andalitebandit-6: i feel like such an idiot! i went over the chapters, and saw that the links somehow got cut off! and here i was thinking you just didn't get it.

well, since i can't remember what the address was anyway, and it probably wouldn't show up even if i did, just go on google and type in "ZADR", which will take you to that deviant art site where i found all of them.

anyway...

thank you for remaining blissfully unaware. besides, you're better off that way. knowing what was going to happen would ruin the suspense. and i know you don't want to do that.

actually, no, i don't know. i'm just guessing. but i wouldn't think you would...

okay, shutting up now. :)

Dib's POV

Why wouldn't he talk to me? Just when I think I've got it figured out, he won't even let me tell him what it is.

It's absolutely useless trying to help him. He asks me a question, and I try to answer it for him, and he won't even listen.

He probably thinks he's got it all figured out. Probably back at his base right now, saying something along the lines of "Stupid human! The word is in his own stupid language and he doesn't even know what it means!"

And I'll bet he's got the wrong answer.

Why did he even ask me that stupid question in the first place? I would think he'd want to know more about the Earth, how to dominate the human race and conquer the planet. Why would he even bother asking me about something he heard on television?

Zim never did make much sense to me.

A frantic pounding on the front door jars me from my reverie. Begrudgingly, I get up from the couch and open it.

"Hiya!" Zim's little robot minion... thing... in his dog costume, wraps his arms around my waist. "I missed youuu."

"What are you doing here?"

"I don't remember." The robot thinks a minute, before adding, "oh, yeah, now I do!"

Before I have time to react, he grabs hold of my sleeve with his mouth and, kicking up his jets, speeds back to Zim's base, with me still attached.

"I found 'im, Master!" the robot yells, dragging me inside.

Zim, who was probably lurking in the shadows, waiting for me, steps into the light. "Good work, GIR. Now... go do... something. Elsewhere."

"I'm gonna play with a piggy!" GIR leaves, slamming the door shut behind him. Leaving me trapped here.

"What... what do you want, Zim?" I ask, hoping he'll ignore how shaky my voice is.

Zim says nothing, simply advances forward, slowly, step by step.

I back up instinctively, until my back hits the door.

"Revenge."

"What?" I think for a moment. "Oh, the shot. Listen, I thought we had a deal--"

"So did I," Zim snarls, eyes narrowing with his hatred towards me. "Until you started playing your little mind games."

In my surprise, I stop straining against the door.

"What? Mind games? What are you talking about?"

"You filthy lying human! I figured out what your stupid 'love' thing was. It's really a trick humans use to confuse their enemies so that they'll let their guard down and then you attack!

"Did you honestly think I was that stupid. To believe your answer? I figured either you were lying or you were too stupid to even know, so I did some research. It's no disease. It's mind control!"

I pause for a moment before tentatively asking, "Can I ask you something, Zim?"

Growling, he mutters, "Fine. What is it?"

"Have you completely lost your mind? Love isn't a mind control thing! It's a feeling!"

"You humans and your stupid feelings. You don't even know what it is, do you?"

I relent.

"No. But I don't think anybody does. I think the only way you can know what love is, is... if you're in love."

Zim tilts his head slightly, as if trying to look at me from a different angle, to try and make sense of it, as if my head were on wrong.

"It doesn't matter," he says finally. "Watching your stupid soap operas not only confused me, but it gave me a way to get rid of you once and for all!"

"Wait--"

I'm cut off by Zim's mouth pressed forcefully against mine. He holds my hands to the wall I'm standing against, to keep me still. After a few more moments of struggling, I finally give.

I kind of like this.

It's wrong. Terrible. Zim's an alien A monster. He wants to destroy the Earth. He wants to destroy me.

So why is he kissing me?

It's two full minutes before he finally releases me, allowing me to slide into a sitting position. Numbed from the shock, I stay like this, arms wrapped around my legs, staring blankly ahead of me.

What just happened?

"Why isn't it working?" Zim asks. He's not asking me, he's thinking aloud. "When the humans on t.v. did it, the one who got 'kissed' disappeared. So why is the Dib-human still here?"

"It doesn't work like that," I reply. Zim turns, startled, as if he expected me to be gone by now.

"What did you say?"

"I said, it doesn't work like that. The person on t.v. probably just walked off-screen. Kissing doesn't destroy humans.

"It... bonds them.

"I think I finally have it figured out. Love isn't a disease or a mind game. It's a feeling, like I said. It's the most complicated feeling there is.

"You don't kiss someone to destory them. You kiss them because you love them. And when you love somebody, you want to be with them. You want to be bonded to them."

Zim is silent for a moment. Then,

"So... this means I'm stuck with you?"

"It depends. Are you in love with me?"

"I... " He falters. "Well, I... em... I have all the signs of being... in love.

"I didn't think I was. I thought it was mind control. But I... I guess I am."

Well.

I doubt there's any defined emotion for this. It's not every day, after all, that a human falls in love with an alien that he hates... sort of.

How can you love and hate someone at the same time?

But I guess it really doesn't matter.

After all, if we can do the impossible--figure out what "normal" love is--we can define this, too.

the end.

don't get too mad. i suck at endings. just look at what happened with my titans fic (please don't, though--it sucks even harder than this one).

but what i think isn't the issue. what i want to know is what you the people think. so review me already:)