CHAPTER FOUR
'thoughts'
Zarbon and Dodoria stared from the shattered glass on the floor to their master. Hopefully he would not kill them for not catching it….
But his mind seemed not aware of the fallen glass. He actually seemed to be shocked by what he saw before him and took a step back.
"Master?" Zarbon asked him when he saw the startled and surprised look on his face.
He tried to say something but he could not. 'Could that be…. Could it ….. No of course not, she was killed years ago…. This girl probably just looks like her', went through his mind.
Then the band stopped playing. It was time for a brake. They left the stage at the back and some DJ started to play his repertoire.
That gave Freeza a moment to compose himself. He did not want his men to notice anything about him…. Actually – while thinking of that - he didn't really care what they thought!
"Who are they, sir?" Zarbon boldly asked his master. "Do you know them?"
Freeza was still trying to regains his cold attitude, but they could see he had trouble doing so. They had never seen him that 'out of it' before. What was it about those Ice'jins?
"I don't know, but I am going to find out," he said and made his way towards the back of the stage.
Zarbon and Dodoria glanced at each other and quickly followed him, curious to find out more about those Ice'jins.
Freeza walked through a doorway into a quiet corridor where the loud music from the dance-hall was reduced to a background sound. He almost ran into a huge shape when he walked around the corner but he was able to hit the brakes in time.
He looked up to him and saw that it was the Ice'jin who had been playing the drums. Not sure what to do or say he took a step back. The big Ice'jin was about as tall as his father was in his second form. It seemed this one was in his second form as well. He looked down at Freeza and raised an eyebrow. Then he crossed his arms across his chest and tilted his head.
"You're a long way from home, aren't you?" he said with a deep but friendly voice.
Freeza just nodded as he realized that if this guy wanted to kick his ass, he wouldn't stand a chance against him.
A smile formed on the dark lips of the Ice'jin. "What brought you here?"
"I heard there were Ice'jins living on this planet." Freeza told him. "So I came to see for my self."
"Who told you?"
"I had sent a few of my men to investigate several planets, and they came across some warriors that looked like Ice'jins to them. They told me about them."
"Oh…" the giant grinned. "Did you send those goons?"
There was no point in denying it, so he admitted he had sent them. He crossed his arms across his chest and said: "I did."
The big guy pointed his long finger at Freeza and gave him a stern look. "They actually tried to conquer our planet, you know."
"They can be very enthusiastic at times."
"Yeah, we noticed that. Maybe you should teach them not to brag so much about their power. It was so little, it's really not worth mentioning it."
"I hope they didn't give you too much trouble," Freeza said with a soft, but annoyed, sigh.
He burst out into laughter with shaking shoulders and chest. "Not at all son, we actually had some fun with them for a while. Before we kicked them off our planet."
Then he bent down to Freeza. "You haven't by any chance come back here to try and conquer our planet, have you?" He asked him most friendly.
Freeza wished he could disappear into a portable endless hole right now, but he didn't have one on him. "When I heard of Ice'jins here, I wanted to meet them. I haven't seen Ice'jins in years."
"Hey, gramps, what who're you talking to?" a young man's voice sounded behind the Ice'jin.
The young Ice'jin stepped out from behind him. It was the one that Zarbon and Dodoria thought to look just like Freeza. He was in his first form and from this close he did really have a striking resemblance to their master.
That seemed to surprise the young man as well when he came face to face with Freeza. He looked up to the huge Ice'jin and asked him something in a language Freeza recognized as Azori'jin. But he could not understand what he asked him.
He got a negative answer to his first question and to his second question he got shrugging shoulders.
Then the young Ice'jin turned to Freeza again and gestured him to follow him. For a moment Freeza just stared at him.
'Could he be…. He could… But that would mean that she was…. But how?' If he wanted answers to his questions, he had to follow the young Ice'jin.
He told his men to have another drink at the bar or whatever they wanted to do.
"And don't wait for me, this could take a while."
"Yes sir." They said and watched him as he followed the young man.
The tall Ice'jin walked with them to the bar to get the drinks for the others. Cause that was what he was going to do when he ran into Freeza.
Zarbon was the curious one again. He thought this Ice'jin looked friendly enough to dare and ask him something.
"Do you know our master?" he asked him.
"Not personally," he answered and put the drinks on a tray.
"How come this youngster looks so much like him?"
"I'm sure he'll let you know himself," was his reply to that and he walked off with the tray with drinks.
"Do you have a death wish!" Dodoria hissed at him when he had left.
"No, I don't. But this one just doesn't seem as ruthless as Lord Freeza."
Dodoria had to admit Zarbon was right about that. But he still thought he was a fool.
The young Ice'jin opened a door and let Freeza walk in first. The room looked like a small living room in warm colors. It had a window – from which he could see the lights in the city - and a balcony. There was a bar in it, a couch and a table. The room was decorated with several large plants and some paintings and pictures on the wall.
The young man closed the door and walked up to Freeza. They just stared at each other for a moment. Freeza wanted to ask him something, but he had no idea where to start.
The youngster took the initiative and asked him: "Are you called Furiza?"
The usual stone cold look on his face was nowhere to be found and he could not regain it. There was a chance he had heard his name from the G-Force.
"I am."
"Aren't you wondering how I know that?"
"I am well known through out the universe."
"Not in these regions."
"How did you know?" he got right to the point.
"My mother told me."
He had somehow expected that answer, but how could that possibly be? "How could she know?"
"She told me she was your best friend when you were younger."
That was a shock. "My best friend was killed on a planet that my father destroyed when we left it."
He frowned. "Is that what you were told? Maybe if you see her for yourself, you'll know it's really her."
Freeza stared at him for a few minutes. Did he want to see her? Well, of course! But then what? Would she still like him like she used to? He had changed a lot. She had probably changed too. She'd probably not like what he was doing for a living these days.
When they were young they decided not to become like his father. They wanted to leave their home and find a world, far away to live on. And they would not use their power like his father used it. To enslave and ruthlessly destroy the lives of others for his own benefit.
And look what he had become now. He had turned out just like his father. It was his father who was there for him when he just lost his best friend. His father gave him all the support he needed. And he gave him other things to put his mind on. Like learning how to conquer other worlds and how to run a 'business' of his own.
"Of course I want to see her," he finally said.
"Wait here," the young Ice'jin said and walked out of the room.
