Tis was the first to get to the egg. She then ran off, into her bedroom, and gently laid the egg on her bed. A frantic, panicked look came onto her face. Her eyes were wide with fear as the egg was shaking and cracking feebly. 'Please... Let it live when it comes... Please... I can't lose another member of my family I loved.'
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*FLASHBACK BEGIN*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"You are Mari's family, correct?" A doctor with a tentative tone in his voice asked.
"Yes... We are..." Replied Professor Membrane. He was fidgiting with worry. 'I worked so hard on the cure... Please, let her be alive... Let her be cured... God, I don't know what I would do without her...' He thought worriedly.
"Ahem... Well, I'm very sorry to inform you, that Mari has just passed away. She died this morning in her sleep." He looked truly pained to say this, as if he didn't want to, but was forced.
"Dead? Died? What does that mean? Where's mommy? When will she be back daddy?" Dib queried, not understanding what happened, but sensing it was bad. "Daddy?" He asked, for Professor Membrane was sitting down, completely silent, gently rocking back and forth. "Daddy..?"
Tis too was numb with shock. However, Dib's questions were able to penetrate her thoughts.
"Dib... Gaz... Your mommy is dead... That means she won't come back. Ever." She said as tears flowed freely, silently down her face. 'Its funny... Here I am crying... Only humans cry... Mari... You taught me how to cry.' She thought as her tears hit the ground, splashing together and creating little trails of tears on the sterile white floor of the hospital.
"Gone... Forever? Where did she go? Why won't she come back?!" Little Dib asked, with his panic mounting.
Tis, knowing nothing of Heaven or Hell, simply said, "To the stars. Where she'll be forever, in the beautiful heavens."
"How did she get there? Why did she go there? Why did she leave us...?" Dib now had tears in his eyes, realizing that she was gone, but still not fully comprehending.
"Well... Death is when you... When your spirit separates from your body... Its kinda like being cut in half... Your body is what ties your spirit to the material world. The solid world. And, one day, your spirit has to leave, for one reason or another. Her reason was sickness. She was very, very sick. So her body gave up, allowing her spirit to be free. Since her body is dead, she's gone. You'll never see her again. Neither will I..." Tis explained, sobs choking her and faltering her speech.
Dib was still confused, not fully understanding it, but knowing one thing: His mother was gone. 'She's gone... She's never coming back... NO! I don't believe it! She can't be!'
"MOMMY!" Dib screamed, running around the room, searching, overturning the furniture in the waiting area, as if he would find her, as if this was all a game of Hide-and-Seek, with a terrible, sick joke twisted in. "Where are you?! I'll find you mommy... I will! Don't come out yet... I'll find you myself!!" He was screaming, panicked, unbelieving. But still, part of him knew she was gone. 'Aunt Triss wouldn't lie about that... Plus, Daddy and her are crying... She really must be gone.' Even though this more rational part of him was there, he was continuing to scream and search. Eventually, Tis went and picked him up. He was trying to squirm from her grasp. "She's NOT gone!!! She CAN'T be!! MOOOOOMMEEEEEEE! Moooommmeeee! Mommy! Mommy..." He stopped squirming, and went limp in Tis's hold. The rational part took over, knowing she was dead. "Noooo...." He whined.
His lips began to tremble, his eyes began to water. Dib began to cry. Gaz, however, blinked back all her tears, closing her eyes tightly. 'I have to be strong... I CAN'T cry... I WON'T cry...' Tis, who was hugging Dib at the time, finally looked over to Gaz.
"Gaz, would you like a hug too?" Tis asked, coming over to her.
"No." Gaz replied shortly.
"You know Gaz, its okay to cry, and be comforted during times-"
"NO! I HAVE TO BE STRONG!" Gaz yelled angrily.
"Says who?" Tis asked. She was worried, and quite curious as to why Gaz wouldn't cry.
"Says mom! She told me this yesterday! She did! She said: 'Gaz, be strong when I die. Your my little girl, and I love you. Move on. I know it will be hard for a girl to live and grow without her mother, but be strong. You may always think your different because you're growing without a mom. But I know you can live through it. Be my strong little girl, allow life to move on, be happy with what you have.' Thats what she said!"
