Fire... why was it always fire?
Every time she ventured to the world of her subconscious, lying within her own mind within her slumber, it was always the offendingly bright blaze and unsettling heat of fire that stood to greet her. If it wasn't fire at first, it was fire by the end.
She stood amidst the inferno, no fear, for she wouldn't be burned by it. The first few times she remembered she recoiled away to avoid the licking of flames against her skin, but by this point, it was familiar, and she knew that there would be no pain. The more she visited this place, the more she became increasingly aware that it was only a dream.
She watched a bystander, her ringed eyes staring out across the familiar scape of land: numb.
It was hard to tell from all of the fire, but the sky looked to be a soft green, unlike anything she had ever seen before. She looked down to the blue grasses bathed in intense, hot light. That was rather unusual too. Sometimes when she had this dream, the sky was pink, and the grass and land more of an orange. Other times, recently but rarely, she would dream of the sky blue, and the grass a vibrant green. She had no idea what this meant, but with nothing but curiosity, she proceeded through the burning lands.
Pieces of metal dotted the ground, and what appeared to be silhouettes of discarded armor and bodies. It was hard to tell with the lighting of the place.
In the distance, she could swear that she could pinpoint the shadow of a circle. It wasn't a ship, or a person - it was too round.
Approaching carefully, she reached her hands out, outstretching just enough to graze against the surface of the object. It was hard, and cold, but smooth, like glass. She liked the feeling of it. She placed her palm directly against it once more, though as she reached to touch it with her other hand as well, the feeling against her skin began to abruptly change. It grew rougher, more metallic and more familiar.
It kicked up steam, hissing in her direction and forcing her to step back, less in alarm and more in wonder.
The object separated from itself, lifting in a way that gave it away as being one of the space pods they often traveled over distances with. She could see the familiar interior, all save for the seat, which was shaded by an inky black silhouette.
"You're on a dangerous path."
It could be taken as a warning, and yet it didn't quite seem like one. The voice was too eerie and wafted about like the dark undertone of a taunting beast. In fact... the voice sounded strangely familiar, but she couldn't quite place it.
"Don't fall."
Don't... fall..?
The silhouette opened its eyes, a glowing, near-white hue shining through the shadows. Its hand, ever-cloaked in complete darkness, began at the top of Pache's collar, slowly trailing down the length of her torso. Its nails grazed against her armor until hitting the end of her chest plate and the beginning of the exposed black bodysuit.
The feeling of a point began at her stomach, but the feeling of a brief sting soon gave way to a sensation one couldn't explain. Whatever the painless feeling of a hand reaching directly through one's body would be. Perhaps it was because it was a dream that it felt almost like nothing but a lightness and the entry of air.
"Don't fall."
The voice repeated that line again, while she stood doing nothing but watching as the hand slowly began retrieving a glassy orb from Pache's body.
Pache's eyes lowered, wavering strongly with the first glimpse of fear she had ever experienced in one of these dreams.
"That's-"
The more the orb left her torso, the more faint she began to feel. All of the light, airy sensation of this supposed mystery 'woman''s hand was replaced with stabbing pain and searing burning, like something was clawing viciously against her body. Every nerve began to burn worse than the fire spreading around them could ever feel.
"Don't fall."
"Mmph!" Pache sat up briskly in bed, dragging her hand up against her face and gripping a handful of her thick, ,white hair. She looked around the standard, relatively empty room, then down at the likewise standard and relatively empty bed. The few covers she had were a mess, twisted up like she had fought them in her sleep. And her body, that she grazed with her own hand, was drenched, likely from having woken up in a cold sweat that way.
The hand that wasn't laced roughly into her locks moved down her abdomen. There was still an unsteady feeling still lingering on top of her skin, but there were no signs of anything misplaced.
She took the time to first scan the interior of her room.
From all that she saw, everything was in the same place as it was when she went to bed, and no one looked to have made any attempt to enter. Seeing this, she lowered her gaze back down to the hand pressed on her abdomen. She moved it just slightly, and a shape imprinted deep into her skin, as if some orb were pressing its way out from the inside. She pressed lightly against the risen flesh to urge it back inside, and once more the visible lump devolved into nothing.
"It's still there..." She breathed - of course it was. It had to be.
