Prologue

Baby mine, don't you cry.

Baby mine, dry your eyes.

Rest your head close to my heart,

Never to part,

Baby of mine.

Little one when you play,

Don't you mind what they say.

Let those eyes sparkle and shine,

Never a tear,

Baby of mine.

If they knew sweet little you,

They'd end up loving you too.

All those same people who scold you

What they'd give just for the right to hold you.

From your head down to your toes,

You're not much, goodness knows.

But you're so precious to me,

Sweet as can be,

Baby of mine.

All those same people who scold you,

What they'd give just for the right to hold you.

From your head down to your toes

You're not much, goodness knows.

But you're so precious to me,

Sweet as can be,

Baby of mine.

Baby of mine

… I love you, my precious Belle.

Chapter 1:

Young Creature

What drove me crazy was the fact that every time I turned around, I would have to run BACK to the place I had JUST come from. Ok yea, I was in charge of the humans, but that didn't mean I should have to run back and forth between my lab and my home. But today all of that running was about to pay off as I dashed back to my house. For good reason this time.

The Almighty Tallest was coming.

I was usually told when he would be paying us a visit, I usually had some kind of forewarning, some date to "look forward to." But not today. Today he randomly called me up and said, "We're in your atmosphere we'll be landing in about five minutes."

Well thanks a lot for the WARNING!

My black lab coat flapped behind me as I pulled my goggles up and threw my glasses on. I continued running, not letting anything slow me down.

Two more blocks.

Just two more blocks.

It was at times like these that I was grateful the other humans hardly went outside anymore. They had good reason to stay as inconspicuous as possible. Ever since our planet had been conquered…

I remember that day well. It was only four years ago, but it felt like ages to me. Everything had happened so quickly. He had assumed power on Irk, and not soon after his one reason for living was taken from him. He had no idea what had happened; even I didn't really have a clear idea of what had past. But I had made a promise, one I was intending to keep.

She never deserved what she had been given.

There! I turned and my house came into few. I used the last reserves of my energy to sprint for the door. I bolted inside, breathing heavily, slamming the door closed once inside. I leaned against the frame, gasping for air. But I only had about a minute before he would land. I looked around; glad to see everything was kept in order. Only one thing was out of place.

"Uncle Dib! You're home early!"

She sat on the couch, holding a stuffed bunny in one hand, and her blanket in the other. She jumped down and ran to me, her arms spread. I picked her up and hugged her lightly, but the panic soon consumed me as I heard the faint hum of engines draw closer. I quickly ran upstairs, and walked to the opposite end of the hall and turned to my right. It looked just like the wall, but when I pressed my hand against it, it scanned my hand and a door appeared.

"Why do I always have to go in here?" she asked, not exactly whining, but not exactly curious either.

"It's for your safety. Please, you'll understand someday," I answered as I opened the door and placed her in the middle of the floor. The room was filled with toys and pillows and a bed, all the things a little three year old could want. But she still looked sad when I left her there, especially when I took one last look at her before closing the door. It faded back into the wall, as if it had never been there in the first place.

Outside, I could hear the hum become much, much louder as his ship drew closer and closer to the surface. It landed gracefully, and soon the steps came down and out stepped the Tallest with his escort close behind him.

He didn't wear what the Almighty Tallest before him wore. Instead he had some kind of a Steampunk fashion, his jacket was dark brown with five buckles but only the top two were buckled. The others lay open, revealing a simple tight red shirt underneath. His gloves were black and came up to his elbows. They had several straps tied around them, and the fingers were cut out so you could see his three fingers and their black claws on the end. His pants were still black, along with his boots, which came up to his knee, but they, like his gloves, were covered in straps and buckles. His ruby eyes were hard, glaring down at me, as his antennae twitched on top of his head.

I bowed to him, which was customary for all of his subjects. He simply rolled his eyes at me and continued past me into the house, his boots clopping on the pavement.

As a child I never thought the day would come when I would fear the Irken race. And then Zim became the Tallest, and I've been terrified of them ever since.

Zim's POV

The Dib stink bowed to me as I stepped down from my transport. I never used the Massive. That ship was much too big for just simple visits to Earth. I walked past him, rolling my eyes at his pathetic façade. He flinched slightly when I walked past him, the hem of my coat brushing against his disgusting cheek. I entered his house as if I owned the place and pivoted, waiting for him to follow.

My escort, who was actually my top Invader, followed close behind me, passing Dib without a second thought. He wore his human disguise, mostly because it made him look less threatening. The cloaking device made his skin pale, and his hair flaming orange as it fell into his face. His eyes were a flaming yellow, but his right eye was pale and it stared off into nothing. He came up to my shoulder and he wore a gray jacket that was opened and revealed a yellow shirt and black plants, with boots that came up to his knees with orange buckles and steel toes with one talon on the back like a bird's feet. He stood next to me, a glare on his face as he too watched Dib come towards us.

Dib closed the door, his hand shaking. I glared down at him, annoyed at how slow he was moving.

