Doom Witch

Author's Note: I love Nirvana. It's pretty. Zim loves Nirvana too, y'know. Like a small rounded goosemaiden. Yeah that was random. I come out with random crap you just have to put up with me, k?

Remember to review!

Oh Jeez, yeah sorry it's been so long! I've been on holiday and had MAJOR writer's block, I mean I sat at this here computer hands poised and nothing came out and I got really annoyed but now it's come back YAAAAAAAAY!

Okay. Next chapter. MWAHA! That means you have to read it, you silly little dwellers of Turnipland!

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- Chapter Twelve - Zim's Choice-

Zim looked back at Gaz and though his mind and limited logic told him that even if it was only his leaders that were here, his instincts told him he was in danger, which made him feel uneasy. It was this human that this 'danger' was all in aid of.

"My Tallest," Zim acknowledged, trying to push away from the gun but not appear disrespectful to his Tallest. He left Gaz lying still as stone on the floor and was disturbed by the itching temptation in his shoulders and the back of his knees to go and help her. He resisted them and cleared his throat, "It is an honour to be in your presence after such a long time."

"Ditto, Zim." Red grinned, as if triumphant, waving at Purple, who took a while to click that he was supposed to remove the gun from Zim's head. He did so, and joined Red in his great grinning fest. Was he simply glad Zim had made it to see them, or that he had come to save the human on time? Zim was very confused at the moment, he wanted answers like he wanted to help Gaz, not very much, but a lot.

"Such a shame I have to leave for Earth so I can resume my mission . . . which is going very well, by the way." Zim said uncomfortably, and took a step back towards Gaz, realised he had stepped back to far, so took another half step forward. By this time he was a little too close to Gaz so turned, took a little incy wincy step and whirled 90 degrees so he was still facing the Tallest but right beside Gaz (but not too close).

"Not just now, Zim," Purple said smoothly, hovering over to Zim and putting a metal claw on his shoulder, having to bend down quite far to do so. Zim looked at it suspiciously and tried to shake away his feelings of doubt, but found he couldn't. He looked to Gaz, as if she could help, but as she was out for the count, she couldn't, of course.

Zim narrowed his eyes ever so slightly, the uneasy feeling of worry settling comfortably in the invader's squiddly-spooch.

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"WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" GIR screamed, amongst the great confusion and awkward silent tension between the Irkens and his master's enemy. "I'm a-gonna scream a little song for yoooooooouuu!"

"And I will accompany with a series of very tedious doodies!" Shoe volunteered, settling himself into a comfortable position for his 'doodies'.

Dib took no notice, he was too busy thinking. About Zim, about Gaz. About the Almighty Tallest Zim was unknowingly sacrificing himself to. Could it be that the only chance of his scary yet somehow necessary sister's return?

"This is crazy," he told himself more than the tall female Irkens, "This cant - it can't be real!"

The two seemed to think he had been talking to them, even if he wasn't talking to them.

"I wouldn't tell you if it wasn't true!" Fia snapped, "I tell you, if no one can get your sister back, then Zim can't. I mean, if Zim can't get your sister back, no one can! That's right, huh Zen?"

Zenin nodded. Dib frowned and shook his head.

"Why not?" he retorted, "Why is it Zim I have to rely on? What is it that Zim has that means there's not another person that can save Gaz?"

"Because there is no one higher than the Almighty Tallest," Zenin said simply with a little shrug, "And there is no one that the Almighty Tallest want more than Zim, so there is no one else they will swap your sister for . . . except Zim."

Dib swallowed. Okay, so it wasn't because Zim had some kind of special power that manipulated the mighty rulers that he had half been expecting, but it was still pretty crap that he had to depend on Zim for Gaz's return, and he didn't have much time either.

"WOOOOOOOOOOO! OH YEEAH! Dat's a good song! ALMOST LIKE THOSE SWEET SWEET TAAAAACOOOOOOSS!" GIR interrupted, but Dib wasn't listening. He hadn't even noticed GIR and Shoe had been singing, and it was hard not to notice as it sounded so awful.

Anyway, he was thinking.

