Leg: Is this

Leg: Is this... Is this chapter three? OMG!

Arm: -_-'' Ignore her. We're on a mission to type up everything we need to type up before our skool starts. Which is the 29th of August, our first year anniversary on FFN as authors. Oi... I hate timing.

Leg: ^_^. Oh well. It's chapter three! Have fun! Oh yeah, something happens, then something else happens, and-- Oh, I'll just let you figure it out on your own. Arm's afraid that we got Dib and Zim out of character, but oh well… And we simply do not own IZ… I wish we did though…

A Strange Twist of Fate: Chapter Three: Untitled

Zim woke up the next morning, and felt as if something wasn't right. He searched his home base for intruders, and found nothing. Sighing, Zim figured that it was just his imagination and got ready for skool. How he despised skool. If he were still invading the Earth, that would be the first thing he would have destroyed. Well, maybe he could still do that…

Zim smiled at the thought of no skool, but stopped when he realized that it would most likely come back, twice as worse. Zim shook his head and grabbed his disguise. He always put it on last, but sometimes that caused problems, because Gir could find it and mess with it.

While walking to skool, Zim could still feel as if something wasn't right. He wanted to shake the feeling off, but something told him that that wasn't going to happen. As he was turning the corner, he could hear a pair of girl's talking in the distance.

"Did you hear? Professor Membrane hit his own daughter last night!" one of them said excitedly.

Her friend with light blue hair looked at her strangely. "Why are you so happy about that? Dib must be feeling all alone right now… The only person who ever pretended to give a shit about him is gone, his only sister, his only family. Don't you feel the least bit sad about it?"

"Yeah, but still… It's just weird that her own father was the one to hit her!" the other replied.

Zim nearly stopped walking at what he had over heard. By the way the one girl with blue hair was talking, Gaz was dead. Sure, he didn't really care that much about her, but she was the closest person do Dib, as far as he knew. Dib would most likely be the most depressed person in the world right now because of this turn of events. Zim wanted to go and talk to Dib, to make sure that he was all right, but he knew that he couldn't skip skool, it was still his first week back.

Zim continued walking to skool, his heart heavy with worry. He just hoped that Dib didn't decide to do something stupid. He still had to confess his feelings for him, and he didn't want to do so to a dead body. The thought that Professor Membrane was the one who had killed Gaz made him even more worried. Zim sighed, he knew that today was going to be a long day at skool.

Dib woke up at around ten that morning. He looked at the time and sighed. At least his father knew to leave him alone this morning. Dib sneered at the thought of his father. He was going to move out as soon as he possibly could, there was just no way he was going to live in the same house as that murderer.

What was his dad thinking when he expected Dib to forgive him for killing his own sister anyway? If his father wasn't, well, his father, he would have done something horrible to him. Dib felt as if he didn't have a family now, because of his father. There was just no way he was ever going to forgive his father for this.

Dib sighed again and finally got out of his bed. He was still dressed in the clothes he had worn last night, so he didn't bother getting changed. He walked out of his room, depressed about his sister and angry at his father. That wasn't a very good combination for him. If one other bad thing happened to him, he would either break down crying or kill someone. He silently wished he had some kind of friend he could talk to about this.

He nearly fell down the stairs, but he didn't seem to care. He grabbed a box of cereal off of the refrigerator, and remembered all the times he had asked Gaz if she had finished his cereal. This only saddened him more, but he poured himself a bowl anyway. He ate in silence, and hoped that his father had gotten the hint last night and left to do something, as if nothing had happened. That was what he had done the day after his mother died. It was like his father felt bad, but it was only for a day, and then he was back to normal.

Dib sat down at his computer once he was done. He even looked through his old files on Zim and made some alternations to them in order to keep his mind off of his sister's untimely death. But he was too depressed to even manage that little task. He briefly wondered what the kids at skool were saying about all this. They probably didn't even realize that he was gone, most likely.

He was thrown out of his thoughts when the doorbell rang. He figured that it would be one of those people coming around to say, "I'm so sorry," about what had happened to him. Screw them and their sorry's, they wouldn't make a difference, they wouldn't bring Gaz back. Sorry was the only thing his father said when he should have been helping Gaz. Sorry meant nothing to him now. But out of plain curiosity as to whom it was on the other side of the door made Dib get up and answer it. It was a good thing he did too, because it was Zim who was on the other side of it.

"Hey, why weren't you at skool today?" Zim asked. He had decided to play dumb, to hear the truth from Dib and not those rumors he had been hearing all day.

Dib looked at him as if he didn't realize he was there, then suddenly shook his head and moved out of the way to let Zim in. "What, were you deaf all day or something? I bet that the whole damn skool was talking about it," Dib stated as he shut the door behind Zim.

