Funny story: this was origanlly gonna be a songfic to Scary Kids Scaring Kids's "A Breath Of Sunshine" (listen to it! It's sad!), but then this song came on my playlist, so I had to write this!

Song: Missing
Artist: Evanescence

I know, plenty of other peeps have done an IZ songfic with this song, but I wanted to make my own version of it. ;)

Please, please forgive me
But I won't be home again

His eyes stung from the tears falling down his face. It was even worse from the cold, harsh winds whipping his face. What was he doing? Why did he do this? He was so stupid for actually doing this. But it was too late to turn back now. Even if he did, he wouldn't make it back home. He was already much to far. There was no retracing his steps. He didn't know where he was. Wherever he was, it wasn't his home town.

He was lost.

But being lost is better then being at home. Where no one knows your name, and you're all alone by yourself. Where your father doesn't even know you exist. 'I made the right desicion,' Dib tried to convince himself. 'I'm going to find myself a better place, where no one can look down on me, tell me I'm a loser."

Maybe someday you'll look up
And barely conscious you'll say to no one

Back at the house, five days had passed since the night Dib had left the house. Things were pretty much the same. In fact, the Professor seemed to notice that the house was much more... better. He didn't know why, but it was. As he walked through the living room, he tried to figure out what had changed in the house. He reached for the front door, then stopped, his gloved hand grasping the doorknob. He looked around, and asked to nobody in particular,

"Isn't something missing?"

And then he left. Gaz sat at the kitchen table, a frustrated look on her snarled face. How could he not know? Yeah, her father wasn't the most caring parent, but he really should be able to notice when his own son isn't there. It wasn't right.

You won't cry for my absence
I know you've forgot me long ago
Am I that unimportant?
Am I so insignificant?

There were so many questions swirling about in his head. And one that he longed to know, although he had the cold feeling that he already knew the answer. Did anyone miss him? If they've even noticed his absence by now, they're probably celebrating. They no longer need to be ashamed of having some insane little alien-chasing, bigfoot-hunting boy to embarass the family's name. And again, that's if they've even noticed him missing. He could picture his father asking himself:

Isn't something missing?

And the miserable little boy asked himself, with tears in his eyes, the nagging question that sent a chill down his spine, and brought more tears to cascade down his face. He asked himself,

Isn't someone missing me?

He fell onto the soft white snow. It stung his bloody hands terribly, and he felt as though he'd die in winter's freezing cold breath. But he didn't mind. He wanted to die. He wanted to lie down, close his eyes, then drift off into the afterlife. A happier place, right?

But he stood back up, and soldiered on, searching for any signs of city lights, sound of cars and voices. He wondered if maybe he could find a place in which he could recover; find some strength, perhaps. He tried not to think of what was going on at home. He wondered, if they found him out here, dead and frozen, what would they say? What would his neglecting father think? Would he shed a tear?

Even though I'm the sacrifice
You won't try for me, no, no
And though I'd die to know you love me
I'm all alone

Dib was losing hope rapidly. He didn't seem to have hardly any left inside of him. His face felt like it was going to fall off. The tears soaking it didn't help at all. Quite the contrary, really. When he realized that he wasn't going anywhere, he stopped. He cried harder. The desperate youth yelled from the top of his lungs the question that used up the last bit of hope he had left. As loud as he could, he shouted out-

"Isn't someone missing me!"

That was the last thing Dib said as the world went black.

.xXxXxXx.

Years passed. Five to be exact. And what no one knew for those entire five years, was how much pain went through little Gaz Membrane. It had been five entire years since her big brother had left. And her father hadn't even noticed. Not once.

Gaz had been 9 years old at the time, and she still perfectly remembered that morning when she woke up and found her brother gone. He had left without a trace. Not a note, not a good-bye, nothing. He just disappeared. Gaz really didn't know what to think. And even worse-what had happened to him?

She never knew, and for five years, it had been driving her insane. Why and how did he leave?

Had he left on his own? Ran away, maybe? Or worse, what if he had been kidnapped by some creep? No, that wasn't worse. There were far worse scenarios that the purple-haired girl wondered about. Had he gone out for a walk, or maybe to go spy on Zim and then gotten himself lost? Or maybe he was murdered? Or what if he had gotten raped? She had always heard that rape can change a person's life. What if it had scarred him so badly he didn't want to return home?

Anyways, fourteen-year-old Gaz Membrane was in her room, sulking as usual. But this time, she wasn't simply endulging in her misery and feeling sorry for herself as usual. No, this time, she was making her final desicion.

She was busy shoving objects such as food and clothing and water into her backpack, which she had emptied into the trash can earlier. She was running away. Tears rolled down the young teen's face, as she knew this could be the most stupidest mistake of her life. But hey, if the Professor hadn't noticed the disappearence of Dib, why would he notice hers? Finally, she had everything packed and ready to go. She grabbed a sticky note and pen from her dresser and scrawled a short and simply goodbye note.

The note simply read:

Please, please forgive me
But I won't be home again
Love, Gaz

She left the note on her bed, and with that she slowly crept out into the hallway, and as quiet as she could, so as not to attract her father's attention, made her way to the front door. As she passed the entrance to the Professor's laboratory, she heard the buzzes and crackles of his lab tests along with his dazed and drunk mumbling. Lately he'd been drinking like crazy. Odd, because he'd never been a big fan of alcohol.

