The next chapter is posted! Enjoy :)
Mia slowly awoke when she felt movement within the bed. She felt Frieza's body slowly and cautiously move away from hers. He obviously was doing so not to wake her. But she was a pretty light sleeper. She opened her eyes and gazed at him. He froze and stared back at her. So much for not waking her.
"Apologies, was trying not to rouse you." He said.
She lazily rolled onto her back, the covers were pushed down to her midsection, just above her belly button. This left her bare chest on display. Surprisingly, the tyrant's eyes didn't drift down her partially uncovered nude body. His eyes were still locked onto her face.
"It's fine. Do you happen to know what time it is?" Mia asks.
"I believe it is around 7:30 in the morning. We slept for a solid nine hours." He pauses for a moment. "I can't remember the last time I ever slept that long. I normally sleep between three- to- five -hour intervals at night. And even then, you've probably already noticed that I don't sleep every night. I can go several nights without sleep. So, this is highly unusual for me."
"You probably wore yourself out yesterday while we were going at it." She couldn't help but joke.
He closes his eyes and chuckles.
"Perhaps, and here I thought I exert most of my energy during training and fighting. Guess I was wrong. And who knows, it may have helped boost your stamina too." Frieza teased.
Mia snorts, but the smile still has yet to leave her face.
"Doubtful. I may have been in good shape before coming here. But I think my lack of exercise is starting to show." She replied.
His smirk widens, "Oh, is that why your getting a little more soft around the middle?"
Frieza further demonstrates by lightly pinching some skin on the side of her stomach. She swats his hand away and gives him a look.
"Hey, are you calling me fat? Last I checked, I'm still thin. Thanks to the odd diet of food I've been eating. If anything, I'm betting I lost weight rather than gained any." She said.
He knows, he just couldn't resist teasing her. Mia was still in good shape. She was right though when she says she believed she lost some weight. She's already small to begin with. It may not be best for her to continue to lose anymore weight on her already small frame. He will have to make a point to add a little more to the portions of food she's been given these last few months.
Frieza will make a note of that and make sure he informs his cooking staff to give her better meals while they are here. Hopefully, it will make up for the menial portions he had her given while aboard the ship. Last thing he wants, is for her to waste away.
The tyrant's mind came to a screeching halt. Since when did he start caring about her wellbeing or her health for that matter? This is starting to get weird. Just what was going on with him lately? What happened between them last night? More importantly, why did he abide by her request last night and held her? Any kind of affection is an alien concept to him. His train of thought was broken when she spoke again.
"Speaking of, I am starting to feel hungry. Guess I worked up an appetite too from last night." Mia says.
He rolls his eyes, "How could you have worked up anything? I thought I did most if not all the work last night."
"Nope I did...at least sixty-five percent of the work." She teased.
"That five percent being on your back and the additional sixty percent for the increased volume of your moaning?" He said, with a wide smirk.
Frieza then chuckled when her cheeks turned red from his statement.
"Hey! Your one to talk. It wasn't just me making all the noise. I distinctly heard what sounded like a wounded seal above me." Mia retorted playfully.
He puts a hand to his chest.
"You wound me. I sound like no such animal. No, as I recall I most likely sound more like that of a dying moose." Frieza said, while rubbing his chin in thought,
Mia couldn't help it; between the statement and the way he pretend to ponder over it, had her laughing. He couldn't help the small smile that slowly crept up on his face. This is the first time he ever heard her laugh. It was a rather lovely sound and it appears to be quite contagious too. Because he could'nt help but join in near the end. It's something he found he wouldn't mind getting her to do again in the future.
"That's fairly accurate too." She said, between laughs.
"Yes, leave it to me to ruin an intimate moment. Guess that's something I should consider working on. Unless I want the household staff thinking I've taken to slaughtering animals in my quarters." He adds, with some laughter still in his voice.
"Nah, they'll just ask if they can have the animal afterwards to prep and cook." Mia says, laughing.
She can't remember the last time she laughed this much. It was nice for a change though. She needed this, she needed to feel alive again, if only for a few moments. Mia never thought the Evil Emperor was one for jokes. At least not lighthearted ones. Normally, his humor was much darker and twisted.
Their playful banter and laughter eventually died down after a few more minutes. But the smiles still never left their faces. Then he did something that surprised himself. It seems like his body reacted before his mind did. He reached over and lightly brushed a lock of hair off the side of her face and tucked it behind her ear. It was an unexpected affectionate gesture, even if it was minute.
Frieza's eyes widened slightly, and he pulled his hand back. Mia still kept her gaze on him though. A few moments of awkward silence passed between them. He then cleared his throat and spoke up.
