A/N: Many people don’t like Miss Bitters. I’ve never seen this done, so I thought I’d give it a shot. Crystal is a canon character, and she appears in the episode Hobo 13. Everything will be explained as the story progresses.

-Lea

Bitter

Chapter one: The Dream

A thick layer of clouds, which brought a chilly breeze to add to the gloomy setting, blanketed the autumn skies. Nine-year-old Mara Bitters loved days like these. Sunlight always seemed to irritate her skin. Her condition left her with an abnormally pallid, pale complexion, along with silvery, once-blonde hair. Her lavender-tinted locks were pulled back into a tight bun, tied with a small purple bow. She hopped from rock to rock, avoiding the reflective puddles that littered the forest floor.

"Hurry, Crystal. I don't was Miss Candice to find us. She might make me wash dishes again," Mara said. She looked over her shoulder at her extraterrestrial friend.

Crystal was composed of what looked like detached diamonds that were cerulean blue in color. She was made up of three main parts: her head, her breast, and her lower torso. Her eyes were a transparent sea green that curved like horizontal teardrops, giving her a more feminine look. Darker sapphire facets topped her head to give the illusion of a short haircut. The same sapphire-colored diamonds covered her shoulders in three layers, each sharp at the point. Crystal's limbs bent like rubber glass up until her elbows and knees, where they again were covered by hard diamond facets. Her joints seemed to be made of the same rubber-glass material as her upper arms and thighs. She blinked at Mara, making her eyes look like liquid, and smiled warmly.

The strange pair continued through the forest in silence. Mara stopped now and then to pick colorful flowers that sprouted between the winding tree roots and shrubbery. She would then hand them to Crystal, who was already equipped with a large bouquet. As time went on, they stopped to rest on a fallen tree trunk covered in soft moss.

"It's getting dark, Mara. Let's go home," Crystal suggested. Her voice was feminine and comforting. It held a sense of immortality and wisdom that could soothe the soul.

Mara sighed and nodded. She really didn’t want to go back to the orphanage, but she knew she had to. Miss Candice would give her extra chores for running off. She almost wished she could just never go back to the horrible place she had lived for her whole life thus far.

"Alright," she stated. The duo stood from their soft seat and reluctantly made their way back home.

When Mara and Crystal had returned to the small cottage on the edge of the woods, they crept their way through the door slowly. It was a cozy place with wooden floors and some antique furniture. The tall grandfather clock displayed the time: 8:36 PM. Mara winced and realized that she had been out longer than she expected. Crystal pressed a button on her wrist and suddenly disappeared when her cloaking device was activated. The two quietly tiptoed to the creaky oak stairs and began to climb. Halfway up, however, they were halted by a young, yet scratchy female voice.

"Mara Idony Bitters, how dare you."

Mara cringed at the voice as it sent chills down her spine. She'd heard it so many times before, but it never failed to scare her to death. A strong sense of dread filled her as she reluctantly turned to face her caretaker.

"Miss Candice, I--," She as cut off.

"This is the third time this month! You're only nine for God's sake! Can you imagine what could have happened to you? There are wild creatures out there! You never even told anyone where you went. I was worried sick," Miss Candice lectured. She continued, "I know you don't like your studies, but that is no excuse to just run out. We have rules in this place, and you are expected to follow the like everyone else."

"But Miss Candice, Crystal and I were just--"

"Enough about this 'Crystal' person. You're too old for imaginary friends, Mara. It isn't healthy. Ever since you made up your little alien pal, you've been misbehaving more than usual. Tomorrow, you will clean the house while the rest of the children get to play," Miss Candice said, "Now go to bed, and I don't ever want to hear about Crystal or aliens ever again."

Mara stood, fighting back tears. She turned and marched up the stairs before Miss Candice could see her cry. If one listened closely, you could hear a second set of footsteps following her up the steps. Miss Candice, however, did not hear a thing. She sighed in frustration and turned her heel, heading off to bed.

