– – –

Author' Note:

Invader Zim is -c- Jhonen Vasquez! Only the events of this story, characters specific to this story, and character tweaking (heh) are mine. :3

~Jizena~

– – –

Gaz's Records

After Dib left with Red for Vort, there was a period of uncomfortable silence aboard Tenn's ship. All we could really do was wait and hope that their mission went well.

Lex, Zim and I sat on a bench across from my dad and Ira behind Tenn's piloting seats, while Skutch paced up and down, trying to help but knowing there was nothing to do. Agent Cthulhu, onboard, was making rounds to the rest of our army, spreading Dib's message that we'd be sending a group back to Earth.

I knew that Lex was really torn about going back. On one hand, she could go with Ira to help her father, but on the other she had confessed wanting to stay with Dib, helping him through to the end. I was feeling the same about seeing everyone go. I knew why Dib wanted to split up and have just us go with Red and Tenn to Irk, but we'd be cutting back our numbers so greatly I didn't know what to think. Yes, we needed everyone on Earth more, to fight back the forces Tak hadn't called off, but let's face it, Red wasn't the most sympathetic when it came to providing moral support. I liked Tenn, but I wasn't as close to her as I was to, oh, say, Lex, Ira, my dad, and Zim.

"Is there anything we can do?" Dad called over to Tenn.

"I told you, we can't go too far away from Vort or we'll lose any chance of a signal," Tenn called back. "If they need to call us, we need to be here. Besides, anyone who can sleep probably should."

She made a valid point, and we slept in shifts soon after she'd made the suggestion. Skutch left at one point to grab food, but none of us wanted to leave the general area of the cockpit for too long, in case of a call. Lex and Ira took a rest first, so my dad and Zim and I surrendered the benches to them and joined Skutch back at the meeting table to eat.

"I've never felt less hungry," I admitted.

"Yo, not sayin' I made the sandwich myself or anything," said Skutch, "and I know it ain't much, but you guys're about to go to Planet Irk on no sleep and no food? That's a bad fuckin' idea."

"I know," I growled at him. "I'm just saying, nothing lately has given me much of an appetite."

"I'm not even sure what I can eat right now," Zim admitted. "My PAK was screwing up my tolerance for food from Earth just before we left…"

My heart skipped. "Are you hungry?" I asked.

"I'm not sure."

"Eat anyway, kids, it'd be better than nothing," Dad encouraged us.

We picked at our food—Dad, too—and by the time Skutch had dismissed himself to check on whether Tenn had any word from Dib and Red, we'd all more or less politely shoved the rest aside.

Silence was broken again when Zim said another, "Sorry."

"About what?" I wondered.

"About the ring," he said, clasping my right hand in both of his. "Still."

I leaned forward on the table and looked up at him. "It's okay," I reassured him. "Zim, I told you, I love this ring, but you told me in your letter that you had a feeling it might be important someday."

"Eh? I did?"

I thought I heard my dad stifle a laugh.

"Yeah," I said. "You asked me to hold onto it because it might be something others would come after."

Zim laughed weakly. "Did you memorize that horrible letter?"

"It isn't horrible," I refuted. "And maybe."

Dad laughed a little again, so this time I turned to look at him to ask, "What's so funny?"

"Nothing, really," he waved it off, smiling. "It's just good to see you both in relatively good spirits. God knows we could all use a bit of something uplifting."

"Well, if Dib succeeds down there, we'll have a free Planet Vort to celebrate," I pointed out. "And a bunch of incinerated Control Brains."

Zim leaned back in his seat and ran his hands through his hair, proclaiming, "Yes. Can we please make that a holiday? Memorial Control Brain Incineration Day or something?"

"Hey, Irkens, here's your new Empire," I laughed. "Enjoy all the commemorative days based on when we blew your old regime up. You're welcome."

"Earth has holidays for weirder," Dad pointed out. Grinning, he added, "You know, I'm really looking forward to seeing this all pan out."

Weren't we all.

– – –

Zim was next to lie down for a while, and while Dad and Ira started discussing their own plans surrounding returning to Earth, Lex and I claimed a corner and sat to talk on more or less the same subject.

