Thanks you guys Kazehana23 and my dear anonymous guest for reviewing! It's really encouraging :)


It's lonely at the top
these lonely days
when will they ever stop?
This doomsday clock ticking in my heart
not broken


Gaz shoved a piece of burnt toast in her mouth and threw her bag over her shoulder, stampeding past a lecturing Dib on the way to the front door. She grabbed her keys from the shelf and turned to yank Dib by the cowlick and drag him outside. He stopped mid-sentence to cry out in pain, but she ignored him. Her mouth was full anyway.

What did that dream mean? Normally Gaz dreamt about things that other gamers dreamt about. Things like zombies, nuclear bombs, vampire piggies, food. She had never dreamt about alien invasions, even when Zim first showed up. Her brain had no business bringing stuff like that up now! Especially in the grotesque, gritty way it had last night. More importantly though, why was Zim there?

She growled lowly as she turned the key in the ignition. The car roared to life and Gaz decided that if Zim had been fiddling with mind probes or some other stupid invention, he would need a butt kicking. As she sped down the quiet suburban roads, a thick, peculiar fog rolled in on all sides, obscuring all but the nearest structures. Gaz resolved to talk to Zim at lunch that day.


"You look half dead. Did you sleep all right?"

Gaz blinked into the face of Ana blearily. What had been an oppressive gray murk at seven in the morning was now a blinding fog, lit by the morning sun. It was horrible. Ana waved a pale hand in front of Gaz's paler face.

"Earth to Gaz!"

Gaz growled, her head slipping from her hand and landing on her desk with a dull thud. Ana sighed exasperatedly.

"What am I gonna do with you?"

"You could let me die."

"Nah," Ana flipped her hair, "who would take me to the Underworld anymore?"

"Dib might. He kind of likes you, you know."

"He still talks about that Tak girl he met in fifth grade… not that I mind. Dib really isn't my type. Speaking of which, who is 'Zim'? You know that guy you mentioned at lunch yesterday?"

Gaz's amber eyes shot open, suddenly alert. Did she want to go through this now? Ugh… Ana would find out some day anyway. Gaz pushed herself back into sitting and looked out the window.

"He's an…old family friend."

Ana's eyes lit up with excitement, "Really? Does he go to this skool?"

"He used to. He dropped out last year though."

Ana pouted before raising an eyebrow, "Do you… like this 'Zim'?"

Gaz nearly spat in surprise, "God, no! He's some weird friend of Dib's. The guy has green skin. Green, Ana!"

"Now, now Gazelene… you just said he's a family friend. That's a lot different than just some 'friend of Dib's'… Which is it?"

"Ahem." The two girls looked up to meet the stormy demeanor of their English teacher, who was tapping her foot and glowering at them. "Excuse me girls, but class started five minutes ago." Ana gulped and slid around in her seat sheepishly. Gaz waved her hand, turning to stare out the window once more. The teacher resumed her position at the head of the classroom, her usual sneer forming on her world-weary face. Gaz zoned out like normal, letting some of her violet hair fall over the hand her face was resting on. The teacher drowned on about Shakespeare and his effect on playwrights through the ages. Gaz could care less. She just wanted to make it to lunch, because at that point, she could text Zim and ask him about her dream.

Halfway through class however, something in the parking lot caught Gaz's eye. Zim's Voot Cruiser—poorly disguised as an eggplant-colored Volkswagen bug—pulled into the bus loop haphazardly. Zim burst from the drivers' seat frantically, his wig askew. He ran towards the main office, where he was met on the sidewalk by none other than Dib. Gaz immediately straightened up, her interest piqued. Why was Dib—that dirty class-skipper—leaving skool with Zim? More importantly: why was he leaving skool early without her? She threw her notebook closed in frustration. So Dib got to have a half-day? Why couldn't she?

Well…why couldn't she?

Gaz gathered her belongings and stuffed them into her skool-bag before standing up noisily. The teacher looked up from her crumbling old tome icily.

"Gazelene Membrane, why are you packing up when there are still thirty minutes in my class?"

Gaz stomped to the door, muttering over her shoulder, "My stupid brother needs medical attention."


The scooter made a pleasant shattering noise when it fell from the cliff. Gaz dusted her hands on her dress, preparing to continue the hike up the mountain. After knocking down a rambunctious middle-skooler when she realized the Voot was making no short trip, she had followed the false Volkswagen to the outskirts of town towards the north, where foothills met with mountains at an alarming rate. After they were far from civilization, the Voot had morphed into its small spaceship form and flown to the top of Helena, the undersized mountain just at the start of the range. Gaz had pushed along the pre-cut trail as far as she could until it veered into two paths for hiking only. So here she stood, tightening her bootlaces and cursing her big-headed brother's lack of good communication.

Gaz had long ago given up on the idea of making it back to skool; it was out in an hour and she hadn't even found Zim and Dib yet. The fog that had rolled in that morning was even thicker now, getting colder with the elevation. Gaz pulled her ragged black sweater tighter around her shoulders, wishing she had brought something more substantial. There was no turning back now though, so no use complaining about water under the bridge.

She smirked darkly when she realized her inner monologue had passed a decent amount of time, saving her the boredom of stalking through nature. She pushed some low branches aside and breathed heavily. The last strain of trees and shrubbery faded away into cold, mossy rock formations, slick with mist. Gaz inhaled deeply, filling her lungs with the cold and the moist, earthy scent of life. A frigid breeze brushed across her cheeks, tickling her nose with tendrils of her own hair. The breeze carried voices and Gaz cocked her head to listen more closely.

