A/N: My sincerest apologies, but being a university student is time consuming and took up a lot of my time, but it is summer vacation now, and I'm going to dedicate this summer to finishing up the fics I started, so that you all don't have to suffer me not writing during the school year. My sincerest apologies once more, I hope you haven't forgot about me.
Enjoy!
"Oh come on you whiner, the game's not even that bad." Gaz taunted the irken who purposely retrieved a separate chair for himself so he wouldn't have to face the television. The estranged pair were continuing to enjoy their day of playing hooky at Zim's home, and Gaz, eager to feed her addiction to gore, opened her newly attained Vampire Piggy Hunter: Slaughterhouse game and placed it in the Z-box station. While the petite human seemed fixated on every single drop of blood that spilled horrendously during each kill, Zim was perfectly content with cringing at the curdling screams that emanated from the television behind him.
"You heard what that putrid, smelly human boy said. Zim is not going to a mental facility where he'd risk exposing his true identity and have loathsome humans probe at his magnificent brain!" He stated emphatically with a nod. Gaz rolled her eyes and attempted to continue to play the unnecessarily gory game.
"It really isn't as mentally castrating as Iggins hyped it up to be." She noted nonchalantly as her character stabbed through the diseased, pink flesh of a vampire piggy, the laser blade slicing the enemy from nave to jowl; organs spewing out of the mangled skin while the unearthly squealing rattled the hard-trained irken invader.
"Be that as it may…" he responded doubtfully, "Zim can better observe you from this position." And it was true; the Irken placed himself slightly to the left of her so that he wasn't preventing her from viewing the television screen properly. At first he had placed himself too close for her comfort, to which she scornfully berated him, but they finally agreed upon his current distance. He inconspicuously scanned her every so often in hopes to identify and record an emotion, but he hadn't been able to retrieve another since earlier in the day. He grimaced, why was it taking so long to exploit human emotions? He was certain that he would be conquering the repugnant ball of wasting dirt that the humans dared to call a planet by now and that the Tallets would be showering him with praises and giving him a well-deserved title. Instead, he was forcefully being put through the torture of associating with this venomous female, who apparently took an ungodly amount of coaxing to get even one emotion out of her.
She's probably doing it on purpose, he thought begrudgingly whilst pretending to scrawl down some information on the notepad on his lap so as not to arouse suspicion from Gaz. Yet his insignificant scrawling didn't last long and his complete focus on Gaz continued.
Gaz however, was unsuccessfully trying to maintain her full attention to the disturbingly bloody game in front of her. How could she when she could literally feel the alien's eyes burning into her skin? It was displeasing and uncomfortable, yet she couldn't do anything about it. They had made an agreement: research for a new Gameslave and game. That was the deal and despite how much she despised every miserable millisecond of it, there was no way in hell she was going to pay for the new game and console on her own, so she resolved to deal with the infernal irken; except she hadn't expected the experience to be so damned infuriating.
She could literally feel his sickening gaze on her, which made her skin crawl in unspeakable ways. She had repeatedly glanced at him, trying to catch him in the act and spurn him, but he would be calmly writing notes as if he hadn't been watching her. She supposed that he needed to record his observations of her person, but his damned eyes scorched her skin when he stared at her so intently, and it bothered her immensely. The minor distraction deterred her focus for a moment, allowing her character to be ripped limb from limb by the blood-craving pigs. The character's sobs of torturous pain were terrifyingly matched with the vision of each tendon graphically being separated from the character's muscles, rupturing their blood vessels, leading them to a vicious and gruesome death.
"Shit!" she seethed before checking her phone for the time, her eyes widened slightly. Was it really that late? 10:36 p.m. was proudly displayed on her phone, and she sighed before she put it down, taking the z-box controller and exiting out of the game, careful to save her game first. "I gotta go."
"It does appear late." Zim noted. "Very well, Zim shall escort you to the door." He got up from his chair, thankful that she had finally shut off that fearful game, and stepped aside so that she may pass.
"Gee, thanks."
"You're certainly welcome; indeed Zim should be thanked more often."
