.

“Attempt failed. It seems that the transmission was received by a different system with the same signal as ours. ”

He blinked.

“Dib answered the call. ” The robotic voice summarised.

“What?” Zim squawked, dumbfounded.

“Oh that slimey earthling! I told him not to answer my calls! And it should've been common sense not to answer calls from my Tallest! ”

His antennae trembled with fury, and that familiar sense of dread began to creep up on him.

Dib was talking to his Tallest right now.

He hissed a curse at the human, but his mind was all too focused on the realisation.

He needed to get there. Fast. He couldn't let him ruin their plans.

Whether he wanted it or not was a useless ponder, his leader's word is rule.

Finding himself running through his base, he paused to shout a haste command to his computer, to protect the base.

He hadn't even noticed he'd put on his disguise until the wind threatened his wig.

He didn't recall it being a windy day on his way to his base, but now it seemed that every gust of air on the planet had joined against him, whipping at his face and tugging on his clothing.

The run to Dibs base seemed to long on for years, the thought of him speaking with his Tallest yowling with every step he made, taunting him.

He didn't bother with the useless human tradition of knocking, aiming to just hope it was unlocked.

Swinging the door open, he almost slipped with his speed.

Sliding into the archway to the living room, he paused.

Dib seemed to be challenging the annoyed faces on the large screen.

No, no. He was arguing with them.

Zim felt the blood drain from his body as he watched, frozen with the shock.

Chapter Text

Dib sat, contemplating, on the couch of his living room.

Half of his mind huffed about any and all the possibilities after Zim had ran, the other half scrambled to process what he'd said beforehand.

"It doesn't matter! There's only a day until the armada arrives! There's no time for a rebellion!”

One day.

It was an impossibly shocking concept, surely it'd take longer to travel here than just one day.

Well, more accurately it'd take two days, if you counted today.

But even still, surely his species weren't close enough to earth to take just two days to travel here.

He recalled a conversation with Zim that'd felt years old, just after he'd been saved from the brink of death ; when he'd confessed that his leaders had been stringing him along all this time.

With them essentially abandoning the alien, they had no business near his planet.

Dib sighed. He had known that the Irkens were advanced, but it still came as a shock to realise just how far that stretched.

A harsh change of light quickly brought his attention to the TV, no longer playing meaningless cartoons.

Rather, displayed on the screen, was none other than the irken leaders.

For a mere second, he stared, dumbfounded, hesitant.

Zim had specifically instructed him not to answer any transmissions.

But… When had he ever listened to his orders?

Ok, maybe a lot more than he'd admit. But that's besides the point!

“.. Answer?” Dib ordered, standing, unsure as to if the system would work.

Much to his worries, it did. He was once more met with the two green aliens he'd seen on this very screen only a few days ago.

But this time it was different. This time Zim wasn't here.

“You! ” he yowled at the Irkens pointedly, their faces contorting from surprise to confusion.

There was an awkward pause as the three stared at each other.

“Who is this? ” The purple one asked boredly, yet their antennae perked in a way that Dib thought could've been a sign of interest.

“I am Dib membrane! One of the inhabitants of the planet you want to destroy. ” He scowled, venom dripping from each word.

The leaders shared a glance, but he did not allow them time to reply.

“Why do you even want Earth? Are you so desperate for new slaves that you had to run back to an Invader you'd cast out just days prior? ” Adrenaline coursed through him like tiny snakes shooting for their prey, baring their shiney teeth as if they were prizes.

They opened their mouths in an offended manner, but he paid no mind to their failed attempts of a reply.

“Don't try to justify yourselves. You know what you're doing is horrible, casting one of your own out so terribly that they lose the will to live? And then just going back to them like nothing happened? ”

“you're sick. Pathetic, selfish monsters for what you're doing. For what you've done. ” Dib felt as if he was burning, every ounce of anger suddenly felt alight, blaring any other emotions that tried to sleep through.

“Hay! This is the Irken leaders you're talking to-”

“The Tallest? Yeah, I'm well aware. You may be the leader of an alien army, but without your support you'd be useless. Less than useless! You're nothing but self absorbed slobs. ” Dib silenced their attempt to save their dignity, voice harsh and mocking.

