Hello to all and thanks for reading!! Anyway, this is the next chapter...I guess it takes turns focusing on different characters. Sorry about the amount of time I waited to post this up. I had a medical emergency with my dog, so I had to put off writing this for a while. It's amazing the kind of inspiration and ideas that hit you while at the vet. But my dog is now recovering and should be fine. And Hopefully, Gaz, Dib, and Zim don't seem too OOC.

SIGH

Oh yeah...I own none of this Invader Zim stuff, except the new IZ arm warmers I just got...hee. Now, on with the show!!!!

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"Hello?"

Gaz walked inside her house, not really expecting a reply. No one was home. The only sound she heard in the house were her own foot steps and the front door she slammed behind her.

"The worse is over…at least for this miserable day."

She bent down to pick up the mail off the floor and shuffled through it as she made her way into the kitchen.

"Cable bill, phone bill, stupid paranormal magazine for Dib, junk, crap…"

Nothing for her...

She dumped the mail on the kitchen table and opened the refrigerator, taking a can of pop.

"Dib didn't take the last one," she observed. Gaz pulled the tab, took a drink and headed to her bedroom.

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Entering her bedroom, Gaz tossed her bag on the floor and sat on her bed, taking a swig from her drink. She looked around her room. With the heavy metal posters and dark colors that decorated her surroundings, any outsider may think of the room as incredibly dreary and creepy. To Gaz, this was a refuge where she could be alone and not have to deal with anybody else's troubles but her own. It was her own world, and no one else was allowed in it.

Gaz started feeling a little warm, so she pushed her sleeves up, then froze as her hand brushed the new scab on her left wrist.

He almost found out, she thought as she looked at her injured wrist.

"How could I've been so stupid? Why didn't I just bandage it up?"

She touched the wound cautiously and closed her eyes.

"Maybe Dib will forget about it," she mumbled, "it's not like he cares."

Speaking of Dib, instead of walking home from school with her like he normally did, he went off with some of his loser friends. She did not bother questioning Dib about where he was going; she figured the less she knew, the better off she was when it came to her dealing with her older brother.

"Whatever."

Gaz put her soda can on the nightstand and began poking under her bed. Past some shoes and a couple of empty soda cans, she saw her sketchbook, pulled it out and started looking for a piece of charcoal in the art box she also kept under there. As she rummaged through the box, she felt she had gotten a hold of something. When she pulled her hand out of the box, she saw she wasn't holding the charcoal she had wanted; she held the old art knife she kept in there. She looked at the knife intently, almost entranced as she stared at the blade. She slowly fingered it but then dropped the knife back into the box, and quickly shoved it under her bed.

Gaz sat up on her bed again, took another swig of her soda and stood up. She pushed her hair away from her eyes. I need to clear my head, she thought. She started to pace back and forth in her room, and then eyed her full-length mirror that stood near her closet with a bit of disdain.

"Why did I ever get this?"

Gaz walked up to the mirror. Then she turned around and rolled her eyes; why bother, she thought. About to walk away, but unable to resist, she stood in front of it, and took a good look at herself.

She wasn't that tall, probably 5 feet and maybe 2, 3 inches tops. She wore a black skirt, a dark purple long sleeve shirt and a black tank over that. She also wore her fishnet stockings and, of course, her black boots. Gaz doubtfully stared at her face, and then the rest of her. She wasn't ugly at all…as a matter of fact, she was quite beautiful. But it really didn't matter how pretty she looked, everyone at school had long ago deemed her a complete freak. And who'd wanna hang out with a freak, she thought.

She lightly touched her fingers to her lips and a thought crossed her mind.

"15 and I've never been kissed." She smiled sadly. "Who am I kidding? I've never even had a boyfriend."

She thought of the boys at school and scoffed at the idea of going out with any of them.

Then she started thinking about something else, the same thought that crossed her mind the previous night… something more important than a boyfriend…

…Gaz never had a real friend.

