Disclaimer. I don't own any of the characters from Invader Zim. They belong to the brilliant mind of Mr. Vasquez and, unfortunately, Nickelodeon. The only thing I own is an iPod and my character Amy.
"I want her to live a normal life,' the worried teenager stood, his face full of emotion and concern about the child sleeping before him.
"But here her life has meaning; she has a mission to complete. We can't just deprive her of everything she is!" A womanly voice angrily exclaimed from the wall opposite of him.
The hybrid child was sleeping in the tube in between them, various chemicals inside mixing and creating a blue glow throughout the otherwise dark room. Her dark hair fanned out around her, and her small lifeless form floated strangely in the liquid substance.
"Don't you want her to have a better life than we've had? She doesn't need to get caught up in all of this…and you said it yourself that her purpose in life is life." The boy shakily placed his hand on the glass of the container and stared deep into the amethyst eyes of his partner. "Please."
The female being contemplated his words before slamming a clenched fist on a button on a console next to her. A beep sounded and the glow started to slowly fade as the glass and chemicals seemingly disappeared in front of them. The boy quickly caught the child in his arms and smiled down at her.
"Where is she going to go?" The female asked making her way over to his side.
"I don't know…" The boy replied.
They gazed down at their child until the light from the leftover chemicals went out.
Ten Years Later
"Get out of my sight; you disgust me!" Crossing his arms and lifting his chin in the air, the man pointed to the staircase.
A skinny teenager in front of him seemed to flinch at his movements, as if he were going to strike her. Her black hair hung down in her face limply, obstructing her vision. She gratefully welcomed the gesture as an avenue of escape out of the humiliating limelight and took the steps two at a time, tears streaming down her cheeks leaving shiny, damp trails.
As she traveled up the stairs, her mother shook her bleached hair in idol vain and let an insincere sigh be heard.
"You know, we really need to tell her." Her sugary sweet voice turned bitter as she said the final word.
The dense man scoffed and shook his head in disgust.
Meanwhile, Amy slammed the window down behind her and wiped another set of tears from her brilliant purple orbs. All she had done, or, not done, in this case, was the dishes. Every day, her job was to wash the dishes, and should she fail to wash them, all Hell would break loose when her father noticed. "Your mother does all the work around here," and "You never help her," were two of his most favorite arguments, though she was sure that he was only saying those things out of the hatred he seemed to harbor for her and not out of the kindness in his heart for her mother. The night sky was beautiful, so clear that she could almost see galaxies in the diamond canopy, and she was hit blindingly by another wave of tears and sobs.
For years now, Amy had felt as if she had been watching her life through a movie in her mind. She always seemed detached from everything real that was going on around her; as if she were invisible and evanescent. And lately, she had been deeply dispirited. Every night she would climb out of the sole window in her room, lie on her roof, and look at the stars. It was the only thing that truly made her feel alive. And that's where she wanted to be. Out there, among the stars. She was not one to cry easily, but her feelings were so strong that it even brought her to tears just thinking about how grounded she was. Stuck on Earth, a dirt ball that paled in comparison to all of the other countless intelligible planets that she was sure were out there. Planets with civilizations of races infinitely more advanced than mankind. Beings that had jurisdiction over the energy from their star, or even their entire galaxy.
Or they could be carefree simpletons, staring at our speck of a sun in their sky and wondering the same things as she was. One was never sure.
When her tears dispersed enough to restore her vision, she began her nightly star-gazing ritual. Ten minutes passed uneventfully. Then another five. That's when things started happening quite quickly.
A small white light in the handle of the Big Dipper constellation caught her still-wet eyes, and at first she assumed it was a shooting star. As it is customary to make a wish upon a meteor burst, Amy closed her eyes tightly and thought hard.
I wish I could live out there. She thought desperately.
No sooner had she opened her eyes, she realized something. The light grew, both in brightness and diameter, until it was bigger than the moon. Amy's collective features began to twist and distort into a horrified expression.
"Oh shi-" Cut off as she turned to sprint desperately in the opposite direction, she lost her footing and slipped off the roof just as the object, dimmer now that it had entered Earth's atmosphere, flew over her head and into the neighboring woods with a loud WHOOSH! and then the sound of metal bending. Amy grasped the gutter as tight as her fingers would allow her.
"Damn it Amy, keep it down up there!" The aggravated voice of her father screamed towards the ceiling.
She rolled her eyes and made one last attempt to pull herself back onto the roof and failed, only achieving a seat on the damp, hard earth beneath her and a sore bottom. Standing shakily, she quickly collected her thoughts and headed towards the tree line, towards the trail of smoke spiraling into the heavens, as fast as her body would take her.
Dib, short of breath and bracing a nearby tree for support, struggled for breath. His spacecraft lay in fiery ruins in front of him. Oh man, Tak's gonna kill me! He thought, searching the debris for the watch that he had been given to transmit messages back to the base. Ending fruitlessly, it was quite fortunate at this time for him to hear the voice that he heard.
"He-Hello? Is someone there?" A figure stood just at the border of the trees, peering into the darkness and wringing its hands together nervously.
"That voice…" Dib muttered under his breath. It was like he had heard the voice before, but he never had and he knew it. It was familiar in the same way that enables a mother to recognize her own child's cry out of a thousand other ones.
He blinked as he walked slowly towards the moonlit yard beyond the protective timbers, and stepped on twig, causing a resounding snap to echo loudly.
"Who's there!" The female voice called again, this time sharper. Whoever it was sounded very assertive, and their voice carried a known superiority that reminded him of someone very close to him. "Show yourself!"
Walking swiftly towards the voice, the details of the shadowy figure started filling in. Long, straight hair hung down around her face, and her waist thinned out before widening at her hips. She was not very tall, but the regular height for a fifteen year old girl, as he assumed and hoped that was how old she was. If she was the person he was looking for. Her face was delicate, and her brows were furrowed. He stepped out of the darkness and a clearly thought-out sentence hit him.
"Do you have any idea how close you came to hitting-" She froze, leaving her mouth agape in surprise. "You…you're human?"
"Uh…" Dib looked down at himself and glanced back up at her. "Yep."
He was the weirdest human being she had ever come into contact with, but she wasn't really the social type. His dark attire; a blue t-shirt with a gray face on it and black jeans under a long, black trench coat, and boots; was only accentuated by his strange, scythe-shaped hair and large glasses that reflected the light of the moon. She cocked her head slightly to the side.
"But you came from…" She pointed up and he followed her gesture.
He sighed and shook his head. "I'm Dib."
She hesitated, realizing that she should be excited about this situation, before taking his offered hand and shaking it. "Amy."
He beamed at her tiredly at her reply and before she knew it, his warm arms were wrapped tightly around her, and she was forced to bury her face in his messy black hair.
"I'm so glad I found you!" He exclaimed. He pulled away from her but kept a gentle grip on her arms.
"I'll explain later. First, I need to contact Tak; you don't happen to have a satellite dish, some headphones, and a radio transmitter, do you?"
Amy smiled excitedly for the first time that night. A chance to help contact an advanced alien civilization perhaps? One step closer to her dream. She would have to be completely stupid to turn him down, so she nodded and led the odd man back to her house.
Well, how did everyone like that piece of vomit that I happen to call a fanfic? Confused? Everything will make sense later, if you haven't already figured it out. And I haven't completely forgotten about Chaos, I just sorta have writer's block about the next chapter. Anyway, please read and review.