A/N: So, I know it's been a while since I've done one of these Anti-Gaz stories. Sorry about that to all my fans who like them, but I haven't had much inspiration or drive in this field for awhile. But now I'm back to it, and this one owes its existence to my good friend ngrey651. While discussing a recent gift story he did for me, he mentioned how it'd be nice if I could try and work his OCs into my own stories. So, I looked over his characters, and one in particular just spoke to me in regards to Anti-Gaz potential, and here we go.
Also, totally unrelated but very important bit of news: ZIM'S COMING BACK TO TV! That's right, it's been announced, there's going to be a 90 minute movie, produced by Jhonen and with most of the old cast returning to their roles. A release date hasn't been announced yet, but they've started voice recordings, so it'll probably be in the next year or so. Spread the word!
Okay, big news done. Let's get to the story you came to read.
Disclaimer: I don't own any canon Invader Zim characters or concepts. And for once, I don't even own the OCs, either. The former are the intellectual property of Jhonen Vasquez, the latter belong to ngrey651. I only own the plot.
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Karma Circle: Judgement
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Gaz Membrane was having a fairly typical day, by her standards. She'd woken up, used the bathroom, slammed the door in her brother's face as she got out (whiner should have learned by now not to knock on the door and rush her), and helped herself to the last of the cereal in the house, while ignoring how pathetic Dib's moping was as he was reduced to eating some sloppy oatmeal. As soon as she was finished, she'd then forced him to finish his own meal so they could leave for skool.
Once at skool, Gaz's day had continued on its normal course. She'd sat in her classroom, her classmates doing their best to not catch her attention and in some way earn her wrath. As it was, the only one who even tried to interact with her was Mr. Elliot, since his obnoxiously cheerful attitude and dedication to teaching meant that he was determined to not leave any student out of his lessons. Though even he was smart enough not to keep pushing her when she reached her limit on participation and would let out a warning growl, sending him scurrying away, perpetual smile wavering momentarily.
So yes, it was a perfectly ordinary day for her, right up until she arrived in the cafeteria for lunch. As she carried her tray over to her and Dib's usual table, she was surprised to see he wasn't alone. He was sitting next to and animatedly talking with another boy his age, who actually seemed to be enjoying the conversation. The sight of Dib apparently having made a friend was so shocking that Gaz actually froze in place for a moment, eyes widening in surprise as she took this sight in. She was only snapped out of it when Dib happened to look up and spot her, and then waved her over.
"Hey, Gaz," he said, "This is Daniel. He just moved to town and transferred into my class. And he actually believes me about Zim!"
Gaz snorted dismissively at that statement, regaining her composure and sitting down. As she did, she gave Daniel a look over. He was dressed in a light grey shirt and black pants, which contrasted slightly with his dark red hair, which was hanging low over his bright blue eyes. And he was smiling brightly at her, which instantly got on her nerves.
"Hi, nice to meet you," he said, extending a hand. When this only received a warning growl in return, he quickly pulled it back, smile wavering slightly. Giving another dismissive snort, Gaz sat down and started eating, working to block out everything around her.
"Er, anyway," Daniel said, shaking off the chill that Gaz had sent down his spine and turning back to Dib, "Just to be clear, Dib, I just said that I'm willing to believe Zim's not human. That doesn't necessarily make him the big, world-ending, threat you're painting him as."
"He has literally tried to blow up the planet! More than once!" Dib responded, Gaz grinding her teeth as his voice hit a particularly shrill note.
"Well, okay, but he could just be misguided," Daniel responded, "After all, you know the old expression — monsters aren't born, they're made."
"Whoever said that obviously never met Zim," Dib said, "He's pure evil, and someone's got to put a stop to him before it's too late!"
"Would you shut up already?!" Gaz snapped, turning to Dib and cracking open an eye to glare at him directly, "I'm trying to eat!"
"…How is us talking keeping you from eating?" Daniel asked, blinking in confusion.
"His voice is like nails on a chalkboard," Gaz said, pointing a finger at Dib for a moment before redirecting it at Daniel, "And I just don't like you."
"We literally just met like a minute ago!" Daniel protested.
"That's enough for me to know that you're an annoying jackass," Gaz said.
