Our Purpose

Chapter 4

The days passed by threateningly slowly. 

Dib hadn't seen even a glimpse of his father since that night, and Zim was clearly angered by Dib's actions. He was obviously giving the human the silent treatment, avoiding him where possible. Dib would have laughed at the Irken's antics, were it not for the growing anxiety and emptiness he felt inside. He'd stopped planning to expose the alien completely. He had no reason to, anymore. 

After all, what's the use in showing the world that you're right when your own family isn't proud of or willing to accept what you do?

Gaz had tried to intervene with Dib, asking why he was so sad all of a sudden. Why his rants about the paranormal just came to a full stop. The only response she got was an aversion of the eyes and a shrug of the shoulders, before Dib turned around and walked away. 

She didn't stop trying. She'd asked about twice every day and received the same response every time, some responses more obviously annoyed than others.

It'd now been a week since then. 

Zim had noticed the human's lack of interest in him now, how tired he looked in class, and the enthusiasm he'd lost. Instead of chasing the alien around, Dib simply sat silently in class, head in his palm while he stared out the window, then went straight home after class. It confused Zim, but he shrugged it off as something Dib would likely be over by the next week. 

After all, he knew nothing of these inferior human mental states, even after all these years. He still didn't understand them. Dib was the only one that the Irken remotely understood; the rest of the human race was too stupid to be able to predict or study, which was one of the reasons why Zim was so interested in Dib, of all people.

But even Dib got hard to understand sometimes.

He was still quite upset with the fact that he'd gotten so close to being exposed, but Dib's sudden change in behavior piqued his interest. He wasn't quite ready to talk to the taller specimen quite yet. He was still slightly shaken from last week, and he needed more time to himself before he'd be ready to try to conquer Earth again.

Except, was there any reason to?

Zim found himself thinking this during class, completely zoned out and staring at his desk. How long had it been since the Tallest had called him last, again? A little over two years?

He knew they'd made it out of the florpus hole. They'd called him after to scold him for ruining their perfect plan to fly in a straight line forever. After that, the calls got further and further apart. 

He'd tried for so long last year to get them to pick up. He was still in denial that they'd deserted him here. Of course, he could always get into his Voot cruiser and make the 6 month journey to Irk, but... he got the feeling they didn't want him there. 

Why else wouldn't the Tallest call him or pick up when he called? Plus, if he was gone for a whole year, who would keep the Dib-monkey company if he was gone? No one, that's the answer. He was the only one who seemed to talk to Dib, and vice versa.

Despite the multiple attempts made on each other's lives, they seemed to understand each other more than anyone else. Over the five years they'd been fighting, Zim realized that Dib wasn't as bad as he'd originally thought. He kind of liked the human... he'd grown fond of him over the years, especially after being supposedly abandoned on this mud ball of a planet.

However, fond to Zim does not equal friendship. They were still rivals, as he saw it, just... Zim would be less disappointed if the human worm child lived another day.

Zim was suddenly brought out of his thoughts as the bell rang, signaling the beginning of lunch. The two smarter specimens stayed sitting in their seats, knowing from experience that getting trampled by a crowd of starving children was not the ideal situation.