Chapter 1
Nothing

*ZIM'S POV

*Disclaimer: I do NOT own Invader Zim

It was a memory that I didn't want in my head. But I was afraid of letting it go. It was the last memory I had of her before she disappeared. Disappeared for good? I'm not sure. All I new was that she was no longer on Earth.
As far as I remember it, She crashed into the front yard a couple months ago. Her ship was a complete pile of Rubbish and as she emerged out of that mess, I already had my gnomes aimed at her for fire but she knocked the heads off each and everyone of them. Dear Irk, I hated that female.

She came to my door step, demanding that she stay for a while or until she finished fixing her ship (it was what she did best, mechanics and them gears). I hated her. Hated her to the bone but some part of me let her come into the Earthly home and let her stay.
This ugly little female told me she would help me conquer the Earth and it's fitly mud-pig humans that inhabited for payment in letting her stay at the house. I shook my head with no hesitation and turned her down. I did not want help. I do not need help from one of my enemies. But she helped anyways.
We shared the same bed, and it was so hard to fall asleep that night knowing that female was in my room, sleeping in my bed, with me! I hated her so much I just wanted to shoot her. No. I was going to wait for the right time to kill her and it will be in her sleep.

As time went on, we quarreled a bit every so often. Though she usually surrendered to me. I was powerful and thought I controlled this house. I told her she was my maid, that was her payment for staying her. She fought for a bit but I cam out victorious and she did everything form my cleaning to arranging the little insignificant books on the humanized home.

But little did I knew that she was going to leave.

She was packing days before she left. Had boxes filled with her things. I didn't think much of it at first. I just thought it was storage of all her useless junk that she probably brought along like cosmetics from some beauty planet or something. You know, what ever females liked. So I shrugged it off and continued to think of plans to destroy man-kind, and possibly her as well.
Then, as I was passing our room again several days later, I saw her packing clothes into a suitcases. I stood at the doorway and watched her, leaning myself against the frame. Is she finally leaving?
"Tak." I said to catch her attention. She stopped packing but did not look at me. "What are you doing?" I asked and walked up to her.
Tak still did not look at me, though continued packing.
"YOU DARE IGNORE THE ALMIGHTY ZIM?" I howled
Tak turned her head sharply- quickly- to look at me. Her eyes. They were beautiful violet eyes, were now filled with rage. Though this look did not last long. In mere seconds, they softened to sorrow ovals and her lips started to quiver.

I asked again, seriousness in my voice "What are you doing."

Tak's eyes were still filled with sadness. She struggled to smile but made a small effort. The smile was fake but I thought otherwise. She told me she was going to visit an old friend That's all she said. Again, I shrugged it off. Stupid Females, Irken and Human, with their meaningless emotions
Tak kept acting strange. She never ate. Did a lazy job on cleaning. Hardly went out of the house. Never went to Skool. Heck, she never even left the room. All she did was stare out the window with her antennae always she would just lay in bed like a dead corpse. No movements. No sound.
Just nothing.

And then it happened. On a late afternoon. The sky was gray and covered in smokey clouds. The musky scent of the air outside hinted it was going to rain. I sit on the couch with GIR, who is watching that idiotic, crazy monkey show as I plan my next step to conquering the Earth.

"I love this show." GIR says, though changes channels a couple seconds after. He repeats the process to the point where I couldn't concentrate no more.
"GIR! Will you quit the changing of the channels! So close I am to conquering the Earth!" I spoke the last sentence in a low voice wiggling my claw-like fingers in front of my face as though the Earth was already in my hands.

GIR is quite for some time. "Mmmmm. OKAY!" He exclaims and runs towards the kitchen entrance screaming the word 'Waffles' like a lunatic. He forgets to shut the TV off which I do for him. That stupid robot
He passes Tak, who I didn't notice at first. She's leaning against the door frame, her arms across her body as though she was hugging herself for warmth. (Now that I mention it, the temperature was quite cool in here).

Her saddening face was still the same for the past few days since I saw her in the room putting her clothes into a suitcase. Her violet eyes caught my stare and I swung my head the other way to hide the shame of looking.
I hear her sigh. Soon enough, I also hear the clicking of her boots against the tiles of the floor. Still, my head is turned away from the female Irken. I had a feeling that she would sit next to me on the couch, so I awaited for her to do so, though there was no sound. Her footsteps stopped and I felt the presence of her standing next to me. Slowly, I turn to look her in the eyes.
The same sorrow that she wore.
Her eyes brightened a bit, but still held some sadness to them. Tak smiled and sat next to me, caressing my antenna. I shivered at the touch.

