"Dib-worm…" The whisper was accompanied by the slamming of a purple door. The clicking of stiff, charcoal-black boots on pavement. The quiet distant hum of car engines, coughing smoke into the vast red sky, and the shrill whine of a police car's siren. Zim turned the knob and let the door swing open, standing solemnly in his open doorway before taking a breath and calling the boy's name again, louder this time.

"Dib."

No response. Dib continued down the path that led through the center of Zim's front yard, keeping up his quick pace and ignoring the small green adolescent addressing him from behind. His expression was hard, cold. Indifferent. He willed himself not to stop, not to turn around.

"Dib, wait." After a second or two, Zim squeezed his eyes shut and spat the word "please," tacking it onto his request.

The human stopped just before he'd passed through the gap in Zim's fence and stepped out into the cul-de-sac. He sighed heavily, lifting his face to the sky, then dropping it toward the ground and letting his shoulders slump slightly. There was a long moment of silence as Dib's coat fluttered gently in the warm breeze. Zim folded his arms tightly across his chest, shifting his weight to his left foot, waiting for a response as Dib weighed his options. Leave now? Or face the alien? Finally, the boy settled on the latter, turning about halfway around and speaking in a low voice that sounded hollow and disinterested.

"What."

"It… it's for the best…" Zim muttered weakly before clearing his throat, trying his best to remain erect and stone-faced. Dib glowered at the ground, grinding his teeth, clenching his fists.

"If that's all you have to say-"

"No! I… I wanted to say…" Zim trailed off, pressing the toe of his right boot into the floor as his other foot turned in toward it. He stared at his shoes, biting his lower lip and holding his arms behind his back. Beneath his wig, he felt his antennae flatten against his head. He was contemplating whether or not to allow an instant of weakness, to admit for just a moment that maybe, possibly, in the slightest way conceivable, he could… care.

"I wanted to… to say that I'm… I'm sor-"

"Don't," Dib interjected, glaring at the road and at the city's skyline, barely visible on the darkening horizon. He paused. "The last person I want pity from is you."

Zim looked up at Dib, eyes wide and almost- almost!- despondent. Several seconds came and went before he spoke. "We're… enemies."

Dib's eyes narrowed slightly. His mouth curved into a bittersweet smile that seemed to indicate some knowledge that Zim hadn't yet come to obtain, or accept. He turned his head to face the kid in the doorway, and their eyes met. "…Are we?"

With this, Dib pulled the hood of his jacket over his hair, and continued walking.