Aneera woke up the next morning to find that her pillow was wet from when she had cried herself to sleep. The pain that she had felt yesterday stilled lingered in her wake and she wasn't sure about much anymore. She didn't know if she was going to make it through the rest of her life. She didn't know how long it would be until she recovered from her misery. She didn't even what to think of Zim anymore. There it was, that name, that name that everyone but her loathed, or did she? Did she really see him for who everyone else knew he was? Do these... Irkens even know him? Aneera let her mind rest and she slowly raised from her bed.
She stared at her door. Should I go? Or should I spend the remainder of my entire life in here, in hopes that the next time I fall asleep I'll never wake up? No, I wont cower in my fear... Then there was a knock on the door.
"Aneera are you awake yet?! It's me Zink! Open up!!" The voice was loud and it made Aneera's head hurt, not that she knew she could hurt anymore than she already did. So she mindlessly walked over to the door and yanked it open.
"There you are! I thought that you would nev-... What happened? You have tear marks on your cheeks... Were you crying!?" Aneera looked away in shame, had she really cried over all of this, was it for no reason? She wiped her cheeks until they were dry and looked with half-lidded eyes at Zink. "Okay, there are a few things you need to know. First of all, Irkens don't cry. If it's about your parents then I can understand, but anything else just isn't worth it. Second off, when I start pounding on your door that means come and answer it, not ignore it and keep dreaming in La La Land, kapeesh?"
"But what if it's about someone in perticular like-"
"If you're talking about Zim then seriously, I wouldn't cry over him, he especially isn't worth you're tears. Now come on, we have things to do." Aneera didn't spare another word but dully followed Zink through the Massive. After a while she quit counting doors and just decided to enjoy the walk, even if it was early. Minutes passed and Zink finally stopped at a door that was labeled "Training Room". She opened the door and was greeted by a much taller Irken who seemed to be about five and a half feet tall.
"Good morning Zink, I see you have brought Aneera with you." he said as he bent down and outstretched a hand towards her. She hesitated for a moment but took it none the less. When he let go she looked at Zink and gave her a confused stare.
"Sigh, Aneera this is Dax, he will be your trainer for the next two years."
"What!? Two years, why do I need training for two whole years? I'm perfectly fine." She cast Zink a surprised yet annoyed look.
Zink shook her head and sighed. "Aneera, I'm going to be blunt with you, and I am saying this as a friend but, you are the SADDEST excuse for an Irken I have ever seen. You lack a LOT of things, like training, discipline, knowledge of your own species and planet, do I NEED to go on?" Aneera shook her head and looked back up at Dax who was trying his best to suppress a small laugh.
She then looked past him and watched the others while Dax and Zink talked about numerous different subjects. She watched as a large group of Irkens practiced a strange form of martial arts. After watching them preform what seemed like impossible jumps and spins she turned her attention to a small Irken on top of a platform that had to be at least fifty feet in the air. Aneera put a hand over her mouth as he jumped down and free fell for a second. Just before he hit the ground four mechanical arms came out from behind him and prevented him from actually hitting the ground. Aneera breathed a sigh of relief, thankful that he hadn't killed himself.
"Hey, hey are you okay? Aneera, ANEERA!!" Dax screamed at her and made her jump. She looked up at him and noticed that he was beginning to walk away. Zink was close behind him and Aneera ran to catch up. "Aneera, this is your personal training room, it has everything that will help with your special... condition." Dax stopped at another door and turned around to look at Aneera who was panting from the running. He opened the door and stepped through as both Zink and Aneera followed obediently.
This room was slightly larger then the other, probably because of all the flying Aneera would have to be doing. There were large rings suspended from the ceiling, there was a huge pile of clay disks lying in one corner of the room, a large fan was built into the the far wall and one of the walls had chunks taken out of it as if to imitate a rock wall. Dax walked over to the rings high above his head and pointed at them.
"What are those for? Am I suposed to fly through 'em or something?" Aneera looked up at the rings and saw that the course was actualy quite difficult.
"Yup, why don't you go through them right now?" Dax glanced at Aneera who began to smile as a giant flame surrounded her and quickly disappeared, leaving a fire breathing lizard standing in the middle of the room. She glanced one last time at the two and quickly took off for the first ring. She flew through it gracefully as she did the second, third, fourth and fifth. However, as she progressed further the course became harder. Instead of slightly shifting her body in the direction of the ring to pass through it, she now had make sharper turns, more dramatic swoops and because the rings were getting smaller Aneera had to tuck in her wings as she passed through each one. After about five minutes of trying pointlessly to finish the course she finally went through the last ring.
"Is this supposed to be do-able? That was insane! How am I supposed to pull that off?" she complained as she gracefully set a foot on the metal flooring. Zink began to laugh so hard that she nearly fell on the floor. "Why is she laughing?"
"You, hahaha! You missed thirty-seven! Hahahahahaha!! Oh my lord... sigh that was too funny." Aneera glared at her and spread her wings in an attempt to look "scary" but it wasn't working.
"Well if I missed thirty-seven how many in total were there?"
"There were, um... only fifty..." Dax looked at her and was trying so hard not to burst out laughing like Zink did.
"WHAT!? You mean I missed that many!!"
"Yeah, and... that was ummm... the beginner course... Ahem."
"Sigh... Today is going to be a long day..." Aneera looked at the hoops again and began the course as Dax timed her.
After hours of training and flying Aneera was finally aloud to go. Her and Zink began to walk down halls, ride up elevators and they went through countless doors. Zink led Aneera through one last door and it was labeled "Arcade". Aneera's jaw dropped to the floor, she had never seen so many games in one room before. "w... wo... WOW!! This arcade is HUGE!!" She began to tremble and took off in search for one specific game.
