Chapter 6

Zim was perched on a half-rotten log, basking in the moonlight. The moons on Irk never radiated with such bright, consuming beauty. He pressed the petals of a light blue flower to his cheek. He was utterly amazed at the softness of it, running it across his face in pensiveness. It had been a mere bud when he fist arrived. It must respond to the light of the stars and moon. A death-like structure in sunlight. Beautiful.

And for some elusive reason he thought of Gaz.

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Gaz watched Zim quietly. She had expected him to be sulking or yelling, or something more...Zim-like. Not looking glassy-eyed while rubbing a flower across his face.

And for some reason, she just watched him. Long, silent minutes went by. The sky was black now. The light wind tugged at her skirt. A slightly chill breeze brought her back to attentiveness.

Remembering her purpose, she stepped forward as silently as she could. But her first footfall came down upon a dried-out, long-since dead stick.

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Zim jumped at the sound of a stick cracking behind him. Spinning around, he raised his arms out of instinct.

But it was only Gaz, looking vaguely surprised. At him or her inability to creep up on him, he did not know. He lowered his fist. He was still holding the flower.

A very tiny smile crossed Gaz's face as she turned on the flashlight. "You're easily frightened, aren't you?"

"Me? Zim? Frightened? Never." He mentally cursed himself for not being able to form a proper sentence.

"Whatever." Gaz said as indifferently as she could. "It's dark. We better get back to camp, or my dad will have a cow." She could have laughed at herself for saying something so...dull.

"A cow? Really? I was under the impression that cross-species breeding was impossible. And that females were the only ones capable of...pregnancy." This was an interesting discovery! A possible key to world domination?

Gaz looked at him like he was from another planet. Well, he...is.... "It was just an expression, Zim."

Zim looked thoughtful for a moment. "I've noticed you humans have a lot of these 'expressions'. Most of them I cannot fathom. What does that one mean?"

"It means he'll be so worried, he might do something drastic or completely impossible, like have a cow."

"Oh."

"Yeah." She brushed past him, motioning for him to follow.

Zim froze. For a brief moment her arm had touched his. He expected to be revolted at the contact, but instead felt a weird jitter run through him. It wasn't an unpleasant feeling, although it was an absolutely new one. He followed her.

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Having been searching for at least an hour, Dib had found nothing except some fairly decent marshmallow sticks. He felt vaguely guilty about treating Zim like an unwelcome guest. He had, after all, invited him, and he was sure that his nemesis was just as unhappy as his host. He decided to head back to the campsite. Hopefully Gaz was having better luck.

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The glow from the fire was faintly visible through the night-darkened trees. The leaves rustled in the chilly breeze, sounding very much like secrets being told hurriedly, to Gaz. She stepped onto a mossy stone, cocking her head slightly to the side to listen. Eyes closed, she took another step, earthly voices filling her ears. Paying only a very small amount of attention to her feet, she slipped.

Gracefully, she pivoted on the foot that was planted, bringing her weight down in a motion that any ballerina would envy, one knee on the leaf- covered ground.

"Are you ok?" Zim asked, offering his hand. He wished he had reflexes like that!

"Yeah." Her kneecap throbbed. She took his hand, letting him pull her up to both feet.

He released his grip and she continued walking. She felt something against her palm. Curious, she raised her hand to the light. She smiled.

She twirled the flower petals against her cheek the rest of the way to the campsite.

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Short, I know. But it came across as a good stopping place to me. I'll write more soon, though. I usually do about two puny chapters a day.

Muahah! I was trying to think up a way in which to make Zim go swimming, too. He better find some swimming trunks before I start writing again...