THE GIFT

Chapter 5 – The Revelation

Frieza walked back and sat on the sofa with his wine, he closed his eyes and savoured a sip before starting.

'My father believed nothing was more important for a man then power, and nothing more important for a woman then physical beauty. Hence he married my mother, Icejins are usually darker skinned, but my mum had snow white skin, light lilac biogem domes and black eyes. Such beauty as hers was rarely seen.' Frieza paused and let out a sigh. 'But everything has a flaw…' Frieza seemed to steady himself by taking another sip of wine. 'She was mad. She suffered hallucinations of 'divine beings' instructing her to do things. She'd harm herself. Starve herself for months on end. She was made up and paraded out for the public, then locked away in the palace. She spent several stays in the lunatic asylum. It was during one stay that my father was taking a tour of several states… he got a female head of state pregnant. Had it have been anyone else, she would have been killed. But to kill someone with such influence over his people was something my father couldn't politically do. She gave birth to my illegitimate bastard brother, Cooler. It broke whatever shards of sanity my mother had left. She spiralled into darkness, she was permanently locked away. My father would visit her in the asylum every few months, it was during one of these visits that she got pregnant.' Friezas facial expression held a look of disgust knowing that with her mental state his father must have raped her. 'When I was born it was discovered that I… I had… shall we just say a small ''birth defect'' and I was taken away from my mother right away and placed into my fathers main palace… although it was the hired help which raised me. My mother died a few months later. Once of age Cooler was moved into the palace too, but as I was the only legitimate son of the king I was the one 2nd in line, hence the kings training focused mainly on me. Most Icejins backed me as being the true heir due to my parents being the king and queen, however a small band believed Cooler to the rightful heir as the kings firstborn. They discovered my mothers mental inabilities and claimed I had inherited her madness, amongst other lies. It caused our carefully structured states to fall into the grips of a long lasting civil war.'

Frieza finished the last of his wine, Zarbon had listened carefully paying Frieza his full attention.

'It must be hard, being groomed from birth to become a replacement of your father' Zarbon said with his eyes drifting to the floor, daring to wonder if Frieza was indeed mad. 'May I ask Frieza… what was the birth defect you mentioned?'

Frieza striated up, his body language shutting up, his eyes looking cuttingly sharp. 'It is never to be talked about or mentioned!' he almost screamed. Zarbon flinched at his sudden change in demeanour. After a few minutes he lifted his eyes to look at Frieza, Friezas eyes projected a look of anger and sadness. Zarbon plucked up the courage to lean over and lay his hand on Friezas arm.

'I'm sorry for intruding Lord Frieza. I'm just glad that you overcame whatever it was' he said giving Frieza a small smile and squeezing his arm gently. Frieza met his eyes waiting to see a glint of sarcasm, but saw nothing other than sincerity. He lowered his head and closed his eyes.

'It affects me every day. But… it's nothing I can't cope with. Anyways it's late, we should be getting to bed.' Zarbon agreed and they said their goodnights before heading into their separate rooms.

** A few weeks later**

Zarbons memory had slowly been returning and he was back on full duties, as well as back in his own room. He remembered most things apart from the accident itself. He was now always in a state of inner turmoil, how and why had the tyrant acted so invested in his wellbeing after the accident? He was nothing to Frieza. Just as expendable as the rest… yet he knew Frieza wouldn't have acted like that to any other of his men.

He let out a sigh and turned his attention back to his list of duties for the day, most of the morning would be spent on paperwork, but there was one request that caught his attention. Frieza required an aide to accompany him to an annual conference of the Cold family. He was unsure why himself or Dodoria wouldn't automatically go. He looked at the brief disruption Frieza had given him as he hadn't been given this assignment before, the chosen candidate has to be of intimidate abilities, well spoken, good manners, presentable and… expandable. Zarbon scoffed at the list. He started typing on his computer, looking up previous aides to see if any where available, but he got a shock when the list came up and it was logged in that each soldier had died either on the day of the meeting or the day after before returning to the ship. Zarbon let out a low whistle… were they killing the aides for sport? He clicked a few times to see if there was a list of other people that attended the conference and Coolers files came up, but his reports showed he'd taken the same aides more than once, so that concluded that they weren't killed. He shut down the files and left the office in search of Dodoria, hoping the more experienced man would have some answers. It didn't take him long to track him down, Dodoria was in the canteen stuffing his face with several varies dishes, Zarbon grimaced before picking up a glass of water and piece of fruit and sitting next to him, enquiring about the aide he was to acquire.

Dodoria let out a grown 'Argh is it that time already? The Lords always in the worst of moods when he returns. Last time he obliterated 20 foot soldiers in the days after out of anger… and the chef! We were eating gruel for weeks before a replacement was drafted in!'

Zarbon nodded in remembrance 'Hmm I remember that actually. But do you know why he always, I assume, kill them?'

