I know that it is freezing, but I think we have to walk
I keep waving at the taxis, they keep turning their lights off
But Julie knows a party at some actor's West side loft
Supplies are endless in the evening by the morning they'll be gone
When everything is lonely I can be my own best friend
I'll get a coffee and the paper, have my own conversations
With the sidewalk and the pigeons and my window reflection
The mask I polish in the evening by the morning looks like shit
-Bright Eyes
It was a friday. Not just any friday though. The usual grotesque morning, had a rather different effect today. Today was nostalgic, it held a melancholy effect of remembrance. Today marked the day of Dib's last therapy session. Nearly four years ago, when he was thirteen, Dib had been diagnosed with Childhood-onset Schizophrenia. He still didn't believe that he had it. It was all because of an alien he used to see, that one day disappeared and no one remembered for some reason. Though, he was still convinced he did exist, somewhere in his mind, he had to lie to everyone to make things better. After all no one seemed to remember Zim. Perhaps it was time for Dib to let it go, just like his therapist suggested. Talking things through had helped quite a bit, his father, being a scientist and all, decided that he should be put on medication. After taking the pills for so long, he just began to throw them away. He knew it was a waste of money, but he didn't feel like he needed them, for two reasons. One, they made him sick. Two, there was no difference aside from feeling better when he didn't take them. He would announce to his dad that he didn't need them anymore after his last therapy session took place.
Zim's life was different. It was weird being back in the outskirts of Manhattan, the city was dirty and the cold winter winds would bite and nip at the bare skin. He had been gone for four years. More trash littered the ground now, wet and soaked because it was mixed in with snow that had fallen, but turned into mush with all the shoes had been walking on top of it. LA wasn't much better, but at least it was warm there, it wasn't freezing. Why Zim had decided to come back in the middle of winter he didn't know. He probably could've gone until at least spring without his main base. However, he was going to start up his plan to take over the world again, because it had been too long without action.
When Zim was 13 in what was called "earth years", according to the class he was in, in Skool. He left to go somewhere else. He needed to explore the world a little bit more to know what he was dealing with.
Before leaving, he wiped everyone's memory of him. They didn't need to know he used to be there, well, he wiped everyone's memory besides Dib's. Dib had given him so much hell throughout the years; he deserved to be the only one with memory of him. He hoped everyone thought he was crazier than before, that was the point after all. Going off about some "Alien" That used to live there, when nobody remembers him, was going to make people think he was more messed up than he actually was
Exploring the earth was fun, Zim never stayed anywhere for long, it was annoying having to set up a base every few weeks, so he ended up in a state called California and made that his home for four years. His base was tiny, and not as large as the old one, though it worked for what he needed. He spent the years examining humans more and what they did wore, ate, how they talked. He tried to make things so he was more believable of a human. His disguise hadn't improved too much, it worked enough that people didn't think he had a weird skin condition. His skin was more pale than green now. His contacts were still the same shade of gray and he had a better wig that didn't shine, look like pure plastic and fall apart or get tangled on him when he tried to style it. It was nice looking, more natural, not always slicked back and it didn't look gross and greasy with gel. It was more soft. He had changed the pink clothes he wore on a daily basis for more "Human" Looking clothes. He preferred jeans and loose fitting t-shirts, though, being back in Manhattan during the winter, he realized his mistake not buying a jacket or any long sleeves before. It was freezing outside and the snow was picking up again.
After an unusually long therapy session, Dib headed to the library, stopping at the door to pay to renew his library card. Tomorrow he had a big test, one he had been thinking about all year. It was an advanced Physics test. He was naturally good at remembering concepts when it came to science, he always studied incase there was something he might not remember. Usually he had more planning when it came to tests like these, except with all the other things going on his life he had hardly any time to study. Now he would have to cram in what he didn't know. He went on a mini scavenger hunt for all the books he would need to cover the material. Once he had a stack of them in his arms he headed back to the table, scattered them about and opened them. It wasn't a big deal to take up the whole table with them because there were many other tables that were open. It wasn't like the Librarian to get mad about that sort of thing. Since she encouraged reading and studying.
Not being able to stand the cold anymore, Zim rushed into the closest building he saw. Once stepping inside and letting the warm air brush over his Irken skin, he recognized it to be a library. That's what he thought because of all the books. He supposed he could entertain himself here until the snow had calmed down. After all, he was starting school again in the next week, it wouldn't hurt to catch up on some human concepts.