He heard the door swing open, and felt his adrenaline spike all the more.

Zim was back.

“You're unworthy of your power, and when Zim realises that, he's going to turn his back on you. ” He spat hurriedly, yet he maintained the poisonous tone that carried through his words.

“Computer, end the call. ” He finished, just as he'd heard the alien do those few times.

The screen cut, with the faces of the Irkens bleeding into darkness.

Silence ruled the air in thick huffs, for he dared not speak up first.

Just in the archway stood Zim, his body stiff and rigid as he stared at the blank television, horrified.

Dib watched him blankly, offering no apology for what he'd just done.

“What have you done.. ” He whispered, voice low and disbelieving.

He did not answer.

“What have you done?! ” He repeated, this time in a wail as he shifted to look at the human.

“What you couldn't. ” Dib spoke, his anger webbed away as he considered the consequences for what he'd done.

“What I couldn't? Are you insane?! What did you say to them? ” He spluttered, eyes searching him wildly as he dragged away from the entry.

He looked away, shoulders hitching slightly in defence.

“What did you say, Dib!” Zim repeated, voice growing louder with desperation.

He looked into the aliens eyes, truly looked.

“I… said some things that you wouldn't have. ” He half admitted, shifting as he tried to figure out how to tell the Irken the things he'd said.

“Don't be stupid with me, human. Tell me what you said to my Tallest! ” Zim bristled as he took threatening steps towards him.

“... I just- ” he chewed his lip, brows furrowing.

“Look Zim, I don't think you'd wanna know. ”

He growled in response, throwing a punch to his stomach.

Dib hissed, pain bursting from his torso. That was definitely gonna leave a bruise.

“What you said, Dib. ” he hissed once more, voice strained through gritted teeth.

“I told them that they were selfish. ” It was a half truth, he knew.

“Fool! Why would you insult them?! ” He scowled, yet the human could still see the anxiety that coursed through his expression.

“They deserved it! ” He argued back, regaining his posture.

“Childish idiot! Do you have any idea what you could've just caused? The Tallest will be furious.” Zim growled, desperation seeping through his voice once more.

He looked away, guilt slowly pouring down on him.

The irken glared for what felt like hours more, stance deflating.

“You'll regret all of this tomorrow.” he hissed lowly as he stepped over to the couch.

Dib watched him meekly, as the alien snuggled himself into the corner of the left side.

After a moment of still silence, he joined him on the opposite side of the couch.

Chapter Text

Zim sat, awake and alone on the side of the couch.

Dib had only lasted so long with the awkward silence after their argument, opting instead to slump back into his room.

So it had just been him and his thoughts since.

It was the early morning, when the stars were only just beginning to feather from the brightening sky.

Today was the expected arrival of the armada.

He didn't quite know what to think of it, even though he'd internally known the date, it still felt unreal.

Unease shuddered through his figure like a shadow looming across once warm land, and he couldn't help the spikes of pure, cold fear that followed.

What was he even going to do?

After he enslaved earth with the empire, what then? What would happen to him?

It was a point Dib had brought up in an earlier argument, but this was the first time he truly considered it.

Would he be re-encoded again? As a real Invader? Or would they just… Send him on another fake mission?

Or back to food courtia?
He shuddered at the thought. But technically, he'd never finished his sentence.

He'd ran away to see the great assigning. And further running when he'd been recaptured.

So they could… but they wouldn't, not when he'd been included in the enslavement of a species. Right?

He shook his head.

If they did, he'd just… run, again. He'd make the Tallest realise that he's not some food drone.

And if that doesn't work out… he'd figure something else out. Not the time to plan for improbable futures.

Zim sighed, stretching off the couch.

He should be preparing right now, packing his base up, readying the voot, perhaps even submitting a message back to the Tallest for the events that had occurred the night before.

He peeked a claw through the curtain, looking out at the dotted sky before him.

In a few hours, he would be fleeing with the Armada, rewarded with a planet's worth of slaves.

But for now, he would stay in the darkness of Dibs base, watching, waiting.

For now, he would allow himself a moment of respite.

•⋇⋆✦⋆⋇•

It was only when the chirps of animals began to fill the air did Zim tear his eyes away from the glass.

