Author's Notes: Woo! Another fic completed! This is actually my first completed multi-chapter Zim fic. "Sweet Mother" will also be completed soon, but I just happened to finish this one first. I've had this ending in mind for months, and while part of me is still unsure about how it turned out this feels like the most organic way for this story to go. When I started this fic nearly two years ago it was merely supposed to be a deconstruction of a Zim revenge fantasy story, but somehow it turned into a story about the twisted friendship between Purple and Gaz. Not my original idea, but I love how it turned out. You guys have been so supportive of this story, and I'm glad you stuck around for the journey. Thank you :)

Chapter 11

Bringing Down The House

This was going to be a very dangerous encounter. The final confrontation with Zim. Purple piloted the voot cruiser carefully so he wouldn't jostle the cargo in the holding bin he was towing. It wouldn't be long now before he arrived at The Massive.

It should've felt terrifying, and part of it was, but another part of Purple felt like he was going home. The Massive was his fortress, his ship, and the place where he and Red spent most of their time and coordinated Operation Impending Doom 2. Mixed in with the apprehension was a sense of longing for those days gone by.

"Ow!" Purple suddenly yelped, a cramp forming in his left wrist.

He harrumphed at the temporary weakness. He and Gaz had stayed up all night playing video games while Dib yammered on and on about their strategy to destroy Zim's evil plans. Gaz and Purple had both been listening, but they just needed to be allowed to do more than one thing or else they would get bored.

When Purple had first seen Gaz after his brush with death, Gaz had actually been quite angry with him. She didn't yell at him though, like he had expected her to. Instead she was just silent for the first hour or so while he apologized and Dib tried to explain the situation. Gaz only forgave Purple when he showed her the new console he bought and the new Arbitrary Destruction III game he bought with it.

They had played for 10 hours straight, and at this point Purple was suffering the painful consequences as his wrist shot bolts of agony through his arm. It had been worth it though, because Gaz had said something to Purple he thought he would never hear from her. Even now, he wasn't sure what to think about it.

"You're getting pretty good at this, Purple," Gaz commented offhandedly.

"Thanks, earth-meat," Purple replied smugly, "I'm gonna destroy way more civilizations than you!"

"Yeah, right," Gaz scoffed as she readied her controller for another round, "I'm glad you don't suck at this anymore. It's hard to find people to play with. There are a few online kids that are as good as me, but it's not the same as playing in person. You're a lot of fun, Purple."

"Yeah, you too," Purple replied even as he blasted one of her towers to oblivion.

"I wish you were human," Gaz said wistfully as she stormed one of his dungeons.

"Hey! I thought you said you didn't hate me!" Purple shouted indignantly.

"I don't hate you, stupid," Gaz snapped, "I love you, and that's why I wish you were human."

Gaz had said it so casually and almost angrily that Purple didn't register what she said for a moment. When his PAK finally caught up with his antennae however he still wasn't sure he heard that right.

"Wait. What do you mean by love?" Purple asked.

"It's the opposite of hate, moron," Gaz explained condescendingly, "I know you can't feel the same way though, so it doesn't matter. Pod people don't fall in love, after all."

Purple's mind forced itself out of his memories as The Massive came into view. Gaz had been so huffy ever since he tried to deactivate himself. He wasn't even sure if those feelings of hers were real or just a knee-jerk reaction to almost losing him. It was hard for him to figure out her moods because humans had so many more hormonal reactions than Irkens. His race had removed all unnecessary redundancies to their emotional makeup eons ago. Purple didn't want to say anything to hurt Gaz's feelings, but she was right. He probably couldn't love her the way she supposedly loved him.

Zim was in his bedchamber watching Gir run around and scream at all the new sensory data. The control room was boring without planets to blow up or enslave, so he decided to wait in bed until Purple showed up with the body of the scary Dib-sister. He fully expected Purple to comply, given that Irkens didn't put alien lives above their own, but he knew the act of killing Gaz would hurt the former Tallest, and he relished it.

After suffering decades of indignities at the hands of his former masters, Zim was finally where he always knew he should be. In charge of all and leading Irk to glory. No more frying greasy food on Foodcourtia, no more deadly water on planet earth, no more Dib, and no more being labeled as defective. He considered keeping his promise to Purple and letting him live out his days on earth as its ruler. He also considered killing Purple in a horrible fashion. He didn't know which one he would decide on. He would have to figure out how angry seeing Purple's face again made him first.

