CHAPTER ONE
The Day He Disappeared

He hadn't even told me he was going.

Dib lay sprawled out on his bed, staring dejectedly at the ceiling. Unable to bring himself to move. Unable to do anything but think the same thought, over and over.

Nothing. Not a word, after years of rivalry, years of foiling each other's plots. Just... gone. He'd even been in Hi-Skool just yesterday, scowling at everyone who looked down at him, swearing they were accusing him of being short with their eyes. Of course, nobody really had the option but to look down at Zim anymore. Unlike the rest of them, he hadn't grown any since arriving on Earth, so he was now noticeably shorter than all is classmates. Still nobody noticed anything was wrong, though, besides mocking him for his lack of height. Sometimes, Dib really did swear the Earth wanted to be conquered.

He'd been up all last night plotting his newest... well, plot. He'd been preparing his invisibility suit for another run, pondering how to stop GIR or the house computer from detecting it this time. It always paid to return to the classics, on occasion. He figured he might've finally cracked it this time, despite the occasional weird noise interrupting his train of thought in the middle of the night. He figured it was just Zim, up to his usually antics. All the more reason to finish quickly.

Apparently not.

As soon as he'd gotten to Zim's street... nothing. The gap between two houses where Zim's house used to be... was just a gap again. There was no sign there'd ever been anything there. Not even any damage from where it had been attached to the houses either side. He'd even tried knocking on the doors nearby, asking what had happened to the house there. The response he got was basically the same from all of them.

What house? Who is Zim? Get away from me and stop babbling you crazy man. Dib had finally had to leave after one of them had finally called the police. Figured they'd call the police on him, but had never done so for any of Zim's crazy, obvious and loud schemes. Or even just his insane, hyperactive robot.

Surely, though... I mean yeah, never calling the police indicated a certain - and rather high - level of obliviousness, but surely they remembered Zim even a little bit. There used to be a whole house there! Apparently not, though. Nobody remembered a thing.

It was as if Zim never existed.

That thought unnerved Dib.

"He did exist," he muttered vehemently to himself. "He did... didn't he? I mean, we've been fighting each other for years... he must've wiped their memories. Yeah, that's what it must be. He already proved Irkens have that level of technology. That must be it."

It must be. Because if it wasn't... no. Dib wasn't mad. He knew aliens were real, Zim was real. Okay, he might sound a bit crazy sometimes, like when Zim was piloting Mars. But he wasn't actually crazy.

He wasn't.

He couldn't be.

No, I'm not entirely sure where this is going yet. Please feel free to suggest some names in the reviews :) I'll try keep updated as I can, but inspiration comes and goes. Please don't hurt me for it :P