Disclaimer: IZ does not belong to me.

"Come on! Can't catch me!"

Laughing and running along the roads was Zim, a large grin spread across his face. Dib came along behind him, equally entertained. With the craziness of having an alien as a friend, it was rare for either of them to have actual fun. Normally, it was Dib helping Zim clean up his messes before his parents found out or Zim trying to improve Dib's life... which usually failed epically. Point being, it was one of those rare times when they got to do something normal children do: Play tag.

"Oh, yeah?" Dib smirked evilly, running slightly faster "We'll see about that!" With the gentle increase of speed, it didn't take long for Dib to catch his alien friend and tackle him to the ground. They wrestled around a bit, laughing. The mock-fight, as always, ended with Zim sitting on Dib, "Hey, get off!"

"Hmm..." Zim pretended to think about it, sticking his tongue out of his mouth so that it touched the corner of his lip, "Nope."

Dib's mock-glare turned real, "Come on, off! You're heavy!"

"Was that an insult?" Zim grinned down at Dib, who groaned. He wasn't getting up anytime soon, was he. Or at least, so he thought. Zim's grinning face changed expressions; it went to a grave one. He got off Dib pointing into the distance, where a large cloud of smoke rose up into the air, "Hey, isn't your living quarters in that direction?"

The words only made Dib's eyes widened as he stared off into the distance, horrified. Without warning, he bolted towards the pillar of smoke, ignoring Zim's cries to come back. When the Irken realized he wasn't listening, Zim groaned and ran after him, trying to keep up with Dib's speed.

They arrived at the old family house several moments later. Sure enough, the large pillar of smoke was coming from his house. Flames engulfed it, turning the once proud house into a stack of flaming wood. Zim, almost hesitantly, looked at Dib. His face was surprisingly calm and void of expression. Seeing this, he prepared himself and grabbed Dib's waist as he tried to run into the burning building, holding him back as he cried and struggled to get free.

"Dib!" Zim cried, struggling. Not that he wasn't stronger than Dib; Dib was moving around so much it was hard for Zim to keep his grip, "Stop it! You can't do anything! Just stop!" Ignoring his friend's words, Dib kept struggling. He only stopped when the sound of wood colliding made them both stare at the house.

There, in a burnt up lab coat, was Dib's father. He coughed a little, but rushed out to the front yard and collapsed. Gaz, who had been in his arms, crawled out and curled into herself. She was roughly the same age as Zim, but was still the baby of the family, and was treated as such. When Membrane finished coughing, he looked up, spotted his son, and ran over to him. Dib pulled out a stunned Zim's grip and ran to his father, hugging him.

"Now, there, there," He patted Dib's head, "It's alright," Zim, confused, cocked his head to the left. He remembered, from that day in the park, that Dib had clearly said 'mother' and 'father'. He looked back at the burning house. Already Dib's response was pieced together in his head. As it played out next to him, he mouthed Dib's words.

"Where's mom?" The human boy asked, staring up at his dad with tears in his eyes. The man just tightened his hold on his son, and pulled his daughter into the hug.

He spoke, barely holding back tears of his own, "Your mother is- was in the basement when the fire happened. The safety doors lock whenever the house is put on alert..." He trailed off. Dib just nuzzled into his father's crying.

"Why?" Dib said finally, "WHY?"

Gaz didn't say anything, having not been very close to her mom. She just watched the fire burn behind her father, the light reflecting off her eyes. She wasn't crying, nor scared. She just... stood there, unresponsive.

Zim, from his spot next to them, could only watch as Dib's father carried him away, and the siren's from the firetrucks arriving as they speak filling his ears. He watched them leave. He watched the men arrive and put out the fire. He watched them pull out a woman's dead body, scorched and blackened by the fire and soot. And when they all left, he entered the remainder of the house, grabbed a blackened piece of wood, and left.

He went home without speaking. Today just wasn't the day for petty words.

Red had never been a very understanding Irken. Which is why, when Zim arrived home, he was bombarded with questions, most regarding the soot and ash left over on his uniform from when he entered the burnt up house. It was disrespectful in Irken culture to ignore an older person when they were talking with you, but Zim didn't respond to any questions until Red grabbed his shoulders and turned him around violently.

"Listen, you," He stated, anger seeping into his voice, "You know it's against our culture to ignore me. Now answer my questions!"

"Alright!" Zim snapped, then shrunk away. In a more dignified voice, he relayed what had happened to the Dib's house... leaving out the parts about him and Dib playing together. The older Irken just stared at him with an unchanging expression throughout the entire tale, then commanded him to go to his room. Zim's antennae fell, "But-"

"Now, Zim," The Irken sighed, walking towards the stairwell. Before he began walking up, he placed a small device on the wall, looked back to make sure no one saw, then ran up to his room as fast as he could. All the while, Red didn't notice. He called for Purple to enter the room.

From his room, Zim turned on a small device. At first, there was static, but then he heard, clear as day, his Maternal Unit's voice, "What's so disturbing about a house burning down?" It appeared Red had relayed the story to Purple. Or at least a summarized version.

