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Author's Note:
Invader Zim is -c- Jhonen Vasquez! Only the events of this story, characters specific to the story, and character tweaking (heh) are mine. :3
~Jizena~
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Gaz's Records
I had never seen Ira look so incensed and shocked.
Sure, I'd seen him fight with Red before, and the two had been at odds since they arrived at the Corporation, though Red had appeared to have calmed down in recent weeks. This was, however, the very moment that I witnessed the two stripped down to the most basic qualities of their individual personalities: Ira's unconditional love for his fellow man, and Red's utter disregard for anything and anyone that wasn't... well... him. However comfortable he had become around us humans, however much he'd warmed up to my brother and his version of leadership (not to mention his stance on Irken politics), Red still had only one basic thing that he looked out for. Himself. He was used to getting exactly what he wanted, when he wanted, and now, Cabochon in hand, he had the means to get exactly that.
And he wanted Ira.
"Come on," said the Tallest, repeating his selfish intent. "We're leaving."
He held up the Cabochon—it dangled down in its fixture from Red's left hand, and the green gem glinted in the almost insultingly garish light of the infirmary. Ira stared at it, then instantly narrowed his eyes on the eager Tallest. But Ira was not the first one to acknowledge what it was.
"Is that the—" Dib started.
"I beat Tak," Red boasted, "but she's still out there. I have no idea what she's planning, but this Cabochon thing is all I need in order to fix everything and go after her. Come on, Ira."
"Um, excuse me?" Ira refuted. "I'm working."
Now that he mentioned it, I gave myself a second to look around the room. Upon our arrival, we'd been pointed in the direction of the infirmary, though Agent Bloodrose, the one who had come running while Red had been yelling in the front room, all out of breath from her trying to contact every branch of the dorm heads (probably at Charlotte's request), had not elaborated on why. All she knew was that Ira requested to have the entire main infirmary room to himself, to only let in assistants if he required them. It wasn't until Red started putting up a fuss and Ira shut him out so firmly that I realized the person he'd been tending to was Victor Haynsworth. Also in the room were Lex and my brother, both in pretty raw states—Lex much more than Dib, understandably—and... hold on, that couldn't have been my father...?
Red didn't give me any room to speak. "You work for me," he scowled. Behind us, Tenn was nudging her way into the room as well, and the look she shot the rightful leader of the Irken Empire was not a flattering one. "I've gone way too lenient on you."
"No," Ira argued, "you have been sensible. And now if you still have any sense at all, you'll let me stay right here in this room so my friend won't die."
"Oh, excuse me," Red growled.
"Red—" I tried, firmly.
I had no sway. I couldn't use words the way Dib could. I was not a threat to Tallest Red... I was just some annoying human girl who happened to be related to Miyuki. He didn't give a thought about me at all, not the way he did my brother. I was going to have to make Red think twice about brushing me aside like that, but given my confusion over the current situation, I couldn't figure out how. "Shut up," he barked back at me, while advancing on Ira. "Now, see," he said to his reluctant partner, "this is funny, because a while ago, you were just so convinced that all Irkens are just machines, so there is no reason for me to pity you anymore!"
"Oh, for crying out loud, Red, let it go!"
"STOP IT!" Lex screamed. All activity in the room ceased. The only sound was the heart monitor poised above her father's cot, and the whirring of other machines that appeared to be keeping him stable. "Can we not do this in here?" Lex went on. "Please. Please, it's difficult enough without all of this awful, awful yelling."
It took several gruelling minutes of pleading, convincing, arguing and bargaining, but eventually, a decision to hold a meeting was reached. As I should have figured, Dib was the one to eventually subdue Red, playing the Miyuki card at full threat. "You know I can just take the Empire from you any time I want," was his final stern warning. "We are having a meeting and we were going to discuss exactly what to do with that Cabochon."
Red was not going to be the first to leave. Nobody seemed like they wanted to make the first move. So my father did. I practically didn't recognize him... which was a sad thought, given that what made him indistinguishable from the media-recognized Professor Membrane was the fact that he was showing his face. No high collar, no goggles. He resembled my brother enough... he even smiled when he walked over to me. "What are you doing here?" I asked him under my breath.
"I finally listened to reason," he told me. "I'm here to help."
"You're staying?" Mom sure could have taken a page from that right about now too...
"Yes."
"Okay," I mumbled. It was good to see him, but I had no idea how much I could celebrate the fact that he'd turned up, given the other circumstances around all of us. I had no idea what had happened to Lex's dad, and felt like I was counting down the seconds to when Red would just plain haul Ira away without a word. Not to mention the fact that I had no idea where Zim was. Plus, yeah, Dad's presence was just making me want more and more to hear another word from my mother. She'd be the one to shed light on... practically anything. Plus, given that whole 'lost soul' notion she'd brought up the last time she'd shown herself... maybe that could be resolved a little now that Dad was here. I couldn't think, though. I was having such a hard time figuring out how things were going to continue from here on out.
As we all filtered out, I realized I was afraid of too much. When I was younger, I feared so little; I took care of myself, I knew who I was, I didn't need anyone fighting my battles. Well, battles had never been quite this big—or literal—before.
Why did I still get the sense that Tak was orchestrating things? She had relinquished power to Red again almost too easily... that kind of action led me to instantly and confidently believe that she had built herself a following, regardless of her status as Tallest. But on what foundation? Creating human temp forms for her soldiers? That seemed—ridiculous.
I brought that up at the meeting once things really got going. It started off with Red just plain yelling, "I don't have time for this! Tak's getting a head start, so—"
"No one is going fucking anywhere till we discuss this!" Dib broke in, slamming both hands, palms flat, onto the table. A hush fell over the room, but I could still see Red's hot temper rising.
Ira was seated beside me, and I grabbed onto his wrist almost involuntarily. Victor lay in a coma... I didn't want to have to say any kind of goodbye to Ira. No matter how temporary the leave. Now that I had a net around me, I didn't want there to be any loose threads or holes. I wouldn't now how to repair them.
My godfather glanced at me and smiled; his eyes were Irken sharp as ever, but everything else about his stance and expression was sad. While I was sure he would fight for all it was worth, something told me that he had already resigned himself to the fact that Red was probably once again going to have his way. No matter what was said. Which was absolutely horrible.
Lex winced at the sound Dib's hands made against the table; I saw her trying hard not to crumble in her seat. The fact that she was holding on at all was impressive. Lex and her dad were close in a way I couldn't even begin to imagine, let alone even slightly relate to. I clung to my brother because he was the only family that had thus far mattered, but Victor had really raised his daughter—raised her right... something my own father was somewhat projecting that he wished he'd done. It was so weird seeing my father's face. It was almost distracting.