The sky was now an assortment of blueing warm yellows and passionate reds, the stars seeming like nothing but a memory.

He'd watched the sun rise, silently dreading the moment he'd have to leave.

And much to his desire, that time happened to be now.

It wouldn't be more than an hour before the empire arrived, and Zim had to admit he'd been dazing for far too long.

Stretching as he stood, he crept towards the wig that lay discarded on the carpeted floor.

Complete with the eye contacts he'd kept in his PAK, Zim took one last look at his reflection on the television.

His burns were little more than a stain on his skin, only visible if you knew where to look. His wig was remarkably messy compared to how it'd been when he'd first got it, and his contacts didn't seem to hide the beginning of eye bags.

But despite it all, it was still him.

He stalled for only a few more moments before he turned, leaving out the front door.

The cold breeze of early morning brushed against his face, leaving a shiver in its way.

He silently shut the door behind him, stepping back to take what was more than likely his last look at Dibs house.

Then, without any words, he turned and started towards his base.

Every tree felt outlined, every house seeping into the back of his memory, every stone and every cloud traced.

He savoured the looks of it all, a sentimental longing overcoming all his thoughts.

All these oblivious humans, they had no idea what was coming. Something in him wanted to feel bad, to pity all the individual lives that'd be morphed into nothing but labour.

But he couldn't bring himself to. He had to be ready for this, and he knew none of these creatures would listen even if he wanted to warn them.

With every step, a strange calm drowned over him. Dulling his surroundings with a quiet cry of grief.

This would be the last time he'd see the planet as it is now.

It almost felt too soon when he'd realised he'd reached his base.

Zim gazed upon the structure. He wasn't quite sure if this was the last time it'd be seen, but something in him wanted to savour it all the same.

Stepping across the pavement, he opened the door, observing the house that lay behind it.

Only slightly littered with random items, the place seemed decently clean.

As he stepped inside and took a closer look at the objects, he realised something.

He'd forgotten GIR.

Cursing under his breath, he extended a communication device from his PAK, quickly calling the robot.

The tool rang static for a few moments before he picked up.

“GIR! Come to the base immediately! ” Zim ordered hastily, glancing around himself.

A low giggle sounded through the call, “hehe. Okay masta!”

“... And try to be quiet. ” he added lowly, before dismissing the call and retracting the device.

Sighing, he drew his eyes up to search the room once more.

All items inside the base would be saved in the data once it was packed up, so he didn't need to worry about cleaning.

The only thing he actually had to do was ready the ship, and get any supplies needed.

He wasn't quite sure how far, or how long he'd be travelling for after this. The fly from Conventia to Earth had been six months, and Irk would likely be a bit longer.

So… he supposed he'd pack just shy of seven months worth of needed resources. Irken tech was advanced, especially so in ships, but even his voot took time to scale the stars.

And while Irkens didn't particularly need much food, they still enjoyed snacking. Himself included. So he'd take what he had in the base.

Then just the minor healing equipment. A precaution not all of his kind took, but Zim felt that it was better to be safe.

And other than that, there really wasn't much else.

Except maybe a toy or two for GIR…

Zim shook himself. No time to plan what to bring.

Ravaging through his base for needed- or desired -equipment, he found himself growing more uneasy.

But he couldn't let it interfere with this. Time was limited, he'd… get over all his fears once it was said and done.

Packing the load of snacks into his cruiser, he gave the area a short look over. This was probably one of the cleanest parts of the base, untouched by GIR for the most part.

As if summoning the robot, he heard the high pitched greeting from downstairs.

“GIR, why don't you go and get some of your favourite toys? ” Zim suggestived, voice loud enough for his receptors to catch.

There were a few giddy screeches that followed, but he paid no mind to them.

Soon enough, he'd gathered all needed, except for GIRs picks.

Which was not unusual, for the robot usually took an annoyingly long time to gather his things.

Snapping a quick command to his computer, he was transported into the main room of the base.

Unsurprisingly, GIR was nowhere to be seen.

He sighed, preparing to call over his companion.

“Zim!” A familiar voice yelled distantly, and he internally groaned.

“Dib.” He turned to the human, who was just reaching the door.

He puffed for a short moment, before looking up at the alien.

“What are you doing? ” He asked, though the look in his eyes told Zim that he already knew.