"…first time I've seen this…"

"…didn't…you tell me sooner?"

"Zim does not know…"

Ah, so Zim and Dib were nearby…and they were discussing something important! Gaz secured her bag on her sweater's front button and crawled around the nearest rock face, hoping to sneak up on the older boys. Weaving through the boulder piles, she came across the pair sitting on the gravelly cliff edge with a high-powered telescope between them.

"Aha!" Gaz brought her boot down heavily behind them, hoping to elicit a reaction such as Dib nearly falling from the cliff. The alien and the human both just jumped minutely. Dib stood up once he regained composure, crossing his arms.

"What are you doing here, Gaz? Skool is still in session!"

"I could ask you the same thing Dib, considering you're still a junior and have no business skipping class either."

"Zim said it was an emergency!"

"Well, was it?" Gaz turned to look at the alien pointedly. He opened his mouth to speak but closed it again, pressing a finger to his chin.

"It…is up to the Dib-stink to explain!" Zim pointed at Dib shakily. Dib gaped.

"Throwing me under the bus, space-boy? I oughta throw you over the…" Dib raised a fist at Zim before pressing fingers to his temples. He closed his eyes as if in pain.

"I really wish you hadn't followed us out here, Gaz. We're not even sure what this was about."

"What 'what' was about, Dib?"

"Dib-sister…" Zim's sudden quiet urgency caught the Membrane siblings off-guard, causing Gaz to forget chastising him for calling her something other than 'Gaz'. She crossed her arms.

"Yes, Zim?" The green-skinned teen stood and moved closer to her, twiddling his fingers.

"I called the Dib-human out here today because… while Zim was studying the changing star formations last night, something appeared on the horizon. It was a bright light, only for a moment… and it was gone. However…" Zim trailed off, sliding his gaze out towards the distance.

"What happened after that?" Something was tensing up in Gaz's stomach.

"This morning when I returned to gather my blind and equipment, the light appeared again—this time, closer."

A chill went up the younger Membrane's spine, "What does that mean?"

"Well," Dib cut in, "that's why he called me out here. We don't really know much yet…it could have been a typical UFO, it could have been military aircraft or an ahool… I've written Zim's story and I'm going to submit it to the Swollen Eyeballs when I get home." He waved a small notepad, smiling contentedly.

Gaz shifted her weight and at that moment, something happened. All at once a deafening blast of wind mixed with metallic creaking and what seemed like a dark, maniacal laughter rushed over the trio of teens, knocking Zim's equipment over and flattening the group against the gravel. A blinding light bathed them in its rays and when it turned a sliver, it revealed an enormous, glinting spaceship, coated in lights and metal ribbing. The sound whipped Gaz's hair around her pale face and the feeling in her stomach went numb.

Everything was blocked out when she saw that ribbing on the hull.

"That's the ship! They're going to kill everyone!"

Was it her voice? She couldn't tell over the wind. Dib and Zim both turned their heads to look at her, squinting in the light. Gaz thought she saw Dib mouth the word "what", but she wasn't sure. Then, as soon as it appeared, the ship was gone, leaving them on the cold ground in complete silence. With a grunt of terror and confusion, Gaz launched herself at Zim, grabbing him around the collar.

"What the hell was that thing, Zim? It was in my dreams last night—and so were you."

Zim gulped without blinking, staring into her amber eyes with his own pale blue ones.

"Zim does not know… and that is why he is scared." Gaz's arms crumpled at her sides. Dib crawled over and pulled her off their friend into his brotherly embrace, hoping to comfort his baby sister. She ceased blinking, just staring into Zim's face.

She had never seen him scared before. He had always been the cocky, dirt-bag friend of her big brother, cackling about his latest plan to conquer Earth. Even when he had been robbed of his title of "Invader" and virtually stripped of any reason to continue existence he hadn't been scared. He was furious and insulted…maybe even wounded…but he was never scared. Zim feared no one. So why was he afraid now?

Gaz clenched her teeth and furrowed her brows.

"We need to find out what that thing is, because it's more important than anything we've ever been through before." The conviction in her voice was lost on Dib, unfortunately. He cocked his head blankly.

"More important than community service for summoning Mortos der Soulstealer?"

Gaz face-palmed, "Yes Dib, more important than that." Through the corner of her eye, she caught a glimpse of Zim grinning with his zipper teeth and something in her chest pounded roughly. She removed her hand from her face and smiled slightly, the shock of the whole situation overcoming her.

She chuckled.

Dib and Zim looked at each other before starting to giggle as well and before they knew it, the set of teens were sprawled on the rocky ground, cackling insanely. The fog began to clear to reveal the sun fading into the west. They each sat up to wipe their eyes. Zim sighed and picked up his telescope and blind, heading towards the Voot. Gaz lurched after him before she could catch herself. Zim turned and raised the spot where his eyebrow should have been.

"Yes, Gaz?"

"Um," Gaz trailed off, startled for a brief moment at his addressing of her, "just be sure to keep me updated on whatever data you find out about this, alright?"

The alien nodded sagely, an arrogant smirk gracing his lips. He blinked heavily at the younger girl before climbing into his ship and flying away. Dib appeared at Gaz's shoulder.

"That was my ride!"

Gaz's smile dropped into a scowl when she realized that Zim had indeed flown off with the only vehicle nearby.

"THAT GREEN IDIOT!"


By the way, if anyone notices any discrepancies please let me know ASAP in a PM so I can fix it. Thanks!