Part Three: Vow
POV: Zim
Artist: Garbage
Comments: Do not hate me for this part. Sadly, I had a lot of fun writing this specific chapter. And now have a new respect for 'Garbage'. More of their songs will show up later. Mucho thanks to my betas, Tif and Verdi (what would I do without you two? Wallow in miserable colloquial language and grammatical errors, that's what would happen!)


She was finally asleep.

Her hand was still on his chest. The way it moved with the rhythmic rise and fall of his breathing almost made him want to remain there. It was strangely soothing. But he had a mission to do.

Slowly, he pulled out from under her embrace, and pulled the covers off of him. The night air was cold, and the fact that they were underground only added to the dropping temperature. It was refreshing, nevertheless, and Zim almost didn't want to pull back on his uniform.

He took one last glance at Gaz. She lay there among the lost horizon of sheets, her eyes flinching every so often as though, even in dream, she did not trust the air around her. The way her hair was strung over her face, plastered from all the sweat, was alluring. This would be the last peaceful night she would have.


/I can't use what I can't abuse
and I can't stop when it comes to you
you burned me out but I'm back at your door
like I always do
I come back for more./


Zim left the room quickly and took the elevator down to the main engine room. He needed to send the message to his leaders that he would be departing Earth soon with the human test subject.


/I nearly died
I nearly died
I nearly died/


He nearly fell for her. He nearly let her conquer him. But he couldn't let that happen. He had a mission, and all his feelings for her had to be pushed inside. No... they had to be deleted. He had a mission from the beginning of their relationship, and it wasn't to fall in love. Of course, he admitted he had feelings for her. Anyone would, after being so alone for so long. He was reaching out for someone to understand him, and he had received exactly that. But now it was time to make the ultimate sacrifice for duty and honor. He served the Irken Empire. Not himself. Zim vowed to sever the ties that bound him and her together for the sake of subjugation.


/I came to cut you up
I came to knock you down
I came around to tear your little world apart
I came to shut you up
I came to drag you down.
I came around to tear your little world apart
...and break your soul apart/


After his attempts with human experimentation failed so long ago, Zim had tried to find an easier way to get around it. It took him years to figure out that he did not need the services of the Dib human... he merely needed another source. A source that lacked a spirit that fought back. A source that was weak, and on that last thin thread of life. A source that could easily be broken.


/you burn and burn to get under my skin
you've gone too far now I won't give in
you fell for me but I'm back in your bed
I fell for you but I'm back from the dead/


So many years, and she was right in front of him. In fact, Zim could even go as far to say that she found him. She sealed her own fate. It was that single day when she sat by his side and opened her heart... he almost turned her away, but he found that it would be so simple to manipulate her.

Little Gaz, the poor, pathetic child that she was, was too far gone from humanity to matter to her society anymore. In a way, he respected her. She'd realized all her life how utterly stupid and ignorant humans were, and chose not to be a part of it. She'd understood the significance of his conquering of her species- she even supported the idea, telling him often that it would probably do humanity a lot of good. That kind of open mindedness and understanding was hard to come by, and especially a surprise that it came from Gaz. Gaz, who was literally a foil of her brother in that she rejected his chauvinistic emotions toward Earth. Gaz, who was an outcast in her relation to her father as well, in that he was forever obsessed with the idea of saving mankind. It was a strange trinity that family was. The son loved humanity, the father tried to save it, and the daughter rejected it altogether.


/I nearly died
I nearly died
I nearly died/


Gaz's rejection of her own race would be its downfall. But what she didn't know was that she was already assisting him in his conquest. Their activities tonight alone were already scanned; millions of bits of data regarding humans and their functions all input into the computer. He had enough information to wipe out the entire human race with a simple, human DNA consumption virus if he'd wanted to.

Zim blinked and realized that he'd been distracting himself again. He put his focus back on his screen as his message slowly dispatched between the solar system and the Irken quadrant. His eyes quickly moved over to a picture that sat off to the side atop his console. It featured him, and Gaz (and Gir off to the side, but only because the little robot begged to be in the picture) standing next to each other so close. He had always wondered up until tonight's experience why humans had to be so damn close and affectionate. Now he knew why.


/I came to knock you up
I came to cut you down
I came around to tear your little world apart
I came to rip you up
I came to shut you down
I came around to tear your little world apart
...and break your amethyst soul apart (^.^)/


Quickly and swiftly, he picked the picture frame up and took out the picture. He tossed the picture aside with exceptional accuracy, and it landed into the hole of the disposal unit. Then, with some thought, he put the frame inside a drawer for safe keeping.

It was a really nice frame.


/I nearly died
I nearly died
I nearly died/


A note flickered onto the screen that the message had been sent. Satisfied, Zim stood up, realizing that dawn was imminent. Gaz would be awake, soon, and he needed to be there when she arose. He quickly jogged back to the elevator and took it to his room. He stripped off his shirt as he entered the room, and realized that his sleeping human subject was just beginning to stir.

He stood to stare at her for a moment. He remembered how in the beginning he had to carefully push himself into the silent reverie that she escaped to. It was where she went every time she couldn't stand her people, and in that way he drilled himself into the her very soul.


/I came to cut you up
I came to knock you down
I came around to tear your little world apart
I came to shut you up
I came to suck you down
I came around to tear your little world apart/


She looked so different as she slept, he noted. Whether it was the cast of dawn's light on her face as it slowly crept into the room with the ever changing time, or the way that her usual stern facade of enmity for all living things was replaced with a rather serene countenance filled with gravity and little emotion, she looked somehow... not herself. She was beautiful. Almost... Irken. The bold way she held up her chin so high, as though she ruled the world. The fierce way her lips seemed not to say 'I hate you' but rather, 'I dominate you'. Eyelids now masked her all too human eyes, and her hands were curled up into fists by her side.

Zim shook himself away from the trance and slipped underneath the covers, slowly picking up her hand and resting it on his chest just like it was before. Almost immediately, she woke. Curious eyes- human eyes, gazed over at him with such vivid beauty that he almost wondered why he never liked human eyes before.

She smiled, and yawned. She leaned over to him and whispered that it had been an interesting experience, and he nodded in agreement. He pulled her closer and let her head relax on his chest, letting her fall back asleep- it was still early, and she would need her rest.


/tear your little world apart
tear your little world apart
and break your bloody soul apart
I can't stop when it comes to you
I can't stop when it comes to you
when it comes to you
when it comes to you/


With Gaz encased in his arms, Zim looked up to the sky beyond his window, toward the endless horizons of space- towards home- and wondered briefly if he would be as happy there as he was at this moment. But it was a transient emotion, and soon he fell asleep, unconsciously gripping her more tightly in his protective embrace.


A/n: More stuff to come! Definitely more 'Garbage' but there'll be a lot of stuff from the musical, too. And no, I've not neglected my other stories. Look at my profile to find out what's going on with the rest of those stories you've been waiting for ^.~ Ooh, and you can flame me in this fic if you want. I don't mind for this specific story, as long as your argument is clear and you don't sound inane (hint: if you don't know the word 'inane', you probably shouldn't flame me). Anyone who draws any scene from here will be forever exalted in my throne of specialness and stuff. ::blushes:: I wouldn't mind if they were singing in the scene, either.