It:

'It' existed. It snapped to awareness in a frenzy of growling and biting. For a millisecond It had no idea what was going on but then It became aware of a being shaking It by the shoulders and making strange noises. It focused on this thing; fought harder against the restraints and began snapping sharp teeth so furiously they sliced up the insides of Its cheeks with razor-sharp edges. It managed to bite the being several times before it backed off. The being stopped making sounds and simply stood, arms lax and dripping blood that was both red and blue, just . . . staring. The awareness growled menacingly deep in its throat. It felt cornered, trapped, confused. Where was It? What was It? It didn't want to take Its gaze off of the strange being but quickly flicked Its eyes to the side once to take in the environment. It was in a cave of some sort, dimly lit, and It was tied to something soft. There was machinery all over the walls, flashing lights.

The being said something and its soft voice caused a strange reaction; It suddenly knew this being; it was 'Dib'. It suddenly knew Itself was 'he', It was 'Zim!' That one sentence Dib uttered in hopelessness crashed through the wall that had been forcefully erected around Zim's consciousness. Dib's expression changed then, as if he had seen something unexpected. A single tear formed in the corner of one eye and he took a step forward,

"Zim?"

A loud click and the spell was instantly broken. 'It' no longer was.

Dib:

Something different had happened. He had seen 'his' Zim for a split second, he knew he did! Zim's eyes had shined, deeply red and silently imploring, for a moment before his PAK shut him down again. Zim had been non-responsive when Dib woke up that morning – as usual. He untied Zim from the chair he spent every night strapped to and moved him around from room to room as he went about his day, re-strapping him to chairs when he was going to be anywhere for any length of time; this was a necessary precaution. Dib talked to him. In this state Zim never replied, but his PAK would sometimes through Zim's mouth, cold and expressionless. Zim was easily lead around the house with a gentle pull on his hand or push on his shoulder. Dib hated that Zim was like this, hated that he couldn't fix it no matter how hard he tried; he couldn't bring 'his' Zim back. All Dib could do is wait and treat this creature as if nothing was wrong and not give up hope that Zim would eventually be able to fix himself.

Dib had pushed Zim too far, that's what caused the reversion and the fight. He saw the warning signs as he questioned the PAK but he was so frustrated, so desperate, he continued his interrogation anyway.

"State your name and rank," Dib had ordered after he had been working on the computer in the lower labs for 3 hours straight. He needed a break.

"Elite Irken Zim," the PAK replied flatly through Zim's mouth. Zim's eyes were far away and empty.

"State your rank," Dib tried again. After a few moments the PAK clicked and Zim replied, "No rank possible."

"Why?" Dib asked, already knowing the answer.

"Conflicting information."

"State conflicting information."

"Invader; Food service drone; Exile; Specimen." That last one was the problem. Zim had disappeared suddenly five years ago. After Zim hadn't shown up to school Dib went to his base only to find it missing. Everything was gone. Dib had assumed he had returned to space, possibly back to Irk but there was no way for him to know for sure. He was sad about losing his friend but felt a sense of satisfaction that the day before Zim disappeared they had finally dissolved their three year long feud. At least Dib thought they did.

"Which rank was assigned by the Control Brains?"

"Information unknown."

"Why?"

"File corrupted."

That was another hurdle Dib kept encountering. Much of the original information in Zim's PAK had been tampered with.

"Retain Invader status and erase all other information." Dib had tried this before.

"Request denied." It was the same response the PAK had given him that time also.

"It wasn't a request, it was an order!" Dib insisted.

"Order denied." The PAK replied. Zim's forehead creased slightly. Dib usually chose his words and prodding carefully when Zim's body reacted like this, knowing how easy it was to inadvertently trigger his violent Irken id. There will be no more progress once that happens. Dib was trying to be as cautious as possible when trying to awaken his Zim because he was afraid to cause even more damage to his psyche. This time though he didn't care.

"You are Elite Irken Invader Zim!" Dib said, voice becoming louder.

