A/N: I KNOW THIS IS FREAKY. ME, DEATHWISH1234 UPDATING A BOOK IN LESS THAN A WEEK? FTW I KNOW. But, this is a celebration chapter for me. I got my stitches out and my results back on if I had any more cancer in my body. everything has come back NEGATIVE! I am officially CLEARED of all cancer right now! I was so happy that I started crying in the doctors office! It was relieving enough to have the present cancer removed but now that they have tested the other possible cancers they feared I had and have the tests come back negative I FEEL LIKE I CAN FLY. SOOO much weight has been lifted off my shoulders. I wanted to say thank you to everyone who had been supporting me the last year of my life that I've known and been affected by the cancer I HAD (Got it feels so good to use past tense right there).
So this is my thank you chapter for all the support I got. I spent the whole night writing this. and in the chapter the characters are SUPER OOC. So I am sorry, this is the start of the personality changes :3. It's a fast paced chapter, because I'm not good at writing about the tallest and seems kind of bad to me. But I was so excited I had to update something, so please forgive my lack of editing.
I realized last chapter did have a lot of profanities in it after reading a kind review and felt kind of bad. A good story doesn't need all that in it. It makes me as an author look incompetent because it shows a lack of vocabulary. I am sorry for all those profanities and if I read this over right, there are none in this chapter. Just another thank you!
PLEASE REVIEW, FOLLOW AND FAV. SUGGEST THIS BOOK TO A FRIEND, JOIN THE REVIEW FAMILY! LETS HAVE SOME FUN WITH THIS! :333333.
So yeah, sorry for the kind of bad chapter, but thank you and lets celebrate huh!? WHOOHOOO.
I don't own IZ.
Finally free: That's me :D
"S-Sirs, I can assure you-." Zim stuttered, though he was cut off by Red.
"Don't you dare speak out against your Tallest at a demotion!" Red snapped, hovering closer to the screen as Zim flinched and tried even harder to pin his antenna down. He submissively got onto his knees and looked up at his Tallest, awaiting recognition to just get this over with. "Good," Red continued, glaring him down as purple moved to stand by his partner.
"You knew we were going to call today defect," Purple hissed, taking over for his partner, "Yet you still chose to show a display of dominance in our presence. Do you realize the consequences of this?"
"Y-Yes Sir but I-"
"I said do NOT speak out!" Red shouted again, glaring Zim down hatefully as he coward under his leaders look. He broke eye contact after a moment of staring, giving Red full rights to dominance between them. He was acting almost like a hurt puppy that's just been yelled at and locked outside. "What's worse is that you've let a native into your base, showing her and Irken gun and your true appearance. You disgust me Zim. And you have the gall to call yourself an Invader."
"Not anymore he doesn't," Purple sneered, grabbing a bag of donuts a guard handed him and slowly eating them.
"It's not his fault!" Gaz snapped, making Zim's heart nearly stop. It was bad enough that he had been disrespectful, but for a lowly human to speak out against the rulers of an almighty empire. That was suicide in the making.
Red growled and shot his gaze up to Gaz, "And just who are you?"
"Gaz," She replied, standing tall as Zim lowered himself until his belly was to the floor and his hands were over his antenna. He knew what was coming next. And it wouldn't be Gaz who'd be in trouble.
"Great, so not only has Zim broken Irken custom and disrespected us, but he brought a bratty, out spoken female into the works too," Purple grunted, making Red nod in agreement, "And just why aren't you bowing, human!?"
"You aren't my leaders," Gaz hissed back, "And from what I've heard, you aren't Zim's either."
Zim's eyes shot wide open and he glared back at her, "GAZ!" He snapped at her, "You aren't helping! LEAVE ALREADY!"
"ZIM!" Red's voice boomed through the monitor, making Zim cower again, clenching his eyes shut under his leader's fury, "You are the most dishonorable soldier I have ever laid eyes upon. You're lucky I don't ask you to deactivate yourself right now."
"Why DON'T we do that?" Purple asked, tossing his empty bag of donuts down and snapping his fingers so someone would bring him another.
"Someone with such dishonor only deserves to suffer an endless life of pain and loneliness," Red confirmed, starting to pace in front of the monitor.
"Yes my Tallest," He murmured onto the cold metal floor of his base, "If that is what you wish."
"Do you understand your crimes against the empire Zim?" Red asked in an icy tone, "You're the most genocidal moron ever to be made into an Irken. You ruined half of your home planet, killing one of your previous Tallest at the same time. You decided to quit being banished and committed the crime of coming back against the control brains will." Zim's eyes clenched shut tightly as he was reminded of every memory. He was proud that he'd caused so much destruction in impending doom 1. Invaders were supposed to cause destruction and he just happened to get…over excited about being picked. He was the shortest soldier, yet he was picked as an invader for such a huge operation. It was like a never ending high that destroyed his sense of reality at the time. "Normally it'd be punished by death. But death is just an easy way out for you, isn't it defect?" Zim cringed at the word, clenching his fists tightly as he tried to just take it with a grain of salt and get the demotion over with. "Answer me defect!" Red spat, making Zim flinch again.
