Thunder rolled down upon the Earth as the rain splattered against pavement in huge droplets. It was the perfect weather for a clichéd tragedy just waiting to strike, which had so happened to be right down the street into a well-rounded neighborhood where mundane houses stood up in a row except for one eccentric regularly glowing green house slanted and showing off purple panes of artificial material that seemed almost inhuman. Gnomes covered the yard as mud swished up against them to cast off a haunting look.

There had been crashes and screams emitting from the house earlier that day followed by a screeching cacophony of god knows what. The neighbors expected this. It was on a regular basis to be hearing the loud noises coming from inside from their overzealous neighbor through the years. They would have been surprised if the noises would have all of a sudden stopped but it wasn't as if they cared whether or not anything happened over there because, well, they were human after all and humans did have to do… stuff.

But the noises did stop. Silence broke out through the whole neighborhood even when the thunder continued to boom and shatter the silence—it seemed to have been no match in voice for the villainous creature inside who shouted obscenities. It was as if the thunder was never there; it seemed as if he was the thunder crashing down. But now that the voices had blown out, so had the thunderous noise…

It was an accident… I didn't mean… I swear…

The guilt filled voice echoed throughout the house, filling the walls with mourning shadows as if the trickling water down the windows were actual tears. It was silent; too silent. Wind blew harshly against the walls, making it groan.

You have to understand, it was a mistake… h-he NEVER breaks… I…

Traveling deep within the bowels of the house stood an enormous military base, if that's what you would call it, filled to the ceiling with wires and trashed with odd looking gadgets. The soft, stunned voice continued on to ramble as if to prove that something wasn't supposed to happen under his supervision control. Silence ensued.

—didn't mean it… I didn't know what would happen… please, forgive me…

The bespectacled teenager did not dare take a step towards his kneeling enemy facing away from him and holding an object in his hand. He had known that his alien foe was damaged and had an uncontrollable anger. But this—this seemed more serious and threatening towards him just because his nemesis wouldn't say a word; not a goddamn word. He was always screaming; always shouting randomness that had no relevance towards certain events. But for once in the teen's life, the alien was silent with a deathly aura floating around him. The boy shivered.

"…Zim?"

The suspense... it was killing him. Dib swallowed nervously and hastily began to clench and unclench his hands. The slouched figure before him hadn't moved since the accident, it only continued to stare at what was left in his hands.

Growing even more nervous and agitated from the odd behavior Zim was showing Dib opened his mouth to scream at Zim to DO something other than sit there when a soft, raspy voice flittered across the room towards Dib.

"Get. Out." There was a hiss following the bitter pungent staining the air.

Dib's blood ran cold as the icy words were thrown his way. Frozen on the spot, he honestly did not know what to do. He was torn between running as far away from here before anarchy ripped out and staying still so as to not invoke a sudden attack from nowhere. He knew voicing at the moment would only augment the Irken's fury and he really didn't want that at the moment. The Irken was already unstable.

Dib stayed his ground so as to not risk anything that had to do with the fate of his life and waited. He saw the alien's antenna twitch on his bare skull, green skin glowing softly with remaining snapped fuses and wires sparking every once in a while. The antenna twitched again. Then—

"Computer, eradicate!"

Before Dib could defend himself, two strong looking cable shot down towards his body and wrapped themselves around his skinnier than normal figure. The human yelped as the arms and legs of his body were tightly bound and subjugated any struggling the teen may take into action.

He looked up, startled to see Zim already approaching him with a livid face, insanity creeping into those large ruby red eyes of his. Dib spluttered and tried to control his bowels from spilling out once those menacing eyes pierced him and the cords tightened around his stomach.

The alien walked slowly over to the human annoyance, hands clasped behind his back and head held up high to look directly into the eyes of the one he hated so much at the moment. He stopped a foot away from the Dib-stink. He snarled, his lip curling to reveal sharp zipper shaped teeth gleaming in the dim light they were standing under.

Dib began to perspire and squirm under that heated gaze. Ever since Zim had grown in height over these past years it hadn't affected the human at all due to himself still being half a head taller than his enemy, which was strange considering Zim shouldn't even have grown in the first place. Now, however, Dib seemed to shrink under Zim's confident height when the egotistical Irken stood in front of him. He would never admit this but he was terrified of the alien right now.

