33

Chapter Thirty Three
" Honor is simply the morality of superior men."
H.L Mencken

Adalina released a shaky breath she hadn't known she'd been holding as she looked at Vegeta's still face, his shallow breathing the only indication that he wasn't a corpse. What had she done? She had let her anger get the better of her, and allowed it to cloud her logic. Though perhaps if Frieza proved himself to be no better, she would have a strong ally to defend the Dragon Balls and the Earthlings. Vegeta had been quite the adversary before, and he would no doubt go through Zenkai because of this.

She had faith in him.

But she also wanted to have faith in Frieza.

She cradled the fallen Saiyan and took off at immense speeds, still in her transformed state. She was anxious at seeing the tyrant after his lies had been revealed. She wouldn't have been livid had she not known him. He wanted to become immortal so that he could acquire the Galaxy Staff and rule the universe with an iron fist. Yes, it did stem from his crippling paranoia of being killed, but that was only part of it and even still, it was a selfish desire.

Immortality was an unforgiving, lonely existence and she would not let him make such a mistake.

She touched down not long after her departure, her anger fueling her in some way. She didn't know what she was going to say, hell, she didn't even know if she could stop herself from hitting him.

The door to the spaceship opened without her having to press any buttons, he knew she was there, he was expecting her. Adalina stilled herself and walked into the main hall, her head held high as she took Vegeta to the infirmary, leaving him in the care of Appule.

"What did you do to him? He's in critical condition." the alien asked as he and another soldier positioned the Saiyan in a healing tank.

"I lost my temper." she replied, "He'll be fine though, right?" he had to be, she was relying on him if anything went wrong.

"Maybe, but you better go see Lord Frieza, he nearly took Zarbon's head off earlier."

Adalina took a shaky breath and nodded, leaving the room. He never got angry with Zarbon any more, and that spelled disaster for her.

The door to the throne room hissed open and she stepped in, her brows furrowed and eyes still glowing intensely. She took a deep breath and powered down, reverting back to her base state,

"Why did you lie to me?" she mustered up the courage to ask, "After all we've been through, after all the progress you've made, you revert back to your old conniving ways."

Frieza stiffly turned, his lips turned up in a scowl at her words. He knew he should have kept his wits about him, should have never allowed her to get into his head. But where would they be? Something told him he didn't want it any other way, but at present it was a hindrance.

"I have told you many times that I will do as I please. I have my reasons, and you will not interfere with this matter any longer. I am aware that Vegeta has hidden a Dragon Ball and I am well aware of why the Earthlings are here. I will eliminate all of them if they stand in my way, and you will be going off planet, do I make myself clear?" he coldly explained, any hint of emotion vanishing from his face.

"W-what? No, I'll not let you do this, Frieza it's for your own good. Immortality is a sad existence, and I'm sure living gets old after a time-"

"I don't need a lecture from you. I will be getting my wish, and you will do nothing about it. I am doing this for...oh what is it you say? The betterment of the Universe?" he allowed a small smirk to grace his lips, "It would seem planet 316 is having some trouble with Lilith's cronies, you and Zarbon are going to be dealing with it."

Adalina clenched her fists, knowing that she couldn't tell him no, knowing that it was her duty to stop Lilith...but was it also her duty to stop him?

"I swear to you, I will return to this planet as quickly as possible and if I find that you've killed those Earthlings I will make you my sworn enemy." her voice had dropped, allowing him to hear every word in clear contrast with her gentle features. She was dead serious.

Frieza nearly felt his heart stop at the implications of her words, but he brushed them off, positive that he had the situation under control,

"Just get out of here." he waved his hand and turned back to face the window, "Zarbon has already prepared your ship."

She shook her head and turned away from him, knowing it was a futile fight to pick. The situation was becoming more and more complex, and she wasn't sure which side she would be on if it came down to it.

The Zandonian walked down the hall and to the port that contained her personal ship, not entirely sure what to expect from her colleague either. Would he be angry with her? She knew she should be angry with him, but he was only following orders, doing as Frieza said, and no one went against his orders without dire consequences, well, except herself of course.

The door hissed open to reveal Zarbon standing beside the open hatch to the ship, a stern look on his face,

"I apologize for my behavior, Adalina, it seems it has gotten us both in a bind." he released a sigh, "We need to deal with this problem first though. I don't care what Frieza does, but I know that you are very against his plans. I will not help you, but I will not hinder you either."

Adalina smiled at him, the expression not quite reaching her eyes,

"Thank you, Zarbon." she walked past him and into the ship, sitting at the captain's chair. She waited until the green alien was seated beside her before closing the hatch and starting the engines, "Planet 316 is barely ten minutes away from here, if we can get this done quickly, I should have enough to to get back to Namek and prevent him from doing anything brash. Hopefully those humans can hold their own."

"I told you years ago that you should give up this petty dream of yours, and yet you seem surprised." Zarbon commented as she throttled the engines, flying the smaller ship out of the 'mothership'. She checked to make sure the comm. was blocked, so that there was no way the tyrant could eavesdrop.

"You haven't seen what I've seen though. He let me in, Zarbon, he's overprotective of me, he told me things he wouldn't dare tell anyone else. He let down his walls, and if only he'd let me in a little closer.." she trailed off, a sad look in her eyes, "My point is, my plan is working, and I'm not surprised at his plan, just disappointed." she looked off to the side, "Perhaps if I told his aunt what he was doing..." she mumbled, but shook her head.

"That's just it, Adalina, he's like that around you and no one else because he doesn't want to lose you. He has feelings for you, that much is obvious, so I suppose you've won in some form." he sighed, "But I'm warning you now, don't be surprised if you return to find those Earthlings slaughtered."