She never had someone to confide in, joke around or play video games with. How pathetic is that, she thought.

People did not become friends with Gaz Membrane; they just turned the other direction when they saw her approach. Sure, she sat with Dib during lunch and stuff, but he was her brother and it's not like they shared the same interests or anything, except DNA and that could be debated.

Besides, lately he was hardly ever around…

"Not much of a friend," she said, "and even less of a brother."

Her thoughts went back to that morning's incident with her brother and Zim. Her actions were unexplainable then, and still so at that moment as she stood in front of that mirror. She had never helped anybody out like that before, but something at that moment had compelled her to help her brother's enemy.

Gaz sat back on her bed and drank from her soda can. She put her hand over her skull necklace and closed her eyes…

"Mommy?"

"Yes little one?" She turned to look at her little daughter, who had tears streaming down her face. "What's wrong?"

"No one ever wants to play with me or be my friend. 'Cept Dib, and that's cuz he's weird, has a big head and has no friends, too"

The young woman bent down to meet her daughter's gaze, wiped her tears and smiled gently.

"Not a nice thing to say about your brother," she laughed softly while stroking her child's cheek.

"My little Gaz, the best way to make a friend is to be one."

"But what if that doesn't works," Gaz cried.

"Then, you try again, sweetie." She picked up Gaz and hugged her. "It's not always easy, but it's not impossible."

"Really, Mommy?"

"Really, baby. And you know what?"

"What," asked Gaz, looking at her mother expectantly.

"Sometimes you become friends with the people you least expect."

Gaz opened her eyes and drank the rest of her soda. She pulled out her sketchbook again and found a pencil in her book bag.

She knew what she had to do.

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Dib sat on a park bench. He had agreed to go to the movies with his friends, but at the last minute made up a lame excuse about doing some history homework. Dib just wanted to be alone with his thoughts. What is wrong with Gaz, he thought to himself. The way she had behaved that morning was unusual, but that cut on her wrist concerned him even more.

"She said it was an accident…I mean, do I really have any reason not to believe her?"

She would never purposely do something that stupid…that reckless. Gaz was strange at times, but who wasn't in high school?

Dib sighed deeply.

He heard what people had to say about her at school. He was teased himself and made fun of behind his back, but that was nothing compared to Gaz. She was the school's freak show, and was always reminded of it by one idiot or another. Actually, that had been the real reason why he had decided against going to the movies.

He and his friends had been talking about girls at school they'd sleep with in a heartbeat. Well, one of them said the wrong thing…

"You know, Dib," said Cal, who looked like he couldn't get a date if his life depended on it, "your sister is pretty hot. If she wasn't such a vampire wanna-be, I'd nail her like that!"

"Don't you know anything, Cal," said another one. "Just turn off the lights and close your eyes while you're doing her!"

All their friends had cracked up at that statement, backing it up with other lewd and disrespectful comments. Dib didn't say anything at that moment, not even attempting to once defend his sister, and regretted it as he sat on the park bench.

"Some brother I am."

But this was Gaz, the same girl who'd shut out the rest of the world while playing her Game Slave, or when she drew in her sketchbook every now and then. No, Dib thought, Gaz is a lot tougher than I think. She's perfectly fine.

With his conscience cleared, he got up and walked home. Dib needed to figure out a certain Irken's plans for world domination.

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"Gir, where are you going?"

"Party! Party! Party!"

Gir was dressed up in his green dog disguise and was getting ready to go out for the evening. Zim shook his head. Why even bother asking, he thought, it's not like the "mission" is at stake anymore.

"Fine, just be sure to get home at a decent hour."

They both heard a car horn honking just outside.

"They're here," Gir said excitedly, "bye!!!" He ran off and slammed the door behind him.

With that, Zim was left alone and had the perfect opportunity to put his plan into motion.

