Is there not a law against too much homework? X-x

Sorry for the wait if it seemed long.

Review Replies:

pokekinz0520 — Hey, I think ur nice for posting a kind review! ;D And I know Dib was supposed to be a clone of Proffessor Membrane in the series so I just decided to add it in to help with this later part :)

Moth Mask — lol. Thanks for reviewing(:

Invader Neo — Yeah I heard about that in an interview. Pooooor Dib, I know! But Zim couldn't call him a smelly human or other anymore :D But I am using the non-human thing for something farther back into the story :)

Jugendfrei — I'm glad you likes my stuffs going on :D But I never intended Gaz to be as caring as she secretly is at all. It's all for later awesome happenings though!

kewki — Thanks! It's all coming up in some time now! :)

OneShotMarvel — I'm not too huge on the whole Dib being/turning Irken thing in my stories. But it's sometimes good so maybe I should do an Irky Dibby story some other time :-D

Halo nut — Don't like how I work, don't read.

Invader Jane — Again, the whole blood ordeal was a typing mistake. I appreciate the critisism anyway :) And tell me how you're confused and I will try to help u if I can.

Soooo as promised, the results ARE IN for ZaDr/ZaDf contest at the bottom. Hope u guys will happy with the results ;)

Zim and Gaz stared at the screen that read out the truth of deceased Dib's life.

"Well, how ironic," Gaz muttered.

Zim continued to type, messing with the images on the screen.

"I guess it does make sense," she went on. "Dib did always have that scythe just like Dad's, and was always natural."

"Well I would assume that they simply share that human gene," Zim said absently, more occupied with his typing.

"I...guess so." Gaz crossed her arms.

There was a long pause. Gaz was watching Zim deeply studying a few other human DNA samples that were from his human test subjects. He even looked at a few animal's genetic forming, comparing this to Dib's unique sample. The Irken had known Dib for a while, and it just seems weird he would be protecting a race he wasn't a part of. He knew he was just curious, a little more curious than he was with the whole "gay" disease...or whatever it was. Zim would make sure to look at that later.

Gaz was standing awkwardly a few feet away from Zim. They both had had so many strange encounters together because of Dib. Zim and Dib had always been the most identical idiots she had ever seen. Gaz actually was able to enjoy late nights of peace knowing Dib was getting entertained by Zim pretty well instead of targetting Bigfoot or ninja ghosts in his toilet.

Gaz had her moments where she would be with her brother as he and Zim challenged each other back and forth. There would be times when she had to step in the quarrel. Like when the siblings had the one time chance that year to have pizza with their dad, and Dib was off spying on Zim again. She remembered it getting on her nerves when Dib 'happened' to be caged in pinkish goop on an alien spaceship above the planet. Zim and Gaz never really spoke directly to each other...until now.

"Dib-sister." Zim was looking at Gaz now.

"What is it this time?"

Zim had a flicker of hesitation, before hardening his gaze. "You must leave...if you do not require anything else that is." There was an edge to his tone.

Gaz paused, before looking at him directly. "Your still wrong. I know Dib's still alive." Gaz turned to go. "But I'll kill you for lying later."

When Zim thought she was going to leave, she stopped and glanced back at him.

"Well?" she said impatiently.

"Eh? What?"

"You are coming, aren't you?" Gaz prompted. "I know you've been on his case too. And I'm still planning to find out more about why he isn't human as soon as we get to my house."

Zim blinked at Gaz's choice of words, but reluctantly followed.

When they turned the corner Dib and Gaz's house was on, Zim slowed his pace. Was he really going to do this? Go back into his dead enemy's house that he had been upset about for weeks now? He really was curious...really. But could he believe Gaz was not going to turn on him? For one thing, Zim was Dib's mortal enemy; who says Gaz isn't leading him to a trap right now to try to evenge Dib?

Before Zim could sneak away, he realized that were already the familiar red door. Gaz opened and glanced back at him.

"Dad's busy right now, so keep your mouth shut and follow me."

