I don't have much to say aside from the fact that I actually had this typed up and written YESTERDAY. That's right, I wrote two chapters in one day. I'm not sure what happened to make me go from updating once a month to being AHEAD in my writing, but why question it? ONWARD!

It was a day after the Tallests had contacted Ashta. They had called on Sunday, so it was now Monday, after Skool. And since Gaz was back, Ashta found herself sitting on the floor of Zim's living room with History books spread in every which way.

"You said we'd be studying past rulers! So why must Zim study about these so-called Enlightenment-thinkers, too?" Zim whined to Gaz, who proceeded to whack him in the head with a particularly thick book.

"Because, genius, most rulers based their reigns on what these people said and wrote, and we need to know what sort of approach to take with Earth. For example," she picked up the same book she had hit him with, and opened it up to a page in the middle. "This man, Locke, thought that people were mostly good beings and deserved lots of rights."

Zim snorted. "Fool."

Gaz nodded her head in agreement. "I know, but his ideas are some of the ones that are most commonly accepted today. The approach I think we should take is this man's. His name was Hobbes, and he thought people were evil beings who needed strict rules to keep them in line."

Zim nodded, rubbing his chin in thought. "This sounds like a much better idea to Zim." He then turned to Ashta. "Ashta-beast, what do you think?"

Ashta was startled out of her thoughts upon hearing her name. She didn't know the answer, and frankly why should she care? It wasn't her job to bring doom to this planet anymore! But, she realized she must keep her cover, and to do so, she must seem interested by the current conversation.

"Personally, while I support the Hobbes idea, I think most people would turn away from that approach, so maybe if we pretended like we were focused on their individual rights and brainwashed them into thinking so, while at the same time regulating them as Hobbes says it would be best for everyone." Ashta reasoned.

Gaz nodded her head. "She's right, most humans, me included, prefer freedom for themselves as opposed to laws, even if said laws are designed to protect them. Good idea. We'll have to keep that in mind."

"Zim could have worked that out..." Zim muttered, turning his head towards a book. Ashta found it almost laughable, his attempt to save face after she had completely shown him up. She quickly turned her thoughts back to what they had previously been focused on, though, and that was killing Zim.

She wasn't sure if Red meant she had a week starting the next day, or a week starting the day of their conversation, but she decided to play it safe and assume she only had six days left. She wasn't sure what kind of approach to take. Should she just slit his throat one night while he was sleeping? No, that seemed too shallow. Shooting him at point blank was an option, but he seemed to always have his guard up, something he'd undoubtedly picked up through his years of fighting Dib. Dib. Maybe he could help her? She doubted this, though. Even though Dib did hate Zim with every fiber in his being, Gaz was supposedly dating him, and she doubted Dib would do something so devious as to kill his sister's alleged boyfriend. And Gaz was probably out of the question. Even though she was mean, she wasn't completely heartless.

That made Ashta's train of thought come to a screeching halt. Was she heartless for doing this? For turning her back on Zim after mostly gaining his trust? To (maybe literally) stab him in the back so suddenly?

'No!' she reminded herself sternly. She was NOT heartless! She was merely doing her job and duty to the Empire! It was her role to scratch off the defects, and Zim was a defect! What made him different from the countless others she's killed? She'd done this multiple times before! She'd even killed innocent smeets if the Tallests wished it! And the Tallests wished Zim dead, now. They had for a while, actually. He was just another name on her increasingly long hit-list.

A list that never stopped getting longer...

Ashta shook her head to free her mind of the clouding thoughts. She excused herself from the others, claiming that she had a headache and went to her room where she lay on her bed, trying to free her mind from the over-active thoughts skittering around in her brain. Eventually she fell asleep, her dreams filled with blood and a forever-state of being confused.

!#$%

Ashta woke sometime in the middle of the night. The stars were glittering outside her window, and the sky was an inky-black. She looked around and noticed IVA had crawled onto the edge of her bed, curled up like one might find a real cat.

Ashta would have found this amusing if she didn't have a particularly strong headache splitting her skull open, which was a side effect of falling asleep while still being so confused.

In her pain Ashta sorted her thoughts out. Why on Irk did she become so suddenly confused? It was clear to her now that she was doing the right thing by following her orders. It was what was best for everyone. For the Empire, and for her, as it would rid her of the annoyance that was the scarlet-eyed defect.

Ashta smiled upon her sudden realization, but winced when the facial movement reminded her of the head-pain she was experiencing. She simply placed her head on the pillow, going back to sleep, this time with no dreams to disrupt her.

Wow. Filler-chapter if I've ever written one. BAD HAMSTERS! You're supposed to make me write GOOD things faster! Not filler-crap! Eh, well. Hopefully I can continue this streak of quick updates. But now, I must work on History homework. :(

(And yes, the part about enlightenment-thinkers is what we're studying in History. Seriously, all could think about during that lesson was how much Hobbes reminded me of Zim. o.O)

Also, I wanted to let you know that I am not revealing the ending to anyone. Even my co-writer, Invader Riyo, is in the dark. Trust me, she kept bugging me about it today at school. -.-

I'll try to update ASAP, depending on when I finish the next chapter (I got half of it done at school today). It will probably be tomorrow or the day after. ;)