Dodoria shrugged his fat soldiers 'From rumours I've heard, his brother and father humiliate him so much he kills the persons present so stop word from getting out. But that's only tittle tattle from Coolers men, so I doubt its true. Makes you wonder though…' he trailed off being once again preoccupied with food. 'Although…' he spoke around the mass of food in his foul mouth 'if you need help in choosing someone, I can send you a list of people I despise!'

Zarbon thanked him but turned down his offer. No soldier exactly fitted the full description, so in the end Zarbon choose a random soldier then gave him a few lessons on how to act and conduct himself, being careful not to reveal the fate he would meet after all his efforts.

The morning before the meeting Frieza, Zarbon and the aide set off in a small space ship to head for King Colds signature planet. Zarbon had learnt that the meeting would be between Frieza, Coolder, King Cold and their aides only. He was to stay locked on their ship in the docking bay, then when Frieza returned they'd set off back to Friezas ship. The aide looked sick with nerves, he'd undoubtedly been teased by other soldiers about his supposed immanent demise. He stood to attention in the corner whilst Frieza and Zarbon made small talk, after a while he plucked up the courage to stammer out that he needed to use the restroom and disappeared. Zarbon and Frieza fell into a deep conversation about planets they'd visited, and it wasn't until a few hours later Zarbon realised the aide hadn't returned from the rest room and went to look for him. The rest room door was locked and there was no answer so Zarbon shot it down, after the smoke cleared the body of the soldier came into view, slowly swinging from the overhead pipes. Zarbon turned away and stood stunned for a few moments, although death was something he had become accustomed too suicide was not.

'Where's that useless soldier?!' Shouted Frieza coming up behind him. Zarbon gulped and vaguely gestured behind him, Frieza pushed past to have a look, as soon as he saw the body his temper peaked and he shot a ki blast at it burning it into nothing but ashes, and nearly blowing a hole in the side of the spaceship at the same time. Zarbon was trembling, he'd never seen Frieza so angry -his energy was out of control and sparks flew from him as his muscles twitched, he screamed in frustration and smashed what little furniture there was. Zarbon silently walked into the sleeping chamber, shut the door behind him and sat on the edge of a bed, waiting for Frieza to calm down. After almost 2 hours there was finally silence. Zarbon crept out of the side room back into the main room. He was greeted by the small form of Frieza looking out of the large window with his hands clasped behind his back, Zarbon walked over to the imposing emperor stopping just behind him.

'Sire? Are you ok?' He asked, but got no reply. 'Sire?' He asked again walking to Friezas side, what he saw shocked him even more then the hanging soldier… Freizas face was stained with tears and his eyes brimmed with fresh ones that threatened to fall. Zarbons heart felt wrenched, the emperor looked so… defeated. Frieza didn't move, he just slowly shut his eyes. Zarbon knew he needed to say something, but he didn't know what. A few minutes passed before Zarbon cleared his throat and addressed Frieza; 'My lord, I'm sorry at the distress this has caused, however please rest assured that I will accompany you as your aide instead' he watched Frieza intently and was shocked further when more tears started seeping out of the corners of Friezas closed eyes. He let out a small sigh and tried again 'My lord, I have heard the rumours surrounding the death of your previous aides. But rest assured, I respect you way to much to ever think badly of you, whatever it is they say, it could never tarnish my opinion of you, and nothing would ever go any further then me and you.'

After a short while Frieza let out a few shaky breaths and turned to Zarbon. 'The issue is… what they say is true' and he turned away from him again.

Zarbon took a few moments to prepare himself for the reaction he might receive 'Master, what is it they say?' he asked gently.

Fresh tears peaked in Friezas eyes again, after what seemed like an eternity he spoke still looking out of the window 'Do you remember that birth defect I mentioned before?' Zarbon nodded. Frieza closed his eyes and took a breath. 'I was born a hermaphrodite. I am male… but I do also have… intimate female anatomy as well as my own. That's it. Sort of… I have a small amount of female hormones which is why my voice is higher than my brothers and fathers, and it conflicts with testosterone which can make my emotions more unbalanced'.

Zarbon was stunned at what he'd just learnt. There was a long silence between them. Finally he stated 'I will accompany you as your aide tomorrow' Frieza nodded. Then Zarbon mentioned they should get to bed so they get enough rest for tomorrow, Frieza agreed he knew he would be roasted alive if he was caught dozing off during one of Coolers or Kolds boring speeches.

Not long after waking the ship landed at Kolds chosen planet. Frieza stood at the door waiting for it to open and Zarbon stood just behind to his right. Frieza was silently wishing Zarbon would say something, anything just to let him know he didn't think of him as a joke. As if on queue Zarbon did speak 'Sire. I wish to say you are the bravest person I've met. Your power and determination is unmatched by anyone in the entire universe. It is an honour to be serving under you.' Frieza felt like a weight had been lifted off him, he allowed a small soft smile to form on his lips and felt a little jump in his chest. 'Thank you' he answered quietly.