::sniff:: Aw. . . the last chapter, the very last chapter ::gives strangled
sob:: I'm alright really. . . HOW COULD THIS HAPPEN?!!!!!
WWWHHHHHHHHYYY?!?!?!?!?!? Oh well, it had to end sometime. . . right? I
mean, it couldn't go forever, RIGHT? If any of you are holding out on some
secret, I'll find out you know! I will. And then, then.then there will be
pain. Pain. Lots and lots of pain. Ah, ahem.well, enough of my ramblings,
here's. . . the. . . last.chapter. . . ::runs off crying hysterically::
Disclaimer: Well, as you've read for my last 16 chapters, I don't own
Invader Zim, but even if I did I wouldn't change a thing.
"Bomb?!" All three of them shouted at the same time.
"Designed in case something like this happened, of course it was designed for me to set it not Red. In fact, only a select few and I knew how to set it. I certainly didn't tell him, somebody betrayed me." Zim added bitterly.
"Oh, and of course you wouldn't know anything about betrayal, now would you?" Gaz snapped sarcastically. Zim glared and then lowered his eyes, thinking about how right she truly was.
"C'mon, we need to get out of here." Dib grabbed Gaz's wrist and Tia's arm, tugging them toward the door.
"Wait! You can't leave me here to die!!!" Zim shouted frantically.
"Wanna bet?" Dib said laughing loudly, turning around as they stood by the doorframe.
"No, I don't want to bet, I want out!!" Zim kicked at the bars that were holding him in, and then slammed his fist into the wall, "It isn't fair!!!" he wailed pathetically.
"Hasn't anyone told you yet? Life. Isn't. Fair." Dib said scornfully, "C'mon." he started walking through the door again, but was forced to stop when Gaz didn't move. She was rooted to her spot as she looked towards Zim, her face frozen and her eyes glazed over as she thought.
"Gaz?" Dib asked through gritted teeth, a tone of confusion and danger teetering on his voice, but Gaz wasn't listening, her mind was racing.
Should she help him? The obvious answer was no, he'd killed her father, threatened her countless times, made her wear that god awful outfit, killed thousands of people, enslaved millions more. He'd taken over the earth, tried to get her to flirt with Purple, harassed her thousands of times, and of course, he'd betrayed her. After all he'd done he deserved to die. And yet. . . she couldn't let him. She didn't remember a lot about her mom, but she did remember something her mom used to tell her, especially after she and Dib had gotten into fights, "It doesn't matter what someone else does, what matters is what you do."
Sighing resolvedly, she looked at the laser in her hand and yanked her wrist away from Dib's startled grasp. She walked quickly toward Zim's cage and heard Dib give a strangled gasp of anger. As she knelt by the cage, she felt everyone's wide-eyed stare on her, but avoided everyone's gaze. Zim started to say something but she interrupted him with a hoarse but low voice.
"Shut up or you stay." Immediately he was quiet but she could feel curiosity emanating from him. She started to disintegrate the bars of the cage and Dib overcame his shock and walked swiftly toward her.
"Gaz, what the hell are you doing?!" Dib nearly shouted, anger apparent on his tongue as he spat the words out. She ignored him and when she had melted both ends of a bar, she yanked it out, and went quickly to the next one. Dib bent down and she was required to stop as he forced her to look at him, his eyes looked as though he were going to start crying from anger and frustration. Her face was set and her eyes resolved, he let out a sigh, and glanced away before looking back at her.
"Why?" He asked, calmly, all anger and tension gone from his voice, although his eyes were still angry, but they were no longer flashing.
"Because mom wouldn't have left him here." She told him quietly, before turning back to the bars. She saw him nod swiftly and understandingly out of the corner of her eye. She yanked another bar out of place and seeing that Zim could fit through, stepped up and back. Zim stepped hesitantly out of the cage, and was knocked backwards as his face suddenly exploded with pain. It didn't take him more than a couple seconds to realize that both Dib and Gaz had punched him. He straightened up, wincing and opened his eyes to see that Gaz had already started walking toward the door, where the other girl was still staring at the exchange with shock. Dib was glaring at him, rubbing his fist.