Tis tried to resolve, "yes... But being strong doesn't mean bottling emotions. It means living in this world, a young girl without a mother. You misunderstood her words."
"Not-uh! I did not!" She turned and walked to the other side of the room, glaring at Tis. 'See mom! I listened to you... I'll be the strong little girl you want, always.'
"Look Gaz!! I'm her older sister, the one she always called strong! And I'm crying! Its okay!" Tis walked up to Gaz and placed her hand on Gaz's shoulder. Gaz just turned the other way.
"This IS what mom would've wanted." She muttered.
Tis, at a loss for what to do or say, just backed away. 'Mari... You saved my life... I wish the cure I worked on with Membrane would've saved yours...'
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*FLASHBACK END*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Tis shook off the memory, returning to the current situation. "Please be alive... Please be alive..." She recited over and over. But then a thought ran across her mind. 'It needs a Pak!!' "Zim! Get a Pak made, RIGHT NOW!!" She ordered.
"Huh? Oh yeah! Computer!"
"Yes Sir." It said 'sir' mockingly, for it didn't like Zim being its master much.
"Create an Irken Pak for this child NOW!" He demanded.
"M'kay. Processing. Processing! PROCESSING! PROCESSING GOD DAMNIT!"
In a matter of minutes, there was a mini-version of the standard issue Pak in front of Zim. "Ahhhh, perfect." He said as he walked over to Tis and gave it to her. She had a far-away look in her eyes as she accepted it, nodding vaguely. She was currently in a dream-like state, not alert to her surroundings except for one thing: the egg. She was focusing on nothing but that. Suddenly, a small, pale mint hand burst out of the pink and green spotted egg. Then another. Next, came two little feet, barely escaping the shell. Zim, Tis, and even Dib were watching, and were quite surprised when, suddenly, with a burst of egg shell bits, came the entire smeet, landing on its front limply, and failing to move. Immediatly, two cords with spikes on the ends came out of Tis's Pak, and went into the smeets back, putting two holes in it. They then retracted as quickly as they came out. While they were retracting, Tis swiftly stuck the Pak into the smeet's back, aligning the spikes in it with the holes made by the cords. Tis's and Zim's breathing quickened with the mounting suspense, tension, and worry.
However, this was short-lived as in a few seconds, there came the sound of a quiet intake of breath, and the smeet stood. The smeet was pale mint in coloration, with large crimson eyes. It had beautifully curled eyelashes and antennae. A girl.
Tis held up her child and began to dance around the room, spinning and twirling the little girl, chanting, "Its a girl! Its a girl! Its a girl! Its a girl!" Over and over again. Soon she began to leap about the room, still chanting, just letting out the immense joy she felt at having a child. She abruptly stopped, however, and calmly walked over to Zim. She then stuck the smeet in front of Zim's face, leaned towards his non-existant ear, and made as if to whisper, but instead yelled, "IT'S A GIRL!!!!"
This was proceeded by Zim screaming in surprise, Tis screaming back at him just for the hell of it, and the smeet and Gir screaming because it was fun. Dib just watched with an eyebrow cocked, shaking his head sadly. "I always thought MY family was dysfunctional," he began, not even being heard amongst the din and noise. "but you just proved me wrong."
Tis, not even hearing him, finally realised she was the only one left screaming. She blushed a little bit, but quickly snapped out of it. "Its a girl. And you know what?" She asked in a playful tone.
"What?" Zim replied rather unenthusiastically, hoping she wouldn't yell again.
Tis gleefully help up the little girl and happily squeaked, "She has your eyes."
Zim was taken aback, and gasped in surprise when he realised she was right. "Wow... I... I don't believe it..." He was practically speechless. Then he walked over to the bed where Tis was, and kneeled in front of her. Without a word, he gently took the child out of her grasp. He stared silently at her, studying her face, for what seemed like a very long time. "What will we name her?" He asked abruptly.
Tis opened her mouth, as if to say something, but, thinking of nothing, she closed it and shrugged. But then she finally did say something "I don't know... Never thought of that to be honest. Huh. I can't think of a thing."
"Wait!" Zim said suddenly. "I know!" He paused, allowing the suspense to mount. After a while he said, "HER NAME SHALL BE ZIM!!!" With his voice thick with triumph.