"Yeah, whatever." They both made their way to the front door, where Zim histrionically opened it and bowed. Gaz rolled her eyes in annoyance before exiting the foreign abode. "See ya tomorrow." She said without looking back and left the irken's property.
Zim voiced his goodbye before closing the door, relieved that he could finally research what 'impressed' had meant from earlier in the day, but stopped in his tracks when he saw Gir sitting on his maroon couch, game controller in his hands. The robot's eyes were a wide cyan and his mouth was open in frozen astonishment as his small metal fingers moved about the controller.
"Gir what are you…OH MY TALLEST!" Zim quickly shielded his eyes while attempting to escape the living room, only for him to hit the wall with a painful grunt. He screamed luridly as he slowly, and blindly, made his way out of the room. The awful images of blemished, bubbling organs being gouged out of a corpulent pig forever ingrained into his mind.
*0*
Gaz sighed heavily as she slowly weaved through the lunch line; obviously completely enthralled that the lunch menu was completely incorrect from what was noted. She had been looking forward to eating pizza, which was the only food in the school which didn't smell like burnt rubber or rotten cottage cheese. For some unknown reason, the pizza made at the school wasn't entirely bad; if any form of sustenance didn't taste like wet cardboard, you were lucky. Thankfully the pizza served at the skool tasted like spiced cardboard, and that was to be savored. Unfortunately the skool thought it too merciful to offer the pizza to the miserable students on a weekly basis, so they serve it randomly every other month. When they announced that pizza would indeed be served today many students broke into tears and fell to their knees, thanking their gods for them graciously bestowing an adequate meal for them. Even Gaz was minutely grateful for a meal that wouldn't give her stomach ulcers, but when lunch period came around and she saw pizza wasn't being served, she was completely dispassionate. Today seemed full of problematic issues.
She had received a Saturday detention slip during her math class, due to the fact that she had skipped skool the previous day. She pondered for a moment if Zim had received one as well, but shrugged the question off. It didn't matter. She had already been given an annoying lecture from her obnoxious, big-headed brother, wasn't she being punished enough? Listening to him babble on what she should do, and if she was a little more like him, she wouldn't have to deal with these punishments. She wanted to argue with him, to ask why she should be like him. Was it so she could impress a father who can barely speak with them for more than two minutes? Yet she didn't voice these questions out-loud, why carry on an argument for longer than it needs to be?
In short, the lies of pizza were to be expected after all the negative instances that were occurring that day, and not only did she have to eat the mystery-meat meatloaf, she had to associate with Zim, who waving her down vigorously at a lunch table. Was karma finally catching up to her?
She tried to stifle her urges to maim the pestering fool and sat down beside him, maintaining a comfortable distance, which Zim often destroyed, much to Gaz's annoyance.
"I finally figured out some questions to ask you for my research last night, it is my wish that you answer these questions with as much detail as possible; one or two word answer are unacceptable." He said while looking through his notepad to search for his questions. Gaz groaned, the only thing she wanted to do right now was eat in peace, and she was sure that Zim's voice was the only one that could give her a migraine.
"I see you're back again today, Zim…" Gaz cringed, she was wrong.
"Yes Dib and I see that you are as accusatory as before. Trust in Zim, it is only for research for which Zim is associating with your sibling." The irken placed a gloved hand on his chest and the other in the air, as if swearing his words were true.
"The only thing I trust will be my fist in your face!" The raven-haired boy spat vehemently at the disguised alien who responded with a look of confusion.
"That doesn't even make sense dirt-child, one cannot trust a fist." The incessant bickering continued; each syllable stockpiled pain in the violet-haired adolescent's head. She was disgusted that she couldn't even find the slightest respite in having an indecent meal in an overcrowded cafeteria. And she couldn't but note that the insidious quarreling was due to Dib's mistrustful attitude. After all, Zim hadn't attempted to take over the planet in years, what was the use in being suspicious anymore? All his plans ended up failing horribly, how could the irken possibly be a threat to society? Her amber eyes twitched in annoyance before blinking in resolve. With narrowed eyes and a vicious scowl, her hand shot out and grabbed her brother's shirt, twisting it harshly in her hands before she decided to speak.