"Processing data input . . . access denied." The voice being so emotionless and cold infuriated Dib with it's audacity to use Zim's mouth, a being who had once been so animated and vibrant, so beautiful. Zim's forehead creased more and the corners of his mouth pulled down into a grimace. Dib pushed his luck.

"Give me access! Give me permission to fix you! You are Elite Irken Invader Zim! State your name and rank!" Dib was yelling. He was frantic, desperate to make a breakthrough. Anything!

"Elite Irken Zim."

After Zim had disappeared Dib's life had changed. He fell into a depression for the first few months following Zim's departure. Though he eventually came out of it Dib had lost his vitality, his ambition. He remains to this day living off of his father's vast fortune, unemployed; a drifter. Without knowing it Dib had grown to rely on Zim. Zim was always there, scheming, plotting; giving Dib's life purpose. Zim saw Dib as his equal, as a serious threat to his mission. Not as some pathetic child trying to get attention, or crazy the way everyone else did. When Dib made a threat, Zim listened. Zim acknowledged him, listened to him, made him feel needed – that's all he ever wanted from his family but never received. Losing him had been a terrible blow.

"State your rank!"

"No rank possible."

"STATE YOUR FUCKING RANK!" Zim's head began to thrash back and forth, eyes scrunched up tight.

"No rank possible." The smooth PAK voice cracked.

"Invader! Invader! Elite Irken INVADER ZIM!"

"Processing data input . . . access denied." Zim's eyes turned from gray to glossy black.

About a month ago Dib was moving out of the Membrane house. He had nowhere to go but he just couldn't stay in that house any longer. His last night there was spent wrapped up in a blanket in an empty room. Not surprisingly Dib had found it very hard to sleep. Reminiscing on his childhood memories, most involving Zim in some way, Dib had heard his father walking around downstairs. Professor Membrane had always been more interested in his research and fame than his family but his obsession had gotten even stronger in these last five years. He rarely spoke to, or even looked at, Dib or Gaz at all anymore. He had no more concept of private and professional life and keeping them separate – he would speak into his voice recorder about this or that experiment whenever a thought occurred to him no matter what he was in the middle of, even conversations with his children.

Membrane had been very short-tempered that night and Dib assumed he was upset that his only son was moving out. Dib felt sorry for this but it also made him happy – despite it all his father did care about him. Professor Membrane was talking into his voice-recorder as he wandered around downstairs looking through his heavily-annotated medical texts. Dib wasn't really listening until he heard something that made his blood run cold, "All of our attempts to re-fuse specimen's biological aspect to his mechanical aspect have failed. Specimen is now considered 'incurable insane.' Course of action: termination." Dib suddenly realized why Membrane was so angry - nothing got to him more than a failed experiment.

"You're an Irken Invader! You live for the Irken Empire, you are fiercely loyal to your shit-head Tallests! You are narcissistic and arrogant! You are Invader Zim! Say it! Say it! Please!" Dib was shaking Zim by his shoulders, all but shouting in his face. Zim reacted violently like he always did when cornered; feral and dangerous. Dib felt the skin on his arms flay open exposing the muscle as Zim's teeth slashed through his skin. At first he didn't care, he wanted to keep pushing – force Zim to show himself but he knew that would never work. The more he pushed this creature the more violent it got. Dib forced himself to back away and regarded the Irken bound in front of him. Blue blood was pouring out of Zim's mouth along with intimidating growls and his actions were spastic, wild.

"I need you," Dib uttered pathetically. His voice was too quiet for any human ears to pick up but Zim's sensitive lekku had no problem 'hearing' them. Zim's eyes returned to their former ruby red. For the first time in the month Dib had been caring for Zim he saw recognition in those eyes. His heart soared, it had worked? He couldn't believe it. He felt so many intense emotions within him, overwhelming him. He had not been prepared for that to work; in fact he was beginning to think that his Zim was gone forever. In that moment all Dib could manage to do was gracelessly utter:

"Zim?"

A loud click sounded from Zim's PAK and instantly Zim's eyes went flat and gray. His head dropped down limply to his chest. Gone.