“Preparing to leave, armadas arriving today. ”

Dib looked awkward for a moment, before a hint of defiance lit in his eyes.

“That's pretty cowardly. ”

The irken only glared in response, though it was more annoyed than anything.

“Can't you just try?- to fight back, I mean. Or something. ” He tried, desperation lining his words.

“We've been over this. It's a suicide mission. ”

“Yeah but- you can't just… give up! ”

Zim averted his gaze for a moment, a silence filling the air.

“You can't just stand by whilst this planet gets destroyed. There's still a chance! ”

The possibility weighed on his shoulders, perhaps this didn't need to be the last time he looked at this planet.

“That's… That's a childish hope, Dib. ”

“Maybe it is. But are you really going to leave this place as a coward who couldn't stand his ground? ”

“No. I'll leave as a proper invader. ”

“No! You won't. They're using you, Zim. The only reason you're here in the first place is because they didn't want you around. What do you think will happen after this is over? ” The human spat, venom lining his every word.

“I'll die a fool if I stand up to the entire Armada. I won't die some sort of hero, no one on this idiotic planet would even realise the Invasion is happening until they're enslaved! ”

“I would. And I get the feeling that your empire would view you as foolish either way. But if you blindly followed them, it'd just show them that they were right. ”

Silence was his only reply.

“Just try. Me, you and GIR. We'll fight back, show the Armada that you're not just another mindless slave. ” Dib offered his hand, as if it was a sort of deal.

Zim eyes him carefully, doubtfully.

And then, hesitantly, raised his claws to meet the opposing fingers.

“Fine.”

Chapter Text

It had felt way too soon before they were in flight towards the coming armada.

For now, even with the electric anticipation of combat against aliens, anxiety had begun to creep up on him.

Deep down, he knew it was a losing battle waiting to happen. Even with the hope of victory, he was no idiot.

And by the look of it, Zim felt the same.

But even if they did lose, there was still a chance they could make the Armada turn back. Leave earth alone.

And it was that thought, that little spark of possibility, that kept him from just turning tail with the small Irken beside him.

Dib glanced around the cruiser, a break from his rambling mind. Next to him, Zim kept his eyes glued to the sky, watching the mass of ships slowly coming in. Behind the two, GIR sat playing with a random pick of toys, oblivious to what was coming.

The deafening silence only added to his nerves, as Zim seemed to prepare his ship.

“We're almost in attack range.” Said irken commented, looking unsurely between the windshield and controls.

“We can do this.” He encouraged, hoping to sound more confident than he was.

There was no reply, but he couldn't help but notice how their speed increased.

Then, a warning hiss of the ships' offence systems cut through the silence.

The sound brought his attention to the oncoming barrage of aircrafts, which seemed much closer than before.

They were in aiming range.

The air seemed to crackle with anticipation as his partner worked his way with a quick strategy, the whiff of battle strong and unwavering.

Wordlessly, Zim fired hasty shots at the crowded ships, weaving smartly to avoid most counter attacks.

Dib watched in awe as the damaged crafts fell from the sky, a strange hope glistening truthfully through the haze.

Though the high was short lived, for a violent hit to their own vessel brought back a wave of fear.

Besides him, the Irken growled in frustration, mumbling what he'd assume were his language’s curses.

“Moderate damage to the engines. We don't have much more time before we go down. ” Zim reported, glancing at a small, flashing screen on the side of his controls.

He sucked In a sharp breath, before changing aim to a larger ship.

The massive.

This charge was longer, brimming with power as he took aim.

With a pause that felt like years, the shot was fired.

The force of the attack itself sent tremors through the ship, and Dib himself could see the impact on the leading aircraft.

Smoke burst from the hit department, and without pause, little objects were spilled into the air.

He squinted at the ones closed to them to see… a packet of chips? Were snacks falling through the sky right now?

He would've laughed at the irony of it all, if it weren't for the attacks that followed.

The attacks shook the ship's body with such an aggressive force that Dib thought it would up and break right then and there.

Before he could even blink, they were plummeting towards the earthy ground.

The two yelped, and he believed he heard a metallic screech from behind them.

A pang of pain struck through his body as he collided with the windshield, temporarily making the world hazy.