"Quit the shit Dib! Zim is not doing anything wrong, so back off!" she roared spitefully before releasing him casually. Silence fell over the lunch room, which was unnoticed by Gaz until she heard some lurid and immature whoops and claps came from in front of her. Her attention was drawn to the three teenagers that seemed to approach their lunch table in means of finding entertainment. They all were tall, broad-shouldered meatheads who smelled of dirt and sweat; no doubt the try-hards were going all-out during gym class that day. If their smell and appearance didn't scream 'jackass', their immaturity did. Torque, who was an unshaven, brown haired teen, and the leader of the gang of assholes, had created a pathetic game out of Gaz. Him and his asinine minions would attempt to insult and bother her to see who could get her to react. She generally ignored their petty affronts, not giving them the satisfaction of gaining a hint of reaction from her, but sometimes they'd take a roll of her eyes or a venomous glare as a victory for themselves. She knew that she could force them to stop, but that required effort, and on the plus side it bothered Dib, who often lost many arguments with them.
"Woo, that's right. Protect your boyfriend!" Torque teased, gaining laughs from the two boys at each of his sides. Gaz however, was not amused, but her dispassionate front made it impossible to feel the need to deny the statement. She didn't want them to gain a reaction from her today, so she decided to let the juvenile statements be. Her brother on the other hand had a different plan.
"Zim is not her boyfriend Torque; it's disgusting that you would even say something like that!" The big-headed boy claimed, going a little pale at the very notion which amused the hulking beef-cakes.
"Aww, he's in denial! You heard her defend him Dib; you can't just go around fighting with her boyfriend forever, you won't be invited to the wedding!" Dib tried to say something in defense, but ended up sputtering wildly to the absurd statement, gaining laughter from the burly young men. Gaz would also be entertained by her brother's humiliating antics, if it wasn't at her own expense. It was their insults to her that were leading her brother to act so awkwardly and she figured that she might have to defend herself to save her brother at least a pinch of his dignity, but Zim beat her to it.
"Whatever this 'boyfriend' thing you speak of is, Zim can assure you that he is in no way whatsoever associated with such a word if you are attempting to apply it to Gaz. Now that is cleared up, you may leave us now, yes? I'm sure you have more important things to do than bother Zim with your pitiful presence?" Gaz lifted a brow at his calm response, but then she reminded herself that he truthfully didn't understand the concept of 'boyfriend' or 'girlfriend', so she supposed his reaction would be quite different from her brother's deranged objection.
"Haha, oops, my bad, I forgot; why would anyone want her anyway?" Torque said with the intent to wound her, but she was unscathed by his apparent insult, for it mattered not to her anyway. It appeared that his attempt to gain a reaction from her would go unfulfilled today, and as she finished eating, she got up so as to dispose of her tray without even sparing a glance at the brooding boy. "I mean, her own mother didn't even want her."
She froze.
Red is not even close to the color she seems to instantly change to. Her blood boiled within her and it seemed as if molten metal was passing through her veins. It burned, it was a hellish pyre that put Satan to shame; scorching, singeing, bubbling, blistering; her skin was aflame. Searing pain, white-hot agony; insurmountable rage struck her like a bullet to the heart. She saw nothing, heard nothing, and felt nothing of the screaming corpulent boy beneath her. Fists pounding, her heart beating rapidly in her ears, the slight taste of copper in her mouth; she can't control herself.
She vaguely remembers dropping her tray, the echo of clanking metal is ingrained into her memory. She also remembers and ungodly, lurid scream that tore from someone's throat, as if it carried such an insufferable amount of pain that it became distorted, inhuman; was it her own? She does not remember tackling the insulting fool, or how long she'd been throwing her fists into his face, but her knuckles ache and she can hear them cracking and knows this blood is not just his alone. She roars again, rage filling her every sense, she can feel someone take her left arm, trying to pull her away, but she turns sharply and lands a powerful punch on one of Torque's minion's face. With her arm free she continues her assault. Left, right, left, right; she doesn't stop, doesn't think she can stop.
She's lost control.