"Wheeee! Imma eat some candy!" Gir randomly exclaimed as he pulled a chocolate bar out of his head, "Mmm, tastes like our house."

"That's because it was imported from earth, Gir," Zim explained patiently.

"Oooooh. Where's that?" Gir asked obliviously.

"Grr...earth was our mission, Gir!" Zim replied with far less patience than before.

"You sound like the TV man!" Gir commented.

"I've explained this before," Zim sighed in frustration, "This body used to belong to Tallest Red, therefore it is going to sound like Tallest Red. Understand?"

"Ooooh...I have no idea what you just said," Gir replied, and Zim facepalmed, "I wanna watch cartoons!"

Zim was about to say something else, but then suddenly a transmission signal beeped on the console in the wall, and Zim pushed a button on his gauntlet to answer it.

"What do you want, Hark?" Zim asked the technician.

"Incoming transmission!" The technician sang out, but then in a normal voice said, "From traitor Purple's voot runner. Shall I patch it through?"

"No," Zim replied dismissively, "He's here to deliver a package for me. Let him in the docking bay."

"But sir, this could be a trap!" The technician reasoned.

"Do not question the might of Zim! Uh, I mean, Red!" Zim ranted, "Yeah, um...Do not question the might of Red! There, that's better."

"As you command, my Tallest," Hark replied apprehensively.

The transmission was cut, and Zim swiftly left the bedchamber and headed for the bridge. Gir followed him, and Zim didn't waste any time locking the robot back in his hologram room. After all, how much damage could Gir do?

When Zim arrived the former Tallest was standing in the room with several soldiers aiming their weapons at him threateningly. Good, that would show the good for nothing liar his place. Zim smiled in satisfaction as he sauntered into the room and took in the sight before him.

"Ah, Purple. So good of you to drop by," Zim purred as he looked down at the long box on the ground, "And what's this? A present for me? You should've have!"

"You made me, jerk," Purple muttered under his breath, looking away from the smug look on Red's face.

"Silence!" Zim screamed, "Now, open it."

Zim said this with such sadistic glee that Purple froze for a moment. It sounded so much like Red, yet nothing like him. Red spoke to many Irkens that way, but never him. It hurt, even now it still hurt, to see Zim using his best friend's body to usurp the Irken throne. Purple didn't have time to worry about that though. He had to finish the next phase of his plan.

"I said open the box, you stupid dooky-head!" Zim snapped when Purple hesitated.

"Fine," Purple huffed.

"What was that?" Zim asked pointedly.

"I mean...yes, My Tallest," Purple hissed through gritted teeth.

Purple then bent down slowly, careful not to anger the guards, and flipped the latch on the coffin-sized box. He then quickly leapt back while Dib and Gaz burst their way out of the box and tackled the guards!

Zim snarled angrily and pulled out his own laser weapon, and Purple yoinked a gun away from one of the guards and pointed it back at Zim. The two stood there, the room growing silent and still, as they held their weapons at each other's face. Zim sweated a little, and Purple took a deep breath to calm his nerves.

"So, you sided with the humans, huh?" Zim asked contemptuously, "And to think I used to respect you."

"At least I earned that respect, you...fake, fakey tall guy!" Purple sputtered while keeping his aim, "You're not Red! You're Zim! Why don't you just tell them?"

"You know what? That's not a bad idea," Zim smirked, surprising everyone, "That's right. I am Zim! What does it matter now? Once I kill you I'll be the Tallest. The one and only Tallest. You wanna talk about earning something? I earned my place here. I killed my competition and humiliated the supposed best that Irk had to offer! I am the greatest invader ever, and now I'm the greatest ruler ever! I am amazing! I AM ZIM!"

"Wait, if you're Zim, then what happened to the other guy?" Dib asked obliviously.

Purple just facepalmed, realizing that he forgot to explain this detail to the kids. Zim didn't seem phased by the question however, as he wanted so badly to recount the events that led to his glory.

"Foolish human!" Zim exclaimed hammily, "The ways of my brilliant mind are too much for you to comprehend!"

"Zim just put his PAK on Red's dead body," Purple interjected disinterestedly.

"Hey! I had a whole speech prepared!" Zim rebuked Purple.

"How? Dib only just asked the question," Purple pointed out, "And you didn't even know Dib was coming."

"SILENCE!" Zim screamed furiously, "I'm in charge now, and you are nothing! Prepare to die, My Tallest."

