Thunder and lightning. The symbols of an angry God, a vengeful one even.

It was ironic in a way, that those would be among the last sounds to reach his ears. That after all of this, all the pain and death in his wake, the number of times that he's cheated his own demise, the countless worlds before this he'd destroyed, after believing for so long that he was untouchable, a God… That this would be the last thing that he hears.

That, and the other sound. Below the thunder and lightning of the darkening alien sky, there was his own voice. Meek and cowed by pain and…. Tears from the pain.
No, that wasn't it was it? This wasn't from the pain. He cried not because he was hurting but because, in spite of his own loathing to admit it, he was afraid. Afraid of what faced him now.

The entire reason he came here was to avoid it, to avoid that horrible fate which befell all who would live, dying. And with dying, facing consequences for his actions.

Oh how he'd longed to become Immortal, to escape that inevitable, to reign eternally-!

Pain ripped through his body as he thought about it, breaking his thoughts and causing him to gasp.

He gripped the dirt beneath his hands, struggling to move. He could survive his wounds, but the planet's destruction would surely be his end. He struggled against gravity, his muscles burned to move, to do anything but…

Their battle.

The battle had weakened him too severely, he'd expended too much energy trying to kill that rotten ape, that worthless, filthy monkey!

But his real emotions betrayed him, despite all the rage simmering in his heart, the Tyrant knew that the only blame here was on him.

This wasn't the simian's fault.
He'd caused the planet's destruction which would kill him. He'd driven the ape to become more powerful than him, to attain that Legend which had terrorized him for so long, he'd toyed around with these fools for too long and it was him who had cost himself Immortal life!

Such a realization brought more tears into the tyrant's eyes. In his final moments, he understood. This was all his fault. Ironic. He'd blamed everyone else up until this instant. And yet looking back on it, if he'd simply been more decisive when he'd had the chance, if he hadn't played around with them, if he'd have killed the Saiyan from the start… He would have lived.

Wait… the Saiyan. The Saiyan who despite all odds had a pure heart.

Perhaps…

No! Could he really lower himself to such a standard?
Or rather, would he prefer to die holding his honor intact?

The tyrant took no time at all to decide as at last, there was another crash of thunder and lightning above. The planet would not survive much longer.

"M…" Everything hurt. Even forming a sentence was agony. But he pushed on, his purple lips forcing themselves to move at his command, his vocal cords barely able to push out this final plea.

"Mercy… Please…. Have mercy… Please… I beg of you.. Don't leave me to die like this."

The Lord of the Universe, destroyer of worlds, Lord Frieza…

Had begged for mercy.


Goku, the Saiyan hero of light, the warrior of hope even if that wasn't his intention when he arrived, The Super Saiyan stopped dead in his tracks. 'Mercy?' He thought, and then he spoke. "Mercy!?"

His tone was not his usual. His Saiyan instincts had nearly overridden him thanks to the aggression this new form provided. But even if he had been perfectly normal, if the rage of this form wasn't taking precedence over his natural light nature, he knew that he would feel exactly the same as he did right in this instance. Mercy? How dare he? How DARE HE?

Goku turned on a dime, his golden aura exploding around him and his filled with the rage of a thousand, no, a million burning stars!

"What could you possibly know about mercy?!" Goku demanded. "What about all the countless, countless innocent lives you've taken away?! Where was their mercy, Frieza?!" He roared at him, his aura illuminating the darkened planet. The planet that had been the grave for so many thanks to the alien before him, the creature that was now facedown in the dirt, crying and begging him for… Mercy.

"Goku! Don't waste anymore time on him! You've got to get out of there right now!" King Kai's voice echoed in his mind. "If you stay much longer, the planet's going to erupt!"

The Kaioshin was right. There was no need for him to stay and listen to, or even berate, Frieza any longer. At this rate, he'd die alongside the planet he'd brought to ruin.
Goku turned away, trying to ignore him again.

And yet, as he took a step.

"You... Can't do this!" Frieza managed out. Goku stopped again, but the tyrant couldn't tell that as he called out. "You can't… Please…" His words were tearful, and attacked Goku in a way that he wasn't sure he could simply walk away from. This wasn't the petulance that Frieza had portrayed earlier, it wasn't hatred or anger, or even arrogance. It was a feeling wholly new to the tyrant and Goku knew it.

