Chapter Five: The Lizaq

     Kiana easily got permission to meet Dib Jr. in the library, but Gretchen would not allow any communications with Irkens or Mel. So, he had to sneak out at midnight and met her outside her door. Instead of meeting in the library, they headed for the park and planned underneath a bench.

     "So, what's your plan?"

     "What do you mean?"

     "You can't just go back in time and try to save your father's life without a plan! How did he die?"

     "Mom said that Mel killed him."

     "Oh, yes...that."

     "You knew?"

     "Yes. You see, being a Kivoc can sometimes do strange things to the mind. She thought she was relieving him of pain and suffering. She did it out of love for a friend. My mom didn't see his pain."

     "But the soldiers said that he was screaming and pleading for his life!"

     "Sometimes the mind is distorted so that she hears and sees differently. She thought he was asking for death. It's just something that happens as a result of turning against being a Kivoc. She couldn't help it. She tried to kill my father, too, but was able to stop herself. The Kivocs are born killers, and when they rebel, it is taken out on their best friends. That's why I must succeed in destroying Irk, or else you'll suffer."

     "You consider me your friend?"

     "What else would I consider you as?"

     "I don't know...a weird alien."

     "You're funny. Now, what's the plan?"

     "We've got to talk your mom out of it. We've got to show her that he doesn't want to be killed."

     "That might save my mother, too, because she's taking a dangerous path that leads to killing. If we don't do something, she'll start slaughtering innocent people!"

     "We've got to do something, now!"

     "Okay. I'll think back to that time...just a little earlier than before..." She took out the Lizaq and closed her eyes in deep concentration. "Hold onto me. This may be a little rougher than last time." He gripped her arm tightly, and the knife began to glow milky white again. "Here we go." There was a flash of light, and they were in the middle of a desert landscape. "Where do we go from here?"

     "I think he died in a cave."

     "There!" Using her blade as a pointer, she indicated a cave that wasn't far off. "We must hurry! There's no telling how much time we have!" In spite of the heavy gusts of wind blowing opposite them, they sprinted forth in hopes of changing the future. "We're almost there! I see it clearer now!"

     "Kiana?"

     "Yeah?"

     "I just wanted to say thanks. Thanks for being on my side."

     "Any time...friend." They paused for a bit, catching their breaths. Those eyes...they reminded him of something, but he couldn't quite place it. Like silver glass, they reflected the view as clear as a river.

     "Your eyes are really reflective."

     "So are yours."

     "What?"

     "The...eyepieces."

     "Oh, my glasses."

     "Mom wears 'em too."

     "Why don't we go on, now?"

     "All right." Within the next few minutes, they reached the cave and saw Dib--the one we know--pinned against the rock wall. He was ill and had a knife to his neck. Zim was in the background, telling Mel to stop; she would regret it later.

     "Mel! You've gone insane! Why are you doing this?! I thought he was your friend!"

     "I can't kill him. I just can't bring myself to."

     "Then get away! Come here! I'll help you. We've got to get out of here, though! The Irkens will be here any minute!" Kiana and Dib Jr. heard the vehicles coming, locked hands, and sped towards where Zim and Mel were. Irken, Falish, and Seraul troops filed in, blocking escape. Dib Jr. headed for his father, at this point in time about his size and age, and hugged him.

     "Who are you?" he asked weakly.

     "I'm your future son." Dib smiled, and his eyes closed. He was about to die of illness, and couldn't get up. Mel was rambling in the background, though the words were clear to her. She drew the knife she had retrieved from Dib's pocket, whispered goodbye, and poised to drive it into him. In a state of delirium, she mistook Dib Jr. for Dib, and he was killed instantly.

     "NOOO! Dib, NO!" Kiana darted past the soldiers and picked up his fallen form. "Please be okay...no, you can't die!" Grabbing a dry branch, Mel stuck it into the fire, allowing it to catch and light up. Kiana had told her father everything about going back in the past, and Zim kissed her forehead before going to stop Mel.

     "Stop it! Stop it, now! Don't torch this ika! He might still be alive!"

     "No one's going to experiment on my friend!"

     "No one said anything about that! There must be some way to bring you out of this...unleashing of hatred! You're such a sweet girl!"

     "I must rid my friend of his pain." Zim tugged on her arm, but it didn't work. She could not be stopped.

     Beginning to lower the torch on Dib Jr. and Kiana's heads, Zim yelled out, "Kiana! The Lizaq!" Levitating it by the force of her mind, she brought it into her hand. Radiating from the weapon was a greenish luminosity. It changed into blue, then purple, red, orange, yellow, and green again.

