Amongst The Reeds

What Could've Been

Alright. Last chapter of this story. The Bad End of Amongst The Reeds. Thank you, everyone, for reading this story. It was my absolute pleasure to write this. Thanks to Esthyradler for their awesome Ghost Stories AU, and for checking over for my chapters before I posted them. Thank you, everyone, who read this. I'm happy that I've entertained you! I hope you all are doing well!

Summary: What if Gir didn't find hold onto the ring when he found it? What if Zim and the ghost were just a little faster? What if the protagonists didn't save the day? This is what could've been.

When Dib asked Gir to pilot the Voot Cruiser, he thought the robot would be competent enough to drive them without crashing. He placed way too much trust in him. Luckily, the park probably wouldn't notice the damage too badly, right? Gaz stood next to him. "Thank goodness this place doesn't have cameras, or Dad would be paying so much to get that fixed." Tak raised a brow at the ten-foot-long skid mark that the ship had left in the park. A couple of trees had been splintered and knocked over by their crash landing.

"Real smooth landing Gir. I'd say this is the best landing I've ever seen you do." Gir cheered while Gaz scowled at her. "Oh, shut up, Tak. Enough with the snark. We need to see if we can find Zim." They looked around, but they could see no sign of life in the area. Everything was serene and undisturbed. "Do you think we beat them here?" Tak scoffed and turned to Gir. "Can't you do anything useful and see if you can track your dooky master?"

Gir laughed and started digging through his head. "I have my piggy! Piggy can find master!" Tak smacked her head with her face and turned away. "Alright, well, I'm going to look around the road. The last place I want to be is anywhere near the water with him around." She pointed at the smiling robot that was putting on its dog costume. "He'd probably find a way to accidentally kill me."

Before she could even begin down the road, she froze. There, walking down the street, was Zim. He looked pale and lifeless as he walked down the dirt road in his purple pajamas. "Zim!" Dib called out and ran up to him before the others could catch up. He tried to grab him around the shoulders and get him to stop walking, but he was shoved out of the way as Zim continued undeterred. Dib hissed as he landed painfully on his arm. When the human pushed himself to his feet, a sharp twinge of pain shot through the limb. He inspected it quickly, noticing several bleeding cuts from landing on stones. Dib wiped the blood off on his coat before he turned back to Zim.

Gaz was trying to push against Zim's chest, but no matter how hard she tried, Zim didn't slow down. "Dib! Get your butt over here! I need help!" Dib ran over and tried wrapping his arms around Zim's shoulders. It was hard to pull back, though, when the pressure made his cuts flare in pain. "Zim! Snap out of it, please! You've got to wake up!" Gaz looked up a moment as her feet dragged against the dirt. There was no light in Zim's eyes. No spark of recognition or consciousness or anything that showed he had heard her brother's plea.

"Zim, I'll kill you if you die! I'll bring you back just to kill you if you don't snap out of it right now!" Gaz hoped that she could somehow wake him. That if Zim heard them, he would fight the possession. She could feel the panic rising in her as they got closer to the dock. "Are you gonna let this ghost kill you? Let her defeat the Almighty and Powerful Zim?" That slowed his pace.

Gaz's eyes widened as Zim's lekku twitched. Dib joined in. "The Great Zim would never let a ghost overpower him. You have to fight her!" Tak watched from the sidelines in awe as Zim halted, right at the spot where the ground became wood. She had been trying to formulate a plan while Gir babbled stupidly about some toy of his when she noticed the siblings' plan was working. She left Gir behind as she ran up to them. "Yeah! Didn't you say you were going to show me how a real Invader worked or something? You can't rub your stupidity in my face if you're dead! So show that stupid ghost what an Irken can do!"