Alone No More

1. The Truth

"Zim, we think it's best that you know the truth," said the tallest Red, looking down at Zim with a scrutinizing squint.

"Eh? What truth?" Zim asks, slightly distracted from the conversation as he struggled against Gir, trying to prevent the little robot from pressing any important buttons.

"Your mission is a joke," said the tallest Purple.

"My tallest! I know that my attempts thus far have failed because of that FILTHY earth boy Dib-stink but I assure you that my newest plan will eliminate his threat and I will surely succeed!" said Zim, holding Gir out at arm's length as he gazed imploringly up at the monitor.

"No Zim, we mean that your mission was our joke," said tallest Purple.

"Yeah. We were kidding," said tallest Red.

"Ha, ha-ha! See?" tallest Purple supplied.

"Zim does not understand," said Zim, "Be still, Gir!" he added, shoving the robot away.

"I wanna play with the jelly cakes!" squealed Gir.

"Those aren't jelly cakes, Gir. They are dangerous buttons that shall bring doom to this smelly planet once I've connected them to the missiles that I ordered when I – stop eating the buttons Gir!" Zim yelled.

The tallest Red and Purple gave each other an exasperated look. Tallest Red sighed,

"Look, Zim, we made everything up about your mission. Nobody's coming even if you do manage to take over the planet. The Armada isn't coming, Zim," he re-iterated.

"But my tallest! I will soon have success! I can taste its sweetness! It's delicious…juicy sweetness…I want to go home…" said Zim.

"You don't get it, do you?" sighed the tallest Purple.

"You aren't allowed to come home. You've been banished. Your mission was just made up so we could get rid of you," said tallest Red.

"Nobody wants you Zim," said tallest Purple, slurping from a Foodcourtian slurpy-cup.

"You mean…I'm not going home?" Zim finally asked after a short silence.

"Yes, Zim. You've been banished to…where are you anyways?" said tallest Purple.

"Irth… or something," said Red before Zim could reply, "Besides," he continued, turning to face Zim, "why do you want to come home anyways? It's not like you've got anybody to come home to. Nobody likes you, Zim," said Red boredly.

"Yeah, nobody," Purple agreed.

"Aw don't look so sad," said Red, looking vaguely sympathetic, "We'll send you this free Irken planet conqueror's T-Shirt if you co-operate," he grinned, holding up an old stained shirt with "I [heart] Irk" written on it in what looked like magic markers. "The thing is, the gravity on Irth doesn't seem to be as strong as it is here. You've gotten very tall, Zim," Red continued.

"Too tall," Purple nodded.

"We can't have you come back looking so…tall," said Red.

"Anyways, we just thought we'd let you know. The Armada is leaving the galaxy tomorrow. We've already taken over all of the significant planets so we're moving on. You won't be able to contact us anymore. We hope you enjoy your stay on…Irth. You've been banished to Irth forever. Bye now," said Purple cheerfully. The monitor blipped off, leaving a stunned Zim staring blankly into his own reflection.

"Does that mean I get to eat tacos forever?" asked Gir, his head appearing over Zim's shoulder.

"Forever," whispered Zim, his eyes clouding over in shock while the little robot screamed away in ignorant bliss. Forever…