"You ever do anything to hurt my sister, ever again, I swear to god I'll kill you, then and there. And just so you know, the only reason I never killed you before was because you were my sisters only friend. Or at least I thought you were." Dib said quietly, his anger was more intense and direct then before. Zim felt himself shake from the force of it, but when Dib went after Gaz and Tia, who were already gone from the doorway, he quickly followed.
"Gaz?" Tia said in a confused voice, nearly running to keep up with Gaz's quick pace, "Why'd you save him?" Gaz turned to look at her for a second, before returning her gaze to the hall in front of her.
"I'm not entirely sure myself," Gaz told her, "Would you've left him?" she asked as an afterthought.
"Hell yeah!" Tia said enthusiastically, making Gaz start laughing, "Gaz, will he be riding with us?"
"Perhaps." Gaz replied, watching Tia's expression. As they came to a split in the hall, Gaz had to stop, mentally recalling the map of the space station. As they stopped, Dib finally caught up with them, and a second later Zim, somewhat hesitantly, followed.
"It's this way." Zim sidled up to the front and pointed to the left. They began walking quickly again, this time with Zim leading. After a few twists and turns and stairs, they came to large room, filled a few humans, Irkens, and Voot Runners. Voot Runners were lined up in a long row, many were already gone and empty spaces with deep imprints were left. Several humans and Irkens were lying, unmoving on the ground. And it left the room looking like a war zone. Other humans and Irkens were sitting in the few Voot Runners that were left, looking shocked or confused..
"The bomb should be going off in less then a minute, we need to get one of the ships and leave so we can be sure we're not stuck in the blast." Zim said uncomfortably. Gaz and Dib nodded swiftly, Gaz looking around for Meth. Tia was doing the same. Dib moved toward one of the empty runners and pressed a button, waiting as the hatch on the side opened with a whir.
"C'mon." Dib gestured toward the ship, urging the two girls toward it. Tia walked, somewhat tentatively, toward him, looking around as she went, "What are you guys waiting for?" Dib snapped.
"We made a promise with Meth." Gaz replied, "We said we would wait for each other."
"Who's Meth?" Dib asked, earning strange looks from Gaz and Tia, "The point is we're not going to wait for 'Meth' forever." He said after a moment. Zim was still standing self-consciously off to the side. Gaz ignored him, looking wildly around. By now, there should be less then 30 seconds. Gaz looked at Tia and nodded toward the ship, Tia understood and climbed inside with Dib's help. Dib held out his hand for her but she shook her head and ran out of the room looking each way for any sign of Meth. Growling to herself, she turned back toward the ship. Her heart was pounding with tension, she knew she couldn't wait for much longer. She turned back toward the hall one last time.
"METH!!!!!!!" Gaz shouted loudly, making Tia, Dib, and Zim all jump. She waited for a second and then ran toward the ship, "C'mon, lets go." She said, sighing. She grabbed the sides of the hatch and was about to climb in when a voice flowed into the room.
"Wait!!! I'm here!" Gax turned to see Meth fly into the room, holding her hand up as if saying 'here' during roll call at school. Gaz jumped into the ship and held her hand out to Meth and pulled her in. Next Dib hopped inside, and finally Zim pulled himself, uncertainly inside. Math stared at him, incredulous.
"Gaz, please don't tell me you did that." Meth said, still watching him as he climbed to the front seat and pressed several buttons, making the engine turn on and the hatch shut. Gaz nodded gravely and Meth sighed.
"So how'd your revenge go?" Gaz asked looking at Meth's bloody clothes and hands.
"Perfectly," Meth said, grinning wickedly as a tube came down around the Runner and sucked it up, spitting them out into space. Dib, Gaz, and Meth who were the only ones not sitting, were forced to the ground with the sudden pressure. As the pressure was released, Meth sat up.
