Author's notes: Alright, I think it's fairly clear that It takes FOREVER for me to write a new piece of this fic. BUT, I haven't abandoned it, and I'm really going to try harder!! SRSLY!! I hope you all enjoy this chunk, and I'll try hard to make more of it soon. Disclaimers and all that.

Gaz slammed the door to her room and threw herself on the bed, stomach churning. She'd felt fine, in fact, good, for most of the rest of her walk, but when she had been nearly home, a wave of nausea and lethargy had swept over her. The only other time she had felt like this had been after waking from one of her dreams, the ones that seemed to bode horrible things for her brother. She buried her face in her pillow with a moan. She felt dizzy, as if the room was both spinning and slowly falling. She dug her fingers into her mattress with a moan. It had never been this bad before! It was always just a little dizziness and nausea, like a mild hangover, not this. She couldn't even lift her head, both from disorientation and the fear she would vomit. The room was dropping, and spinning, and coming apart…

She woke to a dark room and a silent house. Shaky, she sat up on her bed and looked at the clock. It was evening, almost nine. She frowned, listening for Dib. He should have been playing his music or watching Mysterious Mysteries re-runs while he did his homework. He never went out… Dib had fewer real friends than she did, as in none, and did all his socializing on IRC with fifty-year-old conspiracy theorists and- alien nuts! Zim! It came back to her in a horrible rush, the day's events seeming to feed into her sick feeling. Stumbling, she hurried from her room to the master bedroom, opening the door. The room was dark, and empty. There was no sign of Dib. She spun and hurried for the stairs, and was halfway down them when she heard the front door slam, and something-someone, knock over the lamp by the couch. She finished her trip down the stairs to see Dib, silhouetted in the dark by the street lamps, leaning on the couch back. She fumbled and flipped on the kitchen lights, and gasped. Dib's glasses were gone, and a trickle of blood ran down the side of her face, over a bruise that was already purpling on his cheek. His right arm was tucked protectively against his body, the sleeve of his dark blue-grey hoodie torn. He looked up at her, squinting in the bright light and without his glasses. "Gaz? I… help me into the kitchen, would you? Wordlessly she went to him, taking his weight from the couch onto her shoulder, and helped him into a kitchen chair. He seemed to be having difficulty walking. She pulled the other chair around and looked at him. "Dib. What happened? How did you get hurt like this?" He smiled weakly, a bitter look on his face. "Zim. Of course."

"But…! He never hurt you like this before!" He sighed, wiping blood from his face with his ruined sweater, and pulled it off, gingerly, to poke at his hurt arm. "I know…. Maybe that made me cocky… but it's not really that bad, my ankle's the worst, and I did that on my way back, not in the base. "

"But what happened?" He sighed. "I better start from the beginning…"

Dib grinned ferociously to himself, creeping through the overgrown bushes around Zim's base. Five years of total neglect had made the once-trim plants the perfect cover to approach. He slid towards one of the gnome-holes, glanced around, and then set to work. A few quick slashes of a simple bowie knife cut the overgrown sod free of the cover he'd placed over the hole after removing the security device years ago. It had been a remarkably difficult and unsatisfying job, he remembered, the security components all retracted down through a shaft into the base's main body. But tonight, that would work for him. He'd been in these shafts before, and while they didn't run deep, they let into other networks, certainly enough for some light recon.

He pulled the cover free, a simple knock-together of plywood and rope, and set it aside. He'd set it back into place when he was done, and Zim would be none the wiser. He tucked his knife away and slipped down the hole, feet first, letting himself down the inclined shaft. There were closed panels, every so often, that he'd never been able to open, no matter his efforts. Finally, the shaft leveled out, branching back towards the other gnome holes and widening proportionately. He followed it to a simple, unsecured service hatch, opened it, and dropped down confidently into the dark. He still remembered the route from years ago- He grunted, shocked, as a metal claw closed firm around his middle and he dropped through, forcing the air from him in a surprised rush. The claw was so tight he could barely breathe, much less cry out as it quickly conveyed him through one of the inoperable hatches, very swiftly and in the dark, to a small, metal-walled room with dim lighting overhead. The arm of the claw retracted into the wall, effectively fastening him to it. After a few moments of suspense and struggling against the claw's indominatable grip, the door on the far side of the room hissed hydraulically open, and Zim entered. It was still a shock to see his old nemesis like this, and after so many years, so much so that Dib simply stared for a moment. Then he shook himself, said, as the claw didn't permit enough air to shout, "Zim! Let me out of here! Make this thing let me go! You'll pay for this, when everyone knows what you are-"The alien cut him sharp with a hard, contemptuous sound and a sharp, cutting hand motion. "Shut up, Dib! Don't you know how stupid you sound? You break into my home, which you've presumably been doing frequently while I've been gone, and stupidly, too! Even human law allows me to defend against that! And then you start ranting at me, demanding I let you go, and in the same breath you threaten me with what will happen when you expose me! For what possible reason would I release you?" He snarled, sharp, peglike teeth bared. "Haven't you grown up at all, Dib?" He delivered the last line in a weary, disgusted tone. Dib gaped at him. "But… I… You have to let me go! What else would you do? …Kill… me?" He delivered the last two words with a tremble in his voice, covered by a layer of bravado. Zim looked at his sidelong, the garnet gleam of his true eyes shining brightly through in the dim, tinted light. "Maybe I should." He smiled. "Maybe that's what I came back to do, you stupid boy. You never even thought of that, did you? That maybe I'm done with our games, and might want you gone from this world for good? After all, for all you foolish, fumbling assaults, you've been my greatest challenge on this planet. Maybe I could finish my mission, at last, if you were dead." Zim looked at him, an antennae quirking up from his wig, mimicking a cocked eyebrow. Dib lunged against the claw, managing to draw enough breath to shout, "Then do it! Do it, you stinking alien! Kill me, if you've got the guts!" He subsided to panting, then, struggling to get his breath back. Zim sighed, leaning against the closed door. "You really haven't changed, have you, Dib? I guess… I guess I shouldn't have expected anything different. Still, I'd hoped… but why would you? You've been safe and secure, free to go about your trivial life with little challenge. Why should you grow up?"

