A/N: Hello, all. :) I hope everybody is doing well and fine in this year of 2021. As a note to old and new readers alike, I'll soon be making revisions to MANY of the early chapters of this monster fanfic. As such, however, I'll have to reupload chapters, which means OLD A/N's and end chapter responses to people may be deleted in the process (I can't seem to copy and paste old content, so it would be quite a hassle trying to type those extra bits out EVERY time I make a change.) Revisions will likely be minor edits here and there at first, but my hope is that in the process, these small edits will come together over time. So please bare with me as I work through these changes. While I know some may be disappointed to lose their end of chapter shoutouts (from the time when I was responding to reviewers at the end of each chapter), I know others will be relieved to see only chapter content rather than walls of text that have nothing to do with the actual story. Truthfully, I'll be a little sad to see them go also, but I doubt any of my current readers are those who used to review this story back in the day. I will always have a deep appreciation for the support we got back then, but I'm excited for change also and can't wait to share the revisions I have in store for this story. It won't look like much at first, I'm sure, but every change, however small, is just another step closer to showcasing how my writing has evolved over the years. Yes, it may look a little wonky at times, having old content mixed in with new, but it's a chance I'm willing to take as I find it hard to focus on only one chapter at a time for revisions. It would take years to edit this story on an individual level, so making small changes where I see fit seems a much more reliable process for me to improve the overall word flow of the story. So once again, please bear with me. That being said, many thanks to old and new supporters alike. I know this story is ancient and doesn't gather a crowd in the same way it used to, but I still have a passion for it and just wish to enjoy the ride as I constantly work towards improving my skills as a writer.

-Pat (3/27/21)

Warnings: Extreme OOCness

Rating: M for later chapters

Disclaimer: We do not own Invader Zim, nor any of the characters from it. We do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Zim/Tallest Red: Notgonnadie

Dib/Gir/Drone/Tallest Purple: Me

Computer: Both of us

Beta: Notgonnadie

The sound was like nails on a chalk board: high pitched and enough to make anyone cringe.

"No." Dib replied for what was probably the dozenth time now, though the cries of the Irken's android only continued to grow louder as he reached the level of Zim's base that his ship was currently being stored on.

"I wanna come with you though! Can't I come with you?! Please! Please! Please! Please! Please! Please! Please! Please! Pleeeeeeaaaaaaseeeee!" the little SIR unit begged, clinging to Dib's leg tightly and wailing like a child.

"The answer is still no, Gir! I need to do this alone! Besides..." he sighed to himself, desperately searching for something, ANYTHING, he could say that would possibly distract the tiny robot. "I have another favor to ask of you." he then finally said after a moment or two of idle contemplation, hoping his request might be able to net in the AI's attention. "I don't know how long we have before they attempt to blow up the Earth. So, if I'm not back within the hour, I want you go to my house and tell Gaz to take Tak's ship and get as far away from here as humanly possible. Can you do that for me, Gir? And tell her that if I don't contact her back, chances are I'm dead..." he said, doubting very much that the android would be able to successfully pull off such a task but figuring it was worth a shot anyways. "Please, Gir. I just need you to do this for me." he then said in a softer voice now, similar to that one might use when addressing a very young child.

Gir's eyes seemed to grow wide at the favor being asked of him before finally, he let go of Dib's leg and saluted, his eyes flickering to red momentarily before returning back to their usual shade of turquoise green. "Okie dokie, Mary!" he stuck his tongue out and smiled, waving goodbye to Dib as he climbed on up into Zim's ship relieved.

Turning to address the computer now, Dib then let it know that he was ready for take off.

"I'm not gonna bother with a countdown." the computer then informed him before shutting the door and blasting off into space towards the Massive.

Still not used to space travel as the ship shot up higher and higher off the ground, up through the Earth's atmosphere and into space, Dib clung to his seat tightly, the entire ship shaking all around him.

"Impact in five, four, three, two...Have a nice day." the computer's voice sounded over a speaker in the ship as it came to a spontaneous stop right outside the docking bay of the largest ship Dib had ever seen in his life.

Remaining seated in the ship for a few minutes longer, it took Dib's shaking body a while to finally gain back some control over itself. "A-Alright. I-I guess I'll be boarding now. I-If you can still hear me, computer, do you think you can do me a favor and remind Gir about that little favor I asked him to do in the event that he forgets?" he asked, just wanting confirmation that in the end at least his sister would be safe.

