FINALLY, right? Ugh, writer's block is horrible! But I couldn't let this story rot. :3 Please enjoy this long-overdue update, and a big thanks to anyone who has stuck around this long! Also to any newcomers, of course. So, here ya go, a longer chappie!
ALSO. I've noticed several people commenting on possible ZaGr-ness of this fic. I promise you, there is no romance between Zim and Gaz. They just have a very awkward friendship that's only going to go downhill from here. No spoilers, of course! ;D
Gaz lead Zim over to the stage area, where a few people had already seated themselves. The girl's steps faltered, almost hesitant to continue, and her eyes swept a glance over the crowd. In an almost over-casual way, the girl took the clip holding her hair in place out and ruffled the purple locks to cover her face, brushing it carefully in front of her scars. Zim watched her, slowing his own pace down as well. He frowned and tipped his head the slightest bit, a little smile on his lips, but it was still quite smug. "...Self-conscious much, Dib-sister?"
"Shut up."
Zim held up his hands dismissively, gaining a cold look from the other. The Irken could see her expression harden as she dipped her head and hurried over to the front row, Zim following closely. GIR laughed and clung on her shoulder, chewing on the stray strands of hair that blew into his face.
The alien sat uncomfortably on his seat, finding the picnic chair was not the nicest thing to rest on. Gaz slouched beside him, GIR squealing and tumbling off her shoulder to curl up on her lap happily. Zim gave the girl a sideways glare, studying her anxious expression. "...What's wrong with you, Gaz-monster? You're being too quiet. It bothers Zim."
The girl didn't respond immediately. When she did, she sunk lower in her seat. "Turn around."
"...What?"
"Just do it."
Warily, the Irken did so. He looked back at the humans seating themselves and blinked. "...Okay, so you finally realized you hate humanity?"
"No, you moron! Well, I mean yea, that too. Just listen. See that chick in back with pink hair?"
Zim focused on the last row, having little problem seeing with his enhanced vision. He caught sight of the girl he figured Gaz was talking about. She looked like any normal adolescent female, sitting with her fellow giggly teenagers. "Yes. She is with her filthy dirt children friends. So? Don't most humans do that?" He narrowed his eyes to focus his vision, leaning a bit forward. "And, actually, that's more of a lavender than anything..."
Gaz elbowed him roughly. "Quit staring. They'll see you." When Zim turned back, the girl snorted and explained, "Do you recognize her? Her name is Zita, and I think you use to have classes with her in elementary. But she got transferred away and for this year, she's recently moved back. I think she's still in your grade."
Zim scratched his chin curiously. Yes, he did remember that child. She use to sit behind him, if his brilliant Irken memory did recall correctly. She always had good grades for constantly calling Dib crazy. The thoughts made Zim grin, but Gaz's sour expression quickly wiped it away.
"In the eyes of adults, she's fricking perfect. It's an act, of course. She's horrible. Those 'friends' of hers are her croonies." She grimaced. "Whenever she gets bored with one she replaces them. She's been a bitch the entire year, I can't stand it. And it's only been a few months!"
The Irken's antennae twitched under his wig. He could hear the group laughing loudly in obnoxious unison. "I don't like them, I think. How much of a threat are they?"
"They're just..." Gaz hesitated. "They use to pick on Dib all the time, until they finally figured out that he was a lost cause. He's too close to his teachers. They only like targets they think are easy." She rolled her eyes. "I just thought I'd let you know. I heard one of them talking about you, which means either you're going to be their next target or they have crushes on you. Either way, you're screwed."
"...That's... disturbing." Zim shivered, lowering his head down as if to try and hide from view.
"Very." Gaz grimaced, ruffling her hair a little more, and then added, "Well, there's some in every school. But I'm going to be stuck with her for another year and a half. At least I'll get to have my senior year in peace."
Zim nodded in agreement, not really sure why he was responding in such a manor. Maybe he felt obliged to comfort the human who was, unexpectedly, seeming to be on the verge of a rant. After a moment of listening to people shuffle to their seats behind him, the Irken decided to ask, "So, you do not like them for the sole reason of their... Personalities? Or is it because they picked on the Dib-monkey?"
Gaz stared at him for a moment, and then hunched down in her seat again. "More than that. I just... always catch them staring at me. During lunch, and in English class. I'm not sure what they want from me. Maybe-"
"Welcome scientists and science-lovers alike!"
Membrane's booming voice made Zim twitch in surprise, false eyes slipping from the girl to the man now on stage. The gathering crowd of people clapped eagerly, sending irritating jolts through the Irken's antennae. As if they'd never seen this guy before! He practically advertised himself around town! Zim shook his head softly at the foolishness of it all.