"You think that about everyone," Dib said, which turned into a yelp as Gaz grabbed him by the collar and pulled him close.
"Did I ask your opinion?" she snarled, teeth bared.
"Uh, no?" Dib squeaked out.
"Then consider that another reason to shut up," Gaz said, shoving him away hard enough to send him sprawling to the floor. Daniel frowned as he watched this.
"You really shouldn't do stuff like that," he said. As soon as the last syllable left his mouth, the room seemed to freeze. Then, Gaz's head slowly twisted to look at him, seemingly grinding like a rusty machine as it moved atop her shoulders.
"What did you just say to me?" she hissed, the light appearing to go out of the room, even while her eyes glowed with an unholy light.
"Uh…" was all Daniel got out, before Gaz moved with inhuman speed. Reaching across the table, she grabbed him by the back of the head and slammed him down onto the table. And while his vision swam, Gaz scooped a spoonful of mashed potatoes off of her tray and held it over Daniel's eye.
Was it supposed to be bubbling like that?
"First rule, new kid," she said, whispering dangerously, "No one tells me what to do. Talk to me like that again, and I will plunge you into a nightmare world from which there's no awakening. Blink if you understand me."
Daniel quickly blinked, and in response, Gaz let go, while simultaneously tossing the spoon away over her shoulder. It flew through the air and hit another student, Zita as it turned out, splattering over her face. She fell screaming to the floor, withering in pain as her face burned and broke out in oddly colored boils. Gaz didn't seem to notice, as she grabbed her tray, got up, and walked towards another table, whose occupants all quickly scurried away, wisely giving her space.
Daniel sat back up, rubbing his sore head and watching Gaz leave with a frown.
"Couldn't she have just walked away without the yelling and threats?" he asked Dib, who had also got back up from where he'd fallen and was brushing himself off.
"She could, but that doesn't mean she would," Dib replied, "She wanted to make a point, to remind us that things always go her way, or else."
Noting the bitterness in Dib's voice, Daniel turned his attention from where Gaz had gone to look at his friend with a raised eyebrow.
"If you're upset with how she acts, shouldn't you, you know, stand up to her?" he asked. To his surprise, Dib just snorted derisively.
"Yeah, right. She'd bend my spine like a pretzel and feed me my own liver," he said, crossing his arms in frustration, "Besides which, she's my sister. I couldn't bring myself to hurt her."
"She obviously doesn't feel the same," Daniel muttered, before speaking up, "Okay, then what about everyone else? I mean, there's got to be someone willing to stand up to her. At the very least, shouldn't the teachers-"
"They're more scared of her than the other students are," Dib cut the argument short, "And she'd just ignore them anyway. The only person whose authority she might respect is our dad's, and he doesn't care. Especially since that'd mean he'd have to accept that both of his kids don't meet his standards."
"I see," Daniel muttered, turning his attention back to where Gaz was sitting, an aura of darkness seeming to surround her table.
Dib tried to turn the conversation to brighter subjects, but Daniel was barely paying attention. One eye stayed trained on Gaz the entire time, and when Dib wasn't looking, Daniel let his face twist into a scowl that would have put any Gaz could conjure to shame. And that scowl stayed on his face throughout the rest of the day, as he went over everything that had happened again and again in his mind.
He'd heard the stories, of course, but he had honestly thought they'd been blown out of proportion. But no, Gaz was every bit the monstrous brat everyone said she was. Honestly, who in their right mind treated people they barely knew like that, let alone their own family members?
He was seriously reconsidering his earlier statement about monsters being made, not born, because from what he'd gathered, there was nothing to explain Gaz being the way she was. True, there was the parental favoritism and the constant looking-the-other-way that all the other authority figures in her life did, but that just seemed to be fanning a preexisting fire. She was already a selfish brat who lashed out at anyone who got in her way or dared to disagree with her, so Daniel dreaded to see what she'd become after a lifetime of no one even trying to curb these tendencies.
That was the thought that clung most in Daniel's head as he approached his home, barely paying attention to it as he walked up the yard towards the front door. Which was fair enough, as it was such an average-looking building that to most people it would probably just blend into the background and be overlooked. At least, unless one were to step inside, and then it was a whole other story.