But I had to press on. I'd been the only one to witness the last struggle between Red and Tak. To see Red cut down to human limits (though this was a part I would be careful to omit while sitting so near him and trying to defend the need to keep Ira around), and to hear Tak's comment that had pushed him over the edge.
"So first thing's first," my brother continued. "Dad's here, so, um... hi and welcome officially and stuff. Should I even introduce you, Red? What gives?"
"I really don't care," spat the Tallest.
"Okay, no, seriously, you are being more of an asshole than usual!" Dib shouted at him. "What's going on and how'd you beat Tak and just basically what the hell?"
"Red put up a really good fight against her," I cut in before anyone else could speak. Everyone gave me an odd kind of glare... except for the Tallest himself. His expression read, Go on. I tried so hard not to grin. While my brother was yelling, I figured it out. Red was the kind of person who would insult at will; that's just who he was. He'd undermine others' intelligence, metaphorically spit on others' ideas... whatever. Because it had been decided that he would be superior. Fine. That was just how things were cut out for him. So there were two ways to speak with him: one was to yell back until finally some semblance of an agreement was reached... another was to make absolutely everything seem like a compliment. Whatever I was going to say was going to hurt like hell, because just on principle I'm not a very suck-up-y, compliment-y person, but I had to give it a shot if it might save Ira. "I watched most of it."
"You shouldn't have," Red said firmly. That was a warning.
"It was too interesting," I decided on saying. "I couldn't really look away."
"Oh."
It could very well have been working. It was tough to tell. "It was mostly what Tak had to say that I'm trying to get around. She got away, yeah, but honestly I kinda expected she would," I continued. "She said something about the fact that she's just doing one big experiment, and that she's not just after Invasion, but reconstruction."
"Yeah and she also told me to kill my pity. Which is exactly why my partner and I are leaving," said Red.
"Partner is such a laugh of a word," Ira reprimanded him. "Since when have you ever treated me as an equal partner except when we're in front of the crowds, huh? Even then all you do is disagree with me!"
"Kill your pity...?" I heard Tenn mutter. Her eyes were focused downward as she concentrated on the words.
"Ira, you are not in any kind of position to contradict me!" Red shouted back across the table.
"I'm not in any position where you're concerned at all!"
"That isn't true!"
"Kill your pity...?" Tenn said to herself again. Her eyes widened.
"We are leaving and that is final!" Red declared.
"Shut up," my brother cut in. "You aren't going anywhere until you at least explain that Cabochon thing to me. Because we are allies."
"Hey, Red," said Tenn.
The Tallest growled at her before saying, "You address me as Tallest Red, Tenn. I'm technically back in position."
"And I'm still technically separated from the Empire, so I really still don't give a shit," the once-Invader barked. "Look," she continued, "you're an Original. I'm an Original. We're the ones that have to be concerned about the whole deal with the Talismans anyway, right?"
"Right..." Red prompted.
"So what the hell good would it do you to kill off the emotion that makes you different? Tak was playing you by saying that. Killing it off means wiping out the thing that sets you apart! Which would probably yank you right back out of position anyway. Actually think about it. What would killing off that ability achieve, huh? And how would you even do it?"
Red was silent for a second. It seemed almost like Tenn had gotten through to him. Though, of course, Dib and I glanced, confused, across the table at each other. Tenn was going to have to fill us in something awful on everything she'd just been saying. Hopefully she could shed some light on the concept of Originals for us, not to mention the Control Brain system. She really was one of our best assets. Zim could probably contribute, too, but discussing the Empire in such detail seemed to depress him. Plus, I really was starting to get concerned about where he could possibly be. He couldn't still be fighting with Skutch...? I wanted to find him, and fast.
"Killing it off would be better than the alternative," Red finally muttered.
"What's the alternative?" Dib asked.
"You know. That thing that Zim is—"
"TREASURE HUNT!" The door burst open and in rocketed GIR. He erupted in on a bolt of blue rocket fuel and crash-bellyflopped onto the table, where he then flipped himself up onto his feet, rushed over to me, and grabbed me down by the collar.
"Hey!" I yelped.
"I lookeded all over an' then I found it!" he screamed triumphantly.
"The hell're you talking about?" I said, shoving him away.
GIR started doing a little dance and began to sing, "I went on a treasure hunt, uh-huh!" Ira was trying not to laugh at the ridiculous intrusion... either that or the awful face that Red was making at the little robot for interrupting such an important moment. "Found me the treasure, woo, yeah!"
"What treasure?" I demanded.
"One," GIR said, pointing to Red... or, more specifically, the Cabochon, "two..." he said more profoundly, pointing simultaneously at me and Dib, "three!" he finished, throwing his arms up into the air. He then pointed both hands out the door and screamed, "MAGIC NUMBER!"
"What... the hell?" I growled at him.
Tenn, however, was continuing her Irken sleuthing, and pointed discreetly at Red, me, Dib, and out the door. "Three...?" she said under her breath. "Cabochon... what, Mirror, and...?" Tenn stood. "He found Zim."
GIR nodded vigorously, then screamed, "Come on, come on, come on! He's down, down, all the way down!"
"OH MY GOD!" I screamed. I did not want to think about what that could possibly mean. "Where is he?"
"Uuuuhhhhhhh..."
I stood up and grabbed the robot, shaking him viciously. "Where the hell is he?"
"LAKE!"
"In it? Or just on the other side?"
"Come on," Tenn offered. "I got one of the Elite's ships. We'll go look for him."
"Uh—" Red started.
"The meeting will continue, Red," my brother warned. "You guys go. He's gotta be found anyway, and if we can get him in on this conversation, too, so much the better. Ira, you better go with them."
"THAT IS NOT—" Red tried.
"He's going. He's a doctor. We need him. END OF DISCUSSION."
I grabbed Ira by the hands, hauled him up to standing, and pretty much pushed him out of the room in front of me as I followed Tenn. I called back that we would be back as soon as we possibly could, while my brother assured me that the rest of the meeting would not be a waste. I was glad that Charlotte was up and around getting things done, but I did kind of hope that Cthulhu and Bloodrose could take over for her, since her presence in meetings generally helped them flow better. (One of Charlotte's best talents, I'd figured out, was being impervious to Dib's unique brand of stubbornness.)
Due to the fact that we had just survived our second Elite Invasion, things were understandably strained and stressful, but there seemed to be a lot more at stake this time. The first Invasion had seen Nacea and General Brakem die, and while this time there were casualties, much more stress and doubt was left in the wake of Tak's final comments to Red, and the fact that he held in his hand one of the three Irken Talismans.