She rolled out of bed. There was no way she was getting more sleep now.
The day went on, more with a smidgen of paranoia. She zoned out of conversations and withdrew herself from socializing much today, save for simply inserting herself every now and then to search the area for any voice familiar to the one she had heard in her dream. She was tired - being an extrovert was a chore today.
"There you are."
Pache nearly jumped out of her skin at the sudden intrusion, her tail standing straight and bristling the tuft of fur at the end. "Oh. It's you." Her tone was dry and disinterested, as if Zarbon showing up was the last thing she would have ever wanted.
"You're still sore about your arm," He remarked blandly, quirking a brow and taking on an expression that easily could be labeled as intensely judgmental. His eyes rolled, and the way he tilted his head up and to the side -looking down his nose at her- well-complemented his disapproving gaze, "That was already ages ago. If anyone should still be angry, it would be me."
"I'm not still angry about it," Pache's tone leaked an innocence that matched her large an unassuming eyes. She bat her lashes for the moment, "I just don't like you."
"Right, right, " He made a shooing motion with his hand to dismiss the topic, but unfortunately for Pache, he wasn't going to be simply leaving just yet. He folded his arms across his chest, "Come with me now. You're finished with your work, aren't you?"
"I have to go with you and do more work..?" Pache rose from her perch on the simple white bench-like rest stop, setting her hands on her of her complaints, she followed him anyway. She did want to know what he wanted, or maybe if there was anything worthwhile about having to talk to him. She watched him quietly, waiting for any kind of indication that there was something more to their conversation, but as she watched his face for any signs, she found herself caught by the yellow hue of his eyes.
Her mind was shocked back to the dark silhouette in her dreams - the white glowing eyes of the mysterious unknown person. Past the white, she could recall the hue of yellow... but was that it, or was that changed by the yellow of the fire? Maybe Zarbon's eyes were too intensely yellow to match that, but then again-
"You shouldn't go around boasting about how you got away with speaking that way to Lord Frieza."
That sentiment snatched her right back into reality. Her brows knit thoroughly. Since that had happened, the only people she had gone and talked to regularly were Cheri, Jube, and Loqua's little squad of misfits, and she hadn't told them a thing about what had happened. In truth, she was too contemplative and admittedly nervous to do anything like that. "I didn't say anything about that! I'm not totally insane!"
"Mm...?" The pale blue skinned male mused. He seemed to truly contemplate what she said, after all, she was so clueless that he was certain she had no reason to lie. "Is that so..."
"What would I get out of that?" she rightly posed, and just as he suspected, she really did just seem genuinely uncertain of why that would benefit her in any way. She had no concept of battling to seize control of the hierarchy, or clawing her way to the top, and from that obvious observation, his skepticism was proven correct.
"If that's the case," he trailed quietly, "Congratulations."
"...Huh?" now she was thoroughly confused.
"You've made your first enemy," He put it in a form so mind-numbingly simple that it was far too confusing to understand why it would ever be something worthy of praise.
"Um... what? H-how is that a good thing?! I don't want any enemies."
"You aren't making any kind of notable progress if there isn't someone attempting to tear you down." Right. That was just how the hierarchy worked on the ship, wasn't it? "Word of your talk with Lord Frieza has been circulating for a little while now. If it wasn't you that shared it to brag about your feat, it would most-likely be someone seeking to damage your standing and turn everyone against you."
"Great," Pache loosed a pent up sigh. Everything on this ship was a chore already, and now she had to deal with someone looking to undermine her? "Did you just pull me along to tell me good news..?" It was sarcastic, certainly, but the hopeless tone laced in the sass forced an amused chuckle out of Zarbon.
How she hated that they all felt the need to get some sick, sadistic entertainment out of her.
"No, that was just the part that was fun for me," He shook his head, throwing his braid up on his shoulder whilst smirking with blatant amusement. "That little surprise has finally shown itself. Lucky for you, Lord Frieza would like you to witness it with the rest of us."
"What? Really? Now?" Her tail uncoiled from her lag and wagged back and forth like an excited dog. Thankfully she didn't notice, or she would have only found herself embarrassed by the way Zarbon looked at her much like a pet doing something strange or cute. She hurried to the outer perimeter of the hallway, pressing her hands against the wall to help boost herself up enough to see out of the window. Space. Nothing but a wide view of cosmos that couldn't inform one where they were with literally any kind of distinctions. It all just looked like stretching plains of endless stars. 'I was so out of it... I didn't even know we shipped out.'