"You're right, they were, but I wanted to hear the truth from you." There seemed to be no emotion in Zim's voice as he said that, but Dib could hear the slight worry in it. Dib studied Zim's facial expression for a bit. "Is what they're saying true, Dib?" Zim asked quietly, but sternly.

"It depends on what they were saying," Dib replied as he looked off to the side. Please, just leave me alone, Zim; just let me think of this in peace. I don't want to drag you into this.

Zim sighed, he really didn't want to say this, because he didn't want to upset Dib and further than he must have been at the moment. "They are saying that your own father hit Gaz last night, and killed her."

"He's not my father," Dib stated harshly as he sat down on the couch. "He's just someone who had to keep Gaz and I in his custody. But yes, he was the one who killed my sister last night."

Zim was shocked to hear such hatred from Dib. It sounded as if he had completely disowned his father. Zim watched as Dib's anger melted away and became saddened.

"She shouldn't have died, though. She was just too young to go the way our mother did. Carelessness was what killed her. If only he had been more careful, had paid attention to what he was doing, it could have been avoided, and I'd still have a sister to call family," Dib mumbled to himself as he placed his head in his hands.

Zim had no idea what to do or say to cheer Dib up. His body went on autopilot though, and he sat down next to Dib. Something inside of him was screaming at him, telling what he should do next to help cheer up Dib, but he had no idea on how he should do so. Finally, he put a tentative hand on Dib's shoulder. "I have no idea what to tell you, Dib, except for the fact that I'm sor—"

"Don't say it! Do NOT say you're sorry!" Dib ordered. "He said sorry when he should have done something to help," Dib mumbled, his tears now becoming evident.

Zim decided to do as he was asked. He didn't even have to ask who "he" was, he knew he was Membrane, it just had to be. He put an arm around Dib's shoulders without thinking. "It'll be all right, you just have to give it time," Zim heard himself whisper.

"How the hell do you know? My only sister is gone, and I'm stuck living with him until I can get out of here! My life is a living hell at the moment! I wish…I wish I just had someone who I could…" Dib stopped in mid-sentence as he looked up at Zim. He could see that Zim truly wanted to help him, that he cared for him. Dib threw himself at Zim and cried onto his shoulder.

Zim slowly wrapped his arms around Dib's slender body. He tried his best to remember how humans comforted each other. Man, why was this suddenly so hard to do? All he wanted to do was help Dib, but it was so hard. He felt tears of frustration make their way to his eyes.

"It's even worse because I don't have any friends who I can go to, no one cares about me enough…. Except…except for you…" Dib mumbled into his shoulder. Dib pulled himself out of Zim's arms and wiped away his tears. Dib managed a halfhearted laugh at that. "It's funny, I never thought that my rival would be the only one who would be here, trying to comfort me…"

"What if I told you that I didn't want to be your rival anymore?" Zim asked quietly.

"Why wouldn't you? You really seemed to hate me, and I…well, I can't say this now, but I used to hate you…" Dib stated.

"I never really hated you, Dib, even in the beginning."

"How could you not hate me? I always got in your way!"

"If you had never done so, Dib, I wouldn't have grown so used to Earth, and I would have invaded it in less than a year," Zim told him.

"Who says?" Dib asked with a hint of a smile. He poked a finger at Zim. "When you first arrived here you couldn't make heads or tails of life here on Earth," Dib teased.

"So, I learned how to live here, didn't I?" Zim countered. His mood suddenly grew serious. He reached out and traced Dib's cheek with his hand. "I missed you so much while I was gone, Dib…. I don't think I could stand being without you, so don't go thinking about doing anything to yourself, like that one time over a year ago," Zim said softly.

Dib was shocked at the action and softly spoken words. He leaned into the touch. "I…I don't think I could stand being out with you either, Zim…. When you were gone, I tried killing myself, again and again, but I never was able to do so. I felt so empty inside…" (AN: Moving into Cliché land, where we…) Dib admitted.

"You were the only person who noticed me, Zim, and I know deep down that besides Gaz," he started, choking just slightly with tears, "you are the only person who would have stopped me from jumping off of that bridge. Membrane wouldn't have cared," Dib stated.

"You really think that, Dib?" Zim asked. He didn't know why, the question could—and most likely would—depress Dib even more. Dib just looked at him and nodded.

"I know he wouldn't care if I were to suddenly fall off the face of the Earth… But don't worry Zim, I'm not going anywhere any time soon, not when I love you too much to go anywhere," Dib said, letting it slip without thinking. (Arm: _ I TOLD you all I had writer's block! Now leave me alone about how dangerously sappy this is!!!)

