Author's Note: Like I said, rapid updates. Italics indicate that something is being thought or being recalled (unless only one word is italicized, in which case the word is being stressed).

Disclaimer: If I owned Invader Zim, I would be making new episodes right now, with lots of Tak. And Lard Nar.

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In the years to come, he would wonder if he did the right thing.

With all the decisions—good and bad—he ever made, he couldn't help but wonder "what if…?"

But then, that's human nature.

To wonder what could have been.

It was only human.

Irkens aren't human.

And he tells himself that every day, hoping that some day he will fully believe that it was not a mistake.

For what separates humanity and Irk but several light-years and a few dozen technological advancements?

"The Irk was once very much like the Earth. But then, that was thousands of years ago."

He is a paranormal investigator, he tells himself.

He is not a philosopher.

Everything he did, every step he took…

It was for the good of the Earth.

For the Universe.

"Then I suppose the ends justify the means?"

It didn't matter.

What's done is done.

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Fausse Amie

Chapitre Deux: La Fille

The chilly February wind wisped at his hair, the rhythm of his boots against the concrete the only sound in the silence of the city park. There was something about the freezing winter nights that helped him to clear his head, and that was exactly what Dib needed. He gazed up at the sky, the full moon shining down brilliantly. He sighed, sitting on the empty park bench.

It was an oddly pleasant feeling, being alone. The silence seemed to ring loudly, deafening in his ears. He supposed it was because he was so used to someone yelling at him at all times. He closed his eyes, letting his own thoughts overtake him.

The tranquility of the night was almost enough to make him forget about the fact that it was Valentine's Day.

Almost.

The rustling of grass, though quiet, stood out against the silence.

"Alone, as always. You're amazingly predictable, Dib."

That voice—that unforgettable accent! His eyes shot open and he jumped to his feet, staring straight at the same holographic face he had tossed into the trash bin in his room not even an hour before.

"Tak…" he murmured, eyes wide and mind racing with questions.

She smirked—the look he had always associated with her. Confident, domineering, charismatic. That smirk, he had learned, meant that she was either hiding something, wanted something, or was about to do something that could get someone killed. Many a time, it was all three.

"On the most idiotic of all your planet's holidays—the one dedicated to love,to being with another human—you remain alone." She began to circle him slowly. The bench would get in her way when she came three fourths of the way to closing the circle, but her steps were leisurely, relaxed. It was as though she was trying to unnerve him. "Is this because you want to be alone, or because you have no choice?"

Tak's words stung. They shouldn't have—Zim had said far worse things, things he wouldn't dare to quote, and he had felt no pain. Anger, frustration, even unbridled fury—but they never hurt.

"You didn't come here to chat about my love life," he told her sourly, narrowing his eyes and turning slightly with each step she took. Within a few steps it had changed from Tak circling him to both slowly rotating around each other.

"In that you are correct," she stated dryly. Their stepping was becoming melodic—the rhythm to some unheard music—as they began to fall in time with one another.

It's almost like a dance, in some twisted way. Dib quickly pushed aside the thought.

"I hear you have my ship," she told him nonchalantly, but with a spark of malice seeping in each word. She was fighting it. She was trying to manipulate him.

"You've heard wrong," he replied, folding his arms over his chest and furrowing his eyebrows. In the seven years since he had seen her last, she had not grown more than an inch—or if she had, he had not noticed because of his own height. How odd the sight would have looked had someone been around: a teenage boy and a girl appearing no more than ten circling each other menacingly, like wild animals ready to seize their prey.

"You're lying through your teeth," she remarked coldly, violet (though at this point, still seemingly human) eyes narrowed and fists clenched at her side. "Pity. I was hoping you wouldn't force me to fight you."

"You would fight someone twice your height?" he demanded, their paces beginning to quicken as the air around them seemed to tense. "Do you really think you would stand a chance?"

Comments like this usually sent Zim into a flurry. Because of the height-based Irken hierarchy, no Irken, he assumed, would take well to being called 'short'.

He could see the frustration building behind her holographic eyes, but not anger. She was smarter than Zim, calmer, not as easily provoked. She was calculating each move she made. She knew what she was doing from the moment she approached him.

In the years to come, he would still wonder how much of it she truly planned. Did she see it from the start? Was it her intent all along? Or had her plans simply gone awry?

"I will do what I must to accomplish my purpose," she seethed. "Will you take me to my ship, or will I be forced to use violence?"

"Do you think I'm stupid?" he spat, pace increasing once more. He was starting to get dizzy from going around so many times, watching the trees and stars and park bench spin around them until the scenery was nothing but a dark blur of blue, green, brown, and gray.

"Hm…" She raised an eyebrow, looking him over. She almost seemed impressed. "You must be smarter than the rest of them."

"If you were stupid, I wouldn't be here right now, ready to fight you," she told him callously. "If you were stupid, I would be able to hypnotize you to tell me where my ship is. If you were stupid, you never would have kept my ship. You would have thought it was a weather balloon and let it be recycled. If you were stupid, you would be at your skool's dance at this very moment rather than here confronting an alien. If you were stupid, I would have succeeded at destroying your planet seven years ago."

"If you know me as well as you seem to think you do," he hissed, stopping abruptly and backing away, arms folded, "then you should already know the answer." He turned, beginning to walk away.

"Why you choose to fight for this planet yet eludes me, Dib," she called after him. "They don't deserve it. They've done nothing but ridicule you. Even if you were to save them, and they acknowledge it, they would not appreciate you. To let them suffer would be all but divine justice."

He stopped in his tracks, turning to face her. The moonlight illuminated her form, and even through the hologram he could see the sincerity shining in her eyes. "I—can't betray my people."

"Then you know why I must have my ship, Dib. Until death I am bound to my planet, its leaders, and its customs."

A cold chill ran down his spine at these words, the realization hitting him at last.

Perhaps she wasn't so different.

In the years to come, he would wonder how much was true sincerity and how much was no more than manipulation tactics—or if the two in any way coincided.

At that moment, he made a decision that would continue to haunt him until his death.

It had to be done, he told himself. It was the only solution…

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Author's Note: This chapter was a little longer than the last one. Anyways, we finally get to see our favorite female Invader in this chapter. :) Some heavy foreshadowing in this chapter, and I'm sure most of you got it.

I'm actually pretty happy with how this is turning out, and I'm usually pretty unsatisfied with my work. That's not to say that there aren't things that I don't think could be better, but I kind of like how it's turning out. It's my first actual DaTR—though my other story, Day of Reckoning, has some references to it—and I'm actually kind of proud of it so far. I'm thinking that it will be either four or five chapters. Depending on how much I expand on the ending. But I'm leaning toward just having four.

Reviews make me happy. I love constructive criticism. :D