Arm: Well, here's chapter one to ASToF! We got up really early to get typing this because it's really long. Really long.
Leg: Yes, and it takes us forever to type things up. We hope you all enjoy this!
A Strange Twist of Fate: Chapter One: And So They Meet Again
Dib woke up the next morning, cranky as hell from the little to no sleep he had gotten the night before. He did his usual morning routine without thinking, putting on his signature trench coat and boots. Why couldn't today be a Saturday instead of a Wednesday? Dib asked himself as he moved his sickle-like hair out of his brown eyes.
Dib grabbed his book bag and lunch (he leaned to bag lunch a long time ago, after the organ-stealing ordeal with Zim while he was in sixth grade) and headed out the door without saying good bye. There was no telling if Professor Membrane was at the lab already. Gaz already left to go to skool without him, because he couldn't hear her games from his room.
Dib walked over to the skool, just as bored as ever. He didn't want to go into Mrs. Sunshine's class; she was just so damned annoying. She was nice, too nice. You could kill someone in her class and get away with it, without even a yell from her. And what was up with her and the word "special"? She used it at least one in a sentence, and about two to three times in a paragraph.
Dib sat down in his usual seat and ignored the girls talking about him in the corner. Those bitches always talked about him. He began doing his homework for the next week and waited for Mrs. Sunshine to walk into the room. He was pegged with a few paper balls, but he chose to ignore the person who threw them; this was a daily thing, and he was used to it. He just hoped that Mrs. Sunshine would get there soon and tell those girls to sit back in their seats.
"Good morning, class. Today we happen to have a very special surprise! We have a special new student!" Mrs. Sunshine said in a sickeningly sweet voice.
Oh, shut up, Dib thought to himself. Wait a minute, a new student? Dib asked in his mind as he looked up from his work. He felt his jaw hit the ground.
"His name is Zim," she continued. Zim looked bored, his arms crossed, his eyes diverted to the ground in annoyance. He waited for her to say that he could sit down in any desk. He didn't want to look up from the ground because he knew he wouldn't see anyone he knew personally. He watched all the students in this class walk in, and he didn't see anyone of them he knew, unless a few walked in before he got there.
"Go ahead and take a seat, Zim," Mrs. Sunshine said, snapping him out of his thoughts. Zim did as he told, looking up from the ground briefly as he walked to the only empty desk, not too far from the back. He thought he recognized someone he didn't see walk in, but he couldn't tell if it really was him.
Dib shook his head. He could not believe it, he just could not believe it. Zim was back! Zim came back to Earth! Dib wanted to take a second look at Zim, just to see if he wasn't imagining it, but Zim sat down somewhere behind him. Dib decided he'd have to wait for lunch to see him again. He was about to fall asleep when a paper ball hit him in the back of his head and landed next to him.
Dib silently cursed at the individual who threw the ball at him. It was most likely one of those girls from the back. He turned around and glared at them for a bit before going back to catching up the sleep he had lost last night.
Zim smiled to himself. It worked! He was the one who threw the paper ball at Dib, but he did it just to get him to turn around so that he could see if it was Dib. He was ecstatic that somehow he ended up in the same class as Dib, yet again. He noticed that Dib looked healthier than the last time he had seen him. He had gained back all that weight he had lost when he was depressed, but he still looked as tired as he did back then.
Zim might have been happy, but his new teacher got on his nerves. Special this and special that, she was just plain annoying! Oh well, he couldn't wait for lunch. Maybe then he could finally get to talk to Dib. He was just waiting for Dib to start ranting about how he was an alien to his class, just like he had done five years ago when they first met.
Zim was glad to be back, and this time he was going to do things differently. He wasn't going to start any fights or chases between him and Dib, at least, not today. He was going to try to be friends with him, this once. He was going to make up for lost time.
Finally the lunch bell rang and the students walked out of the classroom. Zim got out of his seat last, glad that Mrs. Sunshine had finally been stopped. She may be annoying, but he knew that no one was more annoying than Ms. Bitters was.