The main thing I knew about the Talismans came from our early discussions with Red and Ira (back when we had called him 'Purple,' as per his punishment, or what have you), as well has snippets of things I heard from the Irkens among us at various times. Not to mention Dib, and his experiences with our mother on his fourteenth birthday. Now that over a year had passed, we were in a slightly better position to oppose the Irkens, but there was still a lot to sort out before Dib or I could really do anything.
Miyuki's objective—once for herself and now for us—was Irken liberation. To rid the PAK-dependent society from total reliance on machines to run minds and squander emotions, and allow the society to be more free-thinking. Along with this would have to come a radical change of leadership policies, which was really where we had to step in. Red seemed to be rooted in whatever Irken tradition really was... which, from what I gathered, had a lot to do with the Control Brains.
God, whatever it was that had to happen... it was going to be like pulling teeth. We had to get around Tak. To get around Tak we needed Red. Red was being a stubborn asshole. He was yet another obstacle.
I had no time to think about obstacles now, though. My heart was pounding like crazy as the three of us, GIR running on up ahead and around us and everywhere (adding an enormous amount of unnecessary chaos to the situation). I always took whatever GIR had to say kind of, well, simply and lightly, but I did not like what he had said about Zim having gone 'all the way down.' Every once in a while, GIR would make sense. Those times, as I would begin to realize, were all fairly terrifying. He had mentioned something during the Incident that began to bother me again now: "It's too soon anyway." I shouldn't have ignored that comment. I really shouldn't have.
Thank God for Tenn, though, no matter what was going on. She kept a level head at all times, and was providing more and more insight into Irken affairs for us, which was wonderful. She was also the perfect pilot for the ship she had discovered—she led us a few yards away from the headquarters building, and as the sun set around us, she beckoned me and Ira into a moderately-sized unit she referred to as a Shuvver. Its size was equitable to a sixteen-wheeler here on Earth, but unlike those highway hogs, the ship was sleeker, and had a more vertical design, allowing for it to be comprised of an intricate computer system while still having cargo holds and plenty of room for passengers. Not to mention the lofty headroom, which was very nice indeed, considering that it was an Irken vehicle, and I hadn't stood at near-Irken height now for quite some time.
As soon as we were on board and taking off to get to the other side of the lake, though, Ira crumbled and sat against a wall with his head in his hands. "Ira, you okay?" I asked him.
"Ugh," he groaned. "Today has been a headache." He lifted his head in order to smile at me, then slowly began un-braiding his hair and letting his long purple bangs out of confinement. "I'm sorry, Gaz," he went on, calming his tone. "I wish there were more that could be done about Red."
"You're not going back with him," I said firmly.
"I hope that's true," my godfather said, his voice wavering somewhat. "I really hope that's true."
And then, before I knew it: "We're here," Tenn announced.
"I found it again!" GIR screamed. He rushed to the back of the Shuvver, past where I sat beside Ira, and pressed a little button on the wall that caused the cargo bay door to swirl open in a circular fashion. Watching it open was hypnotic, but passed so quickly it made me somewhat dizzy. It didn't help that the coloring inside the Shuvver kind of made me ill—dulled reds and garish purples that bordered on confused sorts of grey, congealing into matte black and coarse greys and silvers here and there, and in no discernable patterns.
"I'll be completely fine if I never fly again after this, too," I heard Ira say primarily to himself as I walked arm in arm with him out onto the cracked, arid ground that gave us its ghostly welcome on the other side of the lake.
"You're no good with ships?" I guessed.
Ira almost smiled. "Your parents could probably attest to my unease on airplanes, way back when," he told me. "I'd have probably gotten sick on the Massive all this time if not for... well, certain things, but..."
"We're not gonna talk about that," I said for him, quickly. Still, I couldn't shake the fact that tonight wasn't going to end well. Red was in an awful mood. Ira was drained from trying to help Victor. Dib was conflicted between too many things, and I could see it in him, even back in the meeting room: he wanted to focus so much of his attention on Lex right now, to support her now that her father lay in a coma, that usual things were getting to him more. Dib was great at doing a number of things, when focusing on them individually, but an intelligent multitasker my brother is not; never has been. He does best when focusing on one thing at a time, giving small attention to other details here and there. And so far, the Corporation was able to run like that. Now, things were heating up. Almost too much; definitely too fast to handle.
Even with the sun setting, we were fortunate with the fact that we were much more of a retrieval crew than a search party. This side of the lake was blocked off from what lay beyond us just as well as the other, and was open, though rocky. There was still enough sun in the sky to clearly make out the points of freshly disturbed ground from the fight, a few scorch marks and cuts in the rocks and dry ground from Skutch's versatile weapon. And blood. Plenty of spilled blood.
We followed a trail right to Zim.
I screamed and darted forward, but Tenn and Ira held me back. "What're you doing?" I shouted. "Let me go!"
"That isn't his blood," Ira said calmly. "Look at the way it splattered, against the way he's lying. That is not his blood, it's all right."
"Well, maybe not," I realized, "but look at his arm!"
Zim had collapsed face-down. His upper right arm was in a terrible state—the skin looked raw or even dead, from what I could see under his unraveling bandage. Blood leaked down from it, but it was not linked to the trail; Ira was right. That only meant that the bloodstains a couple feet away were from Skutch... which in turn meant that he had the same color blood as us humans; he didn't bleed green like the rest of the Irkens on the battlefield. I wondered, for a second, what color Red's blood would be. Then shook Red out of my head completely; he didn't deserve room in my mind right now.
"Is he conscious?" Tenn wondered.
"Hard to tell from here, and in the light," said Ira, "but I'm going to go ahead and guess not."
Just then, GIR darted forward, grabbed something from behind Zim, and rocketed back to hold it up to us: a sword. An enormous one at that. Something I'd equate to a broadsword, but inarguably made of Tavis. GIR held up the hilt with one hand and the huge flat blade with the other. It seemed to glow a little, ominously, and the bloodstains that ran down from the tip seemed so natural it frightened me. For all the video games I've played, for how much fighting I myself did with Tavic weapons, I still couldn't wrap my head around the idea of weapons having personalities. Until this thing. This thing, clearly Irken in design, was out for blood. Had some; wanted more. The worst part was, I doubted it was something Skutch or any of the other Elites in Tak's army had left behind.
I really wanted a word with my mother.