Zim couldn't believe his ears. "You…you love me?" Zim managed to ask. Dib visibly relaxed a bit when he realized that Zim was no where near disgusted with him…for now.

"Yes," Dib answered cautiously. "I didn't mean to let it slip out like that, though. I'd completely understand if you didn't feel the same way, but—" Dib began to ramble, but Zim silenced him with a kiss. (Arm: Didn't I state that I moved into cliché land?) Dib made a small surprised squeak, but he kissed back.

From somewhere not too far from them, a figure stood. The figure had been hidden in the shadows for a long time, and finally decided to leave and go down to his lab. He couldn't believe it, his son hated him, and his son was gay. He could live with the latter; it was the former that he would like to change. Membrane grabbed a few of his things and began to work. He needed to get his mind off of things for a while.

Zim and Dib had stopped kissing a few moments after Membrane had left. Dib looked at Zim with wide eyes. He almost couldn't believe that what had just happened, just happened. "I feel the same way about you, Dib…" Zim mumbled softly, his lips brushing against Dib's since he hadn't moved that far from him.

Dib blushed lightly at that. At first he was ecstatically happy, but then saddened somewhat when he thought of what Gaz had said to him sometime ago. He chuckled quietly to himself at the memory. "If Gaz had just seen what we just did, she would have been like, 'Well it's about time,'" Dib said in response to Zim's confused expression.

"What do you mean?" Zim asked, still a little confused.

"She expected us to be doing this," Dib said as he kissed Zim, catching Zim off guard for once. Zim regained control of the situation. He was soon lightly pushing Dib down on the couch in their newly started make out session. Zim was so into what he was doing that he didn't even hear the beep of an incoming transmission and the screen popped out from his "book bag."

"Zim! Why we never—!" Red began to say as the…uh…"festivities," going on.

Zim's eyes flew open and he let go of Dib in his panic. "My Tallest! I can explain—" Zim began, but Purple silenced him.

"There's no need to explain, Zim, we saw everything," Purple said once he knew he could talk. Zim's fear and dread became more and more evident as the moment past by. "And, quite frankly, we are both shocked and appalled at the…er…display you have given us. Not ever in the history of Irken kind has this happened after The Law had been established. A top Invader like yourself knows the rules of being an Invader knows the law, and you've broken it," Purple continued.

"My Tallest, maybe we should give Zim a chance to redeem himself—" another Irken began.

"We already gave him another chance, remember Jazz?" Red asked the blue-eyed Irken.

Dib watched as Jazz looked down at the ground at that, and Zim seemed to understand what they were talking about as well. He figured that the red and purple Irkens were The Tallest, as Zim and Jazz referred to them. He was trying to take all this in. There was just so much of this he didn't understand.

"Please, I beg of you my Tallest, do not punish me for my mistakes, give me another chance," Zim begged. He didn't want to see so weak in front of Dib, but his life was on the line, and he'd do anything right now to keep it.

"We just can't do that Zim. You were caught doing un-Irkly things, and I also have a feeling that you were lying to us about invading Earth. You know what that we have the power to kill you for that," Red stated with little remorse.

"You can't just kill him without proving that he lied to you first!" Jazz spoke up again.

"Jazz! Just stay out of this!" Zim ordered.

Dib was getting more and more confused by the minute, but he was beginning to understand how Zim's race worked a little better as well. That other Irken, Jazz, must be Zim's friend, and he most likely didn't want his friend to die. Dib could see both the fear for Zim's life and determination to save it in Jazz's eyes.

"What do you know about Zim's true intentions on Earth, Jazz?" Red asked.

"I don't know what his true intentions are on Earth, Red," Jazz lied unflinchingly. He wasn't going to show his fear now, and Dib could tell.

"Are you sure, soldier, that Zim did not say that he only wanted to live on Earth, not invade it?" Purple asked.

'I'm positive, Sirs, that Zim did not tell m anything of that sort," Jazz replied. Dib glanced at Zim and saw the relieved look on his face.

Red and Purple studied Jazz for a little while longer before saying, "We believe you soldier," to Jazz when they were convinced. They both turned to Zim.

"My Tallest, before you pass judgment on me, I—" Zim was cut short once again.

"Zim, tell us the truth, did you or did you not fall for that human next to you?" Red asked.

"I did," Zim answered after a moment of giving Red and Purple a desperate look.

"Is he the reason why you wanted to invader Earth so badly?" Purple continued. Zim didn't answer right away; there were a lot of reasons why he wanted to "invade" Earth so badly. "Zim," Purple said warningly.

"Yes and no," Zim finally replied.

"Is it possible, Zim, that you and that human were together before you even came back to Irk?"

"No…though…though I wanted to be," Zim stated bravely.