Once in Mara's shared bedroom, Crystal turned off her cloaking device. She set the bouquet of flowers in a glass of water that sat on the nearby dresser before tucking Mara into bed. The child was comforted by the dark, unlike most of the other children in the orphanage. Crystal hummed a soothing melody that she had learned on her homeworld. It flowed like water in a calm stream, slowly lulling young Bitters to sleep.

Half asleep and with her large lavender eyes closed, Mara whispered, "Promise you'll never leave me, Crystal..."

Crystal hesitated, taken aback by the request. Her crystalline heart lurched in sadness and adoration for the little girl.

Mara raised an eyelid and urged, "Promise?" The child seemed desperate, clinging onto the hope of keeping the one thing that came close to calling family.

The alien smiled gently and answered, "I promise."

But they both knew deep down, that it was a promise that could never be kept.

Miss Bitters woke up very early. Around four, to be exact. She had a despondent feeling in her gut as she rose from her creaky old bed. Images of the dream flashed in her mind and she snarled, pushing the memories in the deep depths of her head. She had better things to do than to linger in the past. Getting up, she put on her glasses and tossed her bed together so it looked somewhat made before pulling a pitch black, button-up dress from her closet. Miss Bitters paused and put it back. She reached an old, bony hand into her closet again and pulled out a replica of the black dress, only it was dark purple. She couldn't remember the last time she wore something other than black. Colors just irritated her, so she usually avoided them. Today, however, seemed...different.

Dressing quickly and slipping on her pointy black boots, she made her way to the bathroom. While freshening up, she glanced at herself in the cracked mirror. A wrinkled and sardonic face stared back, mocking her. Her chin was long and pointed, and the area above her lip was wrinkled up, giving her a mustache appearance. The lavender-tinted, non-transparent glasses hid her eyes from the world that she hated so. Her silver locks were thin and brittle. She tied it up in a tight, modest bun.

Before she could control it, the images of her dream returned to her. They taunted her like mischievous sprites bent on chaos. Miss Bitters let out an angry growl and clutched her head. She felt a burning rage well up in herself and, they were gone, just like that.

‘What was that?' she thought in anger. She never let her emotions slip like that. Hell, she barely even felt emotions at all nowadays. She swore loudly at her stupidity. She'd make sure that never happened again.

-----

Walking, or slithering, rather, into the teachers' lounge, Miss Bitters approached the copy machine. A few of the other teachers glanced over at her and hurried away. Mr. Dwicky, the school counselor, leaned against the side of the copy machine sipping coffee. He plastered a fake smile on his face as Miss Bitters began making copies of tomorrow's homework assignment. She snarled at him intimidatingly and his smile faded. His eyes darted around in paranoia before slowly stepping away from the copier. He broke into a full-out run, spilling his coffee on another teacher. Bitters grinned inwardly. Her sadistic joy was short lived as Mrs. Noogie walked over.

"Oh Mara, what a wonderful dress. I never knew you liked purple!" she complemented in an attempt to start polite conversation. Miss Bitters began to regret ever putting on the violet attire. With a low growl, she picked up her stack of copied papers and slithered her way out of the lounge. She had no intention of conversing with her colleagues at the moment.

"Miss Bitters, wait!" Mrs. Noogie called, "I have something for you."

Mara Bitters sighed in frustration and turned, waiting for the useless information.

Mrs. Noogie walked over and handed her a manila folder. "It seems you have a new student, isn't that great?" Mrs. Noogie gave a sickeningly sweet smile. She waited for a response, but got none. Instead, Miss Bitters spat out venomous complaints about useless additions to a condemned world. The old hag slithered away without another word.

Miss Bitters sat at her green-painted desk and pulled a fake worm-infested apple out of her bag. She set on her desk. It was pointless, but it seemed to creep the students out, which she enjoyed. The classroom was empty and school wouldn't start for about another hour. She pulled up the manila folder and gazed down at the name on it. Something hit her, emotionally. Something sickeningly familiar lingered around the name, like a nightmare that had hidden itself away in the dusty fileboxes of her mind. A memory that was locked away tried to scratch its way out, screeching at her, begging her to remember.

"Zim..." she read aloud. It left a bitter taste in her mouth.