"It won't be long," He tucked his hands now behind his back, continuing to walk, "Lord Frieza sent me to fetch you. I don't know what else you said to him the last time, but he seems to be mildly fond of your company."
'Mildly' a word Zarbon used specifically to defeat the potential of him actually giving her a compliment.
Still, she thought on that. All she really did was quiver, tremble, and whine, but apparently that was enough to make him laugh. Maybe she was like a jester to him, a little source of occasional entertainment that he sent for when things got boring. Somehow that rubbed her the wrong way, but the freedom of the notion easily defeated her pride.
"Wait," while still gripping the corners of the window and staying planted up on her toes, she turned to face Zarbon with an ever-tilting head, "Does that mean Dodoria's back?"
"Unfortunately."
Yeah, she didn't like being around him either... but she was really curious about that whole thing with Cheri. Somehow the concept of the most disgusting thing in the universe -to her- twining up into love and scoring a mate seemed so obscenely grotesque that it was fascinating. "Ew..." she absent-mindedly murmured.
The long haired male shut his eyes, warding away all need to dignify that with the laugh that he felt welling. "Anyhow," he began instead. He motioned for Pache to follow him as they proceeded back towards the lift. "It would be wise not to keep Lord Frieza waiting."
They ascended to Frieza's chamber, greeted to the sight of Tamarind, who was too busy staring out of the large windows towards the front of the ship, and to Dodoria, that actually turned to look at them. The gang was all here... and the latter seemed less than satisfied with Pache's appearance. Not only was she knew, but she always went out of her way to make his life more difficult.
Seeing the way he grit his teeth, a kitten-like smile coiled onto her lips. She started the day exhausted, and now she was feeling fully rested and recharged - Dodoria's strife really was a magic healing potion.
The two of them bowed as per usual, Zarbon being left to do the speaking -as per usual... again-, "I've brought her as asked, my lord."
"Very good." There was a different tone that filled Frieza's voice this time. It was like a melody was injected in his tone by how genuinely pleased he sounded. It felt like there was nothing in this room, this ship, or even this universe that could sour his mood. "You're both just in time. The show is just about to begin." Even with his back turned, they were all immediately made aware of the smirk of pleasure leaking into his every word.
Of course, unable to fight her insatiable curiosity, Pache rose from her bow simultaneous with Zarbon, then went immediately skipping right past Dodoria -to his displeasure. She rose up, lifting her chin to see appropriately out of the large front windows.
There, in their sights was a planet. Even at their vast -but closing- distance, the red and yellow marble appeared massive. It exuded the deep red glow of atmosphere, that one could see from space. Orbiting it, there were two moons, both of which, in Pache's eyes, seemed capable of being their own planets by matter of size. She stared, honestly a bit mystified by the brilliant color of the orb before them. What were they coming here for..?
The closer they came, the clearer and larger the planet became, until just on the cusp of the visible portions of the radiating atmosphere, one could see dots assembled. It was almost like looking at a tiny colony of -
"Insects," Frieza mused through the humble beginnings of chuckles emanating from his still person.
Tamarind reached back, brushing her fingers roughly through her hair, and tossing back over her shoulder and out of her way. From the looks of it, and the sway of her eager tail, she was ready to work, but Zarbon halted her.
"Lord Frieza wishes to enjoy this for himself. We're only here to watch." Pache heard him inform her quietly, and subsequently, her tense body began to relax.
The creatures here, they looked almost... plain. Their skins ranged in muted colors, from pale white to the same kind of rich brown as Tamarind's skin. Their hairs mostly seemed to carry one, uniformed black color, and one uniformed wild and spiky texture. The more they came into view, the more even their clothing seemed to be fundamentally the same. In fact... Pache brushed her hands down the chest plate and bodysuit she wore - they looked pretty much the same.
The way Frieza spoke of them eliminated the potential of them being allies, though.
With the press of a button, one of the lower portions of the ship began to hum, and the vessel came to descend in close. She could clearly hear the sound of shouting, and yelling, so it appears these plain, tailed creatures were rallying. Were they staging a revolt?