He was afraid. He pleaded because he was… afraid.

Frieza was many things, but at the end of the day he was as mortal as anyone else and he was afraid to die. Goku understood this fear too, he knew that even with there being an afterlife, death wasn't something you could ever possibly come back from. Not if you were a man like Frieza.

But he'd met many men like Frieza in the past. Villains and monsters, horrible people who didn't seem like they could ever make a change. Even at one point… Krillin was like them. Selfish and mean, though Goku couldn't tell it at the time.
Sure, comparing Krillin's kid self with the absolute horror that was Frieza was like comparing a grenade to a supernova, and Goku understood this but…

Maybe…

Piccolo and Vegeta were bad too. But in Goku's eyes, they'd each done their fair share to stop being evil. Sparing them was the right thing to do in the end.

Maybe, maybe even Frieza could change. Goku didn't know for sure, he could be making a huge mistake right now even but… Wasn't it worth the attempt?

Yamcha, Krillin, Tenshinhan, Piccolo, even Vegeta, so many of the people he'd considered allies, even friends, hadn't started out as the best people. And sure, their crimes paled in comparison…

He shut his eyes. "Damnit." He was right. All they needed to become better was a second chance.

Goku turned back and sent his hand forward, firing a wave of Ki into Frieza… But it wasn't an attack, rather he spared him some energy.

Frieza grunted for a moment, the good energy of Goku conflicting with what little remained of his evil energy, but he eventually opened his eyes and pushed himself up with one arm.

By now, Goku had turned away from him. King Kai was right, this had taken too much time.

"That energy will be enough to get you away from this planet before it explodes." He tells the Frost Demon. "I hope you don't take this for granted, Frieza." Goku looked back at him with a single piercing eye. "This is your one and only chance, I won't give you another. If you come around the Earth or my friends or me again with intent on killing or hurting us, I won't spare your life next time." He warns the tyrant. He then turns away, looking towards the sky.

"I hope you do something more with your life from now on, Frieza."


Frieza floated up, looking the Saiyan in the eye as he spoke, mirth building in his chest. 'Oh how wonderful!' He thought. 'This foolish simian bastard has made his grave, now all I have to do is get off this dying world before it erupts. And when he dies in the explosion, there won't be a single person left to guard his pitiful home, I'll tear it to pieces in my revenge, I assure you, monkey!' He didn't say this aloud however. He knew better than to antagonize him like that.

No, rather he thought he'd gloat about how the Super Saiyan had no chance to leave this planet. After all, his ship was damaged and there weren't any other operable space faring vessels on the entire world, in mere seconds at this rate the Saiyan will be dead and he'll be entering the upper atmosphere to wait on his father. 'Oh how won-'

"I hope you do something more with your life from now on, Frieza."

Any words that Frieza had formed died on his lips. All of the gloating, even all of the hate died before he even spoke a syllable. He squinted at the man, confusion growing in his features.
Had he?
Had he given this energy to him in the hopes that he does better?

Confusion stayed on his face for but an instant more before he began to smile, his lips turning up and his eyes filling with mirth. He couldn't believe it.

"Heheheheheheheh… Ahahahahahahahaha!" His head turned up in laughter, and his eyes widened as he lost himself to amusement. Why, if he had both hands he'd probably cover his sides to try and stifle his laughter! "Aha...hahaha...hah...Ha... " He finally ceased his laughter as thunder and lightning roared over the pair of them. "You can't seriously believe that I would change my ways just because you asked me too!" Frieza didn't ask, he said. In his mind, there was no possible way that this monkey, even as foolish as monkeys tended to be, truly believed that he of all people would mend his ways all of the sudden.. Could there be?

Goku didn't respond for a moment. "Believe what you want Frieza, but my warning stands true. I won't hesitate if you come near the Earth ever again." He points his finger at him. "Understand me?"

"Ohohohohoho, as you wish dear Monkey." Frieza growled. "I'll take that warning to heart." He grinned maliciously at him, and both he and Goku knew that this would not be the last time they fought.

But Goku didn't entertain anymore of this conversation. He simply turned away and blasted into the air before blasting off elsewhere.