Upon stepping through the door, Daniel was suddenly in a cavernous, dark space, that seemed to stretch on far further than even where the limits of the house should have been. And sitting at the center of that space was a floating chair, its back to Daniel as the figure sitting in it stared at several screens floating in the air in front of it.
"So, how was the first day, Daan Yel?" the figure asked, not turning from watching the screens. In response, an aura of red light surrounded Daniel, and when it dispersed, someone new was standing there. It was a Vortian, tall for that species but just above average human height, with mauve skin, solid blue eyes, and red horns, wearing a white robe. Other than that, there were some other aspects that distinguished him — his right horn was broken off halfway up, while his right hand and foot were both outright missing, replaced with metal prosthetics.
"Don't ask like you haven't been keeping tabs on me all day," the Vortian, Daan Yel, responded as he crossed his arms over his chest, "You already know exactly how things went, especially how my encounter with that purple-haired monstrosity went exactly as you warned me it would."
The figure responded with a snort, before waving a hand at the screens. The various images of random views throughout the city then changed, resolving into footage of "Daniel's" day, specifically focusing on his interaction with Gaz in the cafeteria, and the death glares they'd exchanged upon leaving skool at the end of the day.
"Yes, if there's one constant I've found in this multiverse, it's the fact that Gazlene Membrane is a nasty little bitch… Well, I suppose there's those mirror universes where she's the one obsessed with the paranormal, or a sickeningly sweet girly-girl, but then usually Dib's the awful one. So I guess maybe it's more accurate to say that at least one member of the Membrane family-"
"I get the point, Purgatory," Daan Yel interrupted, rolling his eyes. As he said that, the chair swiveled around, revealing its occupant to be a medium-height, black-eyed Irken with spiky antennae, wearing all black.
"Right, sorry," Purgatory, the Avatar of Karma, said, coughing slightly in embarrassment, before moving on, "Anyway, I'd still like to hear your own analysis first, before we move on."
Daan Yel frowned, inclining his head as he gathered his thoughts, trying to organize them clearly and logically, without his rather vibrant emotions on the matter getting in the way. After a few moments, during which Purgatory sat in patient silence, the Vortian finally spoke.
"She's a self-centered, selfish, anger-filled brat who always resorts to violence, usually with only the most superficial provocation. And in fact, I think she actually enjoys inflicting fear and pain on others, making them feel weak, watching them tremble beneath her," Daan Yel's voice began shaking with anger, his mental image of Gaz shifting to a female Irken standing above him, laughing in sadistic glee as he bled out on a surgical table…
"Stop that, you're projecting," Purgatory said sharply, snapping Daan Yel out of his wandering and increasingly dark thoughts, "Gaz is not the interrogator who hurt you. Don't mix feelings on two different people, it'll cloud your judgement."
Daan Yel took a deep breath, clearing his mind and letting the red creep back from the edges of his vision, before speaking again.
"I'm sorry. But she is vicious and uncaring, and it's not hard to see her going down an even worse path if no one steps in and stops her."
"Hmm," Purgatory mused, leaning back in his chair and steeping his fingers as he stared at Daan Yel, "And how do you plan on stopping her? How do you propose intervening against someone so set in their ways? By force?"
"If necessary," Daan Yel replied, narrowing his eyes at the challenging tone in Purgatory's voice.
"You came to me and asked me to train you in the art of delivering justice on those who so often escape it. To bring punishment without lowering yourself to the level of those you seek to punish," Purgatory said, "Using brute force to try and deter someone's path in life, even someone as despicable as Gaz? That is not the way."
"Well, then what do you propose instead?" Daan Yel asked. In response, Purgatory smirked.
"Well, there are other ways to torment someone and break them down other than physically attack them yourself," he said, "Now, listen carefully…"
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As night fell over the Membrane household, Gaz was in her bedroom, settling in for a night's sleep. She'd already changed into her pajamas, and was lying in bed, Game Slave in hand, trying to break a few personal score records before calling it a night. And if she was tapping away at the buttons a bit more ferociously than usual, well, that just reflected her currently more-foul-than-usual mood.
It had been Family Night tonight, and unfortunately, it had been Dib's turn to choose the restaurant this time. And worse, he'd actually had the gall to pick someplace other than Bloaty's! Admittedly, he'd seemed to have realized his mistake in hindsight (no doubt thanks to the death glare she sent his way all throughout dinner), and he'd ended up fleeing into his room as soon as they gotten home. Gaz was letting him suffer, knowing she'd made him pay eventually, while she decided what she was going to do to him when that time came.