Zim set out and walked through the aisles of bookshelves. He found a few random books having to do with the English language and history of planet earth since he hadn't touched up on those topics in a long time. Looking around at the tables, he saw a human sitting at one of the table and decided to join him. 'Weren't humans supposed to sit together? Didn't that cause friendships?' Thinking that's what you were supposed to do, Zim walked over to the table and set his few books in the tiny empty space that was left on the table. He picked up the top book and started to read quietly
Dib completely lost track of time, he didn't check the time again until two hours had passed. He was starting to feel prepared for the test when he saw a figure take the seat across from him. He cleared his throat hoping the person would take initiative and see that this table was being used and take their leave. He found whoever it was to be very distracting, after all, there were so many other tables to sit at. Why choose this one? The one that Dib had all his books scattered on.
When the person didn't move, he looked up from one of the passages he had been reading about Quantum Mechanics.
"Excuse me, you're being incredibly distracting..." He trailed off as his eyebrows drew together. He recognized this person. He couldn't recall from where though.
A male... had pale green skin, grey eyes and black slicked hair. If he wouldn't have known any better he would have said it was Zim. But that was impossible. Right? Right? Wrong! This person he knew to be Zim!
Dib stood up and knocked his chair over. "Zim?!" He exclaimed feeling a rush of adrenaline. Perhaps he should have taken his medication that morning. He closed his eyes and opened them again. "Where did you come from?"
Zim was peacefully reading and learning a few things. Until the human across from him decided to make a scene in this tiny library. He finished the page even when the human was yelling at him before looking up. Zim knew who it was immediately. Dib human. He had grown taller, he still had those huge glasses and his scythe-like hair had grown even longer. Zim raised an eyebrow and set his book down before saying anything.
"Oh, Dib human, I didn't expect we would meet this quickly. I was thinking it would at least be a week or two since I have been back, not in the first three days," He laughed a little bit. Time and place could be a funny thing. Even though he didn't really want to run into Dib, it was better to face it sooner than later.
Living in Manhattan, this hardly compared to the weirdest thing he had seen, or rather experienced. Though, a lot of those things had happened when he was younger. In fact most of them had happened when Zim was around. The time his class pet grew really big or even the time that all the kids in his school began getting sick, only to find that their organs had been replaced with miscellaneous objects. He had become a detective, always looking for ways to prove Zim was guilty, that he was out to destroy the earth. With most of the strange things that happened in the outskirts, he could never prove that he was behind them. Especially after he just disappeared one day.
The moment felt more like Deja Vu. Even though he knew he hadn't experienced this exact moment, yet. Something about seeing Zim again triggered emotions. A sort of resentment, not only towards Zim, but also his father. It was like all those years of therapy and the few times he had taken his pill were all a waste. As it turned out, the doctors, his father and even his sister had turned him into even more of a skeptic. While he did believe that Zim was real, he just wasn't sure if this was actually Zim or his first so called hallucination. It made things far more difficult to wrap his head around. To figure it out he decided to pretend that he was real. He looked around for evidence, everyone seemed to be looking at him, but they were also looking at Zim. The librarian had a finger to her lips. She had never been known to be a strict lady. From then on he kept his voice low and discreet.
"What do you mean you didn't expect to see me so soon?" He murmured, just loud enough for Zim to hear him, he picked up his chair from the floor and sat in it. "That makes it sound like you just came back from a long trip." He stared at the alien in front of him, hardly giving him time to respond. Then he tried to read him the best he could, only it was like a foreign language. He had no idea what his expression meant, it just seemed far away. His efforts were futile.
"You're so casual for an alien who completely ruined my life," His expression remained bitter with a hint of exasperation. In reality, he was tired of dealing with things he knew he couldn't handle.
As he spoke, the library began to fill with people and they moved around him, they were all pieces on a chessboard. If he was a part of it too, he was a pawn. A pawn in this stupid, short alien's game. He could feel the gaze of said people as he spoke. He was sure he seemed insane, but at least he wasn't yelling like before. Dib had moved on, mostly. A large amount of his efforts had been a waste of time. But for the most part, before today, he had felt completely sane!
"Maybe it's that you don't care," He murmured, again, he wouldn't give him the time to respond, not until he was done at least. "I mean, why would you? You look at us humans like were filthy anyway, which just so happens to be the way I look at you… The way I looked at Tak."
While part of him wanted to believe that this was just a hallucination, the other part of him needed it not to be. He needed to believe that they were both real. That way he could prove to everyone he never had schizophrenia. After all those years. This was his big chance to turn his life around. All those friends he never made, all those opportunities he lost… Though, if these weren't his thoughts, it could be argued that his life was going fine. Straight A student with a scholarship to an expensive college after High school. In that moment none of that mattered, he needed a chance to make up for all the lost time. FEELING ABSOLUTELY RESENTFUL, Dib had to continue this conversation. He had to be an investigator, a detective to the supernatural. He owed himself that.