Zim walked in line and hoped that whatever was given to him was edible. Cafeteria food was always unpredictable, and it was one of the few things he didn't miss while he was away. Zim walked out of the line after he paid for his lunch and looked around the lunchroom. He noticed somethings never changed, like Gaz and Dib sitting together at lunch. Zim held his breath and hoped that he would be able to sit with them.
"Hey! The new kid! Come over here and sit with us!" a girl shouted at him. Zim recognized her as the black girl sitting behind Dib. He walked over to the table she was sitting at.
"We saw what you did to Dib. Man, do you have good aim," another girl said to him. This was the girl who sat next to the black one in his class. She was white.
"Thanks…I guess," Zim said as he sat down. "So, what are your names?" Zim asked. He figured he might as well get to know them since it seemed like he was going to be sitting there.
"Carol," the white girl said. "And this is my bestfriend, Crystal. We already know your name, Zim," Carol said as Zim opened his mouth to state his name.
"Oh," was all that Zim could manage after that. He glanced over at Dib and Gaz.
"We wanted to know if you wanted to be apart of our Dib-bashing club," Crystal stated, getting right down to business.
"Yeah, you would be a great member," Carol added.
"I don't know. You see, Dib and I know each other from somewhere else, we're kind of rivals already. It wouldn't be as fun if I were apart of you…club," Zim told them.
"I kinda figured you two knew each other," Crystal said. "His jaw kind of dropped to the ground when he saw you, like he was shocked to see you."
"I didn't notice, I was already falling asleep," Carol put in. "Once Mrs. Sunshine starts talking, I'm completely out of it," Carol added.
"I know what you mean. She's so damned annoying as well. I mean, what is it with her and the word 'special'?" Zim asked. "Look, if you don't mind, I have to catch up on old times," Zim said as he eyed Dib walking towards a trashcan to throw out his lunch.
"Oh, sure, no problem, Zim," Carol stated. "Go ahead and catch up."
"We'll be watching!" Crystal called out to him as he went to the trashcan to throw out his untouched lunch.
Zim walked up behind Dib and said, "Hello, Dib, did you miss me?" Zim asked in a slightly mocking tone.
Dib's shoulders tensed at Zim's voice. "No, not at all, alien, why would I miss you?" Dib asked as he turned around to face Zim.
"Well, well, well, you're still saying all that paranormal shit," Zim noted. "I'm not surprised. When was the last time you saw Big Foot? I haven't heard from him in a while," Zim said, though he didn't want to. He was all saying this without thinking.
The whole student body shook with laughter. "Shut up, Zim, you are the last person who should talk. How did you get back to Earth anyway? Did you runaway or something?" Dib asked.
"I went to my grandparents for the past year, Dib. My parents had to work something out," Zim lied.
"Sure, whatever, Zim. But let me remind you, I will prove to the world that you're an alien, and you will be on an autopsy table," Dib said.
"Yeah, sure, they're all empty threats," Zim stated as he walked away. Well, so much for trying to start things over, Zim just blew that one. Zim silently berated himself about it, but at least he felt whole again.
Dib smiled cynically to himself. Well, he did want Zim back, did he not? Next time he'd have to be careful as to what he wished for. Though, he had to admit that was fun. He really missed those little fights between him and Zim.
"Oh no, they're at it again," Gaz whispered to herself as she played her new game for her GameSlave Advanced. She had sincerely loved the peace and quiet from her brother since Zim left, and now he was back. Damn him.
Carol and Crystal were impressed. Zim was the only person ever to get that kind of reaction out of Dib. No one in the whole skool could have gotten insulted by Dib like that, no matter how hard they tried. The two of them, up until that point, believed that Dib didn't speak to anyone but his sister. They figured that Zim and Dib must have had the biggest rivalry known to man. But there was something else they noticed: Zim and Dib didn't say those things with the kind of hatred you expect from rivals, and they didn't look like they despised each other, but really liked each other.