"Wh—" Before Zim could ask, Gaz clamped his mouth shut. Shocked, Zim tried to squirm free, but Gaz abusively dragged him by his mouth into her house and up the stairs to the basement. Zim spared a glance to where he knew Dib's room was, and could tell from afar that it hadn't been touched for weeks. Zim's antennas lowered a bit, and he couldn't take his gaze off the cracked door (like cracked open).

The basement wasn't that bad; it wasn't dark and cramped like most other basements in the upper level. It had a few nice office-like qualities, such as drawers and a desk. It was, however, a sheet of lint and wood from wall to wall.

Suddenly Zim realized his wig was still on, and it brought him back to the memory of ripping out his contacts in his own basement. He gasped and realized he had been walking in public with half a disguise on! Why hadn't Gaz said anything?

"What's wrong with you?" Gaz asked as she saw Zim's panic-stricken face.

"Errr..." Zim grumbled, pulling out a spare case of contacts out of his PAK. "Why didn't you tell me I was in half a disguise?"

"Are you too stupid to notice or something?" Gaz raised a knowing eyebrow.

"You call Zim stupid?" Zim pointed an accusing claw at her. "Your the filthy juice-brain that still doesn't get—"

"FINALLY!" Zim was interrupted by Proffessor Membrane bursting through the door. His goggles were shining eargerly.

"DAUGHTER, I—" the tall man stopped when he saw Zim quickly slipping on his last contact. "What?"

Zim shared a glance with Gaz, seeking for backup, but the Goth just shrugged as if it didn't matter.

"Membrane!" Zim formed a goofy grin, eyes avoiding the question obvious on Membrane's face. "I am not an enemy species after taking over this planet! I simply have the illness...pink eye!"

Gaz rolled her eyes.

Membrane's features brightened up again. "OH! Hello foreign green boy," he greeted cheerfully, and his goggles flashed to Gaz. "Sorry to disturb you! I will tell you about my AMAZING BREAKTHROUGH later." And then he was gone.

"Pfft." Gaz stared at the dark floor. "Dad's so clueless."

Zim wasn't paying attention. Instead, something peeking out of a dark drawer caught his eye. He crossed the polished wood floor and quickly bent down to jerk it out. "And what is this?" He eyed it with a smirk.

"What?" Gaz came over next to him and stared at the peculiar box in his hand. It was dark brown, in the shape of a rectangle, with a silver lock holding it shut.

Zim lifted his long fingers to touch the lock.

"Stop! Put that away." Gaz snatched the box from him, shoving him away in the process.

Zim landed on his elbows on the carpet. He glowered at Gaz as she steamed as still as stone with the box tight in her hands. She must have composed herself in between the time she ran out and came back. He still couldn't fully understand why.

"You know, Gaz-monster," Zim said, getting up and dusting himself off. "You should watch where you put certain belongings if they are that important to you." Zim was smirking menacingly, a lot like the old Zim. But unfortunately, the old Zim was still trying to be found again, though he had been a little more of himself ever since Gaz turned up at his door.

"You shouldn't be in my room anyway." Gaz said, putting her fists on her hips. "I knew I shouldn't have brought you in."

Zim frowned and rolled his eyes, muttering something about "humans and their ignorant meat brains".

"Come on." Gaz was suddenly at his side, turning the doorknob in front of them. "It's not a good idea to search here. And I don't want you in here again."

Gaz was obviously upset about whatever was in that box, but Zim could guess that she 'd never let anyone in her room in the first place. He followed her out, sparing one last glance to where the box was left in a corner, before Gaz closed the door behind him, glaring warningly back at him.

Soon, they were back in the dark blue halls, and Zim was passing by Dib's door.

"Hmm...I believe it wouldn't hurt to check," he muttered to himself, slowly reaching to touch the dust on the gold-colored doorknob.

Slap.

"Hey, quit it!" Zim barked as Gaz snapped at him again. Her mood swings were getting on his last nerve.