"Aneera wait!! Chill out would ya!!" Zink ran after her and when she was at arms reach, grasped a hold of the back of Aneera's uniform. "Aneera, seriously, calm down." Aneera turned to Zink and squinted her eyes.
"Calm down? Calm down!? How am I suposed to calm down?!... Wait... Do...do you have... RockBand?" A smile crept it's way across her face as she said the name.
"Ummm, yeah... why?"
"I wanna play." The way Aneera said that last word creeped out Zink so she directed her friend towards the RockBand. They passed some of the oldest Earth games such as Pac Man, Galaga, Dig Dug, Pole Position and Tetris.They also walked by some newer games like Guitar Hero I, II and III (which, none of them can hold a finger up to RockBand!!), Dance Dance Revolution and Hydrothunder (I love that game!). The reason There were so many Earth games was because the Tallest had caught Zim playing one when they called one day and apparently took a liking to them, so they added some Earth games to their already insanely huge arcade.
"Well here we are." Aneera looked at the giant plasma television screen. She then walked over and picked up a guitar while Zink turned on the game. After the intro played Zink pulled out the drums and the two picked their song, which happened to be "Enter Sandman" by Metalica. Aneera was only on medium but Zink, well she was on expert. They played song after song for the rest of the day. Maybe this might help get Aneera's mind set straight.
"GIR!!" Gir's head popped through Zim's bedroom door.
"Yeeeessssss?" His voice was sad and depressed like Zim's, it had been that way ever since Aneera left the house.
"Gir would you please keep it down?" Zim now had no interest in being as mean to Gir anymore, he just didn't have the energy.
"Yes Master." Gir closed the door and went back downstairs.
Ever since he had called Aneera things began to go down hill. He wasn't paying any attention at ALL in class, he only talked if he absolutely had to and he hadn't worked on an evil plan to destroy the Earth. In all due respect, the little Irken had changed a great deal overnight. Even his body movements were different. He walked slower, his antennae were always drooped and his eyes were usually half-way shut. Zim did realize he was different but he just couldn't bring himself to care anymore, much less do anything about it.
I can't believe she's really gone... and after all that happened. Maybe I was wrong again... or maybe she never really loved me in the first place. How can you say that?! You know as well as I do that she loved you! Maybe she did but does she love me now? Well, it's hard to say, sometimes girls will yell at people when in fact, it doesn't have anything to do with them at all. Sigh, I hope you're right. I don't know if I could stand to lose someone else.
Zim laid on his bed for the next couple of hours. How long would it be before he saw her? How long would it be before he could talk to her? Would he even ever be able to communicate with her again? All these questions ran through his mind but not one of them had an answer. He then began to watch as memories played in his head. He could remember when they first met and she was a nervous wreck. He could also remember the night when she had that horrible nightmare and she passed out on her bed. Slowly they began to play and they finally came upon that one night when they were walking to Kairi's house. It was the night they shared their first kiss. Zim touched his lips but tried not to think about it too much, it was just to painful.
The door to his bedroom quietly opened and Gir walked in. "Master," he said as tears began to well in his eyes. Gir walked over to the bed and Zim sat up.
"Yes Gir?" The robot looked at him for a moment before he crawled on the bed and flung his arms around Zim as he began to sob. Zim looked down and for once, he felt sorry for the robot.
"Master! They took her away! I want her back! I want her to come back Master!" Gir looked up at Zim as tears poured out of his cyan eyes. "When will they bring her back Master? When will we get to see her again?"
Zim put his arms around Gir and hugged him tight. "Gir, I know this has been hard for you, It's been hard for me too but, we may never see her again." Gir's head shot up at those last word and he looked at Zim.
"But, but, Master they can't do that! It's not fair!" Gir was beginning to fall apart.
"Yes they can Gir! They can and they will!" Zim's sudden outburst made Gir slightly move away.
"But why? Why wont they let us see her?"
"Because they hate me Gir! Everybody does! I'm just a... a defect." Gir stared at Zim for a moment. "I've always been the one nobody wanted to be around. I was always the one who people looked down on." Gir put a hand on his Master's shoulder to try and comfort him.
"You're not a defect Master! You never were and, and I don't hate you... I love you Master." Gir put his arms around Zim as if the world would come to an end if he let go.
"I... I love you too Gir." Zim held his robot just as tight. The two continued to cradle eachother for the next few moments before Gir asked something that made Zim want to cry until the entire universe cease to exist.
"Master, does she still love you?" Zim shut his eyes tight as he tried to hold back his tears.
"I honestly don't know." He couldn't take it anymore, he just couldn't hold it in. Zim turned around and buried his head into his pillow as he began to cry uncontrollably. Tear after tear after tear fled down his cheeks and into his pillow, he felt like he could cry forever. Gir realized just how much pain his Master was in. He scooted over and took Zim's hand in his and tried his best to make him feel better. Zim turned his head just enough so he could see Gir smiling at him. He reached down and wiped away Zim's remaining tears.
"It's gonna be okay Master, It's gonna be okay. You'll see, soon everything will be okay." Maybe, just maybe, there was truth in his words. Maybe everything was going to be okay. Maybe she still does love him. Just maybe.
Aneera: Wow... -sniff- I think, I think this was a good chapter and if you did too then please review!!
Zim: That, that was actually a -sniff- pretty good chapter.
Aneera: Are you-... are you crying? You are! Oh I just knew you'd appreciate this chapter, I just knew it!!
Zim: What are you talking about, I'm not crying... -sniff-
Aneera: It's okay, I understand.
Gir: You're back!! I knew you still loved him!!
Aneera & Zim: ...
