A large headed teen walked down the street. A duffle bag slung over his shoulder, and a large suitcase he dragged behind him. It was raining, but he had no umbrella, relying on a trench coat to keep most of it off him. The rain, strangely enough, had no effect on his hair which was in a strange scythe, trailing a little behind him. He pushed his glasses a little higher on the bridge of his nose, clearly in a hurry for something. Perhaps he was going to catch a plane or train, but he was not going toward the airport, or the train station. Instead he was walking toward a strange green house.
Zim re-read the letter again, as if trying to find something that said it was a cruel joke and not his new reality. He received this letter via meteor mail a few weeks ago. He hoped it was that death-monkey he asked for a while back, but it was not. It was just a letter addressed to him from the tallest. He thought maybe it was a promotion, but he was dead wrong.
Dear Former Invader Zim. I tallest Red hereby revokes your title and all rights that it entitles. I have been trying to tell it to your face for year, but maybe this letter will finally break through your thick skull. Also I state that I hate your guts and wish you a painful death.
Just to make it clear to you, the reason for this hate is the simple fact that you are a pathetic short defect. You have destroyed everything you touch and if you ever show your face on Irk again you will be killed on sight. Any attempt to contact us will be ignored
Have a shitty life
With much hate, Tallest red
After receiving this letter, Zim spent all night trying to hail the massive. After more times than he could count, he collapsed, sobbing uncontrollably. He broke down completely, not eating or leaving his house for days. In his isolation, his mind wandered to what the letter said. He wondered if he was a defect, or if the Tallest simply lied. He scanned his Pak and compared it to a normal one. He was shocked by how different his was, it's wiring was frantic and crossed… it was even missing whole pieces in places. This was a devastating blow. It was true, every claim about him. He sunk even lower, not even leaving his lab. Eventually Dib broke in; attempting to thwart Zim's newest master plan that he thought was the reason for Zim's absence. Only to find him in a corner of his lab, holding his knees, and hiding his face. He was making this strange sound Dib couldn't put his finger on. It didn't take him long to figure out what it was though…it was crying
Dib learned of what had happened. His first thoughts were not of him winning, only that this sad alien was giving up. It was strange at first, realizing he actually cared how the alien felt after fighting him for years. Even stranger that he was scared at the fact of the alien dying. But after he thought about it…it made sense. For his whole life was dedicated to protecting the earth from aliens, and he was his nemesis, the reason he kept going!... now he saw that Zim was broken, his life a lie with no purpose.
After some thought, Dib realized that his life was similar. After all this time being ridiculed, being called insane, and dedicating his life to capturing Zim...it was for nothing. He realized his life's work was for nothing, he was not who he thought he was. He was, quite simply, the same as Zim. After all the fighting, all the foiled plans, was for nothing. He sat next to Zim, feeling like he got hit by a large truck. Maybe because he saw his strongest enemy before him, a broken shell, maybe it was because of the fact that his own life's work was most likely worthless…but maybe…just maybe, it was because the closest thing he had to a friend had given up on life.
He had to do something, anything to get his old rival back. He couldn't offer to help him…Zim's ego would get in the way. Suddenly he had an idea. He proposed an idea to the former invader, he would help Zim by helping him try and fix his Pak, if he would share his knowledge of space. Zim looked up at Dib, his red eyes seemed slightly redder, and a small stream of blue liquid streaming from each. He nodded, and asked to get started that very day
It was a long process, every day they would go to Zim's house to work on his Pak, or go to Dib's so they could go over the many different planets and races. Zim always got a kick out of Dib's constant wide-eyed wonder while learning and Dib got a kick out of the fact that every time he fiddled with Zim's Pak, he got a little better, more together.
After a few weeks they started a ritual. Every Friday night while Gaz was at Bloaty's they both hung out at Dib's house to watch a movie. At first Dib would rent a good movie, trying to show Zim human culture. But after 3 "PATHETC HYUMAN MOVIES!" and endless ridicule, he started to rent the worst movies he could find so he and Zim could tear them to pieces. Between this weekly ritual and the history/Pak sessions, a small friendship was starting to form.
The only problem between the two was Zim's mood swings. One minute he would say Irkens are scum and the next declaring that they are the overlords of the universe, then collapse crying and screaming. Dib was getting worried; every attack was getting worse and worse. Dib feared that Zim would go insane. The old Dib would have cheered and use this to prove aliens exist, but now Zim was Dib's only friend…and he didn't want to lose him
So Dib dedicated himself to finding the problem. He poured over the Pak plans for days sleeping or eating only when he needed to, and for the first time in his life using his mild OCD to good use. After a week of constant searching he found the problem. Near the bottom of the Pak structure was a small chip, which forced all Irkens to be loyal to the Tallest, and the Irken Empire. When an Irken tried to ignore or go against either this chip brought them back in line. At first it seemed to be harmless, since Zim didn't to appear to have this chip. But upon closer inspection Zim still had the chip, but half of it was damaged. What was even stranger was that because of this, Zim was loyal to the Tallest by choice, not by force. This caused Zim's normal day to day life and friendship with Dib to overload the working half trying to assume control. But the other half, which was zim's personality, fought back, leaving Zim caught between the warring personalities.