Gaz stared at him with a piercing glare. "Do not go into Dib's room."

"If your so ignorant, then, beast, that's not my problem." Zim's antennas flattened on his head.

Gaz growled. Some part of her was yelling to listen to him, but why should she? She was only bringing him along because, Gaz had to admit, he did know a thing or two about science.

Gaz turned her back on Zim. Zim was always an idiot with things, and there's no way he could be right. Dib was just missing. He was out chasing a vampire-monkey-ghost and just got lost. Dib was...ok.

So many thoughts were filling the two's heads. Both on Dib.

Finally Gaz sighed.

"Let's just quit."

Zim stopped pondering to look at her. "What?"

"We're wasting our time. Neither of us should be worrying about him." Gaz's eyes slid half open.

Zim scowled. "I'm not worrying—"

"Save it," Gaz growled.

"We're better off just moving on." Zim gulped.

"Come on, let's go watch TV." Gaz suddenly walked toward the light colored stairs, and continued on without looking back.

"What? WHAT?" Zim was real pissed off now, but the Goth couldn't hear him, for she had disappeared, and he could already chatter from a TV.

Gaz was so confusing! First she wants to do a full-scale search on her house for anything that might reveal more of Dib's not being human, and if he was dead. But NOW she wants to just quit and watch television? Oh, OH! Had she always been so bi-polar?

Zim stood there just steaming out all his anger. He was so mad that Gaz had been making him do all this stuff for her just to blow him off! If he never did feel cautious by that Earth-monster, then he would have never even let her into his house!

Zim stood there for minutes more, unconsciously staring at Dib's doorknob.

...But wait, didn't Gaz actually invite him to watch television with her? She didn't toss him out the window and completely blow him off? Zim wondered...what would it be like, maybe, to have some real company? Even if it was a human, just a logical being beside him watching TV, instead of Gir's ananymous squealing.

Zim huffed with contempt before giving in and padding down the stairs. "What are you watching?" Zim asked, plopping down on the couch like a steaming pancake. He watched as she absently clicked through all the channels.

"I don't know," Gaz responded. "You got any ideas?"

"Mmm..." As he watched for a channel that might seem interesting, he noticed Gaz flip past the Scary Monkey Show.

"Wait, go back!" But Gaz kept flipping. "That stuff's crap. I'm not watching that."

Gaz finally settled on some sort of horror movie. It was called 'I Am Legend', and apparently it was about some ugly demons taking over everyone's bodies. Zim liked that part. He hadn't lost his enjoyment for these moronic humans to suffer. There were some parts he zoned out on, and a thought came to mind.

What about Dib?

But Zim only ignored it, focusing more on the movie and its distractions for him. Slowly, he got his thoughts to drain into the back of his mind. He thought maybe Gaz was right. Even after all the fuss and decisions being changed, maybe he really should just let it go.

Yep...just go with it..., he thought. Gaz may be ok for now.

Zim knew he was trying to let Dib go earlier, but when Gaz came back his curiosity shot back into him, like if a crack was made in a water dam. There were so many questions left behind, but honestly, what else could you do about someone who is dead? Zim glanced back at Gaz, frowning. He still didn't like her mood swings.

—~—

This went on for a couple more days. Zim would be stubborn and Gaz would be stubborn, and they would continue to just not care as they flipped through channels on TV. It was just like how Zim was a week ago, except he wasn't alone, and he felt a little more intelligent now. Also, they wouldn't just stay around the house; Zim would sometimes complain and decide to have a movie night with his bigger, more prominently hightech TV, and they would go over to his house. And sometimes, sometimes they would go to an arcade or maybe a theater. But why go closing themselves off again? Because it kept them occupied from having to be sad about Dib when they didn't want to admit they were sad about Dib.

Proffessor Membrane would pop in and out a few extra times. He was becoming a little curious about the two, which is understandable. As he was passing from his lab to anywhere else in the house, he would stop to greet them: "Hey, kids, how is everything today?"

