Chapter Text
Something was wrong. By now, Corven should've had at least a few messages from Zim, telling them of the goings-on of Irk, asking for their input, just saying hello. But there was nothing. Well, they thought, to Irk I shall go. And if I interrupt a meeting or something, that's nothing new.
So, to Irk they went. A shift of form to something more appropriate, skin and hair melting into green chitin and feathers into bright cyan elytra, and they appeared just as irken as their husband. A portal opened with a snap of the fingers, a step through, and they stood in the entrance hall of the great palace of Irk.
They made their way to the halls of power, stepping into the loudest one. Zim was most likely to be at the center of it all. Hardly anyone noticed as they stepped through the doors, a lively debate being had.
“No, we are pushing more resources to the cloning facilities, and that is FINAL. If I have to hear about this again beyond it being done, I will remove you from this CHAMBER and from EXISTENCE!”
“B-but, my Tallest, you said-”
“SILENCE!”
Huh, that's strange. Last week Zim was talking about reducing the cloning batches to help curb overpopulation, Corven thought. And now that they looked a bit closer, as they approached, his eyes were a couple shades lighter than usual.
“Zim, my dear, are you okay? You’re looking a bit pale. And why do you have your PAK on, just not feeling up for taking notes today?”
He pulled back from their touch as they tried to take his hand, antennae laying back.
“Yes, Zim is perfectly okay. Of course I am okay. Which is why I have a PAK, because I am not INSANE and would DIE without it.”
“No, you wouldn't? We found that out together, you even helped me with the UnPAKing as my second. Are you sure you're okay? Your memory seems to be... spotty.”
Zim’s second in command cut in.
“He has been having memory issues all day, and refuses to even get diagnostics run. I'm considering forcing him to take the day off, it's been causing problems.”
Corven finally managed to take Zim’s right hand in theirs, and turned it over. His wedding ring was missing. But he NEVER takes it off, it's how we find each other if something goes wrong, they thought.
“Zim, where's your ring? Did you lose it somehow? I can help you find it, if you need,” Corven asked.
“Eh? Zim has never worn a ring! What are you talking about!?”
Corven made eye contact with Zim’s second, both of them coming to a realization.
“You, aren't Zim. Where is he. Where is my husband!?”
Corven punched the imposter in the side of the head, hard enough to induce unconsciousness, but not hard enough to kill.
"GUARDS! Take this imposter down to interrogation. Find out who or what put him in place and what happened to Tallest Zim! Effective immediately, Second Skunch will be taking Tallest Zim's place until this is all sorted out. I," they paused, "will be finding my partner."