A/n Okay, I'm finally updating after all this time, because I finally have time! It's summer! And I'm all happy and all that crud. Hopefully, I can finish it this summer, because I'm itching on getting started on another one, but different. More details on that later...oh yeah, many people have been asking if Invader Johnny is an Irken counterpart of Nny. No he isn't; Invader Johnny is the OC created by Invader Johnny (check out his profile), and they just have the same boots and the same name.

Well, so far, summer has been pretty boring, and I have no contact with most people whatsoever. I am almost done with the 2nd Kingdom Hearts game, and I am almost done beating it my 4th time over! Go me! I've also been trying my hand at sketching characters from my fic YEWYD, but alas, I do not have any way to get them onto the computer boo hoo. My parents are thinking of getting a scanner this summer for my birthday, so hopefully I'll get my wish.

Also, another note on this chapter: This chapter is split into 3 parts, so it would be one chapter split into 3. This one is about Gaz, and the others are about Zim and Dib. Most of the chapter is going to be a flashback, but there will be some present day stuff

Now that I'm done rambling, let the horror begin.

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Chapter 17: "Some things are better left for Death."

"6 years ago, on some stupid month in the middle of a stupid year to be precise (excuse my vagueness, like I give a damn), shouldn't be very important to anyone. Especially not to me." Gaz muttered under her breath. She heard a grunt beside her, and the Irken male merely curled up next to her body, his skin begging for warmth in his subconscious state. Or he was just asleep.

Maybe.

They were back in Zim's house. No note, no mention of leaving, they just silently got up and left after the Legion encounter. Dokami and Jenn probably wouldn't have minded anyway. Unless they noticed that there was a huge crimson stain on Jenn's wildly sickening pink floor, then they wouldn't know a thing.

Hopefully.

Gaz closed her tired eyes...trying not to remember...trying to forget...

Forget what?

Gaz decided she was going insane. The first sign of insanity: Hearing voices inside of one's head.

Forget everything...all this shit...the-the stupid...argh...EVERYTHING! Gaz was mentally slapping herself in obvious frustration. She shook her head in confusion, so hard that Zim clutched an arm around her waist, subconsciously not wanting her to move.

Second sign of insanity: Conversing with voices inside of one's head.

What do you wish to forget? The little voice inquired again.

"I want..." She whispered, looking down at Zim, who actually looked...child-like. "I wish I never met him..." She continued quietly, though hoping not to wake the alien from his slumber, probably the best he's had in days.

Never met him?

"Never met...Zim."

-----------------------------------------Gaz's FLASHBACK----------------------------------------

She heard the rants in the hallway while she was trying to at least pay attention when she felt like it in her class. Gaz, nine years old, felt an undeniable rage against those who dared to make noise.

Those who make noise must pay.

Of course, that stupid new green kid that her brother probably had nothing more than a crush on (though he denied it with continuous trips to the bathroom each time she mentioned shonen-ai with delicious retching sounds coming from within, hehe), peaked her video-game obsessed attention at times, though the two never actually met. Sure, they had casual meetings (if you call saving your brother from being turned inside out or having the green boy use you as an umbrella) but you don't exactly call those meetings. They never exchanged meaningful words, never really looked at each other, never really knew that either existed. But that didn't stop some sort of interest coming from within the little girl's mind, a very dormant part of her mind...

She was curious, and of course, you know what they say:

Curiosity killed the cat.

Well, it's a good thing I'm not a cat. The girl slammed her book with deafening sound. Mr. Elliot did not flinch; he was used to such outbursts, plus if he refused to let the tiny girl go on with whatever business she had, she might as well destroy him with a fear deep within the confines of his mind that he probably shouldn't mention.

She stepped outside the classroom, unnoticed and ignored, and stepped down the hall, a murderous strut apparent in her footsteps. If she had opened her eyes, there would be a glint of some sort of rage, but would you dare to get close enough to look into her eyes? No thanks.

Of course, unless someone stupid had the nerve...

She turned the corner to see the boy slam his head into the wall, slightly steaming and screaming at the top of his lungs. Gaz could only watch in morbid amusement as he did some sort of break dance of pain and horror that she had only seen his idiotic little dog do.

"Your voice is stupid. Can you shut up before I have the unfortunate pleasure of destroying your head?" Gaz crossed her arms and leaned against the wall, just in time to see the boy glare at her with icy blue eyes.

"Be quiet filthy earth monkey. The great ZIM will be the one doing the destroying of you if you do not shut your filthy, dirt...mouth, thingy." The boy who identified himself as Zim, glared at her darkly, an insulting attempt to match her own death glare that was as natural to her as smiling.

"That's...the best you can come up with?" She twirled a lock of her hair around her finger, nearly laughing out loud if someone were to come by and accuse her of acting flirtatious...

Feh, I did not just think that.

"Idiotic earth female, if you do not remove yourself from this hallway, I will remove you with the power of the all powerful ZIM!" His greenish skin flushed with insanity, and his skin finally stopped hissing. Gaz raised an eyebrow in annoyance, and stepped up to him.

"Listen green kid—"

Gaz did not finish her sentence due to a huge metal claw pressing her against the wall, with the boy holding her wrists in an iron-like grip.