"I got him with what he used to kill my family. Cut his arm off with my knife and stabbed him with his finger blades." Meth said, smiling as she thought of it. Gaz noticed Zim hunch down heavily in his seat, behind him Tia sat in one of the 6 seats. Dib stood up and sat in the seat diagonal from Zim and across from Tia. Meth sat behind Dib, and Gaz went toward the front where Zim was staring vacantly out of the windshield, maneuvering the ship mechanically. Dib made a noise of disapproval as she sat down across from Zim but didn't say anything, instead he looked away pointedly and tried to start a forced conversation with Tia. Suddenly a force sent the ship rocking and speeding forward, and Gaz jerked back to see a red and orange fiery explosion. Gaz turned around again, and stared out the window. She could see several other Voot Runners flying about frantically and uncontrolled. She wondered how many people had actually gotten out.
"Where are we going?" she asked after a moment. Zim seemed to flinch at the sound of her voice and waited a second before he answered.
"Earth." He said in a small voice, "Red is probably already headed toward Irk, I don't know if Purple got out alive.but I saw him moving right before I left." He jerked the controls suddenly to avoid a stray Runner. His tattered cape flapped as he did it and a small thin box fell out. Gaz caught it before it hit the ground, and recognized it immediately. He saw it, and stared at her wide-eyed and nervous. He watched as she opened it, and pulled out the photographs that she'd put in them. She flipped through them and stopped at the last. It was a picture of a teenage girl with spiky purple hair laughing with a little green boy as a little green dog danced around them. She swallowed hard as she saw the newly written words on the front, they said-
"I'm sorry." Zim said, repeating the words he'd written just a couple hours ago when he'd found the pictures in Gaz's clothes, "I really am sorry." Gaz was still staring at the pictures when her vision blurred, and she stood up quickly, walking toward one of the back seats, blinking furiously. She sat down heavily and after blinking for a long while, looked up to find Dib, Meth, and Tia watching her warily.
"I'm fine." She growled, turning in her seat so her back was to them. Dib cleared his throat a second later.
"Uh, Gaz, why are you wearing my trench coat?" he asked, the ship broke out in exasperated sighs and he looked around confused, "What?"
::sob:: it's over. . . it's really over. . .Okay time for anyone who never reviewed to finally review and everyone who already did needs to review again. Thank you!!!!! : )
"Bomb?!" All three of them shouted at the same time.
"Designed in case something like this happened, of course it was designed for me to set it not Red. In fact, only a select few and I knew how to set it. I certainly didn't tell him, somebody betrayed me." Zim added bitterly.
"Oh, and of course you wouldn't know anything about betrayal, now would you?" Gaz snapped sarcastically. Zim glared and then lowered his eyes, thinking about how right she truly was.
"C'mon, we need to get out of here." Dib grabbed Gaz's wrist and Tia's arm, tugging them toward the door.
"Wait! You can't leave me here to die!!!" Zim shouted frantically.
"Wanna bet?" Dib said laughing loudly, turning around as they stood by the doorframe.
"No, I don't want to bet, I want out!!" Zim kicked at the bars that were holding him in, and then slammed his fist into the wall, "It isn't fair!!!" he wailed pathetically.
"Hasn't anyone told you yet? Life. Isn't. Fair." Dib said scornfully, "C'mon." he started walking through the door again, but was forced to stop when Gaz didn't move. She was rooted to her spot as she looked towards Zim, her face frozen and her eyes glazed over as she thought.
"Gaz?" Dib asked through gritted teeth, a tone of confusion and danger teetering on his voice, but Gaz wasn't listening, her mind was racing.
Should she help him? The obvious answer was no, he'd killed her father, threatened her countless times, made her wear that god awful outfit, killed thousands of people, enslaved millions more. He'd taken over the earth, tried to get her to flirt with Purple, harassed her thousands of times, and of course, he'd betrayed her. After all he'd done he deserved to die. And yet. . . she couldn't let him. She didn't remember a lot about her mom, but she did remember something her mom used to tell her, especially after she and Dib had gotten into fights, "It doesn't matter what someone else does, what matters is what you do."
