THE GIFT

Chapter 4 – The accident

Authors note: This is set 3 months after the last chapter. Enjoy!

Frieza was striding down the corridors of his ship flanked by Dodoria, the emperor was in a foul mood. Zarbon was away overseeing a planet clearing mission, it was the longest he'd been away since being made commander and Frieza absolutely hated the way he felt. He'd never cared if a soldier never made it back from a mission before, and he knew the task was completely within Zarbons abilities, however he still felt fearful without the green man right by his side. And now he was being called to the space pod communication room due to the computer systems playing up... it was a bad day for any one in his path. Finally he reached the communication room, it was like a busy office- rows of staff sat in front of computers talking on ear pieces, carefully monitoring incoming and outgoing pods. Frieza walked over to the ships head technician who was talking to the communication rooms leader, both with concerned looks on their faces. They both bowed deeply at Lord Frieza and thanked him for coming, Friezas tail wagged dangerously as he sharply enquired what the issue was.

'You see sire, there seems to be something wrong with the system which monitors where to send out and receive the pods, we've had a few near misses with outgoing pods being automatically released into the path of a returning pod. I fear if this isn't fixed we will soon have an accident. I have a crew inspecting the monitors outside of the ship to check if they are faulty, and I have a crew working through all the coding to check for errors. If I may sir, I wish to ask you to cancel all departures until the issue is fixed.'

Frieza looked at the large display screen at the head of the room as his tail swished dangerously, knowing that cancelling all departures would create a ton of paperwork and several missions being delayed, in turn potentially costing a lot of money and resources. He shut his eyes and spoke, trying to keep his building anger under control. 'Very well. Cancel all incoming pods. But this better be fixed before the end of the day!'

'As you command si-' suddenly there was an ear splitting bang and the whole ship shook. Frieza and everyone else in the room spun around to look at the largest display screen. 'What was that?!' commanded the head engineer. The others tapped away madly at their monitors, until finally one spoke.

'Sir, it looks like 2 pods have collided right outside the ship. Now attempting to identify survivors…' The images on the screen changed as the camera positions were switched several times, before they landed on the remains of half a pod which had been ripped apart by impact. The image was zoomed in on and they located a serial number by the bottom on the pod, they punched the number into their system. 'Pod 1 of 2 identified. Pod #1743, was outgoing towards Frieza #54, soldier #2632 'Jezro Burke' was on board. Presumed dead on impact.' The room went silent apart from the tapping of fingers on keyboards as they continued to look for the other pod.

'Got it!' Shouted another worker. After a few more flickers another pod appeared on screen. This one had obvious signs of damage and a large crack right up one side. 'Pod 2 of 2 identified. Pod #2134, was incoming from Planet Obsidian, Commander Zarbon was on board. Status unknown. Severe damage to pod, all electronics shot, no response from systems, damage to the outer shell and visible damage to the internal air pressure chamber.'

Frieza felt his body turn even icier then normal 'Air pressure chamber? So if he did by chance manage to survive the impact he will suffocate?'

'... Yes sire' answered the same worker lowering his head, waiting to have it blown off. But before the anyone could open their mouth to ask Friezas next orders, the Icejin was gone. A flash of red followed by purple and white zapped around the ship as Frieza transformed into his true form and sped to the pod landing bay. He tore out of the bay through an empty pod shuttle into the open galaxy. He sped to Zarbons damaged pod and pushed it into an available docking station. Mechanics started to try and pry the door open when Frieza shot a beam right at the hinges blowing off the door, they all held their breath and crowded around to peer though the doorway. Inside sat Zarbon, his eyes closed, his body motionless, his head rested on one shoulder as blood steamed down his side from an open head wound. Frieza froze, his brain unable to process what to do next at the shocking sight.

'Mind backs! Medics coming through!' Shouted a voice behind them, Frieza jumped aside just in time to avoid being trampled by a team of doctors. They pulled Zarbon out of the wreckage quickly, setting him onto a bed with a large neck brace and an oxygen mask over his face, then they sped off to the medical bay.

**2 weeks later**

Zarbon was still unconscious in the infirmary. He laid on a bed covered by pure white sheets, his face had been cleaned of blood and his long emerald hair had been brushed and fanned out on the pillow under him. He'd been stabilised after many hours of work, then placed in a healing chamber, and although all his vital signs looked good he still remained unconscious. Quite a few assistants had been blasted into ashes by Frieza in his constant state of anger and what appeared to be despair. He'd taken to staying beside Zarbons bedside, working away on a type of tablet computer all day, only leaving at night when he'd retire into his chambers. One day he was again next to Zarbon tapping away on his tabs screen when he heard the quietest sigh, Friezas head shot up and he lent in closer and listened intently. After a few agonising seconds the noise happened again and Zarbons eyelids slowly flickered open, revealing those gorgeous amber eyes. 'Medics! In here now!' screamed Frieza, and medics swarmed into the room, shining torches into Zarbons eyes and talking together in technical terms. Finally the 2 were left on their own again. Zarbon looked around the room he was laid in, seemingly taking it all in. 'Do you remember where you are?' asked Frieza.

Zarbon took a second to look around the room again. 'I'm assuming I'm in an infirmary, I heard one of the doctors talking about a head injury?' Frieza nodded.

