It's Never Too Late

By: Moojuice Nne of the Mayonnaise!

Hello, I'm back from the dead! 9th grade is almost over for me—GOING TO THE HIGH SKOOL, YEAH!!! I'm actually going to be a junior…the HS wasn't big enough to fit the freshman. Because FFN is updating like mad, I thought I should, too! And it's a good thing I am, because SUMMAH's almost here!

Here is a nice little sequel I wrote a while back. It's a little short, but sweet. Another Zim fic, you say! I say, YES! Enjoy, and tell be what you think. NNE IS AN OFFICIAL SUPPORTER OF INUYASHA FLUFF!!

Disclaimer: I'm saying this ONCE, in BIG CAPITAL LETTERS. NNE DOES NOT  OWN INVADER ZIM, OR ANYTHING PERTAINING TO HIM! ALL SHE OWNS ARE SOME BADLY TAPED EPISODES! AND SHE STOLE THE TAPES.

BTW, Peprik is my original character. You can, however, use the name in your own fics, to make me feel loved. :) Nne NEEDS love. Lots of it.

Chapter One: Some Time After the Burial…

"So, tell me again, what exactly is this going to do for our soldiers out there?"

Almighty Tallest Red leaned back against the desk of his office in the capital with his elbows, chomping steadily at a large wad of meat-flavored bubble gum. In front of him stood two of his advisors, draped in long black robes with hoods. One of them held a stack of papers that were clipped together with a mega-sized paper clip.

"Well, nothing, really. We just wanted to make it look like we were doing something important. The board's been after us again." One of the robed Irkens said, gesturing to the window. "They're waiting for us to send in reports of more conquests of the planets."

"Tell them there aren't any." Red stated, blowing a large sticky bubble and poking it with his thin forefinger. It deflated and drooped. The Tallest pushed it back in and resumed chewing it. "Or, better yet, tell them we'll do it eventually."

"That's become your favorite word lately, sir." The advisor with the papers stated timidly. "So what will we do?"

Red looked up at the metal ceiling and rubbed his chin. "What are those papers for? I forgot."

"They just say that we're going on extended leave and we're taking the Massive away from the Armada."

"Hunh. A vacation?"

The advisors looked at each other. "Mostly…under the guise that we're collecting information. It'll also buy more time to—"

"Make more excuses!" Red finished for him. "Feh, that's the only thing we do any more around here. Fine," he continued, pulling the wad of gum out of his mouth and sticking it onto the paper in the advisor's hands, "You have my consent, at least some of it. I just don't want to be gone for more than a year."

The advisors saluted and walked out, talking amongst themselves. Red turned around and faced the window, swallowing the flavor of the gum and grimacing. The city of Irk bustled importantly; vootcruisers zoomed and darted to and fro in front of the capital's windows. Red cruised behind his desk and dropped into a chair, staring blankly at the photographed picture that was placed directly in front of him. It was a picture of the Gathering of Invaders convention that had taken place a month before. Many of the Irkens had returned home just to have that picture taken. Red looked at the photograph carefully, then reached over and tapped the top of the frame once or twice. The picture straightened up a little bit. Red sat back in the chair and closed his eyes.

A full year had passed since Purple had been lifted into the "Vaults of the Leaders." Red had been too disgusted to watch his partner be pumped with preserving liquid and crammed into yet another test tube. There, "the people of Irk could look upon their deceased leader with respect, along with fifteen generations of Tallest that passed before." Red didn't like the idea of being displayed after death, so he preferred to stay away from the room as much as possible. However, this display was situated on the Massive—Red had only recently realized that he had been toting fifteen hundred years of Tallests around in his ship. Red was doing his best to remember the promise Purple made with his last breath—"I'll be backing you up for all time."—but, with the way the empire was crumbling, he didn't believe it to be true. Life for the lonely Tallest had turned into a wandering mess of disillusionment and chaos. Most of his support came from his closest friend and partner in working everything out: Peprik, once a practitioner, now Red's official secretary since he didn't trust anyone else. But Almighty Tallest Red still deeply missed the Almighty Tallest Purple.

Red pushed himself out of the chair and looked at the clock above his door. Almost four. Only ten hours before he could go home. He strolled to the door and opened it, staring up and down the mostly deserted wooden hallways of the capital. A few Irkens conversed with themselves at the intersections of the hallways, then moving off to the cafeteria or their offices. The Tallest snorted contemptuously and slammed the door to his office shut. Reaching his hand into his pocket, he pulled out another stick of meat gum and crammed it into his mouth, before dropping into an arm chair that faced the window. There, he sat with his arms crossed, sulking.

The door adjacent to his office opened, and Peprik, in a navy blue two piece uniform, stepped into the room. "Good afternoon, sir," she said cheerfully. "I've got the latest reports on the details of all of the Invaders' missions! They're very interesting," she added, handing him the papers. "I got a good laugh from more than one of them."

Red eyed the little Irken, who had barely grown half an inch over the course of the year. Her yellow eyes stared back into his crimson ones patiently. "I'm waiting for you to make a comment," she hinted, clasping her hands in front of her.

"Yeah, thanks. I'll read them when I have the time."

"O-okay, then, sir. I've got to get back to work." She turned and marched back into her room and shut the door. Red turned his eyes to the papers as she left. The very first one was Invader Tenn's report. It was mostly blank, save for one sentence: "No contact made since interrupted transaction."