She shook her head and finally continued out the door, into the cold winter's night, unknowing of what was to come.

I know what you do to yourself

Gaz tried to dry up the tears, but try as she might, they weren't going away. Instead, they only fell harder. She marched through the snow, through the streetlights. She wanted to scream, but knew better, as this would attract too much attention. So she tried hard to contain her emotions. But one can only contain so many emotions in their body. After a while, it becomes painful, like you were carrying the entire world's weight on your back.

I breath deep and cry out

Gaz cried through her shuddering breath,

"Isn't something missing?
Isn't someone missing... me?"

Looking up at the street sign as she turned a corner, she found herself walking along Dawn St. She was on the other side of town by now. The cold wind whipped her tear-soaked face. What was she doing? Was it really worth it? And then she decided. Yes. It was.

Because out here, you don't have to worry about whether or not someone cares about you, because there's no one there to care anyways. You don't have to please someone because there's no one to please. You don't have to worry about feeling loved, because there's no one here to be loved by, anyway.

Even though I'm the sacrifice
You won't try for me, no, no
And though I'd die to know you love me
I'm all alone

Isn't someone missing me?

The tears rolled down like hurricane rains. As she sat in a bus stop, she whispered to herself, as if talking to her father, "I don't care anymore. And if I bleed? Well, I'll bleed knowing you don't care. And if I sleep just to dream of you, I'll wake without you there."

She imagined her father saying aloud, "Isn't something missing?"

She mumbled more to herself as she sat there sulking. The bus pulled up, and Gaz trudged onto it, instantly feeling a rush of warmth hug her. It wasn't much, but it was enough to give her a little extra strength.

"Where to?" the bus driver asked.

"As far away from this town as you can go," she answered. And then she took a seat. There was no one else on the bus. Just her and the driver. She mumbled to herself some more.

Even though I'm the sacrifice
You won't try for me, no, no
And though I'd die to know you love me...

"I'm all alone," she whispered. She looked around the empty bus some more. And then she jumped. Her eyes caught glimpse of something she hadn't noticed. There was someone else on the bus. At least, she thought it was a someone. It looked like a lifeless clump of black. That was all she could make out about it. But it sat hunched alone in the back corner of the bus. It didn't seem to move.

She tried to ignore it, but her curiosity was getting the best of her. She decided she had to get a better glimpse of the black clump. So she grabbed her backpack and went and sat at the very back of the bus, just one seat seperating her and the clump. And as it turned out, Clump was a person. He wore nothing but tattered black clothing, matted with dirt and filth. His jet black hair was messy and tangled, with dirt and grass and other debris clinging to it. To put it simply, he looked like an emo hobo.

She stared at Clump, who was just staring out the window, all hunched up, motionless, lifeless. She turned her attention away. Instead, she grabbed her diary out of her backpack, and scrawled in it. What she scribbled in it was probably related to how miserable she felt, what she was doing, how her father wouldn't care. That's when Clump spoke. And what he said sure surprised her.

"G-Gaz?" said Clump in a raspy, worn voice.

Gaz? Had this black lump just said her name? No, maybe it was just a cough. The 14-year-old turned her head toward Clump.

"Excuse me?" she said, still not believing that he had said her name. "Did you say something?"

Clump looked at her with weary eyes that had plainly seen too much in his years. His face was scarred and scratched. Again, he whimpered, "Gaz."

She stared at him. "Do... do I know you?"

Poor Clump closed his eyes slowly. "Isn't s-something missing?"

Gaz stared at him. And then it clicked.

She nearly jumped out of her seat.

"D-D-Dib?"

Clump smiled the most sorry smile you had ever seen. He nodded his head slowly. "Af-f-fter y-years of th-this night-t-t-mare, I w-wanted to s-see how my family was d-doing."

Gaz thought about it for a while, then asked, "How did you know it was me?"

Dib seemed to chuckle a painful little chuckle and said, "Y-you've always been th-the one girl who t-takes her d-d-diary everywhere-even when sh-she's r-r-running away. S-speaking of which, I advise y-y-you not to. Y-you're so young and full of p-potential. T-t-trust me." He paused for a while. Gaz just stared ather long-lost brother in disbelief. He was alive. Dib continued suddenly, asking, "S-s-sister? There's s-something I've b-b-been wanting to know ever s-s-since I left. Would y-you mind g-giving me the answer?"

-x-

Dib never got to know the answer. For as soon as the question slipped out of his mouth, all the years he had gone through of pain, fatigue, and never-ending suffering took its toll, and just like that, he was gone.

Gaz, after dwelling on her older brother's last piece of advice for weeks, finally returned home. And though the Professor hadn't noticed the absence of either, life went on. The Professor would go on with the feeling that something was missing, never to know what exactly it was. Gaz grew up, and moved on. She found herself a well-paying job that she enjoyed; got married to the man of her dreams, and they lived happily with one another and their children, till their hair turned gray, and they both passed away. But in those years she spent on Earth, she didn't let a day sneak by in which she didn't think of her elder brother.

But Gaz never forgot the last question her brother had mumbled.

"Isn't someone missing me?"

Hope you like it. The ending, I wasn't too fond of. I dunno, maybe it's just me. Anyways, reviews are welcome, and in fact, strongly encouraged.

I made this as a side project while working on my ongoing IZ story (which I ask you to check out, if you haven't already)!

Anyways, Peace. Love. Evanescence.

Invader Gigi Signing Off... (05.30.10)