No one, not even themselves, could ever expect that they had the capacity in their hearts for love. Yet it was undeniable now as they faced what would surely be their deaths. Fate was always held the biggest surprises till the last moment, it seemed.

***years in the past***

Why did Zim do this to himself? He hated this feeling of weakness toward the Gaz-human. Hated it! Yet he could not stop himself from watching her at the skool he used to attend.

He himself was supposed to be at another skool he had found, but he skipped today. He couldn't help it. Zim just wanted to see the Gaz-human one last time, though he knew seeing her would only make him want to do this sort of thing more.

"Why must Zim be so weak?" He mumbled under his breath, aware that the humans were more aware of anomalies thanks to the Dib capturing him. "Stupid feelings. I hate them!"

GIR in his new disguise of a yellow dog-monster called a beagle grinned happily at his master. He never understood much of what his master said or did, but he did know that his master liked Gaz. That made GIR happy. Gaz was pretty.

There she was. Zim could see Gaz through the window of the wretched classroom. Zim smiled then scowled at himself. He had to stop doing that.

Gaz was looking at him now. Zim could tell that somehow she recognized him. How was that possible? He used holograms now instead of some stupid wig and contacts. Zim quickly left to his new base.

His base was actually an abandoned house that Zim had redone. He would have preferred to create one just like he did with the first, but the humans would have noticed the rumbling. The one thing Zim couldn't have was the humans noticing anything.

Zim used what he had stolen from the Dib's stolen collection of Irken technology along with what he brought from his old base to create a lab in his new base's basement. It wasn't much but it could be used to make repairs whenever needed.

Zim left GIR with his "parrot" Minimoose and his older brother, whom was really the hologram his computer used, and returned to his new skool just in time to return to class.

"Sen! You're late," the teacher, Ms. Strict, said to Zim as he entered the class.

Zim, called Sen among the humans, grunted and took his seat in the back of the class. The teacher was giving him some abnormally strict punishment for the minor infringement. Zim would replay the scene from his memory banks when he needed it.

"Now we have a new student joining class today," Ms. Strict said in her tight voice. "Her name is…Tak. Tak, you will sit in seat A7 every day. It's over there next to Sen."

Zim was careful to not jump when he heard the name of the Irken who wanted to take over his "mission" last time they met. Instead he just held up the human peace sign at the sound of his human name.

Tak still used her old hologram. Zim was surprised that she was back. Escape pods were almost impossible to steer and navigate.

After skool, Zim approached her. "So you're Tak. I would be careful if I were you."

Tak laughed and smirked at him. "What do you mean I should be careful? I just want to go to skool."

"Cut the crap, I know you're Irken. My friend told me all about how you wanted to take over the stupid planet. I'm just warning you. After that Zim thing was captured by that stupid Dib, humans have become more aware of their surroundings. Actually, I'm surprised that you weren't captured the second you entered the classroom. Dib mustn't have told anyone about you."

Tak scowled at Zim and a flash crossed her eyes. "You must be smarter than the rest of them. Ha! Zim got himself captured, you say? That fool has allowed the humans to know of the Irken Empire. He's even stupider than I thought."

"Meh, just be careful. The scientists were going to gut him and experiment on him. He was lucky to escape. No one knows where he went."

Tak looked at him suspiciously. "How do you know all of this, human?"

Zim shrugged. "I'm friends with Gaz. She complained a lot about how her stupid brother was addicted to capturing that stupid alien. Nobody knew her like I do. I can only hope that he's giving her more attention now that the alien has disappeared."

"Then why are you helping a member of an alien race who once tried to take over the filthy rock you call a planet? I could be here to destroy you humans for all you know!"

"I don't like humans in general. Too stupid. Besides, slicing something open just to see how it works is just dumb. Why would anyone wish that on something else?" Zim left that question hang in the air and left for his base.

***Membrane household***

Dib had some friends of his over so Gaz kept to her room. Ever since her brother had proved that Zim was an alien people have been nicer to him. Gaz could tell that it was making his big head swell. He still hung out with her at lunch, though his friends crowded around him.

Gaz flipped through the purple and red journal that was all that remained of Dib's Irken junk. His room had been trashed the day Zim escaped and the journal had been left behind in her room. It was all that was left of Zim and what they went through. When Gaz saw it hidden in her bed, she vowed that Zim would pay for forcing her to stay.

Her vow almost faltered when she saw what she was sure was Zim's new disguise. She didn't like that at all. Gaz was known for her cruelty. How could a stupid alien change that?

A tentative knock on the door drove her attention away from her frustrating feelings. Gaz slammed it open and glared at the fool who dared to interrupt her. It was Zita, one of the people who had made fun of Dib the most. The only reason she hung out with him now was that he was popular.

"What," Gaz demanded.

"Umm…we're ordering pizza if you wanted any," Zita mumbled.

Gaz growled and stomped downstairs. Pizza and soda were the only things that brought her downstairs whenever Dib had his stupid friends over. Dib knew that. He was probably ordering pizza now just to get her to come out of her room.

She sat at the table, ignoring everyone and playing her Game Slave. When the doorbell rang, she answered the door just to get away from the fools that surrounded her.

Tak was smirking when Gaz opened the door.