The man started talking about 'tradition' and 'citizenship' and a bunch of other sappy stuff that pretty much made Zim want to rip off his own PAK. After the first sentence, the alien had gotten bored, and instead glanced around the area. Some of Membrane's employees were lingering around the stage, emotionless as ever. And Dib was there, too. Zim frowned, resting his chin on a hand as he stared absently. The boy didn't look much happier. In fact, he didn't seem like he wanted to be here at all. He was still lounged back on the lawn chair, but he had folded his book over his eyes and put his hands behind his head like a pillow. The Irken noticed that his foot was moving along to a beat, probably from his music.
"What are you staring at?"
Zim blinked, turning his head in response to Gaz's harsh whisper. "Eh?"
She stared back, both lost at the other's intentions, until Gaz rolled her eyes. "...Nevermind. Are you thinking of ways to get back at him?"
"Me? Zim would never!" Zim smirked, but it faded to a line. "Wait. What for?"
Again, Gaz gave him that dumbfounded look that he hadn't ever seen before this day. A kind of 'are-you-serious?' look. "Uh, well. You guys did seem to be in a rage. I just figure, well, usually you two do stupid stuff to get back at each other... Right?" When Zim didn't show any sign of response, the girl glanced up at her dad (who was still talking quite cheerfully to the crowd) before settling on the other again. "You know. Giant water balloons. Muffin-throwing guns." She wiggled her fingers tauntingly. "Portals with a moose. Those kind of stupid revenge deals."
"...How do you know about all that?" Zim's fake eyes narrowed a little. If she's going into stalking business, I'm screwed.
Gaz flushed the slightest bit, which Zim only caught faint sight of under her mess of hair. "...Well, Dib does talk a lot. Or, he use to, at least. Actually, he never use to shut up. Now he's manageable, but that's not really the point."
"And... You listened to him?"
"Like I had a choice!" Gaz snapped, a little too loudly. The woman seated besides her looked over, and Gaz lowered her voice again. "I mean, seriously, how can you ignore someone like that? You know how he gets. I tried not to listen, but he really just kept blabbering. And he repeated himself over and over unless I did something to stop it, which I did most times, but I really didn't beat him too often, unless he really deserved it, and-"
"Gaz-monster, you're trailing off again."
"Right." The girl turned a deeper shade. "The point is... I don't know. I have a good memory?" Zim was going to argue, but the girl turned away, dismissing the subject. He followed her gaze to, with much confusion, find that she was staring off absently.
"..Do you need medication?"
"Damn, Zim. I'm just thinking. Ever hear of it?"
"You know, I don't think I have." He tried for a smile, but it wasn't returned. "Well, okay, then. What are you thinking about?"
Gaz didn't respond immediately. Then, softer than before, she answered, "You know, I spent a lot of my life trying to get Dib to leave me alone. But until recently, he just didn't get the message. Now that he actually is leaving me be..." She hesitated. "My life is a real drag. At least fighting with him gave me something to do. Now I just kind of feel..."
She didn't finish. Zim frowned, waiting for her to decide. "Feel... kind of what?"
The girl gave a half-hearted shrug. "Bleh."
"Bleh?"
"Bleh."
"Interesting." Zim looked over at Dib again, who hadn't appeared to change position at all. Vacantly, the alien said, "Zim... feels that way, too."
"Bleh?"
"Most definitely bleh."
The two were quiet after that, going back to watching Membrane talk. Neither were catching any words, however, both being lost in thought. Zim sighed softly, closing his eyes. The air was getting crisper, and Zim knew it was going to start raining. Luckily he had bathed in paste before the fair; so while the rain would be uncomfortable, at least he wouldn't burn. He probably would of dozed off, had the Professor's bellow snapped him out of his daze.
"...So allow me to introduce my children, Dib and Gazlene, and our wonderful guest, Zim!"
"He had to check the notes on his hand," Gaz muttered, shrinking in her seat. Zim blinked a couple times to find Membrane beaming over at them. Dib had been poked by a scientist, and now was trudging up to the stage, adjusting his glasses. Zim awkwardly stood up, receiving the audience's thundering clapping. He stared back to the crowd, flinching at the noise to his antennae. All the filthy smiling humans...
But they are praising for me, the mighty Zim!
The Irken straightened up proudly, and a little too coldly, he glared down at the girl. "You coming, Dib-sister?"
She muttered in response, but stood up, hands in her sweater pockets as she stared down. GIR had crawled to sit back up on her head, smiling and drooling as he stared at the humans. Zim marched up to the stage, the girl on his heels, and took a stand behind Membrane (and purposely on the opposite side as Dib). However, he was grabbed around the shoulder by the Professor, who patted him a bit too roughly on the back and let out a laugh. "Everyone, let's have another round of applause for these good kids here!"
