Things weren't looking good.
Memories of destruction and chaos continuously flooded the room with emotions of shock, horror and disgust among the many Irkens in the room.
I, myself, was feeling almost hopeless and started to wonder if computers words were right. I just couldn't see how Zim would get out of this one.
He had already come forward to me as defective in private before. Now he had publicly announced it and there was basically nothing left that could change anyone's mind. As the tallest said, this was just the remainder of a formality and nothing more.
Just an excuse to get rid of Zim, once and for all.
I can't stand for that!
They had shown several horrific memories that belonged to the irken since lunch came to an end. These memories included the death of spork, a montage of explosions and, of course, the failure of operation impending doom one.
But they weren't digging far enough. They weren't digging to the present. They were stuck in the past were Zim didn't know the difference between helping and destroying. They weren't looking at his improvement, nor what he had learnt.
It was all biased.
"We've seen enough, Zim" started tallest Red, ending the stream of memories on screen. "You've been nothing but a curse to the empire!"
"I rebuke that statement!" I exclaimed immediately, pointing towards the irken leader in a challenging motion.
To this, there were gasps all around the room and many eyes set on me. Red continued to glare, seemingly accepting the challenge and preparing to hear my rebuttal.
The large machines controlling the trial decided to officially allow this debate to take place, transporting me from my place beside Zim to a pedestal across from tallest Red.
I didn't expect things to turn so serious in so little time. But it appears I was the one defending Zim.
And I would carry that duty with all my heart and might.
"I suppose you'd like to continue this debate officially than? Human?" Spoke the tall irken with a smirk and malicious narrowed eyes.
I returned the glare, harshly.
"Do you even need to ask?"
The tension thickened greatly after that, Irkens everywhere frozen and preparing for the upcoming battle. And it wasn't much easier for me, either.
This was a very high stakes debate, something I had little experience with, and if I failed then I could essentially end up putting Zim in absolute peril.
I swallowed thickly, questioning if this was a smart move to make. I would, no doubt, save Zim in a heart beat but...was I capable?
There was only one way to know, truly.
"Why don't you explain your rebuttal then, Human? I'm sure we're all curious about what you have to say."
Red gestured forward with his hand and awaited my response almost as it he was sure I'd have no answer.
I was ready to completely disprove these beliefes.
"You can have your own opinions of Zim, but can you really say that you bothered to try and understand anything about him?" I questioned, catching attention from all sorts of audience members, including Red himself.
I continued with no need for prompt.
"In the time I've come to know Zim, he's become less destructive, more considerate and he's discovered things he never knew about himself!"
Zim decided to speak up to prove this point, a third arm emerging from his torso to hold an encouraging thumbs up.
"That's true! I never knew we had retractable limbs till that mind-swap situation!" He exclaimed casually, earning a chuckle from myself when we both recalled the ridiculous memory.
I smiled. His aid and encouragement was highly appreciated and God knows I was anxious enough.
I kept talking, hoping my point was enough to save Zim.
"So I think, knowing that communication was the answer, it's safe to say that Zim was not entirely at fault. Though his actions were definitely his own, I believe influence plays a large role." I explained, leaning forward in hopes of convincing both the control brains and the tallest.
"And what sort of influence is that, Human?" Questioned the leader from across me, eyes squinted in confusion whilst he folded his arms over his chest in a stubborn manner.
I paused for a moment, attempting to find the right words.
"Well....that would be..."
I took a breath.
"Irks soci-"
"We have our ruling!" Interrupted the control brains with no shame for this interruption.
I attempted to respond several times, all in vain as the control brains continued to exclaim their verdict with little to no shame over their clear biased outlook toward the ongoing trial.
"Our ruling; Irkens Zims I.D Pak is damaged and has led to a corrupt data path. He is... a defective!"
The room went silent, a horrible chill filling the atmosphere between me and Zim. I could feel my breath release with a tremble and difficulty, whilst watching my partner seemingly shrink at the machines conclusion.
"De-....fective...?" I muttered to myself, eyes wide and unbelieving.
No. No. No. No. No....
Zims worst fear came true.
I looked towards him with nothing but fear and concern, watching his response carefully and thoroughly.
Whatever hope he held onto had just died and his entire body just gave out from beneath him as he trembled. He looked so pale, like he was just about ready to throw up and cry all at once.
"Irken Zim's data is not allowed into the collective. His Pak will be removed, and erased." Continued the large machines, still unphased by any and all reactions in the trial room.