"Feel better after a rest?" I guessed.

"Ugh, yes," Lex said, letting out a sigh. "I've been in such a state that I didn't know I needed the rest till I took it."

"Yeah, I know what you mean," I said. "At least you didn't puke on anyone."

"At least there's that, true," she laughed. "How are you? Better?"

"More or less," I shrugged. "I'm nervous about going to Irk. I mean… Mom will be there, I'm sure, which I guess is good, but the rest of it is driving me crazy."

"The aftermath, you mean?"

"Yeah, the aftermath. The now what? You know?"

"Oh, absolutely," Lex sympathized. "I wish I could go with you. Don't you think it would make sense to have another representative of Earth with you?"

"Technically, yeah," I agreed. "Would you rather come with us than go home right away?"

Lex glanced over at Ira and my dad, bit her lip, then looked back at me. She set one hand on her crossbow, which she'd set beside her, and admitted, "I'm not sure. Yes, part of me wants to go back. That's obvious. But part of me wants to stay, and help, and do what I can. I want to represent my planet and the SEC, too."

"Well," I offered, "let's just see how things go after we beat this cluster of Brains. We might have to re-evaluate anyway. Not everything has to be premeditated."

"True enough."

"Plus," I added, nodding at the crossbow, "you're the best long-range shot in the group."

Lex grinned. "You're damn right I am."

Dad and Ira joined us at that point, sitting on either side of me. Lex shifted her crossbow away from where Ira sat down. "Any plans?" I asked them.

"Some," Dad answered. "We'll see if they actually go into effect."

"Well?" Lex prompted.

"First thing's first," Ira said, "get your father back on his feet."

Lex paled. "Do you think it's feasible?" she asked.

"I'm going to do my best," Ira promised.

"We'll figure out a way," Dad added. "And basically what we've decided is to gather up as much of what we know now as we can and fill Charlotte in on all of it."

"And Lisa," Ira pointed out, mostly to himself.

"Right, and Lisa," Dad agreed kindly. "Anyway, Charlotte'll be able to make good decisions for how to protect Earth from there."

"Starting with the complex?" I guessed.

"Naturally, but she has contacts everywhere," Dad said. "Between her and Lisa and all of our international contacts, we should have all our bases covered. So I for one do want to get back soon, just to oversee things from that front." He placed a hand on my shoulder, and said, "I do wish that I could go with you and your brother, but I also understand this is something you can do on your own. I trust that your mother will be there for you when you need her, and I have every faith you two will succeed."

I managed to smile. I never used to smile much, but lately, because the things that make me happy are the things that give me hope, it was coming a little more easily. "Thanks, Dad," I said, turning to hug him.

He returned the gesture, and added, "I love you, Gaz. I'm so proud of you."

For the next several minutes, even as we had small conversations of the past, present, and future during our wait for some sort of news from Dib or Red, I sat there contemplating what Dad had said, and the way he had said it.

Light-years away from Earth, I felt surrounded by everything I wanted to call home. I was realizing this more and more lately, but in those precious minutes before I was to destroy the first token of love anyone had given to me in a decade, it all came rushing back to me. I used to hate being touched because it reminded me of the family attention I never received. I used to despise everyone around me for so much as wasting my air, and now I saw just how closely everything connected and how much one could rely on another person.

I was surrounded by love and had been for much, much longer than I had ever known. I used to think that my mother leaving had been all the proof I needed that love didn't exist, but now I knew she'd done it out of her own misjudgment of just how powerful love can be.

Because everything connects back to it. Pride and arrogance and hate and trust and joy and sadness and everything else one could ever feel. It isn't all romantic and it doesn't have to be. It isn't all familial and it doesn't have to be.

Dad had told me he was proud of me, and that helped me feel proud of myself.

Zim kept on telling me that he loved me and I believed him and I tried so badly for so long to figure out how exactly it was that I loved him back.

But the thing is… there was no tangible answer. I hated a lot of the things he had done. He had betrayed and re-won my trust.

But then… he wanted me to be safe from harm and worry.

He loved me in the way that I had never loved myself.

