New Purposes
Chapter 1: Changing Views
Parts of his lab still smoldering, Zim weakly picked himself out of the rubble. The blast was sudden and unseen, and devastated the majority of his base. Zim coughed up debris and dust, and tumbled down the pile of broken equipment when he tried to stand. Hitting the floor with a painful 'thump', he gritted his teeth in pain. He looked up at the source of the blast with one eye, the other shut and bleeding green. Still displayed on the screen, only visible through fits of static, was the Irken logo, with the words "Goodbye Loser!" written beneath it in the Irken language. Gritting his teeth once more, not in pain, but in despair and betrayal, he turned and limped slowly towards the exit of his lab. GIR lay in a heap against the wall, slightly dented, but otherwise still functioning. Zim stopped by him, and without a word picked up the damaged robot and carried it like a child out of the room in which his world was destroyed. "Master?" GIR asked, his voice static-y and warbled, "Why did the almighty tallest do that?" Zim said nothing, his eye empty of all emotion, and continued walking, taking the elevator to the repair bay.
The door slid open soundlessly, and he placed GIR on the mechanical repair table. As several automated arms began attending to GIR; fixing dents, re-tuning his circuits, and any other small repairs, Zim limped towards the organic-regeneration tank. The glass tube slid up as he stepped onto the platform, and closed around him, quickly filling with a bright pink liquid. Closing his good eye, he let the liquid do its job as it seeped through his skin and regenerated any damaged tissues. After a half hour, Zim opened both eyes, his left eye now undamaged. The tank slowly drained, and he stepped out, now able to move correctly. GIR had finished being repaired a few minutes before him, and sat somberly on the repair table. A rare sight, but given the situation, it was not unexpected. Their eyes met, but not a word was shared. They both understood what had happened, but neither wanted to believe it. The tallest had intentionally tried to kill them, as they were nothing but useless rejects on exhilement. Both had known this all along, but refused to admit it, thinking that conquering the planet would get them in the tallest's graces. But it was a stupid thing to wish for, and Zim had always known that. He knew he wasn't an invader, but his pride refused to accept that, so try and try he did, with the tallest trying to rebuff him every time. This time, however, they got their point across, and self-destructed his base, laughing and calling him worthless after he relayed another of his world -domination plans. He survived, but he wished the blast would have eaten him as well as his shame.
He sighed, his eyes once again meeting the floor. Donning his contacts and wig, he asked GIR to dispose of the rubble in the lab. As GIR went back towards the elevator, Zim took a floating platform up to the main floor of his base. He walked out his front door and proceeded to head to the one place he could think of. During his walk, he looked around at his surroundings. Children doing the normal, sickening things as they always did, fat, ugly adults ignoring them and gibbered amongst themselves. He grimaced, wondering how sentient (albeit barely) creatures can live in such ways. So pointless, so carefree...so peaceful. His eyes widened at the thought. He hadn't thought that intentionally, and it concerned him. Was he starting to think like the humans? Or was he just so betrayed by his own people that he felt it would spite them if he degraded himself by acting like a human. Reaching his destination, he shook his head of such thoughts. Laying his finger on the doorbell, he sighed. He didn't know exactly why he was doing this, but it was all he could think of doing. Hesitantly, he pressed the button, the bell ringing throughout the house. Seconds felt like hours as he stood there. He swallowed in uncertainty, still no sounds coming fom behind the door. Sighing once more, he turned to leave. As he did so, the door unlocked and opened. He turned to see...what was her name? Gaz? Yes, he thought, Gaz. The creepy girl stared at him indifferently. "What?" she demanded. Zim turned to her and replied hesitantly. "I-is Dib in?" Gaz stared at him a bit longer, before turning and shouting into the house, "DIB! Your weird friend is at the door!" Zim could hear footsteps, as well as Dib replying, "What friend? I don't have any fr-" he stopped cold as he saw Zim standing on his doorstep. Zim stared at him, eyes still devoid of any emotion. "GAZ! Get away from the door! That alien scum is probably here to-" he was interrupted by Zim. "I'm not here to do anything of malice Dib, I'm here simply to talk. If...that's ok with you." he added, a bit of depression showing through. Dib was taken aback at this. Zim had never spoken a single word to him without his voice laced with disgust and mockery. But here he was, emotionally on his knee, asking him to have a civil talk. Dib's eyes narrowed in suspicion, and he asked warily, "Talk about what?" Zim stood silent, before casting his glance at Gaz, who was still standing in between them, then back at Dib. Dib took this hint, and asked, "Gaz, could you please leave us to talk?" Gaz looked from Zim to her brother, before replying with a scoff, "Whatever, I don't care. Have fun with your boyfriend." She walked into the kitchen, but remained behind the doorway so as to overhear what was being said at the door. She did not know Zim well, but she knew this was definitely out of his character, so she decided to eavesdrop.
