Unanswerable Question
By Cybra
A/N: This is my very first Invader Zim fic and I haven't seen much of the show, so I hope this pleases those of you who are rabid fans of the cute little alien. (And I have a feeling that the Almighty Zim would be insulted by being referred to as both "cute" and "little". ^.-) Anyway, this is an early b-day fic for my buddy Vyse who wrote "Death in Obscurity" under a different penname. (Yeah, I was the person who bugged her into expanding it. ^^ And, Vyse, it is that good!)
Disclaimer: I claim no ownership of the show Invader Zim. Period. End of statement. That's all she wrote, folks!
Perhaps if Dib had paid a little more attention, he would've seen the thoughtful look on his hated enemy's face. Perhaps he would've noticed how strange it was that his rival came to this place when he despised water in all its forms.
However, all Dib Membrane knew was that Zim was sitting there on the beach, unprotected from any sort of sneak attack.
"Aha! And what are you plotting this time?!" the human boy demanded, rushing over to where the alien sat.
The green-skinned being gave quite a powerful death glare for his size. "What do you want, stink beast?!"
"I want to know what you're going to do to try to take over Earth this time! You've been pretty quiet lately!" Dib stated, pointing an accusatory finger at his nemesis.
From the look in Zim's artificially blue eyes, one would be led to wonder if Zim was thinking about biting that finger. For a few moments, the Irken said nothing.
What Dib had said about the Invader being quiet as of late was a bit of an understatement. Zim had taken no steps in his attempt to conquer Earth in over two months.
Naturally, that led the suspicious human to think that surely Zim was hatching a truly diabolical scheme this time.
"I'm not trying to conquer Earth anymore," Zim bluntly told him. "You won."
The Membrane boy blinked uncomprehendingly. Were his ears functioning correctly? He just thought he heard the Invader tell him that the invasion was over. "Say that again?"
"I'm. Not. Trying. To. Conquer. Earth. Anymore," the Irken snapped, stressing each individual word as its own sentence.
As his unwanted companion stood there with an open-mouthed gape that would've made any fish jealous on his face, Zim turned back to the view of the Earth's sunset over the ocean. A smile tugged at his mouth as he watched GIR chase a flock of seagulls here, there, and everywhere.
Dib finally sat down on the sand next to the apparently ex-Invader. "Why?"
It was a simple question that could be interpreted in any number of ways, but Zim knew what the "Dib-human" meant. "Two months ago, the Tallest told me that my orders to conquer this planet were fake to get me off of Irk."
The human boy stared. "They exiled you?"
Was that a flicker of sadness in Zim's eye?
"Yes."
The alien chose to not face the human, instead keeping an eye half on his robot/only friend and half on the simple beauty of the sunset.
"I guess I should be…upset," Zim mumbled mainly to himself, piercing the silence suddenly. "My reason for being here was all a lie. But I don't feel much of anything. Maybe some part of me already knew." A thoughtful aura seemed to surround him now. "Besides, it would've been a shame to conquer this place now that I think about it."
"So we humans impressed you?" Dib asked, feeling triumphant.
The human's shock was tangible as the alien turned his head to glare at him. "I couldn't care less about you filthy creatures! The planet impressed me!"
Now Dib was really confused as he cautiously asked, "The planet itself changed your mind? How?"
"Look around you, meat sack! It's obvious!" the Irken snapped once more, waving a hand around to take in the view.
Obediently but still keeping the alien in the corner of his eye in case this was a trap, the boy looked around at the beach landscape. Gulls flew overhead as GIR chased them, the ocean waves lapped at the shore, the sun was almost fully set and night was fast approaching, and in the distance Dib even saw a dolphin jump playfully out of the water.
Still, it was nothing unusual.
Zim must've noticed that uncomprehending look on Dib's face for he shook his head and muttered, "Stupid creature…"
"Well, what do you see?!" Dib snapped.
"I see more diversity in this one area of the…What's it called again? A 'beach'?" At Dib's nod, he continued, "I see more diversity in this one area of the beach than in many places on Irk! If you walk around, you see more of this diversity! It boggles my mind how many different life forms live in this one tiny area!"
"And that's what impresses you?"
The Irken paused as if gathering his thoughts. "Much of Irk has become so polluted and destroyed that it's pretty much the same. You worm babies don't realize how fortunate you all are to have all this." He paused again. "And because of all this diversity, I'm sort of…glad…my false mission is over. If I had conquered Earth, I would've had to destroy all of this beauty. That's the way Irken conquests work."
To hear the alien speak so highly of Dib's home planet touched the human on some basic level. Still, to hear him speak so candidly about what might've been the fate of Earth gave Dib the shivers.
"So now that you don't have your…mission…what're you supposed to do with yourself?"
"Anything I please, basically. And I've already got something in mind." He looked around in the fading sunlight and the brightening starlight. "I could spend lifetimes studying every crevice of your planet, and I wouldn't be bored for a moment. I've already started gathering information about Earth itself."
GIR raced playfully after a crab, making the seated pair chuckle.
"Don't you miss your home, Zim?" Dib finally asked, not sure what the Irken's reaction would be on this touchy subject.
The ex-Invader sat quietly beside the human, not saying a word. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that the boy's question unnerved him.
At last, he answered, "Yes…and no." When Dib offered no questions or comments, Zim continued, "Yes, I miss Irk. It was my home planet. I was born there. I was raised there. But…"
Zim's voice trailed off as he fought to find the right words, but Dib waited patiently and attentively. This was a side to the alien he had never seen before. Perhaps they might one day even become real friends. When he thought about it, he and the Irken weren't all that different.
"But at the same time, Earth feels like home," Zim finally stated, a troubled look on his face. "And I don't know if that's a good or a bad thing."
"Why?"
"Irkens don't get attached to places they're supposed to conquer. Their loyalty is always to Irk and no other planet." The troubled look grew stronger as Zim began to have trouble putting it all in words. "In a sense, my attachment to this planet is just like a human's, but I'm obviously not human. And, even though I was born as an Irken, I don't think I can count myself as a true Irken anymore."
GIR ran energetically over to his master. It was time for them to go. Zim stood and brushed the sand off his pants and looked down at the still-seated Dib for a moment.
"So if I'm not human and I'm not really Irken, what am I?"
With that, the alien and his robot companion walked away, leaving behind the knowledge that even as they walked, Zim struggled with that one unanswerable question.
As Dib continued to sit silently under the starlight, the question he would never really face rang in his ears.