He had made me unafraid of physical contact. Unafraid of making friends. His blinding positivity had helped me connect with my brother, helped me welcome my dad back into my life, helped me make friends with Lex and Tenn and even Skutch. He had helped me stop focusing so much on what was wrong, and made me question what I deemed to be right.

And I knew that by giving up that ring, by giving up that protection that he had tried so hard to make sure he provided, I was opening myself up to the vulnerabilities of everything love could be. It could be tricky and cruel and sometimes heartless, but it could be safer away from the shield. It could be the best thing I'd ever known.

The only way to find out was to say so.

I snapped out of my thoughts when my watch started flashing with a call from my brother. I heaved a huge sigh of relief knowing that he was all right (hopefully), and stood up to shake Zim awake as I took the call.

Yes, Dib was unharmed, but he was having some trouble… but luckily it resolved with a call between me, Tenn, and Zim with a Vortian Zim identified as '777.' It seemed that everything we told the Vortian was on the right track of what he and Dib both wanted to hear, and the brief conversation ended on a good note.

"How'd you know that Vortian?" I asked Zim, who had paled somewhat when we'd spoken to 777.

"I told you," he sighed, "I screwed him over. I did that to a lot of people."

"Sure did," Tenn said, shifting back into hologram after having switched out to prove to 777 that she was Irken.

"Jeez, thanks."

Tenn shrugged and turned around. "You screwed people over because you had a bad time of it," she offered. "Everyone treated you like shit so you fought back."

"Is that supposed to make me feel better?"

"I dunno. Kinda?" Tenn grinned, mostly at me, and added, "You're a different person now, though, Zim. Irkens never used to want change. You craved it. As long as I've ever known you, you just wanted to not be hated. You just wanted to do something right, so you did things that people might praise you for. And when they didn't, you praised yourself."

Zim didn't say anything back to Tenn, but he did, almost absentmindedly, grab hold of my hand. I squeezed tightly and saw his eyes water.

"So if I'm speaking as someone from your past who you never really screwed over as bad as some of the others," Tenn finished. "I just wanna say that you've really proved yourself on Earth. What I saw from you there was a new drive.

"You've changed, yeah, but you've kinda proven that it can be a good thing."

I glanced up at Zim to gauge his reaction, but it was nearly impossible. He stared at Tenn for a second, unblinking, then managed to smile and ask, "Where'd that come from?"

Tenn shrugged again. "I know trust when I feel it," she said. "I know it's a risk and I know you weren't always comfortable with it. Just wanted to throw my two cents on the pile if we're talking you moving on from shit you did years ago."

"Well, then… thanks," Zim told her genuinely. "I—really, Tenn, thanks."

"Don't mention it."

Tenn turned back to her controls, and I took that moment to grab Zim aside. We claimed a spot at the far wall where we could speak more or less in private, but be quick to hear an alert if we were needed for anything.

"Hey," I asked, finally achieving eye contact with him, "are you okay?"

"I'll be fine," he told me, but his eyes still looked blurry.

"Don't lie to me."

"I think I'll be fine," he corrected, leaning in closer. "I'm just… not used to… I don't know—"

"Not used to what?" I wondered.

Zim set his hands on my upper arms and leaned in to look right at me. Right into me. And he looked sad, and nervous, and terrified, and proud. Flawed and perfect and somehow overjoyed.

"Feeling so much at once," he said on a hushed tone. "I'm trying to be happy about where I am, and all that's happened, and all that I know that you can do and that we can do to win this thing, but at the same time, looking back has never hurt so much."

"Back at who you were?" I guessed. Zim nodded. "Zim, it's okay. Here's the thing: everyone changes. Not everyone forgives. I think that's why Dib still feels weird around Mom. I know I've got problems with her, but I still love her. She's my mom, and I remember when she taught me things and I know she's looking out for us.

"Tak is the kind of person who doesn't forgive at all. Don't be like her."

"I'm not."

"I know you're not," I said quickly, trying to piece all my thoughts together in an instant. "You're nothing like her, but I think you believe that the person you were… even though you beat him, Zim, you overcame all that, you won… I think you believe he still has some power over you. Am I right?"