Zim listened as Dib shouted off a bunch of questions, even though they were supposed to be quiet in the library it sounded like Dib was shouting. He calmly had his arms crossed and listened even though he wanted to interrupt. Zim had changed quite a lot in the past years. He used to jump at every accusation and try to defend himself with the stupidest excuses even when he knew nothing about human earth, now he would try to contain himself, the less attention he brought to himself the better it would be to grab the slimy earth out under from all the filthy humans. He nodded every so often showing that he was listening to Dib, but his gaze kept looking around the library as he saw people file in. People were disgusting.
Perhaps Zim coming into the library was a bad idea after all, it would've been a better idea to just trudge through the wet snow and make his way home. How long had he even been there? Gir was home alone right now. That was never a good thing, the things that robot could get into could really set back his mission. Zim had programmed Gir to make him more intelligent, though it really didn't help much. At least Gir wasn't as sporadic as he used to be, he still had his quirks and sometimes leaving him alone for long periods of time resulted in some interesting things to come home to. It just goes to show there are some things with Gir you can't change or get rid of; at least he was easier to work with this way. Still, the thought of him being home alone in this snow storm was not leaving Zim at ease.
All these random thoughts flew through his head as Zim listened to Dib, things hadn't changed too much, he still tuned out most of what Dib said when he was talking. Though he heard Dib's voice quiet down and instead the low murmur of the library fill his antennae. They were talking about him and Dib; they had made a small scene right now. Honestly, it probably looked more like a human couple fighting more than enemies meeting after four years. Let Human's think what foolish humans want to, it really didn't bother Zim. Now it was his turn to talk, he had no more time to think things through.
"That's the thing….Dib," He stated, using only Dib's name and not putting human before or after it. "I did just return from a long trip. You see I have been exploring planet earth, trying to find….what would you say…all of it's….weak spots. After four years of investigation, I have gathered quite enough research and I am ready to drive this filthy planet into the hands of the Irkens. Oh the Tallest will be so proud of me when they find out I have taken over earth for them." He stopped for a moment, smiling like an idiot at the thought of The Tallest admiring his hard work. He almost forgot what he was talking about and the conversation they were having for a moment.
"No, you filthy alien, don't you realize that your 'tallest' have given up on you? Have they ever actually tried to contact you, or has it only been you sending in those stupid messages?" When Dib spoke again his voice had become low growl.
"I may be only giving The Tallest my reports, but they're very busy Irkens. You see Dib…human, they overlook an entire planet. They keep track of everything. We are invading species, hence, Invader Zim." He smirked to himself for his clever wording. "We invade lots of planets and overlook many things. The Tallest need to make sure we're all invading correctly, taking over what we need to and everything is going to plan. They are very busy Irkens; you need to set up appointments to even talk to them. They do care in fact."
Zim soon snapped back to finish the rest of Dib's questions. "As for ruining your life, I didn't do that. You ruined your own life Dib. I thought this would teach you a lesson not to mess with me and going around shouting there was an alien around. Nobody ever listened to you Dib, why did you keep trying? You kept trying and this is what happened, I'm sure everyone thought you were crazy when their memories were erased." He smirked slightly with a little shrug. "And you're right, you're nothing but a filthy human creature to me, along with everyone else on this planet and I can't wait to wipe the human race off of it and bring it to The Tallest. You humans, oddly, have some nice technology that might be of use." He laughed a little bit and sat back in his seat, watching the expression on Dib's face change from anger to livid.
Dib began to wish he hadn't decided on coming to the library after his last session. His jaw clenched as he tried to remain calm enough to respond without completely cussing Zim out. That was another thing, he was angrier than when he was younger. However, to him it was justified, that's what happens when you went through years of unnecessary therapy and pills. Only to round a corner of your life and find that none of that was needed. Zim was actually a sociopath and didn't give a shit about anyone else.
"My only regret is not showing everyone who you were when I had the chance or better yet, finding a way to kill you," The word furious didn't even begin to cover how Dib felt about the situation. "I can't believe you erased their memory, I knew something was off! All those years of trying to make them see! Make them remember!" Dib was infuriated. He probably couldn't even comprehend what he had put Dib through, or worse, he did and didn't care.
Zim raised an eyebrow as Dib began to speak again, he had expected him to rant. He noticed his voice was a little bit louder again. He made a mental note on how it was easier to anger the human now. He wondered what had happened in the years he had been gone. He wondered what awful things had happened to Dib to make him into the messed up boy he was now. Zim couldn't really bring himself to care too much about Dib himself, he was just interested in the ways humans worked. It was fascinating how humans went to such great lengths to make another human "normal". How they would shove humans out of society for not acting how everyone else did, for not dressing how they did. Earth worked in a interesting way, Zim supposed this is what happened when everybody looked different and you didn't have two main rulers overlooking the earth. That's why Zim was here, he was here to bring order to this chaotic planet.