Crashed against newly broken grass, he began to hoist himself off the glass.

Luckily enough for them, the ship hadn't been completely tipped upside down, rather at an awkward tilt.

Zim hissed as he harshly pulled his arm to his chest, presumably suffering the same minor pain he had.

As sound came back to him fully, he began to hear the woosh of ships flying much too close for comfort.

Before he could speak up about this though, a sudden light momentarily stunned him, then he realised it was a call.

From the Irken leaders, The Tallest.

He paused, unsure, watching his alien companion.

He swallowed, before swiftly pressing a few buttons and opening the transmission.

Yet, he noticed, there was no formal greeting from Zim.

“Zim! What the heck do you think you're doing?! ” The purple eyed Irken yowled, seething.

“I… do not believe we should Invade this planet, and if attacking the Armada is the only way to stop the will of you, then- then that's a risk I was willing to take. ” He spoke with such a confidence that Dib almost believed it to be true, yet he noted that the smaller alien didn't seem to meet the eyes of the others.

“Are you defying our word?! Attacking the massive was already a crime worthy of deactivation, but this? You truly are defective. ” It was the red one that spoke now, tone spiky and attacking.

“I'm no defective! ” Zim yelled, loud and angry. And even the alien himself seemed a little shocked at his outburst.

“Y-you two have used me since we were trainies. Before you were even Tallest. And now, you come running back to me after you left me here on this planet without a care? I'm done, you guys have caused nothing but pain for me. It's your turn to know what it's like to lose.”

“You are not my Tallest. ” Zim spoke his last words with venom, cold and firm, before he cut the call.

Chapter Text

The tallest stood before the screen, red lights blaring around their shocked figures.

Alarms were going off, warnings of the damage from both the ship and the navigators controlling it.

The damage Zim had caused.

Zim, once their most begrudgingly loyal defective. Now, their biggest hater in the Irken empire.

A true, undoubtedly, defective. In the ways of his crimes and the ways of his PAK.

Red glanced at his partner, dumbfounded.

They stared back, equally as stumped.

His stare hardened.

“Aim all attacks to Zims ship. ” Tallest Red ordered hastily, his anger coming back to him.

“Red!” The purple leader hissed, exasperated.

“What?” He growled right back, antennae flinging back.

“There's a hole in our ship- in the snack department! Don't you think we should handle that first? That defectives ship is already down.” Purple dismissed, annoyed.

“A hole that he made! He should be deactivated immediately for attacking our ship!” He growled, glaring.

“It's not worth it, red.” The tall Irken snarled, tone authoritative. “The Armada comes first.”

“Well what do you suggest we do? we can't just leave, Purple!”

“Well I don't think Zims is going to just give up either!”

“That's why we need to get him out of the picture!” Tallest Red rose. “What if he influences other defectives, huh?”

“How would he even do that!? They're coded with loyalty for a reason, Red!” Tallest Purple yowled, voice raising over the panic of the ship.

Gasps sounded out from behind the two, and they were reminded that they're not alone.

The Tallest paused, Reds antennae twitched at the dismay painted on their navigators faces.

They weren't supposed to know their loyalty was encoded into them. That was kinda the whole point, they were supposed to wholeheartedly believe they were loyal.

He growled in agitation.

“Look at what you did, Purple!” Red scolded in a quiet hiss, a resentful stare aimed at the co-leader.

“It wasn't my fault! If you hadn't started arguing-”

“Ugh! It doesn't matter. Let's just blow this section of their planet along with that defective.” The Red leader interrupted, a claw draped over his temple.

“No. That'll excell our loss of snacks!” Purple sighed. “Why don't we just make the soldiers grab Zim, and then make a tactical retreat. We're vulnerable in this state, we have no idea what this planet's inhabitants are capable of.”

No thanks to Zim, red noted.

“Fine. Whatever.” He hissed, his anger dying down.

Purple placed a clawed hand on his shoulder. “We'll send out a real invader. Get the job finished.”

“Then we'll deal with Zim.”

Red nodded, glaring at the windshield. At where Zims ship laid somewhere amongst the crouded view.

That little defective would get what he deserves.

Red would make sure of it.

He cleared his voice, before sending out a transmission to all the aircrafts surrounding them.