Zim fired at Purple, but Purple leapt out of the way just in time. The shot hit a console instead, which led to several technicians swarming the broken computer like wasps trying to repair a breach in their nest. Purple then tackled Zim, and Zim kicked at Purple. This led to a battle royale where Zim and Purple fought each other, Dib and Gaz fought the guards, and Gir ate cheese puffs and watched from the sidelines. There was punching, kicking, antenna pulling, and name calling from everyone involved.

"Give it up, Purple. I have won!" Zim proclaimed.

"You might be sneakier than me," Purple grunted as he took another hit, "But I'm a better fighter!"

Purple then threw Zim off of him, and reached for his gun. He fired at Zim, and Zim jumped out of the way. Unfortunately, Purple did hit someone, and it was one of the worst targets he could have picked...

"No!" Zim exclaimed as Gir, his head missing from being vaporized, fell to the ground with a hollow metallic thud, "Gir? Gir, speak to me! GIIIIRRR!"

"Uh oh..." Purple gulped, realizing he had just gone too far.

"What's the big deal? It's just a stupid robot," Gaz remarked.

"Just a stupid robot?" Zim barked as he swiftly turned his head to the offending human, "JUST A STUPID ROBOT!? That's it, Gaz zombie! Prepare to die again!"

"Again? I never killed her, Zim," Purple told him, "It was a trap, remember?"

"Stay out of this, friend killer!" Zim snapped.

"Me a friend killer? You killed Red, you jerk!" Purple reminded him.

"RARHG!" Zim roared, a sound no one had heard from Red's vocals before.

Zim stormed up to Purple and quick as a flash used his PAK leg to impale Purple's forehead! The kids gasped, and Gaz felt her heart stop for a moment. It was so quick, and yet...

"Purple's...gone?" Gaz asked, her voice tiny and distant.

"Gaz, I-" Dib started to say.

Before Dib could complete his sentence however, a cord snaked out of Purple's PAK and plugged itself into a console port. Zim removed his PAK leg, now stained with green blood, and watched helplessly with the others as Purple downloaded his information into The Massive. Purple's face then appeared on the screen, and Gaz breathed a sigh of relief.

"Who's the Tallest now, Zim?" Purple gloated, "Now I'm as big as this whole ship, and nothing can stop me from taking you down and taking my rightful place is ruler of Irk once again!"

Purple then willed a set of claws to pick Zim up off the ground and throw him violently against the wall. Zim groaned as he regained his bearings, and Purple's projected face held a smug expression of triumph.

"Oh yeah? Two can play that game!" Zim retorted before plugging himself into the console as well.

The soldiers attempted to stop Zim from infiltrating the computer, but a fence was erected to keep everyone away from the console.

"It's alright. Let him in," Purple ordered, "This ends now."

"You're going to fight him in virtual reality?" Dib asked, "Oh man! This is so cool! Can we watch?"

"Dib!" Gaz scolded, "What if Zim erases Purple? We have to get them both out of there!"

"Don't worry about that, Gaz. I have a plan," Purple assured her, "Attention all Irkens and aliens on board The Massive! This is, uh, The Massive speaking! Everyone find the nearest escape pods and evacuate the ship. I repeat, evacuate the ship!"

"Wait, what do you mean evacuate?" Gaz demanded to know, "Purple, what's going on?"

"The ship will be difficult to control with two consciousnesses inside it," Purple explained, "It will be easier if I don't have to keep life support going. You two have helped tremendously, but now I need you to leave. Don't worry, earth is going to be just fine."

"I don't care about earth!" Gaz shouted, "Are you going to be okay?"

"Gaz, he's right. We have to go," Dib said as he grabbed her hand, "Come on, let the alien slimeballs fight this out. We don't have much time."

Right after Dib said this a console exploded, indicating that Zim and Purple were already struggling for dominance inside the mainframe. Gaz hesitated, but finally decided to allow Dib to lead her back to their ship. Whatever happened now, there wasn't anything she could do about it.

Meanwhile, inside The Massive's virtual net, Zim and Purple projected themselves and fought one another. While Purple chose to look like himself wearing Irken battle armor, Zim chose to look like a Tallest. Not like Tallest Red as he had before, but like Zim if he were tall. It annoyed Purple to see him that way.

"Give it up, Purple!" Zim cackled as he fired several virtual cannons at his nemesis, "I am the true Tallest! You might have taken Gir from me, but you won't take Irk!"