Frieza watched him for a moment. He heavily considered blasting at him. After all, he was the Emperor of the Universe and this… man, this mere mortal had dared to disrespect him, to attack him, to drive him to beg for mercy.

But
Frieza knew better. As much as he didn't want to admit it, what good would a blast serve him at this point? Besides, the energy the Saiyan gave him- it was torture to even admit that- was only enough to allow him to escape the planet.
'Oh well,' He thought, 'I'll let you run for now Monkey. But be warned, I won't allow you to live the next time we encounter each other.'

"Next time it will be YOU BEGGING FOR MERCY! DO YOU HEAR ME!?" He shouted after Goku, but by now the Saiyan had left earshot. Frieza took a moment to collect himself. "Huuu…" He let out a sigh and his muscles contracted, returning to their more soft shape.
He looked over to his limbs. He definitely couldn't carry them all, even with telekinesis. They had a likelihood of burning away on impact. Besides, while he was on the ground he'd lost a leg somewhere in the sea behind him.

Well, his father surely had cybernetics didn't he? Of course, cybernetic limb replacements. Ones that would make him even MORE powerful than before! Frieza couldn't help but to smirk. And even if those eventually became bothersome, stem cell research in his Empire was providing wonderful results. He'd have new limbs eventually. But for now, it was time to move the main body off this rock.

Frieza turned his head towards the sky and blasted off, a lone purple streak in a sea of darkening sky. Higher and higher he went until the lightning was below him, until the whole world was beneath him. Dark clouds passed to reveal clear skies for but one instant until he passed the atmosphere entirely and came to find himself surrounded by a sea of stars and a Solar System of planets. He continued to rise into the air until he was far enough out. From here, any debris coming he way would be easily destroyed, and he could theoretically hold his position when the planet went up. He was perhaps a few hundred miles from the planet, still technically in its orbit but perfectly situated to survive.

Up here, Frieza found himself to be at… peace almost. Here, he was alone with his thoughts. Thoughts of failure and revenge, sure, but there was something more. He felt at ease, surrounded by the vast emptiness of space. And yet, horrified even still.

He knows, after all that without immortality he's but a speck in the vast story of this universe. He hates and resents it for that, but knows he can do nothing about it. Not yet at least.

For now he floats, simply observing it all. Soon enough, Namek would be gone and all he'd have to do is wait for his father. Unfortunately he could take days to respond to his ship's emergency signal going out. No matter, this gave Frieza time. Time to begin planning what he intended to do when he was back at full strength…

A grin passed his face as he thought about it, imagining Earth- that backwater world- being consumed in hellish flames just as Namek was. Oh how wonderful the sparks would-

Suddenly, the Frost Demon's reflective time was interrupted as a small circular pod came flying a few yards away from him, the whoosh of the energy being audible as it shot out of the upper atmosphere. Frieza's eyes snapped open, had one of his men survived? Could he hitch a ride with them? Well actually he fully intended to pull him out of the pod and fly solo but-

His eyes bulged out of his skull and he looked on in a rage. "YOU!?" He roared, but there could be no sound in space so it was more like he was mouthing to the man in the pod, that man being none other than Son Goku. The Saiyan was no longer quite so Super, but he still gave Frieza a passing glare as he shot by him, a white streak across the inky blackness of the void around them.

'NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!' Frieza let out a roar of frustration as he watched the Saiyan wiz by, he pulled his hand back and prepared to blast him and his pod into oblivion-

But as he prepared to do so, the planet that he'd doomed to be destroyed finally entered its death throes, the surface of the world cracking, allowing golden-orange light to spill from its insides, bathing Frieza in the light. He looked down, surprise momentarily overtaking him as he looked upon the once great Planet Namek, observing its final moments. To Frieza, it was beautiful. The sight of worldly destruction was his favorite.

But not because of maliciousness, though he certainly held great malice against the worlds he destroyed. He found the color of a dying erupting world to be hauntingly spectacular. It made him feel in control, made him feel grand and tall, a speck amongst the cosmic backdrop no more.

And… The colors, he loved watching them dance. He'd loved it since he was a boy, since he'd witnessed his first Planetary Eruption.