Sighing resolvedly, she looked at the laser in her hand and yanked her wrist away from Dib's startled grasp. She walked quickly toward Zim's cage and heard Dib give a strangled gasp of anger. As she knelt by the cage, she felt everyone's wide-eyed stare on her, but avoided everyone's gaze. Zim started to say something but she interrupted him with a hoarse but low voice.
"Shut up or you stay." Immediately he was quiet but she could feel curiosity emanating from him. She started to disintegrate the bars of the cage and Dib overcame his shock and walked swiftly toward her.
"Gaz, what the hell are you doing?!" Dib nearly shouted, anger apparent on his tongue as he spat the words out. She ignored him and when she had melted both ends of a bar, she yanked it out, and went quickly to the next one. Dib bent down and she was required to stop as he forced her to look at him, his eyes looked as though he were going to start crying from anger and frustration. Her face was set and her eyes resolved, he let out a sigh, and glanced away before looking back at her.
"Why?" He asked, calmly, all anger and tension gone from his voice, although his eyes were still angry, but they were no longer flashing.
"Because mom wouldn't have left him here." She told him quietly, before turning back to the bars. She saw him nod swiftly and understandingly out of the corner of her eye. She yanked another bar out of place and seeing that Zim could fit through, stepped up and back. Zim stepped hesitantly out of the cage, and was knocked backwards as his face suddenly exploded with pain. It didn't take him more than a couple seconds to realize that both Dib and Gaz had punched him. He straightened up, wincing and opened his eyes to see that Gaz had already started walking toward the door, where the other girl was still staring at the exchange with shock. Dib was glaring at him, rubbing his fist.
"You ever do anything to hurt my sister, ever again, I swear to god I'll kill you, then and there. And just so you know, the only reason I never killed you before was because you were my sisters only friend. Or at least I thought you were." Dib said quietly, his anger was more intense and direct then before. Zim felt himself shake from the force of it, but when Dib went after Gaz and Tia, who were already gone from the doorway, he quickly followed.
"Gaz?" Tia said in a confused voice, nearly running to keep up with Gaz's quick pace, "Why'd you save him?" Gaz turned to look at her for a second, before returning her gaze to the hall in front of her.
"I'm not entirely sure myself," Gaz told her, "Would you've left him?" she asked as an afterthought.
"Hell yeah!" Tia said enthusiastically, making Gaz start laughing, "Gaz, will he be riding with us?"
"Perhaps." Gaz replied, watching Tia's expression. As they came to a split in the hall, Gaz had to stop, mentally recalling the map of the space station. As they stopped, Dib finally caught up with them, and a second later Zim, somewhat hesitantly, followed.
"It's this way." Zim sidled up to the front and pointed to the left. They began walking quickly again, this time with Zim leading. After a few twists and turns and stairs, they came to large room, filled a few humans, Irkens, and Voot Runners. Voot Runners were lined up in a long row, many were already gone and empty spaces with deep imprints were left. Several humans and Irkens were lying, unmoving on the ground. And it left the room looking like a war zone. Other humans and Irkens were sitting in the few Voot Runners that were left, looking shocked or confused..
"The bomb should be going off in less then a minute, we need to get one of the ships and leave so we can be sure we're not stuck in the blast." Zim said uncomfortably. Gaz and Dib nodded swiftly, Gaz looking around for Meth. Tia was doing the same. Dib moved toward one of the empty runners and pressed a button, waiting as the hatch on the side opened with a whir.
"C'mon." Dib gestured toward the ship, urging the two girls toward it. Tia walked, somewhat tentatively, toward him, looking around as she went, "What are you guys waiting for?" Dib snapped.
"We made a promise with Meth." Gaz replied, "We said we would wait for each other."