He tightened his grip somewhat. "Kind of?" he admitted. "Not that I'd lapse back into that, not at all, but… beating my greatest fear I think just sort of opened me up to everything else I'm afraid of. Maybe they're petty, but they hurt to consider."

"Like what?"

"Failure, for one thing, or for most of it," Zim said.

"Oh. I'm afraid of that, too. I think most people are," I said. "It's the fear of the future that bothers me the most, sometimes."

"Yeah," Zim agreed, "same here." I saw his gaze wander down to the ring on my hand.

I slid it off, and held it up between us. "I think this is the next thing you need to let go of, Zim," I told him, smiling as I said so. "I have to let go, too."

Zim stood back, and tucked a strand of my hair behind my left ear. "I gave you that to protect you," he lamented. "If I can't do that, then—"

"It was a great shield," I said. "For a long time. But you already fulfilled your promise that went along with this thing. You came back. I don't need it. I have other things to protect me. I have friends now, I have my family. I have you." I felt my own eyes mist up, and I placed my right hand on the base of Zim's neck, where I could feel his pulse, feel him breathe, while I clutched the ring in my left hand. "You came back. So… so I guess the question is… what now?"

"Eh?"

"What now?" I wondered. My heart was pounding. "What do we do? Without this placeholder, what do we do?"

Zim lightened his grip, kissed my hair, and took hold of my left hand so that the ring was pressed between our palms. I watched as he started to say a thought aloud and then reconsider. He smiled, and leaned in so that our eyes were level, and said, "We trust each other to stay safe."

"Okay," I nodded, finding myself short of breath. "I like that so far. We trust each other to stay safe, but if we have reason to doubt, we make a move to help."

"Absolutely."

"But here's the thing," I added. "I don't just want us to protect each other in the fighting sense, Zim, I want to protect everything." My eyes stung, and my blood rushed, and my heart hurt, and my body ached. And my soul was standing still, waiting, and ready. For just one promise. "Every time we fuck up and make up."

"I promise," he said, his tone and his eyes full of compassion.

I shook my head. There was still more. Too much, maybe. But I had to get it all out before the end. "Late nights when we can't sleep and we make tea and talk," I went on. "Early mornings when I get all weird and pissed off but then you let me fall asleep next to you just because you want to watch the sunrise. Rain stealing my stupid fucking umbrella." Zim laughed somewhat, and smiled, and kissed the corner of my eye, which almost made me start crying. My voice grew stronger as I continued. "Being afraid for you and with you, and knowing that's okay. Distance, or closeness, or whatever we need. My guitar. The wind. You are so fucking obsessed with the wind. But I love that, I'll protect that, I'll hold onto whatever's important to you if you hold onto whatever's important to me, and if we just hold on, and don't give up, and stay strong together, and just…"

The ring burned my palm.

"Just promise me you won't go away," I finished on a whisper.

Zim's mouth covered mine a second later, and silence roared in my ears as we connected in the very way I had been pleading for. He was there.

He had told me, during the Incident, that the one thing he had craved more than anything in the universe was acceptance. So did I.

And here it was.

When we drew back, I threw my arms around him, and he held me in return. "I'm not going anywhere," he told me. "Not really, and never very far. I love you, and I believe in you, and I know you'll stay safe through whatever happens next."

"You, too," I said quietly.

"All my life, I only ever wanted to find some sense of belonging," Zim said, his words soft and so close to my ear. "Thank you for helping me realize all I'd been missing."

All of a sudden, he pulled back. He kept his hands on my arms, but now he was smiling brightly. "That's it," he said, brightly but hardly inflected. "That's… that's it, isn't it?! I was missing the way to connect it all together!"

"Meaning?" I wondered, though I figured I already knew.

"Trust, and Hate, and… everything, beyond all that. Everything works together, doesn't it? It's so strange, thinking about feeling it all at once, but it's…"

He hugged me again, much more exuberant and resilient than before. "That's the thing about Originals," he went on. "They get one thing at a time, one thing different from everything else. But it's the connection that sets Irkens apart from humans. It's the… the practicality. Right?"