He never quite understood why.

But he didn't have long to observe the wonderful sight, as the exploding world suddenly shot out at him, flinging molten rock and debris towards him, a surge of energy carrying them outwards. The tyrant quickly remembered his situation, he was not sitting on his chair at his full power, observing the planet go up in flames. He was weakened, and far too close to the world for comfort.

'Oh…'

Energy washed over Frieza, forcing him to power up a bit in a vain effort to hold his position, to stay as close to Namek as he possibly could.

With the power he gained from Goku, he was just barely able to hold against the surge and prevent himself from being pushed back, his black and red aura shooting out around him as he held one hand out against the mass of energy trying to shove him into the gaping void. He knew that he was expending too much energy on this, but didn't care. It would be better for him to remain close to his last known position than to drift out.

However, a massive chunk of the planet came barreling towards the Tyrant, leaving Frieza without too many options. Certainly he could blast it apart, it was the size of a very large mountain, but it was nothing compared to his might- even at his weakest. But to do so would be to expend what precious little energy he had left, and though he'd likely have more left over it wouldn't be prudent to waste it here- there was no telling how long it would take for his father to come find him.

At the same time, he could try to avoid the incoming asteroid, but that would come with its own risks. He could get swept up by the surge and blown far away from the world, which could cause him to possibly be missed by his father.

Whatever the case, he knew one thing for sure. Letting it hit him was out of the question. Not only would that take him sailing off into the void he desperately hoped to avoid being sent to, but…

He was Lord Frieza! He was Emperor of the Universe! He was second to none!

Frieza tore his hand back through the empty space, focusing on the mountain range. His rage boiled over in his chest, affecting his decision-making skills greatly. He had lost control over the situation on Planet Namek, and this was going to help him reassert himself.

At once a purple energy blast appeared in his palm and Frieza threw it forwards, launching the bright purple attack forwards, sending it into the center of the massive landmass and causing it to erupt into an explosion that shredded the mountain into a thousand infinitesimal chunks!

At the sight of the mountain shattering at his attack, Frieza grinned and would have chuckled if not for the vacuum of space.

'I am still the mightiest in the universe!' He assured himself. 'None can stand to the might of Lord Frieza! Not mountain… Not man… And certainly not monkey.'

But the elation quickly came to pass as that thought crossed his mind, and he turned to look at where Goku had been. He'd missed his window of opportunity to kill him, but that was fine, there would be another eventually.

Frieza observed his palm, the remaining bit of white flesh, stained purple with bruising and blood, bits of charred flesh around the edges, tanning his skin an almost golden brown. Not much of his once pristine skin remained. Even his final remaining limb hadn't gone unscathed. The realization enraged Frieza, and his teeth ground together…

But… that bit of flesh had conquered a mountain. He was still the Emperor of The Universe. He was still more powerful than his father by orders of magnitude.

His fist tightened, his nails digging in and drawing blood.
'Next time Son Goku. Next time I will tear you to pieces.' He promised, looking out to where Goku's pod was vanishing, its light dimming as it faded into just another star. He shut his eyes and laid back, floating in the void of space as his eyes began to close softly. While it was true that he would have his revenge, for the moment Frieza could only rest and try to conserve his energy.

His father would be here soon. And though he would have to suffer direct humiliation at having to reveal such a broken state to his father, he would persevere and return far stronger than he had ever been before...

And the instant he was returned to full health…

He would eradicate that Monkey from existence.


Time was a foreign concept to Space. Sure, it still passed, but telling it was impossible. Had Frieza been laying here, floating in this void with what remains of Namek, for days or weeks… Or had it only been hours? The Tyrant could no longer tell. Everything in him ached, as did the empty space where his left arm should have been. It was a strange feeling, a desire to massage a muscle that no longer existed…

And it was irritating. Often, Frieza would sense the ache and lift his hand to grope at the empty space, momentarily forgetting his situation, his mind working on its own to relieve him of the pain, only alerting him when his fingers tightened around an empty void, coldly reminding Frieza of his own idiocy in allowing his Death Slicer to carve through his body.