'Can you remember anything of the accident?' asked Frieza. Zarbon shook his head and answered no. Then Frieza asked another question although he didn't really want to; 'Do you remember who I am?'

After a second or two Zarbon smiled and nodded 'You're an Icejin. I never thought I'd see one. But you don't seem to be with the doctors?' he enquired. Frieza felt conflicted and didn't manage to answer. Zarbon looked over at him. He took in his small form and long powerful tail, his snowy pale skin, his delicately lined eyes, the thin black lines running down his face, his dark kissable looking lips and the gorgeous ruby colour of his eyes. '… Are you my boyfriend?' he asked. Frieza almost fell off his chair!

'Wha, what? Me? Why would you think that?' he enquired feeling very flustered as his cheeks burnt red, turning to check no one had walked into the room. Zarbon just smiled again and let out a small laugh, hearing Zarbons chuckle again made Friezas heart soar into the air.

'My apologies. You don't seem to be a doctor or staff here, you can't be blood related to me, so partner was the only thing left I could think of. Especially as you're so gorgeous.' He shot a smouldering smile at Frieza. If it was possible, Friezas cheeks burned even redder. For a second he considered just going along with it, but then the thought of Zarbon coming out of his amnesia and remembering everything stopped him. He cleared his throat.

'Actually, I guess you could call me your boss. But lets not rule anything out…' he replied, returning Zarbons smouldering look. Zarbon smirked at this almost offer, feeling a little flutter in his chest.

Frieza kept returning to Zarbons bedside to work during the day. Zarbon spent most of the time braiding his hair into different patterns, enquiring about Icejin culture, asking Frieza about his work or just laying back with his eyes shut daydreaming. After a few days the doctors gave the go ahead for Zarbon to stop the bed rest, although he wasn't allowed to leave the ship or do anything strenuous in case the amnesia was a sign of undetected brain damage. As Zarbon *really needed* to be closely observed (said Frieza) he ordered a second bed be bought into his chambers so he could keep an eye on him. Zarbon marvelled at Friezas chambers, feeling the heavy velvet drapes, the soft silk bed sheets, observing the art work and various statues. Frieza never realized how cultured Zarbon was. It seemed Zarbons long term memory was unaffected, and Frieza decided to ask him about his upbringing, curious as to how an intelligent being such as himself had ended up being a pirate.

'We were a standard middle class family, although I attended private boarding school. I had 2 elder sisters, my dad was a very macho man and demanded my mother keep birthing until a son came along, which I did.' He let out a sigh; 'But he was always disappointed in me. Where my mum saw beauty and a rare gift of psychic abilities, my dad saw a sissy and a freak of nature. It didn't matter how much I studied in school to become intelligent, nor how hard I trained in military school to become fast and muscular, nor how long I trained in sport to become one of the best archery shooters on our planet… I wasn't his vision of a ''perfect man''. I didn't have stubble, I didn't have scruffy hair, I didn't smell, I didn't come home stained with dirt. He hated my high cheek bones and silky soft hair. He hated my flawless skin and my mannerisms. As the years went by and I matured into a older teen, I stopped caring what he thought. Well I guess I didn't really… I just went out of my way to provoke him to get a reaction.' A sly smile flashed upon Zarbons face. 'I would wear drag and make up when I went out so his mates could take the piss out of him for having a ''bent sissy'' for a son. I started to dance and the local strip club he'd frequent most nights this his mates. I'd do things I knew he hated like sassily flicking my braid over my shoulder, or painting my nails, or making my postures ''queer'' as he'd called them. Finally I had enough, I could see our constant conflict hurting my mother. I left home to travel the planet, making money from various competitions, I was pretty good at most things. About a year after leaving home our planet was purged by something called the 'Planet Trade Organisation', I'd never heard of them before. After the initial battles my race were allowed to continue living on the planet as long as we gave 50% of our planets resources plus a yearly fee to them. At one point they were recruiting, I applied to join as a cover to steal one of their space pods. Once I was in it I erased the code and reprogrammed it myself from scratch, I then used the pod to travel to far off planets which none of my race had ever seen before. I made money from bargaining and selling, occasionally stealing. It was ok, but I knew it was something I didn't want to do forever, I longed to find more of a purpose, to have something to aim for. But that's where things get fuzzy' finished Zarbon.

Frieza smiled a bittersweet smile 'Ah. I too know the pain of having a bastard of a father. Do you know what happened to your family?' he asked cautiously, luckily Zarbon just shrugged.

'My eldest sister became a teacher, the other a mother and housewife. My parents are still alive, however my dad is ill with a progressive illness which will eventually take his life. My mum, being a ''traditionalist'' will not allow herself to see me as she doesn't have her husbands consent to' he finished rolling his eyes. 'What about you Frieza, apart from your dad just now, I don't recall you ever mentioning your family. Did something happen?' he asked openly.

Frieza froze, he was so unused to someone talking openly to him, asking him questions about himself. He couldn't remember the last time someone apart from his brother or father spoke to him without being terrified. Although sometimes he found it slightly annoying to have someone around him with no filter, he was overall quite enjoying having someone to just chat too about anything. After a few moments he let out a dark chuckle and got up from the sofa and went over to his drinks cabinet, pouring himself a glass of wine of such a dark red it was almost black.