In the meantime, however, the bulk of Gaz's anger was actually directed elsewhere. She just knew that Dib directly defying her like that had to have something to do with that new friend of his, Daniel. That jerk had actually dared to talk back to her, to question her actions! If Dib was hanging around that guy, he was obviously being influenced into acting against her as well, instead of just accepting his proper place in the order of things like he was supposed to.
She'd obviously have to do something to make it clear to Daniel just who was on top of the food chain around here. Sure, she'd made a point to him at lunch, but she should probably also pound the point home as reinforcement. Hmm, maybe "accidentally" trip him down some stairs, so he'd an arm or leg along the way. That'd teach him a lesson.
Gaz's thoughts ran in that direction for a little while longer, before being interrupted by a yawn. Deciding to call it a night, Gaz saved her game and switched the Game Slave off, putting it away in a desk drawer. She then turned off the lights and pulled the sheets over her head, falling asleep in minutes.
As such, she didn't notice as a shadow suddenly lengthened from its spot near her window, spreading across the room until it reached her bed. It then rose up, forming into the figure of Daan Yel. He narrowed his bright blue eyes down at her, and then slowly lifted his metal hand, which began to glow with dark energy. He extended one finger, and reached down to press it against Gaz's forehead. The glow spread to Gaz's body, and then there was a flash of light that consumed the whole room.
Now it would begin.
XXXXXXX
Gaz's eyes snapped open, and she looked around in utter confusion.
Rather than lying in her bed, she was sitting on a chair, placed in the middle of a large room… at least, she assumed it was. She was lit up by what appeared to be a spotlight shining down from someplace above her that she couldn't see, and beyond that narrow circle of light, she couldn't see anything but darkness. Also of note was the fact that, rather than the pajamas she'd changed into, she was wearing her usual clothes.
Frowning, Gaz pinched herself, wincing at the pain. Okay, so she wasn't dreaming. That answered one question, but raised so many others — where was she, how had she gotten here, and whose face was she going to break into pieces for daring to abduct her, and worse, change her clothes without her consent?
She was just about to get out of the chair and start searching the room for clues, when a second spotlight lit up another section of the room a few feet in front of her. Gaz's eyes widened in further surprise at the appearance of the inhuman figure in the white robe, sitting on a throne-like chair, who was narrowing his bright blue eyes in distaste at her.
"…And you are?" she asked, brushing off her surprise and discomfort to match the being's glare with one of her own.
"I am the Judgement," he responded, voice echoing strangely.
"Tch. Pretentious much?" she snorted, crossing her arms and leaning back in the chair, "Anyway, you've got ten seconds to tell me where I am and why I'm here, or I shove your stupid horned head up your ass."
"Heh, as always, violence is your first and only choice, isn't it?" the Judgement asked, tone consistent with someone who had just tasted something vile, "Confronted with something you don't understand? Hit it. Someone disagrees with you? Hit them. Everything doesn't go exactly the way you want? Find the nearest person and hit them."
As the Judgement spoke, glowing screens appeared in the air above and around him, depicting images that Gaz recognized as scenes of her own life. There she was, taking out frustrations on Dib, punishing him for taking the last soda or slice of pizza, as well as other times she attacked a variety of other people for getting in her way, arguing with her, or just plain annoying her. Not to mention all the authority figures she'd intimidated over the years into looking the other way and letting her do whatever she wanted.
"Thanks for the nostalgia tour," she snarked, arching an eyebrow, "But is there a point to all this?"
"Do you truly feel no regret for all this?" the Judgement asked, gesturing to the screens with a metal hand, "All this harm done, and for what? Merely to assert yourself over people who have never done you any true wrong? To feed your ego? Or is it simply that you enjoy inflicting pain and fear on others?"
Gaz growled, her fists clenching more tightly at every word out of the Judgement's mouth. How dare this freak look down at her like this? Who cared who she hurt and why? It was her own damn business, and as far as she was concerned, all those people deserved what they got for messing with her!
"Who cares what I did to all those whiners?!" she snarled, "They all should have left me alone and stayed out of my way!"
