The Dib human had been behaving very oddly that morning. It was very…suspicious.

My plan was complete failure. He refused, rather violently, to take me with him when he went "out" today. He even charged his arm-weapon-thingy at me, threatening to zap me with whatever was inside it.

There was something different about him that day though. Dib had seemed more…I'm not even sure of the word. There was something in his huge eyes, something that wasn't normally there. Behind those green lenses, there was something unrecognizable. It wasn't the Dib-monster, even though he was pointing weapons and lifting me into the air.

No, because the Dib-monster would never have gone that easy on me. Still, what was that unreadable emotion in his eyeballs?

He had told me there were horrors there I could never imagine. I want to know what those horrors are! The way he spoke of them though…it seemed he was frightened of them as well. For good reason of course. Anything that could scare an Irken invader would probably kill him.

Though he said I couldn't go that day…that was mind-boggling as well. Why was that day so special? What made it different from any other filthy day?

There was such urgency in his voice though. It was as though he wasn't doing this just to torture me. Could there really have been an ulterior motive behind this?

I can't think of many reasons for him to react that way. Why would it matter to him if this…thing…hurt me? That's what he wanted, right? To see me squirming in pain?

Of course, if I were gone, the Dib-beast wouldn't have a pet alien anymore. Nothing to brag about to the smelly humans.

Perhaps the humans would take me away from him. They'd consider him a traitorous slug and take me away to be executed. The Dib-monster wouldn't have a punching bag after that. Even so, he could always get another creature to torture if he's that sadistic.

One thought floats up to the top, all the way up to my antennae. Maybe Dib actually…cares…for me. Maybe he was trying to protect me…trying to save me from something. I laugh that thought back down every time. As though he would care at all. We were enemies! There was no…compassion involved at all!

This fact of course, made understanding this situation increasingly difficult.

I must have stood facing that door for hours, wondering why I let him go. Thinking that maybe I should have stopped him again and forced him to answer my questions. It was too late for any of that now though.

With a small sigh of defeat, I shuffled my feet over to my precious windowsill. I would wait there for the Dib-human to return, while watching the rain fall down. Somehow, I knew I would be waiting a long time for that though, and I couldn't help wondering if Dib would come home bleeding all over everything again.

Soon my thoughts became hazy and floated away until I was soaring in a voot cruiser again. Flying high over what I believed the tops of the building looked like, watching as thousands of lasers rained down from the Armada's ships. It was the destructive rain of champions.

Hundreds of voot cruisers danced in the sky creating their own laser light show. It was beautiful. Simply beautiful.

Imagine my shock when I realized my eyes were open.

I couldn't believe it. The only thing separating me from my fellow Irkens was a piece of glass. A grin spread across my face that must have been as wide as Dib's head. They had come for me. They were here. They had come to finally bring me home.

I pressed my head up against the cool glass and watched with wide eyes as my dreams slowly began to become a reality. The cruisers and their reign of destruction were more beautiful than I could ever have imagined. If I listened hard enough, I could hear the filthy stink human's screams of terror. It was a sound I had waited a long time to hear.

A pair of voot cruisers slowed down in front of this filthy building. I didn't think my eyes could get any bigger. They really were coming for me.

There was a girl in the first cruiser with purple eyes, and a boy in the second with red. I didn't recognize either of them, but they seemed to know me from somewhere. They stared at me for several moments in disbelief. With a quick look at each other, the voot cruisers turned around and flew away in the other direction.

I had expected something. Even if it was just to be laughed at, it didn't matter. I expected somebody to say something or do something or reach out to me in someway but…there was nothing.

I banged my fists against the glass as hard as I could, not caring if it broke. I cried out for my leaders, the Armada, anybody that would hear me really. Nobody could though. Or rather, nobody would. In each voot cruiser that flew by me, the driver would see my desperate sobs for rescue, and every time they would pretend they hadn't.

My eyes were wide with hope as the main ship flew by, so wide that it tore off part of the building on the other side of the street. That was where my precious Tallest were safe and secure. I could see them through the glass. It was the first time I'd ever seen them focused on anything besides the snacks in their hands. I cried out as loud as I could, hoping that my Tallest would hear me and set me free from this hell.

…And then they saw me.

I think I was the last thing that they had expected to see here. I saw Almighty Tallest Purple order the ship to a halt, just so that they could stare. I believe I even saw Almighty Tallest Red drop his space soda to the floor.

My Tallest stared at me through the glass window of the main ship for a long time, as though trying to decide what to do with me. I had been preparing a speech of apologies in my head for when they sliced open the window and came to my rescue.

When I looked up though, they had disappeared.