Though hunger didn't pain him yet, his mouth was desperately dry and thirsty. Floating here in the void had long since begun to drain him of his fluids, and though his kind could naturally go months without drinking, and far longer without eating, if necessary, he was certain that being in space was beginning to cut that time short. It was possible that he would die of thirst well before he died of his injuries, which still bled, giving Frieza small red drops floating around him to focus on in place of the endless sea of stars.

He growled and turned his head from them, refocusing his mind elsewhere for now.

How long had it been since Namek erupted? His mind returned to that, concerning himself with measuring how many days had gone by since he vanished. Would his father have even noticed he was missing by now? Sent out a search party to rescue him? Or had it been mere hours since he'd fallen asleep? No, it couldn't have been that short a time. His own biology told him that much. He'd slept and woken up several times. And more importantly, he'd dreamt in all of them. It had at least been as many days as he'd slept, or half as many.

With little to do other than sleep and try vainly to conserve his energy, Frieza did just that. For several days now he'd found himself drifting in and out of consciousness, allowing the void to take him into rest to desperately try to hold onto what little energy he had…

Unfortunately, every dream was plagued by thoughts of Namek, of his infinite failure at the hands of Son Goku. In each one he was in a different stage of his plans, one moment he would be eradicating the Namekians- unable to stop himself as he wiped out the Slugs which were responsible for his potential immortality. The next he would be standing against that cliff, the attack that Goku had wielded which almost killed him, the blue orb like a sun, having passed over his body. He imagined himself blasting at a different target, perhaps his brat of a son, maybe the Namek a few more times. It yielded the same results every time.

That hair

Those eyes

They stared him down in every version of events, and in the next instance, all Frieza could feel was crippling pain and suffering as Son Goku turned the tables back onto him. Punishing Frieza for every kill, every injustice that had come before him, every humiliation that he himself had suffered at the Tyrant's hands- all of it returned to the Galactic Emperor at once.

Sometimes his dreams ended there, as Goku turned his fists against the Tyrant and Frieza would jump awake with his heart pounding, eyes darting across the barren asteroid belt as if expecting to find the Super Saiyan there before he slowly came to realize that his nightmare was not over, that in fact it was all real and he was suffering the consequences.

Sometimes he was not so lucky. He would suffer every strike once again, every blow to his physical body and ego. Sometimes it was his Death Slicer which carved through his body, others it was The Super Saiyan's own cruelty and wrath which suffered Frieza his limbs no more.

It was those dreams he hated most. Those dreams which forced his hands to shake, an uncontrollable fear overtaking him.

It was those dreams that he died in most often.


Frieza laid back, forcing his eyes open against his waning power. Dreaming had not been pleasant, and now he was refusing to sleep, to return to those damned green hills and that wretched Monkey's glare, so he stared out into the emptiness of space, barely holding on. The burning white of the stars surrounded him, and against the blistering freeze of space he wrestled with his rebellious eyelids, trying to focus on something…

Eventually, he found his thoughts drifting to his people, his home. How he was able to stand up to the coldness of this dark place. His kind were designed to survive impossible temperatures, with the planet they had come from being known for temperatures far below zero, going into the hundreds of degrees below even. The wretchedness of Arcose, its hostility and apparent distaste for life…

It had made his people strong, so much stronger than any others in the universe…

Darkness clouded the Tyrant's vision as he lost the war with his eyes, and they shut closed, drifting him into a peaceful…

Quickly, Frieza's eyes snapped back awake again and he shuddered, a chill slashing through his body involuntarily, the effort of forcing himself to fight off sleep causing him to shake.

He gritted his teeth and rubbed his cold digits against his shoulder, fighting off that damned ache and doing something to keep himself awake. He didn't know how long he'd been out for, and it didn't matter! He'd failed to dream, and that was what was important!

He shuddered again and forced his mind back to Arcose, reminding himself of the icy world in a vain effort to take back control of his mind.

Every aspect of their lives was dedicated to strength and energy conservation, adaptations gained from the frigid winters, where the planet would freeze over in its entirety and the surface would become wholly inhospitable, a far cry from the almost pleasant summer, where the ice world would pass close to their sun and the ice would melt into tropical water, bringing with it a bounty of food and new life. Due to this, his people were forced to hold out and preserve energy for huge stretches of time.