Zim crossed his arms boldly, chin tilted up. He deserved to be rewarded, indeed, even when not knowing exactly why. They think I saved the girl! Well, I guess I did. But foolish earthlings, don't know the aliens living right under their noses! He almost cackled, but held it in and instead displayed a large smirk. How unsuspecting...
"Professor Membrane! Professor Membrane!"
Zim curiously turned his head to find one of the law enforcement humans approaching. A police human, he decided, judging from the attire. The man looked like he'd run a long way, panting with a buzzing communicator device in his hand. He almost collapsed over on the scientist, but instead just leaned over for a breather. The crowd started murmuring, and while usually Zim would have made a remark about nosy humans, he had to admit to himself that he wanted to know what was wrong, too. Usually, things like this weren't interrupted, were they? But the look of complete terror on the policeman's face was enough to make even the Irken's breath hitch.
"S-sir," he sputtered. "You're t-the only one who could possibly k-know what's going on! W-were you running any tests on a-animals in your lab?"
Membrane's eyebrows knitted together. "I... don't believe so. What's the problem, officer?"
The man's eyes widened fearfully. "T-there's a horrible creature attacking citizens downtown! W-we thought, if anyone had anything t-to do with it, it'd be you!"
"What is it?"
Zim's face turned minty pale. No. Please, Irk, no...
"We don't know!" The man waved his arms rapidly. "All we can gather is that it is vicious, has wounded several, and is headed this way!"
At that exact point, the entire audience panicked. People screamed and scrambled up, running in circles, trying to find each other. Zim stared, horrified, thoughts churning. He spun around as something pulled on his arm, and found it was Gaz, who looked equally as stressed as he felt. "How'd she get out? I thought you had her locked in the base?"
"I-I don't know!" Zim mentally tried communicating with his base, but received no response. "Something must have happened! Something bad..."
"No shit, captain obvious!" This came from Dib, who shoved Zim away from the girl. He looked almost lethal, amber eyes darkened considerably. "I thought you were getting rid of that little parasite!"
"She wouldn't let me!" Zim angrily jabbed a claw toward Gaz.
"She's just confused and scared!" Gaz grimaced, pulling GIR off her head to hug him tightly. "She just doesn't understand what's going on because she's been screwed up."
"I can't believe you're still defending that thing, after what she did to you," Dib hissed. Gaz flinched back, though her expression was harsh and defensive. "She's a monster, obviously. She's nothing, Gaz! Just a killer alien who needs to be stopped. She tried to destroy us all, remember?"
"Zim's a killer alien, too! You could have ripped off his head five times during your entire speech, but you didn't!" The girl's hands clenched into fists, her hold on GIR the only thing stopping her from lashing out. "And you know what? Maybe she did. But if the situation were turned around... You'd probably try destroying them, too."
Dib didn't seem to know how to respond, so he whipped his attention toward Zim. "Where do you stand?"
"I think..." Zim glanced at them both before stepping forward between them and clearing his throat. "I stand in the area where none of us die. Let's focus on catching her. Then we'll decide what to do." Gingerly, he tapped his claws together. "Sounds good?"
"Wonderful," Dib snapped. He spun around and quickly walked away, down into the frenzied mass of people.
Gaz watched him go, hesitant. After he vanished from view, she seemed to have decided. Her glance toward Zim was almost apologetic, or as much as he could expect from her, at least. "Look, I'm going to try and calm him down. Find Tak, okay? Just... don't kill her." The girl squeezed GIR, who giggled. "I just have a good feeling about this. Which is saying something, 'cause I rarely ever feel okay about anything."
Zim sniffed indifferently, but she took it as a yes, and gave the smallest of smiles before running out to find her brother. The Irken was left to watch as the crowd scattered in attempt to find their way back to the city. Putting his hands on his sides, the alien stared up at the dark gray sky. It couldn't be very late, but already it looked like evening. If only it would actually rain, he thought glumly. I don't think Tak would be going anywhere.
But when is Zim's luck ever so great?
Dun dun dun! More Tak-Attacks? D:
Today's Random Facts:
. I've had the first quarter of this sitting around for a month or so. ;c
. I really forget to add GIR a lot, and have to go back :U
. My Gaz action figure lost a leg D| Damn.
Question of the Day:
What song best fits the ZaDr romance? I personally find You're Going Down by Sick Puppies to be a good one for them. :D Please feel free to leave your opinion in a review or message, and have a great day/night/magical time!