"Grow up?" Dib panted. "Of course I've grown up! I know so much more, now, about you-" He gasped as Zim lunged, lightening quick, and punched him, hard, high on his face. The Irken's face was, finally, twisted with anger. "You know nothing! You're just a stupid human child! I should never have come back!" He punched him again, a solid blow to his cheek, glove smearing the blood dribbling from where his first strike had cut the skin. He backed away, panted slightly, and barked, "Computer! Throw him outside! And close the gnome holes. He'll have to try harder next time!" The wall behind Dib opened and the arm retracted swiftly, smacking his forearm against the lip of the opening. He watch Zim recede from his view until the arm whipped around a few a turns, finally throwing him from the hole he'd entered through and clanging shut behind him. He started at it for a few shocked moments, ribs aching from the claw's brutal grasp, before he stood and turned. He ran for the street, slipping in the damp grass and wrenching his ankle badly, before he stood and limped, as quickly as he could, for home.

"He hit you?" Gaz's voice was disbelieving. She found it almost impossible to picture the arrogant, haughty invader stopping to strike anyone, for any reason. Dib winced as he nodded, touching his cheek. "He's so… I…" He shook his head. "He's so different now. Not just how he looks, but it's almost like he thinks completely differently now." Gaz frowned, then took the sweater from Dib, wetting the cleaner sleeve in kitchen sink. She wiped the blood away and then pressed the cold cloth to his cut. "Hold that there, and let me see your ankle. He complied without speaking, laying his calf across her lap. She gently worked off the boot, frowning at the puffiness that was already forming. "You sprained it, stupid. Just like last year, when you fell off Zim's roof." She laid his leg across her chair and went to the freezer, pulling out a bag of old, nasty frozen peas. She laid it scross the sprain, to a hiss from her brother. "Don't you dare complain. He really could have killed you, know. And I've have been all alone. " Abruptly, tears welled up in her eyes. "All alone, Dib! You would have left me all alone for a stupid alien!"She shouted it at him, the tears falling down her face, as she turned and ran for the door, leaving her shocked sibling in the kitchen with his twisted ankle and frozen peas.

She stormed down the sidewalk choking her sobs down, letting pure anger replace them. Zim WON'T take my brother away! She thought furiously, storming fearlessly up the walkway to bang on the door. "ZIM! I know you're in there! Open this door!" She then applied the toe of her boot to the door, chipping the faded and peeling green paint further. She stood, panting, for a few moments, before the door opened. It was Zim, of course, but his earlier collected demeanor was gone. He stared at her for a few moments, warily, before he stepped back, opening the door. "Come in, Gaz. You don't look well." She shoved past him into the house, turning as he closed the door. His eyes widened right before her punch landed, exactly where he'd hit Dib. The thin, small Irken fell, sprawling onto the dirty wooden floor. When he looked up at her, one of his contacts has fallen loose, displaying his bare eye. The faceted gem was crossed by a few fine, pale white-pink lines, and one thick one. He glared at her for a moment before retrieving the hard lens and placing it back where it belonged. He blinked it carefully into place before he stood, hands on hips. "What was that for?" He demanded, staring at her. She glared at him. "How dare you hurt my brother! He's bleeding, Zim! He sprained his ankle, and you could have broken his arm if you weren't lucky! You could have killed him!" She stood, glaring and panting, eyes wide and wild, surrounded by wildly smudged and tear-run black makeup, shining brightly in her pale face. He stared at her for a moment, then nodded. "I could have, Gaz. If I'd chosen to, I could have killed him. But I didn't."He motioned to the disgusting couch. "Won't you sit down? You don't look well."At first she didn't quite believe his words, but as he held the solicitous gesture, and it sunk in just how horrible she really was still feeling, she nodded and sat, ignoring the smell. The couch was amazingly comfortable. She was surprised, however, when Zim sat as well, on the opposite side, resting his elbows on his knees. Where was the Zim from just earlier today, creepy and calm? This Zim was… troubled. After a few moments of silence, he looked over at her. "When I imagined today, this wasn't what I had in mind."He started, with no preamble. "I knew I'd changed, so I thought… I assumed… I thought he'd be different too. That he'd be willing to play our game for real. When I saw him at school, I was sure that he was ready to take me on. He didn't fall to any of his childish ranting or shouted accusations; he just looked at me, then left. I really thought he was ready. But he broke in so obviously, he was so unprepared, and when he started with those childish accusations… I was so disappointed, Gaz. You have no idea."She stared at him, at the self depreciating expression on his face while he stared at his feet. "But why do you care?"She finally managed. "If Dib's incompetent, it just makes everything easier for you, doesn't it?"He shook his head, antennae flicking. "No, Gaz, it doesn't. I don't care about that stupid mission from those fascist, moronic buffoons. Honestly, what would I do, if I conquered your planet? This place… this wretched little flying dirt clod is horrible, Gaz. Your water burns me, your sun is too bright, your food makes me ill, even your air stings when I breathe it. But this is the only place, in the entire galaxy, that I had something. A reason. I could leave… and become some sort of intergalactic hobo, hated everywhere, always worrying whether or not the empire would decide I was inconvenient… I thought about it, but…" He trailed off, resting his chin in his hand. She frowned. "What reason could you possibly have to stay, though? You make Earth sound so horrible…" He turned to her, and smiled, but not really in a happy way. "Just one thing, really. The only friend I ever had. Your brother."Gaz would have sworn that the couch shook, the shock of that statement combining with her dizziness making the world rock like a boat. "My…what? My brother? My brother hates you! He's not your friend! I know you two worked together a couple times, like that stupid meat incident, but you weren't friends!"