"So, Zim, uh what can I do for you?" he asked nervously. I raised an eyebrow at him, was he really that oblivious?

"What do you think?" I seethed through my bare teeth, glaring at him. "I didn't really expect you to be any better than you were last time, but at least some SHRED of improvement would be appreciated."

Of course that was a bold faced lie. I never appreciated anything he did. I was here to see how he was taking care of the human slaves, and to get what I needed. That was all. That was all Earth was useful for.

Dib bowed his head and then ran quickly to the basement door.

"Certainly, my Tallest."

He held the door open for my escort and I before following, closing the door behind him.

Once we reached the bottom, my escort and I waited impatiently for Dib to retrieve our rightful possession.

"So, Dib-stink, how are all the other pathetic Earth worms?" I asked mocking, raising an eyebrow.

"You know Zim, you used to love one of us…"

He immediately regretted saying that, just by the look on his face you could tell.

My glare turned ferocious and all I had to do was tense up before my escort was pummeling Dib. Dib lay curled in a ball when I held up a hand to stop my escort, Dib's blood circled around him. I grabbed his collar and picked him up until we met eye-to-eye, his feet dragging. He stared at me, terror in his eyes.

Mine were only filled with hatred.

"I. Could. Never. Love. One. Of. Your. Humans," I seethed menacingly. Dib seemed to get the message. And once he did, I threw him on the ground, smiling at the satisfying crack that came from his shoulder blade hitting the ground too hard. I looked at my escort and said, "Well done, Hatchet."

Hatchet nodded his acknowledgement but his face remained emotionless.

I turned back to the pathetic form of Dib.

"Get up you're still breathing," I said annoyed and exasperated. I was already bored.

He did as he was told, cradling his shoulder. He walked around to the back of the lab, limping and groaning slightly when he moved his arm to grab something. He walked back, a large box floating behind him.

"The fuel and weapons are in here," he said cringing in pain as he handed me the remote that controlled the box.

"Good. Invader Hatchet and I will be looking for more slaves. Do yourself a favor and have this place cleaned up before we get back for the slave collars," I replied as my escort and I walked back upstairs. I wanted to get out of here as quickly as possible.

Dib's POV

I followed him, saying, "Yes, My Tallest," as we went. I walked quickly, wanting him out of my house as soon as possible. My hand was on the doorknob when her voice filled the room to my utter despair.

"Uncle Dib?"

Zim and Hatchet both pivoted and stared stunned at the little girl. I too turned, shocked and mortified. She could without a doubt see the fear on my face.

"Belle…" I gulped, petrified in terror as I saw her poke her little head from around the corner. Her emerald green human eye stared back; the rest of her was hidden behind the wall.

Zim was frozen, not even his antennae moved. He didn't even breathe. Hatchet didn't show any sign of interest until he too saw the little black antenna on her head.

A human left eye?

An Irken antenna?

And then of course there was her light green skin.

And then I realized Belle wasn't staring at me.

She was staring at Zim, who stared back. I couldn't see his face entirely, but from what I did see, he was in complete and total shock.

Zim's POV

Her eye…

I know it seems trivial and completely stupid, but I couldn't tear my gaze away from her eye.

I had seen those eyes millions of times before.

I thought I'd never see them again.

She blinked, her eyelids were black and long black eyelashes framed her eye perfectly.

What perplexed me was that her light green skin matched the color of mine. And her antenna… it bent on the end like a scythe, but then it zigzagged a bit until it turned into a hook.

And then I was filled with anger. And I knew why.

"You think this is funny?" I hissed rounding on Dib. He was taken aback, and he cowered into the door.

"What?" he asked dumbly.

I threw myself at him, grabbing his collar and lifting him off the ground again.

Hatchet's POV

I watched My Tallest lift the Dib human off the ground, rage and pain shaking through him. I was surprised, usually he had me do the dirty work for him.

"YOU THINK THIS IS SOME KIND OF JOKE?" he screamed even louder, trembling uncontrollably. When I looked closer, tears were streaming down his face.

He threw the human across the room then. He stood there snarling, an evil glint in his ruby eyes.

"Uncle Dib!"

The little child called out then, making all of us turn. Her head was entirely poking out now, and we could see her two small hands grip the side of the wall. She had little tears welling in her eyes, a look of concern and fear on her face. The Tallest stared at her again, shocked.

Her right eye was the eye of an Irken.

Like a ruby….

Like the Tallest's…

She was an interesting looking child, not ugly, maybe even a little pretty. But she looked so strange.

Her eyes were mostly the reason.

Like emeralds and rubies were sitting in her head.

Her little antennae twitched and then hung down like a dog's ears when it knows its in trouble. She saw me staring at her, and she hid back behind the corner, little whimpers coming out of her mouth.

My Tallest seemed to calm down again, but I could tell he was trying hard not to lose it again.

"Come Hatchet," he ordered through his teeth, storming out of the house. I remained still for second, watching the young child the human had called "Belle." But then he called me again, and I left quickly, not looking back.

I had thought that would be the last time I ever saw the young creature.

I couldn't have been more wrong.