Mission Failed Successfully (Invader Zim - Ari x Zim)

Chapter 9

The female irken fearfully picked up her communicator. She was about to call her parents with the sad news of her failiure. She clicked their contact and they picked up very quickly.
„Hey Ari! So how did your mission go?" she heard Tallest Purple ask.
„Why are you looking so sad?" Red asked right after his partner shutted up. Ari flinched.
„D-Dad's, I regret to inform you that I...failed..." Ari's voice cracked as she felt tears in her eyes. She took a deep breath. „I failed my mission on planet Ranch." she said with a shaky voice as she tried to not cry by looking up and blinking furiously. When she looked back at her screen where her parent stood with a blurry eyesight, she wanted to kill herself. The Tallest were both obviously disappointed.
„Ari- Invader Ari. How did that happen? Explain yourself." Tallest Red said very seriously and it just got Ari more scared.
„I-it's because...I was dist...I'm d...it's...because...it's because I squintz Zim, my Tallest." Ari said seriously back. They will address her as Invader Ari, she will address them as Tallest. The Tallest didn't know if they should be shocked, mad, or sad, or all at once. Ari tensed up as the call suddenly got quiet. She stared at her screen where her parents stared back at her with unreadable faces. Ari got nervous even more since they weren't even yelling and quiet Tallest were even scarier than yelling Tallest.
„Hey so here's the soda you wanted-" Ali suddenly barged in and the Tallest looked at her very angrily. Ari jumped up in her seat because she got startled. Ali quickly got the mood of the room and looked at Ari with a questioning look, hoping for an explanation.
„Commander Ali, we would appreciate if you'd knock first." Red said angrily, turning his whole body to Ali's direction as she blushed.
„I'm sorry, my Tallest. May I ask what's going on here?" she asked and looked at Ari again, who's face easily read "please don't ask".
„Well, we have discovered our daughter appearantly squintzes a useless defect." Red said, looking over at Ari who felt a new layer of tears in her eyes, as well as, to her surprise, anger. Ali's pupils narrowed, but she quickly made it not noticeable. She felt cold sweat coming down her forehead as well as a hot itchy pain in her cheeks, but she quickly ignored all of it.
„D-do you mean Zim?" Ali asked, as he was her second guess. Ari looked at her, scared, and then slowly nodded. Ali's eyes widened. Her smile faded away. She looked at the Tallest who were now visibly angry and angrily frowned as well.
„Get to the Massive as soon as possible. Get here, NOW." Ali said, infuriated, and ended the call.

Ari stared at the black screen, shocked and sad. Tears which she held in so greatly streamed down her face as she sobbed into her uniform. She already set the course to the Massive, and she was going really fast, so she tried to calm herself down after a minute of solid crying.
„Oh my Irk...they'll think I'm defective too...a-and they'll put me on trial and I will die..." Ari kept thinking the worst scenarios in her head; it wasn't helping. „They'll hate me forever and won't ever think of me as their daughter again...I will lose my Invader rank..."
She couldn't stop. The bad thoughts were worse and worse and there were more and more. Ari curled up in her seat and just silently waited until her arrival, crying, feeling hopeless.