"Dammit," I heard Tenn say. "Gaz, I think I've gotta catch you up on something Zim probably hasn't told you." I heard Ira sigh out on a hum, almost as if in agreement. I think that we were both equally disturbed by my godfather's vast knowledge of Irken Empire affairs and statistics. Ira would rather not have known... but his years of service had probably driven him to more research into that other world than he had ever have cared to.
"What?" I wondered.
"I don't think now's a good time for storytelling," said Ira. "We need to get him inside."
"But what the hell is this thing?" I wondered, reaching down toward it.
"Don't touch it!" Tenn shouted. I jerked myself back to give her a questioning look, and Tenn just shook her head. "I really wouldn't. GIR's the only one who should be handling that thing right now. I'll fill you in once we go inside."
I agreed that that was for the best, though the sword's existence did bother me. As well it should have, given Tenn's reaction; even Ira's. I didn't like it. I didn't like that it had something to do with Zim, either. I was practically in tears as the three of us hoisted him—unconscious as predicted—onto Tenn's captured ship, and as we took the very short trip back over to land in front of the headquarters building, I held Zim gingerly in place, keeping his head on my lap and making sure his right arm was upturned. I smoothed back his matted black hair and felt cold sweat on his forehead. He was in awful, awful shape.
I really wanted to give Invader Skutch a piece of my mind. Tak even moreso.
When we got back inside, I could hear Dib and Red still arguing, and now Lex and my dad were sitting outside the meeting room in a couple of folding chairs they must have brought out. Oh, this was not good. Ira shivered, nodded something that looked like an apology over to Dad and Lex, then continued with us into the auxiliary infirmary room.
GIR hoisted the enormous new weapon up onto a counter on the side of the room by the door, while I clicked all of the lights on to give Ira a better idea of what to do. "Cut his shirt off for me," Ira instructed me as he pinned his bangs back again and began scouring the cabinets for the supplies he would need.
"What?" I wondered. "Why?"
"I really don't like the look of his arm, and I want to see if there's any more of that irritation anywhere else on his upper body. Why on Earth didn't he tell us about this?"
Simple: he was either too afraid or too proud. Or both. Zim had the kind of mentality, even as a human, that he'd do things for himself once it came down to it. He'd joined the Corporation and asked for our help, he had offered his services and was reporting directly to Dib with the job he'd been given, but when it came to the matter of him being human... that seemed like such a personal matter. He wanted to be human, but he wasn't explicitly asking for help on how that could come about.
Ira advised me to put on gloves, so I did, even though it made me feel like I was about to perform open heart surgery or something, and then carefully cut through the fabric of Zim's shirt, afraid of what I might see underneath. I tossed the shirt away first, then undid the already loose bandage around his arm. And immediately had to back away, afraid I'd hurl.
I did the first thing I could think of: I tossed off the gloves, ran to the sink on the far right-hand side of the room, scrubbed my hands clean twice, dried them off on my skirt, then held my hands over my nose and mouth. The scent of the soap was much too harsh and stung my eyes, but I was already on the verge of crying over what I'd seen.
Why didn't Zim come to us about this? Knowing that he'd sometimes shut off and not really discuss what he was doing was one thing... knowing that he'd hide something as serious as a wound that looked like it was threatening to just sever his arm from his body was another. I didn't want to know what else he could possibly have been hiding.
Lucky me. I was about to find out.
Tenn wrote out a note that she sent with GIR (since he himself was not the best messenger when delivering anything in the form of speech) to my dad, just so somebody would be in the loop on what we were doing and what was going on. The instruction was not to tell Dib or Red... just let them argue through whatever it was they needed to vent out against each other. By the time GIR had taken off down the hall, Ira had gone through the process of washing off Zim's skin and was now pondering over that awful, raw upper arm.
The skin around Tak's original dagger wound looked like it was in a state of decay. Some of his skin looked like it had been charred in a fire, and those particular points glinted almost green in the harsh light. It could have been disease, or it could have been resurfacing Irken pigmentation; I couldn't tell, and I didn't want to know. The corruption itself was spread from a few inches above his right elbow to just below his shoulder, with the skin around the wound looking worse than any other point.
When I dared to look over again, I saw that Ira had bandaged up a couple of cuts in Zim's side from some kind of bladed weapon or other that Skutch would have utilized, and there was a long, thin scratch across his chest, becoming slightly thicker just over his heart. Probably from the chain of Skutch's favorite weapon, I theorized. And where'd he gone off to, anyway? Just left Zim for dead—I would have thought Tak would want him carried back with them, wherever she and her followers were going now.
Tak seemed even more formidable now that she wasn't the Tallest. Because I was just so damn sure that she had an army all the same. That was what she'd been spending all this time doing. She was attacking the system from within, playing off of the weak points of the current Tallest—not to mention me and Dib as well—in order to take over for good in a final wave. And it seemed, from this most recent attack, that she was reliant on either Zim or Dib to complete whatever her goal was. In other words, she needed someone stronger than herself... but it had to be someone she could manipulate. God, she really was just experimenting and playing games! Everything she did was calculated. Everything she did was underhanded. Everything she did was all for her own selfish gain. Whatever the full Prophecy was, she knew it. And she was playing against it, by understanding the Talismans (I had to get Tenn to tell me more about those) as well as the Empire's history. Plus her little perfected methods of combining Irken and human strengths into a single body. The hybrid soldiers she'd enlisted were tougher than regular Irkens: human strength without human emotion. Or so it was supposed to be. This deal with 'Originals' seemed to be something that could work in our favor... Irkens who were already human enough, and could be pushed further in that direction by receiving temp forms.
That was what Zim was aiming for, and what Red seemed to be afraid of.
Ira continued his work for a few minutes longer, then turned to me, concerned. "What's wrong with his arm?" I dared to ask.
"I hate to say this, but right now, I can't completely tell," said Ira. "There's dead and, excuse me, rotting skin around the wound. If this were a normal case, I'd suggest immediate amputation—" I felt like I was going to hurl again, but Ira caught and steadied me, continuing more quickly, "but we don't have a surgeon around and I highly doubt this is a run-of-the-mill kind of problem."
"Then what do we do?"
Now I really was starting to cry. Things were looking darker and darker. I finally had people I trusted, people I enjoyed being around... and they were leaving me. I felt like it was a matter of seconds before Red would snap and take Ira away. I had no idea how long it would take for Victor to wake up or for Lex to recover. I had no idea how long Zim would be unconscious, or what was happening to him.
And I cared so much it was ripping me apart. I had never felt like that before. Growing up, I'd always been alone, and taken care of myself. When Dib was gone for three months on Meekrob, I first started feeling that kind of awful separation. Zim had been gone at the time, but I'd had hope he'd be back; the ring I'd found on my thirteenth birthday had just made that hope stronger. Now Zim was here, and human, and trying to make that permanent... but I'd seen him black out before. I'd seen him struggling with the Irken a part of him still was. I didn't quite want to slap the word 'love' onto what I felt, but I wanted to try.