"I gave you Gir!" Purple pointed out, "Red and I indulged your stupid whims of grandeur and let you live when clearly you didn't deserve to. We gave you a planet to live on when you nearly destroyed Irk, and how did you repay us? You killed my best friend and tried to get me to kill my new best friend!"

"New best friend? You mean the Dib-sister?" Zim asked in disbelief, "Hah! You just told me your weakness, and now that I know how to hurt you I can hit you where it hurts. When I get out of here I'll make Gaz beg for death, and I'll make you watch!"

"You don't get it, do you?" Purple asked wanly; not exactly the response Zim expected, "You're not getting out of here."

"Of course I am!" Zim protested, "I'm stronger than you, and I will win!"

"No Zim, you won't," Purple replied, sounding less taunting and more resigned, "Neither of us will get out of here. We can't. When you entered this space I ordered the PAKs to disconnect from the mainframe. I had to so you wouldn't steal my body. We're both trapped in here. Neither of us will escape."

"But- but...We can't both share this ship!" Zim argued, "We can't even die in here unless-"

"Unless The Massive is destroyed? I know," Purple replied mater-of-factly, "I locked our course on a planet made entirely out of iron. We're going to crash, and we're going to die. I would rather nobody have Irk than give it to you. I suggest you make peace with your life, and enjoy this annoying music I found on earth to play on loop for this moment."

Purple then started playing Gaz's heavy metal collection so he wouldn't have to hear Zim screaming and cursing at him. He was scared, but he wouldn't let Zim know that. He knew Irk would be fine. They would select a new Tallest, and Operation Impending Doom II would continue without interruption. Earth was never part of that plan however, so he also knew Gaz would be safe.

Out in space hundreds of Irken life pods flew in every direction, all the while Dib and Gaz escaped in the voot cruiser. Gaz watched The Massive as it swerved and weaved; as if the ship itself was fighting an unseen enemy.

"We have to go back," Gaz stated firmly, "We have to make sure Purple wins. If Zim deletes Purple's mind then nothing will stop him from attacking us."

"Maybe I can remotely hack into the computer system to track the fight," Dib suggested, "Yeah, then we can see who's winning."

"Fine, do it. Just- Wait!"

Gaz noticed the Massive change course; heading for a nearby grey orb that looked like a planet...or maybe The Death Star. The ship sped up toward the structure, and Gaz pressed her hands and face closer to the glass so she could follow its trajectory.

"What is it, Gaz?" Dib asked, still piloting the voot cruiser.

Gaz watched helplessly as the ship careened toward the metal planet, and shielded her eyes as the ship crashed and exploded; leaving a bright fiery flash of debris in its wake. Once the light cleared away, Gaz dared to remove her arm from her eyes and look. There was a smoking crater and reddish colored metal bits where The Massive had been. It was gone. He was gone. They were just...gone.

"Come on! What happened?" Dib asked, not seeing the impact.

Gaz didn't reply. She didn't speak. She was frozen in place by the window, looking at the crash and not believing it's significance. How could this happen? How could he just be gone? Gaz clenched her fists and breathed in and out through her nose. The voot cruiser flew further and further away from the wreckage, and Gaz was tempted to ask Dib to turn back so they could look for Purple. She knew though. She knew he wasn't there. She knew he was dead.

"...and in other news, the Really Cool Bill for Peace passed Congress with flying colors!" The news lady on the TV droned on as Prof. Membrane watched, "This new law will allocate funds for NASA Place to research potential alien threats, as well as the building of military grade spaceships and rockets for us to fight off the possible invasion by the Irken armada. Money was taken from the civilian sector to fund this incredible new-"

Membrane turned off the TV and snorted angrily at the news. He had been sitting there all day since his lab wasn't open at the moment. His funding had been cut to make room for space research, and now the lab was only available three days a week.

He needed something else to occupy his time. With this thought in mind Membrane stood up and looked around for something to do. He saw Gaz sitting on the stairs leaning against the wall and not making a sound. With no better opportunities presenting themselves, he approached her.

"Daughter, I know you're upset," Membrane began in a voice that could almost be described as sympathetic, "I'm upset too. The world can be a cruel place for scientists like me. Don't worry though honey, I'll find a way to convince the grant board to increase my funding. Then real science can march ahead unencumbered! Feel better now, sweetie?"

Gaz didn't move or verbally respond in any way, which Membrane took as agreement. Feeling his job as a parent completed, he went down to the basement to try to find a task to occupy his free time. Gaz didn't even look at him as he left.