You see, Arcose didn't have "years" like other planets, it had ages.

His people had grown very long lifespans to see each age pass multiple times, living for up to one-thousand years at a time. The beautiful summers would last for almost fifty years, the oncoming rain season as the planet moved away from the sun and the water would at last fall back to the surface and fill the oceans just in time for the winter was a much shorter twenty-five years, and winter would last for a hundred years. Defrosting would be next, as the planet eventually became almost hospitable for a few short decades until Arcose came too close to the star and began the cycle anew.

Frieza felt his eyelids fighting him again. As it turned out, falling back on things he'd learned as a boy was not a good way of keeping himself awake… Slowly, his eyes shut again…

He was reaching his limits. It would not be too much longer at this rate.

His eyes snapped open again, but this time they immediately began to drift closed. It was now that Frieza had understood his situation. Arcosians were able to last months without food, but without water…

'N… No!' His inner voice whispered and his fist began to close tighter, his nails digging into his skin in a vain effort to keep himself awake. 'I… Will not die… I am Frieza! I am the lord of the universe! My father will come for me… I… Will come for you…Mon…key..!' A purple aura of energy covered Frieza's body, shooting out a surge as his anger and hatred, as well as his will to survive, overtook him.

In an instant, the remaining chunks of Planet Namek which had congregated around Frieza were turned into ashes at the Tyrant's power, and for miles his deep purple colored aura could be seen, shooting out into the void around them.

But more importantly… His power level was, for the briefest instant, visible to any surrounding ships currently scanning the area for Frieza. In another time, another place, Frieza may not have had the energy needed to send out such a pulse showing that he was alive, but in the here and now, his act of defiance against his own situation had drawn attention…

But Frieza… He was unaware of this fact.

And as the energy surrounding him began to wane, the tyrant drifted away for the last time, falling into a shapeless, nightmarish sleep…


Snap

Sound.

'In space?'

Frieza's eyes snapped open before quickly closing again, his remaining arm coming up to shield his eyes from the blinding white light that came down over him. He forced himself to look through the glare of the light and found that it was… Floodlights. Yes, that snap! That was the sound of a Cold Family Flagship's floodlights coming on!

"F…Father…" Frieza manages to say, although unfortunately for him, his voice is too weak for sound waves to bounce off of the chunks of rubble surrounding him. Unlike the shining beacons representing his salvation.

He extended his arm forward towards the ship, his last action as his body recognized he was being rescued, and no longer had to strive to keep him alive.

In an instant, Frieza blacked out, no willpower left to hold him awake this time.

He came back seconds (or was it minutes?) later, finding two strange beings in Space Suits coming down from the ship to collect him. One was a huge burly man and the other was a lizard-like entity, both wore Scouters, the tiny energy-detecting devices visible through their helmets. Was he saved? Were these men of the Cold Force? His eyes scanned down their bodies for a moment, hunting for an insignia.

They looked familiar, but he couldn't place them in his mind. His thoughts were a jumbled mess, as if he was somewhere between awake and asleep, flashes of Namek tore through his mind, the images superimposed upon the men coming to get him. Was even this real?

And as he tried to figure that out, his eyes drifted closed again and he blacked out, just as one of the men said something…

He awoke again on a gurney this time, the Emperor of the Universe being pulled into the ship by the two men from earlier. Now he saw their backs, and vaguely recognized the symbol laid against them, but was unable to think much of it as his head rolled back again, and his eyes shut against his will once more, images of Goku crossing his mind.

"Super…Saiyan…"

This time, Frieza came too what must have been minutes later, his thoughts filled with Goku and flashes of Namek. His mind felt strange, like he was swimming against the current, desperately fighting to stay awake.

"My Lord, his condition iz incredibly unztable. If we hadn't detected him when we did, its possible that he might have died from the lack of nutrients and ze injuries he has suffered." A voice with a strange accent greeted Frieza's ears, and he glanced up to spot a blue skinned alien with blonde hair and a strangely colored outfit speaking. He couldn't see who but based on the man's body language it wasn't to Frieza. He had a different Lord? This could not stand in his presence!

"Such… Insol…" Frieza was unable to finish the thought as he drifted back out of consciousness, losing the fight with himself. As he went, he had a strange thought hit him.
Air was flowing into his lungs.


