The
women of ancient Greece did not get out much, but once a year, they had their
own party: a Bacchant. No men allowed.
More
then a party! A celebration to their god, and that god did not allow men there
on that special day.
But one
man got curious. What did they do there?
What
did all those women do, alone and drinking?
Did
they cheat on their husbands? Did they miss-behave? Did they give themselves
willingly to their 'god'?
He had
to know.
His
father warned him not to, but he paid the man no heed.
So he
followed his wife and mother into the forest, to where they held their
–'rites'; their party. He watched them get spiffing drunk and dance the night
away.
Until…
those women, in total ecstasy, caught sight of him.
Early
next morning a thong of women gathered at the door of the father's house. Prime
amongst them was the father's Wife, the man's mother.
She
called her husband to the door. "My husband! Look at this, look what we caught.
Last night, at our celebrations, a lion stalked us, dear husband. He was after
our blood, but se did not fear him, dear husband. Look at your brave wife!"
The
father opened the door, and took in a breath. "Dear Zeus!" Was all he could
say.
The
wife beamed. "Yes husband. It was the lion. Your brave wife didn't fear it, no.
Me and my daughter-in-law and the other woman, we rushed the beast, and killed
it. Look! We brought you its head!"
The man
pulled a breath, coming out of his shock. "But look, my wife. Dear god! Look!
That's no lion's head."
The
woman looked at him stupefied. "What are you talking about?" and examined the
loin's head. It was, indeed, no lion.
"Dear
god."
It was her son.
Such cruel, cruel gods.
Zarbon
stayed well back behind the throne as he watched the little pink creature known
as Freeza pace up and down in front
of the
two forms lying numbly on the marble tiles.
Pacing!
Freeza
never paced, unless something was upsetting him.
"Tell
me again what happened."
The 'master'
practically shouted at an unfortunate guard, eyes blazing as he whipped around.
The man
hesitated.
Bad
move.
"We
found them tearing into each-other and-."
-Blam.-
No more
guard.
"Not
THAT part!" The tyrant shrieked, his voice jumping an octave. "Before
that! What got them started?"
No one
answered.
No one
else wanted to die.
Funny
thing, that. Zarbon considered.
Zarbon
doubted the two children on the floor were aware of it, but they were
incredibly luck to be out cold.
Freeza was
eyeing them, watching in disgust at the mess they had already made of his clean
white floor. Blood and Sooth.
"Wake
them up." He suddenly snapped.
-"Sir?"
"Wake
them up." repeated master Freeza irritably.
The
captain hesitated.
"Sir,
the boy Mawi is in comatose. He cannot be awakened; in fact, he will die
if-."
-"THAN
GET HIM TO MEDICAL BAY!"
The
captain cowered back a little, then saluted and gathered the kid up himself, no
doubt taking this as an excuse to get himself out of there and into safety
before Freeza decided to blast him too; in other words, a very smart man.
Zarbon
wasn't that smart; in fact, he was about to do something very risky.
But, he
knew that if someone didn't intervene soon, Freeza was about something
he would later regret.
And if
Freeza regretted something, soon enough everyone would regret it.
And,
after the trouble the tyrant had gone through to keep this little Saiyj-jin
Prince, he would most definitely regret killing him now. It was clear by the
way the master of the universe was standing over the boy's limb form that he
was about to do just that.
Time
for a little Zarbon magic.
"But,
Master Freeza, wasn't this what you wanted to happen?"
Zarbon
cringed as the little creature turned its gaze at him. There was a dangerous
glint in those red eyes, a promise of death. Zarbon knew quite well that,
thought his little statue didn't betray it, Freeza was more then able to back
up the silent
threat.
Still,
it was better to continue.
"You
expected this, didn't you? My lord."
Never
enough 'my lording' and 'Mastering'.
It was
his number one rule of survival.
Freeza
answered him in his most patronizing tone.
"Yes,
Zarbon. Eventually, I expected our little monkey to kill that brat.
Eventually. But,.. NOT YET!"
Zarbon
flinched, but caught himself.
As long
as Freeza was busy explaining, he wouldn't be thinking of blowing anything -or
anyone- up. Or so Zarbon reasoned.
"Well,
the kid's not dead. What harm is done?"
A vein popped
out on the master of the universe's left temple.
"WHAT
HARM IS DONE? WHAT HARM IS DONE?!?"
Its
voice dropping incredibly quickly into an angry hiss:
"I'll
tell you what harm is done! I put Mawi in charge. This is insubordination!
Mutiny!
I can't afford to have a backstabber in my army." Freeza reasoned.
"I
don't mind someone openly opposing me, Zarbon. I don't mind that at all. Gives
me something to do in my spare time; it keeps me in shape.
But
what if there's trouble somewhere, and half my army decides to change
side?"
Shaking
his head, Freeza looked down on the little prince's limp form.
"I
can't afford that, Zarbon. I can take on anyone, anything one-on-one.