"So if Zim resists capture then Gaz will die. But who's to say that the Tallest will simply just capture them both? It's not like they're going to want to give away either of them when there isn't a ransom or anything. Sure they told Zim they'd let her go if he came-" Dib began.

"Then they will." Fia interrupted, annoying Dib slightly. "It's an Irken thing, if Zim has come and no one else has set a bargain, then it will be up to Zim whether or not he takes your sister's place."

Dib's jaw dropped.

"But he's an evil demon!" he protested, "He'll never choose Gaz over himself! I have to go and save her and - uh - stuff!"

Fia and Zenin cast each other a sideways glance. This boy underestimated Zim, but then he was his enemy. Fia smiled slightly.

"You'll see," was all she said.

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"Zim," the Red Tallest said silkily, "We know this is a human you - uh . . . like? Like, that was it, huh?"

Zim nodded, his throat running dry. There was an atmosphere that made his antennae twitch nervously. He glanced back at Gaz and swallowed the remains of liquid in his mouth, she looked so weak. Why did he feel so damn scared for her? What had this witch done to him that made him worry in the presence of his mighty rulers?

He chuckled slightly to himself, but the Almighty Tallest didn't seem to notice.

"Just a second, Zim." Purple said, moving over to a large screen at the front of the control room and pressing a series of buttons, "This is your moment of truth. There."

Zim tilted his head, and as the Tallests' attention seemed to be averted onto the screen, he knelt down beside Gaz and patted her hand awkwardly.

"Come on, human, don't make this trip pointless for me," he murmured under his rash breath. He didn't want the Tallest to hear him, they might think he had gone soft, something that Zim had certainly not gone to, and "I've come too far with that dratted brother of yours - DIB!"

He yelled the last word not because he loathed the human worm baby named that (which he did anyway - CONFUSED!), but because he was quite surprised at seeing Dib's figure on the screen suddenly, along with GIR and three other Irkens. He guessed that the human had found the two relatives - but who was that strange creature dancing with his robot?

"GIR!" Zim yelled, attracting the attention of all the beings in the screen, not just GIR's very limited attention, "GIR! Stop dancing with that civilian!"

"Awwww!" GIR moaned, "But he's my new brand puppy!"

"GIR . . . " Zim warned.

"Okkeeee dookeeee!" GIR squeaked and sat himself on the ground happily, Shoe doing the exact same, sitting in the same way, except that the Irken's legs were attached to his actual body. Zim, now feeling very much in the background watched Dib. He was looking at his leaders with absolute loathing, then noticed Zim was watching him, and saw Gaz in his arms.

"Gaz!" he yelled, making Zim jump slightly. He clutched the human female's hand just a tad tighter, she was beginning to stir, but she needed to get out of here and into a medical unit.

"Silence, Dib-stink!" Zim ordered, "We need to sort this out. My Tallest . . . what's going on?" Zim looked out to the screen past Dib and GIR and his new minion, to see two female Irkens.

"FIA?" he yelled.

"Zim, nice to see you again. Pity about the circumstances." Fia regarded Zim, remembering the old times they had had as Irken smeets.

"After we've had our great reunion, I think we'd like to get this out of the way, don'tcha think?" Red suggested, "So, whoops, no time for a reunion, Zim it's moment of truth time."

Zim blinked, then looked at Dib who looked equally as puzzled. He looked to Fia and Zenin, but they looked as puzzled, but had a hint of apprehension in their faces. GIR and Shoe, however, just seemed to be having fun.

"Awwww look Masta's all confuzzlicated!" GIR sympathised, but didn't help Zim much, who bit his ever so superior lip and stroked Gaz's finger with his thumb. The purple Tallest hovered over to him with a sort of spear looking weapon and tilted Zim's pointed chin upwards, the spike of the spear at his throat.

Dib felt his mouth go dry and his jaw drop. Why were they acting like Zim was their prisoner? Surely what the Irkens said about Zim being on the wanted list was a fraud, a phony just to scare him. His clever brain itched at his options and realised that which ever way he looked at it, they were in deep poo-poo. Zim, surprisingly enough, had the same slightly freaked out expression on his face as Dib had.

