There's Something Inside Your Head (Invader ZiM AU)

Episode 0

(CW: gun in school, death)

The prom was finally here, and it was everything you would expect it to be.
Lights were flashing, music was loud as hell, and a large range of teenagers were getting absolutely wasted (snuck in items; don't do drugs kids). The only things out of the ordinary were a few small memorials for the students who had been murdered in the month prior; including ZiM, who's was decorated with a pack of FunDip, a gun he had made for Pilot (to others, it looked like some kind of Sci-Fi toy), and Dib's old, torn up shirt.

Throughout the deafening gym, the most notable teenagers—though, two were technically adults—were three people that had arrived together: a girl with purple hair, a girl with a special interest in musicals, and a boy with an artificial limb.

Gaz was dressed in a deep purple suit, her lighter hair clipped up behind her ears.

Carrie wore a long, sparkling white dress—the fanciest thing she owned—with her own red hair curled.

Dib was dressed in his nicest, least scratched up suit, his robotic arm getting a hold of everything perfectly.

"Care to dance?" Dib held out his new hand, giggling to himself at the formality of his request.

"Always," Carrie happily accepted Dib's hand, twirling over to kiss his cheek.

It was finally here. It was finally prom night. It was finally the happy ending.

Dib was finally happy with Carrie.

The two danced for as long as possible, messing around during trash modern pop songs and absolutely killing the Cha Cha Slide. Together, it was almost like they could do anything that night, and not have a care in the world. The only thing bringing it even slightly down was slight headaches Dib would get from the overwhelming music.

"So," Carrie swayed, speaking at one point. "You never told me. What happened to you?"

Dib shook his head, definitely not ready to unpack all of what happened the past month or so. "I'll.. tell you later. Don't wanna bring this down now, do I?" He smiled at her, twirling her around for the millionth time. It was the only "real" dance thing he knew to do with a girl.

"Alright, but I'll get it out of you soon, Membrane!" She grinned, twirling him instead.

Dib laughed, his gaze quickly passing by the memorials on the side of the gym.
"...it's a shame ZiM couldn't come, y'know?" He sighed, "He would've hated it."

"Yeah, he would'a," Carrie nodded, sighing as well. "I just wish we could've helped him more."

Dib felt a slight pain in his stomach. He could've. He could've saved ZiM.
But now wasn't the time to be guilty.
"...at least there've been no more murders. Maybe he took him down with him."

"Yeah. Maybe ZiM really was a hero after all."

"Yeah. Maybe."

Dancing, dancing, talking, and more dancing. They had been dancing for a while now. It was time to get some rest, so the two sat over at a small, round, cloth and streamer covered table at a wall where a certain purple lesbian was.

"Where's your date?" Dib looked over, tiredly bouncing his leg a bit.

"Bathroom," Gaz simply replied. "Some asshole spilled 'punch' on her. I'm guarding her stuff."

"Aww, you have a heart," Dib teased.

"Yeah, yeah, don't tell nobody." ... "Hey, bro. Are you doing alright?"