"Even so, I ask again, why always resort to violence? Surely there are more peaceful ways to get what you want. Why must you act with fists and threats, without first attempting to talk things out?"
"Talk it out? I don't need to talk things out. People do what I say or else, that's how things work!" Gaz snapped, thin patience wearing out completely as she jumped to her feet and started to march towards the Judgement, fists raised, "Maybe you need a demonstration, huh? You little-"
Gaz's threat was cut short as the Judgement once again raised his metal hand. As it glowed, Gaz suddenly found herself frozen in place, absolutely unable to move anything other than her eyes, which widened and darted around in panic.
"Perhaps it is you who requires a demonstration," the Judgement said, unfazed by the attempted attack, "Of what things are like on the receiving end of such a philosophy. So, this is my judgement on you — a taste of your own medicine."
The Judgement thrust his hand out, and Gaz went flying backwards. The Judgement, and the slim visibility provided by the spotlights, disappeared, leaving her in total darkness. Not that it would have made a difference, as with how fast she was moving, anything in sight probably would have been a blur.
She didn't know how long she was moving — it could have been seconds, it could have been hours — but soon it came to a sudden stop. The sensation of moving horizontal movement switched to falling, and moments later, Gaz hit hard ground with a thud, the breath being forced from her lungs with a pained grunt. Blinking her eyes rapidly to clear the spots from her vision, and wincing at the sudden light, Gaz sat up and looked around.
To add yet another surprise to the long list she'd been experiencing, Gaz found that she was now lying on the concrete ground of the skool courtyard, sun shining brightly above her. And what's more, there was a large crowd of other students surrounding her, all frowning at her. A frown of her own forming in response to seemingly being looked down on, Gaz got to her feet and glared at the crowd.
"What are you all looking at?" she snapped, expecting them all to cower back, and maybe offer her some kind of explanation as to what was going on. However, not only did they not respond in that way, but their aura of hostility actually seemed to increase, their own frowns upgrading to glares as well, while angrily muttering amongst themselves.
"Hey! Don't ignore me!" Gaz snarled, seeing red at the perceived slight. She stomped over to the nearest kid, some boy she didn't even recognize. She grabbed him by the collar with one hand, and reared the other one back while it curled into a fist, prepared to slam it right into his nose-
And then someone else punched her in the face first.
Gaz was knocked off her feet from the force, and once again slammed into the ground, but this time hard enough that the combination of it and the initial blow caused her vision to momentarily black out. Scrambling to her hands and knees, she looked up to see another girl she vaguely recognized standing next to the boy she'd tried to hit, her own fist still extended and red from impact.
Reaching up to feel her throbbing face, Gaz winced as she made contact with her mouth, and pulled her fingers away, wet with blood. The bitch had split her lip! And a probing with her tongue indicated that at least one tooth had been loosened by the blow, too.
"You, you hit me!" Gaz shrieked, in a mixture of shock and rage. That wasn't supposed to happen, no one dared to fight back against her!
"Oh, don't be such a whiner," the girl said, doing a mock impression of Gaz's voice on that last word, "I barely touched you. It's not like that time you broke my jaw with a lunch tray because I happened to get the last slice of pizza in the cafeteria."
"Yeah, or the time you threw me through a window for accidentally bumping into you in the hallway," the boy she'd tried to hit added, "Do you even care that my skull got fractured from that, you bitch?!"
The boy's voice rose into a yell near the end, which he punctuated by lashing out with a kick as Gaz tried desperately to get back to her feet. The attack connected viciously with Gaz's stomach, and she collapsed back to the ground, retching violently as pain radiated out through her whole body. She didn't have a chance to even try and recover from that, before several pairs of hands took firm grips on her limbs, hauled her to her feet, and tossed her into the crowd. Disoriented, Gaz tried to break free as the other students grabbed hold of her, but it was no use against the concentrated effort.
"You slammed me against a locker for getting a better test score than you!"
"You beat me bloody with a trashcan for taking too long at the vending machine!"
"You tried to drown me in the bathroom for cutting you off on line at the Mall!"