For five more minutes Gaz was left alone with her thoughts, as she had been all morning. It was Saturday, so there was no skool. Not that it mattered. She wouldn't have gone anyway. What was the point?

The sound of Dib coming down the stairs didn't rouse Gaz, nor did Dib crouching down to sit next to her. Maybe if she ignored him he would leave her alone.

"Listen Gaz, I just...I wanted to talk to you about what happened," Dib awkwardly began, "I know this is a difficult time-"

"Let me guess," Gaz hissed venomously, "The world is really unfair for paranormal investigators like you."

"Gaz, I'm probably the only other person on this planet who can understand what you're going through," Dib replied with conviction, "Believe it or not, I lost something too. I didn't think I did at first, but I did."

"What are you talking about?" Gaz asked.

"I'm talking about Zim," Dib explained, "You see, for four years I've dedicated my life to stopping Zim from killing us all. I studied him, I stalked him, and I fought him tooth and nail to keep earth safe. On the one hand Zim was the creature I hated most in the universe. On the other hand though, he was my purpose in life. My job since I was 11 years old was to stop Zim. And now...I feel like him dying this way is just so...empty. I miss him. It's stupid, I know it's stupid, but I miss him! What do I do with my life if I'm not protecting earth?"

"Are you done?" Gaz asked curtly.

"Don't you see, Gaz? I'm trying to tell you that we share the same pain," Dib told her.

"No Dib, you're trying to dump your pain on me when I'm going through my own stuff," Gaz countered, "You don't know what Purple meant to me. You don't know anything about me!"

"Okay, okay!" Dib shouted as he held up his hands placatingly, "I'm trying, Gaz. Can't you see I'm trying? What do you want from me?"

"Nothing," Gaz declared, "Don't you get it? I just want to be alone with my thoughts."

"I don't think that's true," Dib stated, "I think you do want to talk, but you don't want to be vulnerable. Come on, Gaz. I'm your brother. You can tell me anything."

"Well..." Gaz thought about it, and struggled with herself about whether or not to talk to him, but in the end she just sighed at her own defeat, "I...I can't play my Game Slave anymore."

"What?" Dib flatly asked, "Uh, you mean to tell me you're sulking because your stupid game system broke?"

"No, Dib!" Gaz snapped, "I just can't play it anymore! All of my video games remind me of him! Purple and I would spend hours playing games and talking. I taught him how to play games, and each one meant something. We were playing Vampire Piggies the first time he tried pizza. We played Portal 2 after we took over the world. We played Arbitrary Destruction III before he died. We even played DDR when I was feeling fat and Purple got worried because he, and I quote, 'had never seen me sad'."

"You felt fat?" Dib asked.

"See? You don't know these things about me because you never ask!" Gaz yelled, "Dib, what I had with Purple I will never have again! He was my friend, and he cared about me. No one will ever care about me like that again! I didn't think anyone could."

"What do you mean?" Dib asked, "I care."

"Not like that," Gaz refuted, "When I'm with you, you talk about yourself. You talk about your paranormal studies or Zim or skool bullies. When I'm with Dad he talks about his lab or science or his TV show. No one ever asks me about myself. My classmates either hate me or are afraid of me, and I get cursed out constantly in my online games. I know I was only 4 years old, but I remember when Mom died. She was the last person in my life that made me feel like I was special. Everyone else uses me as their sounding board, so I just check out. It's easier if I don't have to actually listen, and no one really cares if I'm not listening. Video games are my domain, a place where I can feel powerful and special. At least, that's how it always was before.

"Then one day Purple showed up at our door. He was curious and annoying, but he asked me questions about things I care about. He wanted my advice, my opinions, and my attention. He made me feel the way I feel as the player character in an RPG. Like I was the center of his world. That made me care about him too. He would tell me about Irk, and about his old life. We would just hang out. It was casual, but on the inside it felt intense...like our souls were bonding. We were both lonely, I know that's all it was, but that was all it needed to be. I'll never have another person in my life like him again."

Gaz turned away then. She knew she would start crying if she kept talking, and there was no way she wanted Dib to see her like that. Crying was for babies, not for the darkness-encrusted heart that beat within Gaz Membrane. Dib didn't turn away from her however. He put his hand on hers, and when she turned to look at him she could see a sad smile on his face.

"Then I guess we do kind of have something in common," Dib told her, "Because neither of us know what to do with our lives."