*0*
"Gaz, Gaz! You have to stop! You're gonna kill him Gaz!" Dib shouted at his sister, trying to coax her out of her rage-filled stupor. He couldn't believe that this was happening, that it was happening again. He had told one of Torque's friends to pull her off of him, but that only led him to getting a broken nose. No one could touch her when she was in this state, she wouldn't let them. "Gaz!" he pleaded, "Snap out of it! You can't keep doing this Gaz, he'll die!" His words seemed to dissipate after he said them, the meaning never reaching her ears, not that she wanted to hear him. Her face was covered in blood; her teeth were bared in a horrific way; her amber eyes seemed to glow as if fires had been ignited in them. Students had gathered around to witness the brutish display, some with mortified faces, others were excited; phones out, recording every gruesome second of this bloody fight. Dib continued his attempts to plead and beg his sister to cease in her violent actions, but she couldn't stop, and he knew she wouldn't. Only one person was able to make her stop, and that person was gone from their lives, and now he feared she would kill the husky adolescent beneath her fury, and he was powerless to stop her.
Dib continued to watch the events around them unfold, watching Zim take a few careful steps closer to the violent female. He was about to voice his warning to the alien, when suddenly he stopped and leaned down close to her, placing a gloved hand on her shoulder. Dib feared that Zim would suffer the same fate as Torque's friend, and was about to be mauled by Gaz when he spoke.
"He's not worth killing by brunt of your hand."
And she stopped.
*0*
Reality swam back into Gaz, causing a headache to instantly fly up to her skull. She panted hard as her vision returned to her. She looked at the unrecognizable boy beneath her. His face was oozing out blood and his eyes were swollen shut, his nose was broken, veering off to the left slightly. His cheeks were inflamed and engorged while blood spilled out the side of his mouth. He looked like death himself, but she could hear his weak wheezing breath, indicating that he was alive. She looked at her hands; her knuckles were raw and covered in blood, bruises covering the pale flesh. She was breathing heavily, trying desperately not to tremble; the hand on her shoulder keeping her grounded. She reluctantly turned to glance at Zim who had on a stoic, indifferent face. His contacted eyes looked into her amber irises and she couldn't believe it.
He stopped her.
*0*
It didn't take long for her to be sent to the dean. As soon as the fight was over, a few teachers had entered the cafeteria and proceeded to escort both Gaz and Zim, due to the fact that he was crouching over the victim after the fight as well, to the dean's office, Zim objecting the whole way. While Zim argued with the teachers, Gaz remained uncharacteristically silent. They entered the dean's office a few minutes later and were forced to sit and wait patiently for him. The dean's office was a drab place, black curtains and grey carpet in a poorly lit room certainly gave off an off-putting atmosphere. Both adolescents remained silent while they waited for the dean, who soon entered the room covertly, his steps barely audible. The tall grey-haired man was well-built despite his age. His wrinkles were prominent, obviously caused by dealing with pesky students all his life. His jawline was sharp and his cheeks were dusted with flecks of hair. He kept himself well cleaned for a senescent man; keeping his nose and ear hairs trimmed and his teeth polished. His voice was rough and condescending; belittling people appeared to be his favorite pastime. He sat down at his desk where he adjusted his nameplate. 'Dr. Felson' ingrained into the gold-painted metal.
"I will never tolerate fights at this skool, do you know why?" The two teens were silent. "Because they lead to hurt children, hurt children lead to offended parents, and offended parents lead to lawsuits for the skool!" he roared, not provoking any response from the two. "So why would you two start a fight in the middle of the damned day?"
"Sir, if I may…" Zim retorted, but was immediately silenced.
"No mister you will not! Do not say a word. This is your first violent offense here at this skool, so you won't be punished so harshly, not like Miss Gaz Membrane over here." Gaz kept her head down, accepting the fate that he would bestow upon her, what was a few more detentions anyhow?
"I'm afraid, Miss Membrane, that you've had one too many violent quarrels with the students here and it is my duty to announce that you no longer attend this hi skool, you're expelled." Her head shot up at him.
"You can't be serious." She whispered, completely taken aback.