On and on it went, everyone screaming their grievances with Gaz, each shout accompanied by a punch or a kick. Gaz was so blinded by pain and confusion that she didn't even notice she was being moved towards the doors that led into the skool cafeteria until she was thrown through them, skidding across the floor and slamming into the side of a table. Groaning, she grabbed the table legs and tried to pull her bruised and bloodied body back up. As she did, a shadow fell over her; looking up, despite her vision being obscured by one partially swollen eye, she was able to clearly see her teacher, Mr. Elliot, looking down at her, an oddly neutral look on his normally obnoxiously-bright face.
"Gaz, you're making a mess all over the floor," he said, tone matching his face. Gaz could only gape up at him.
"I just got beat up by a mob and you're mad at me for bleeding from it?!" she shouted, voice cracking with near-hysteria. Unfortunately, it failed to have any sort of positive effect, as not only did Mr. Elliot not look intimidated, but he actually glared at her.
"Don't you talk back to me, young lady. I'm your teacher and you'll show me proper respect," he snapped, "And your classmates are paying you back for what you've done to them. But, I suppose it's my own fault — I should have stepped in and given you proper punishment a long time ago."
He then reached down and grabbed Gaz by the collar, hauling her to her feet, and then shifting his grip to her wrists, pinning them to the tabletop. Then, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a long wooden ruler.
"What are you doing?!" Gaz demanded in a panic, as she struggled her teacher's grip against the grip. But it was futile — whether she was weakened from the earlier beating, or Mr. Elliot was just that much stronger than he looked, she couldn't break free.
"A teacher's duty is to discipline disobedient and disrespectful students," Mr. Elliot explained, as he gave the ruler a few experimental waves, "Now, I don't believe in corporal punishment, I've always felt that it caused more problems than it solved, that's why I rely on a stern word and detention as firm but fair punishment. But with you, I haven't even done that, have I? No, I've been letting myself be pushed around by a brat like you, just because I hate confrontation! And look how bad you've become because I've always turned a blind eye. Well, no more — I have a responsibility to punish you for all you've done. So, let this be a lesson for you, to always be a good child, or else."
With that, Mr. Elliot slammed the ruler down on Gaz's hands, splaying across every knuckle. As she screamed in pain, he brought it down again and again, repeatedly smacking her fingers with the hard wood, until the skin started to split. Seemingly satisfied at this point, Mr. Elliot let go and back away, letting a nearly blind with agony Gaz fall back to the floor.
Clutching her ruined hands close to her chest, Gaz began crawling across the floor on her knees and elbows. She didn't know where she was going, and she didn't care, as long as it was away from all the crazy people who had started hurting her for no reason. She didn't deserve this, she wasn't an annoying whiner like all of them!
Gaz's internal ramblings were cut off as she suddenly found herself bumping into a pair of feet. Looking up, she found herself looking up at Dib, who was staring at her curiously. She probably should have felt relief at her brother's arrival, but her fear and frustration at everything that she'd already been through was fueling a burning rage, and seeing her regular punching bag in front of her was providing those feelings with a seemingly perfect outlet.
"Don't just stand there, you idiot! Help me!" she screamed. This immediately turned out to be the wrong thing to say, as Dib's look of curiosity and concern quickly turned to one of anger, matching any of the glares she'd been receiving lately.
"Oh sure, sister dear, I'd be happy to help you," he said, voice dripping with venom. Before Gaz could process Dib, of all people, actually talking back to her like that, he reached down and grabbed some of her hair in a vice grip, wrenching her back to her feet. Ignoring her cries of pain and protest, he began dragging her across the room, towards the door that led behind the counter and into the kitchen. He kicked the door open and walked through, not even trying to stop the door from slamming back into place while Gaz was still in the doorway, allowing it to smack into her already abused face, eliciting fresh pain.
Dib ignored it, dragging his sister further into the kitchen. She tried to break free, but her attempts to grab or hit him just inflamed the pain in her hands, so she stumbled along after him as best as she could. Before long, they reached the section of the kitchen counter reserved for breakfast foods that the skool served pretty much all day, for people into that sort of thing. At this point, Dib let Gaz go, letting stumble to secure herself against it, while he looked over the food.
"Here you go, Gaz, some food will make you feel better," Dib said mockingly, "And look, they still have one bowl of cereal left. And you always have to have the last bowl, right? Well, here, eat up!"