As I stood there, finding myself hugging Ira the way a frightened child might cling to her father, I couldn't take my eyes off of Zim. I stared at his arm and at his cuts and tried to envision the fight he'd just had. And I thought of all the times I had seen him fight so far... every single time, he'd been protecting me. "I'm sorry," I heard myself start whispering. To Ira and Zim both. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry..."
"Calm down, Gaz," Ira said softly, stroking my back. "You don't need to be."
"I feel like I haven't been doing enough!"
"It's okay. You're doing just fine." Ira patted my hair gently and said, "I'm very proud of you, Gaz. I wish I could have seen you grow up. You've become an incredible person, dear, don't let go of that."
"I have no idea what I'm supposed to do..." These were all things I never would have said aloud, had I not been under such stress. The final fight was looming, I knew it. I didn't feel ready. I didn't want to be. There was still too much I didn't know. There was still a lot about myself I had to figure out. And then there was the irrefutable fact that I did not want Zim to go anywhere. I didn't want him gone, I didn't want him switching sides on us—a latent fear that was rearing its head now—and I did not want him to die. Of the few people I trusted so intently; God, I didn't want any of them to die. I certainly didn't want to see it happen.
"It's all right," Ira soothed me, "it's all right. I know you have it in you to rise above anything."
"Thank you."
Ira smiled, then stepped back and said, "Listen, there's something else I could do that might be able to help Zim a little. I need to grab a few things in the other room, though."
"You're not going there alone," I said. "But—"
"But you don't want to leave him alone, either, do you?" Ira guessed. I shook my head. "He really loves you, you know," he told me. I managed to smile and nod. "Why don't you stay here? I doubt he'll wake up in the next couple of minutes."
"I'll go with Ira," Tenn offered. "If Red tries to—what do you guys say?—fly off the handle, I'll step in."
"Thanks, Tenn."
"Don't mention it."
"We'll be right back," Ira assured me.
The moment they were gone and the door closed behind them, I cautiously stepped up to the cot Zim was laid out on. He looked a little better now that Ira had washed all of the blood away, but that arm was still bothering me. I wondered how awful the crossed scars on his back might look, now, too...
Suddenly, with a gasp, Zim opened his eyes. I yelped a little, since Ira had considered this improbable, and jumped back, unsure of how I felt about this sudden return to consciousness. Zim tried to sit up, then cringed right off and lay back down. He stiffly tried to move his right arm, was unsuccessful, then groaned and held his left hand over his face. "Oh, God..." he started saying under his breath. "Goddammit... get out... get out, get out..."
"Me?" I wondered.
"Eh?" Zim lowered his hand, and then his deep brown eyes found me. "Gaz!" he exclaimed. His face showed nothing but terror. He propped himself up on his elbows a little, though wincing throughout the action, then stared at his decaying right arm, then back over at me. "Did you—"
"Tenn and Ira and I brought you back over," I began explaining, my words running nervously out of me. "GIR knew where you were, and you were passed out, and there was this huge sword thing and—"
"Where is it now?" Zim wondered. I pointed to it, and his eyes flared wider open. "I can't be near that thing," he said frantically. "Gaz, I can't be anywhere near that thing! What've you seen? What—"
"Zim, I don't know what you're talking about!" I cried. "I'm getting really worried! What are you talking about?"
Before he could answer, Zim let out a slight yelp of pain and lay back down. He grabbed at his bangs with his left hand, then insisted, "Get out, get out, get out... not here, not with her... just get out... get out, OUT!"
"ZIM!" I screamed.
But he'd fallen silent. My heart stopped, then started up again very, very cautiously. I took a cautious step toward him, even though every instinct told me that was wrong. Where were Ira and Tenn? Had they heard us? Had anyone heard me scream?
My voice was shocked right out of me, though, the next time Zim spoke.
Very rigidly, he began to lower his hand. "Out?" he said. The voice had come from him, and it was reminiscent of his normal tone enough, but not enough to convince me that it was really his. Too many things were off. "But I'm just getting comfortable."
I backed away, not wanting to know what was wrong. He picked himself up slowly, then turned his head in my direction, fixing his gaze on me. I heard something whir.
Earlier that day, I had seen my own brother fall victim to the Irken parasite known as the PAK. The scars on Zim's back proved that his PAK was still somewhere inside him, but thus far its presence had not quite reached to the extent of actually taking over. I was instantly afraid, as much as I didn't want to be. I knew that Zim had blocked out a huge chunk of his past. I wondered if his PAK remembered... even though I didn't want to know. I wanted the Zim that had been there during the Incident; the one I didn't mind holding, or kissing, or just plain talking to. The one who seemed so honestly human.
Right now, though... it was like that person didn't even exist.
His eyes were red.
Blood, blood red.
That wasn't Zim. Not the person I knew, not even the Invader he'd tried to be once. This was someone I'd never seen before... or, at least, not to this extent. He was hardly 'new.' Something told me that, whoever it was that sat up, whoever it was that glared right at me, whoever it was that had changed Zim, was someone who long outdated the person I so often forgot was not completely human yet, but who wanted to be. This person, whoever he was, whatever fragment of Zim he was, did not care for humans at all. That much was pretty obvious, from the malicious grin. From the way he studied me the way a cat studies a mouse.
Zim had promised to protect me. This person probably wanted me dead.
"Well," he said, his voice still a distortion of Zim's normal tone, more cutting and much less full of life, "hello."
He slid off of the infirmary bed, his feet rocking to the ground with the ease of a practiced silent soldier, and slowly, vertebra by vertebra, straightened his back, until he tilted up his head and drew in a good, long breath. He stretched his right arm out before he held it up; he examined first his arm, fresh with that awful area of raw, dead-looking skin, then brought up his hand and studied it with a great curiosity. He flexed out his fingers and then formed a fist.
And then he began to laugh.
It came from deep in his throat. Not the way that Zim laughed; not the person he'd been lately, at any rate. No, this was brutal. Brutal, and selfish. Dark would be an understatement. It was a killer's laugh. And I don't mean just someone who has killed—this person was someone who enjoyed it. Who thrived in it. Who did it to prove a point; that point being that he could. He didn't care who. He didn't care why. He just did it.
If I could read all that much from him, just from that, I shuddered knowing that he'd soon start talking again, revealing more of himself. I didn't want to hear it. I didn't want to hear any voice come from that mouth but Zim's. I didn't want to see any color in those eyes but brown. But Zim was gone.