She furrowed her brows,

"I'll take him out then."

"Could you truly do that? It's obvious that you have feelings for him as well."

"If it's for his own good, and the greater good of the universe, yes." the thought made her stomach churn, could she really? Or would she continue living and perpetuating his evil, selfish desires. No, she would fix him, they had come too far to go back now.

"Bye bye darling, I'm glad you tried." Meredith smiled brightly as she removed her hand from the chest of some alien or another,she wasn't really interested in what race they were. Though she had to admit, the array of blood color had stained her hair in a near rainbow, but the colors had mixed on her hands, turning them a dark brown.

"I thought you said they'd be here by now!" Daemon yelled over the distant sounds of battle, their army of demons were doing their job splendidly.

"They should be here any minute, be patient and destroy as much as you can in the meantime. You better prepare yourself because this won't be an easy battle." she gripped onto the next creature's neck and used her nails to grip its spinal cord, ripping the appendage up and out of its torso, sending a spray of yellow blood across her face.

"You don't think I know that? Honestly, I'm not sure if our chances are good." he sighed as he slit the throat of another alien, his fingers becoming coated and slippery.

"We only need keep her distracted, killing her was just a bonus, and hopefully she won't kill us. But we've both been training, so who knows? Maybe we're giving her too much credit."

"Perhaps." he mumbled in reply.

"Goku, you must absolutely NOT pick a fight with Frieza!" King Kai shouted vehemently over their mental connection.

"But why not King Kai? S' not like I can't handle em'! He can't be that strong." the Saiyan argued, his alien heritage jumping at the chance of a difficult fight.

"No, I forbid it Goku! Forget about the Dragon Balls and get your friends home, granted Frieza doesn't destroy the planet, they'll regenerate like the ones on Earth."

Goku furrowed his brows, his memory flashing back to the nice woman that had picked up Vegeta. She was of good heart, he could tell, and he was sure she wouldn't like the tyrant's behavior. According to the call he had received from Gohan and Bulma, it was as if she was being manipulated.

"I'm just gonna talk to him, I'm sure that second in command of his won't let him do anything too terrible. Anyone is capable of change, I think at least, and she's already jump started the process for me." the kind-hearted Saiyan was determined to make everything right, and he hoped that this Lord Frieza could see reason. He couldn't be all that bad if he had such a nice person caring for him.

"Goku, you're a fool." King Kai shook his head, but he could tell he wasn't going to get through to the thick-headed Saiyan.

"Go get him Goku!" Yamcha cheered through the connection, the rest of the deceased Z-fighters also giving him short words of encouragement.

Piccolo sat meditating, a fanged smirk plastered on his face. Goku was never one to back down from a challenge, and this of course was no exception. He only hoped he could be resurrected soon so that he didn't have to spend anymore time on King Kai's little mudball, listening to the Earthlings prattle on about old battles, or their irritating attempts to make the godly being laugh.

"You better get those Dragon Balls, Goku." he mumbled under his breath.

Adalina and Zarbon zoomed through space, nearing their destination. The destruction was visible from the stars as the closed in,

"Oh my god." Adalina breathed as she saw the burning buildings, "What have they done?"

Zarbon had a hard look on his face,

"They've started something that they cannot finish. Though, something about this seems fishy, almost like they're trying to lure us out."

"A trap?" Adalina prepared for landing, preparing to break through the atmosphere.

"Perhaps, or they could have something planned for his Lordship back on Namek."

Her heart once again felt torn, she couldn't just let Lilith have her way, but then again, she felt as if he needed a taste of his own medicine for once. His maniacal decision making and cold nature had managed to instill a sense of rage in her.

Why couldn't he just accept help? Why couldn't he lead a peaceful, natural life?

'Because people are out to get him, because he has made enemies, because he was raised to think that allies were only good when disposable.', a small voice whispered in the back of her head.

Her mind flashed to a memory, not long ago,

Adalina woke up with a jolt, having had the same nightmare she had been having for a week straight. It always ended with her being killed in some way, and it was always Frieza's fault.

"Did you have that inane dream once again?" he questioned, his voice still ridden with sleep.

"I did." she answered quietly, she had only woken up screaming one other time, and he had told her to face her fears and conquer them, but that just wouldn't do.

Frieza wasn't entirely sure what to do, he had never been good with such things.

Adalina took a shaky breath and wrapped her arms around him, tears forming in her tired eyes. He tensed, as he always did when anyone touched him, for touch was something associated with violence..not gentle at all.

"I-" he began but she cut him off.

"Just promise you'll never kill, or leave me, or make any stupid decisions okay?" she whispered.

The raw emotion in her voice was enough to nearly choke him up as he returned the gesture, wrapping his arms and tail around her, just like his mother use to do. He wasn't sure what had suddenly overcome him, but he felt the need to comfort her,

"I give you my word." he replied before releasing her, "Now go back to bed, we have an early day tomorrow." he smirked as he turned away from her.

"You're such a tease." she grumbled.

He had changed, he still had a few rough edges, but those could be polished out.

Rough edges, that was an understatement. She couldn't deny she was in love with him any longer though, and she would do everything in her power to make every thing right,

"Well, I suppose we'll just have to deal with these problems as they come." she replied as they entered the atmosphere.

A/N: Sorry for the short update guys, been busy, as usual. Next week is Spring Break though, so expect a long chapter! I loved writing for Adalina in this one, because her mind-set is so confused and jumbled right now. It's a difficult thing to portray, being torn between 'moral' stand points, should she choose to love Frieza despite his betrayal? Or should she choose to help the Earthlings? Or you know, try and do both.

Anywho, I hope you guys enjoyed this 'filler' chapter!