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Author's Note:

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

~Jizena~

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Dib's Records

Our little 'information exchange' deal went over well. Almost too well, really. Again... the Meekrob are exceptionally kind, and appreciated even the tiniest details about life on Earth. Nacea would communicate directly with her Chairman via some form of meditation. I would catch her in a pool of moonlight—she always did it at night—in either her true or her assumed form, with her arms outstretched and her eyes closed. Her aura would rise and fall, and a few minutes later, she'd have completed the ritual. It went on like that for a few days. Sometimes she would tell me what she was reporting, sometimes not. It didn't matter to me, as long as I was careful not to expose any weaknesses our planet had, or anything like that. I liked the Meekrob, anyway, and figured we humans could use all the help we could get, even if it was from a nonviolent species.

I didn't have to wonder what kind of 'information' I'd get in return for long. After one of her meditation sessions, Nacea approached me and Tenn, both of them in human guise, and took us out onto my patio to share her moonlight. "This is very exciting, indeed!" she exclaimed. Her tone had become more and more expressive, the longer she stayed on Earth, but the fact that she actually had facial expressions now helped that a great deal. Tenn looked usually ambivalent, until Nacea, almost glowing again, announced her news. "My leader, our Chairman Xeer, has chosen the finest of gifts to share with you, our Ambassadors. This is a message from him," the Meekrob said, looking up at each of us individually. "We appreciate your cooperation, and your hospitality toward one of our own. It is an honor that I grant you our society's greatest secret." She then turned completely to Tenn. "Please, abandon your hologram, if you will," she requested.

Tenn glanced down at me for the go-ahead, since really I was the one being nervous about her and Nacea exposing themselves all the time. I shrugged to show that I wasn't in control this time, and Tenn did as she'd been asked. One of these days, I knew that Tenn was bound to get bored, and want to do things more than just sit around and collect information. She was the utter opposite of Zim that way. "What's going on?" she wondered.

Nacea smiled, utterly pleased with her news from home. "I am to share with the two of you our Meekrob ability to manipulate energy to will," she told us, her voice calm but bursting with delight. My heart started pounding. Maybe Zim's illusion-world he'd constructed hadn't been far off from the truth to my future, after all. I, Dib Membrane, merely thirteen years old, was about to be given the secret to Meekrob elemental powers.

Life seemed pretty damn great all of a sudden.

"It will be an ability that may be used to your advantage," Nacea went on, taking a few steps toward us before discarding her own hologram. Hovering in front of us, almost one with the moonlight, she extended her hands, tiny palms facing upward. She blinked slowly, once, and then I was lured in by that strange Meekrob energy again. "Please, each of you, take my hands," she instructed. "As Ambassadors, you, Dib, and you, Tenn, shall be given this ability in order to communicate directly with my home, should you ever feel the need. This ability will serve, as well, in hastening any healing process in yourself or others, and give you the means by which you may change and shape energy to your liking, be it for self-defense or for a glimmer of light when you find yourselves in the dark."

"No offense, Nacea," said Tenn, "but we Irkens can kinda do most of that already..."

"You simply must trust me, Tenn," Nacea said, which was the closest thing I ever heard to an argument from her. "Please, you must not underestimate our knowledge."

Tenn glanced at me. I probably looked way too eager, because I heard her choke on a laugh. "Fine," she gave in, "just as long as it doesn't mess up my PAK at all."

"It will not," Nacea promised, "I assure you."

"And it's safe?" I guessed.

"Safer than the air you breathe," said Nacea kindly. Given all the pollution and crap that probably filtered the air out to the suburbs from the city, she was probably right, even if she didn't mean to be obvious. "Please, take my hands, and I will teach you the universe."

With a lead-in like that, it had to be good.

Simultaneously, Tenn and I placed our hands on Nacea's upturned palms. Nacea closed her eyes, and I felt mine close at the same time. My breathing slowed, and a heat began radiating between my palm and the Meekrob's comparatively miniscule one. After a mere few seconds, the heat pulsed through my body, and my closed eyes saw a flash of white, then silver light. I felt hot, and then cold, and then simply content. Other than a bit of lightheadedness, I barely felt anything, whereas I had been gearing up to have some kind of otherworldly experience, or an electric jolt or something. What I did experience, though, was much better. As my eyes opened of their own volition again, I felt more aware than I ever had. Aware not in the generally inquisitive sense, but aware in the knowledge of my impact on everything around me, and the much more profound impact the rest of the world had on me, from the ground beneath my feet to the other city inhabitants, and far beyond.