Every time, Gaz and Zim would answer with a groan. But either way, Membrane never was able to be at home too often, and when he had been, he was still working. So the scientist's pondering on her child's first relationship—as low as it was—had to end quickly, for he had a world to save!

From that Wednesday throughout the weekend the two did all this, and it was great to have some comfort, even if they barely spoke to each other. They hung out just watching something with a screen and sharing a bag of cheese balls when Gir had tagged along that Friday. Everything was going pretty ok, considering the way things were being handled now.

Until Sunday...

"I think we should see 'The Dying Zombies'." Zim's gloved finger pressed against the computer screen listing movie showtimes and trailers at the Dawn Break 14 theater.

"No way. I've seen that 48 times. Pick 'Orange Blood'. It's new." Gaz clicked on said movie and pointed at the trailer when she hit play.

"Fine, fine." Gaz grinned as they headed out the door of the Membrane house.

At first they walked in silence.

"Gaz-monster?"

"What?" Gaz looked up from watching her black shoes stomp on the concrete.

"Umm..." Zim felt uneasy. This was something he had noticed ever since Thursday. He had been battling with himself to ask, considering the risks that would follow.

"Spit it out," Gaz snapped.

"Well I...noticed...Does your father happen to have any—"

Zim was interrupted by a loud screeching sound that made his antennas shake, and Gaz to grimace.

"Come on, man, this is MY car!" One man standing in front of a red Hummer was glowering at a group of boys opposite of him. They were armed with wrenches and screw-drivers, and the man's face turned from red to purple.

"Whatcha gonna do? Call the cops?" One of the boys with straight blonde hair chuckled and took a swig of the beer bottle between his fingers. His blue, puffy eyes were unsafe and unfocused. "I'm sooo scared."

"Just stop! Get away from car! I didn't do anything to deserve this," the defensive man, obviously the car's owner spoke in a loud voice compared to the blonde boy's unconcerned tone. The pissed off man had half a head of light brown hair, and wild brown eyes. He grinded his teeth together, and his fist locked on something unseen in his pocket.

"You wanna play old man?" Another boy with rough brown hair spoke next. He smirked as he dragged his wrench down from the car, causing another loud screeching noise. At the same time, he knocked back his beer bottle. The sloppy drink left droplets of liquid on the corners of his thin mouth, which shined off against the orange light of the setting sun behind him.

The last boy with a black, golden-skull shirt laughed heavily. "Yeah! We play with him—this game I calls Hot Tail is a lot of fun!"

All the three boys cackled with laughter and lifted their screw-drivers and wrenches. The man finally pulled a black revolver out of his pocket and prepared himself.

"Hey-" Zim felt a hand tugging on his elbow. He turned to look at Gaz. Her expression was annoyed and she was already taking steps away.

"Come on, let's go." Gaz pulled Zim away and they started walking again. Gaz started grumbling about how everyone was such an idiot in this town, but Zim wasn't listening.

Something about those boys sent a rush through Zim's body. The way they acted, the way they dressed, the way they out-numbered someone. …Zim watched as the sun went down, slowly disappearing in front of his eyes. It rippled away as a wave of purple was fading in above it.

Suddenly he remembered something.

"What's your problem?" Gaz's grumbling snapped him out of it before he could mentally scold himself for letting that memory run by him. "What are you looking at?"

"Nothing, human. Let's go." Zim walked in front of Gaz who had an eyebrow raised. He decided not to bring up his earlier question. Now that he rethought it he didn't care to. He led all the way to the ticket stand at the theater.

"May I help you, sir?" a man with bleach-blonde hair and a full-lip smile asked Zim when he leaned into the booth.

"Two tickets for 'Orange Blood'."

"Really? I hear that movie's freaky." The man emphasized the word freaky.

Zim glanced back at Gaz. "So how much, booth filth human?"

The man blinked stupidly before he told him the amount needed. Zim took the tickets and slapped the money on the counter before he and Gaz went to get snacks.