Those eyes… Dib never left his gaze and began to contemplate what emotions Zim was displaying right now, no matter how subtle. Obviously, his uptight demeanor represented his repressed anger, but there was something else. It was then he realized that Zim was holding in a painful remorse and fear. He figured that if Zim was completely stripped from his aggression and pride, the Irken would probably be breaking down. This made Dib's stomach clench unpleasantly and a whole new wave of guilt washed over him.

Dib dropped his gaze and found interest on the floor instead.

"I… I'm sorry," the human breathed out quietly, though it was the loudest thing in the room.

Quick as a flash, Zim shot out an arm and grabbed Dib's psyche shaped cowlick on his head. Dib gave out a startled cry in pain as his head was yanked back so as to look directly into Zim's face. Zim had his teeth clenched. His eyes were burning with intensity as they narrowed on the dirt child.

"I'll deal with you later," Zim hissed out between his teeth and, with a command to his computer, watched Dib being flung out of his base. Zim waited a full minute before turning around and hurrying back to fix what had been broken.

Dib was patient. He would wait. He would wait for Zim to come back to deal with him later. Right now, he figured Zim did need some alone time to try and figure things out for himself. Being flung out of his house made him realize something… if there were any evidence to prove that Zim really did have a heart, then Dib had just stumbled upon a rare moment in which Zim DID care about someone other than himself. He had to be sure and record this piece of information once he ran back home.

The last thought he had before being flung out into the rain was,

'Maybe Irken's CAN love.'

Hands fumbling, Zim hastily gathered up the damaged parts in his hands and dumped them on a medic table. His breath came in rapid pants as he began to rearrange the parts, teeth gritted in frustration when he realized that he did not know what to do. He growled and started grabbing tools that he thought he would need.

The few remaining lights flickering above made it hard to see so the Irken was becoming more aggravated at the moment. Zim snatched up a damaged piece of what looked like an arm and he bit his tongue as he figured out that there was no way he could fix that.

'Yaaaaay! It buuuurns!'

Ignoring the sudden noise in his head, Zim picked up scraps of metal and tried to gather information on how to put them back together. His mind drew a blank. There was too much damage; he'd have to build a new body. His eyes landed on a larger piece that was dented in.

'Why is his head so big! WHYYYYY IS HIS HEAAAD SO BIIIG?'

Zim made a frustrated noise and slammed his gloved hand on the table, the noise reverberating around the base. "Computer! I… I need you to bring me Red Box number 35a! NOW!"

There was a whirring sound as a mechanical arm dropped from the ceiling to deposit a bright red tool box labeled 35a. Zim frantically brought out all of the tools and flushed them across the table so as to get a better view of what he'd need.

Working with random tools, Zim tried to fix the problem once again; and again until his fingers became calloused from all the working. It had only been ten minutes and nothing was working. Why was this not working? He was trying so damn hard to make this thing work! Zim began to curse colorfully in English and Irken as he kicked at offending cans.

Deciding that he needed to act fast on the most crucial part, he grabbed the large dented piece and a random tool so as to start prying away the melded hatch and get inside the hollow container.

'I'MMA DANCIN' LIKE A MONKEY!'

He shook his head vigorously so as to block out the annoying voice. He made a pleased sound of victory as he pried the hatch open. He stuck his hand through in a hurried fashion. He needed to hurry and fix the main components before… Zim froze. His hand continued to map out the bottom of the cylindrical container. Nothing. There was nothing in there.

His breath hitched. No, no, no, no, no! He peered inside but couldn't find a single disk in there. Empty. Hollow. His squeedily spooch lurched as he clutched the piece tightly.

He stared at the front of it blankly. There was an eye missing. The other eye was smashed in until shards of glass were left. Dents littered the front and back of the head.

'Master? Could you read me a book about giant pigs flying to the moon again?'

Zim shook his head, disbelief masking his face. Then his face turned one into anger and determination. He tilted his head to the ceiling.

"Computer, where is his memory disk! Where are the other components!"

There was a moment of silence until the computer spoke. "There is no trace of his memory disk. The object has been labeled dead—"

Zim froze at the last word and he shook with anger as he interrupted his computer furiously.

"DO NOT SPEAK THAT WORD TO ME AGAIN!"

Another moment of silence and then the computer spoke up again hesitantly.

"Master, his main components that make him function has been destroyed within the explosion. There… isn't really much you can do." The computer paused as if he were to say the words, 'I'm sorry' but he is a computer and, thus, does not acquire such emotions as sympathy; so he said nothing.