It was as though someone had removed a blindfold from in front of my eyes. Suddenly, I could see clearly every time I had been laughed at or mocked. I could see the welcoming ceremony for Impending Doom II. I could see my almighty Tallest, and every time they had ever loathed my presence. When they gave me GIR, who had only been a piece of trash they had found. All of my transmissions that were groaned at and every time they snickered behind my back.

It had never occurred to me before that moment. Nobody on Irk considered me an invader. I was just something to be mocked at every possible moment. They…they sent me here just to get rid of me and they didn't expect me to return.

They left me to die here…alone.

No…No that couldn't be right! I am an invader! I AM! Somebody would save me right? RIGHT?

I never ceased my banging on the window as tears poured down my cheeks. I screamed out over and over as though my squeedly spooch and been ripped out of my body and fed to a moose. Again, my pleas were ignored by the very beings I had placed all of my faith and trust in. They were my life. My reason. My hope and my purpose. All of that crumbled in my fingers as my hands shook uncontrollably. I couldn't stop the tears from falling.

I was sure if I kept banging long enough, the glass would shatter, and then maybe someone would hear me, but I wasn't strong enough anymore. Most of my remaining strength went into trying to stop mourning something I never had in the first place.

Through my tears, I saw voot cruisers flying and falling, being knocked down by Earth technology. Apparently, Earth had its own lasers to fight back with. The rolls were reversed, with the Irken soldiers writhing in pain from contact with the rain. If I listened hard enough, I could hear knives unsheathing and the heavy flow of water that probably came from a…fire…hose-y…thing. They were all very primitive forms of combat, but it was taking down one of the most advanced races in the universe.

I had no idea whose side to be on now. Irk was my home and I should defend it…but I was a worthless nothing to them. I was destined to die alone and I was hated by my own people. I remember thinking in that moment that they all deserved to die for playing with my feelings like that, and then hating myself for wishing it. All I could do was stare out the window and cry. There was no one left to hear me now.

Eventually, all of the dust settled. For a long time I sat there, staring out the window and sobbing uncontrollably. I was ashamed to be crying, because mighty Irken invaders don't cry; however this only proved my new discovery over and over.

I hated everything in that moment. I hated the Armada for sending me here. I hated the Tallest for leading me on. I hated myself for falling for all of their tricks. It was pathetic. I was pathetic. That's all I ever was.

It wasn't very long after that, maybe a few hours or so, when Dib came home. I stood up and forced myself to stop sobbing long enough to get a good look at him. He was bloody again, but he didn't look quite as hurt this time. His weapon had been broken into sparking pieces and the tank on his back was leaking water poison onto the ugly tan carpet. That look had returned in the Dib's eyes when he spotted me, but this time it was softer and less panicked. It was that horrible look I hated so much, because I didn't know what it meant.

I could feel the tears welling up in my eyes, but I refused to cry. I would not cry in front of Dib. Not even with his stupid "look". I could feel my knees shaking though and my resolve was beginning to crumble. I shut my eyes so I wouldn't have to look at him.

Something wrapped around me, making me open my eyes in shock. My face met the symbol on Dib's shirt and I felt the cold of what was left of his metal-y arm on the back of my head.

I wasn't sure how to react. I knew how I would have previously reacted though. If it had been before The Impact I would have screeched and scrambled away. If it had been less than a month ago, I would have been disgusted by his touch, but now…

…Now as I felt his fingers through the broken bits of his weapon stroke my antennae…it felt…it felt nice. It shouldn't have felt nice. My entire world was changing and falling apart and shattering on the floor and I had no idea what to do.

So I cried. I clutched Dib's shirt in my hands and cried. I didn't bother trying to stop myself anymore; I just let the tears rain down like the poison outside. I didn't care what he would think anymore.

To my surprise, his forehead fell down against mine. He continued to stroke my antennae softly and whispered to me.

" I know Zim…" Dib said softly, " …I know."

He held me closer and let me continue to sob away my broken dreams. Everything was just so confusing and messed up and wrong now. My entire life's worth had been thrown away. I could smell the Irken blood on Dib's clothes and knew that even if I had wanted to now, I could never go back. At this point though, I wasn't even sure if I wanted to.

There was nothing left of my old life. Nothing. Everything I had ever been was dead and gone. Everything I ever wanted had burnt into flames. I had both died and been reborn at the same time.

Dib was there though. It felt like he had always been there and that he would be there forever. This…this wasn't right though. Why would I want him there? He's my enemy…he's my…my…

…my everything. He's all I have left now…and somehow…

…Somehow though, in some weird way…that thought didn't bother me nearly as much as it should have.

(A/N: Sorry, I meant for this chapter to be out sooner than this… It's not…quite as ZADR as one might hope [yet], but the sparks are definitely there. Next chapter will hopefully be up sooner than this one was. Please R&R.)