"My. Name. Is. Zim." He snarled in her face, causing spittle to fly on her lips that were currently twisted into a fang-like smirk that was ever rarely see on her face. Zim stopped, looked at her to see her eyes that were glinting with something deadly...

If he were not mistaken...he thought he heard her growl...

Gaz looked into his blue eyes, wondering what on earth possessed him to touch her. Touch her.

"Unless you want a rain of merciless doom upon your emerald-ed flesh, you shall let go of my limbs and then I promise not to hurt you and punish you into a fate worse than Hell itself." Gaz said in an oddly calm voice, sending shivers down Zim's spine.

"I don't think so, Dib-sibling." Zim said equally as calmly. He was not stupid; he knew the potential danger he was getting himself into at this very second, but he, for some reason, would not back down.

Perhaps it was just merely written into his programming to never falter when pure fear and despair is glaring at you straight in the face with spittle staining your clothes. Even if you pee in your pants and feel the desperate need to regurgitate.

Just for the sake of pure force of will kept Gaz from reverting back into the actual monkeys that humans used to be. For you see, Gaz had a habit of de-evolving into some sort of feral beast that was present in everyone's eyes, whether she started to salivate with rabid spit and otherwise display some rather monstrous behavior that would make the Vatican cringe with no attempt to exorcise her.

Which a priest tried to do a couple of years ago but was found in a garbage can in a state of shock which led him to become a comatose vegetable until the end of his years. When the hearse delivered his body to the cemetery, the hearse mysteriously blew up and no trace of his body was ever recovered.

"You know..." Gaz started slowly, her eyes oddly glazed over as if she weren't aware of her surroundings. "You will learn to respect me as an equal, whether you like it or not."

"As if a powerful Irken invader like me would ever respect a lowly human like you." Zim countered, only to become confused by a smirk on Gaz's face.

"Irken or not, I really don't care."

"Then you have no hope to ever think you can order me, Zim, around."

"That's what you think."

"Oh?" Zim raised an invisible eyebrow as he loosened and tightened his grip on her wrists, his clawed fingers drawing blood.

"Everyone has learned their place here." Gaz further explained, not minding the tingling pain. "Those who dare to blemish my presence with their face get a one way ticket to their own personal nightmares. I have pretty much proved my superiority here at this pathetic establishment of education, and I have done so without even caring at all. Those who mess with my unaware rule learn a grave lesson...so..." Gaz kicked Zim in the stomach, who lost his grip on the young girl and groaned in pain. "Stay out of my way."

"You're...rather impressive...Gaz-human..." The Irken boy wheezed as he rubbed his stomach in an attempt to soothe the pain.

"Of course..." She tossed her hair over her shoulder, looking sultry without meaning to as Zim hacked some purplish bile on her boots. "Consider yourself warned."

"Please be my mate."

Pure and utter shock may have exploded through the young girl's system, but she made no attempt to reveal it.

"What?"

Zim looked up, frustrated determination evident in his blue eyes that watered, crystal droplets clinging to the edges.

"You heard me. Be my mate."

Gaz whirled around and kicked Zim into the wall, a groan escaping his throat as his spine made contact.

"Just what are you trying to pull?"

"Nothing, Gaz-human. I am pulling nothing. I. Want. You. To. Be. My. Mate." Zim said slowly, a grin threatening to split his face. His maddening features were met with a signature glare, courtesy of Gaz Membrane, the golden irises glinting with such intensity that Zim should have been smited to Oblivion.

She walked over to Zim, who despite his glare, was shaking. Fear began to leak through his eyelids, as he squeezed his eyes tightly, hoping his final end would be quick...

"Why?"

Zim looked up at her in amazement, her eyes half-lidded, dulled by some sort of sad sheen.

"I'm lonely."

The two just stared at each other.

"No."

Zim looked like he had been punched in his sqeedly-sqooch.

"Why?"

"Because I have better things to do then to baby-sit my brother's supposed enemy. And I have better things to do then dwell on someone else's wants and desires." Gaz said nonchalantly. "Besides, I thought Tak was your 'love monkey'."

Zim threw off a forced laugh that wouldn't meet his eyes.

"That hideous Irken female? She wasn't worth it...she was a bitch."

Gaz's eyes widened a bit, but then narrowed with a smirk painted on her pale face.

"I think that's the first time I've ever heard you swear."

"When you've taken this much disappointment in your life, you learn to cope with anger."

"Sounds more like you've fallen victim to your anger."

Gaz walked up to Zim and pulled him up, her fingers clasped in his gloved hand.

"Why are you lonely?"

For a second, Zim just shivered violently, closing his eyes. When he opened them, he looked around confused, before taking back his hand as though Gaz was poisonous.

"Wretched earth-female! Why is it that you held Zim's hand? Do you not fear the wrath of ZIM!" Zim's eyes bugged out maniacally as he began cackling insanely. Gaz stared in slight amazement at his sudden behavior change, but then just sent him skidding painfully down the hall with a single punch.

"I do not fear the wrath of Zim."

Gaz left the alien boy gasping and wheezing for air at the wall, striding down the hallway towards her classroom.

"What I do fear is your hormones."