Somehow, I'd always known I'd lose him. Maybe that was why I could never say anything. Because I'd been too afraid.
If I had to put a face on fear...
"Oh..." he grinned, lowering his right hand again and cracking his head to either side, "this is interesting." He spread his arms out to either side, and continued his revelry, still laughing at a rush I couldn't imagine. "Oh, this is FUN!"
I wanted to scream. I couldn't. I just couldn't.
Where the hell were Ira and Tenn?
As afraid of this person as I was, I could not look away. I was afraid that if I did, something awful would happen. At least, if I could see it coming, I might be able to—do what, save myself? I didn't know. I couldn't tell. This just did not feel real.
In my head, I began to call him a nightmare.
"My dear," he addressed me in the most disgustingly condescending tone I had ever heard escape from that mouth, "I don't believe we've met." His red, red eyes found me, and his dark grin stretched. There was nothing in his tone that told me he was expecting an answer.
With an erratic tick, his head jerked to one side, and I heard his neck snap, causing me to let out a little involuntary scream. A scream that set him off.
His neck snapped back, and he rolled his head once—dear God, he was adjusting to his human body. Re-adjusting? Adjusting... because that person was not the one we'd brought in. "No...?" he said, as he took a single step toward me. If his reasoning was to get me uncomfortable, he was successful. I took a step back, every one of my instincts screaming for me to run away. Run away. Run the hell away.
He took two more steps toward me, each and every one of his moves overdramatic, going from erratic to fluid the more he moved around. "Oh, no, no, I know who you are," he continued, as if I'd given him a vocal answer. All I'd managed to do was back myself up even further. "We've met... we've just never been properly acquainted."
"You go first, then," I managed to get out. My voice sounded awful: raw, like I was on the verge of tears I knew weren't actually there. Worst of all, I gave myself away as being terrified. I hadn't even noticed that he was still advancing on me, since my senses were otherwise paralyzed. My back hit the wall.
I was trapped.
"Oh, are you challenging me?" he asked. He was upon me in a second, and pinned me to the wall. I wanted to wake up.
"Let go," I whimpered; I'd never felt so helpless.
"I do not take orders," he growled, "I give them. Now," he said, moving one hand slowly to my neck until he was nearly choking me, "I have a few questions for you. You are going to answer them."
"Who are you?" I demanded.
His eyes narrowed, harsh and red, and he snarled, "I don't come across many like you. Then again, you're her heir, aren't you?" A grin stretched across his face. "Oh, you are!" he deduced. "Well, now... this is going to be quite the introduction."
"Get away from me," I tried. Losing battle—this was nothing but a losing battle, but I could not cry. I could not cry in front of this person. Not show any signs of intimidation. Fuck. Forget Ira and Tenn, where the hell was Zim? I did not want to believe that Zim had somehow turned on me, had somehow become so lost in his dark, forgotten past that I would never again hear love in his voice or see it in his eyes. Especially now... now that I'd been so ready to accept that kind of thing in a little more. Help more to hold him up the way he'd thus far been supporting me. I missed what we'd had during the Incident. I adored what we'd shared on my birthday.
He'd promised that he would be something, someone, I could always rely on. That was all I wanted. Someone who wouldn't change, someone who wouldn't go away. Something constant. I had never had anything constant in my life. Please, I kept on begging, please let that be him. Even before my bond with my brother had grown, I know that I had shared something with Zim. Even just a little bit of common ground. When I'd discovered that, I hadn't wanted to be alone anymore.
Who the fuck was this person, and how dare he threaten that chance...?
"Who are you?" I growled.
"Insistent, aren't we?" he sneered. His hand still firmly clenched around my throat, he leaned in. His breath was hot against my left ear. His words were ice cold. "I," he hissed into my ear, "am disconnected memory. Half of a whole."
"The other half's Zim?" I guessed, shuddering away from his discomforting tone.
"A simple thought, on your part," he mocked me. The fact that he still hadn't given me a name was terrifying. "You see, Zim is nothing but a name," he continued, his eyes and mine met once again. "Names are useless to those with titles. Especially names that have been so tainted and twisted."
"Maybe I like that name," I said. How the hell was I holding myself up so well? All I wanted to do was collapse and maybe take six sleeping pills and not wake up for another month. I just did not want to have to deal with this.
He shoved me back against the wall even further, and slammed his left hand against the wall beside my head. "Don't you play with me!" he warned. While Tak could be formidable, this person was just plain frightening. He was several times more terrifying than Tak or even MiMi. Than any threat I'd ever thought of before.
Wait a minute.
This was much too familiar.
Zim had done this to me before. During the Incident. Held me against the wall and spewed things at me about the Irken Empire that made me think that he was just having a terrible Irken mood swing. His voice had been in its regular human tone at that point... but, no... no, it was this person who'd been doing the talking.
He just had his own voice now.
"You're... you're the sixty years he lost," I realized, my eyes going wide. I felt myself lose more strength, now that I was making myself stare him straight back in the eyes. I saw my self reflected in his blood red eyes. And I trembled.
"Clever, clever, clever!" he laughed at me. "I was perfection once. I locked myself away only as long as I needed to. But, my dear, my other half has been re-forged, and I will take action again."
"So you're the Elite Commander?"
He grinned. "I am. Now, where is it?"
"Where's what?"
"My sword. Osdraken. Memory frozen in flames..."
"None of you Irkens ever makes any sense," I managed to say. But at least now I knew something slightly promising: the sword we'd found beside Zim had been the reason for this reawakening of his old memories. As long as he stayed far away from that weapon, maybe we could subdue the Commander's influence... maybe now, and once I learned a little more about those Talismans, I could help Zim so much more... assuming I could get him back today.
The Elite Commander narrowed his eyes. Zim's eyes, turned bloody and cold. "You really don't want to oppose me," he warned, slowly letting go of my neck.
"Where's Zim?" I demanded.
"Gone."
"WHERE'S ZIM?" I screamed. When the Commander reared back and let go of my neck, fully intending to strike me, I put up my best defense, wound up, and punched him in the arm. His right arm, right on the brittle, burned skin.
He let out an awful yell, and stumbled back. I rushed far from the wall just as the door was re-opening, and Ira and Tenn walked back in. "Gaz!" my godfather exclaimed, while Tenn rushed them both in and slammed the door behind them again. "Gaz, what's going on? I heard yelling, and—"
"It's... Zim's awake and he's really not doing too great—" I began. Before I knew it, my arms were around Ira and I was holding onto him tightly. Someone... just, someone to protect me a little, someone else to share in this dreadful experience and this awful fear...