The two girls both seemed to know more about our heroes than they knew about themselves at the time….
Zim walked out of the lunchroom to get his things for his afternoon classes. He couldn't believe how easy it was for him to say those things to Dib. He didn't want to, and he figured his tone kind of gave it away, because Dib didn't say things as hateful as he used to.
"So why are you back, Zim?" Dib asked from behind him.
Zim slightly jumped at Dib's voice. "Don't do that!" Zim shouted at him. "And why do you want to know?" Zim asked as he narrowed his eyes.
Dib smiled at that reaction. "I simply want to know what you've been up to the past year or so. Were you out taking over different worlds, perhaps? Or did you need a vacation from trying to take over this world?" Dib asked sarcastically.
"Neither," Zim answered. "And you know what, it's none of your business. If I want to tell you what I was up to in the past year, I'll tell you, but only if I feel like it," Zim told him with hesitation.
"You haven't changed at all," Dib said under his breath.
"How would you know? The last six months before I left, you were too depressed to care about anything. I could have changed a lot," Zim said.
"Shut up, I don't want to be reminded of that," Dib said suddenly.
"Fine then, but I'll just say this: I didn't like it when you were like that," Zim admitted.
"Why are we suddenly getting along?" Dib asked. "I mean, usually by now we're ready to rip each other's throats out," Dib continued.
"I don't know, but if you don't want to get along, I can change that, pathetic human," Zim stated.
"You bag of space meat," Dib replied automatically.
"I don't want to get into petty name calling contests now, Dib, I'll be late for class," Zim said as he closed his locker finally and began to walk away.
Dib followed him. "What, afraid you'd lose?" Dib asked.
"No, it's just that I don't have the time or the patience to deal with it," Zim replied.
"You were the one who started it!" Dib pointed out. "Besides, time and patience never mattered to you before," Dib said.
"Like I said, I've changed, you just haven't noticed until now. But, I want to know, why didn't you try and kill yourself once I was gone?" Zim asked.
Dib remained silent. "Because...because I just didn't, Zim," Dib answered weakly. If only he knew how many times he almost did kill himself while he was away.
"Did you tell anyone about what you almost did to yourself?" Zim asked.
"No…. You're the only one who knows about it," Dib answered quietly. "And I didn't thank you for knocking some sense into me," Dib began.
"Don't thank me just yet, Dib," Zim stated.
"Why shouldn't I? You saved my life, Zim, I owe you at least a thanks," Dib told him.
"Look, Dib, you don't owe me anything. I just did what I felt was right, that doesn't mean you should get all sappy on my ass," Zim told him as they walked into the class. Zim shut up and sat down in his desk and (un)happily waited for Mrs. Sunshine to start talking.
Dib watched him sit down before sitting in his own seat. Zim really did change like he said, and Dib knew that he himself had changed too. Before Zim had left, he had been egotistical, bent on world domination, and enslaving the human race. Now, none of those things really were Zim. Dib had no idea why that was, but he enjoyed the change. And Zim's appearance changed as well, making him more adorable. Yes, Zim was adorable, and Dib didn't care if thought that way about his rival.
Well, that wasn't entirely true. Before, Dib would've never have even admitted it to himself. Even as a kid he knew he thought of Zim differently, and in a way he would have killed himself (if he had admitted it to himself). It didn't make any sense. How could he, a paranormal-investigator-to-be, fall for the one thing that he, his whole life, had been searching for?
Dib shook his head as Mrs. Sunshine continued talking about the importance of plastic. He placed his elbow on the desk and leaned his head against his hand in a bored fashion. When does she stop? Dib asked himself, unaware of the people staring at him.
Carol and Crystal were thinking of their usual ways of getting on Dib's nerves. They liked picking on him, mostly because they thought it was the "cool" thing to do. Dib was picked on by everyone, and only because he was always going on about aliens, ghosts, and seeing Big Foot in his garage. And they didn't want to be left out of it, because they would be deemed as un-cool.