"My Tallest…" He started, quickly finding that his voice was not in the working mood at the moment, "you are always right." 'I'm not a defect,' he thought to himself as he glanced up to see fury in Red's eyes. Clearly it wasn't the answer he was looking for.
"You really are pathetic," Purple mumbled, turning back to the crowd, "Witness this Irken citizens, the most pathetic defect ever to be hatched. Tell your smeets of this abomination. Make them fear being anything like this lowly dog!" All the Irkens cheered in response, making Zim feel worse. He tried not to show any emotion as his heart started pounding painfully in his chest. He wanted to speak for himself but if he did, Irk only knows what Red would do to him. He was hardly afraid of purple, he was clearly just a figure head tallest. But Red was everything that had to do with the military. And if he was a drill Sargent, no Irken would make it through his course. Especially not Zim, not when he hated him so much.
"However, Zim, you are an Irken, one in the same," Red sighed, "And by demand of the control brain, you are allowed access to three Irken inhabited planets, so that we may keep up an image. These are out cast planets you understand, but when that planet your own dies off, you are allowed access to these other three planets until your PAK's life span gives out."
"That drags," Purple grumbled under his breath, even though everyone heard it.
"You are not allowed back on Irk and if spotted, you will be slaughtered on the spot." Zim nodded slowly in understanding. Feeling some relief that he could at least still see some of his people if he so desired to. "Now, let's just get the demoting over with. Purple if you would," Red sighed, glancing at his partner whom took a short step closer to the Zim.
"Irken Invader Zim, you are now being stripped of your titles completely. Please hand in your invader uniform and open your PAK for the end of the demotion." Zim, slowly glancing up at his previous leaders, slunk over to his military uniform which was neatly folded in a pile and place it in a teleporter. He clicked a button and sent it away to his leaders.
"Burn it," Red hissed, looking over to a few guards by the teleporter. Zim whimpered slightly and opened the top circle of his PAK so that they may program him as a defect when the demotion was over. "You understand that you are no longer able to contact us and all your Irken resources will stop updating themselves. You will have to fend for yourself and may never seek help from any other Irken. You may no longer have a job in the military and all your diplomas and graduations will be wiped clean. Finding a job anywhere Irken inhabited will be nearly impossible without an academy diploma. Purple and I are no longer your Tallest but we will always be your superiors in any unlikely situation. If you break an Irken law that affects the empire negatively in any way, there will be a bounty on you and you will be terminated. If you have anything to say, now is the time."
"Yes sirs, I understand," Zim whimpered, looking away in shame, "I have a question if I am granted permission to ask."
"Permission granted," Red sighed, looking at Zim in disgust.
"Since I am no longer an Invader, am I considered an Irken citizen? And if so, am I permitted a family?"
Red and purple glanced at each other before they both broke out laughing hysterically. Zim uneasily waited for them to calm down and to receive an answer. After four minutes of nonstop laughing, Red finally gasped for air and wiped away a tear from his eye, standing straight again as he addressed Zim, "You are a citizen, but are dishonorably an Irken citizen. If you could ever find someone to put up with a screw up like you, then you would be permitted a family, as all citizens are allowed to have."
"Yeah good luck with THAT one!" Purple snickered, giggling to himself and glancing over at Red.
"Since you are no longer an Invader and are being dishonorably discharged, we've given the rest of the invaders and Irkens the right to mock you as they please for the next two minutes starting….NOW!" Red cheered, standing back with purple as the whole crowd erupted with noise. Shouts of slander and profanities were yelled through the screen. People were laughing, pretending to be Zim and acting as if he was truly the stupidest being alive. Some were even insulting the fact that he had short antenna to go along with his short body. Both of which were unattractive features on Irk.
Zim sat silently through it all, not daring to glance up at the screen or raise his antenna in any sort of way. 'This is much worse than I presumed it to be,' he thought to himself, wrapping his arms around his cold body and gently rubbing them up and down.
Two minutes felt like an eternity to him before the Tallest silenced the crowd and stepped back in front of the screen, "Now for the final act, turn around Zim." He did as he was told and hung his head lowly in sadness. His entire species was abandoning him.