"I guuuueeeesss..."

"Th-Thanks...I-I hope we get a chance to talk again really soon..."Dib said, ignoring the computer's tone of voice as he finally picked himself up from his seat and headed on board, his top priority to find Zim as soon as possible.

Thankfully for Dib, his arrival at the Massive's main docking bay seemed to go by unnoticed by most, the vast majority of the ship's onboard inhabitants presently searching the interior corridors for any signs of the magenta-eyed Irken that had escaped and hidden himself within the vessel's inner workings.

Keeping close to the walls so as to stay out of the way of other Irken's running about, Dib lifted his head to the ceiling when he heard Red's voice over the Massive's intercom. "HOW COULD HE HAVE ESCAPED?!" he raged just to have the drone responsible for watching over Zim answer back timidly.

"W-Well, I opened the door because I thought he had gotten out...and then he got out.."

Trying to stand back just a bit more as he watched the frantic Irkens surround the area he was in, Dib took a few more steps back before finally deciding on a direction to head, just having to remind himself over and over again that he was wearing a disguise and none of the Irken's on board should notice him sneaking away. But just as he was turning on his heel to head in what seemed to be the least crowded direction, he got cut short upon bumping into another Irken and falling flat on the floor. Sitting up slowly, Dib rubbed his head with a pained noise escaping him. "Ow..." he groaned before looking up to see a very tall, purple-eyed Irken staring down at him.

"Hmph! Is that any way to treat your Tallest upon his amazing return from vacation?!" Purple said, grabbing Dib by the collar of his shirt before looking around and realizing that none of the other crew members were greeting him as they should be doing but were rather running about in a panic. "Errr...Okay. So maybe nobody has noticed my return. But they should! I'm going to go have a talk with Red about this. And as for you! Go get me some nachos! Just because the rest of our useless crew hasn't noticed me yet doesn't mean you can get away with it!" he said before dropping Dib back onto the ground, awaiting a reply. "Weeeell." he said expectantly, arms crossed as he tapped his foot against the ground impatiently.

Shrinking back a bit in his spot, Dib quickly scrambled to his feet to do as he was told. "Y-Yes sir!" he said, his voice shaking as he went to head in the direction he had originally planned on going just to be stopped by Purple before he could even go anywhere.

"Hey! Where do you think you're going?! The kitchen's in the opposite direction!"

"Oh y-yeah...My mistake. Be back soon with those nachos." he wasted no time at all in making a mad dash in the opposite direction of where he had originally wanted to go, now just wanting to get away from Purple as quickly as possible as he bumped into several other Irken's along the way, all of whom sent him awkward glances and insults for not being more careful.

To his relief, the area around the kitchen turned out to actually be much less crowded than he had originally thought it would be compared with the rest of the ship as Dib made his way into it just to find that he was the only "Irken" within the proximity, or so he thought.

Having been hiding in the area where the least amount of beings were, which just HAPPENED to be the kitchen at the time, Zim watched from his hiding spot as everybody had fled the snacks to find him, leaving them unguarded and ripe for the taking.

He had spent hours locked up in that cell and was now VERY hungry, leaving him with little strength left in him to confront Red. But just as he was about to sweep in low to grab the food, one stray Irken with dark blue eyes wandered into the room cluelessly, as though in search of something. But it didn't really matter as Zim prepared to strike. 'You picked the wrong day to be on your own.' he thought before angling himself to pounce on the other. 'Three...two...' he waited until he was just in range. "HAH!" he yelled out as he dropped down from the ceiling and tackled the Irken to the floor.

Dib, of course, instantly let out a startled gasp as he felt something, or more precisely, someone dropping down and tackling him to the ground. "Ouch!" he yelped, eyes snapping wide open at the realization that he was under attack when he heard a low growl from behind him, the attacker pinning him down to the ground from behind.

Instantly beginning to panic, thinking that perhaps his disguise had been detected, Dib struggled from underneath whoever it was that was holding him down and began yelling at them to stop. "Stop! Stop! Get off of me! Please! I haven't done anything wrong! Stop!" he desperately tried to throw the person behind him off of his back before finally managing to turn himself over onto his back underneath Zim, his eyes widening at the sight of the Irken. "Zim?!" his voice came out all too happy in that moment before returning to panic when he realized the other didn't recognize him in the disguise and was holding a spider leg up, ready to plunge it into him.

