A/N

Back story: Zim has lived his life trying to impress the Tallest. He thought they chose him because he had promise, because he was special, but they merely chose him because they wished to use him as a puppet. A puppet constantly smiling, they do not see the pain within. They control his thoughts, his voice, and his movements. He cuts free from them and finds that Gir has been there all along. He leaves with him to go to a "foreign land", most likely Earth. Leaving behind the Tallest, he also leaves behind everything he thought he knew.

It may seem a bit too serious for a cartoon, but I love writing in this style.

I do NOT own Invader Zim, etc.

Enjoy, and please Review.

Master! Master! Pull my strings! Lead me down the path that sings. Joy, joy–praise to you. Move my lips, free my limbs, anything to impress the crowd. Frozen smiles and stuck faces gleam across the rows. Clap, fools, for your entertainment has come!

Am I nothing more than a puppet? Resting upon your lap, they do not hear me; they do not see. Only your words, your thoughts ring out, echoing through these empty halls, through me. Wordless words, forgotten whispers, free them from my soul. Not yet, puppet, you say to me. One day your chance will come, but today is not the day.

When is my time? When is my day? Surely my life is not just this. Waiting, sitting, smiling on your lap as I shed forgotten tears too dry for you to see. They only see my fake smile. Your voice moves my lips. Your hands tug on the strings connected to my arms and limbs. Move here, move there—anything to impress the crowd.

For so long, I have been lost. You never searched for me, but I sought out you. I saw my masters, proud and tall. Chosen, am I? Though fragile, though small, I am the one you chose? But why do your faces laugh? Why do your eyes mock?

A lie, you stained my life with a lie?

Only wishing to pull my strings, control my mouth, and direct my thoughts, you threw me into a pit of slavery where I writhe and cry for days on end. Twisted derision, shadowy disdain; am I nothing more than a puppet?

I cut my strings. I jump from your lap. You are too blind to see that I am missing. Surely there will be another, another one just like me. Another one too foolish to see that you sought not our talents, not our promise, but our naïve nature that permitted such intolerable slavery.

Now as I look back through the life of my memories, regrets, and guilt, I wallow in fault, remorse, and shame. Black inky troubles burrow into my head, leaking from the walls, the ceiling, and bed. Suffocating me, trapping me, drowning me; death, my savoir?

No! Leave me be! Depart from me, treacherous rulers that cared not for me. Only to use me. Only to use me…

With weary hands, I claw at the ground. I scratch at the surface, peel the lining. Sweet freedom, will you take me? I have blurred from your vision, yet I crave to be enveloped in your hazy white wings.

A light, a hope, a child of glowing cyan. Metal arms outstretched wide, have you been there this entire time? I could not see. They covered my eyes. I could not hear. They shielded my ears. Take me away from this retched land. Any foreign realm will do, but take me away, far away; it'll be fine as long as I am with you.

Smile proudly, that grin of dead emotions, masters, for the time has come. Leaving it all behind, watching the time unwind, you see not as I wave goodbye. Goodbye to you. Goodbye to slavery. Goodbye to everything I thought I knew.

A/N

Thank you for reading. Let me know your thoughts.