Chapter 13
Unexpected Affection
"Zim…? Gir…? Where are you guys!?"
Rogue's voice echoed through out the barren wasteland of the planet. As she stood alone, a weak wind blew across the region, kicking dust up in her face. She coughed a bit and looked around again.
It was such a depressing looking place. The sky just made it even creepier, that strange red tint. If it wasn't for the few small plants which seemed to be struggling to grow in the dry dirt, you could say the planet was completely dead.
Rogue started to walk away from the crashed Voot, hoping to find Zim and Gir, and if lucky, minus Dib.
The Irken walked up and over a dust dune before spotting a sign of movement in the distance. Again, a gust of wind came up as she tried to see whom it was. She covered her eyes and waited for the wind to die down, then saw that it was Gir, rolling around in the dirt, giggling.
"GIR!" Rogue called out, running down the hill. The dusty little SIR looked up and shouted, "HIIIII!!"
"Gir, where's Zim?" Rogue asked the moment she got to him. He pointed a little further ahead of them and there he was, shouting at Dib, both of them just plastered in dust. Rogue could hear what they were yelling about.
"WHAT?! It was YOUR robot that messed things up, not me!" Dib shouted, pointing in Zim's face.
"You shouldn't have been in my ship in the first place! I ought to rip your organs out and……STUFF!!" Zim shrieked.
"Oh, great comeback." Dib said mocking like.
That comment caused a fight to fire up. Zim nailed Dib across the jaw, then grabbed his hair and got him into a headlock. The two continued this squabble while Rogue just watched, shaking her head. After the fight went on for another few minutes, she thought it was time to cut it out.
"HEY!" She yelled toward them. The human and Irken finally stopped pounding away at each other and saw Rogue heading for them. "I can't believe you..." She said.
"Can't believe what?" Zim asked. He and Dib both now had a black eye and bloody lip.
"We run into a problem and all you can think about is fighting it out with him." She said, directing that toward Dib. "Your lucky I can handle heavy impacts, or you would be on your own right now!"
"I saw you were still breathing!" Zim said in his defense. "Besides, it was Dib's fault that-"
"It was your ROBOT!" Dib yelled.
"SHUT UP!!" Rogue shouted. The two went quiet. "…Look, as much as I hate this, we all have to put this aside and think of a way to fix the Voot and get off this place." She looked at Dib with a vengeful glare. "…And you're gonna help us."
"WHAT?!" Both Dib and Zim said with slack jaws.
"I've seen the Voot and it's trashed." Rogue said. "…We…ugh…could need an extra hand…" She shuddered at the thought.
The two rivals looked at one another and could tell they both didn't want the other's "help".
"…I still want to rip your organs out…" Zim said, giving a scornful look.
"…And I still have to expose you for the alien you really are…" Dib said, giving Zim the same glare.
"…Would you two just snake on it or something!" Rogue said getting irritated.
The human was the first to slowly raise his hand up. Zim kept his eyes on him as he too lifted his hand to meet Dib's. They shook on it, which afterward they let go really quick and turned their backs on each other.
"Alright, lets get to work." Rogue said.
About a hour past with the repairing of the Voot. It was going slow. Rogue was working on the broken glass window in the front while Zim was mending the wiring in the control panel. Just behind Zim, Dib was given the "simple" task of repairing the seats that got busted up in the crash.
The human displayed a sour expression. "You know, I happen to have some knowledge of your Irken technology, Zim. I did work on Tak's ship after all."
"Quiet and fix those seats, human!" Zim answered. "Besides, I wouldn't trust you with this type of job." A few wild sparks suddenly flew from the panel he was working out. Dib snickered.
"SILENCE!!" Zim yelled.
"Do I have to come in there?" Rogue suddenly spoke up. She had JUST finished with the glass bubble window. "Good thing we had a spare in the back…but there is still some work to be done."
"I have this under control." Zim said, and then another round of sparks came up in his face.
"Sure you are…" Rogue said. She got next to him and took a look for herself at the wiring. "…You have a few of these crossed, Zim."
"…I knew that!" He said. Rogue signed.
After a little of her own handle work, Rogue let Zim get back to it on his own. "If you have more trouble-"
"I'll be fine." He said. "I know what I'm doing."
Rogue didn't say any more. She hopped out of the ship and took a little walk. She didn't say anything, but she could tell this whole thing was still bothering Zim. Rewiring a Voot control panel is smeet stuff, but if you have a lot on your mind, like Zim, it isn't as easy…
She found a place to sit on a large boulder that was sticking out of the ground. She gazed up at the reddish skies, it's hue was rather enchanting in a way. It was close to the same colored atmosphere back on Irk.