The next thing Gaz knew, a full bowl of cereal had been thrown in her face. The impact of the ceramic hitting and bouncing off of her head hurt enough, but if asked, she'd probably say that the sting of the milk against her damaged eyes and nose was far worse. She spluttered, and tried desperately to wipe her face clean as best she could, given the state of her hands, while Dib walked over to a nearby icebox.
"Here, have some soda to wash that down with," he said, taking a can out of the box and shaking it hard. Just as Gaz finished wiping her face clear of the milk, Dib opened the can, spraying the soda all over her. As she sputtered, Dib tossed the can aside, before walking over and grabbing her by the collar, once again dragging her down the counter, towards where the hot food was kept.
"Hang on, I know what I'm doing wrong," he said, "I know what you want. Pizza, right? Because that's really the only thing that matters to you, after all."
Gaz had barely had a chance to register the slice of pizza Dib had picked up from a tray, before the hand on her collar shot up to her mouth, forcing it open. He then shoved the pizza into it, forcing it to fold up as he stuffed it in, not giving her a chance to chew or in any way break down the mass. As Gaz choked and gagged, Dib reached for the other slices of pizza on display.
"There, aren't you happy now?" he asked, picking up another slice and stuffing it in Gaz's mouth as well, "I mean, this is one of the only things you care about right? And I just want to be a good brother — I've tried to be a good brother, try to care about you, but you don't care about me at all do you? Just your games and pizza, that's all that matters to you. Well, fine, I'm done caring about you too! So here, enjoy your pizza, you fat pig!"
As Dib had been going through this rant, he had been stuffing more and more slices into Gaz's mouth, and by the time he was done, the entire pizza was now just a big ball of cheese and sauce, filling her mouth past the point of capacity. Her cheeks were so swollen, she looked like a parody of a squirrel carrying a full load of acorns.
The minute that Dib was done with his rant and pizza assault, and let go of Gaz's mouth, she stumble-ran as fast as she could out of the kitchen, back into the cafeteria proper. She only made it a few feet, before falling to her knees and vomiting the mass of pizza out, her gag reflex being allowed to finally kick in. She sat there, panting for breath and retching, for several minutes, until a familiar voice pulled attention to another corner of the room.
"Not so much fun when you're not the one doing the beating, is it?" the Judgement asked, from where he was leaning against the wall, nonchalantly inspecting the fingernails on his organic hand. Gaz glared at him as best she could, given the current state of her face, and shakily got to her feet.
"You did this," she snarled, spitting globs of mixed saliva and blood in his general direction.
"No, you did this," the Judgement replied, "You've been inflicting pain and fear on everyone around you for years. That sort of thing can cause deep-seated rage. But most people repress it, for one reason or another — fear of retaliation, a desire to turn the other cheek, or simple decency, among other things. All I did was remove those filters, and let them act on the feelings that you created. Rather makes you reconsider your life choices, doesn't it?"
"I. Will. Kill. You!" Gaz snarled, limping towards him as fast as she could. To hell with the pain wracking her entire body, she was not going to let this freak get away with not only causing her all this trouble, but actually daring to look down his nose at her. However, the Judgement's only response to her threat was to heave a heavy sigh.
"Well, I didn't want to play this card, it's a low blow. But some people just don't learn. Isn't that right, Professor?" he asked, looking at something behind Gaz, who froze at hearing that last word. Turning around, she was shocked to see a floating video-screen hovering in the air, depicting her father's visage.
"Yes, I'm afraid that's true," Professor Membrane said, "Even someone as brilliant as myself is unable to accept certain truths from time to time. For example, I should have realized, after my son turned out to be insane, that my genes are so superior they could never be properly passed down without problems. But I refused to accept that, and had another child, and she's turned out to be an even worse disappointment."
Gaz's jaw dropped, suddenly feeling more hurt than by any of the physical assaults she'd undergone.
"After all," the Professor continued, "At least my son has shown some intellectual persuasion, even if it's wasted on his paranormal nonsense instead of Real Science. But my daughter… all she seems interested in is her games and food. She doesn't show an interest in any form of higher pursuit with her life. And worse, she's proven time and again to be the worst kind of brute, and such a basic drive towards physical violence proves a low intellect. I admit, I've tried very hard to ignore it, and keep my disappointment buried deep down, but I'm afraid I can't do that anymore.
