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Dib is awoken by a loud bang! a short time later. Immediately jerking upright in his fright, his wounds convey their resentment at the action, and he flops back down with a sharp hiss. Looking down toward his feet where GIR was when he fell asleep, he searches the room for the A.I. with his eyes. He'd better not have wrecked anything—!

Zim has returned—that would explain GIR's excited shriek—standing where the door is supposed to be. The boy is about to greet him and inquire after his task, but falls silent when he notices the Irken's curiously stony, yet revealingly sad expression.

The Irken marches toward what's left of the kitchen. Dib listens as he stores his findings in the refrigerator and drawers.

But this is all a ruse. It has to be! He knows it is! It's too quiet, too not-Zim, and Dib visibly starts to worry. What in the entire universe would affect him so?

He has no more time to think, however, as the small invader exits the kitchen and marches toward him with purpose. Zim's expression hasn't changed, and when he sits down very softly on the couch beside Dib and says nothing for a long while, simply staring at the opposite wall with a troubled countenance, the boy really begins to panic.

Reaching forward, he touches Zim's arm. Very slowly, the Irken turns to him, and Dib's golden-caramel eyes flood with concern.

"Are you okay?" he asks quietly.

His only answer is for one of the invader's hands to remove his and reach back toward his PAK. A mechanical appendage comes out of it after a moment and hands Zim a large, important-looking envelope.

He takes it and holds it in his hands for a while, gripping it tightly yet understanding its contents' delicateness, before resting it gently on the Dib-human's stomach. The boy gives him a strange look, but picks it up. His eyes widen as he reads the salutation on the outside, and he opens it quickly.

He scans the notes, the proposals, the agreements, and all of the rest in a precise, practiced manner, but goes ever-so slowly over the letter from his Father.

Despite the fact that it's been less than fifteen minutes, to Zim it feels like an eternity has passed when Dib finally lifts his head and lets the hand holding the letter drop limply.

His mouth opens and closes several times before he gathers enough of his voice to speak. "W-where did you find this?" he asks quietly, his ashen face and dulled eyes causing both Zim's squeedly spooch and zarnl blarg to twist.

The alien deems it best to tread lightly. "The same establishment where I found the food: your house. Specifically, under one of the legs of the chemical station. It was leaning a little, and curiosity got the better of me…" He trails and begins to fidgets with his hands. He doesn't want to pry any further than he already has, but… "He never told you…did he? Your F—the Professor?"

Dib swallows thickly and clenches a fist. "No, Zim," he answers with a heavy sigh, voice trembling slightly. "He didn't." Then, abruptly, he laughs bitterly. "You know, I should've figured it out. Gaz and I never knew anything about our birth Mom other than that she'd died a long time ago and that Gaz looked a little like her. Dad was never around long enough for us to ask, and something about it just seemed out of place anyway. Like we had a mental block or something…"

"Perhaps there was," Zim volunteers. "Think about it: your Father would only have wanted you to know if anything ever happened to him, and I think what this envelope contained," he gestures to the papers littering Dib's lap, "was his form of a last wish."

The boy says nothing, only stares at his hands as he curls into himself. After a moment, though, he looks up at Zim with startlingly bright eyes and whispers, voice choked, "Do you think Gaz could have survived? I mean, she's the same as me, and I survived, right?"

Zim thinks for several seconds before hanging his head. "I don't think that's possible. One side-effect of the Time-Stasis Field is that it preserves whatever comes into contact with it from any harm, even its own blasts. Your sister didn't have any protection whatsoever, and with her close proximity…"

He lets the rest hang. The end result is obvious.

Dib nods dejectedly. Gaz may have hated him, but she was still his little sister. She was still his to protect, even if he himself was often too afraid to go near her. He still would rather have had her here. Especially now, with what he's found (though he doubts she'd be surprised; knowing her, she'd think it's awesome).

A gloved hand comes to his shoulder, and the paranormal investigator-aspirer peers up at the stern face of his former rival.

"I won't let you waste away, Dib-beast," he vows quietly, eyes narrowed as his visage grows more and more determined. "You will not wallow in your self-pity." His face softens a moment later, and he reaches over to take Dib's hand with his free one. "You are much too strong for that. I'm certain that this discovery is meant to build you up, not break you down. The darkness can only win if you let it," he gives Dib's hand a firm squeeze, "and believe me when I say that I refuse to let it be so." His voice quiets, the intensity surfacing all the more. "I need your help now."

The child manages a small smile and even offers a weak squeeze.

"We're in this together, you rotten space-scum," he whispers. "Thanks, Zim."

The alien smiles wordlessly before standing, reaching forward to brush black strands of hair from the boy's sweaty forehead. Peeling back the long rag Dib's using as a blanket, Zim calls for GIR, who face-plants on the floor at his side.

"Let's see about those bandages, hmm?"