Silence. The sort of incredual silence, the kind that crickets chirp to. The crickets seeming to say 'Zim, your a fuckin' idiot.'
"WHAT?!" Zim queried, anything to break the awkward (for him) quiet. "What's wrong with that name?!" He more or less demanded.
".... That's YOUR name... And YOU are a guy... WE CAN'T HAVE TWO ZIM'S! ESPECIALLY OF DIFFERENT SEXES!!"
"..." Zim sniffed, then whined, "And why not?"
"You just don't get it, do you?"
"Er, I have a name for her..." Dib said tentativley. He was rather afraid of what would happen next, after all.
"Yes?" Asked Tis.
"...M....Ma...Mari?" He actually asked. It was the name of his mother, and he thought that should be the smeet's name.
"... Yes.... But that will be her middle name... I'm sorry." She added quickly, sensing Dib's sinking heart. "Its too... Human. We want her to have an Irken name."
Dib sighed unhappily. "Okaaaaay... Well, how about... Ranna?
"... Perhaps, it IS quite pretty... Maybe."
"Or maybe Ervae." Said Zim shortly.
"Or Erva..." Tis mused, quite awed at Zim showing intelligance that day.
"I like Eva." Stated Zim.
"EVA IT IS!!!" Zim and Tis screamed simultaneously, causing Eva to let out a yelp of annoyance.
Dib began to feel uncomfortable.
Suddenly, Gaz was at the doorway. "DIB! Dad told me to tell you that-"
Gaz's eyes suddenly went wide at seeing Zim and his family.
Tis walked towards her and smiled benignly. "Hello, Gaz. Nice to see you again. It is I, your Aunt Triss, just so you know."
"..." After a long pause, Gaz finally said three words, three words that would affect them all, that would tell them all about Tis...
...The question that everyone had been itching to ask...
"Where were you?"
Elizadeth: HAHAHAHA!!! Cliffy!! Just so ya knows, the next chapter is when Tis will tell us EVERYTHING! YAY! But you *points to reader* will have to wait.
Ps: Your reviews are like firewood!! The moer reviews I get, the faster I'll upload the next chapter!! Any thype of review is accepted, no matter what!!
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*FLASHBACK BEGIN*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"You are Mari's family, correct?" A doctor with a tentative tone in his voice asked.
"Yes... We are..." Replied Professor Membrane. He was fidgiting with worry. 'I worked so hard on the cure... Please, let her be alive... Let her be cured... God, I don't know what I would do without her...' He thought worriedly.
"Ahem... Well, I'm very sorry to inform you, that Mari has just passed away. She died this morning in her sleep." He looked truly pained to say this, as if he didn't want to, but was forced.
"Dead? Died? What does that mean? Where's mommy? When will she be back daddy?" Dib queried, not understanding what happened, but sensing it was bad. "Daddy?" He asked, for Professor Membrane was sitting down, completely silent, gently rocking back and forth. "Daddy..?"
Tis too was numb with shock. However, Dib's questions were able to penetrate her thoughts.
"Dib... Gaz... Your mommy is dead... That means she won't come back. Ever." She said as tears flowed freely, silently down her face. 'Its funny... Here I am crying... Only humans cry... Mari... You taught me how to cry.' She thought as her tears hit the ground, splashing together and creating little trails of tears on the sterile white floor of the hospital.
"Gone... Forever? Where did she go? Why won't she come back?!" Little Dib asked, with his panic mounting.
Tis, knowing nothing of Heaven or Hell, simply said, "To the stars. Where she'll be forever, in the beautiful heavens."
"How did she get there? Why did she go there? Why did she leave us...?" Dib now had tears in his eyes, realizing that she was gone, but still not fully comprehending.
"Well... Death is when you... When your spirit separates from your body... Its kinda like being cut in half... Your body is what ties your spirit to the material world. The solid world. And, one day, your spirit has to leave, for one reason or another. Her reason was sickness. She was very, very sick. So her body gave up, allowing her spirit to be free. Since her body is dead, she's gone. You'll never see her again. Neither will I..." Tis explained, sobs choking her and faltering her speech.