     'I have two options,' she thought. 'I can either keep this up here and protect us from being burnt to death, but Dib would die...or I can use this to heal Dib and be killed myself.' She brought it down on Dib Jr., but it didn't even scratch him. Instead, his wounds healed over, and he opened his eyes.

     "Thank...you..."

     "No problem." The moment Mel brought the torch down on Kiana, Zim pulled her backward. They landed on the ground together, and the branch fell out of her grip. Mel struggled against him, but Zim held her back.

     "Stay here! Mel, what will it take for you to listen to a word I'm saying? How much larger of a shock than finding out that we have a daughter in the future?"

     "I...I have a daughter?" she asked.

     "Yes. Kiana, meet your daughter, also named Kiana." Mel fell down, for her legs could not support her. Hugging Young Kiana, she forgot about what was happening and began to cry.

     "Kiana...Young Kiana...I am so sorry you must see me this way."

     "I understand, Mom. I am a Kivoc too."

     "Your eyes..." she said, "...remind me of someone. Someone I've seen."

     "Me too," Zim said. Dib also agreed. "But what could those eyes remind me of?"

     "I know," Mel said. "I know what her eyes remind us of. Her eyes remind us of death. We've all met it, but we've come back out of it. Remember that girl? Zim, you saw her walk into the path of that large machine. I saw her, too, and so did Dib."

     "Then you mean that your daughter is death?"

     "No! I'm just saying that her eyes remind me of death, but I don't know how she could get them."

     "The Falish have silver eyes like that. Do you have any Falish background, Mel?"

     "Not as far as I know."

     "The only way would be...oh, no. I am part Falish."

     "Mom," Kiana said, "I'm going to save Dib's father."

     "Okay. Thank you." They turned to Dib, who was getting sicker by the moment, and saw the little Irken girl lift the Lizaq and point it to his head. He lay still, and then began to stir. Mel helped him up, put her hand to his forehead, and noted that he had a regular temperature. "Are you feeling better?"
     "Yeah...I was scared for a moment. I thought you were going to kill me."

     "I would never do that in my right mind. I just...I've suppressed my want to kill for so long...it came back this way. I'm glad you're alive."

     "Me too."

     "Zim, why don't we leave now? Children, you'd better get back to your own time." It felt odd saying that, considering that the people being referred to as children were about her age.

     "All right," they said in unison. Hugging their respective parents, they bid farewell to see them in the future.

     "I love you, Kiana," Mel said as her future daughter disappeared. "Hey, Zim, are you going to get us out of here, or what?"

     "What? Oh, yes, sure."

     "And Dib...as for you, you're going to live. I am happier than I can ever express."

     "Here. I want you to have this." He handed her the photograph of them at the skool dance, but she gave it back.

     "You'll need it more than I." Instead, he handed her the knife. "Thank you. Now I know for sure you'll never use it on yourself."

     "How could I do that, now that I know I'll have a son?"

     "You're right. I want you to have my Lizaq, though. Keep it out of my sight and out of my hands. Such a weapon holds too much for me. Take it." Accepting it, they said goodbye, and Mel disappeared, to awaken in her reality.

     "So, Zim...you say you have a daughter with Mel?"

     "Not yet...I have to take some of her DNA and mix it with some of mine. That's how the Irken system works."

     "Zim, could you do me a favor?"

     "What kind of favor?"

     "Could you...mix some of my DNA in?"

     "I guess."

     "Okay. Thanks." The soldiers, dumbstruck, made a path for them, and Dib ended up going to Fali and meeting Gretchen. When he discovered that she was neglectful, he gained custody of his son, who was named Dib Jr. After seeing what his name would be in the Old Language, it was still Dib, and he knew that his son was the one the prophecy told of.

     Mel unlocked the secret of space-time four years later when she was seventeen and returned to meet her daughter. She soon learned of the DNA trick Zim had played on Dib's request and moved to planet Fali. The two friends set up a school for paranormal investigation, which Kiana and Dib Jr. attended and got high marks. Their household was as loving as a family's and as casual as a couple of roommates living together. Earth was long gone, but not long forgotten, and the two children became ecologists who specialized in Earth. Zim was the ruler of the snack-planet and published a copy of Mel's diary, thus ending the war between Irk, Fali, and Seraul. The three species knew peace for centuries before an outside attack threatened and destroyed trust. If it weren't for the bravery of Dib Jr. and Kiana, their lives would've ended in misery and pain. It was a tragedy prevented and an infinite amount of horrible deaths averted for the good of all living creatures...or so they thought.

Author's Note: This is a lead-in for Part Three; it's really supposed to all be one story, but that would be too long for one story. Part Three will be up soon.