“Aim towards Zim, captor him and take him back to the Armada. Alive.” Purple sent him a glance at that, but he didn't care. He was going to destroy that disgrace himself.

“Once obtained, leave your defences. We're temporarily delaying our arrival.” Red finished, cutting the line.

Chapter Text

Zim felt a wave of fierce anxiety bite down on him as he cut the call, pent up behind his wall of confidence.

And for a moment, everything felt too real and too much. For a moment, he couldn't seem to take in air nor the sounds around him.

His claws shook, and his head buzzed.

A hand was placed on his shoulder. Warm. Welcoming.

The touch seemed to bring him out of the short panic, and he turned towards an unsure Dib. The boy was worried, he realised.

“That was uh. A very big step. Good job?” He congratulated awkwardly, the words of affirmation towards an ex rival sliding oddly off his tongue.

Yet, Zim could feel the sincerity in what he was trying to say. He nodded.

It was odd, he had a moment to reflect, that someone he used to hate so extremely, now brings him encouragement.

The thought was cut short, as a fierce hit ricocheted through their already battered ship. Effectively bringing the two back to the present.

Right. They were in a battle right now. No time for concern.

“Take this. You're gonna need it. Irken guns are powerful, and those ships aren't going to take pity on you, human.” Perhaps for the purpose of nostalgia for battle, he brought old nicknames to life once more.

He tossed him a stubby gun from his PAK, followed by a few other items Dib had insisted they bring himself.

A smoke bomb, and few minor explosives.

If Zim were to be completely honest, he had no idea why he had access to the latter.

He retrieved his own weapons from his PAK, which was one gun, and his PAK legs.

The Irken looked over his shoulder, a moment of hesitancy within the rush.

“GIR.” He grabbed the robot's attention, seriousness fading into his voice. “We're about to face off against a whole Armada. You have to take this seriously, okay? Just. Try your best. Don't get distracted.”

GIR saluted, red light shining brightly. Zim just hoped he'd listen.

If anything happened to that damned SIR unit…

He shook his head. Not the time to dwell.

Without a moment's more hesitation, he opened the windshield and dragged Dib onto the battlefield with him.

He threw the human behind the ship, a short cover as the opposing forces opened their fire. He, as an Irken, was more suited for this sort of combat.

Zim was quick in putting up a forcefield for himself with his PAK as he bared the shots, the distant sting only building his resolve.

“Try to rip something off the ship! Or- just use it as cover!” He yowled over the hussle of war.

He didn't tune in around to hear Dibs reply. With his mechanic extensions, he fired his own shots towards the aircrafts.

He wasn't sure how much damage it'd do to a ship, but he didn't care. He kept on shooting, aiming at any in his range.

An electric shiver snaked up his arm, followed by a burst of pain that made him hiss. He cursed himself for being careless in cover.

The Irkens did not let the moment of vulnerability slide, seeing their chance to attack.

And Zim knew this. He'd experienced the keen bloodlust many times in his life.

He readied himself for the pain, yet it never came.

Instead, he found himself being pushed to the side by none other than his rival turned comrade.

He was carrying a wide- yet thin- piece of metal from their wreckage, a temporary shield that was already showing its suffering from the hits.

“What are you doing?!” The alien strained, as the shock of the hit wore off. He had forgotten just how long the vehicle gun's effects lasted.

“Uh, protecting you?” Dib replied with a hint of confusion, as if it should've been obvious.

But it wasn't. Because that's not how it works. Is it?

When another irken was downed, you don't go and sacrifice yourself for them. That's stupid.

It's weak.

Zim looked at Dib, a stare of confusion clouding his features. The boy did not reciprocate the gesture, too focused on working the alien gun and staying as safe as possible with such a broken shield.

He bit his lip. Humans.

Pushing the controversy to the back of his mind, he reclaimed his dignity with a barrage of attacks, distancing himself.

Yet, the ships seemed to pause. Their shots ceased and their movements slowed.

He did not miss the opportunity to shoot down a few of their engines.

A ship crashed somewhat near him, and he glanced briefly at the crash.

He took a step back at the sight of bright pink blood trickled over the shattered glass, stumbling over an object he hadn't even known was so close.