But a
risk like this I won't take."
Time to
act quickly.
"But,
as you said, his training has just begun, Master Freeza.
Perhaps,..
Perhaps it's a good thing you found this out now, so that you can discourage
this behaviour now...?"
Freeza
stared at his underling long and hard, then a smile spread across his features.
"Discourage,
you say? Not a bad idea, I must admit. Yes.
I think
I will do just that. Wake him up for me please, Zarbon, I think I know
how."
Vegeta
woke up to the usual feeling of cold stone, and the usual feeling of bruised
muscle.
What
was wrong, however, was the light. It wasn't usual light in his 'room'.
Add tot
that, there was this nudging thing in his side.
For
half a moment he thought it was a suicidal rat, but as he turned to blast the
creature, he found it was a foot.
And not
some lowly soldier's either, by the looks of the boot.
Slowly
sitting up, he regarded his surroundings, his eyes coming to rest on... 'IT'.
Freeza
again.
What
had happened?
Oh yes.
Mawi.
Slowly
regaining conscious thought, he formulated the one question that popped up in
his mind.
"Is
he dead?"
Freeza
looked at him with sad eyes.
"No.
No, he's going to be fine, after a few weeks in the isolation-tank. But you
have disappointed me greatly."
Its
voice sad, tears seemed to be welling up in its eyes.
Vegeta
looked to his side, doubting what he saw.
But
Zarbon was just looking intently at his master, his face not betraying
anything.
"Why,
Vegeta? Why did you do this?"
That
silly question got his attention back to Freeza.
Why?
Because he had to...
"Just
taking out the garbage."
Freeza
sighed slowly at his answer, then turned his back to him.
"You
really let me down, little prince."
Vegeta
really couldn't care less.
Carefully
gathering his aching body, he started to get up.
Only to
have that same foot come down on his ankle.
Angrily,
Vegeta followed that booted foot up to Zarbon's smirking face.
The
nerve of that fellow!
Briefly,
he considered calling Freeza to get his dog under control, but the pinkish
dwarf was looking out the window,
seemingly
oblivious.
"I
had such high hope of you and now..." It continued.
Any
other time the Saij-jin prince would have just rushed this Zarbon guy and
pounded him.
After
all, he hadn't ever had a chance to check the guy's power-level, but a pansy
like him would most likely be a
pushover.
"...
and at those put over you too! Such violence, no, such insubordination cannot
be tolerated." Freeza was still rambling.
Any
other time, in fact, Vegeta was seriously considering it now.
But his
body just wasn't responding as it should.
He felt
slow and sluggish all over, and his Left arm wouldn't support him.
"...I'd
heard such great thing about you too. Every Saij-jin so full of proud words
about their prince..."
Hard to
lunge at someone in the state he was in, but at least he could glare at the
guy.
"And
what will your father say?"
-"WHAT?"
For
once the little, ugly pink thing had actually managed to say something to catch
the Prince's attention.
With an
evil smirk, the tyrant turned to face him again, slowly advancing.
There
was something very odd and new to Vegeta glowing in those red eyes; something capable
of filling even an over-sure Saiyi-jin with fear.
"Well,
yes, Vegeta. You understand I will have to tell. In fact, I'm afraid I will
have to ask compensation."
Vegeta's
blood went cold at the implementation of Freeza's tone.
"What
do you mean?"
It
shrugged, helplessly. Then turned back to its window.
"Zarbon,
please be good enough to contact the king Vegeta and have him execute twenty of
his elite soldiers?"
-"Nanni?!
You can't do that! You're...-"
Suddenly,
Freeza was right up in his face.
Vegeta
hadn't even seen him move. It was unnatural to be able to move that fast!
"Oh
YES I can, little one. I can do anything I like. ANYTHING!
I am
Lord of the Galaxy. In fact,-"
And the
little monster's voice dropped low. "maybe, just maybe, if you keep
displeasing me this way, I'll kill your father."
Vegeta
knew the thing was serious, knew it with a sick certainty, but some part of him
just refused to believe it.
Refused
to believe what this thing was threatening could be done.
"But...
He is the king."
-"So?"
The
silence was deafening as Freeza finally released the little Saij-jin from his
glare and retreated to his window,
then finally
spoke.
"If
you have disagreements with your classmates, little monkey, that's one thing.
But never, ever fight them out when you're on a mission."
Vegeta
sat blinking into empty space. What had just happened? To him, it was like the
little dwarf he so loathed, so detested and loathed, had just meta-morphed into
a monster so terrible, so dangerous!
It
couldn't do what it had just threatened, could it?
'It'
was just a pathetic little... whatever it was.
How had
Freeza changed so much from one moment to the next?
"Oh,
and Zarbon,...?"
That
honey-sweet voice again. Only, this time Vegeta heard it for the lie it was.
"Before
you do what I told you, will you take our little prince back to his room and
make sure he's not let out before
Mawi is
completely healed?"