"Alright, talk about what?" Dib asked, still suspicious of the terrorist alien standing on his doorstep. Zim took a deep breath. "C-could we discuss this inside?" he asked, taking a cautious look around. Dib smiled cynically, "Oh, so you can plant your alien recording device and use it to-" Zim cut him off once again, and stupefying Dib once again. "Please?" he asked, his eyes pleading. Dib was dumbstruck at this, his mouth hanging slightly open. This was definitely weird. He looked Zim up and down, trying to find some signal of malice. Finding nothing but honest despair, he looked back to Zim. 'What happened to him?' he thought. Zim stood there, and after so long without a response, he figured the answer was no. "That's ok," he shrugged sadly, "I'll just go then. Thanks anyway." Zim turned to leave. "Wait..." Dib stopped him. Zim stopped and slowly turned to meet Dib's eyes. "You...can come in," Dib said, now with a worried look. Zim let a small, thankful smile show through. "Thank you, it won't take long, I promise." Zim hesitantly stepped inside, and Dib closed the door behing them. Zim had been in the house before, but never invited. Dib walked past him, still cautious, but truly curious to see what the alien wanted to talk about. "Well? What is it you want?" Dib asked. Zim slowly walked into the living room, his back to Dib, before replying in a broken voice, "Kill me..."
Dib's eyes widened at this. Even Gaz, who was around the corner, listening with interest in something for once, opened her normally closed eyes when she heard that. Dib stood stupid for what seemed like hours, before stuttering, "W-what did y-you just say? Zim replied almost instantly, "I said kill me...please." His voice was broken, and laced with despair. Dib gulped as several thoughts ran through his mind. A part of his wanted to destroy him on the spot, rid the world of his danger. Another part wanted to tell him to get out, to stop being an alien freak and trying to trick him. And another part wanted to comfort him. Dib just stared at Zim's quivering shoulders. He knew he meant what he said, but why? "...W-why? Why would you want tha-" Zim spun on his heels and faced Dib. Purple, syrupy liquid was flowing freely from his eyes, and his face was scrunched in sadness. He ripped off his wig and contacts and threw them to the ground, facing Dib as truly as he could. "BECAUSE I'M WORTHLESS!" Zim screamed, his voice cracking. Dib froze. All of his racing thoughts froze as well. Gaz tensed at the sudden increase in the conversation. She dared a peak around the corner and saw Zim. Even her, the normally emotionless, distainful girl felt a pang in her heart seeing Zim at his very weakest. Zim continued. "I've always known I was worthless. I've always been a screw-up. You know why i'm even here?" he asked. Dib slowly nodded. "Y-you're hear to conquer Earth..." he said, starting to hate Zim again as he said that. "Well i'm not! I'm not even an invader! I was sent here in exhilement!" Dib went slack-jawed at that. "I ruined the first Operation: Doom, and was exhiled to some random world. It's just by chance it was this one. I went on blindly, acting as though I was still an invader, and tried to conquer your planet to try to get back in the tallest's graces. But they not only wanted nohing to do with me, they decided it would be better if I were dead, so they self-destructed my lab to try to rid themselves of me. The stain on the Irken name." he ranted, fists clentched and trembling. Dib didn't know what to say or do. Here was his nemesis, the cause of all his problems, showing himself at his weakest, most vulnerable state. Laying his heart on the floor for Dib to decide whether to step on it, or protect it. "While you were always an annoyance beyond comparison," Zim started, once again grabbing Dib's attention. "You were the closest thing I had to what you would call a friend..." Zim finished. Dib's heart skipped a beat. That, he never expected. Not even in this situation. 'A friend?' he thought. 'HIS friend?!' Dib stared at the trembling alien. Dib didn't know what to think or do at this point, and Zim saw this, so he answered for him. "So please...kill me."