Chapter One

NOW

A shrill cry echoed through the hallway, bouncing off the walls. The wood on the floor was broken and creaking, but Dib dared to venture through it, head held high.

It was a dangerous mission. He didn't even remember why he was there. It was something important, he could be sure. The walls had scraping pain and holes, and spiders dangled in the cornors of the ceiling. Their webs marked their territory through out the house; and yet, Dib was only on the first floor.

A low hanging light dangled from the ceiling, pulling forward and illuminating a small area dimly. A cockroach scurried across the floor and a rat clung to the wall. The rat was holding something that looked like an old reminant of metal, rusted by time. Dib grabbed the musted light and shone it at the rats. Once black eyes lit up with crimson, and they turned to run away from the light, knocking the frail boy to the ground. Dib was older, wiser, and smarter. He was 21, and his once straight tuft of odd ebon hair now fell limply behind his head. His once healthy, tanned skin was pale and pallid. His once glass protected eyes where now an icy blue; warding away all who approached.

Somewhere along the long trips of study and classic 2 AM scenarios', Dib had lost his mind. His fragile sanity now stood on the brink. Even the slightest ounce of pain could set him off.

He crept up the stairs, arm clasping the dirty and slightly bloody handrail. They creaked and moaned horribley, screaming for him to go back. Somehow, he couldn't let himself turn back----He wouldn't.

A soft voice alerted him. He knew he was going in the right direction!

He followed the whisper, carefully balancing himself on the creaking wood.
One mistake, he could tumble to his death.

He safley reached the end of the second hallway, and pushed open an old door. Silence.

A misted apparation, almost a phantom, hang over a bed. Her face was buried in a pillow, and she was weeping. Her long maroon hair fell behind her, now plagued with two black streaks infront. Her golden eyes where staring darkly at the wall, as if accusing it. A dark funeral dress wore on her tightly, and long stockings wrapped around her legs smugly.

She wore an amulet around her neck in the shape of a human skull.

"Gaz?"

The girl barley looked up, not wanting to face her brother in this teary state.

"Gaz, you have to leave this house eventually. What would father think if yo--"

"--Shut up Dib."

"Please, Listen, Gaz," He pleaded, "I just want to he--"

"Everyone wants to help. Just go, Dib. Your prescence isn't helping me at all. Just...go."

She turned away, not bothering to even whimper as she turned way from her brother. The one she grew up with, shared the same blood as she; the one she had known to be there for her even when she hid who she was.

"Gaz as soon as I heard you where still here, I rushed over--"

"But you didn't rush over when we needed your help. You didn't come back when Dad was murdered. Or when they died. You certainly wouldn't have cared if I sat here, waiting to die."

"Gaz, thats not true! I wasn't here when dad died because dad didn't care! Membrane only cared about his studies!
He felt only sympathy for me! Gaz, he thought I was crazy at age 12. He would've sent me to the loony bin! As for your family.." He trailed off, "I..didn't even know they where dead until just now."

He reached for her shoulder, a warm gesture felt cold to her.

Gaz looked up barley. Her words where scarcley audible.

"I...don't care."

"Please, just give me another cha--"
"Dib!" She scolded, turning away.

"You try it sometime," She scolded, looking into his peircing and tormented eyes. "Watch your family die; as if by your own hand. Survive the inevitable. Wake up covered in their blood. Watch them scream."

She turned away now ashamed.

"All because of who you became."

"Past is past, Gaz. You still have family. I will always be there for you. And mom--"

"Is dead! She's been dead, and yet you remain so damned hopeful!"

"She's alive. No one just dissapears, Gaz..Not for so long without any known evidence. My point is, your my sister, and I still care about you."

Gaz choked on tears, silent as she was.

"Then why did you leave?"
She asked sadly. "Why did you leave dad and I?"
This time, he turned away, a shilloutte before the window and the dying dawn.

"Zim was growing strong. After learning the truth of his purpose, he was determined more than ever. To show the tallests he could evolve, that intelligance is beyond height. He moved to California, to be directly under a sattalite connection with the massive--This would give him the oppertunity to privatley hack their systems and from their, devise plan ideas sent by other Invaders.

"Zim had a great plan--All he needed was a partener. Someone like Tak."

Gaz shuddered. Somehow, the sun was colder than it ever had been before.

"I thought...you wouldn't miss me."
She turned to her feet, watching them instead of the speaker.

"Gaz, I love you. Your my sister, and ... ...I'm sorry."
She looked up, the eyes of an abused puppy laying upon him as she thought.

"Dib..Will I ever be able to leave this place? Am I forever bound to wander the halls of the lost Czanna and Zai?"

He paused. Her soul was forever intwined with Zai's, through the child Czanna. She was bound to him, bound to the memories.

"Yes."

She hung her head low. The consequences would claim her.

"You will never forget. Pain is forever, Gaz. Time is ephemeral."
He turned to her, sitting next to her on the bed.

"That doesn't mean you can't move on, start fresh..So there'd never be a past. But the imprint is always there."

She nodded, and held in the arms of her brother, she wept.