He turned to me, his intense eyes narrowed with the seriousness of the situation. Around us, fires burned and the ground seemed to rumble as if some terrible thing were trying to escape from far below. I took a step forward, but he only lifted a hand. The gesture was so confident that I paused mid-step at his unspoken command.

"Run now, Dib, while you still have time." He spoke as confidently as he had gestured to me. His back was straight as he continued to gaze at me over his left shoulder. "You won't have much time after I set the timer."

"Timer?" I asked.

"My self-destruct timer," Zim had to speak up over a volley of explosions that were growing nearer. All this time he was trying so hard to invade the Earth and here was a small contingent of alien troops trying to take that away from him. Half of the city was already destroyed. He must have read my mind, because anger flared across his face.

"They will not have this victory!" he cried out as he turned his back to me and lifted his arms. "Victory is ZIM'S!"

"What are you planning to do?" I asked.

"Destroy them!" he called back as he began to stalk forward with that cocky gait of his that always pissed me off when we were kids. How long ago was that? Seven, eight years now? It felt like a lifetime ago. "They are connected to this ship; it provides them with their life support. Destroy the ship and they will die!"

"You're foolish, Zim!" I countered as I began to follow. "You can't defeat these guys alone, and I am hating myself for even saying this, but I really think we should work together!"

"NEVER!" he wheeled about on his heel and pinned me with a glare that seemed to pierce my soul and wither it. "You, Dib-beast, so called protector of the Earth!? HA! I laugh at your puny attempts to save this horrible ball of dirt full of… hair and dookie and it's foul… stink children! They shall fall at the feet of the Massive when it arrives after I destroy these… usurpers!"

"The Massive isn't coming, Zim! You and I both know that! You're being stupid, I… I can help! This is my planet!" I cried out in passion, but he wouldn't hear me. I was dismissed.

"Turn around and find a safe place to hide," Zim said. "While you still can." The aliens were destructive, but very stupid. They had landed their battle cruiser in the middle of the park, so confident that they would have a quick easy defeat of the human race that they saw no problem with leaving it out into the open. They had no idea that there was already an Irken stationed upon it, one who had already made quick easy work of the few meager guards they had stationed to protect the ship should the need arise.

"Zim, just listen to me!" I pleaded. The weight of what was about to happen was dawning on me and for the life of me; I couldn't figure out why I would care. Zim would go up with the ship. That's two birds with one stone, right? But why… why did it hurt? Zim was my enemy but as I helplessly watched him remove the detonator from his arm and attach it to the ship; I couldn't help but feel a bit of pride for him. There was no fear, no regret, just a sense of mission and duty. Maybe he was lying to himself that this was something he could survive. That he would get rid of this pesky nuisance and then go back to his nefarious plan of… well, there was no plan anymore. Not for him. He was a defective, a reject of the Irken Empire, but yet, he continued on for the sake of the mission and the pride of his people.

"Zim…" I whispered.

"Goodbye, Dib," he said softly and then lowered his head before turning his face towards me slightly. His antenna drooped and it hit me; he did realize the enormity of this situation.

I turned and ran as fast as I could.

The world turned into a confusing chaos of heat, light and pressure but oddly enough… there didn't seem to be any sound. Perhaps the explosion was so loud that I just didn't hear it. I was picked up from where I was huddled behind a massive decorative outcropping of rock and tossed like a wave on a stormy sea. I remember my right shoulder just bumping against a tree before I was lifted again and tossed to the left. I remember how the sky and ground continuously traded places as I rolled bonelessly up a hill and during a brief glimpse that seemed to last for hours, I saw one of the ships in the sky suddenly turn nose down.

Then, all went still. I wound up on my stomach and for a fleeting moment, I simply focused on the way the fresh cut grass felt against my right cheek and I marveled. Was the person who had mowed this area, perhaps only a day or two ago, still alive? Pondering that question, I lost consciousness. It must have been hours before I regained my senses enough to push myself into a sitting position. I was stiff and sore, and the right arm of my leather jacket along with the denim covering my right leg had suffered burn damage, but otherwise I seemed okay. My shoulder, from its brush with the tree, ached a little but I was in one piece. And alive.

"Zim…"

I got to my feet slowly. Though I felt fine, my legs were weak and I must have looked like a newborn fawn trying out its legs for the first time as I made my way down a small hill. I took the path and followed it slowly until I came around a curve, and then I had to stop so I could take in what I couldn't believe. The entire area, once pristine and serene looked like a warzone. Trees were uprooted and charred, a swing set was a twisted chunk of concept art that leaned against what used to be the changing area for the pool and off in the distance, smoke stood out in pale contrast to the night sky. It blotted out the stars. I staggered forward on legs that felt like pogo sticks. That smoke… was that all that was left of Zim?

And why did I care if he perished even if he did save my life? He was my enemy, I hated him with all that I had and still had a huge desire to see his chest open and his guts spilled out upon an autopsy table. My mission was to protect the Earth from him, to spoil his every plot and plan and to eventually expose him for what he was; Enemy.

But why did it hurt?

