A/N

Chapter 12 is here! Sorry I have not updated in like four days, but I was drawing lol. And I finally uploaded one that I actually like :D. My scanner messed up the others one but I found a way to fix the problem. If you want to see it, go to . My username is lillywintersIV and the picture is called Abandoned. It is a pic of Zim so I hope you like it! Anyways, I hope you enjoy this chapter. Sorry if a lot of the chapters have been sad, but I wanted to make this story focus on the troubles and scars of Zim, kind of like how Zimeo and Gaziet focused on Gaz's. Well, enjoy! The final performance will probably be the next chapter!

Irkens did not require sleep, but after the night he had had with the Keef incident, he felt physically exhausted. It was the only time he wished he did require sleep. Maybe somehow the rest would make him forget what he came so close to doing. He limply crawled into the skool, searching for Gaz. He found her looking upset by her locker. His first thought was that Dib had told her about what happened even though he had promised not to. He raced to her side and was about to explain when she spoke first.

"Hey."

"Is everything okay, Gaz-love?"

She nodded, but stopped and shook her head.

"What is it? Did I do something wrong? Gaz, I swear, I was just trying to—"

"I need to talk to you after skool, okay?" she interrupted.

He stared at her blankly before nodding absentmindedly. She glanced at the ground and walked away. When she did, Zim could see the dark, closed-up girl he knew from before returning. The day crept along slowly, the hours seeming to inch by. Over time, he felt himself grow nervous as he thought of the possibilities of what she could possibly want to talk about. Did she want to break up with him? If so, why? Had he done something wrong? Or did she find out about Keef? He anxiously made his way out of the skool and found her sitting on the steps, lost in thought.

"Hello," he lowly whimpered.

She turned at the sound of his voice ad grabbed his hand. Without explanation, she began to lead him away. He watched her, scanning her face for any possible emotion. Though, all he found was pain. Why was she so hurt? He had grown lost in thought until he snapped back to reality and glanced around at his surroundings. It was then that he realized they were entering the city's Cemetery. He rose an eyebrow and peered down at the girl beside him.

"Gaz?"

But he stopped talking as he saw a tear stream down her face. He stopped walking which immediately stopped her and grabbed her face, pulling it up so that she was face-to-face with him. He began wiping the tear away as he shook his head.

"What is wrong? Why have you been upset today?" he asked worriedly.

She solemnly pointed behind him, and he turned. There, stood a lone grave, a shadow casted across it. He stepped closer and read the words etched into the cold stone:

Membrane

Loving Wife, Mother, and Friend

You will be missed…

Below, a picture of the Professor, Dib, Gaz, and her mother was imprinted. Zim's mouth hung open slightly when he stared at the picture. Clearly, he could see she was smiling in the picture. Yet when he turned around, he was greeted with tears and pain flowing down the same girl's face. The happiness that had been there years earlier showed no evidence of its presence. He shook his head as he sadly thought, What happened?

She sniffled and looked directly at the grave.

"Today is the anniversary of my mother's death. That is why I have been so miserable all day. I wanted to talk to you about it, but I didn't want to cry in front of everyone at skool. So I decided to save it for later."

She walked closer and stared at the picture. Zim watched her closely, taking in her every movement, every emotion, and every tear.

"What happened to her?" he asked lowly.

She wiped a tear away on her sleeve.

"She got sick. It was a very rare disease and people barely ever survive it. Including her…"

"A disease?"

She nodded.

"Dad was all ready a scientist before it happened, but when it did he tried to save her. While she was dying, he would stay by her side constantly, but when she slept, he would go to his lab and search for a cure. He never found one, though. After she died, he seemed to stay at his lab longer and longer until he never came home at all. We would usually see him only once a year. He was still searching for a cure and he still is. When I had that fight with him during the play, he realized that mom was gone and that there was nothing he could do about it. Even if he did find the cure, it wouldn't bring her back. She is all ready gone…"

He walked closer to her and saw her trying to fight the tears, but she was quickly losing. She pulled a rose from her backpack and placed it before the grave, staring at the red beauty against the miserable, icy stone. Finally, she glanced up at him miserably and whispered, "I miss her so much…" The tears were unbearable and she began sobbing as he quickly wrapped his arms around her and held her close. He gently picked her up and they both sat on the ground. He ran a claw over her head, lacing his fingers through her hair while she gripped onto his chest and buried her face into his neck. When they had arrived at the graveyard, it was three o'clock. But when they left, it was completely dark outside. Zim stayed with her the entire time.

The last thing she remembered was falling asleep in his arms. But when she awoke, she was on top of something soft and smooth. She ran her hand along the surface and slid her eyes open groggily. When she looked around, she discovered she was in Zim's room. She sat up on the magenta bed and glanced around. Gir was fast asleep on the floor right beside the bed and she could see his leg twitching occasionally from a dream. I didn't know robots had dreams, she thought before scooting off onto the floor. She began walking away, but the small metallic child quickly awoke.

"Gazzy!" he squealed.

"Hi, Gir." she cringed at his voice but continued, "Have you seen Zim?"

"He is in the lab," he smiled.

"Thanks."