"I'm afraid I am serious Miss Membrane, this skool can no longer tolerate your misguided actions. Your father may be the most influential figure in this town, but it doesn't exclude you from punishment. Your father may have been able to lessen the severity of your punishment in the past, but you almost killed a young man, and that is something this skool cannot abide." She couldn't believe what she was hearing, couldn't believe that just because she had lost control she was getting the worst of punishments, and then the thought struck her again.
She had lost control.
She was not in control of her own actions, even after she promised; even after she promised her.
"It wasn't her fault!" Zim announced suddenly, causing the dean and Gaz to glance his way. They saw Zim standing up confidently, his head held high and a determined look was plastered on his face.
"Boy, sit down." Mr. Felson urged, but Zim would have none of it.
"She was not the one who caused such violence to erupt; the pitiful human provoked her, came up and assaulted her honor! With spiteful words filled with malevolent scorn as he sullied her rectitude! What was she to do? Sit back and like a coward while her very integrity was being spat on? How can you call yourself an honorable being when your very essence is attacked by some lowly scum? Is she to lick the boots of others' to avoid confrontation when her name is being tarnished or will she fight and overcome her oppressors so that she may retain her honor? Zim asks you sir, would you not squash the insects that insult your pride, would you not defend your honor as Gaz Membrane has!?" The outburst took both other parties off-guard and the irken unceremoniously sat back down after his speech was concluded. All was silent for a moment and Mr. Felson took a deep breath, soaking up Zim's words. After another beat, he nodded once at the disguised alien and looked back to Gaz.
"Your green friend has a point. A person with honor does not remain silent, they act. However, you acted rather harshly and if you commit any act of this severity again I will expel you, but until then both of you will be receiving an in skool detention for two weeks, do I make myself clear?" Zim nodded vigorously before saluting the dean while Gaz nodded slowly. "Good, now get out of my office."
*0*
Both adolescents walked down an empty hallway, making their way to room 325, the room where they would be spending their in skool suspensions for the next two weeks. They had been silent ever since they exited Dr. Felson's office, Gaz was still in disbelief, yet she didn't show it. She had a difficult time trying to wrap her head around the fact that Zim just prevented her from getting expelled, had prevented her from killing that boy!
She had lost control.
She had promised her mother that she would never do that again.
It was ages ago, she couldn't even remember what happened, or why she got so angry, but she had kept throwing, breaking, and destroying anything she could. It wasn't an average temper tantrum that any other five year-old has; she had been on a rampage. She had lost control then, getting to the point where she began hurting herself on accident, her hands just as battered as they were now. Accept during that time, her mother had held her close to her chest, telling her that it wasn't worth her anger, wasn't worth her suffering, and had she cried in her mother's arms. Her mother had begged her to never lose control of herself, to always keep her emotions in check, lest she act on them, so she did promise.
And today she broke that promise, but it wasn't her mother who brought her back to reality, it was Zim, and that prospect was puzzling.
"What did you mean," she asked without warning, "when you said, 'he's not worth killing by brunt of your hand'?"
"Zim meant exactly what it sounds like, that filthy human is not worthy to meet his demise by your hands. Today you reminded me of an irken warrior, fighting another to gain back lost honor. I believe you committed a commendable act and anyone who should speak out or oppose that act is nothing more than a lowly worm that cowers in the dirt. You have proven yourself to be the most honorable creature I have seen on this putrid ball of filth, and for that you have gained my respect." For some unknown reason, his words were oddly pleasant, making her feel…warm…
"Honor huh?" She smirked, but it didn't last.
"What did he mean," Zim probed cautiously, "when he said your own mother didn't want you?"
She stopped walking.
Zim glanced at her still frame and saw something flash across her face, but he didn't have enough time to scan her to see.
"I'm not going to answer that." She stated evenly, her expression void of any emotion. She continued to walk forward to their destination and he followed by her side, respecting her enough to discontinue the topic. As they walked in silence he reminded himself to not get on her bad side, lest he release the emotion he had discovered back in the lunchroom: wrath.
A/N: I promise to actually update frequently this time, summer vacation will give me lots of time to update.