Remember, COPYRIGHTED CHARACTERS TO JHONEN, storyline copyrighted to MEH!

Ch. 2 – Days, Months, Years…Memories

As soon as they landed on Irk, Dib and the rest of them went straight toward the cliff where the statues had stood. The Irken inhabitants were familiar with Dib and Gaz, as there were a few stories told over the years about how two humans helped to prevent the destruction of Irk, they were welcome to come and go as the pleased as long as it remained peaceful, Tallest Zeke made sure of that.

Apparently, Dib and Gaz were not the only ones who noticed the statues were missing, as soon as they reached the cliff there was Zeke and a few Irken soldiers standing around the area.

"Well..if it isn't Zim's girlfriend and…who's this big-headed human?"

Dib frowned, "I'm Gaz's brother, who are you?"

Zeke crossed his arms and smirked, "The ruler of Irk, Almighty Tallest Zeke."

Gaz waved her hands, "Enough with the formalities. Did you guys see where Zim and Tak went?"

Zeke motioned for his guards to take a walk, as he wanted to discuss the matter with Dib and Gaz in private. As soon as the guards were well off, he cleared his throat.

"The ground shook while I was checking on some equipment. When I turned around the statues were glowing and then suddenly they just…" he looked around, "…just vanished."

Dib stared in disbelief, "You mean you never saw them …wake up or walk ..or anything?"

Zeke shook his head, "All I saw ..was glowing statues, but I did notice that the clothing was flapping in the wind." He moved his hands as if trying to show the image, "Meaning they were no longer petrified, but before I could see anything else they were gone."

Dib stood directly in place of Tak's spot, touching the ground and looking for any clues. Gaz took Zim's spot and bent down next to Dib, looking for clues as well.

There was nothing, no leads to follow.

"What are we going to do? Without any clues it'll be like going in circles!" Dib groaned angrily.

Zion walked over to Zeke, Kirei close behind him. He looked up at the Irken. "Were you close friends with my dad?"

Zeke tilted his head and gave Zion a half smile, "More or less. We go way back to Academy years." He bent down to be level with Zion, "You're about the right age for training…you know?"

Zion's eyes lit up, the idea of handling weapons and fighting was exciting to him. Kirei just shook her head, not at all enjoying the thought.

One of the guards came running up the cliff , "My Tallest! A transmission from one of our neighboring allies just sent word that two Irkens stole one of their ships and headed toward the eastern Galaxy."

Dib and Gaz ran over to the guard, Gaz grabbed him by his collar and shook him, "WAS IT ZIM AND TAK!!??"

The guard, dizzy from the shaking, gargled out, "Confirmed….a male and female!!"

Gaz dropped him and turned to Dib, "We need to go to the eastern Galaxy!" Dib nodded, but looked deep in thought.

"What are they doing…" He mumbled to himself.

Zeke spoke out, "You guys do what you need to do, we'll set up a search party here to cover the rest of area, maybe we'll be able to catch them then."

Dib and Gaz thanked Zeke, and headed back to their ship with the kids. Dib sat in the pilot seat and began to take off, Gaz walked over to him and whispered.

"Why are they…not coming back to us? You don't suppose they forgot about us do you?"

Dib wasn't sure about it as well. Maybe the words from the pages caused amnesia or maybe it didn't, he wasn't sure to jump to conclusions so quickly. "We'll just have to find them as find out for ourselves Gaz. Whatever the case, we can't just ignore this."

Gaz nodded, but felt uneasy about the whole situation. She didn't like the idea of Zim never coming back, it was hard enough to admit she loved him back when they were younger. She couldn't bear the thought of having him just up and leave her like that, especially when he's the father of their kids.

"Are you sure this is a good idea Tak?"

Zim adjusted himself in the stolen ship. It had been a while since he moved around, his body still felt a little wobbly. Tak helped to steady him and took a seat next to his, keeping the ship on auto-pilot.

"This is important. We've got to take care of these things before we head to Earth." She grinned, "You also might want to learn on how to deliver babies." She placed her gloved hand on her belly. Zim nodded.

"Gaz and Dib …they'll probably be angry with us for not going straight home."

Tak silenced him with a kiss. Surprisingly, Zim didn't pull away, but he didn't do anything to stop it. He simply closed his eyes, and little flashes of memories back at the academy went through his mind. A brief memory of Tak rolling around in his bunk with him, he recalled the sounds, the taste, the lust. The memories took him over, as he ran his hands up and down Tak's back.

It was only after he felt Tak's tongue flick against his, and the sound of Gir in the back of the ship doing who knows what, did he pull away, breathing heavily. "We shouldn't." He whispered against her lips. "I'm not…him..you know."

Tak, breathing just as heavily, nodded. "Sorry…I…" she looked him over, and ran her fingers up his chest. "Do you ever think about the past Zim?"

He looked into her eyes, "Sometimes…those were good memories." Then his face darkened, "At least until you were called into the Tallests' chambers." He gently nudged her away, and would have been more forceful if she weren't pregnant.

She looked at him and sighed, "I told you, I had no idea what they were going to …to do to me."

Zim wasn't sure what to think, back then it seemed like she enjoyed it, now she wanted a cure and they were going halfway across the galaxy to look for it.

"You should have told me. You should have said what was really going on, instead of just blocking me out. I may be a tad arrogant.." he stopped when Tak gave him a look, "Ok..ok…VERY arrogant. But I'm not so clueless! I would've helped you back then. Now it's over between us…"

Tak sighed again, "It was not my intention to drag you into it, I haven't even told Dib about it."

"You enjoy tormenting males don't you?" He glared angrily. She recoiled.

"Zim, can we just get through this together…this one time?" She pleaded, "After we find it, we can go straight back to Earth and live happily ever after with our humans. You'll get to see your kids again you know…won't you like that?"

Zim stared at her, "…and no more funny business between us right? I love Gaz…you know I do. What we had back at the academy, that's long gone..dead. We're just friends now."

Tak nodded and grabbed his hand, "Friends, of course. I didn't mean to do what I did earlier, it was just…you know…" she shrugged helplessly.

"I forgive you.." he paused, then replied mockingly, "I understand that Zim is just too tempting..so I forgive you."

She slapped him playfully. "You are such an idiot Zim!"

He grinned and sat back in the pilot seat.

Tak looked down at the bracelet on her wrist, the memories were painful…those menacing purple eyes looking down at her young body, especially when she thought about the "friends" he brought along. She hugged the bracelet in her grasp, and thought about a different memory, deep red eyes and a strong hand holding hers while they walked. Always protecting her …and though she wouldn't admit it loudly, she missed that tall, red-eyed Irken, more than she missed Dib.

Are you confused? Are you angry that I'm destroying your favorite pairings? Hmm not everything is as it seems right now. I hope you'll follow the story. There's a reason why I rated it M. Comments and reviews will be used to start the 3rd chapter.