Her yellow-ringed eyes studied their behaviors, and coming to that conclusion, she could only find herself confused. Why would they do something like that? Were they strong enough to make a difference, or were they just recklessly throwing their lives away. She reached around, gripping the cape of the long haired male and tugging it, "Zarbon." She started in hush, "I don't understand. What's going on?"
He shook her off of his cape effectively, then tossed it back behind him where it belonged before folding his arms, "Quiet for once, and just watch."
The... carnage.
There was not even a moment wasted. For that one man rallying what seemed to be a good portion of the planet's population and leading them into the jaws of death, there was no indication of even a chance to win. The horned tyrant's ship allowed him access to the outside atmosphere, and there wasn't even a moment to change the tides. Upon his finger, with little to no effort, Frieza manifested an orb. It was tiny, but packed, radiating power that felt squeezed and compressed with an inability to reach its full potential, until just a flicker of seconds forced its size to multiply.
Pache tilted his head back, staring in awe, as what was initially but the volume of a golf ball instantaneously became arguably the size of one of the two moons orbiting the planet.
With just a flick of his finger, it seemed like it was all over.
Fire. Just as she remembered so many times before, but not in blazes and infernos. The sheer strength and firepower of that attack that he sent their way burst into a wave of heat that began to shatter the beautiful planet upon impact, breaking it apart beginning with the severing cracks of the crust that displayed the molten core slowly being more and more exposed to their eyes.
Everyone caught up in its path immediately eviscerated into charred ash.
"Isn't it glorious!?" Frieza laughed in an uproar of uncontained joy. Pleased with his actions, but more the deflation of struggle and watching the disintegration of those that opposed him burst into immeasurable happiness that just couldn't be suppressed any longer.
Pache slowly turned her head, her eyes stopping by every present bystander in the room.
Calm... Zarbon was calm, but arrogant. It seemed he wanted this just as much as Frieza. Dodoria's face twisted into a sickening elation and wave of satisfaction, and Tamarind... it was impossible to read her. Her face made no visible change and her body language was entirely subdued and stoic.
Pache turned away from them, her palms running up her arms over all of the rising goosebumps and hairs along her skin. It was haunting: the sound of all that sound dimming down into a silent echo of voices swallowed up by space, and the overwhelming sadistic joy no longer able to be contained by Frieza's controlled demeanor. It was all the destruction and death she was familiar with, contained over a matter of seconds, perhaps even generously, a couple of minutes.
Everything gone. In minutes.
Was it wrong..?
She pressed her hand against her stomach, where she could feel the imprint of the orb poke against her skin.
Was it wrong to feel... elation?
Was it wrong to see a whole race of people reduced to nothing but wayward dust sucked up in the vacuum of space... and be glad it wasn't her?
This rush of excitement she felt, the pure adrenaline directly feeding off of Frieza's joy. It was almost enough to bring tears to her eyes. Of all the time she spent locked in her cage and kept at bay in captivity, she was now in the good graces of a man that could level the galaxy. She was safe. She was free.
She inhaled a shaky breath, her widened eyes glossing over with a subtle dampness that became more and more prominent. The corners of her eyes welled with bubbles of the warm, growing tears that toppled over the edge and down her cheek. She gripped against her stomach, and slowly backed away, inconspicuously, but just enough to be in her own space.
All at once it appeared that it was no longer sharing the same emotion or simply being swept up in the adrenaline, but the truth was that the joy and excitement that she shared and that Frieza shared were one and the same.
No one in the universe could oppose him now. No one would end his rule.
No one in the universe could take her back now. No one could put her in a cage.
She had come to this conclusion many times, but never more than in this moment did it feel so real...
"I'm free."
A/N: Well, folks. We've reached a very important peak. I can say with certainty that there are lot of aspects of this poor little peach that will start to go downhill starting next chapter. This is also the beginning of the end, in the sense that she's gonna start um. Taking a tumble straight into Mr. Freezy Freeze, and that can never go well.
SOOOON, MY CHILDREN. SOON ALL OF YOUR QUESTIONS WILL BE ANSWERED (I hope). (You know, like relevant questions, not like 'when's my pizza getting here').
I hope you guys are buckled in for the ride!