Ari's ship landed and Ari quickly wiped away her tears, even though it was worthless because the tears appeared again. She actually tried to get rid of them as she got out of her ship and it worked, she stopped crying just when two irken guards approached her.
„I-invader Ari. Here for the Tallest." Ari said, impatiently putting her hands on her hips.
„Wbat about-"
„Oh my Irk I'm not a shapeshifter! I need to get to the Tallest right now, it's urgent!" Ari yelled at the two guards who cowardly just let her in. She quickly ran down the hall into the control room. When she entered, Ali, Red and Purple were already there, looking pretty irritated. She hesitated before talking.
„Dads...Ali, I-" the attention was quickly on her as all the piloting irkens wanted to see the argument. What a drama.
„Ari, what are you thinking?" Ali quickly ran towards Ari and hugged her. Ari didn't feel like hugging Ali back at all, so she just stood there, obviously angry. „Thinking you like Zim, please, Ari, that's demented."
„There's nothing wrong with Zim." Ari stated angrily but calmly at the same time as Ali let go of her. She looked surprised.
„Dear, there's everything wrong with Zim!" Ali said back, starting to get a bit angry too. „You just don't see it because you're naive. He's a defective."
Ari felt like exploding in anger. She puffed up her cheeks and got all red.
„He's not!! You're just jelous because I found someone who actually likes me back! That's right! He squintzes me too!"
Ali's pupils narrowed. She didn't believe Ari would say such a thing. She blushed a light blue and got even angrier.
„Jelous! Ugh- why would I..." Ali faintly looked in Red's direction but quickly shook it off. „Listen, Zim literally killed two previous Tallest! That's like, the highest act of treason! Who knows what he could do to you!"
„ZIM WOULD NEVER HURT ME!" Ari shouted angrily and Ali smirked.
„Not on purpose maybe. But he's a defect who ruins everything he touches. Ari, my dear, you should stay as far away from him as possible." Ali said, getting closer to Ari to comfort her. But Ari took two steps back, and so Ali took another two steps forward. The Tallest looked at each other, both thinking the same thing; this is getting interesting.
„You have to understand, Ari, I want nothing but the best for you. And I know best. You can't waste your time on a defect like Zim. Look at you, you're the best invader Irk has ever seen, do you really think you should develop feelings for such a lowlife?"
„But-"
„He's a disgrace to the whole concept of being an Invader!" Ali laughed and Ari gritted her teeth. „He can't be t-" Ari's had enough.
„BUT YOU'RE A DEFECT TOO!" She yelled, as it echoed through the hall. Silence took over instead of Ali's laughter and insults. Ali actually stared at Ari, obviously hurt. Ari looked at her angrily, but deep down, she started to regret it, which quickly showed when she realized what she'd done. She put her claws over her mouth and stared at Ali regretfully. The Tallest were also shocked.
„Wait, what?" Red said to the silence. Ali looked at him, tears swelling up in her eyes. „...that actually makes a lot of sense."
„Yeah!" Purple agreed with his partner. They were both absolutely bamboozled. „...I can't believe this!"
„We had a defect as our commander this whole time?" Red asked rhetorically. Ali was scared. So scared.
„M-my Tallest, I..." she peeped.
„Ari, I-I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to-" Ari tried to reach her friend, but Ali flinched and walked a bit farther.
„How could we not see it?" Red asked.
„I know, right? It was so obvious now that I think about it!" Purple agreed.
„I-I'm sorry- I have to go..." Ali excused herself and ran away.
„Ali wait!-" Ari tried to catch her best friend, but she was too quick. Ari just stayed in that pose, sad and full of regret. This was supposed to stay a secret. The Tallest looked at each other, than at Ari.
„Well we wanted to just tell you not to hang out with Zim but after that just...come here, Angel-cake." Purple said as he knelt down as if Ari was a smeet, but in reality she could reach his chest if she wanted to. Ari turned around with tears in her eyes, and seeing Purple embracing for a hug like he used to when she was little made her actually cry. She ran towards him and hugged him tighter than ever before, sobbing into his shoulder. Purple smiled and closed his eyes, and they stayed like that for a while.
„Dads, I'm so sorry but...its how I feel." Ari said in the hug. „I can't change that, no matter how much you want me to. I have to go back on Earth." Ari pulled away from the hug, not crying anymore, looking serious. Red sat on the floor to be on their level too.
„But Ari, what are you going to do on Earth? You're an Invader." Red said, pulling Ari closer to him and putting his palms on her shoulders. „You can't invade other planets when you're on Earth." Red talked like to a smeet which made Ari a bit angry, but she didn't want to get into an argument again.
„But Dad! W...what if I invade other planets but Earth stays my home planet?" Ari suggested. „Like, I'll live on Earth with Zim, yes! And once in two months I'll get a planet to invade! Doesn't that sound better?" Ari plead and Purple smiled at Red who smiled back.
„Fine. We hate Zim, but we're willing to tolerate him for you." Red said and hugged Ari as well. Purple laughed and joined in on the hug, making it a special family bonding hug.

Ari greeted her parents goodbye, but there was still much to do. Ali...she has to apologize to Ali.
„ALI! WHERE ARE YOU? I'M SORRY..." Ari yelled and ran around the ship, scaring several irkens along the way. „ALIII! Ugh, where could she be...where would I go if- yeah! The Spot!!"
When Ari was a little irken, her and Ali would hang out outside "Commander training". Eventually, they found a spot where they'd sit and talk for hours on end.
Ari ran as fast as she could to the leftest side of The Massive. There was a big, purple door which led to a somewhat reef of sorts. It was a wide "stage" on the left side of the Massive, and it had nothing protecting it from space. It was supposed to be a parking lot, but it was made too short. Not so short not to sit on it though.
Ari went through the door and saw Ali sitting there, watching the open space.
„Ali." Ari reached her hand out to the silhouette, but the commander flinched.
„You ruined everything." Ali said, not looking away from the space. Ari's eyes widened. „You know what's going to happen to me now?" Ali finally looked at Ari, seemingly with no expression.
„They're going to kill me." she said quietly. Ari sat down with her.
„No. I won't let them." Ari said and Ali laughed sarcastically.
„Yeah, like you saying anything could save this!" she said. Ari frowned.
„I can try..."
„That would be awesome, but I'm done for."
„You know what? You're being a quitch right now." Ari stood up, but Ali didn't react in any way.
„Oh wow, like I shouldn't be acting like one!" Ali crossed her arms on her chest.
„Fine, I'll give you that, but if Dads are able to tolerate Zim, they'll sure tolerate you. They like you!" Ari said, flailing her arms around. Ali looked at her, still not amused.
„Did you even hear them? They don't like me. They hate me." Ali said, getting angry. Ari couldn't bear it. She hugged her. „A hug isn't going to fix it."
„Whatever, shut up and accept it, Ali." Ari said, meaning well, although it came out pretty mean. Ali didn't flinch, she secretly needed the affection, even if she wouldn't admit it.
„Fine, get off me, I'm going back." Ali stood up and went over to the door.
„Back where?" Ari asked. Ali turned around to face her, only to look at the door again.
„Back to the Tallest." Ali said with a pretty shaky voice.
„You don't have to, Ali. Let's...let's go on Earth, together!" Ari said, immediately smiling. Ali scoffed.
„Like I'd want to spend my days on that ball of filth with ZIM."
„What other option do you have? You can face the Tallest, but what if you're right and they will get rid of you? Wouldn't it be better to...to escape, where they'll never go?" Ari said, reaching out for Ali again. „What do you say?"