A/N: What is this? Oh, c'mon, don't be like that. I know I have another project to update on my other account, but after subscribing to StardustSage's story, Things We Took For Granted, I have progressively grown more and more upset with the series.

Why?

Zim's personality. It's not longer about my favorite character, just someone with his name and companions.

The idea belongs entirely to StardustSage, and I give her credit entirely for some interesting points. I don't hate you, regardless of what it may seem! I just think you need to focus more on a very, very difficult character. nn

So, it became my first rewrite challenge. Huzzah!

Lawyermoose Sez: Invader Zim and all its related characters and scenarios belong to Viacom/MTV/Nickelodeon, concept by Jhonen Vasquez. Moose is neither of these parties and she owns nothing. This fanfic entirely unauthorized. The original fanfic was Things We Took For Granted, by an author operating under the pseudonym StardustSage.

Isn't Lawyermoose boring?

TItle: Can't Take It Back
Genre: Angst/Romance
Rating: T
Summary: Things We Took For Granted: Popular ZaDR fanfic. But Moose had some unresolved issues. The result? A rewrite. (Original author credits go to StardustSage).

---

Adrenaline pumps through teen bodies, boot soles striking out a frantic rhythm on the sidewalk, soundtrack to the chase scenes of their lives.

"Tired of running, Zim?" Panted the human, amber eyes meeting fake lavender as they peered back, still keeping the same pace as startled people leapt out of their path for safety.

"Never, Dib-stink!" Zim growled back, darting through a pack of their fellow teenagers. He jostled one in particular, knokcking a pair of glasses from one. The delicate frames crunched beneath boots, twisting and snapping, an audible noise to all those near them.

Dib could only hurry by the teen, who let out a strangled cry at the damage sustained to the expensive eyewear, glass scattered across the pavement.

Every fight with Zim ended with the human's guilt for the victims of every mangled battle for the last six years of his life. Had it really been only six years since the alien had appeared? It had become Dib's life ever since he was ten. Of course, it had molded him into a complete social failure. After spending fourth through tenth grade pursuing the Irken, those who might have accepted him into their lower-class social circles feared him, as the "Weird Alien Kid", and refused to associate with him.

Physically, he was the opposite. The eldest Membrane child had grown to a full heigh of six foot (and a half-inch that he found particularly important) carrying his frame with an air of pride. His scythe, the equivalent of a male (Membrane) lion's mane, had grown jagged at a point, flowing down his back.

He was still blind as ever, with the same round glasses, but he felt that it didn't harm his appearance too much.

The fleeing Irken, on a totally opposite end of the specturm, had not encountered the same transformation. He still stood and an unimpressive height of five feet, still green, still wearing the same wig and contacts. Zim, as a creature, despised change in any form. As far as he was concerned, the chases with Dib could last forever. If he always hated the human, and had the same reflecting emotions from the other, then he was most than pleased.

One hand grabbed for the alien's PAK, deflected away by the alien's own. "Is this really the best you can do? This is nothing!" The alien taunted, laughing with pure glee in his eyes, a manic grin upon his face.

Before the human could reply, Zim swerved into the street, dodging parked cars as the traffic light glared crimson, holding up a few rows of cards. The human, panting for air now, darted across another street to make a beeline for his prey and into one particularly unfortunate lane.

While the last few paths had been stopped while Zim raced across them, the one Dib had selected flickered to a green, dooming him to his fate.

The tiny Irken pivoted in time to see the MacMeatie's truck barrelling down on the dark-haired teen, eyes fixed on the expression upon Dib's face as he tried to race to safety. The driver's eyes fell on him, widening and slamming a panicked foot down...

Onto the wrong pedal.

The monstrous machine collided with Dib's body, launching the young man into the air. His body folded at the waist as he flew back, eyes closing as he struck the pavement. His round-framed glasses flew off, shattering beside a gutter. Its shards mingled with those that had scattered farthest from their chase, the omen and the result side by side.

There was a wrenching sensation in Zim's stomach as he took in the sight of his enemy, lying in a puddle of his own, scarlet human fluid, taking in the largest change he could imagine.