"I guess," I laughed. "I honestly don't really understand it. Emotion and everything. It's just there. I tried to repress it forever. It can be a bitch."

"But it's so much better than knowing so little." Zim let go and kissed me again. I returned it, and when he stood back once more, he added, "Thanks."

I grinned. "A little while ago it was 'sorry,'" I pointed out.

Zim rolled his eyes, exaggerating his prior errors. "I know," he said. "But really. Thank you. For helping me understand that I want to be human. Or, um… that I think I was meant to be."

"You know," I admitted, "I've had a hard time figuring out exactly what I am, too. Obviously I'm pretty evenly divided, but when you're around, things seem to make sense."

"That's one of the best things anyone's ever said to me," Zim grinned.

I smiled as well. "Maybe one more thing?"

My heart was pounding.

I'd been holding this in forever.

"What's that?"

I looked up at him, studying his eyes. His demeanor. Everything. And I saw all we'd been through, and all that could be. I know—I knew then and I know now—that I was young, that we both were, really, but that this was, truly, for the first time in my life, what was meant to happen.

We had both struggled to understand just what being human meant. The real truth is that no one knows. But we were figuring it out together.

And it was connection, and compassion. It was being afraid, and forging on.

To be human is to share one's experience. To crave and trade knowledge. To grow. To love… whether it's another person, an entire planet, or even oneself.

Love is common ground. Something that is shared.

Something that is so innately human.

Something that I knew I'd seen in him years ago, and that I felt so strongly myself now.

I stood on my toes and kissed him, feeling the ring burn hot in my hand.

I stood back and let everything wash over me. It really is strange feeling everything at once.

And it felt so freeing, so wonderful, so human to say:

"I love you."

The ship's lights went red, but I was deaf to the alarm.

Zim's brown eyes went wide and he drew in a sharp, silent breath. "…What…?" he wondered, his tone soft and sincere.

"I love you," I repeated. God damn, that felt good. I hugged him again, and continued, "I love you so much, it's been eating me up trying to figure out just how to tell you. Zim, I love you."

Shaking somewhat, he set his hands on my waist. I felt his heart pound and his breath catch. "I love you, too, Gaz."

This time, we couldn't ignore the alarm.

"Breach!" Tenn shouted out, shaking us both into action. We turned toward the others. Skutch had taken the co-pilot's seat, and Tenn spoke into the ship's PA. "Of all times to get a fucking warning call. There's a quadrant breach and a Viral Tank is heading toward us. I need gunmen ready, now!"

A blast hit the ship and we were jostled violently. Zim grabbed onto the wall with one hand and latched his free arm-his right-around my waist. He winced, but we both found our footing.

"Dammit!" Lex cried out. "I'll take the entrance in case of an ambush." She picked up her crossbow and bolted for the next room, calling over her shoulder, "Someone back me up!"

Skutch responded first, leaping over the co-pilot's seat. "On it," he shouted, unbuckling his gloves as he made for the entrance. "Ira, take over!"

"Me?" Ira called after him. "I'm hardly the best choice for co-pilot. I can't read Irken or fly!"

"Then you go rally everyone else," my father instructed. "I'll co-pilot. I've at least got a handle on the idea."

"Fair enough."

As Ira sprinted for the farther rooms, Dad shot toward the co-pilot's seat, where he fixed his goggles into place. They glowed blue, as they always had, and I began to wonder if they had a function that instantly translated Irken for him. I wouldn't be surprised.

"What's going on?" I wondered. Zim and I gave each other a glance, knowing we'd pick up our conversation later, and together we joined Tenn behind her pilot's seat.

"This thing came outta nowhere," Tenn complained. "It's an Irken Fleet vessel, all right, but it's got the Elite symbol on the side instead of the Military one."

"Tak?" Zim guessed.

"Or at least someone loyal to her," I agreed. "Tenn, have you made contact?"

"No, even their communication field is locked," she said, slamming her controls as if that would help anything. "We've gotta wait for them to come to us. Which is, basically, the worst."

"Yeah, no kidding," Zim grumbled. "Do they have backup? That, eh, might be slightly worse."