"Let us simplify things for you, seeing as our dearest relatives seem unable to do so, Zim," Zenin offered, and Zim lowered an eye suspiciously, willing her to go on nonetheless, "They want you to choose between that human's life," she nodded towards Gaz, and Zim instinctively looked at her also, "and your own." Zenin looked up to the Almighty Tallest, Red especially, "Isn't that right, grandson?"

Red narrowed his eyes and clicked his claws defensively, wishing the plasma screen to be a portal to his grandmother's room so he could attack her like a gooseberry with turtle dove wings . . . or something . . . (A/N: Don't judge me I'm hyper!!!!)

Anyway, he ended up nodding in agreement, and Zim now looked extremely bewildered. Dib acknowledged his enemy's puzzlement and compared it to his own. The human was aware his face was startled and ashen, most probably, because his sister was going to die as there was no way Zim would choose a human over his own life.

"A joke, my Tallest?" Zim suggested with a nervous laugh, "A little welcoming treat to work up an appetite, perhaps? Tell me it is with greatness and GLORY!"

"What?" Purple looked very confused, "Zim, look, no! This - is - real. You have to actually choose whether you or . . . whatever that alien creature is . . . lives. Okay? You know, Red, you said this would be fun but it's really just plain confusing."

Dib let his jaw drop, real low like.

Zim looked at Gaz in disbelief and suspicion, as if it was her fault. Dib narrowed his eyes, had Zim actually FALLEN for Gaz? The Swollen Eyeball agent Mothman grabbed GIR's tin head and lifted him up as he ran past giggling with Shoe. He shook the little slavebot thing, as if he expected to obtain an answer from the idiotic gadget that controlled all that was considered lunacy and mental disturbance.

"UNHAND MY OBEDIENT SLAVE!" Zim ordered angrily, and Dib looked for an obedient slave but couldn't find one, there was only GIR that he was holding! He looked up at Zim innocently, even in these circumstances they were still enemies and loathed each other. Zim scowled furiously. Then, "Very well, very well. Unhand my exceedingly DISOBEDIENT, INSANE robot!"

"That's more like it." Dib dropped GIR, who was skipping in mid-air. When he fell he took a minute to readjust himself then continued skipping, although he got somewhere this time.

"YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!" he squeaked, and was reunited with Shoe, who had been pining, rocking himself back and forth on the floor murmuring "Taco Lord, Taco Lord . . . Lord of the Taco . . . doo . . . doo . . . "

The Almighty Tallest were looking quite left out, but Fia and Zenin seemed quite amused by the whole thing. "Um," Purple said sadly, like a lonely little guy (A/N : Hugs Purple), "Y'know can we get back to the whole "Zim- you-must-now-decide thing? Please? It's fun torturing simple minds!"

Red giggled, then when he saw his comrade look a little annoyed at this he kinda turned his laughter into a cough, clearing his throat. He hovered nearer to Zim, who was now standing up looking extremely puzzled, looking back and forth from Gaz to his leaders to Dib and Zenin, then at Fia. Red and Zim were now about a metre apart and the small Irken was wishing this would all go away, that he would once again fall unconscious (A/N : *Hugs Zim and doesn't let go cos I love ZIM!) but alas, alack, the darkness denied him and he was forced to stay in the cold reality that was this confusement and unclarity. He had always respected his leaders, and thought they had always respected him as the INCREDIBLY AWESOME soldier that he was. This had to be some kind of misunderstanding or . . . or a test! Yes, that must be it, he thought, really more trying to kid himself than believe it.

Dib saw Zim grinning all of a sudden and watched the Red leader look a bit surprised at this sudden smirk appear on the Irken who was supposed to be terrified of what was going on and making an agonising decision about his life! Red could almost stamp his foot on the ground in frustration, if he wasn't so dignified and regal and stuff. Dammit, why did nothing ever go to plan in that straight-forward, foolproof way they were so sure it would be? Stupid independent thoughts that changed scenarios. DAMN THOSE INFERNAL INDEPENDENT THOUGHTS!