"I will have the cooks send breakfast up for you." He said.
The tyrant then quickly got up and moved to the other side of the bed. He moved up next to the nightstand where he had an intercom set up and pressed a button.
"Kitchen, we're ready to receive breakfast." Frieza said.
There was a brief pause before he got a response over the intercom.
"Yes, My Lord. We will have something prepared and sent up within ten-minutes." Someone said.
"Ummm, Frieza?" Mia says.
The tyrant turns his attention to the young woman, who now held the sheet up and over her chest. She gestured with her head and looked down at herself then looked back at him.
"Can you ask someone to bring me up a fresh pair of clothes too, please?" She asks.
He nods, and presses the button on the intercom again.
"Sorcha, will you please bring up some clean clothes for my female companion?" Frieza orders.
Another brief pause, before he gets another answer. This time, it was a woman who responded.
"Yes, Lord Frieza. I'll be up with them in a couple minutes." She said.
Frieza turns his gaze back to Mia.
"Your clothes will be up shortly. As will your breakfast. If you need anything, just use the intercom. You may also visit any of the other floors if you like. I forgot to mention this earlier, but there is also a balcony on the same floor where the lounge area is. You may take your tablet out there or go out there and relax on one of the comfortable chairs. It's one of the places I like to frequent when I'm not busy." He tells her.
Then he gets up from the bed and heads towards the front of the large room. Mia's brows furrow in confusion. Even more so, when she sees he's headed for the elevator.
"Wait, where are you going? Aren't you going to at least stay for breakfast?" Mia asks.
Frieza stops before the elevator doors. But he doesn't turn to look at her.
"I'm not hungry. I'm going to go get a head start on my training. I'll try and be back at the end of the day." He said.
That was all he said to her, before the elevator door slid open, and he disappeared from sight. His behavior baffled her. Why was he suddenly acting so aloof? For a moment there, he seemed like a normal carefree person. Then it's like a switch has been flipped and he's back to being his cold indifferent self.
In a way, it hurt her. It seems like no matter how long she has been stuck with him; she will never fully understand the inner mind of the Galactic Emperor. But then, she doubts anyone in the known Universe could ever come to understand what goes on in that dark mind of his. Not to mention no one understands crazy either.
Mia sighs and leans back into the soft pillow. She looks around the large room, now that it was lit up with more natural light. It definitely borders on fancy that's for sure. And this bed, was probably the most comfortable bed she's ever been in. Sure, the one on the ship was excellent, but it still pales in comparison to the one she was currently in now. It will definitely make it harder to get up in the morning.
The silence in the room was broken when the elevator door slid open again and someone entered the room. Mia sat up on her elbows, while still holding the sheet in place on her upper half. She saw the person who just came in was a woman. An alien woman who was pale blue in color and looked about middle age. She had something in her hands. And she approached, she smiled over at Mia.
"Hello, I'm Sorcha. I brought you up some clean clothes." She said.
Mia smiled back, "Thank you. You mind just handing them to me?"
"Of course." Sorcha replied.
She walked up to the bed and stopped at Mia's side and handed the neatly folded clothes over.
"Do you need anything else while I'm here, Miss? I bumped into Lord Frieza on the way up and he appointed me your personal servant. So, if you ever need anything, to just give me a call." Sorcha said, and pointed to a small earpiece in her left ear.
Ok, Mia was certainly not expecting that. A personal servant? She never had one while aboard the ship. Even still, she doesn't feel right having others wait on her hand and foot.
"Thanks, I don't know why he did that though. I really don't need a servant. I'm kind of use to getting things myself." Mia said, hoping she didn't come off sounding rude to the other woman.
If Sorcha was offended, she didn't show it. Instead, she just smiled again at Mia.
"I understand, Miss. But when Lord Frieza gives someone of his staff an order, it's unwise for any of us not to do the task we're given. Please understand." Sorcha says.
Mia felt bad for her, and she knew what Sorcha meant when she stated it was unwise not to do what Frieza advises, having been on the receiving end one too many times for mouthing off to him or not doing what he has asked of her. For the alien woman's safety, she may as well accept her as her servant.
"I do understand. And I'm sorry for suggesting otherwise. At the moment, I don't really need anything else. I was just going to go shower before I dress. My name is Mia, by the way." She said.
"Nice to meet you, Mia. Do you know how to work the bath and the shower?" Sorcha asks.
"No, this is my first time here. I'm guessing it's probably similar to how the ones on the ship work." Mia ascertained.
Sorcha shakes her head, "Not exactly, come I'll show you."
Mia bit her lip and looked down at herself.
"Ummm, I'm not exactly wearing anything at the moment." She says, shyly.