"…He's still worried…and still won't say he is…" Rogue said out loud. "…Why doesn't he just say it? He's so stubborn…" She let out a sigh as a light wing blew through her long antennas. At that moment, her mind couldn't stop thinking about Zim. She knew he was self centered and over prideful, but, there was just something about him… She couldn't help but…
"…I feel sorry for him?" She asked herself. "…NO WAY!" She jumped off the rock and shook her head. "I ain't sorry for that Irken! He's pigheaded! And just now he knows he's a menace! IDIOT!!"
"What's a menace??"
Rogue jumped and turned around to see Gir staring at her was a confused expression. She mentally slapped herself.
"…How long have you been standing there?" She asked with a blank look.
"Uh…'He's still worried and he won't say he-'" Gir started quoting.
"Never mind." Rogue said. "…So you heard me talking to myself? Great…" She sat back down on her rock and hung her head. "…I'm getting pathetic."
"Why are you talking when Master isn't around?" Gir asked. He sat right next to Rogue, which made her back away a little.
"What is it to you?" She asked. "I have…stuff on my mind, alright? A broken SIR like you wouldn't be able to understand anyways…"
"…Red." Gir worded out.
"What??" Rogue looked back at him with a baffled look.
"…Your face is red!" Gir squealed, pointing right at her.
"WHAT?!" Rogue started rubbing her face, thinking there was something on there, but there wasn't.
"YOOOU'RE BLUSHING!!" Gir said with a hyper tone in his voice.
"NO I'M NOT!!" Rogue shouted, but that got her blushing ever more. "Why would I be blushing in the first place!? You know nothing!"
"Red face!" Gir poked Rogue's cheeks playfully.
Rogue just stopped and thought about it; the look on her face turning shocked. '…No…I DON'T…THAT'S SICK!!!'
Gir suddenly ran off, giggling and repeating over and over, "RED FACE! RED FACE! ROGUE'S IN LO-"
"NOOOO!!" Rogue dashed toward Gir and slammed her hand over the robot's big mouth. In the distance, Zim looked up, wondering what those two were doing all the way over there.
"You just keep your trap shut!" Rogue said to Gir. "Don't said ANYTHING to Zim! Understand?" Gir shook his head 'yes'.
The female alien let go and let Gir go his way. She just stood there, her eye twitching a bit. The heat in her face finally died down, but it was replaced by that weird gut feeling she got the other night.
'…This can't be right…it just can't! For crying out loud, this shouldn't be happening!!' She shouted in her own head. 'Irkens can't fall in…'
Zim suddenly flinched hearing Rogue give out a rather loud scream. He and Dib looked outside and saw her walking around in a circle, holding her head and mumbling something to herself.
"…Ooook…" Dib said.
"…Rogue??" Zim said, he cocked a useable eyebrow.
Rogue stopped in her tracks as she saw that Zim was staring at her. Her face went RED in nano-seconds. Zim looked even more confused.
"I'M FINE!!" She shouted before running off again.
"…Uhhhh…hmm." Zim just went back to his work.
"This isn't happening, this isn't happening…" Rogue just continued to repeat herself, walking back and forth far off from the Voot. She made a little path in the ground, she was walking so much. At one point, she tried getting Zim out of her head by punching her head, but that didn't work.
"Why is this happening!?" She said. "…Irkens can't…we don't have to have these feelings! It was unnecessary once advanced cloning became the main tool for producing more smeets!" She finally stopped and planted her butt on the ground. "…This feeling is a thing of the past…I shouldn't be having it. …I mean…I was created like other Irkens, right?"
"Rogue!"
The perplexed Irken jumped at the sound of Zim's voice in the distance.
"We're leaving! The Voot is done!"
"…That was somewhat quick…" She got up, dusted herself off and her way back.
"I'm pretty sure I got the circuits and electric wiring right now…" Zim said as they were getting ready to go. Rogue sat in her front seat while Gir was in the back.
"…Why is he coming?" Rogue asked expressionlessly. Dib was in the back with Gir.
"Hey, I helped, so-" Dib started.
"We promised that when this is all over, we have a battle to the DEATH back on his planet…" Zim said with a sneer to his voice. "It will be sweeet."
"…Did you tell him?" Rogue said.
"Tell him what?" Zim asked.
"Why we're on this trip? I guess he should know now…"
"Something about your leaders betraying you, right?" Dib said. "Zim said something like that when he was working. I overheard it. What did they do?"
"…Shut up for the rest of the time, alright?" Rogue said, almost without any feeling to it.
"…" Dib just stayed silence.
"We're off!" Zim started the Voot and it took off without any problems. The repairs were a success. As they left that desolate planet, Rogue stared out into space not saying a single word.
'…'Affection'…'Love'…Words like that are rarely, if not, never used anymore in Irken society…' She thought as the stars looked to zoom by them '…Would it be a crime if I really…'
TBC………
Unexpected Affection
"Zim…? Gir…? Where are you guys!?"