Red tossed it into the garbage can and picked up the next one: Invader Skooge's. The peeved Tallest growled low in his throat and dumped the rest of the pages into the garbage. "Nothing's worthwhile any more," he spat. He looked at the clock again. 4:02.

"Damn."

Red blew a bubble, popped it with his finger, and pulled the gum back in with his tongue. Blew another one, popped it, pulled it back in. There was nothing to do with his power, nowhere to go. He was lethargic ninety percent of the time. Slowly his eyes closed. "Yes, medical technology at it's best," he mumbled. "Couldn't save an Irken from an onslaught of white pudding."

Another advisor opened the office door and popped her head in. Her eyes were narrow green slits, curved up at the edges. Advisor Mim—the youngest and most cunning of the upper-level advisor boards. She was in charge of the means of transportation of important business trips. Most of the advisors suggested the Red stay away from her: she plotted behind his back, went against his wishes, et cetera, et cetera. Even Peprik stiffened when Mim approached her. Once, when Red and she were in the office going over papers, Peprik said that "Mim just didn't belong on the advisory boards." However, Red ignored all of the warnings, mainly because he didn't care. Red beckoned for Mim to come into the office, and the slim Irken female slipped into the room and stood, with her back leaning against the door, papers in her gloved hand. "My Lord," she purred. "I've got the travel arrangements here. You'll be leaving in a month, along with the Fourth Armored Division, going around two conquest areas and looping back. It will take only thirteen months."

Red narrowed his eyes. "I said I didn't want this trip to be any more than a year."

Mim walked over to Red and dropped the limp papers into his lap. "Well, My Tallest, it was the best I could do. Any other route would have taken you past some dangerous areas. I wouldn't want you to be in any threatening situation. Irk can't lost another leader, you know. What would we do without you?"

Out of the corner of his eye, Red saw the door to Peprik's office open a little. His secretary was scowling at the advisor. The Tallest turned his attention back to Mim. "I don't care about dangerous situations. Just put me on the quickest route around."

Mim seized the opportunity, and her thin lips curved in a sneer. "Oh, but my Tallest," she hinted in a lilting tone, "that was the route where Purple picked up his illness."

Red flinched violently. He recoiled from the advisor, as if she had struck him. Fire flashed in his dark eyes, but it died quickly. "I…I don't…" he stuttered, rubbing his temples. His view flashed to the framed photograph on his desk. "Mim, just put me on the damn flight!"

The Tallest pushed himself out of the chair and cruised to the other side of the room, where he rested his head against the cool wooden panels. "Put me on the quickest route," he repeated. The advisor walked over to him and put a hand on his back. "Oh, my Leader! Are you sure? I will be willing to shorten the other trips, although it will cause a lot of trouble for the rest of the staff, no doubt."

Peprik threw open the door and stormed into the room. "Didn't you hear him?" she yelled, pointing sternly towards the door. "GET OUT and put him on that flight!"

Mim grinned smugly at Peprik. "Aw, okay. Why'd you have to go and interrupt our conversation?" The advisor walked slowly over to the livid secretary. "But, you know, Pep, I shouldn't be the one you're getting mad at."

Peprik stepped away from the emerald-eyed female. "What are you talking about?"

Mim stepped closer and cupped Peprik's chin in her hands. "Oh, you should know, honey! You were the one who was with Purple the entire four months! You surely don't think that the Almighty Tallest Red pulled you out of the medical business because—"

"Enough, Mim. Get out and start planning." The Almighty Tallest's voice interrupted Mim.

Red was facing the two Irkens now, his temper cooled. Mim chucked Peprik under the chin and puckered her lips. "I'll see you later, darlin'!"

Saluting the Tallest, Mim strolled out of the room. "I'll be back with your changes, my Lord." she whispered to Red as she closed the door. Red watched her leave, then looked at Peprik. "You look like you have something to say."

Peprik glared daggers at Red. "Oh? Do I? If I wasn't humiliated in front of my boss, shown up by a retired Irken brothel girl, and given questions that I'll be asking myself forever, then I'll just shut up right now!"

The Tallest cocked an eyebrow. "Your point is…?"

The anger and tension flooded out of Peprik's body. "I have no point!" she said cheerfully, rigidly turning around and walking back into her office. "I have to get back to work."

"Peprik, don't let Mim's droning get to your head. All you have to do is nod and smile and she'll think she's won you over. Then she'll talk reasonably with you."

The Irken's yellow eye twitched several times. "Are you suggesting that…I be nice with her?"

Red cocked his head to the side and smiled. "Maybe."

"I don't think so."

As the door to his secretary's office slammed shut, Red looked at the city outside. He would be leaving soon, going, once more, aboard the ship that he once spent most of his time in. It was also the ship that he had almost deserted a year ago. He would be journeying along the same path that he and his partner journeyed most of…together.

In the distance, the magenta hull of the Massive loomed over the buildings of Irk. The ship was tethered to the main port on the edge of the city limits and had been refueling for five months. The insignia was freshly painted on, the damages repaired. It was, for all the world, a new ship.

What was inside, however, sent a chill up Red's spine. In that room, deep below that room where he and Purple had first entered the clouds of wind that signaled  the beginning of the end, his partner was being held hostage in a airless, lightless world, next to fifteen generations of leaders who had gone before him. High above the ground, looking down with blind eyes on all those who had the nerve to enter the room.

"Well, Purple, I'm going to relive hell without you," Red thought. "But we're going to make it through together, in a way…"