Warmth.

This time, mercifully, his dreams must have been empty. All out of nightmares to send to the Galactic Emperor, all out of suffering to unleash upon him, for this time Frieza slept all the way through, and was feeling…

Warm.

His eyes popped open and the tiny pinkish colored orbs surveyed the room he was in, taking in the hard and emotionless fluorescent lighting which shined down on everything, from the tiny medical bed in the back to the life support devices currently plugged into the machine he was in. It didn't take Frieza long to realize the kind of machine he was floating in either. Even with his strength as low as it was, and his mind equally as tired, he could recognize this machine as a Healing Tank, a device used by his Empire to heal injured warriors to get them back on their feet as soon as possible.

Unfortunately for Frieza, the liquid used in the device will be unable to restore his limbs. They were researching that particular feature, but as it stood he would have to rely on Cybernetics, at least for the time being anyway. Suddenly, a horrendous thought struck him, of him being reformed into some kind of wretched patchwork monstrosity, a horrific melding of metal on flesh, like some kind of undead golem. He could not allow that to happen. If he were to gain cybernetics, he would have to ensure that they were fitted and shaped properly. He would, of course, be given only the best Cybernetics in the Empire, but even their best were little better than welded pieces of metal attached to the stumps where once stood limbs.

He shook himself free of that thought and instead shut his eyes, no longer needing to battle with himself to stay awake. He settled in to the warmth of the healing tank and allowed himself to sit back against the wall. For the first time in months, he was warm.

Genuinely warm.

It felt better than anything Frieza had ever felt in his entire life, he had no idea how much he'd missed the heat until it was torn from him.

Moreover, he felt a sense of calm and ease come over him. His body wasn't fighting the elements, or fighting his enemies, any longer.

In this moment, this instant, he was safe. And after months of floating through the void, safety was like a gasp of air after being submerged in a pit of darkness. It was a beautiful thing, and Frieza grasped it with all of his might.


Darkness greeted the tall and slender purple skinned Arcosian as he looked out the viewport, observing the great emptiness of space in front of him. In his left hand was a glass of wine, and in his right was a Scouter. Blue in color, this model belonged to his chief in command, Salza. The blue-skinned Brench stood at attention behind him alongside Dore, a green hulking brute of a man, and Neiz, a tall but thin orange skinned creature.

"Tell me, Salza." His voice was smooth and powerful, and it cut through the silence like a laser through flesh, causing his men to stand up even straighter, if it were possible. The purple skinned being felt the Scouter in his hand, and traced small circles along the glass. He turned to face the men, and placed the blue colored device down on a floating table alongside Dore and Neiz's respective pink and green ones, which were being shuffled away for maintenance.

"How is my little brother's condition?" Lord Cooler, the brother of Frieza, asked.


A/N: This is a bit different from my usual stories in two ways. Firstly, this might actually be your first story from me! Hi there, I'm going to be cross-posting this to Ao3 and FFN. So if you're from either of those and you've never read from me before, hello there!
Secondly, I've decided to make this into a much more long form fanfic than I usually put out. As some of you may know from my other works, I usually write between 2-4k words per chapter. My intention this time to consistently hit 6-8k in the early game and 8-10k in the later chapters.
Why?

Because this story is being written out of love and admiration for the myriad of Dragon Ball fanfics that inspired me to sit down and begin my fanfiction career in the first place. Stories such as Mr. Arkham's Fall of Lord Frieza and Guardian, or Npberryhill's Bringer of Death, are all stories which brought me incredible love as a child and introduced me to the wonderful world of fanfiction writing. And though I have a lot of problems as an author, I want to honor the stories that brought me to uncovering my greatest passion in the best way I can.

As a result of this, Defrost is going to take a lot of inspiration from Fall of Lord Frieza (which happens to have been my first fanfiction, and you may have recognized some parallels already) and Bringer of Death (which remains one of my top inspirations to this day). But I wish to assure all of you, I'm not going to be going in exactly the same direction as either of those stories. I want to try something different and fun, so I hope you enjoy..

And for all of my new readers from A03 or FFN, allow me to do my usual sign out.

Until Next Time, True Readers!