"I don't wanna think about that, but probably."

"How far off is the Viral Tank?" I asked.

Tenn shifted in her seat to show me a video feed that acted as a split-screen rearview mirror for her blind spots and stern. "Close enough to fire," she answered, tapping the topmost section of the screen. Indeed, an enormous vessel with Elite markings appeared to have materialized in space a few hundred feet behind us. "If I had to guess, I'd say they've been following us in stealth mode since Devastis."

"Then we don't have long till they catch up," my father deduced. "Gaz, any word from your brother?"

I checked my watch. "Nothing yet." A sting hit my chest, and I grabbed at the back of Tenn's seat, staring out the window at the murky planet Vort below us. "Do you think they know?! These guys in the Tank, are they going to attack Vort?"

"No way of knowing till they call us," Tenn said. She opened her mouth to say more, but just then, her larger communication screen alerted us with a call.

"This better be them," she muttered.

Indeed it was. The screen flickered on at Tenn's acceptance to show us a stern-looking, red-eyed Irken bearing the Elite symbol on his forehead. He sat forward in his seat, fingers laced together under his narrow chin, and once he'd made eye contact with our pilot, he grinned.

"Well, well," he said, his voice carrying a strange low glide, like an untuned piano stuck in a minor key. "Looks like we've caught us some deviants."

"State your name if you're gonna bother calling me," Tenn warned.

"Invader Grapa," said the Tank's pilot, relaxing back into his seat, "at your service. Well, not exactly, unless you'd really like for us to board your ship and kill y'all." He looked, as far as I could tell, slightly taller than Tenn was in her real Irken form, and had the same overly confident way of talking down to us that Skoodge had (and Skutch, before he'd snapped out of whatever Tak had forced him into).

"Grapa?" Tenn repeated. "You sided with Tak? You wanted to be a Fleet Commander—"

"And I am," said Grapa, gesturing to the inside of his ship—what we could see of it, anyway. "Funny how that worked out."

Tenn scowled. "Well, you'll probably at least remember that I was always a better pilot than you," she challenged.

"Maybe so, Invader Tenn," Grapa taunted, sounding bored, "but how are you at maneuvering around wormholes?"

"Wormholes?"

Grapa gave her a pretentious wave, then cut out his feed. The moment the screen went blank, Irken ships began to appear in the sky all around us, from easy vantage points out Tenn's dash window. Tenn balked at the sight, but kept her hands firmly on her controls.

She scanned the air around us, then, keeping her voice even, said, "Zim, Gaz… I'm gonna need you guys to scope out every window on this ship. Find me that wormhole or we're done for."

"Wouldn't we have noticed it?" Zim asked. "I'm not the best pilot, but I know that things like that are supposed to show up on the navigator…"

Tenn shook her head. "I think they're gonna rip one open," she said dourly. "They wouldn't open one close to the planet itself, so we've got to be on the lookout."

"And the rest of the ships?" Dad asked.

"We fight 'em off. Best we can. I'm not leaving orbit while Dib and Red are still down there," Tenn said. "I don't know what these guys might be planning, but it's obvious we're not in good company."

"No one's attacking, yet," I pointed out. "What're they waiting around for?"

"Me to make a move, I think," Tenn complained. "Either that, or they're warming up to rip open a tunnel."

"How's that even work?" I wondered. "You can't just rip open space."

"Irkens have been doing it for a long time," said Tenn. Zim winced again. I glanced up at him to see that he looked so focused on keeping it together. Something was different. "It's the best way to travel long distances."

"Then where are they—" Zim started, then cut himself off. He paused, then began again, more quietly, "No."

"Look around," Tenn instructed us again, clearly not wanting to deal with any more negative speculation. "Tell me if you find anything from the other points of focus. I need to focus on keeping us near Vort, but if it means we fire on these guys, then, dammit, we're going to fire."

"Might want to make a call to open fire," Dad suggested.

"I was getting to it."

Zim and I nodded to each other, slowly eased our grip, and left the room, picking up our pace once we were in the front hall.

"Are you all right?" I asked him as we ran.