"He is making a moose," he whispered creepily as she walked out of the room. She glanced over her shoulder, shaking her head at the insane robot. Poor Zim…

The elevator arrived at the lab and she stepped out, looking around. Zim was busy tapping away at the large computer that occupied the wall parallel from her.

"Zim?"

He turned and smiled slightly.

"You are awake," he said in a statement rather than a question.

"What time is it?"

He glanced at the computer and it flashed a clock across the monitor. Even though she saw the time, he still turned around to tell her.

"2:31 AM."

"Shoot!"

He watched her in confusion as she ran towards the elevator.

"What's wrong?"

"I have to get home! I didn't even tell my family where I was at or—"

"Gaz!" He grabbed her hands, calming her down. "I took care of that. I told the Dib-beast that you were here."

She looked relieved before raising in eyebrow in disbelief.

"And he didn't freak out?"

He shook his head.

"Wow. I'm surprised. Usually, Dib doesn't even want a boy breathing near me."

"Maybe he knows I am not like the other male meat sacks," he shrugged.

She laughed at the term and nodded, "Maybe."

They fell silent and Zim knew she was thinking of her mother. Just as he had thought, she looked down at the ground.

"Sorry about earlier."

"There is no need to apologize, Gaz," he pulled her closer and buried his face in her hair. "It is okay to miss your parental unit."

She soaked in the warmth she could feel radiating from his body, enjoying every second of it. But soon, a thought came to mind.

"What about you?"

"Huh?"

"Your family. Do you have one?"

She could feel him pulling away and turned to face him. The look on his face told her that she should not have asked.

"I'm sorry," she quickly apologized.

"No," he said lowly, "you told me of yours so it is only right that I tell you of mine."

He walked over and took a seat on the metal desk. Gaz followed and sat beside him. He was struggling to find the correct words as his mind raced back and brought back his painful past.

"I was born a defect," he began. "I was hatched from a tube, but I did have parents. A machine would extract two Irken's DNA, a male and a female, and combine it in a large, glass tube. A baby Irken is known as a smeet and when a smeet is born, a PAK is assigned and attached to its back. Only, mine was defected. In the end, that made me a defect. Irkens are not supposed to feel emotions, but I did because of my malfunctioning PAK."

"You are labeled as a defect because you have emotions?" she asked in disbelief.

He nodded.

"That is the way it is in the Irken Empire. But when they informed my parents of this, they were devastated. They asked what they were to do with me and my mom and dad said they wanted me to be deactivated. Basically, they wanted them to kill me." He took a deep breath and when he let it out, she could hear how shaky it was. "Someone happened to overhear what my parents wanted to do and intruded. He said he would take me instead of having me deactivated. I wish that they would have killed me though…"

"Why? Aren't you glad that someone saved you?" she questioned.

"They didn't save me," he frowned, "death was a better savoir than what they had planned for me."

She eyed him in confusion, but leaned back, waiting for him to continue.

"My parents agreed to give me to the man and I was to leave that night. I remember, when we were waiting for him to pick me up, my mother did not even want to hold me. The doctor that had been with her was about to leave and handed me to her. She pulled back though, saying that she did not wish to touch 'it'. She had no choice though because the doctor was leaving so she finally gave in and held me. While we were waiting for the man, she spoke to me. She had told me that my father refused to show up. He did not want to see the sight of such a failure again…"

He glared bitterly at the ground. She stared in shock at the cruelty and inched closer to him. He stared, lost in thought.

"The man finally arrived and my mother handed me over without hesitation. As he carried away, I looked at her one last time, but she did not even look over her shoulder once," he glanced straight ahead and now it was his turn to fight the tears. "The man took me away and brought me to an Irken Military Academy. Normally, every Irken goes to one, but this one was different. It was made for Irkens who were stubborn, rebellious, or defected. The discipline is much harder and the punishment is much harsher than that of a normal Academy. Every day was torture. I remember how much I loathed the very fact of waking each morning. I will save you the gory details of what they put us through, but that is how I got a portion of the scars I have. The other half was the ones I got from the Tallest due to punishment for my failures."

He spat the name of his former leaders, disgusted by the very fact that he had been under their rule for so long.

"But you know," he said slowly, "even though my parents hated me," he looked up at the ceiling, squinting his eyes, "I will never forget the feeling I felt while I was in my mother's arms that first and only time…"

Gaz all ready had tears dripping from her face from the story alone. She could not understand how someone could have been so cruel. No wonder Zim was the way he was. He had such a disturbing past; it was a miracle that he was not a merciless killer. She crawled beside him and wrapped her arms around him.

His eyes widened.

Slowly, though, he laid down and rested his head partially on her lap. The tears dripped off of her face and onto his. It was almost like she was crying for both of them. That was the reason he left them, the reason he let them sting his flesh. They stayed that way for a very long time and Zim sighed in sadness and relief. He had finally found the feeling he had experienced in his mother's arms in someone else. And it was Gaz…

A/N

Wow! That was like, mega-sadness! Poor Zim. Maybe I should draw a picture about that? What do you think? Well, I hope you liked it and Chapter 13 will be here shortly!

5