"Well, I'm off to publicly disown her! Have a nice day!" Membrane finished cheerfully, waving before the screen floated. Gaz, meanwhile, sank to her knees, in total shock.
No, no, no. This couldn't be happening. Her father wasn't supposed to care what she did. He was supposed to just look the other way and accept her with a smile. She wasn't the crazy one, she wasn't Dib, she was supposed to be the one he cared about!
Tears welling up, Gaz threw her head back and loosed a scream of primal anger and despair…
And found herself shooting up in bed, the scream strangling itself out with a sharp gasp. Panting in confusion, Gaz looked about in panic, finding she was back in her room, in her bed, in her pajamas, the dark sky outside her window showing that it was still the middle of the night. Feeling herself over, she quickly confirmed that she was completely unharmed — no bruises, no cuts, no swollen eyes or split lips. Everything was perfectly intact.
"A dream," she muttered, slightly hysterical, "It was just a dream."
"Yes and no."
Gaz jumped up with a yelp, and turned to see the Judgement standing off to the side of her room, lit ominously by a beam of moonlight coming through the window. Eyes widening, Gaz scuttled back from him, until she almost fell off the bed.
"Secur-" she started to yell, only for the Judgement to wave his metal hand; in response, every last one of Gaz's security dolls fell over, sparking and smoking.
"You also shouldn't bother calling for help," he said, "I've put up a silencing spell around this room. You could be throwing a Mardi Gras parade in here, and no one could hear a thing."
"What do you want?!" Gaz shrieked, heart pounding in her chest.
"Just to hammer home my point," he said, "You see, while all of that may have been a dream, that doesn't make everything I said any less true. I reached out to the subconscious of all your schoolmates, your teacher, your brother, and yes, your father too, and pulled in all of their repressed feelings and secret thoughts about you, letting them run free. Everything they said and did was simply what they refuse to acknowledge or do in real life, and they won't even remember doing it in the dreamworld.
"But know this," he added, eyes narrowing dangerously, "Everyone has their breaking point. Keep pushing everyone around, and a day may come where, with or without someone like me to lend a helping hand, they will simply snap. And when they turn on you, this time the pain you experience will be real, and I won't be able to undo it with a snap of my fingers.
"Pleasant dreams," he said with a cruel smirk. He then turned, and disappeared into the shadows. Quickly grabbing a lamp, Gaz flipped it on, and was able to breathe a sigh of relief, seeing that he had vanished.
Even so, she couldn't bring herself to do anything but hug her knees to her chest, shuddering as the night's events played over and over in her mind, burned into her memory.
XXXXXXX
Back at Purgatory's lair, Daan Yel reemerged from the shadows, shaking off the lingering tingling sensation that always accompanied teleportation. Ignoring it, he turned to where Purgatory was still sitting in his chair, the screens in front of him all showing Gaz from different angles as she sat shivering in her bed.
"Well?" Daan Yel asked.
"Using her father's repressed feelings to finish breaking her was an interesting touch," the black-eyed Irken replied, turning to look at his apprentice.
"I regret having to stoop so low, but I figured if anything could break through her armor and let all the emotional pain actually hit her, it would be that," Daan Yel said.
"Hmm, well, I'd say this first outing yours has gone pretty well, altogether," Purgatory said, turning back to the screens, "This is not something that she'll forget anytime soon. And perhaps next time she considers hitting someone for petty reasons, she'll remember how it felt for her. And maybe she'll be inspired to be a better person, one who her brother and father can actually feel good about deep down."
"And if that doesn't happen?" Daan Yel asked.
"…I hate people who need repeat lessons," Purgatory said, after a few minutes of quiet thought, "But those who do, usually require a much harsher reminder. Bear that in mind."
Daan Yel nodded, silently processing that statement, and watching Gaz on the screens. For her sake, he hoped she learned something from all this, and grew from it.
Otherwise, the next time they met, there would be a much stricter Judgement for her indeed.
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The End
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A/N: Bleh. Writing this story totally kicked my ass, and I don't know if it turned out all that well. Everyone, please let me know what you think.
Nick, I especially hope you enjoyed how I used your characters. If not, I apologize.
Read and review!