Rogue's voice echoed through out the barren wasteland of the planet. As she stood alone, a weak wind blew across the region, kicking dust up in her face. She coughed a bit and looked around again.
It was such a depressing looking place. The sky just made it even creepier, that strange red tint. If it wasn't for the few small plants which seemed to be struggling to grow in the dry dirt, you could say the planet was completely dead.
Rogue started to walk away from the crashed Voot, hoping to find Zim and Gir, and if lucky, minus Dib.
The Irken walked up and over a dust dune before spotting a sign of movement in the distance. Again, a gust of wind came up as she tried to see whom it was. She covered her eyes and waited for the wind to die down, then saw that it was Gir, rolling around in the dirt, giggling.
"GIR!" Rogue called out, running down the hill. The dusty little SIR looked up and shouted, "HIIIII!!"
"Gir, where's Zim?" Rogue asked the moment she got to him. He pointed a little further ahead of them and there he was, shouting at Dib, both of them just plastered in dust. Rogue could hear what they were yelling about.
"WHAT?! It was YOUR robot that messed things up, not me!" Dib shouted, pointing in Zim's face.
"You shouldn't have been in my ship in the first place! I ought to rip your organs out and……STUFF!!" Zim shrieked.
"Oh, great comeback." Dib said mocking like.
That comment caused a fight to fire up. Zim nailed Dib across the jaw, then grabbed his hair and got him into a headlock. The two continued this squabble while Rogue just watched, shaking her head. After the fight went on for another few minutes, she thought it was time to cut it out.
"HEY!" She yelled toward them. The human and Irken finally stopped pounding away at each other and saw Rogue heading for them. "I can't believe you..." She said.
"Can't believe what?" Zim asked. He and Dib both now had a black eye and bloody lip.
"We run into a problem and all you can think about is fighting it out with him." She said, directing that toward Dib. "Your lucky I can handle heavy impacts, or you would be on your own right now!"
"I saw you were still breathing!" Zim said in his defense. "Besides, it was Dib's fault that-"
"It was your ROBOT!" Dib yelled.
"SHUT UP!!" Rogue shouted. The two went quiet. "…Look, as much as I hate this, we all have to put this aside and think of a way to fix the Voot and get off this place." She looked at Dib with a vengeful glare. "…And you're gonna help us."
"WHAT?!" Both Dib and Zim said with slack jaws.
"I've seen the Voot and it's trashed." Rogue said. "…We…ugh…could need an extra hand…" She shuddered at the thought.
The two rivals looked at one another and could tell they both didn't want the other's "help".
"…I still want to rip your organs out…" Zim said, giving a scornful look.
"…And I still have to expose you for the alien you really are…" Dib said, giving Zim the same glare.
"…Would you two just snake on it or something!" Rogue said getting irritated.
The human was the first to slowly raise his hand up. Zim kept his eyes on him as he too lifted his hand to meet Dib's. They shook on it, which afterward they let go really quick and turned their backs on each other.
"Alright, lets get to work." Rogue said.
About a hour past with the repairing of the Voot. It was going slow. Rogue was working on the broken glass window in the front while Zim was mending the wiring in the control panel. Just behind Zim, Dib was given the "simple" task of repairing the seats that got busted up in the crash.
The human displayed a sour expression. "You know, I happen to have some knowledge of your Irken technology, Zim. I did work on Tak's ship after all."
"Quiet and fix those seats, human!" Zim answered. "Besides, I wouldn't trust you with this type of job." A few wild sparks suddenly flew from the panel he was working out. Dib snickered.
"SILENCE!!" Zim yelled.
"Do I have to come in there?" Rogue suddenly spoke up. She had JUST finished with the glass bubble window. "Good thing we had a spare in the back…but there is still some work to be done."
"I have this under control." Zim said, and then another round of sparks came up in his face.
"Sure you are…" Rogue said. She got next to him and took a look for herself at the wiring. "…You have a few of these crossed, Zim."
"…I knew that!" He said. Rogue signed.
After a little of her own handle work, Rogue let Zim get back to it on his own. "If you have more trouble-"
"I'll be fine." He said. "I know what I'm doing."
Rogue didn't say any more. She hopped out of the ship and took a little walk. She didn't say anything, but she could tell this whole thing was still bothering Zim. Rewiring a Voot control panel is smeet stuff, but if you have a lot on your mind, like Zim, it isn't as easy…
She found a place to sit on a large boulder that was sticking out of the ground. She gazed up at the reddish skies, it's hue was rather enchanting in a way. It was close to the same colored atmosphere back on Irk.