Bringing up his arms to cover his head just as Zim went to strike him with his spider leg, Dib flinched back and let out a pained yelp when he felt his left arm being torn into by the sharp point rather than his head, which had been its original target. Bringing his free hand to the wound in his arm, Dib desperately tried to get through to the Irken one last time, crying out for the other to stop. "Stop! Stop, Zim! I'm not an Irken! It's me! Dib! " he spat out quickly before Zim could strike again, squeezing his eyes tightly shut in the case the other didn't believe him and decided to kill him for real this time.

Preparing to strike again when he heard the others words, Zim paused right as the spider leg was about to pierce Dib's throat. "How do you know Dib's name?" he asked, staring down at the blue-eyed Irken suspiciously.

Peeking an eye open at the question, Dib opened both his eyes after a moment to stare up at the other with wide, fearful eyes, his entire body shaking now. "I-It's me, Zim...I-I am Dib. I came back to save you...Y-Your computer programmed a route to your leaders' ship and gave me a disguise to wear..." he stuttered out shakily, body tensing up when he could see doubt building in the others face. "Please, Zim. Believe me. I-I have no intentions of hurting you." he tried one last time to prove to the other that he was who he said he was.

Staring down at him with a look of uncertainty on his face, Zim took hold of him by the front of his collar to pull his face closer. "You...YOU must prove it! Do something that only the real Dib would do!" he demanded, wanting to make sure before he let the other up.

But Dib couldn't think of anything as he flinched back at the demand. "I can't! I don't know what I could possibly do to prove to you that I am who I say I am!" he yelled back at the other, sending Zim a pleading look not to kill him for that response.

Glaring down at the disguised human, his PAK leg getting closer to the others neck yet again, Zim pulled it away suddenly to kiss Dib right on the lips. "Stupid, indecisive human..." he murmured as Dib kissed him back needily.

Latching onto Zim as the Irken pulled away, Dib instantly broke down into tears, hugging the other close. "You jerk! You scared the living hell out of me!" he screamed at the other, hiding his face away in the alien's chest.

Smiling softly at those words, Zim pulled Dib into an even tighter hug before nuzzling his face into the boy's neck. "I know...But I had to make sure..." he whispered, running a hand up and down his back in an attempt to soothe him now.

Sniffling wetly, Dib pulled back slightly as his tears began to dry, leaving stains down his cheeks. "They lied, Zim. They never had any intention of leaving Earth alone! They plan on destroying it!" he said as another new wave of panic hit him, causing him to break into another flood of tears.

Wrapping his arms tighter around Dib, Zim could only continue to stroke his back gently in an attempt to calm him back down. "I know, Dib...I heard them...I'm so sorry...I didn't want this to happen to you..." he said as he tried to wipe Dib's tears away just to find it to be a more difficult task than he thought. "You must stop crying, Dib...Most Irkens don't cry. They will suspect something of you..." he said, knowing he had to find a way to calm him down quickly.

So pulling away slightly to wipe at his eyes with one hand, Dib winced when a sharp pain ripped through his arm, causing him to instantly bring a hand up to grip at the wound, red blood dripping onto the ground. "Ouch...D-Do you think there's anything in here I can use to wrap my arm?" he asked, looking around in search of a rag or towel or anything really.

But Zim could only shake his head in response as he looked worriedly at the wound before grabbing his own sleeve and ripping it off. "Here. Use this." he said, offering it to Dib.

A/N: And there you have it for Chapter 7. :] More revisions will likely follow in the very near future, but for now, I want to extend my gratitude to the reviewers from our past. Your support has really meant the world to us. Thank you for keeping the fire alive in me to continue writing this story, even if you left it behind in years gone by. I wouldn't have gotten this far without the support we got back in the day (and of course, I feel the same sentiment towards those who stumble upon the story in today's age of the fandom and offer a kind word). I know there are far better reads and writers out there within the newest generation of IZ fans, but I appreciate the occasional wanderer that stumbles upon and takes an interest in this story. Until my next revision!

-Pat (3/27/21)