The Tallest pressed a button on the other side of the monitor and a tube quickly shot out and grabbed Zim's wrists, pulling him up to his feet before a third came down and attached to his PAK. "Irken Zim," The mechanical voice rumbled through both monitors. It was the control brains, "No longer are you an Invader or a fast food worker. You are stripped of your titles and demoted to the status: Defect. Have a nice day!" It ended, completing its process before dropping Zim to the ground.
"Is there anything else you'd like to say before we part forever?" Red asked as purple pulled out a couple party hats and started putting his on. He looked overly excited now.
Zim merely turned his face away, showing Red that he had nothing. "Alright, LET'S PARTAYYYY!" He shouted, pulling on his party hat and cheering as the entire Irken race did the same. The transmission cut seconds later as soon as a confetti bomb exploded in the auditorium. It was the last vision of his Tallest he'd ever have.
The silence was death-defying in the room as the transmission ended. Gaz was completely shocked and ended up feeling extremely guilty. He probably wouldn't have been treated so harshly if it weren't for her being there and speaking out against his leaders.
Zim blinked rapidly for a moment before slowly standing up and turning toward her. His eyes were cold and hateful as he glared at her, but they held hurt and betrayal in them too, "I hope you're happy now," He hissed, pinning his antenna back further as she stared at him in shock.
"Come on Zim, they were lame any ways." Gaz tried, taking a step closer to him as he growled angrily and jerked his face away.
"Don't you DARE insult my superiors."
"After what they just did to you? You can still defend them?" She asked quietly, starting to reach her hand out when she noticed he was trembling. Whether it was in grief or anger she didn't know yet. "They just disowned you."
"I don't need to hear that from you!" He shouted, glaring at her angrily as his eyes started watering, "If you had not disrupted me, I probably could've been honorably discharged! Now I won't be able to get a good job, I won't be able to do anything I've ever wanted to do! I'll be completely alone the rest of my life!"
"That's not true; you can just stay here on Earth. I can show you how to fit in."
"HAVEN'T YOU DONE ENOUGH!?" He screamed, yanking his antenna as warm tears started over flowing his eye lids and trailing down his face, "I have been ABANDONED by my own species! And…and…" He started sobbing at that, "ALL I EVER WANTED WAS TO PLEASE MY TALLEST! But because of YOU and DIB, I have only succeeded in becoming an enemy of my own people! I no longer have a purpose in this life! I should just do my Tallest one last favor and kill myself!"
"No, that's not true. Come on Zim listen to yourself. You aren't acting normal. This is just a minor setback in your life. You're Zim…nothing stops you."
"SCREW YOU!" He shouted back, frantically wiping his eyes as he tried to gain control of his emotions, "You know NOTHING about me!"
"Yes I do! Dib tells me everything about you, and I have this!" She protested, pulling out the disk that contained the horrible memories of Zim's suicide. "I know that you actually like being around me. We're both evil, I won't deny it, so why don't you just calm down and we'll go blow something up ok?"
"NO!" He snapped, "I wish to be alone! COMPUTER!" Gaz grunted when the computer reached out a tentacle and started escorting her out of the house.
"HEY!" She spat, flailing in its bond, "I'll pay you a whole grand if you let me go!"
"No human. I wish to consult my master alone and he wishes to be alone," The computer said calmly.
"COME ON! Just give me a chance, computer I'm from the future! I know how Zim dies; it's by his own hand. If you kick me out now, who's to say he won't do it again. This is the whole reason I came back. Sure I don't know what I'm supposed to really do right now but you need to give me a chance!"
"I have my orders," It replied coldly.
"What do you want!? I'll give you anything! Just give me ten minutes alone with him!" Gaz pleaded, "Usually, I'd care less about what happens to him. But how he was just treated wasn't right. I doom and destroy people, but sending them away and abandoning them forever? No! That isn't right. If they were going to be so cruel in the first place they should've just put him out of his misery."
"I care for my master Miss Gaz, but he is in no state to be being pestered. Especially if I were to just let this happen." She was going to protest again when he continued, "But it would not be my fault if I were to accidentally leave the front door unlocked. As long as you help and not hurt him, I will leave it unlocked for you."
"YES!" Gaz cheered, kicking her legs out in glee, "Thank you computer, I won't have to doom you now!"
"Yeah, whatever." It replied, dropping her in front of the house before retreating back into the base and leaving the door unlocked like it said it would. Gaz re-entered immediately, but waited a couple minutes when she heard the computer trying to talk to Zim. She couldn't hear what he was replying, but she knew she needed to help him somehow.
She had to admit. She hadn't expected to be that big of a problem when his leaders came into the picture. And she initially felt really bad about it. If she had not seen what Zim does to himself in the future, then she would've continued back sassing his leaders until she felt the argument was over. But the rage and desperation etched on his face when he demanded that she leave struck her down deep. Zim was terrified, and Gaz had never really seen such a submissive reaction from him. He was literally as low as one could go when submitting to another.