"Hmm?"

"You've been… shifting," I noted. "Is it your arm?"

"Eh… kinda?" Zim said, glancing down at his bandaged right arm. "I… it's like my blood's all of a sudden trying to decide whether to freeze up or keep flowing."

"What?!"

"It feels strange, but I'm okay."

Before we could continue, the entire ship jerked again. We were knocked off our feet, but caught each other before we could slide headlong into a far wall. Zim and I both grabbed hold of a groove in the metal floor, and helped each other up to sitting when the movement had passed.

"What was—" I began.

"Hey, guys, bad news," Tenn's voice over the ship's PA system cut me off. "We've got a visitor, and their anchor's right on our ass. Prepare to be boarded, and to fight. Gunners, give me a signal you're in place! That means you, Agent Cthulhu."

"Shit," I muttered, slipping the ring, almost lost in the collision, deep into my pocket.

I glanced around, locating a few others moving into positions. Our vessel was one of moderate size, enough to carry our army and therefore enough to carry a few more. Lex and Skutch, I remembered, were at the entrance, and while one of my primary instincts wanted me to rush in their direction, a much more pressing matter kept me rooted to the spot.

Zim winced again, winded. His breath was catching, and he was trying too hard to convince me he wasn't uncomfortable or in pain.

I shifted onto my knees and righted him with both hands on his shoulders. "Zim? Hey!" I said, shaking him slightly. "Look at me and don't lie to me. What's going on? Are you okay?"

"I have no idea what's happening," he said, holding onto my arms. "It's like I'm trying to re-learn how to breathe…"

"You didn't get to rest very long," I noted. "Are you exhausted, or—"

"It's so hard to tell right now, but I can't let it slow me down." His resolve winning out over discomfort, Zim let me help him to his feet, and we continued moving through the ship.

He looked nervous, though. Afraid. Confused. I'd seen that look so many times before.

We stopped by one window only to find five ships sprawled all around us. They weren't making a move. After reporting to Tenn, I looked up at Zim and grabbed hold of his left arm. "Stay strong," I demanded.

He smiled, and managed, "You, too," before we moved on.

As we ran closer to the center of the ship, there was another awful jerk of the entire vessel. This time, we were better on our feet and managed to keep moving. Everything seemed like a blur. I wanted to know that my brother was all right. I wanted everyone around me to stay safe.

And all around me, I felt that static pressure that had been weighing me down on Devastis.

Now, however, I didn't want to let it do me in. I wanted to use it.

From the area of the front entrance, I heard Skutch call out, "Bring it on, fuckers!"

Zim rolled his eyes. "Sounds like we've been boarded."

"Your brother is such a classy alarm," I returned.

When the main entrance was finally in view, after a domed red hall, a small Irken was being flung in our direction. "Move!" Zim called, grabbing me out of the way.

The Irken's PAK sparked and hissed, and I noticed, before we continued, a small black arrow embedded in its core. Closer to the entrance, Lex, Skutch, and three of our army members were holding off a barrage of Irkens, none of them choosing to use a human hologram. If these were Tak's followers, that seemed a little strange to me.

It didn't matter whether they were Tak's army or not, though—what mattered was that they clearly wanted to take over or bring down our ship. Scattered around the floor were nearly fifteen Irkens already beaten down.

Lex was standing furthest from the entrance, picking off newcomers with her crossbow as they boarded. Anyone who got through then met immediate retaliation. Agent Bloodrose was among the three providing aid, and by the time Zim and I drew close enough to where she stood, she'd taken down two Irkens with what I realized were two black stiletto knives. She had two more affixed to her belt. I realized I'd never actually seen her fight, but was glad to get to know a bit more.

"Any idea how many Irkens are on the ship that just anchored on us?" I asked her as we approached.

"I'm not very concerned with numbers right now," Bloodrose said, with good reason, as she pulled her knives out from the Irkens she'd just cut down in order to hurl one at yet another making his way toward Skutch.

"Thanks!" Skutch called over. He was preoccupied with shorting out the PAKs of a string of four Irkens. Once finished, he kicked back the one Bloodrose had embedded her knife into. "Here's your knife back!"