"…He's still worried…and still won't say he is…" Rogue said out loud. "…Why doesn't he just say it? He's so stubborn…" She let out a sigh as a light wing blew through her long antennas. At that moment, her mind couldn't stop thinking about Zim. She knew he was self centered and over prideful, but, there was just something about him… She couldn't help but…
"…I feel sorry for him?" She asked herself. "…NO WAY!" She jumped off the rock and shook her head. "I ain't sorry for that Irken! He's pigheaded! And just now he knows he's a menace! IDIOT!!"
"What's a menace??"
Rogue jumped and turned around to see Gir staring at her was a confused expression. She mentally slapped herself.
"…How long have you been standing there?" She asked with a blank look.
"Uh…'He's still worried and he won't say he-'" Gir started quoting.
"Never mind." Rogue said. "…So you heard me talking to myself? Great…" She sat back down on her rock and hung her head. "…I'm getting pathetic."
"Why are you talking when Master isn't around?" Gir asked. He sat right next to Rogue, which made her back away a little.
"What is it to you?" She asked. "I have…stuff on my mind, alright? A broken SIR like you wouldn't be able to understand anyways…"
"…Red." Gir worded out.
"What??" Rogue looked back at him with a baffled look.
"…Your face is red!" Gir squealed, pointing right at her.
"WHAT?!" Rogue started rubbing her face, thinking there was something on there, but there wasn't.
"YOOOU'RE BLUSHING!!" Gir said with a hyper tone in his voice.
"NO I'M NOT!!" Rogue shouted, but that got her blushing ever more. "Why would I be blushing in the first place!? You know nothing!"
"Red face!" Gir poked Rogue's cheeks playfully.
Rogue just stopped and thought about it; the look on her face turning shocked. '…No…I DON'T…THAT'S SICK!!!'
Gir suddenly ran off, giggling and repeating over and over, "RED FACE! RED FACE! ROGUE'S IN LO-"
"NOOOO!!" Rogue dashed toward Gir and slammed her hand over the robot's big mouth. In the distance, Zim looked up, wondering what those two were doing all the way over there.
"You just keep your trap shut!" Rogue said to Gir. "Don't said ANYTHING to Zim! Understand?" Gir shook his head 'yes'.
The female alien let go and let Gir go his way. She just stood there, her eye twitching a bit. The heat in her face finally died down, but it was replaced by that weird gut feeling she got the other night.
'…This can't be right…it just can't! For crying out loud, this shouldn't be happening!!' She shouted in her own head. 'Irkens can't fall in…'
Zim suddenly flinched hearing Rogue give out a rather loud scream. He and Dib looked outside and saw her walking around in a circle, holding her head and mumbling something to herself.
"…Ooook…" Dib said.
"…Rogue??" Zim said, he cocked a useable eyebrow.
Rogue stopped in her tracks as she saw that Zim was staring at her. Her face went RED in nano-seconds. Zim looked even more confused.
"I'M FINE!!" She shouted before running off again.
"…Uhhhh…hmm." Zim just went back to his work.
"This isn't happening, this isn't happening…" Rogue just continued to repeat herself, walking back and forth far off from the Voot. She made a little path in the ground, she was walking so much. At one point, she tried getting Zim out of her head by punching her head, but that didn't work.
"Why is this happening!?" She said. "…Irkens can't…we don't have to have these feelings! It was unnecessary once advanced cloning became the main tool for producing more smeets!" She finally stopped and planted her butt on the ground. "…This feeling is a thing of the past…I shouldn't be having it. …I mean…I was created like other Irkens, right?"
"Rogue!"
The perplexed Irken jumped at the sound of Zim's voice in the distance.
"We're leaving! The Voot is done!"
"…That was somewhat quick…" She got up, dusted herself off and her way back.
"I'm pretty sure I got the circuits and electric wiring right now…" Zim said as they were getting ready to go. Rogue sat in her front seat while Gir was in the back.
"…Why is he coming?" Rogue asked expressionlessly. Dib was in the back with Gir.
"Hey, I helped, so-" Dib started.
"We promised that when this is all over, we have a battle to the DEATH back on his planet…" Zim said with a sneer to his voice. "It will be sweeet."
"…Did you tell him?" Rogue said.
"Tell him what?" Zim asked.
"Why we're on this trip? I guess he should know now…"
"Something about your leaders betraying you, right?" Dib said. "Zim said something like that when he was working. I overheard it. What did they do?"
"…Shut up for the rest of the time, alright?" Rogue said, almost without any feeling to it.
"…" Dib just stayed silence.
"We're off!" Zim started the Voot and it took off without any problems. The repairs were a success. As they left that desolate planet, Rogue stared out into space not saying a single word.
'…'Affection'…'Love'…Words like that are rarely, if not, never used anymore in Irken society…' She thought as the stars looked to zoom by them '…Would it be a crime if I really…'
TBC………