Sorcha lets out a small chuckle.
"Why so bashful? We're both women, and as far as I know, have the same exact parts. But if it makes you feel any better, I walk ahead of you so I won't see anything. Then once we get in there, you can grab a towel to wrap around yourself. Does this work?" Sorcha asked.
It's not like Mia had any other option at this point.
"Ok, that works. Go right ahead." She says.
Amusement danced around in Sorcha's eyes as she turned around and headed for the bathroom doors. Mia threw back the covers and hopped out of bed. She held the clothes in hand as she quickly followed her into the bathroom.
The door slid open for them and then closed behind the two women.
"The towels are stacked over there in that groove in the wall on the left corner there." Sorcha gestures with her hand, while still looking ahead.
Mia thanked her and went over to grab a towel. She placed the folded clothes down on a low shelf jutting from the wall so that she can wrap the towel around herself. She left the clothes on the shelf and walked back over to where Sorcha was.
"Ok, you can look now. Can you we start with the shower first? Since that is what I'll be using?" She asks.
"Sure, right this way." Sorcha said.
The pale blue alien woman led Mia over to the shower stall. Though when she peaked in, she noticed it was quite a large shower. With enough room to fit five grown men in it comfortably.
"It's very simple. Everything here is voice activated. Watch." She told Mia.
"Turn shower on." Sorcha said aloud.
Not a moment later, the multiple shower heads in the stall turn on.
"This is basically it. When you want them off you just say; 'Turn off Shower.' If you want to adjust the temperature just say; 'Warm up water.' You can repeat it a couple times until it's at a comfortable temperature for you. If it's too hot then..."
"Lemme guess, 'Cool down water'?" Mia teases.
Sorcha chuckles, "Exactly."
She then points out the little square grooves in the wall by the showers where the soaps and shower gel are. Sorcha says, she will bring up shampoo and conditioner for her when she goes back down.
The servant woman then gestures her over to the other side of the bathroom to the enormous inground bathtub. That looked more like a large jacuzzi. It even had a bench that jutted from its walls and circled around the whole tub. Mia also saw what look like water jets embedded in the bathtub walls every couple feet above the bench.
"To be honest, the bath is just like the shower. With it being voice activated. And despite it's huge size, it fills up very quickly. This is because it has multiple water outlets. All you do is say: 'Turn on tub' to fill it and 'Turn off tub' when the water level is high enough. It's also the same for if you want to heat up the water or cool it down. And when your finish, just say; 'Drain tub.' The jets in there are automatic and go on when the water level is high enough in the tub." Sorcha instructed.
There was also a groove in the wall on the other side of the tub with more soaps and shower gels. Sorcha also briefly explained that the toilet was automatic, as was the sink. Mia thanked her for the info. And right before Sorcha left the bathroom, she informed Mia that breakfast will be up within the next few minutes. And that they will leave it on the coffee table.
Once she left, Mia went back towards the large shower stall. It was still running; they didn't bother turning it off because she was going to be using it. She unwrapped the towel from her body and set it on a bench not far from the stall.
Then she stepped into the shower. Mia cautiously placed her hand under one of the streams to test the temperature. It was a little more than lukewarm. So, she tested out the voice activation and said to warm up the water. It gradually warmed up beneath her hand until it was at a comfortable temperature, before stepping beneath the spray.
Mia found it weird that there were multiple shower heads in here. Well, if you can call them that. They were more like grooves in the ceiling above that rained down the water on you. Which she will admit was pretty neat. She sighed as the hot water ran over her body.
As she stood there under the spray, her mind would wander back to Frieza. Why he's been on her mind quite a bit lately was a mystery to her. Instead, she tries to think about how best to adjust to new surroundings yet again. This was turning out to be much different than the ship. She also finds herself wondering, if and when she can walk about outside.
It shouldn't be too hard to navigate this place. There were only a handful of buildings here. It would probably be pretty hard to get lost. Plus, she could probably ask around about the other places here. Her mind went back to Sorcha, perhaps she could tell her more about this base and what else is here. The woman was different than most of his soldiers. She seemed friendly and quirky. Which was nice for a change. Seeing as Mia never really talked to anyone else besides Frieza. The few she did talk to were quite arrogant and somewhat stupid.
She opened her eyes and titled her head back, staring up at the tiled ceiling. 'Maybe this place won't be half as bad as that dingy ship. And it definitely is nice to be on solid ground again and to see sunlight after months of looking out windows at nothing but mostly pitch darkness and stars.'
Being on this planet may be a new adjustment. But it's definitely a welcoming one. Especially, when compared to almost a year in space. And Mia can't wait to go out and stretch her legs.
Until Next Time ;)