Bloodrose managed to grab the stiletto out of the Irken's back while the body was still in midair. She ducked to the side and let the body fly past. "You two should either help or keep moving," she cautioned.

The ship rattled with another blow, this time from the side. I heard gunfire—coming from our turrets, thankfully—but Tenn announced through the PA, "Side entrance breach. Zim, Gaz, if you guys're unoccupied, I could use you over there!"

"Captain's orders," I shrugged, and grabbed Zim by the hand as we rushed through the melee. We swept out of the way of a volley of Lex's arrows, each of them hitting a target, and continued moving toward the starboard side of the ship.

"We should be able to help soon," Lex shouted after us, "assuming this particular ship is almost out of Irkens to stumble into us."

"Thanks!" I yelled back.

Other members of the army were on the move, mostly in Lex's direction to cover the front entrance, but every which way to cover all of the ship's bases. I saw Zim wince again as we made our way to the side entrance, but he shrugged it off quickly. He seemed stronger on his feet than he had moments ago, and for that I was grateful.

"Hey," I said, trying to keep my voice calm as we ran, "once all this crap's over with… I really want to sit down with you and just—I don't know. Take some decompression time."

"That's exactly what I've been thinking, too," he told me.

"Stupid planetary turf wars getting in our way," I said, still trying to keep things light.

"Are you kidding me? Nothing can get in our way."

I grinned up at him, and, just for good measure, repeated, "I love you."

Zim smiled, but began to slow his pace. I slowed down to match his strides, and asked, "What's going on?"

"Okay, this time," he said, "something really doesn't feel right…"

"Quit scaring me! What's going on?!"

Zim shook his head. "I don't know. I—I don't think it's bad, but I just—I don't know…"

The lights in the ship flickered, then went completely black.

I heard a couple of screams, but then Tenn announced, "Oh, hold on."

The lights hummed back on.

"Temporary surge," Tenn explained over the PA. "We're still flying fine. I need everyone checking the ship for potential damages. And get these damn stupid Elites out of here! I'm getting another call."

I was glad she was keeping us so well updated, but still, fear coursed through me. What the hell was happening to Zim? Had Grapa's team opened the wormhole yet?

Why hadn't I heard from Dib?

"There you two are!"

Ira rounded the corner we were closest to, and signaled that we follow him in the opposite direction from which we were heading. Zim gave me a nod to let me know he was feeling better, and because of our latest promise I believed him. We followed Ira with even strides, and I asked, "What's up? Were you there when the second ship boarded?"

"Well, only two boarded. I took care of the bodyguard," Ira said, cringing somewhat, "but the other made it past me. I need help restraining her, and you two are the best ones for the job."

"Her?" Zim and I asked simultaneously.

"Can't be," I said. "Not this quickly. She was tied up! She was caught in the explosion!"

"Clearly, she had reinforcements on standby," Ira said despondently.

"Impossible," Zim said, his tone firm. "She must be completely unhinged."

"She is."

And with that, we arrived back in the room I'd awoken in much earlier.

And there indeed stood Tak.

She looked horrible. Half alive. Wires spilled from her PAK and her eyes were flickering and dim. Still in hologram, her hair was a tragic mess and her eyes were ringed with black—whether it was makeup or char, I couldn't tell.

She was still unstable. Her legs shook to hold her.

But in her hands, extracted from the uniform jacket that lay aside, was Zim's PAK. Her fingers dug into the cracked center. Her own skin was cut and bleeding.

"Tak…" Zim tried, moving forward a pace. "Put that down."

"You don't give me orders," Tak hissed. "You've ruined everything."

"Put it down. You don't know what you're doing."

"Oh, yes," Tak replied, her voice listing and her movements like static, "I do."

Tak glared at us with all the hatred in the universe, grit her teeth…

…And without a word, gathering all her strength, ripped the PAK in two.

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Author's Note:

Late again - my apologies! The last couple of weeks were kicking my ass.

But anyway… moving forward. :3 Two more 'parts' to go in this sequence, and then…

See you again very soon! Thank you so much for reading~! ^^

~Jizena

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