Chapter 1:
Broken. It didn't take long to break that young boy in the introduction. He spent some time in the mental hospital, 3 years in and out, watching nothing but re-runs of reality television to numb his "overactive imagination," but the real cause of Dib's change, was his father.
In an attempt to foil one of Zim's not-so-notorious plans to blow up the earth, half their school was demolished. It was blamed solely on Dib with one pointing finger from Zim, innocent as ever. Everyone knew it was only a matter of time before Dib started hurting others with something REALLY crazy, so Dib never even got a chance to rectify himself. They were all just glad it wasn't a shooting like all the other crazy children did, but it couldn't be ignored either way. He was bound with a long sleeved jacket and tossed into and expensive padded room. All Dib could think about was Zim, Zim and that look on his father's face "Where did I go wrong?" His mind drifted back to Mr Dwicky. The one man who knew the truth. He hated him. Dib grew to hate everyone. For not believing him, for silencing him, for being stupid, so very, very stupid.
As the days went by, and his time-out soon became an obvious prison, Dib realized if he was removed from life, there wouldn't be anything significantly changed. Zim would never take over the world, even without him around to foil his plans, the children at school wouldn't come by or even miss him, his sister's life would go on as every other day, and his father would always be too busy for him. He was back to being alone, but he was really alone now, even the doctors didn't check up on him too much, Dib was simply, "crazy," and had to be locked up until he wasn't.
His realization sent him through depression and then, sedation. There was nothing for him, no purpose to his futile dream of saving the world from the nonexistent, imminent devastation. When the doctors caught on to the lack of screaming from his "room" they re-evaluated him and sent him home, where he gave up the paranormal and started working with his father. "Happy" was a muted word and a dull smile. His distant and somber mannerisms, painted a mysterious allure on Dib. When he returned to school, he was in his junior year of high school by then, he became more popular then he'd ever dreamed, but it seemed unfulfilling. All the girls wanted to know what had happened to him, the now cool aloof Dib who didn't seem to care about anything. They wanted to know if he still believed in aliens or not. He always answered the same "I don't believe in aliens, if there were aliens here on earth, they would have taken over by now." It was a half hearted answer he really wanted to believe. But he didn't want to be "crazy" anymore. He wanted to be like his father, to do something meaningful to others.
All the while Zim boiled. "They would have taken over by now? I am ZIM! I am just… working on something good." Zim had nothing. Dib's absence from class had a surprisingly strong effect on the classroom, "peaceful" and "boring." And so, Zim became "peaceful" and "boring" without Dib's constant hostility sharpening Zim's survive and invade qualities. But now! Now Zim had Dib back and all would be fixed, only… Dib wasn't chasing him anymore… And this troubled Zim a great deal. "He must think I've lost my stuff. Well! We will see who has lost!... His Stuff!"
As hard as Zim tried to get Dib's attention, nothing seemed to work. In fact, as hard as anyone tried to get Dib's attention, nothing seemed to work. Dib was lost somewhere deep inside himself, always doodling new ideas to work on in his father's lab, something that would make his father more proud of him, make everyone more proud of him. No girl, or Zim for that matter, ever reached him.