But Carol also had Zim on her mind. She saw him talk to Dib in the halls. Why would he talk to his once biggest rivals like they were bestfriends? She knew that the two must have shared something between that caused them to understand each other, but why would they act like friends?
Zim watched Dib as well, but as a way to keep himself from being bored. He had really missed "studying" Dib in the past year he was away from Earth. He smiled as he continued to think of Dib. Dib was perfectly all right; he hadn't done anything to himself while he was gone. He hoped he and Dib would become friends (or something close to what one would call friendship), he was very lonely while he was back on Irk, even if Gir was with him.
Zim believed that he needed no one, when he was younger, but he proved himself wrong when the Tallest took Gir from him and gave him a SIR unit. SIR just wasn't the same as Gir, Zim had realized, because a SIR was just bland, it had no personality. It didn't provide entertainment like Gir did, either, but the point was that Zim needed Gir because he was like a friend to him by then.
Now Zim realized he needed companionship to keep from going crazy. He figured he might as well make some friends, starting with Dib. Dib was someone he always knew he could be friends with, if they stopped trying to kill each other. He did like those two girls, Carol and Crystal, they seemed to be really cool, but he didn't like how they made fun of Dib, even if he himself had done so in the past.
Zim took out a notebook. He liked to write fictional accounts about himself and Dib, actually getting along and being nice to one another. He knew they could get along, but they had to keep up traditional teasing and mind games. Zim looked outside for a little while, and noticed it looked like rain. Zim shivered at that, he didn't want to walk home in a storm, especially since he hadn't bathed in paste.
Zim sighed as he began to write. His spelling and grammar were still considerably bad, but he was improving with every story he wrote or read. He was still getting used to the English language, and after all, it was one of the hardest languages to learn. This story was much like his others: it took place after he had stopped Dib from jumping off of Suicide Bridge, and he and Dib became friends not too long after that.
Zim remembered what his only friend he had made of Irk, Jazz, had told him after he had read one of Zim's stories, how he must have really cared for Dib. Zim knew that Jazz only said thing like that unless he was certain it was true. Jazz was really like a big brother to him, especially since Jazz was taller than him, even if had grown two feet of so during his time on Earth. Zim hadn't tried to deny it. So what if he cared for his rival? You cared for whomever you wanted to, and that was just the way it was.
But there was something else Jazz had said, a something else that made Zim really think. Jazz had said that he didn't only care for Dib, but that he liked or even loved him. Zim had looked up at Jazz almost like he was crazy, but he eventually let it sink in. That was why Zim made up his mind to go back to Earth. Jazz had helped him understand his emotional attachment for the planet.
Zim looked back outside. It was drizzling right then, and he looked at the clock. It was 2:35, and Zim silently hoped that the rain would clear up before skool ended. He should have watched the Weather Channel like he usually did. If he had, he would have bathed in paste and he wouldn't have to worry about it. Zim looked back over at Dib, who seemed to be asleep.
Zim knew he liked the human, there was no questioning that. It was the question he loved Dib that he was still trying to figure out. He told himself he would only know in time.
Dib looked out the window himself. He noticed that it was raining relatively hard. He glanced behind himself at Zim. Zim looked like he was slightly nervous, and Dib knew that Zim must have forgotten to go whatever protected him from water. He felt sorry for Zim, it was his first day back, and he would have to walk home in the rain. A part of him yelled at himself for feeling sorry, but Dib ignored it.
Dib had brought an umbrella with him, he knew about the possibility of rain because of his sister. Gaz always seemed to know when it was going to rain. It was one of her weird talents, like being able to balance anything possible, even bowling balls.
Dib told himself that he would help Zim out, just this once. It wasn't very sportsman-like to watch his rival go defenseless like that. He just hoped that Zim would take his offer of help. Zim was usually stubborn when it came to accepting help from his enemies. Plus, it would help him get to know why Zim was back on Earth.
Dib and Zim's thoughts were cut short as the end-of-skool bell rang. Everyone got out of their desks and almost killed one another to get out. Zim and Dib smartly waited for everyone to get out of the classroom before getting out of their desks.