I tripped over what I thought at first was a large rock, but it turned out to be a piece of the concrete path that had been ripped up and tossed further down the way. I staggered around the hole it made a few minutes later, my nose wrinkling from the horrible smell of fuel that continued to burn out from a fuel tank that belonged to the invading ship. It lie crumpled and burning against the outcropping of rock I had hidden behind. The landscape made no sense to me and I had no real sense of where I was anymore but I continued walking.

There was nothing left of the ship but a smoldering hole with a few pieces of the framework of its hull standing akimbo in the crater. Trees and bushes were still burning close by, the flames offering their meager light as I took in the awesome sight of such tremendous destruction. When I got my fill of staring at it, I lifted my head so I could see the light of other fires burning intensely in the distance. They lit the skyline in a glow of doom and destruction and I suddenly realized that the sounds of alien artillery that had plagued us for the past two days had stopped. Zim truly had stopped them.

"You did it," I whispered and then winced as I rubbed my throat. I must have been screaming during the blast that had carried me so far away as my voice was hoarse and it felt like I had swallowed sandpaper. Debris crunched beneath my boot as I made to turn to the right, but a soft sound drew my attention. A voice? Was that a voice? The sound came again and I realized that it was a voice, but more than that… it was calling my name.

"Zim?" I rasped out. Turning my head quickly proved to be a bad idea as the world began to tilt and turn. I held my temples until the nauseating sensation passed, and then called out again. I wasn't given an answer and I wanted to believe that I was just hearing things, but I knew that wasn't the case. Zim was close by and how could he survive being so close to the blast? Did he have a plasma shield to protect him? Maybe and for a moment, I felt the strangest sensation of hope in my chest.

"Zim!" I demanded. "Make a noise! Where are you?" Years ago, I would have walked off and left him to lie wounded on the ground without a second thought. Or, maybe I'd gloat a little at his injuries, but time and maturity did something to pride sometimes. Sometimes, you just got humble the older you got.

"Zim!"

I circled in place, trying to train my eyes at every dark spot, urging them to give up their secrets of hidden Irkens. It was futile, however. My glasses were gone, lost in the blast.

"Zim!"

Maybe I had imagined it. There was no way Zim could survive a blast like that and especially not at point blank range. And besides, shouldn't he have been blown into the next county over? He was practically standing next to the ship, I assume, as it was self-detonated. The only thing I would find of my foe would be an arm, or perhaps part of his boot or even his PAK. Maybe I'd find the charred bits of what was left of his head. It was pointless to look; Zim was dead and gone and my mind was playing tricks on me, that was all.

Why was I digging through the pieces of metal that must have been blown straight up into the sky only to rain down like large shrapnel hell?

"Zim!"

He was dead, why was I trying to find his body? There was no family, no friends, no one to give his remains to. He was dead. Zim was de—

"…dib…"

The voice was close and wavered weakly, but it was him.

"Zim!" I cried out again and honed in on where the voice had come from. I couldn't believe how I had missed him, but without my glasses it was simple; he was lying in the open on his right side and for a moment, I pitied him because he just looked so… pitiful. He was scuffed and broken, most of his Invader uniform burned from his body, though his skin wasn't. I kneeled down slowly, my hands outstretched and not knowing exactly where to touch him. His eyes were closed and he was breathing in quick shallow breaths.

"Zim…" I whispered, my fingertips brushing skin that was a darker green over his bicep. He was bruised, but not burned. Water burned him, not fire. I shook my head. Amazing.

Slowly, one eye cracked open and he let out a soft sound of agony before pinning me in his stare.

"…dib… filth…" he breathed before it hitched in his chest. "zim… is victorious," he informed me before closing his eye.

"Yes," I whispered. "You got 'em, Zim."

"yes… I… I… thought I would die alone…" He began to pant as he fought to catch his breath. I tried to sooth him into silence but he simply lifted an obviously broken arm and waved my effort away. "it's an Irken's way," he whispered.

"It doesn't have to be," I heard myself saying and the emotion stung my heart. I reached down and turned him over as gently as I could. He managed a weak moan, and when I lifted him into a sitting position, he offered no sound. "You got 'em," I said again as I pulled the wounded alien into my lap and wrapped my arms around his body. "You saved us, Zim. You saved me, you… you didn't have to tell me to run. Why? Why did you spare me? We hate each other," I said as I pressed his forehead to my shoulder. My right hand held the back of his head as I cradled him beneath his ruined PAK with my left.

"We hate each other!" I said again firmly and I realized that I wasn't holding his body to comfort him, but to comfort me.

"yes," I could feel the word breathed out against my shoulder. His body slowly began to grow limp in my arms and I began to mutter. I didn't realize it at the moment until it became a desperate chant whispered against his rigid antenna.

"Don't leave me… don't leave me… don't leave, please don't leave."

Zim's PAK crackled and snapped once, causing me to jump out of surprise and him to jump out of reaction of its malfunction. The wail of sirens in the distance was calming. Order was being restored; things would get back to normal soon. Months or maybe a year from now, things would be normal. I took a small bit of comfort in that thought, and took gratitude in the knowledge that I was holding the one who had made sure that the invading force had been wiped out. And nobody would even know. They wouldn't have believed me if I told them anyway. Nobody ever did.

"I… I love you, cold unfeeling robot arm," Zim whispered suddenly, his voice weak and wavering. My grip on him tightened as I stared past a now drooping antenna.

I didn't feel the tears as they coursed down my cheeks.