"You know, you didn't have to pay. I stole enough money from Dad." Gaz waved a one-hundred dollar bill in the green boy's face.

Honestly, Zim didn't know why he bought the tickets, since Gaz usually pays anyway. He was just there first.

Zim shrugged, Gaz grunted a whatever. Gaz bought the snacks; a large bowl of popcorn, one Poop soda (Zim isn't always interested in liquid, considering its wet), and two bags of sour gummy worms.

"Did you bother to check the ratings on this, Gaz-beast?" Zim asked mockingly when they sat down. They were early, and previews were just getting started.

"Nope." Gaz said.

"Of course. I hate you pathetic worms for wasting my time with that last worthless movie." Zim said, but in his new, more casual tone. "Stupid stinking caterpillars slime."

"Quiet down. Your voice is annoying. Besides," —Gaz grinned— "this one should be better."

"Better?" Zim asked with disbelief. The stupid human movie was named 'Orange Blood' anyhow.

"Uh-huh." Gaz said.

They were both silent for a while as the previews played on. But what could you expect. The two weren't friends, but they could just come to terms about how they hated feelings. Especially the unusual ones. But they don't really know any better; Zim raised with harshness and programmed PAKs; Gaz being young, even if she was creepier or more sane than most others. This was the two's way of handling things.

—~—

The movie, in truth, was actually quite horrifying. And if not horrifying, then disgusting. And if not disgusting, then long. It lasted about three hours. Three hours of deep spookiness. Orange Blood. And Zim, being proned to over 100 years of scary experiences, had never seen anything that could match up. And Gaz being Gaz just smirked the whole time.

When they exited the Dawn Break 14 theater, Zim and Gaz noticed it was late, the sky being pitch-black and all. The two said their usual emotionless goodbyes and went separate ways on the sidewalk.

"Well!" Zim commented on his way home. "That was disturbing."

Zim padded down the concrete sidewalk that seemed to keep going straight forever. There were small hills lined withgrass or buildings on the side. The tallest ones stretched up to the clouds that were now invisible in the dark sky. Zim still thought all of them were ugly. In fact, the only Earth thing that he thought was of any significance was it's sky. Even if the planets weren't a prominent spot of red, purple, or blue, it was what mostly reminded him of home. Through the dots of twinkling stars past the Milky Way, Irk was waiting for a hero's return.

So what Irk's top Invader now?

Suddenly Zim heard a sound. It was a soft wisp, too quiet for any human's ears to detect. Zim shook his head, thinking he was still trying to get over the movie he just saw. It may have even been what he ate today: waffles, popcorn, dill pickles, popcorn, Doritos, popcorn, popcorn... Zim's stomach stretched painfully as he remembered. Disgustingly enough, Irkens don't have the parts humans use to go to the bathroom; it all went the PAK. Gosh, it had been a while since he refreshed it...

"Lii..."

Zim jumped. He had definitely heard it that time! Zim stopped to look around. The slow, warm breeze was dragging discarded papers and rustling some cans in nearby dumpsters, but the sound he heard was different. It sounded like a very quiet, very careful whispering sound. Zim took off his wig without checking to see who was around, and waited.

After a few minutes, Zim finally got irritated. "Pfft. This is stupid! I feel like I have stubby...STUBS in my brain!"

"LII...!"

"Ahh!" The sound was a lot louder that time. Humans could hear it now. Zim tried to make out the words.

"Liiff...Lllii..."

But then it became clear.

"Life...Life...Life..."

Thanks everyone who left a nice review! Gir sends his soapy waffles to all of you!

Well, shocker! ZaDr won! XD Yyyyaaaayyyy!

... anyway if u want to know the numbers let me know :)

Review quota: 53

Oh, and just to make this clear, just because I have the right amount doesn't mean you'll see a chapter right off. This is just the amount of reviews I need to know it's worth posting another chapter. But thanks again! Everyone!

RxR(53)