"Who's Meth?" Dib asked, earning strange looks from Gaz and Tia, "The point is we're not going to wait for 'Meth' forever." He said after a moment. Zim was still standing self-consciously off to the side. Gaz ignored him, looking wildly around. By now, there should be less then 30 seconds. Gaz looked at Tia and nodded toward the ship, Tia understood and climbed inside with Dib's help. Dib held out his hand for her but she shook her head and ran out of the room looking each way for any sign of Meth. Growling to herself, she turned back toward the ship. Her heart was pounding with tension, she knew she couldn't wait for much longer. She turned back toward the hall one last time.
"METH!!!!!!!" Gaz shouted loudly, making Tia, Dib, and Zim all jump. She waited for a second and then ran toward the ship, "C'mon, lets go." She said, sighing. She grabbed the sides of the hatch and was about to climb in when a voice flowed into the room.
"Wait!!! I'm here!" Gax turned to see Meth fly into the room, holding her hand up as if saying 'here' during roll call at school. Gaz jumped into the ship and held her hand out to Meth and pulled her in. Next Dib hopped inside, and finally Zim pulled himself, uncertainly inside. Math stared at him, incredulous.
"Gaz, please don't tell me you did that." Meth said, still watching him as he climbed to the front seat and pressed several buttons, making the engine turn on and the hatch shut. Gaz nodded gravely and Meth sighed.
"So how'd your revenge go?" Gaz asked looking at Meth's bloody clothes and hands.
"Perfectly," Meth said, grinning wickedly as a tube came down around the Runner and sucked it up, spitting them out into space. Dib, Gaz, and Meth who were the only ones not sitting, were forced to the ground with the sudden pressure. As the pressure was released, Meth sat up.
"I got him with what he used to kill my family. Cut his arm off with my knife and stabbed him with his finger blades." Meth said, smiling as she thought of it. Gaz noticed Zim hunch down heavily in his seat, behind him Tia sat in one of the 6 seats. Dib stood up and sat in the seat diagonal from Zim and across from Tia. Meth sat behind Dib, and Gaz went toward the front where Zim was staring vacantly out of the windshield, maneuvering the ship mechanically. Dib made a noise of disapproval as she sat down across from Zim but didn't say anything, instead he looked away pointedly and tried to start a forced conversation with Tia. Suddenly a force sent the ship rocking and speeding forward, and Gaz jerked back to see a red and orange fiery explosion. Gaz turned around again, and stared out the window. She could see several other Voot Runners flying about frantically and uncontrolled. She wondered how many people had actually gotten out.
"Where are we going?" she asked after a moment. Zim seemed to flinch at the sound of her voice and waited a second before he answered.
"Earth." He said in a small voice, "Red is probably already headed toward Irk, I don't know if Purple got out alive.but I saw him moving right before I left." He jerked the controls suddenly to avoid a stray Runner. His tattered cape flapped as he did it and a small thin box fell out. Gaz caught it before it hit the ground, and recognized it immediately. He saw it, and stared at her wide-eyed and nervous. He watched as she opened it, and pulled out the photographs that she'd put in them. She flipped through them and stopped at the last. It was a picture of a teenage girl with spiky purple hair laughing with a little green boy as a little green dog danced around them. She swallowed hard as she saw the newly written words on the front, they said-
"I'm sorry." Zim said, repeating the words he'd written just a couple hours ago when he'd found the pictures in Gaz's clothes, "I really am sorry." Gaz was still staring at the pictures when her vision blurred, and she stood up quickly, walking toward one of the back seats, blinking furiously. She sat down heavily and after blinking for a long while, looked up to find Dib, Meth, and Tia watching her warily.
"I'm fine." She growled, turning in her seat so her back was to them. Dib cleared his throat a second later.
"Uh, Gaz, why are you wearing my trench coat?" he asked, the ship broke out in exasperated sighs and he looked around confused, "What?"
::sob:: it's over. . . it's really over. . .Okay time for anyone who never reviewed to finally review and everyone who already did needs to review again. Thank you!!!!! : )