Invader Zim ZADR: How did we get here?

Chapter 17: Familiar ringing at the door

"Yeah, because anyone else would be able to get him so riled up. We both know you're the only one that can make him act like this, so why don't you just accept that just like all the other times this he deiced to do something-"

"But that's it! It wasn't like any of the other times...or at least...I think so."

Dib's voice quivered ever so slightly, and it was enough to reveal the doubt he held. He was usually so sure of himself, especially in matters regarding Zim. But he wasn't above feeling doubtful in certain situations. But Dib's voice revealed something that Gaz hadn't really seen before. It was a mix of worry and fear, that didn't suit her normally overconfident brother. And it made her worry too.

"...Alright, there's something you aren't telling me, and you're going to explain it to me, right now."

Even though her words would make one think she was being cold, her weirdly gentle voice made it clear she was trying to push Dib to take that final step so that he would finally reveal what had been bugging him ever since he came back.

There were a few moments of silence, where Gaz was just looking at Dib, waiting for him to speak. He tried to avoid her gaze, but even he could see that there wasn't any point in keeping it to himself. Perhaps if he was lucky, some outside perspective could actually help him clear his head. His worries were just stupid paranoia after all, and not something he should worry too much about...right?

"It's...it's just something stupid, okay. I'm sure it's nothing."

"If it was, would you really be so scared to tell me?" Gaz asked with a raised eyebrow, with Dib wondering if it was a good or bad thing that she had become the voice of reason all of a sudden.

"*Sigh* Yay, you're right. It's just, after seeing Zim again at the junkyard, something seemed...different."

"Different? I thought him trying to kill you was normal at this point."

"It wasn't that, or...yes maybe it was that. I keep thinking about how someone as stubborn as Zim had managed to change after all this time. I thought that would mean that he was going to STAY that way, for a while at least. And yet last night, he reminded me of...how he used to be..."

"Oh..." Gaz muttered uneasily to herself. She didn't quite have the same history with Zim as Dib did, but neither did she exactly have pleasant memories from that time. He had still been mostly harmless, though irritating. But compared to how he had been acting these last few months, going back to that wasn't something she was exactly looking forward to.

"I thought I was finally done dealing with that Zim and yet there he was as if he never left."

"Aren't you being a bit over dramatic? It isn't like we're talking about two different people."

"To you maybe, but for me, they might as well be." He remarked, with a somewhat dark tone.

A short silence grasped them, and they both just stared at the floor, not sure where to contuine. But there was something Gaz wasn't sure would be such a good idea to say. Not that there wasn't a better time to mention it.

"Have you considered that maybe he has just...run his course."

"What?" Dib asked, genuinely confused at what she was trying to imply.

"It is Zim we're talking about, you know. I don't think logic is gonna work on him. Maybe this whole thing is just him...doing what Zim does."

"...Like what, trying to kill me?"

"Something like that, sure." She continued. She wasn't sure herself that her theory would be any better than what Dib could think of. But she couldn't help but shake off the feeling that things maybe had been too good, for too long. A thought she wasn't happy to consider, and one of the reasons she didn't like to care about things in the first place.