Red and Purple both raised an eyebrow at that. They turned to each other and nodded. "Zim, since you have answered all the questions we had wanted to ask, we have come up with a suitable punishment for you," Purple stated.

"Yes, you are basically banished, again, but this time, you are not allowed to contact anyone from Irk unless they have gotten our permission to contact you. We will send what little belongings you have left here to your home on Earth. This means no coming back to try to be apart of another operation you end up hearing about and 'quitting' banishment again," Red stated with a disguised smile.

Zim flushed at the memory, but he nodded in understanding. And with that, the transmission ended. Dib had so many questions he wanted to ask, but he knew better not to.

"I can't believe they found me out already… They didn't even warn me that they were going to contact me today," Zim whispered in shock. "And now I'm worried…. If they find out that Jazz was lying to him…" Zim shuddered. "I don't want that to happen to my bestfriend…"

Dib hugged Zim. "It'll be alright, Zim. If you can get away with lying to them, then Jazz can too," Dib reassured him.

"I don't know, Jazz is a horrible liar most of the time…" Zim said quietly.

"Trust me, they said they believed him, didn't they?" Dib asked. He kissed Zim lightly on the lips in hopes that it would somehow take his mind off of what had just happened.

"Yeah… Look, Dib, I have to go," Zim stated sadly, slowly getting off of the couch. "Are you going to go to skool tomorrow?" Zim asked as Dib followed him to the door.

"I'll be there. Bye, Zim," Dib said as he watched Zim walk out of the door and down the street. He sighed and hoped that Zim would be all right.

A little while later, Dib was sitting down at his computer when his dad walked out from his lab. "Is he gone?" Membrane asked from behind him. Dib jumped about fifty feet in the air. He could tell that his father was not happy, but he didn't care.

"Is who gone, Membrane?" Dib asked with feigned innocence. He didn't even feel like calling him dad anymore.

"Zim? The green kid that was here. And don't play dumb with me, Dib, I know he was here. I watched you two for a while. You seem very close," Membrane stated coolly.

"You were spying on me?" Dib asked harshly. "That's low, Membrane, really low."

Membrane was getting more and more frustrated with the fact that Dib kept calling him by his name than dad. He couldn't say he didn't blame the boy, but still…. "I know, but I saw enough to realize why my son never had any girlfriends," he stated.

Dib finally turned to face him. "So you know about that? It's about time you finally noticed," Dib stated. The next thing Dib knew was his father's hand flying through the air and slapping him across the face.

"Don't you ever get smart with me again," Membrane ordered, completely ignoring the death glare he was receiving from Dib.

"Wow, that's the first time I ever saw you act like a father," Dib told him. He expected another slap at that, but he didn't get it.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Membrane said defensively.

"Yeah fuckin' right, dad," Dib spat out as if it was something very nasty he didn't like. "I don't even remember a time when you gave a damn about Gaz or me after mom died. I don't even know if I should be calling you 'dad' anymore," Dib stated. His father was working on his last nerves. "I sometimes wish you weren't my father," Dib said finally, and his statement was met with another slap, but this time he was ready for it.

Membrane ordered Dib to do something, and Dib just laughed at it. "I'm grounded? I don't think so. I don't have to listen to you, you don't control my life and you never have! I hate to burst your bubble."

"I am your father and as long as you live under this roof, you will respect me," Membrane continued.

Dib glared at him and turned from his father. "You may be my father by blood, but I have never thought of you as that. You were just the man who Gaz and I would call dad, but you never were him. Ever since mom died, I was the one who took care of Gaz. I was the one to go out to the store and buy the food. I have acted more like a father since I was four and a half than you have your whole goddamned life!" Dib yelled at his father.

Membrane blinked in surprise, then sank to couch. Was his son right? Was he really that bad of a father? He couldn't believe it. He was so wrapped up into his work that he didn't even notice his family. Dib was right, he had been a horrible father.

"Membrane, just to let you know, I don't care about what you think of Zim and I being together. I wanted to tell you I was gay, but you were always too busy to talk to me so I just gave up on telling you at all. You are possibly the only father in existence that would say he was too busy to talk to his own son for every day of an entire month, dad, you should be proud of yourself," Dib said as he left the room to go to his room. He needed to get away from his father for a while.

Membrane watched his soon leave with a heavy heart. His own son hated him. Hated him. He really was a bad father, and he knew he was going to have to make up for lost time. Though, something inside of him told him that he was too late to try again, and that Dib would never forgive him for what he had done.

Arm: I would like to note that I know everyone is slightly or more than slightly out of character, and that Jazz has a bigger part in this fic.

Leg: I still can't believe you brought him back for this fic.

Arm: I liked him, okay? And anyway, please review. ^_^ It would make me tremendously happy since skool started for us again.