Dib was still confused, not fully understanding it, but knowing one thing: His mother was gone. 'She's gone... She's never coming back... NO! I don't believe it! She can't be!'
"MOMMY!" Dib screamed, running around the room, searching, overturning the furniture in the waiting area, as if he would find her, as if this was all a game of Hide-and-Seek, with a terrible, sick joke twisted in. "Where are you?! I'll find you mommy... I will! Don't come out yet... I'll find you myself!!" He was screaming, panicked, unbelieving. But still, part of him knew she was gone. 'Aunt Triss wouldn't lie about that... Plus, Daddy and her are crying... She really must be gone.' Even though this more rational part of him was there, he was continuing to scream and search. Eventually, Tis went and picked him up. He was trying to squirm from her grasp. "She's NOT gone!!! She CAN'T be!! MOOOOOMMEEEEEEE! Moooommmeeee! Mommy! Mommy..." He stopped squirming, and went limp in Tis's hold. The rational part took over, knowing she was dead. "Noooo...." He whined.
His lips began to tremble, his eyes began to water. Dib began to cry. Gaz, however, blinked back all her tears, closing her eyes tightly. 'I have to be strong... I CAN'T cry... I WON'T cry...' Tis, who was hugging Dib at the time, finally looked over to Gaz.
"Gaz, would you like a hug too?" Tis asked, coming over to her.
"No." Gaz replied shortly.
"You know Gaz, its okay to cry, and be comforted during times-"
"NO! I HAVE TO BE STRONG!" Gaz yelled angrily.
"Says who?" Tis asked. She was worried, and quite curious as to why Gaz wouldn't cry.
"Says mom! She told me this yesterday! She did! She said: 'Gaz, be strong when I die. Your my little girl, and I love you. Move on. I know it will be hard for a girl to live and grow without her mother, but be strong. You may always think your different because you're growing without a mom. But I know you can live through it. Be my strong little girl, allow life to move on, be happy with what you have.' Thats what she said!"
Tis tried to resolve, "yes... But being strong doesn't mean bottling emotions. It means living in this world, a young girl without a mother. You misunderstood her words."
"Not-uh! I did not!" She turned and walked to the other side of the room, glaring at Tis. 'See mom! I listened to you... I'll be the strong little girl you want, always.'
"Look Gaz!! I'm her older sister, the one she always called strong! And I'm crying! Its okay!" Tis walked up to Gaz and placed her hand on Gaz's shoulder. Gaz just turned the other way.
"This IS what mom would've wanted." She muttered.
Tis, at a loss for what to do or say, just backed away. 'Mari... You saved my life... I wish the cure I worked on with Membrane would've saved yours...'
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*FLASHBACK END*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Tis shook off the memory, returning to the current situation. "Please be alive... Please be alive..." She recited over and over. But then a thought ran across her mind. 'It needs a Pak!!' "Zim! Get a Pak made, RIGHT NOW!!" She ordered.
"Huh? Oh yeah! Computer!"
"Yes Sir." It said 'sir' mockingly, for it didn't like Zim being its master much.
"Create an Irken Pak for this child NOW!" He demanded.
"M'kay. Processing. Processing! PROCESSING! PROCESSING GOD DAMNIT!"
In a matter of minutes, there was a mini-version of the standard issue Pak in front of Zim. "Ahhhh, perfect." He said as he walked over to Tis and gave it to her. She had a far-away look in her eyes as she accepted it, nodding vaguely. She was currently in a dream-like state, not alert to her surroundings except for one thing: the egg. She was focusing on nothing but that. Suddenly, a small, pale mint hand burst out of the pink and green spotted egg. Then another. Next, came two little feet, barely escaping the shell. Zim, Tis, and even Dib were watching, and were quite surprised when, suddenly, with a burst of egg shell bits, came the entire smeet, landing on its front limply, and failing to move. Immediatly, two cords with spikes on the ends came out of Tis's Pak, and went into the smeets back, putting two holes in it. They then retracted as quickly as they came out. While they were retracting, Tis swiftly stuck the Pak into the smeet's back, aligning the spikes in it with the holes made by the cords. Tis's and Zim's breathing quickened with the mounting suspense, tension, and worry.
