Hello everyone! Here's another sad one-shot for you. I tend to write a lot of these depressing little things, don't I? Heh. Anyway, I was reading a few stories where Zim makes a promise on his honor, and he ends up keeping it so he doesn't disgrace himself. I thought it was an interesting concept, and I'm a sucker for ZaGr, so... this was born. I don't know. I wrote it for fun and decided to post it.

I own nothing.

The weight in his arms was progressively getting heavier, but her eyes stayed intent and determined. She reached up to the back of her neck with weak arms, touching something.

"It means a lot to me."

She pulled a string over her head. She held it out for a second and they both looked at it. It was a necklace, with a black string and a small, flat skull pendant hanging in the middle. She had always seemed partial to it, as he had never seen her without it. She held it for a second longer, affectionatly, before grabbing the string with both hands and reaching up to his head. Surprised and dazed, he lowered it so she could get it on easier.

She let go and it fell around his neck, the pendant thumping against his shirt. He looked down at it as she gently touched it. He looked up at her, and her eyes flickered up to his. But they weren't determined anymore. They looked tired and maybe even a little sad, but she glared at him intensly, demanding all of his attention. He gave it willingly.

"You take care of it."

Her words were firm and serious, her eyes staring straight into his, as if daring him to object.

But he blinked, shocked, unable to respond at all. Her eyes narrowed further.

"Promise me you'll take care of it."

Her eyes flared.

"Do you promise?"

He stared at her, eyes wide. She scared him a little, he had to admit, but because of that he respected her. He wanted to comply to her wishes.

So he nodded, staring straight at her.

Her glare dissappeared and her eyes looked tired more than anything. Her breathing went shallow and her neck relaxed, resting her head against his shoulder. He made no move to remove it, only watched her curiously. She looked up at him, her golden eyes smoldering but weakening. They closed the tiniest bit.

"Good."

Then her eyes closed. Her breathing got slower and slower and he held her, not knowing what else to do. She got heavier as her body relaxed, little by little. Eventually her breathing stopped. Then her heart.

And she was gone.

Zim sat in his lab, where he usually did his experiments and studies. He was normally on one of the many computers, or dealing with some kind of dangerous substance and making loud noises all the while, whether it be him yelling or the harsh clanging of metal, or even the beeping of a computer.

But this time he was silent. He was sitting on one of the chairs he had down here, in front of a computer monitor. But the computer was turned off, blinking an Irken insignia, and he wasn't touching it. Instead his eyes were lowered to the digitalized counter and one of his hands was slack in his lap. The other was touching the pendant of the necklace he wore around his neck. He hardly ever took it off.

"You take care of it."

He sighed, his dual anteannas at the back of his head lowering. His eyes closed and his head drooped.

"Master...?"

His eyes shot open and his hand gripped the pendant, covering it completely. He whipped around, eyes wide and anteannas standing up at attention. When he saw who it was, though, they lowered again and he let out a sigh of reliefe and relaxed back into the chair. He kept the necklace in his hand.

"Hello, Gir," he said, trying not to sound melancholy. He looked at his small robot minion and his brow furrowed, anteannas raising again in confusion. Gir was looking at him with a saddened expression, metallic hands held in front of himself. Gir hardly ever showed any kind of sadness, but when he did it was usually over something trivial that he totally forgot seconds after it happened.

"What's wrong?" Zim asked, confused but hoping it could be taken care of quickly. "Did you lose your pig toy again?"

Gir didn't answer, only stared at him with that sad expression. Zim's confusion grew. Before he could ask again, however, Gir spoke. "Are you injured, Master?" he asked in his high-pitched, electronic voice.

Zim blinked, confused, but had a sinking feeling in his gut. "No, I'm fine, Gir," he said, hoping the robot would just dumbly accept it like he always did.

But Gir did not instantly turn estatic and shout his annoyingly over-enthusiastic 'OKAY!' Instead his head tilted slightly to the side, looking even sadder than he did before. His single anteanna on his head lowered. "You look hurted," he said simply.

Zim blinked, surprised. Gir was almost never this observant, especially not when Zim wanted him to be. It made him wary. He took a breath and turned to the computer he hadn't touched in front of him, turning it on to make Gir think he was working and hopefully go away.

"I'm fine, Gir," he repeated, watching while the insignia disappeared and was replaced with several different options in Irken writing. He touched one and the screen lit up. "I'm busy. Why don't you go watch that monkey show you love with Minimoose? I'm sure he'd want to see it."

"Do you miss Gazzy?"

His hands froze on the keyboard at the name. It was just another one of Gir's random nicknames he gave to people, but it stunned him nonetheless. He knew who he meant. His hand absently reached up to the necklace, touching the skull gently as it always did when he was thinking about her. Surprisingly, this was all Gir needed to see to know what was going on.

Zim, lost in thought, didn't even hear him coming toward him. Before he had come to his senses Gir had him in a hug around his middle. Zim blinked, looking down at him. He should be angry at this show of affection, he knew. It wasn't something that would be tolerated by a member of a planet of war. But he just couldn't bring himself to yell at him. He just didn't have the energy.

"I know, Master," the little robot said, and Zim looked at the counter again, touching the necklace. "I miss her too."

Gir knew that his Master didn't like hugs, but he looked like he needed one. And he knew that whenever Zim had that tired look and touched that necklace that he wouldn't care if he gave him a hug. His Master was sad. Gir didn't like it when he was sad. He would rather have him yell at him than look like this. Gir glanced up and saw that Zim was staring through the counter, eyes lost and glassy. His gloved hand didn't leave the pendant. Gir closed his eyes and hugged him tighter. It was silent for a minute. Eventually though, Zim sighed, letting go of the pendant and pushing buttons on the keyboard. "Go play, Gir," he said, voice tired but stern. "I'm busy."

Gir looked up at him mournfully. Whenever he hugged him like that he would always tell him to go away after a while. Gir was sad, but he let him go. Zim continued to work, not glancing over. "Okay," Gir replied. "Imma go watch the Angry Monkey with Moose."

Zim nodded in aknowledgement, eyes fixed on the screen. Gir hung his head and turned away, starting towards the elevator. Zim kept working, but glanced over his shoulder at the robot. He was hanging his head in the elevator as the doors closed. Zim sighed as it beeped, moving upwards and taking him to the livingroom of the house section of his base. He felt a small twinge of pity for his little minion, but there was nothing he could do about it. He could tolerate the hugs, but he didn't comfort. Irkens did no such thing. So he sighed again and turned back to his work, the small skull pendant resting heavily against his chest.