Red straightened himself out and shrugged his shoulders back in little circles, but ended up being all hunched over again. You see, the reason they were bent over was because the ceilings of the rooms were so low that they couldn't hover properly and had to hunch over so they wouldn't bang their heads off the roof, and it kind of lasted. That had been when they were first appointed Almighty Tallest of the Irken Empire, when they had been young, free, and had low ceilings. Ah, those were the days before they ordered those damned cool high ceilings . . .

ANYWAY, to remind all of you : Gaz was unconscious, Zim was standing over her with a nervous grin on his face, Dib was gob-smacked, Purple was kinda in the background, Zenin and Fia were sitting back and watching the show, and GIR and Shoe were pissing about backstage just being GIR and his Irken taco-minion.

"I GOTTA LOVE ME THOSE MEXICAN GROCEREEEEEEES!" GIR squealed randomly, "Hey Master I gotta get you some tacos you look happy!"

Zim scowled at GIR and turned his attention to his Almighty Tallest, who were now both about five metres from him and Gaz, now standing side by side. The tiny Irken stretched his neck up as far as it would go and saluted them.

"My Tallest!" he said in that very superior voice we know and love so very well, "Excuse my recent discombobulation but I am now fully recoordinated and ready for whatever task you have set me, however . . . unusual it is. I am forever vigilant, even to your extremely surprising assessments. I am greatly in awe. Watch me be in awe! Here I go! I am indeedly in awe! GREATLY!!!"

The Tallest blinked in unison, with the same fear on their faces.

"I'm scared too, Red, buddy don't let it frighten you too much. We've nearly got him Red come on!" Purple hissed in his shivering comrade's ear. The characters on the other side of the plasma screen were still standing uselessly in the background, all even more confused than Zim. It took a while, but Dib was the one to speak first.

"LET MY SISTER GO!" he cried randomly, all his bottled up feelings shooting out of him at last, "Let her go or I'll-"

"You'll WHAT, Dib-worm beast?" Zim snapped in return, catching Dib's sniper words aimed directly at his masters in mid-air, "This is MY assessment, MY test. I need no help from you to pass or fail. Now, my Tallest, that I am fully organised and understanding, what do you wish me to do?"

Red looked at Purple in surprise, and whispered in his non-existent ear, but took an educated guess at where the best place his hearing mechanism performed, "He thinks it's a test. He still thinks we like him!" Purple gave his colleague a swift smirk and homed in on Zim menacingly, who looked a little intimidated but stood strong. He had guts, but as the Jackass theme says; "If you're gonna be dumb, you gotta be tough."

"WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" GIR screamed, causing everyone (except Gaz who was obviously unable to do so) to clutch at their ears, or non-existent ears, depending on the species. Even Shoe was a bit daunted by his master's words and almost looked weirdly at him, and Dib wondered if perhaps the taco trance the simple civilians were under was slowly being broken. "Woo. Hoo. Moosies, anyone?" GIR suggested, then for the first time, fell silent (but only for a couple of seconds don't worry people! ^_^).

"Zim," Red said, after they had all recovered, "We want you, for your -uh- "assessment", to choose whether you or the human lying behind you will live or die. The choice is yours and we are losing patience with all this time- wasting. Make your decision now, Zim. This is your moment of truth."

"This isn't an assessment, is it, my Tallest?" Zim asked, causing Red to hover back a bit, but he shook his head, almost glad that Zim was showing the slightest smithereens of intelligence.

"No, Zim, it isn't." he agreed. Dib, in the room with the Irken relatives and the screaming taco lovers, listened on silently, his heart racing, occasionally skipping a beat. He never took his eyes off Zim's, not once. Even when he blinked he imagined the Irken's slim outline.

"IT'S AN EXAM!" Zim yelled randomly, making everyone jump back in shock, and he slumped down in a seating position, knees up, his little boots tapping at the floor every so often. He appeared to be deep in thought and finally he stood up, "I think that the answer you want would be the one that makes me look more noble, and though it may not be the choice I would make if it were a real scenario, as I am NOBLE ONLY TO YOU, my Tallest, I will pick the human's life over my own." Zim blinked expectantly, "Now where is my award medal? I wish to return home to listen to Nirvana - uh - continue my mission."