"How's your new plan going?" She asked softly, craning her neck to look at the papers in my hands.
"Ah! Nothing! Even after GIR left, I have nothing!" I spat at the word nothing. I hated it. Having nothing. It makes you a looser. It made you weak. What could you accomplish with nothing? Nothing right? "I haven't made any progress to conquering these disgusting pig-humans! What will the tallest thing of me?" I sneered.
Tak smiles and continues stroking my antenna. "You will get there." She says with the same soft voice.
"No Tak. I won't get there in the pace I am now. I'll have to work harder! I have to succeed. I Must succeed." I pushed Tak's hands off my antenna and rise from the couch. "I will have NO distractions! I need a new plan. A NEW PLAN I TELL YOU! I will be in the lab, conjuring thoughts for Earthy destruction! BE GONE! ZIM NEEDS TO THINK!" I hissed and was about to flush myself down the toilet that leaded towards the lab.
"Zim?"
I stopped at the sound of Tak's voice. She stood now, her head looking out the window. It was raining and the soft piter-paters of the burning Earth water outside were like gun shots. "What? What is it now?" I asked rather annoyed.
Tak opened her mouth and muttered something to quite to hear. "Eh?" I neared her in the "living room" to hear her better. (Honeslty, why do Humans call it the living room? Do you die in some other rooms in the house?)
"Zim... I..." She started.
"Yes? Yes? Get on with it, Female. You are waisting Zim's precious Earthly time to think of a plan."
I see her sigh and she walks toward the stairs, beginning to ascend them. I was confused, though in a short of amount of time, she returns with two suitcases. One in each hand.
She cranks her head to me, tears in her eyes, then walks to the door."What - Where are you going? You come here right this instant!" I commanded.

Tak opens the door letting in the musky rain smell. The smell is awful but it seems that she wasn't even affected by it. Did she even care?
She set the suitcases down and called for her SIR unit, MIMI. MIMI, within a flash of dark swirls, was at Tak's side. Her red eyes glaring at me.
"Zim." She began with a calm voice. "I don't like it here

"What? Don't like it - YOU SHOULD BE HONORED TO BE HERE! WITH ME! ZIM~!" I howl once more. "ME! THE ALMIGHTY INVADER ZIM!"
"No!" She screamed and I stopped yelling. There was a fierceness in her voice that made me fear her for a moment. As though she could pull out a ray-gun from her belt and shoot it me.

"Tak..." I whimpered in surprise.
Tak's eyes were now drowning in tears. "I don't like it here. I never liked it here! We were enemies once in the past but I grew to like you. I grew to love you! Did you ever noticed how I feel? Every stupid message I tried to send to you?"

"What? You sent me a message? When? I received no messages on my transmitter." I said confused.
Tak screams and slaps her forehead. "You're truly an idiot!"
"ZIM? AN IDIOT! NEGATIVE, IRKEN FEMALE! ZIM IS A GENIUS! GENIUS I SAY!"
"Zim, Shut up!" Tak picked up her suitcases. while MIMI jumped onto her head. "All you cared about is your stupid mission on Earth!"
" Of course I have to care about my mission! It it isn't stupid! This is my mission for the Tallest!" I screamed back at her.
"Zim, your mission is fake. The Tallest hate your ever bit of Irken soul." She said with a calmer voice.
"LIES!" I hissed.
Tak kept speaking. "You are a laughing stock to entire Irken Empire. The Tallest sent you on a fake mission in hopes you would die like the rotten scum you are. Face it Zim. You are nothing but a Defect."
Defect.
Those words. Those very words that beautiful Irken female spoke. It hurt
Defect.
It hurt every corner of my heart and I found myself on my knees.
"Lies." I said weakly. "They are all LIES!"

She walked up to me, still the fierceness in her Deep lavender eyes though it changes again. Softer. Tears build up and she starts crying. "Zim, Did you ever even like me?"

I flushed and stood to look at her. I did not know how to answer her. "Well, I like you like...like . . .oh what do these Earthy Humans call it? A friend." I folded my arms across my chest and turned away. "Friends make Zim weak so consider yourself honored to be THE GREAT ZIM'S friend."

Tak pushed her eyebrows together and sighed irritable. She turned on her heal and headed for the door again, picking up her suite cases. "So you don't . . .Don't love me."
I stuttered. "W-What? T-THE GREAT ZIM FALL IN LOVE WITH Y-YOU?" I shook my head angrily. "NEVER! It only builds weakness! Why would I ever FALL IN LOVE with you? Horrible Irken female. You and your needy-needi-ness, it gets in the way of my mission!"

Tak's eyes widened at my words and I saw the tears run down her cheeks. "Your mission? YOUR MISSION? I shouldn't have stayed here. I shouldn't have LIVED ALONG SIDE YOU! No. I stayed here after my ship crashed but what do I get? Cleaning your stupid house and get treated as a slave! I even offered to help you with your fake MISSION! '!" Tak teased at the word, mission. It made me twitch a bit.

"THE AMAZING ZIM DOES NOT NEED HELP FROM SCUM BAG FEMALE!"

Tak stomped on my foot and marched upstairs.

"Where do you think you're going!" I yelled as I held my foot in pain.

"I'm LEAVING this hell hole!" She continued screaming and throwing violent rages.

"YOU THINK YOU CAN ESCAPE ME? ZIM!" I shouted and ran after her with a limp. I pulled on her antenna. She yelped in pain an I grabbed onto her invader's uniform, getting dragged up the stairs.