"Don't you see?" Red's voice was harsh, angry. It made Zim flinch, "All our years of hiding- wasted! They've found us!"

There was a brief shuffling, and then Purple responded, "Don't you think that's a bit far-fetched? They wouldn't have attacked a random home!"

"It wasn't a random home, it's where Zim spends all his time! They're trying to use HIM to get to US! I told you raising a smeet was a bad idea!" Despite not being the first time he'd heard this, Zim's antennae flattened and his eyes watered, "Sooner or later, they're going to realize they burnt down the wrong house and come after us! We-" At this point, Zim turned the device off. The only thing they would take about now would be defensive strategies.

Two claps, a "Gir!" and the robot jumped up out of it's place in the closet, "I'm off to see Dib. If my Paternal Units come for me, make an excuse or something," By the time he was finished with this, he was already climbing out the window.

Gir saluted, his eyes glowing red for a moment, as he responded, "SIR, yes, SIR!" Then his eyes went blue and he started rambling about monkeys. Zim didn't pay any attention to this. He was already half-way down the street.

"Alright, now you two will share a room while I sleep next door," Professor Membrane, now cleaned up, told his children, "If you need anything, I will be next door on the phone with my insurance agent. Hopefully, we'll be in a new house by the end of the week," And so, he walked out, leaving the two kids alone.

Gaz drank from her juice box, while Dib just sat on his bed and stared at the ceiling .His mind was blank except for two things: His mother and his best friend. If it hadn't been for Zim, he would have been there during the fire, too. Would he have shared the same fate as his mother? Would dad have pulled him out as he had Gaz? Would-

"Hey, dufus," Gaz called, "Your friend is hanging off the balcony."

"Okay, thanks Gaz," A pause, "Wait, what?" He bolted to the balcony that conjoined their room with their father's and looked off the edge. There, hanging from the statue was Zim. Dib stared at him in slight disbelief. How the heck did he scale the twenty stories to his room? Come to think of it, how did he know where Dib was?

Zim glared at him, "Are you gonna let me fall or help me up?" The words snapped Dib out of his stupor long enough to pull Zim up onto the balcony. The Irken brushed off his clothes, mumbled a brief thanks, and looked around the hotel room, "Huh, so this is where you're staying," With the curiosity of a young child -Which Zim was, Dib supposed- he searched through the room, examining objects of interest.

Finally, Dib got annoyed enough to ask, "Did you come here just to turn my hotel room inside out?" He gestured to the mess, "Or do you have an actual reason? If you're here to play, then go home," Dib looked down sadly.

The words reminded Zim of why he was here, "Oh, right!" He turned to his friend, "You may want to sit down."

"I'm fine standing," He did sit down, however, when Zim sent him a glare.

Zim sighed, reaching into his backpack and holding out a piece of burnt up wood. To be precise, it was a piece of Dib's staircase. The object was placed in front of him, "I used this item to determine the cause of the fire. You're not going to like it," Zim sighed, then got on with it, "The fire was cause by a G470-Blaster in D mode. Meaning, the person responsible knew how to handle Irken tech."

Dib blinked as the words sunk in, "Wait, are you saying an Irken caused the fire?" Zim nodded, "But- how- why?"

"I spend so much time at your Living Quarters that they assumed it to be mine, meaning they destroyed it to try to kill my parents," He sighed, "I heard them talking about it," For a while, there was nothing but silence. That silence ended with a harsh slap echoing through the air.

Zim held his aching cheek as Dib glared, "It-it's your fault! I shouldn't have made friends with an alien! You-" his voice cracked, "You lead them here. You let them kill my mom."

"Dib... I-"

"GET OUT!" The human cried, "AND DON'T LET ME SEE YOU AGAIN!" Zim nodded. Walking out of the room through the front door. Dib watched the door for a second, before plopping onto his bed and sobbing his broken heart out. Gaz looked back at her sobbing brother in pity before walking out onto the balcony to escape his tears.

Outside, Zim walked away from the hotel, his thoughts still on his friend... if they were still friends, that is, "Stupid Dib... I'm not the one who burned his quarters down," His cheek still ached from the slap, and his chest was aching now, too. When he got home, he'd have to ask Gir to give him a examination.

And then, a bright light was seen out of the corner of his eye. Zim didn't bother trying to move out of it's path. When it hit, he gasped out of pain and crumpled to the ground. The last thing he saw before the world went black was an Irken bending over him, smirking and whispering in a strange voice, "Sleep tight..."

And from the balcony above, Gaz watched the entire thing with neutral eyes and a hard stare.

Wow, actual plot advancement! I am on a ROLL!

NOTE: Zim did some sort of analysis on the wood. That's how he figured out what caused the fire. And Irk does have technology like that... in my story.

And for those of you who are mad at Dib for slapping Zim: Don't be. His mom's dead, his best friend is all but telling him it's his fault... what would you have done?