He went to his room, and changed into his pajamas. He looked through his book bag and found the notes he had made in Lit class. He also pulled out something else. Since the second time he had the recurring dream, Zim had been writing down the details of the dreams he had everyday. He normally would write them down on the first piece of paper he found or on his computer if that was the first thing he encountered in the morning. He wanted to keep his information all in one place, so he stopped by a stationary store and bought the dream journal he now was putting on the nightstand. He had spent the afternoon transferring all his dream details in the book.

He put the journal on his nightstand, and sat back on his bed. Zim looked over his notes once again and also put those on the nightstand.

All this preparing to go to sleep was a bit of a nuisance to Zim, but at this point he was pretty much used to it. Irkens, unlike humans, don't require sleep to survive, and Zim had been no different. But the years he spent on Earth and its strange atmosphere took a toll on him, making him more prone to exhaustion and fatigue. Zim started to fall asleep. At first, it was only for a couple of hours a week. Then an hour every other day. Soon, Zim was keeping a sleeping schedule similar to that of humans. It bothered him at first that he was becoming accustomed to the ways of these inferior creatures, but he grudgingly accepted it and the effects that came with sleeping, like dreaming.

"Computer..."

"What now?!"

"I want you to set an alarm to go off on the hour, every hour throughout the night!"

"Aarrgh...fine. Hourly alarm set."

All that was left was for Zim was to wait for sleep to come to him….

…. And that didn't come so easy tonight.

This got him a bit upset.

"How come I'm not asleep yet?! How dare Sleep try and evade my superior Irken being tonight?! It's the doing of that wretched dream!!!"

Zim ranted and raved like this for several minutes, but that wasn't helping him fall asleep and he knew that. He finally settled down, and closed his eyes. He remembered that along with the dream information he looked up, he had read about some methods that claimed would help someone fall asleep.

"Might as well put these silly human techniques to use," he said, as he racked his Irken brain for a particular technique.

Then, it came to him.

Zim closed his eyes, put his right-gloved hand on his abdomen and took a deep breath. He felt his hand and abdomen rise as he inhaled and fall as he exhaled slowly.

Inhale…exhale…inhale… exhale…

He continued doing this, concentrating on his breathing, and feeling his entire body becoming more and more relaxed. He almost felt like he was floating…

Zim was out like a light in a matter of minutes.

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He found himself on the beach again. The same beach he had been dreaming about for more than a week. He looked down and saw that he had a wristwatch. It read 11:45. Zim started walking towards the water, knowing full well who was going to appear. Immediately the voice called to him.

"Help…save me…"

Zim did not respond and kept walking. He heard a chime, stopped walking and looked back at his watch. Still 11:45. It was working; he had wanted the time to stay the same on his watch and it remained the same.

Zim smirked.

He was lucid dreaming now; he knew he was in a dream state and was slowly gaining the ability to control his dream. He looked back up and saw the figure appear by the water. Again, he heard the voice, but something was different this time.

"Help…save me…"

The voice is female, he thought, as he crept slowly towards the cloaked figure. Not that it really makes much of a difference; male or female, this dream has gone far enough.

He was right behind the stranger. This…thing is not that big, he thought. Zim was right; the figure appeared to be a bit smaller than him. He slowly reached out to grab hold of a robed arm.

"Now I've got you," Zim sneered.

"No," said the stranger with the female voice, as it turned around. A ghostly white hand fell on Zim's shoulder and gripped tightly.

"I've got you."

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I know it sucks to end it this way...darn cliffhangers!! I forgot to give credit for something I used in my last chapter. The lucid dream stuff that Zim reads was from a book I have called "The Dream Encyclopedia" by James R. Lewis. The book actually kind of inspired to write this. Another thing I should mention is that in this chapter, Zim uses a technique called "Reality Check." In a dream, to make sure you're still lucid, read something or check the time on a digital watch. If it changes, you're dreaming and not lucid. Hope this answers any questions anyone may have had while reading this. Again, please R & R!!!