"Hmph. Whatever," Gaz snorted.

"It's going to be okay. Trust me," Dib assured her, "You made one friend. That means you are capable of making people like you. You're not a monster Gaz. You're just a teenage girl trying to figure things out. You'll be okay, you'll see."

"But everything feels so empty," Gaz moaned, "I can't even pick up a controller without my hands shaking. I can still see the crater, hear the explosions. I dream about him when I go to sleep. It's only been a week. I'm falling apart after just one week without him. What if this feeling never goes away?"

"It will Gaz," Dib reassured her, "It will."

Gaz didn't reply. She just took a deep breath and forced herself to stand up. She and Dib walked down the stairs, and in the background they could vaguely hear power tools in the basement. That was likely their father working on some new world changing invention, but neither of them cared about that at the moment. They looked at each other, understanding that they did indeed share a lot of the same pain, not just recent, but chronic as well.

"You want me to order Bloaty's tonight?" Dib asked.

"If you want," Gaz shrugged, "I'm going for a walk. I'll be back soon."

Gaz then made her way out the door. She didn't slam the door like she normally did, and Dib didn't know how to take that. Was she too weak and depressed to slam the door, or was she feeling better? He wasn't sure, but he figured he'd better have that pizza at the house by the time she got back.

Gaz stood in front of a familiar green and purple house. This strange funhouse-looking structure had belonged to Zim for four years, and to Purple for about three months. An alien construct planted like a seed in the soil of an oblivious world. There were only memories in that house now.

Gaz had already walked through the Irken hideout for the past half hour. It was clean as a whistle thanks to her and Purple spiffing the place up. The lab still blinked and whirred with its red lights and unearthly objects. The kitchen still had a toilet that was also an elevator. Gaz never actually spent a lot of time in this place. When Zim lived there she avoided it because it was boring to her. When Purple lived there she usually either invited him to her house or else talked on the video phone. Face to face contact wasn't always a priority.

Gaz wanted to take something from the place. She wanted a momento from the times she and Purple spent together. Something she could look fondly at while thinking about him when she was old. Nothing struck her though. Purple never pointed out or gave her a special object. It wasn't that kind of friendship. They cared more about what they did than what they had, which made this moment difficult. What would Purple want her to have?

As Gaz stood outside the fence row looking at the house and its motley assortment of decorations, something finally caught her eye. It was a flag that said 'Earth Rocks'. Zim had made that flag to try to seem more human. It was stupid and transparent, but his idiot neighbors probably assumed it was supposed to be ironic. To Gaz it actually was ironic.

Smiling to herself, she plucked the flag from its flagpole and wrapped it around her arm. That way she wouldn't have to carry it home. She'd probably hang it in her room. It would look cool there; a little color mixed in with all the black.

Gaz sighed as she took one last look at the place. The sky was yellow from the evening sun, and the neighbors were all placidly going about their day. This wasn't right. Her heart was broken. It should be raining and thunder should be decrying all of existence as she wailed to the sounds of dramatic orchestra music. That wasn't what happened though. Life went on for the rest of the world...just not Gaz.

What would she do now? Without video games she had to think about things, but that just made her more depressed. She wondered if maybe taking up music would help. She always did like the sound of hard rock. Maybe she could work with her old guitar again. Maybe join band at skool. Maybe think about this later.

Gaz wondered if Dib was right. Maybe she should try to make new friends. To be fair, human kids were pretty stupid when compared to the centuries old leader of Irk, but they were an option. Not a great option, but an option.

Gaz scoffed to herself as she thought about her life. Stop hiding from the world and do something with her life? That didn't sound like Gaz. Then again, with the help of one supportive friend she was able to take over the world for a bit. Maybe her next friend could help her move out of her family's house when she was older. It was worth considering.

Gaz smiled then, and looked down at the flag tied to her arm.

"Thanks, Purple," Gaz whispered to the air.

Gaz then pulled out a little red button from her pocket with a black smiley face printed on the top. She took two steps back, and then pressed the button; causing an explosion so massive and loud that it sent shockwaves throughout the neighborhood as Zim's old house was engulfed in flames!

The neighbors all stopped what they were doing and looked at the commotion. A car alarm went off, a baby cried in the distance, and dogs barked. Everything was chaos, but Gaz was unphased. She simply walked in the direction of home, not even looking back at the turmoil she had caused and the secrets she had buried.

The End