Zim finally attempted to defend himself, looking up desperately whilst his antennae rested low against his head.
"But I can't live without my Pak!" He exclaimed.
I also attempted to prevent this outcome, begging and yelling in vain. All attempts landed upon deaf ears and no one cared enough to help.
Now back beside Zim, I felt his hands wrap around my sleeves and seep into them desperately. But his eyes never left the control brains.
Forcefully, Zims Pak is removed, much to both our dismay, and data flows between the three control brains that attempted to delete Zim and everything that he is.
"No, you can't do this, please!" I begged continuously, holding tightly onto Zim, who held back just as tight and continued to yell about how this was a mistake.
I was fully prepared to let go and run to grab his Pak. But said Irken had held me back and the control brains had begun to act very strange. The flashing in their many eyes became uneven and they seemed to have accidentally let go of Zims Pak, allowing it to reattach to his back and relieve him and myself for a brief moment.
The centre brain began to mumble, static and white noise overtaking the spaces between it's words. It sounded like it was struggling to process or load any conclusions. All that remained in its tone was confusion and alarm.
"Something wrong... so much... bad data... passing through us all at once... cannot process... the horror... Going... insane!"
Me and my boyfriend could only watch in surprise when the control brains began to shift to rapidly, clinging onto one another and still not fully prepared out of fear that we may not have been safe quite yet.
Sparks released from the glitching control brains and it was at this point when we finally felt safe enough to loosen out grip. We still kept hold if one another, however, not entirely sure if that was all.
"Invader Zim, for your heinous crimes... we declare you... The most incredible Irkens ever!" Claimed one of the control brains, exaggerating their point with a drop in tone.
Zim looked up in amazement, quickly switching to a cocky smirk within seconds.
"Hey thanks! I really am." He stated, nodding in agreement before tugging on my hand and pulling me forward "but you'd better not forget my precious human, either!"
I stumbled a bit, both from the sudden pull and the embarrassing, but equally flattering, attention Zim was offering me.
Though it was hard to recover from what almost just happened, I attempted to smile through it as best I could, supporting his sentiments whilst trying to ignore the angry protests from the tallest in the background.
"No! You can't do that!" Complained the purple tallest, "He's defective! You already ruled!"
I watched, absoutely dumbfounded at the interaction between the tallest and the control brains, not used to seeing such insanity from anyone but Gir.
"Oh lighten up! Little....bumble bee....UGH THE MADNESS!" The machines would say, overcome by whatever data Zims Pak had done to them.
"And for being you, Zim. We grant you ten free minutes of piloting the Massive" they finally finished, prompting Zims excitable cheering.
.............................
I leaned against the back of my chair, a certian form of sadness washing over me. Zim had been piloting us back home, to Earth, within a small ship given to us by the armada. The tallests faces were priceless, especially whilst Zim was piloting the Massive.
But even that couldn't cure this horrible aching in my heart when I recalled what I almost lost today.
I watched him in silence, taking in every feature of him. Everything I love about him.
How I could've ended up not seeing any of him again.
I knew I should've been happy that things worked out so well, that Zim turned out to be so defective that he couldn't be taken down. But fears started resurfacing.
What if the brains hadn't glitched?
And that's when further anxiety would kick in and I wasn't sure what was worth the risk anymore.
"Zim..." I finally spoke, pushing myself off the chair and wrapping my arms around him from behind.
It took him off gaurd briefly. But then his hands wandered over my arms and gently rubbed them in a comforting manner.
"I know what you're going to say, Y/n. I have to be more careful, and the tallest still hate me. I get it..." he muttered, sounding more bothered than he initially wanted to.
"Actually I was going to say sorry." I adressed, burying my face into his shoulder and moving my hands into his.
The irken only released a sound of confusion and awaited for me to explain as I began to remove his gloves. I managed to fit in the space between him and the chair, wrapping my legs around his waist and continuing to play with his hands absentmindedly.
"I'm the reason this trial happened. If I didn't provoke the tallest then-"
"Okay, that's enough." He stopped me, turning in his seat to make full eye contact. "Y/n, the tallest were always going to put me on trial. This was not because of you. It was because of me. I'm defective and it was always going to happen. This was not your fault and you have nothing to be sorry for."
He landed a chaste kiss on my lips, quietly moving his hands to my skull and weaving his fingers through my hair. It was a peaceful motion and moment and I felt relaxed almost instantly. But something was amiss.
"What's wrong?" I asked.
He sighed in defeat, resting his head against my chest and taking my hand in his own.
"We need to talk..."