However, this was short-lived as in a few seconds, there came the sound of a quiet intake of breath, and the smeet stood. The smeet was pale mint in coloration, with large crimson eyes. It had beautifully curled eyelashes and antennae. A girl.
Tis held up her child and began to dance around the room, spinning and twirling the little girl, chanting, "Its a girl! Its a girl! Its a girl! Its a girl!" Over and over again. Soon she began to leap about the room, still chanting, just letting out the immense joy she felt at having a child. She abruptly stopped, however, and calmly walked over to Zim. She then stuck the smeet in front of Zim's face, leaned towards his non-existant ear, and made as if to whisper, but instead yelled, "IT'S A GIRL!!!!"
This was proceeded by Zim screaming in surprise, Tis screaming back at him just for the hell of it, and the smeet and Gir screaming because it was fun. Dib just watched with an eyebrow cocked, shaking his head sadly. "I always thought MY family was dysfunctional," he began, not even being heard amongst the din and noise. "but you just proved me wrong."
Tis, not even hearing him, finally realised she was the only one left screaming. She blushed a little bit, but quickly snapped out of it. "Its a girl. And you know what?" She asked in a playful tone.
"What?" Zim replied rather unenthusiastically, hoping she wouldn't yell again.
Tis gleefully help up the little girl and happily squeaked, "She has your eyes."
Zim was taken aback, and gasped in surprise when he realised she was right. "Wow... I... I don't believe it..." He was practically speechless. Then he walked over to the bed where Tis was, and kneeled in front of her. Without a word, he gently took the child out of her grasp. He stared silently at her, studying her face, for what seemed like a very long time. "What will we name her?" He asked abruptly.
Tis opened her mouth, as if to say something, but, thinking of nothing, she closed it and shrugged. But then she finally did say something "I don't know... Never thought of that to be honest. Huh. I can't think of a thing."
"Wait!" Zim said suddenly. "I know!" He paused, allowing the suspense to mount. After a while he said, "HER NAME SHALL BE ZIM!!!" With his voice thick with triumph.
Silence. The sort of incredual silence, the kind that crickets chirp to. The crickets seeming to say 'Zim, your a fuckin' idiot.'
"WHAT?!" Zim queried, anything to break the awkward (for him) quiet. "What's wrong with that name?!" He more or less demanded.
".... That's YOUR name... And YOU are a guy... WE CAN'T HAVE TWO ZIM'S! ESPECIALLY OF DIFFERENT SEXES!!"
"..." Zim sniffed, then whined, "And why not?"
"You just don't get it, do you?"
"Er, I have a name for her..." Dib said tentativley. He was rather afraid of what would happen next, after all.
"Yes?" Asked Tis.
"...M....Ma...Mari?" He actually asked. It was the name of his mother, and he thought that should be the smeet's name.
"... Yes.... But that will be her middle name... I'm sorry." She added quickly, sensing Dib's sinking heart. "Its too... Human. We want her to have an Irken name."
Dib sighed unhappily. "Okaaaaay... Well, how about... Ranna?
"... Perhaps, it IS quite pretty... Maybe."
"Or maybe Ervae." Said Zim shortly.
"Or Erva..." Tis mused, quite awed at Zim showing intelligance that day.
"I like Eva." Stated Zim.
"EVA IT IS!!!" Zim and Tis screamed simultaneously, causing Eva to let out a yelp of annoyance.
Dib began to feel uncomfortable.
Suddenly, Gaz was at the doorway. "DIB! Dad told me to tell you that-"
Gaz's eyes suddenly went wide at seeing Zim and his family.
Tis walked towards her and smiled benignly. "Hello, Gaz. Nice to see you again. It is I, your Aunt Triss, just so you know."
"..." After a long pause, Gaz finally said three words, three words that would affect them all, that would tell them all about Tis...
...The question that everyone had been itching to ask...
"Where were you?"
Elizadeth: HAHAHAHA!!! Cliffy!! Just so ya knows, the next chapter is when Tis will tell us EVERYTHING! YAY! But you *points to reader* will have to wait.
Ps: Your reviews are like firewood!! The moer reviews I get, the faster I'll upload the next chapter!! Any thype of review is accepted, no matter what!!