AN: Well I wasn't really planning on writing a second chapter to thins thing, but I happened to be watching Spirit last night, and one of the songs seemed to fit Zim pretty well. Plus, there was a big gap between "Dust in the Wind" and it's sequel "What A Scene". This takes place right after Zim turns himself in. So now, here it is. Hope you like it. R/R please.
Sound the bugle now …play it just for me
Zim leaned against the slick glass wall of the tank staring at the metal floor below him. The truck carrying him rattled violently as it passed over a pothole. He closed his eyes silently and let out a silent moan of defeat. Outside the evening wing had begun to howl and was slowly finding it's way into the back of the truck he was in, swirling around the tank, making it fog a bit. Zim had been loaded in that he was being moved from the lab in Chicago, where he had stopped so that the researchers could show him off in yet another presentation, to a research facility in Dallas, where he would stay as long as necessary.
As the seasons change, remember how I used to be
Irkens lived a live span at least three times as long as a humans. And he knew in his long life that he had many memories. Of himself, a proud irken soldier, ready to gladly die for the invasion if necessary, his entire heart in his mission. Eyes ever defiant to whatever dared to oppose his might. Although the moment happened years ago, 10 years in fact, he could still remember that fateful day as if it happened only seconds ago. Yes..he remembered. He remembered the moment when he first stepped in front of the army scientist that had come to take him away…his head down, looking at his feet. Dib had stared at him in awe expecting him to shout, complain, attack, or something. To do something more…Zim-like. Not to just let himself be taken away to his doom. GIR had been there too, standing beside his former nemesis with wide robotic eyes staring at his master, bewildered at what was happening. He had turned for a brief moment and given them both a small traditional salute. To tell the truth, he'd rather have screamed and protested, just for Dib, to let him hold on to his illusion, not to let him see the great "Invader" Zim in such a state. To be left with the defiance in the heart of every irken soldier whoever lived. But..his heart wouldn't let him.
Now I can't go on …I can't even start
I've got nothing left , just an empty heart
I'm a soldier, wounded so I must give up the fight
There's nothing more for me - lead me away...
Or leave me lying here
He groaned at the memory and wished that he'd enough spirit left to fight. At least a little. But his will had died. His spirit had perished. Now but an empty shell of what he used to be. Nothing but old memories and dead dreams of what may have been to plague him for whatever number of days he had left. A smiled sadly to himself. A solider. A soldier of the irken army. I go to fight, I go to death. Such is the life of those loyal to the armada. And like those before me, I have fought…I fought for the chance to fight, I fought for forgiveness, I fought to reassemble what little chance I had left to make you proud of me, my Tallest. And like all the soldiers before me. I too must die… No. not dead..but mortally wounded, useless and unable to fight his battle. Left to watch from the sidelines and slowly slip into despair. At least when he was fighting, he at least had the illusion of There was nothing for him now.And nothing to do but let the humans lead him to his almost certain demise.
Sound the bugle now ….tell them I don't care
There's not a road I know that leads to anywhere
Without a light I fear that I will
Stumble in the dark
Lay right down - decide not to go on
From outside one of the scientists glanced in back of the truck to see how he was doing back there and called out mockingly to him. Zim didn't hear him. Countless experiments had been preformed on him, leaving him rather weaker than before of course, but he cared nothing for it. He did not when the first began, and he didn't care now. Thanks to the former invader's body structure, his body wasn't going down so easily, weather he cared or not. Zim didn't truly know where we has going, what his fate now was, what would become of it. And he did not care. It did not matter. Nothing mattered anymore. All his life one thing drove him so that his spirit shone with the radiance it once did: the hope, just the hope that he could make up for his past mistakes. To do something so great, so awesome, so spectacular that not only the Tallest, but all of Irk, no the entire universe would not consider him just small irken, but someone significant. Someone worthy of the Tallest's praise, someone worthy of all the songs Irk itself sung. The song was a bright beacon that lit his path, no matter how bumpy that path got. Not that beacon of light had died, and his spirit had died with it. Now he was but a lowly Blorch rat stumbling blind and helpless in the dark. And it did not matter where that darkness look him.
Then from on high, somewhere in the distance
There's a voice that calls - remember who your are
If you lose yourself your courage soon will follow
Then something- he didn't know what- inspired Zim to lift his green head and take a look outside of his tank. He could now see through a metal hole in the rickety truck, the stars,. And through those stars, the planet, his planet, Irk. He blinked his crimson eyes and stared at it. The planet, although seemingly lost and nearly impossible to see, a tiny pebble in the sea of stars, shone to him and was brighter than all the suns and stars of the universe put together. "A disgrace to the armada. A disgrace to them, and a disgrace to Irk" that's what the Tallest said to him. And supposedly that's what the entire army thought of him to. And was he, the great Invader -yes, that's not what he imagines he was, but what he really, and truly, was: an invader- about to just roll over and die never to be heard from again!? Was he going to just give up like withering earth beast and let himself sink into the hands of these filthy earth monkeys, just because off what someone else thought of him!? Was he going to just give up like that?! As he stared at his home planet his large eyes narrowed and turned back to his surroundings, his head held high. The answer was held in his fiery eyes. One answer, a truth that once again flamed madly in the depths of his soul, an answer that suddenly made him leap to his feet, his gloved irken fists clenched in determination. This answer was:
So be strong tonight - remember who you are
Ya you're a soldier now, fighting in a battle
No. no, he was not, could not. I have come too goddamn far to just give up now Zim stood in his glass tank and reached into his left boot, pulling out a small laser weapon in the shape of a dagger. The alien was a bit surprised he still had it after all this time…guess they failed to examine his uniform properly. How like a human. He took one last look at his own reflection in the glass, at someone who had realized what he was, and what he had come for. His face turned a bit grim with determination and he backed up a bit, then took a small running start and kicked out, easily shattering the glass sending it sprawling all across the cold steel floor, ignoring the few cuts that now graced his body as a result. The human in the passenger's seat took a look behind at what the sound was and his glasses lifted in his surprise. He yelled something at them driver who yelled back. Zim ignored them and leaped to the back door of the truck and lashed out at it with his dagger, slicing through the steel like a knife through butter.
To be free once more
The truck jerked and severed on the now icy road and fell to it's side. The human in the passenger seat groaned and stared thorough the window at him, his eyes wide in astonishment, ignoring the trickle of blood running down his forehead. Zim gave his famous evil grin at him. He leaped out of the vehicle and ran off into the frigid night. His antennas held high, slipping a bit as his boots met the icy road, but he didn't care. He was free.
Ya that's worth fighting for
He ran to the top of a nearby hill, the grass shining with ice in the pale moonlight. He was an inky silhouette in the winter sky. He puffed out his chest, his eyes gleamed and with all his might, not caring who may hear him, he shouted "ZIM IS FREEEEEEE!!!! Do you hear me human stink-beasts?! I am free and none of you can do a damn thing about it! I will show you! I'll show this stupid planet, the tallest, all of Irk, every single one of you that Zim is not one to get rid of that easily!" And with that, he slipped off into the darkness, he had his job to do, only this time he was a soldier on his own terms. And no one was going to take that away from him.