I drew in a deep, sweet breath, and only then noticed that Nacea had donned her human guise again; I wondered if it was only in order for her to show, in a manner I could more easily understand, how happy—and seemingly proud—she was that I had accepted her gift. She wore a bright, beautiful smile, and I realized that, for the first time, I could see her Meekrob aura very apparently, even in her human form. Tenn, too, I noticed when I looked over to see how she was faring with our new ability, had a slight, though much less pronounced filter of light around her. It was like I could read body heat. Tenn's was characteristically Irken: simple, no-nonsense, like it could possibly just be a glow from her PAK. With her, it definitely was more like reading body heat than a soul's aura, which was the feeling I got from Nacea... which made sense, as Irkens are organic bodies with mechanical influence, while Meekrob are entirely energy.

And I could read auras. Oh, hell yes.

I thanked Nacea, and wished my thanks to her Chairman, as well. Eager to learn the extent of these abilities, I asked Nacea about possibly training with her to learn exactly what it was I could now do. I was so excited about it, I almost forgot about everything else in my life. Nacea smiled, and set our first session for the following evening.

Life really was taking unexpected turns, and was indeed, as Nacea had earlier noted, changing. This, I realized, could be the catylist to really set that change in motion.

– – –

"Channel your energy," Nacea instructed me. We were outside on the patio again, having cleared the table and chairs away, and she was trying to help me control and understand the powers she had given me. Tenn sat nearby, observing this round, since Nacea had agreed to train both of us, but only one-on-one. We could sit in on each other's sessions, but the abilities worked differently for the individual, so it was nearly impossible for Nacea to coach us both at once. I tried to copy the Meekrob's stance: back straight, palms flat and pressed against one another, close to my chest. I felt ridiculous doing so, mainly because I felt like I was praying, and I hadn't been brought up to formally pray like that at all. (Mom used to say things like, "Make sure you're thankful for your life," and so on, but it was nothing formal.)

"Like this?" I wondered, looking over at Nacea to make sure I had the stance right.

She laughed. "You need not copy me," she said. "Simply stand in a manner that makes you comfortable and able to feel the universe around you."

I dropped my hands with a sigh and spread my feet apart a little bit. "The whole universe?" I asked skeptically.

"Close your eyes, Dib," Nacea smiled. I glanced down and noticed she still wore no shoes, even though there was now frost on the ground. Laughing a bit to myself, I looked away, my head tilted downward, then closed my eyes as instructed and took in a deep breath.

"All right," said Nacea, drawing in a deep breath herself as she spoke. "What do you feel?"

"Actually, I'm freezing," I admitted. "Can't we do this inside?"

"Certainly not! Your energy will keep you warm. What do you hear?"

I told her: the usual sounds of the city, a siren in the distance, some trees rustling, birds squabbling over something, neighbors arguing. The faint sound of my sister's guitar coming out from her window. Usually I couldn't hear that among all the other noise, so trained were my ears to drown out music with the din of the city.

"No, no. Do not listen," Nacea said. "What do you hear, without listening?"

What a weird question, I thought. But if Nacea could channel energy with just a thought, it seemed, then she must have been on to something. So I let go and just listened to my thoughts. I didn't really have many at that point, even though I had so many worries: Did Gaz hate me now? Where was Dad? Why would he never talk to me—never address me, his own son, by name? Was Zim about to attack? What else had happened in those three months I'd been gone? Why, at thirteen years old, did I still feel so vulnerable?

Nacea must have sensed that I was tense, for suddenly her hands were on my shoulders. As a 'human,' Nacea stood at about 4'11", so she was six inches shorter than I was, but she was still able to calm me with that action. "You are too stressed," she told me. "Do not think. Just hear. What do you hear?"

Finally, I was able to relax. I didn't listen to anything, I didn't think about anything. I saw nothing, since I let go of my thoughts... no colors, nothing.

"Nothing," I answered. "Nothing I can understand, anyway."

"That is the universe."

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Nacea trained me twice a day from that point on. At first the powers kind of scared me, but the Meekrob are a very trusting, peaceful race, so I knew the energy I was using was pure and of my own design, I suppose I could say. Sometimes, if I got stuck, Nacea would lend me a little extra energy. Usually when that happened, I would get very nervous, since I didn't quite know just how I felt about Nacea yet.

We were close, but I just didn't know if I liked her or not yet. I mean I liked her, but just as a good friend. Whether or not we'd ever get further than that was something I couldn't tell. Gaz seemed pretty against it, so for her sake I didn't explore it.

Besides, I had other things to worry about. Like what Zim was up to. He couldn't have just given up and left Earth for good. Could he? Then again, why did I still care? The fact that I'd been gone for three months and he hadn't made a move meant it was over. Right? He must have been gone. He must have given up.

So I thought.

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