"I'm going to make you pay for saying all those LIES to me!" I scowled and began tugging even harder on her uniform. I ripped a small piece of the bottom off and took one of her boots off as she dragged me and her suitcases up the stairs to the attic where her ship and my voot cruiser were stored. I took hold of her arm and began tearing at her sleeve. Attempting to choke her, I also gripped her collar, pulling my weight down the stairs to either rip it or choke her to death. It did both almost both. It managed to choke her but due to it ripping she continued to live. Her uniform was nearly shredded to bits, leaving her bare legs, patches of her chest and a long rip from her neck and shoulder to be revealed.

"Zim let go!" She sneered and kicked me off her body with her foot. I tumbled down the flight of stairs and watched her run.

"You don't escape my base, Tak!" I yelled and started running up the stairs clumsily.

Several flights later we reached where the ships were being stored. She had arrived there first and when I came up already, she was already climbing into her ship.

"Your ship is still badly in need of repair! So you wont get far from here!" I yelled.

She ignored me and started up her ship. It rattled and clanked with the metal inside but in no time soon, it began to rise. She gave me one look of sadness then blasted off into the sky.

"Fine! Leave the Great ZIM to do his planing! I don't need you! Filthy Irken Female!" I scowled with a fist in the empty sky later realizing it was still raining. The drops of Earthly rain water fell upon my Irken skin and sizzled as the acidic water began to burn the cells.
._.

Night fell quickly with that gray day. The sky was still a dim murky color and the smell of musty rain was lingered for hours even after the fall.
I was down in the lab, thinking up of diabolical scene to plan on taking over the Earth. But I could not escape today's earlier memory of Tak leaving. In the name of Irk, She knew emotions caused weakness. Bonds with other "beings" caused weakness. Trust caused weakness. Yet she broke every single one of them, which made her, One of the strongest said "invaders" go mad and weak.

I couldn't stop thinking about her.

What was I saying! I exclaimed, grabbing my head and shaking it from side to side vigorously. I should not be thinking about that horrible female who kept me from conquering the world. With what help did she provide me with? NOTHING! She was just a burden to deal with.

"She probably hit an asteroid on her way to Irk in that tiny useless ship of hers. She's probably dead for all I care." The last sentence drew the vivid picture of Tak dying in her own shitty ship in my mind. I smiled at the thought, but it wasn't senile. There came a feeling inside of my Squeedilysplooch, a sort of "moving" feeling and it made me feel, so down on myself. It made me slightly regret ever letting her leave.
Defect.

"Oh! But that word!" I hissed to myself. She says such awful things! That female can go and die in Ignis 9 (A planet much similar to the surface of the sun. It is inhabited by Lava creatures called Iginisens).

I sigh and decide to give the two divine Tallest a report. Surely they will tell me my mission is still in progress and most definitely, true.

I pressed the symbols on the holographic pad and awaited for the two to answer.

The two Tallest answered in several long rings.

"My Tallest! My Tallest! My Tallest! My Tall-"

"What is it Zim?" One of the Tallest [Red] asked quite annoyed.

I was silent for a moment. "My Tallest! What a HORRIBLE DAY this was!" I began. "That BLASTED female Irken, Tak decided to leave the GREAT Zim just because I wasn't 'in love' with her (That's what humans call it). What in the name of Irk is her problem? She knows Invaders cannot show their emotions! Let alone that feeling of love. It makes us weak. Then she starts telling Lies about my mission!"I found myself pacing back and forth with my hands behind my back as the two Tallest watched me.

"Uhm, Right. Your mission you see, about that-"

"She said such WORDS to me about my mission! Such Words. Yes. She said my mission. The mission you assigned me, was all fake. She said I wasn't even a real invader! That I was the laughing stock of the Irken Empire! She said so MANY LIES!" I scowled and shook my head clear of her thoughts.

I saw Purple gulp real hard. "S-She did?"

"AY! But she did. I swore to Irk I would kill her one day. ONE DAY! But then again, She took off before I could even get the chance. Her ship was a wreckage though so she wouldn't go far. Probably died and crashed into a meteor in that pile of scum." I grumbled.
Purple sighed and gave some sort of look to Red. Red nodded back at him. I was confused.

"Zim. About you Mission . . ." Started purple. "What this, Tak, said? It's true. Everyone of it is true." Purple spoke in a roughly calm voice. As though he was forcing himself to be nice.

"Eh? I don't understand?"

Red pushes purple out of the way. "It means, every one of those words she told you, is true. Your mission is fake. You aren't a real invader, and YOU definitely are the laughing stock of the Irken Empire! Why do you think we sent you off on a fake mission? We wanted to get RID of you Zim. You're nothing but Irken SCUM! You're nothing but a DEFECT!"

There was that word again. Defect. I wasn't surprised when Tak said it, but the Almighty Tallest?

"B-but, My Tallest -" I stumbled.

"Zim. You are nothing." Red said and cut the transmission leaving me alone in my Own base.

Tears were forming in my eyes and I hated myself for it. "Invaders. Aren't. Suppose. to. show. Emotions." I muttered to myself. But what was I saying? I wasn't even a real invader no more.

There I was. Weak. Alone. Having absolutely nothing.