He growled briefly, before realising it was his robot he'd tripped over. Luckily, he didn't seem to have taken any outside hits.

Another electric shock vibrated through his torso and he'd wanted to slap himself for getting distracted. Again.

He put his shield up to protect himself as the pain wore off, yet his eyes drew back to the smeared ship.

Sound came from its radio, distorted and distant. Zim did his best to tune into the audio.

Battle shouts faded, and new words from familiar voices made him pause.

“Ds- Zim. ca- d tak- him. the Arm- Alive.”
“O- obtained, -efences. W- temporar- ly delaying- arrival.”

Red. That was Tallest Reds voice. Even through the distorted, far audio, it was ever so recognizable.

He thought more into the words. Him. Alive? Why would they want to keep him alive? They're delaying their arrival. What?

a steel hand tugged at his tunic. Reminding him of the battle. He nodded. Quickly leaping up, only to freeze once more.

Ships were beginning to slow to stops around the trio.

Oh.

That's why they wanted him alive.

Zim felt fear, ripe and clear, rush through him. They wanted to take him back.

He couldn't. He wouldn't.

He brang his weaponry up, firing as many shots as he possibly can. He attacked with every source of fire he had.

His mechanical legs worked hard to keep up with the signals his brain was giving them, his body moved in favour of his survival and nothing else.

He found his mind eerily blank as he zeroed in on the ships closing in on him, breaking glass and denting metal with lazers.

A yelp from right. Important, it's sound familiar.

He whipped his head to see Dib clutching a bleeding arm. The wound was not deep, yet it was clear it hurt.

He growled, disgusted at his own race's cowardice. Attacking his Ally's rather than him.

Zim knew they had left any and all bandaging in their ship, he'd known there wouldn't be any time for treating wound in a battle anyway.

He wanted to continue with his attacks, force them off until he physically couldn't anymore. But the single attack on the human seemed to inspire more.

Another shot towards Dib, and despite his instincts, he pushed the moron out of the way.

Shots began to fire towards them. But not him.

GIR should be fine, he knew, he was a SIR unit after all.

But Dib? He was just a human. Not resistant to the Irken empire's weapons.

“Stay back! You won't be able to fight if you're dead, Dib!” It was supposed to come off as an insult, but he wasn't sure if his actual fear of the situation seeped into his words.

“Well neither will you! We're supposed to be working together!” He argued, sending a few blasts at the oncoming aircrafts.

It was then that, over the uproar of the battle, they heard sirens.

Police. He recalled distantly. Earth authorities.

The human certainly had a stronger reaction than he, pausing and looking back to the source.

He did not copy the action.

“Ignore that! We sorta have bigger things to worry about!” The alien snarled, and a small part of him, a voice that hadn't been heard for what felt like centuries, spoke of the anxiety of getting caught as an otherworldly species.

He ignored it. He knew, the possibility of getting caught by the Irken empire was much, much worse.

And as he focused his PAKs power into a large ranged attack, he was almost certain he wouldn't go back. He may not win, but he wouldn't go back. Not now. Not ever.

Yet, as a sickening metal screech rang out through the field, he felt his thoughts waver.

The screech was one so close, too close to be a human car or an alien ship.

He whipped his head around at the possibility, and hated that he was right.

Oh.

Zim stared, frozen, as the dented robot twitched. The once so lively visors were fading into a dull grey, devoid of life.

Deactivation.

The irken yelped, stricken with an all to sudden desperation.

His body moved without a thought, rushing to the crumpled figure.

No. No, no. This was so much worse than a deactivation or short circuit.

His eyes widened as he took in the large split in GIRs metal head, wiring exposed and singed.

“No..” He whispered, his ears rang. How deep was the damage? Could it be fixed?

Will he get to fix it?

Distantly, someone called out to him. But he couldn't tear his eyes from the robot. Frozen.

An explosion of pain. A tingling sensation that slithered down his spine and across his body.

He felt his claws knead nothingness for a mere second before everything went numb.

Fatigue washed over his head, warping his surroundings and making his eyes heavy.

He lost his wits quickly, he felt himself collapse against something hard. Distantly.

And in his daze, He couldn't quite figure if it was the three sharp claws of an irken, or the five stubby fingers of a human that were dragging his limp body.