Once those deafening words reached his antennas, he snapped; lost all control.

"LIIIIES! THAT CAN'T BE POSSIBLE! HE IS UNBREAKABLE! THEREFORE, HE MUST BE FIXABLE! THERE HAS TO BE SOMETHING THAT I CAN DO TO BRING HIM BACK!"

Zim stood hunched over the table, gripping the sides of it and breathing deeply from his sudden outburst. He was visibly shaking now and his organs felt as if they were going to implode.

'Master? Master, what's wrooong?'

Zim's sharp fingers clawed at the table so as to not collapse and give up. That voice in his head… it made him want to empty out his innards.

"You could order another SIR unit from Callnowia—"

Zim shook his head. No, no it wouldn't be the same.

'Stupidity is the enemy. Zim is enemy…'

Zim languidly picked up the head of the robot and stared at the empty face. His fingers tightened their hold as he stared desperately at his broken minion.

"GIR? GIR, your… your master orders you to wake up."

The non-animated head was devoid of any life. Zim's hands shook and his chest tightened.

"I mean it, GIR. You will speak to Zim right now! I…I want you to make your master—YOUR master— waffles this very instant or I'll… I'll…"

Zim's voice shook horribly and began to die out as those empty eyes of his loyal minion never sparked that cyan color that the alien found comforting. A lump formed in his throat and he swallowed it, nearly chocking. His glassy eyes were fixated on GIR's disfigured head as he continued to shake in hysteria.

"Nothing, computer?" Zim chocked out quietly.

"No, sir," said the monotone voice from above.

Zim's antennas went limp and his mouth set into a straight line. He clutched GIR's mangled head against his chest and slid down against the table until he was sitting on the floor of his lab, not saying a word. Then, the smallest of whimpers escaped Zim as he curled in on himself and continued to clutch the head hard.

'Master? Master, why is you crying? Don't—don't cry, master. I… I'll make you some piggy muffins to make yous feel better, k? Please don't cry, master…'

Zim shook his head repeatedly against GIR's head as a strangled sob tore out of his throat. The Irken could no longer keep in his emotions. His eyes brimmed over and as he shut his eyes, clear blue tears ran down his face to create a shallow river over fields of green.

He figured that he had feelings for the robot because he was the only one he had left in his banishment, but now it was more than that. Zim missed everything about him; even his bothersome screams. He no longer denied the fact that his servant—eccentric minion—and loyal companion was gone. The thought struck him hard as an anguished cry ripped from him as he fell off to the side from exhaustion and flopped onto the cold, hard ground. He drew his knees up and held the head to his chest as he began to mumble incoherently to himself, tears continuing to leak.

Zim didn't even bother wiping away the tears as he closed his eyes tightly, listening to the off tune humming echoing from inside. The humming turned into a high pitched squeal of laughter and from somewhere the alien heard the squeak of a rubber piggy.

'Weee! Look at me go, Master! Me and piggy are on a flaming ball of cheese going to da moooon! We gunna go eat mash potatoes and lots and lots of waffles! You gunna come, Master?'

Zim's shoulders shook with his sobs as he nodded his head so as to reassure himself and his little robot. Holding onto GIR desperately, Zim started babbling hysterically, just to make GIR's voice go away.

"I promise. I promise, GIR, we will go to the moon and eat waffles. I promise to never call you stupid and horrible again. I promise to buy you all the rubber piggy's and tacos you want. I promise to let you watch the Angry Monkey show, just please wake up! I promise… I promise…"

Zim's voice chocked and he could say no more as he shut his eyes and tried to imagine that this day never happened; that GIR would be upstairs watching a dumb cartoon or exploding baking goods to his delight. GIR's voice drifted off until there was nothing. No sound; only a maddening silence.

And to Zim… it was the most horrifying sound he had ever heard.

"Master?"

"Yes, what is it, GIR?"

"When you destroy the Earth, can I have the moon?"

"Why would you want such a desolate little rock just out of Earth's orbit?"

"Because it's preeeetty. And quiet! And I heard it's made of cheeeeese!"

"That's funny, because you're NEVER quiet, GIR."

"That's why I want it cuz then I can make a LOT of noise!"

"Hmm, very well, GIR, you may have the moon."

"Prooomise?"

"Yes, I promise, GIR."

End.