Red floated over to Zim menacingly, and put a clawed hand on his head thoughtfully. Zim lowered an eyebrow suspiciously but stood his ground, almost protecting the helpless Gaz behind him. Helpless? Gaz? It didn't seem right. Zim was still confused, especially now that one of his masters was looking at him so strangely, like HE was the victor, and not Zim. Suddenly the sound of "Lithium" floated into his head and he nodded his head in time to it.

"Is he just stupid?" Dib asked Zenin, not sure whether to cheer aloud or not, "I mean, does he really think it's all a TEST?"

"No, he thinks it's an examination," Fia shot back snidely, "Zim knows deep down it's real, he just can't figure out a logical explanation, it doesn't occur to him that his masters could possibly loathe him the way they do."

Zenin nodded in agreement, and Dib felt his mouth run dry as the Purple Tallest hovered over to the screen and stared him right in the eyes.

"Funny looking things, these himmuns," he murmured to himself, then got distracted by Shoe and GIR chasing each other continuously around the couch, "Well, young himmun, I suggest you come here and collect your sister. But first, say goodbye to Zim. Red, bring Zim over here to say goodbye, will you?"

"Are you going to annihilate the Dib?" Zim twittered excitedly, "Can I watch, can I, can I?" He was led over to the big plasma screen and the two rivals regarded each other.

"Well, Zim," Dib sighed, "Guess this is it."

"HA! Prepare to meet your horrible DOOOOM Dib-creature!" Zim roared, still in Red's grasp.

"Still the same arrogant bastard as always, I see. Goodbye, Zim."

"Fare theeeeee well, Dib-stink."

"BYE MASTA! Will you get me some taquitos? PLEAAAASE? I'll be a good little forshinlsnick!" GIR shrieked randomly.

"Yes, yes, magical." Zim allowed.

"YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!"

Zim found himself being led away again, back over to the corner where Gaz was. Purple bent over and shifted her out of the way. Zim turned around to find Dib had gone, and there was no longer any sign of Shoe, GIR or Zenin. Only Fia stood alone in the middle of the large wall screen, watching Zim actionlessly. They acknowledged each other as old friends, until Red pushed Zim forwards onto a specific tile, Gaz now out of the way, and their eye- contact broke.

Suddenly, the tile slid downwards and Zim freaked a little, just a little. What was going on? Where was he going? The exit? A hall of fame? An autograph signing? An ice cream parlour? Tallest? Gaz? Dib? GIR ? Fia ?

None answered, and the Almighty Tallest waved to him from above, eyes closed in bounteous happiness (^_^). The tile settled, and another closed over the above source to the room he had been in. Zim scanned his surroundings, a glass bubble inside a large square room. There were vents imbedded into the walls of the bubble, connected to funny pumps leading to tanks of what looked like gas containers. 'Strange . . . ' thought Zim.

Unexpectedly, a cold rush of air blew over Zim and he fell to his knees involuntarily, feeling his strength fail somewhat spectacularly. He righted himself and felt very suspicious, and very much hoped this was another part of the "exam".

Suddenly, he felt very exposed, and very alone.

So much had changed.

It worried him.

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A/N: Sorry it's been so long people. I really am. Will make it up now, I promise with my little Scottish toe!

Oh flo'or O' Scotland, when will we see your lights again wha fought and died for that wee bit hill and glen . . . sorry, getting carried away.

HEY! Evanescence ROCK! And so do . . . NIRVANA!!!!!!! WOOOOOOOOO! I really love Nirvana.

Keep reviewing!!!!!!! Next chapter will be mostly Dib stuff but obviously some ZIM! And GIR and all the people you love, but mostly Dib. Hey what you guys think of Shoe?

I love you guys that review (sniffs) I love ya dudes!

One word of advice : A DIRTY BRUSH IS A USELESS BRUSH!

All you Americans who have never seen the League of Gentlemen, I pity you. (