"Weren't we?"His antennae rose, his look mock-quizzical. "Is there really such a dividing line between enemies… and friends? You spend so much time thinking about your enemy, trying to understand them, to anticipate them, that it can be very hard not to come to, at least in a twisted way, admire them. After all, them must some redeeming qualities, to be able to foil you so completely… and then you realize, you're really not different, not where it counts… and that they fill a spot you never even knew was missing."She shook her head. "That's sick. You're saying basically that you like my brother because you hate each other."He shrugged. "When you put it so baldly, in such a simplified way, yes, it doesn't sound right, does it? But please, think, hasn't your brother missed me? Hasn't he waited, hasn't he hoped for me to come back?"Gaz shook her head, pulling her feet up on the smelly, comfy couch, knees tucked to her chest. "This is all way too much, Zim. Just… stay away from him, please. If you actually are his friend, like you claim to be, you should know that coming back here will just start up the same old roles, and just get Dib hurt." She slipped off the couch, turning to look at the miserable-looking alien. He shook his head, not looking at her. "What else would I do, Gaz? I already told you I have nothing else. Without this… I don't have anything."

"What about GIR?"It occurred to her that she had neither seen the pesky robot, nor had her question about it answered. "GIR's gone, and I can't bring him back."He fished a pendant from beneath his shirt, an abstract thing of copper, crystal, and tiny, unidentifiable fragments. "This is all that's left." She stared at the piece of jewellery, unable to fit it together with the insane, hyperactive robot. "He's… dead?"

"I suppose that's as good a word for it as any, though it's not really accurate for a robot. I could never get him to work properly, as I'm sure you know, and never succeeded after I left, either. One day, he just… stopped. The parts that made him up broke beyond repair. I couldn't carry his… remains… everywhere I went, so I made this. The rest…"He looked away. "I threw the rest into a car compactor And scattered the fragments around a garbage dump."

"Wh… why? Why Zim?"

"I couldn't leave proof. I couldn't even stay in one place for more than a couple weeks, how could I possibly leave a piece of alien technology lying around."She shook her head, and turned away, heading for the door. "I think I've heard enough, Zim. Stay away from my brother. I think it would be better if you left completely, but I can't make you. Just leave him alone, or I'll make you sorry."

"You know,"He said, right before her hand touched the knob, "You're probably the only human I've ever met with a chance of carrying out that threat. I know why you're having those dreams."She froze, hand hovering over the knob. "Y… you… no you don't! I think you'd say anything to get me stay here…"But she didn't touch the knob, frozen in place. If Zim knew why, maybe he could prevent it… "Well, I think I do. I've never seen it so strong in a human before…"She spun around, violet hair flaring. "What! What is it? Please, Zim, tell me!" He smiled. "One condition. You let me test, and confirm it." He held up a hand before she could interrupt. "I swear I won't hurt you, or hold you against you will. If that's not good enough, you can go." She reached for the door knob with a snort. What kind of idiot would trust Zim? But… if he could… "You swear on what?"

"I swear on my Pak. You probably don't realize it, but that's fairly serious. I need it to live, after all."

"I must be both insane and stupid… alright. Alright, do your tests, if it can tell me about these dreams…"She turned, and nearly jumped out of her skin. Zim was right behind her. She hadn't even heard him stand. He held out his narrow hand. With a sense of forboding, she took it.

TBC

So, piece the third is done, and to be honest, if I made any mistakes, they probably won't be fixed until I read this over to do part 4. It's all the great reviews I've gotten from everyone that've kept me going, though, even this slowly, so please, if you liked it, or even if you didn't, please tell me, and why!!!