"GET OUT!" I heard Zim shouting. His own voice was piercing through his memory's tone. I whipped my head in his direction to see how he was faring. The wound on his right arm was bleeding again, but I saw the decay spread a little down his shoulder, encroaching on the scars crossing his back. "Get out, get out, I don't want you, get OUT!"
"Us?" Ira wondered.
"No..." I began.
"...Shit, it's him..." Tenn whispered.
"Tenn, just what the hell do you know?" I hollered.
"Look, I honestly didn't think this'd happen, but once the Talismans started showing up," Tenn said in her defense, "I got a little more worried."
"That sword is one of them, isn't it?" I asked.
"Yeah, I think so. I never knew too much... someone like Tak or Skutch would know more, they were weapons research, I was all about ships and robotics. But, yeah, safe bet."
"So what do we do?" I cried. "He said something about needing it and it being his other half or something—"
"We get him the hell out of here, that's what we do," said Tenn.
"Right," Ira said. "Not so much time to try out anything new on that arm... I think it just has to be confined. Gaz, you make sure, no matter what, he keeps a bandage on that arm. Check all the time, all right? It's not natural."
"Y-you can help, too..." I began.
Ira bit his lip. "I hope so."
Zim let out another harsh cry, then doubled over himself, holding his head in his hands. His shoulders trembled, and he looked horribly unsteady. Very slowly, he took breaths in and let them out. "Goddammit..." he said under his breath, his voice shaking. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."
"...Zim...?" I asked cautiously.
He winced, then forced himself to stand up a little straighter. When he struggled, I rushed forward and held him up, careful to be on his left side. As I held him up, Ira approached to wash off the wound on Zim's right arm, and then immediately began to wrap a fresh bandage around the irritated area. Zim cringed with discomfort as Ira went about his task, then drew in a long, deep breath, and looked at me with years worth of guilt. "I blacked out," he apologized. "Did, eh... did anything happen...?"
"A lot happened," I decided on saying.
"I was afraid of that."
"You knew something like that might happen?" I didn't mean to snap, but that had been the single most terrifying experience of my life thus far. "Zim, what the hell? That was... I don't even... sorry, I don't mean to yell, but..."
"No, no, I just... hadn't wanted to talk about it yet," he said, shaking his head. "I should have. I need to."
"Yeah, you kinda do."
"Yeah, okay, we'll all talk," said Tenn, once Ira was finished, "but we gotta get out of this room."
"Why?" Zim wondered.
"Tell you once we're out."
I understood why. The mere mention of the sword's name might trigger something that the Commander, or at least his memories, awake and anxious in the PAK still buried somewhere in Zim's anatomy, might take advantage of.
However, once we were out in the grand hall, we saw someone else ready to take advantage of another Irken tool. Red stood, planted, several feet away from us. "Red has the Cabochon?" Zim whispered to me. I nodded. "That can't be good." I shook my head.
"Ira..." I began.
"Gaz," my godfather said, turning to face me, "whatever happens... don't give up. All right?"
"Ira, you don't have to go with him," I insisted.
"I'll try to talk him out of it. But just in case..." Ira untied the ribbon from his ponytail, and delicately placed it into my hand. Zim watched him with some scrutiny as he then placed a gentle kiss on my cheek and said, "I love you, Gaz. I'm so proud of you, and I'm grateful I was able to see you again."
"You're scaring me," I said, my voice reduced to a whimper.
"In the end," said my ever-optimistic godfather, "everything will turn out all right, somehow. Don't ever, ever give up."
He knew Red wasn't going to be persuaded. I had the pounding fear that these were to be my final seconds with my godfather for quite some time to come. I wasn't ready. Sure, we'd just finished up a battle, but this was thousands of times harder to deal with than strategizing against the enemy. I nodded to Tenn to take over for me, helping Zim, and stood on my own for a moment just so I could hug Ira again. "I love you, too," I muffled into his neck. "Thank you for being my family."
Ira patted me on the back a couple of times, then pulled away. Tenn stepped aside as Ira turned to face Red, and I stepped back in to keep Zim standing. He placed his hand on my shoulder cautiously, and I heard him ask, "What was that?"
My heart skipped. "He's like a father to me, Zim," I tried to assure him. "We... we can talk about it later."
"Hmm." We both knew that now was not the time to continue. Red was still commanding all of the attention in the room. As one would expect of the Tallest.
Red held up the gem, letting it dangle from his left hand, and fixed his eyes on Ira. "Honestly?" Ira shouted at him. "I never like saying this about anyone, but Red, you are pissing me off!"
My brother burst out from the meeting room at that point, and hollered, "Red, we weren't finished discussing any terms for—"
"FUCK TERMS," Red snapped, not taking his eyes off of Ira. "Here's all that anyone needs to know! Listen up! There's three Irken Talismans, and there's a Prophecy attached to them. One breaks, things set in motion. Two, there's change. Three and it's over." I wanted to ask what things would be set in motion; what things would herald change... but I didn't want to interrupt Red. "So like it or not, I'm gonna break this. I'm going back to my Empire, I'm taking back my position as Tallest, and I'm getting back my army! The Empire needs us."
"You," Ira spat back at him. He unpinned his hair and tossed off his lab coat, then strode toward Red. "The Empire needs you."
"Us, Purple."
I choked; Ira froze. "What did you just call me...?" he began, flabberghasted.
Moving faster than I'd have expected him to, Red marched forward and grabbed Ira by the collar. Leaning in, he said, "Your punishment isn't up yet! Until that time, you're going to serve me just as the Control Brains intended years ago!"
"The Brains are exactly the problem!" Ira shouted, releasing himself from Red's grip. "You know it, Dib knows it, everyone knows it!"
"Right," Red scoffed, "machines. Just a problem to you, right?"
"Red would you shut up about that? I was talking to Tak!" Ira insisted. "She's completely different from you! Isn't she?" Red didn't move. "Isn't she?"
"Red, you have to let Ira stay!" I finally interjected, hoping I could sway him. "We need him, badly, and besides—"
"I didn't think I had to say it again," Red growled at me. "He's mine."
Calmly, swiftly, Ira reached forward and grabbed onto Red's left wrist. My godfather glanced back at me for a moment, tried to smile, then glared back up at the Tallest. "There are two things you could do with that Cabochon," he said, keeping his tone level. "You could release me. It's the Talisman most closely connected to the Brains, Red. You want to make a good impression as a leader? Show the pity and mercy I know you can feel. Please."
"Only someone of higher rank than me can release you and you know it," Red shot back.