So Dib built a chip, which allowed Zim to control himself. The installation was hard and took hours…but was a success! The effect on Zim however was incredible. He had no more fits from that day forth. He also seemed calmer, that didn't mean that he still didn't rant, or talk in the third person loudly, but he was slightly calmer.
Soon Zim's Pak was more or less fixed, and in Zim's words "Worm baby friends"
Zim sighed and crumpled the letter, throwing it out of his Voot, which he was waiting in his backyard. He missed his days as an invader, but he knew those days would never come back. Besides, he had a new life now. He still was a bit unsure how he had been roped into this situation, but there was no turning back now. Dib had convinced for him to save the universe with him. After seeing what the Irken Empire has done too many planets ignited his old "Defender of earth" attitude, thus beginning his search for resistance groups. After messing around with his computer for a while he found the Restisty. The allowed dib to join instantly, and after some convincing Zim was allowed to join as well. What could he say? He couldn't wait for some revenge.
Strangely enough he felt almost hesitant to leave this ball of filth. After living here for 4 years it grew on him. He smirked to himself; someday he would have to visit this ball of filth again. He'd never admit it to Dib though, for he would hold it over his head forever.
"Hey alien scum"
Zim snapped his head towards the noise, a Pak leg extended to defend himself if needed
"Whoa there…don't want to kill your best friend do you?" Dib said with a smirk
"I'm thinking about it…" Zim said, drawing his Pak leg back in
"You ready?" Dib asked
"Yea" Zim said, extending his gloved hand
Dib took his hand, using it to pull himself into the Voot, placing his luggage in the storage conpartment
"Hey wait a minute…where's Gir?" Dib asked
"He'll join us later. I equipped him with space travel gear so he can come after he finishes what he needs to do" Zim said while closing the bubble to the cockpit
"Okay. Let's go" Dib said, leaning back on a chair
With a nod Zim took off, quickly hovering about ten feet above the ground
"Oh by the way…Happy 16th birthday Dib-thing" Zim said as he took off
Gaz sat at the kitchen table, biting into a slice of pizza. It was just a normal Saturday night of playing game slave, eating pizza, and making dib get her anything she wanted. She was just about to defeat the grand overlord piggy when her Gameslave died. A flicker of annoyance crossed her brow; it always died before she won. And like every other time something went wrong in her life, she decided to blame Dib
"DIB!" she yelled
She listened for a minute after, listening for any sound. None followed the yell, no response, no noise, not even diving through his window. She put down her Gameslave and walked to the bottom of the steps leading to their bedrooms.
"Dib?" she yelled again, another period of silence.
It was strange for him to be so quiet, so understandably she was suspicious. She ran up the stairs, going straight for Dib's bedroom door.
"DIB?" she said while knocking on his door
Yet another period of silence followed. Deciding that his privacy was worth nothing he opened his bedroom door
What she found was slightly alarming…nothing. All of Dib's clothes and books were gone, along with his laptop and posters. All that was left in his room was a freshly made bed and his old computer. Gaz looked in the closet and drawers, nothing but an old sock was left, everything else was taken. Gaz was slightly scared. Usually Dib would rant and rave about his ghost hunting trips, or a paranormal convention, it was unlike him to simply leave with no notice. She sat on his bed, at a loss of what to do. As she sat she heard a piece of paper rustle. She looked down and an envelope with Gaz written on it was sitting next to her. She picked it up, opening it and reading it quickly
Dear Gaz
Little sis….this is it. After all these years of wishing I'm finally leaving you alone. My annoying voice won't bother you anymore. I'm leaving Gaz, by the time you read this letter I'm probably going to be long gone with Zim. I realized the earth doesn't need saving, and that my life's work was probably worth nothing. So I'm going to join a resentence group to stop the Irken Empire, so maybe I can do SOMETHING worthwhile with my life.
Gaz, I always remember that I love you
Love, your brother, Dib
Gaz grasped the letter with trembling hands. She dropped the letter and ran out the door, sprinting towards zim's house, but it was too late. As she saw Zim's ship take off, she fell to her knees. If someone who didn't know who Gaz was walked by, they would have sworn tears were coming out of her eyes. But surely it must have been the rain. As she kneeled there, she muttered a single sentence, before walking back into the house.
"I never got to say…I love you"
A 16 year old boy stood outside his home, the rain slowly drenching his clothes. He had no idea why he stood there watching the sky, but he felt compelled to stand out in the rain. He saw a flash of something fly across the sky. He stared at the sky for a few seconds, then walked back inside muttering to himself
"Why do I have a feeling that isn't going to be the only time I see a shooting star like that…"