"You always tried Dib, and it seems things haven't changed. You've tried so hard to expose me and it never worked out, has it? Why are you going to try now? It won't work Dib, I am smarter than you, I have access to technology you could only dream of. After all these years and what you've been put through, you're still back to your old ways. Give up Dib; enjoy your life while you can because it'll be over soon enough. Don't waste it on worrying me; I don't need useless things getting in my way" He paused. Dib could see the gears moving in his head. "Try to step in my way to ruin this earth again Dib and you'll have the same thing happen, I now know how to ruin your life and know how to get what I want." Zim stood up, preparing to return his books and leave the library.
Dib tackled Zim when he realized he couldn't call the shots anymore, there was nothing to stop him from doing so. All those years of misunderstandings, of people calling him a freak, insane or a luny!
Zim was smirking proudly, thinking too much of himself as usual until he felt a body collide with his. He was surprised Dib would try a fight in a place like this, but then again, Zim didn't really know if he was all that surprised.
Once Dib had him pinned down his fist collided several times with his pale alien flesh. Dib wasn't the strongest. He didn't really go out much anymore and he didn't play sports, but his knuckles were as bony as could be. He punched him enough times to show that his blood was a clearish pink color. He wanted vengeance. But not now. People were beginning to crowd him, he needed to get lost before he was banned from the library.
With every punch that collided with his face he could feel the fury of Dib in his flesh. He could feel the wig slipping off slightly and his skin start to bruise. He also felt liquid drip down his body telling him that he was bleeding. The clear, pink, liquid stained his faded white t shirt with some random print on it. He barely paid attention to what was going on around him anymore, just rolling with the punches, quite literally. He didn't try to fight against Dib, Dib probably had many emotions that he had to get out and in a way Zim guessed he could respect that. But always letting Dib get the upper hand wouldn't last for long. It would indeed end after this fight, Zim was ready to fight hard and play dirty, he was ready to get back to how things used to be. He wished he would've at least had a little while more to prepare, but he was still ready.
"I may have more regrets than you Zim, but mark my words when I say I will make you regret choosing Earth…," He pressed his arm against his neck before he moved himself off of Zim and ran out of the library. He nearly barreled into a small dog that was walking on his back legs as he ran. Soon he was out of the building and also out of breath. He jumped for a nearby bush and hid there.
Zim snapped back to attention when he heard Dib say something. He just rolled his eyes at whatever he had to say. When he finally finished talking, Zim didn't say anything. He just smirked and spat what blood had collected in his mouth in Dib's face, soon after Dib was running out of the library, almost running into Gir.
Gir came dashing down the library hallway. He was in dog form but sometime forgot to walk on all four legs. Once into the main library he jumped onto Zim.
"Zimmmmm! I thought you were dead!" He giggled joyously. The humans backed away when the dog came in, not sure if it was friendly or not.
Gir? How did he get here? Zims home was blocks away; he had to be somewhat intelligent if he could find him. Zim looked at Gir and stood up on wobbly legs, using the green robot in front of him to steady himself.
"No Gir, I'm not dead. It's time to go home, let's go," He sighed, trying to regain his posture and walk out of the building with the green dog.
-
Later that evening Dib made his way home, covered from head to toe in leaves and twigs, no one ever came looking for him. He walked through Zim's old neighborhood. Sure enough, right where his old house used to be, was a new refurbished one. He could tell it was his. This lot was empty for a long time and the house looked like Zim's style. He would have to come back here later, when he was calm.
Zim walked along the streets, the snow had died down at least that was a good thing. He quickly made it to his house and stepped inside. The outside was still out of place from all the houses surrounding it, but the inside was much more regular than it had been before. It wasn't dirty or looked old and gross, it was actually quite clean. The furniture matched, he went with purples, pinks and blacks as his theme. The walls were a deep purple and the floors were a shiny black tile. He had pink and black furniture with other random things to compliment the place. His base was still underground, but his bathroom, kitchen, and bedroom were only one floor and his upstairs lead up to another workstation if he ever needed to work with something roof related.
When Zim walked into his house he set his keys on the table by the door and took off his wig, walking back to his room, down the hall. He walked into a pitch black room and turned on the light, filling the room with a dim pink light. He stripped off his clothes and threw them in the trash can rather than a dirty hamper since they were stained anyways. They were old enough that he couldn't care about trying to get any stains out of them anymore. Instead he slipped out of his disguise and into his regular clothes. He grabbed some random human book off his bookshelf sitting back on his black silk covers. He hardly used his bed, it was more to try trick humans into thinking he was also a human. Even though Irken's didn't need to sleep, somehow, he felt himself drifting off while reading a boring book. Before he knew it, he was out like a light for the next few hours.