Ira shook his head. "And the Brains still currently overrule you. So that counts. Please do the right thing. Show me you can. And show everyone here that we can trust you."
Red didn't even fight himself. "I'm breaking this, we're going back together, and that's final!"
"WHY?" Ira demanded, letting go of Red's hand.
But Red just grabbed onto his reluctant partner again, this time by his shoulder, leaned in so that their eyes were level, and draped the hand holding the Cabochon over Ira's other shoulder. I almost saw a glint of that pity that Tak had tried to persuade him to kill. I saw a human side to him.
"Oh..." I heard Zim say, while Tenn looked confused.
"No, you are not just going to leave like that!" my brother attempted to argue. Lex stood and rushed to him, only to hold him back. Even she saw it.
I saw it painted all over Red's face. And so did Ira. "Why?" Ira asked of the Tallest again. "Why take me back with you now, Red? You could rule alone. Have the whole Empire to yourself. Why do you need me?"
Red closed his eyes. "Because I don't know any other way," he said. His tone almost made me feel sorry for him.
And then he clenched his hand so tightly around the Cabochon that it broke.
Ira didn't cry out. And I knew it was out of anger that he kept silent. A shaft of pale green light shot up around them and slowly changed to blue. I just barely made out the long silhouettes of two Irken Tallest before the light died down and the two were gone. "IRA!" I screamed after him. But neither were anywhere in the building.
"God! What the hell was that about?" Dib shouted at nothing. "We hadn't set up anything! No communication rules, no settlements, nothing! There is no way Red is breaking any of our old terms now."
Just then, I heard GIR start screaming, and in a flash, the robot bolted past all of us and into the control room in which we'd received a message from Tak a few months prior. "Come on," Dib beckoned anyone who wanted to follow.
"God, this day just can't get any more commanding, can it?" Lex commented.
"I'm sorry," Dib said to her quietly, holding her close to him as they walked. "We can talk soon, hon, I promise."
"It's just so much to absorb, it's bordering on ridiculous," she pointed out.
"No kidding..."
I glanced up at Zim. "How are you, walking?" I wondered.
"A little shaky, but I think I can do all right," he said. The two of us were the last to move in to the control room, my father aside. Dad was lagging back, taking in everything that was going on... everything he had missed. We'd all be playing catch-up for a while, and now with Victor and Ira—well, I don't want to say gone but unavailable... it would probably be good to have him around. "Gaz, really, did I do anything... you know... really horrible to you back there?"
"I don't really want to talk about it yet," I admitted. "We will, just... later."
"Can I at least apologize?"
"If you want."
"I really am sorry."
"Mmhmm..."
Once the two of us were in the control room with the others, I let down my hair, tied it back up again in a high ponytail, then tied Ira's ribbon around the elastic. I had a feeling I'd wear that every day now. I could vaguely remember wearing bows as a little kid. It was still fuzzy, but I knew that they were gifts from Ira. I had stopped wearing them not long after he'd disappeared... because I couldn't tie them on my own, and Dad eventually stopped talking about Mom and his friends. And just let them be erased. Hopefully he'd start making up for that soon.
GIR's scream had been in response to a call signal, and as soon as Dib answered, Tallest Red's Irken image appeared on the screen. Now, I'd never really seen an Irken Tallest before—if I had, I hadn't been paying attention—so this was kind of a wakeup call to me. He was well-armored, long and thin, and seemed very, very much at home looking as he was supposed to once more. I caught no glimpse of Ira... or, Purple as he had to be called in the Empire. All I knew was that I was incredibly angry at Red for not being even slightly open to the idea of letting Ira stay with us.
Neither was Dib. "What's the big idea?" my brother demanded of the Tallest. "You can't just leave like that!"
"Look, I'm the Tallest again," Red argued, "and I'm going to have a little more say in my actions now. I'm still allied with you, and we'll talk. Tenn, I'm taking that ship you found."
"Cuz you totally asked permission!" Tenn shouted at the screen. "Oh, that is just fine! Not that I was going to use it or anything!"
"We're going after Tak, and that's all there is to it," Red barrelled on as if Tenn had said nothing. "I'll keep you updated on our progress, I just had to make the move now or nothing was going to happen."
"You had no right to take Ira without his consent," Dib snapped. "That's a human life you're messing with."
"He's still obligated to Empire duties, end of discussion!"
"No, not end of discussion!" Dib argued. "That counts as abduction and as leader of the Swollen Eyeball Corporation, I am not going to stand for that! You had better have a damn good plan to redeem yourself for this, Red."
"Tallest Red. It's enough I'm keeping you updated and allied. Just think about that."
"You had better find Tak," Dib warned.
"We will. But on my terms."
With that, the transmission was over. Dib punched at the controls and hollered, "There is absolutely no getting through to that guy!"
"Come on," Lex coaxed him, pulling him away from the computer. "I think what we all need to do right now is breathe."
She was right. Too much had happened. The second Invasion plot was over, but it felt like another loss. Red was back in position as Tallest... and unfortunately, so was Ira. We had no idea where Tak was, who still followed her, or what she had planned next.
The next few minutes found us all—myself, Zim, Dib, Lex, Tenn and my father—in the common room. Silent. Waiting. Too afraid to be the one to begin speaking.
Because every single one of us felt lost.
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Author's Notes:
Whew… Gaz finally gets a long chapter but… sorry if you guys are lost at all with this one… again, a lot will start making more sense in upcoming chapters! ^^; I kinda feel bad that this happened to be the chapter before Valentine's Day. D: Because it's all about loss… (And, man, there is just no talking to Red, is there?)
Zim's PAK is a little more sentient now… I actually really love this trait. I love writing it/him. I have this thing about villains/antiheroes/duality, etc. etc. … heh… We'll see some reactions to exactly what it/he is in the coming chapters…
I just realized that this would actually kind of be the perfect place to end a part… but Part 3 really does need to be as long as it is, so it shall continue on, without being split~! (I contemplated that, but I didn't want to add an extra part, especially since we're through most of it…)
However, I do have to take a slight break right now, due to some huge time commitments at work (I'm working on three shows at my theatre job, so this is totally in the interest of staying rested and not rushing…). But it'll be good to get a bit of rest in, and I'll see you again on Saturday, February 25th! :3 (I just want to play it safe; I really don't want to rush this next part… sorry to have to leave you hanging here for a bit, ack! But I'll hope to return with at least one continuous chapter as well as a flashback I've been saving as buffer for a while…!)
Much love to all who read~~! :3
~Jizena
(Also a huge awesome thank-you shoutout to RavenFollower13 for her MiMi art~~ :3)
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