She felt that she needed to talk to him…or…or something. Just explain to him that she hadn't meant to intrude on that and if she had known that his banishment/demotion hadn't happened yet, she would've have been so snoopy.
She slowly stepped into the elevator, glaring at the wall as it took her down, "The last time I was in this thing, it tried to kill me," She muttered under her breath, kicking the side of the wall, "Stupid elevator."
Eventually the machine stopped back down at the base, leaving Gaz to step out cautiously. She could hear the computer talking to Zim more clearly now. It sounded like it was trying to reassure him, "Mostly everything here will be left for you master. Gir, minimoose and I included. You will not be alone if that is what you are concerned with."
Gaz peeked around the corner to see that the computer had dropped Zim a warm shirt and jacket, but he had yet to put it on. He was just sitting on the floor, messing around in Gir's box and crying. It disturbed her to see him stooped so low. But she couldn't blame him. She thought the people that bullied Dib were bad. They constantly hurt him and she constantly hurt them back. One even got sent to the nightmare world from which there is no return for him. But Zim was being bullied by his entire species and the humans. That was a low blow and a lot of stress to fall on one teenager's shoulders.
Slowly, Gaz stepped out from around the corner and approached Zim carefully. She saw he was holding Gir in his lap, even though he wasn't functioning or even fixed yet. He was still holding him and looking at him as if he weren't more than a hollow robot. "Zim," She said quietly, making his antenna flatten.
"I thought I told you to leave!" He shouted, glaring over his shoulder at her.
"I broke back in," Gaz answered, covering for the computer. She walked over and sat down next to Zim, who looked really tired of her presence already. He clearly wanted to be alone. But she knew that he shouldn't be alone right now. Being alone is what caused such a horrible reaction from him the first time. And she vowed to never let it happen again.
"Why don't you go ruin someone else's life," Zim's voice cracked as his antenna lowered even further, "You've done a pretty good job of it here."
"I'm sorry," she muttered back. His antenna perked slightly and he glanced over his shoulder, seemingly curious with her behavior even though he still didn't want her around. He grunted and looked away again, lifting his hand to scrub at his tear swollen eyes. There was silence for a long moment before Gaz reached over and grabbed the jacket the computer left for Zim, "You need to put this on. It's freezing cold down here."
"Don't touch me!" He spat as she gently tossed it over his shoulders. "I SAID DON'T-," He stopped when her arms wrapped around his shoulders and just stared into nothing for a moment. He'd never actually been hugged before and Gaz was warm compared to how freezing cold he was. His face scrunched up in pain as he turned around and buried his face in her shoulder, sobbing loudly and clenching the jacket around his body, "-Let go." He'd finished his earlier sentence, clenching his teeth and eyes shut as she just let him work out the pain he was feeling.
Gaz, having a lot of practice with Dib crying every once and while just rubbed Zim's back and calmly said, "I won't."
A/N: DAW DAT ENDING THO. XD No the story is not over. I actually plan on a really complicated fic here. And I hope it'll be a good read to all of you guys. I wanted to make a couple shout outs here so please let me and please forgive me if I didn't shout you out and you wanted to be. just say so and I'll make sure to next chapter!
Ok first: CatFireFlare: Thank you very much for your review. I realized my profanity in the last couple of chapters had gotten out of hand, and you helped me see the light on that. I am grateful that you took time out of your day to reassure me that I'm not a nobody and compliment me so beautifully. If you ever want to talk, or are having a hard time yourself. I'm open for conversation. Feel no hesitance to send me a PM at any time. I'd be honored to chat. :3
Nergalreaper904: I really enjoyed your review XD. I'm sure the tallest will get what's coming to them one way or another. And I so agree with your about the teaching subjects etc. That's why I put it in. I really feel like nothing I've been learning is preparing me for my life, which will be starting sooner than I want it to X3. I'm glad you agree with me and I hope you have an absolutely terrific day.
AND FINALLY: JackFreak1994, I was so happy you reviewed! I watch you on deviant art and I've always loved your ZAGR works. They partially inspired me to write a story like this! Especially your piece "Betrayed" That just made so many ideas start buzzing around in my head. You have an extraordinary talent my dear and I hope you continue on with it for a long time :3. Thank you for liking my story and thank you for cheering on my recovery. The world needs more people like you!
That's all I wanted to say! Thank you again everyone and PLEASE REVIEW, FAV AND FOLLOW. SUGGEST THE STORY TO A FRIEND. LETS HAVE SOME FUN WITH THIS! 83.
Livin' and lovin' every minute of life: Deathwish1234 (Ironic) X3