"I hate the rain," Zim hissed as he picked up his books and homework out of his locker.
"I brought an umbrella if you don't mind sharing with me, Zim," Dib forced himself to say as he placed his binder in locker, which was next to Zim's.
Zim looked at Dib strangely before shaking his head. "Why would you want to help me, the alien from outer space?" Zim asked as he walked up to Dib. "You're not trying to capture me, are you?"
"No, of course not Zim, I don't stoop that low. I just figured that you didn't protect yourself from water today. And since I feel like being a nice guy to you for right now, I figured that sharing my umbrella would suffice," Dib explained.
Zim studied Dib's face for about five seconds before making up his mind. "All right, fine, but no splashing me 'by accident,' okay?" Zim ordered.
"Fine, fine, I wasn't going to anyway," Dib said as they walked out of the skool. Dib opened up his umbrella and Zim stayed under the umbrella as best he could without getting wet. In order to do that, Zim had to be very close to Dib, but he didn't mind it, and Dib didn't seem to care.
"Stupid rain…" Zim muttered as he dodged yet another droplet of water coming off of the umbrella.
"It must suck to be hurt by water, Zim," Dib stated. He moved closer to Zim to help him stay away from the water dripping off his umbrella.
Zim looked up at Dib. "Yes, it does…. Water was one of the few things I didn't miss while I was away from Earth," Zim told him. He liked the sudden closeness he was feeling from Dib, like they were suddenly bestfriends.
Dib had to control himself from getting lost in Zim's eyes. "Am I apart of those few things, Zim?" Dib asked. He didn't know why he had asked that; he already knew the answer.
Zim looked away from Dib and looked down at the ground, apparently deep in thought. He was wondering if he should tell Dib why he came back to Earth in the first place. "No, you aren't among those things," Zim finally answered. "I actually missed you and your annoying rants. I thought of you nearly everyday, you and this planet. In all reality, Dib, I like Earth more than I like my own planet," Zim stated as he looked back at Dib.
Dib blinked at Zim before turning away from him. Why…why did Zim tell him that? Zim really missed him? And Zim liked Earth even more than he liked his own home planet? Dib could barely believe it. "So you did runaway…" Dib muttered to himself.
"No, actually, I didn't," Zim told him. "I just used my brain to get back here. The Tallest let me choose the planet I wanted to invade, so I chose Earth, but this time I won't try to invade it," Zim explained.
"You're…not going to try and take over the world?" Dib asked as he looked back over at Zim.
"Not anymore, Earth is my home now," Zim stated. He wondered why he was telling Dib all this, he usually didn't trust the human like this.
"You said you missed me, why?" Dib asked. "I mean, why did you miss me? I'm your fricken rival, Zim, you were supposed to be happy that you would never see me again!" Dib told him.
"I missed you for the same reasons I told you not to kill yourself, the ones that I kept from you," Zim answered as he looked down at the ground.
"Well, I missed you, too, Zim. It was just…weird…without you here," Dib admitted. "I didn't feel right without you," Dib added.
"Same here," Zim stated. He noticed that it had stopped raining. "Well, I'll see you around, Dib," Zim said quietly as he got out from under the umbrella.
"Bye, Zim," Dib said as he folded up the umbrella and walked off in a different direction. He knew he was going to have one hell of an entry for his journal tonight.
Zim walked into his house, smiling contentedly to himself. Today was one hell of a day. Maybe his "mission" of starting things over with Dib would go easier than he thought….
Arm: ::nurses her wrist:: I told you all it was long. Well, please review! We worked hard on getting this typed up! And now I have to go work on some other things I want to get typed up before we leave for Ohio. I hope you all enjoyed this! Please tell me you did.
Leg: Do as she said, and if you didn't, well, tell her anyway, it'll make her feel like she should improve.
Arm: Oh, shut up. You're typing up the next thing.
Leg: Fine then.
