Tonight's main dish was a delightful lezpet soup, served cold. His hand gripped the silver spoon with detachment, slowly stirring the dark liquid, the rest of his evening meal steaming before him on the table. He continued to stir the soup for a long moment, as though the motion would make it a little more interesting, before bringing the spoon up to his purple lips.
The chef looked at him with withheld anxiety – the same way most everyone did. "I trust everything is to you satisfaction, my Lord Frieza?"
The young Arcosian brought a second spoonful to his lips. "Mm. Yes," he answered distantly. He sat the spoon down and waved a hand. "It will suffice. You may go now."
"Yes, Lord," replied the chef, quickly and discreetly making an exit.
Once he was gone, Frieza picked up the spoon one more, turning it over in his fingers. Truth be told, the meal was quite good. But then, everything he had ever tasted his entire life was no less, and he wasn't in the mood to give compliments. Honestly, he wasn't even sure if he was hungry at all. All in all, the entertainment of the meal was lost on him, his mind already far too preoccupied to take an interest.
After all, just earlier that week had been his thirtieth name day. Which had meant, like his elder brother, Cooler, before him, he had been officially handed over his own portion of the family business and left to his own devices. He had been excited about the prospect for many years, helping to manage the Planet Trade Organization under his father's supervision. And while he was indeed enamored to be free of Daddy's leash, he had come to the dismal realization of just how lacking in ambition King Cold really was.
Most wouldn't think that of him, of course. After all, King Cold abandoned his 'duty' as leader of their clan in favor of more lucrative pursuits. And what a unique business it was – the merchandizing of planets. Of course, there had been Arcosians's in the past who had attempted the venture, but none as successful as the Cold family. Yet, once Frieza had gotten his hands on the actual numbers, he had been sorely disappointed. In all the time since the PTO had been first established, his family had only managed to conquer a few hundred worlds. And over half of those conquests had been Cooler's doing of all things.
Frankly, the entire gambit had turned out to be as unimpressive to him as this meal. Feeling unusually out of sorts over the matter, he decided to turn to his guilty pleasure – wine. He turned his head to look at the servant standing in the corner with the bottle. He immediately scurried up without a word, filling a glass for him and returning to his spot. Frieza lifted the corner of his mouth in dry amusement at the sight. That was another thing. Why in the worlds did they pay someone to hold a bottle? He added a mental note to enslave a few lowly races for such menial tasks as soon as possible. It would certainly save his portion of the organization a lot of money.
But that was but a minor task for the future. He, Lord Frieza, had much bigger plans in mind. His father and brother were more than content to stick to the old ways of recruiting mercenaries for the job of obtaining planets. These contracts were tedious, filled with conditions, and the mercenaries very often devalued the planets by leaving them in a wreck. At that point, you might as well just blow it up.
Frieza smiled a little at the thought. He'd only gotten away with doing it a handful of times now, but there was truly no more beautiful sight than entire planet exploding, the showers of fire shooting out into space and dying as the core detonated. Father disapproved of the idea. And Cooler was so busy trying to make Daddy like him even half as much as he did Frieza that he also supposedly disapproved. But honestly, some planets were good for nothing else. And what better way to convince an entire galaxy that you were worth fearing than blowing planets up? And once the two of them saw just how successful his plan was, they would surely start doing the same as if it had been their idea all along.
After all, he, Lord Frieza, wanted far more than just a successful business. And yet, what he wanted was very simple. He wanted everything. His one true desire ever since he had started assisting his father was to be the supreme ruler and sole owner of everything in existence – everything that was worth owning, at least. The rest could burn. As if to make this point clearer to himself, he reached out across the table to the least desirable dish and let it turn to slag under his outstretched hand. The wine server in the corner started to sweat and Frieza chuckled with amusement as the mixture of charcoal and melted ceramic sludged down onto the tablecloth, the fabric sizzling as it too burned.
Of course, he knew such an ambition was no small thing, even for a mighty being such as him. He certainly had the power to do it. It had been clear to him from a very young age that he was destined to be the strongest being in the universe. His family had always been a metaphorical head and shoulders above all else, but compared to even that he was a towering giant. His family boasted such incredible power that they needed to develop secondary forms for the sole purpose of properly controlling it. But yet unknown to them was the fact that Frieza had recently conceived a third form. And he was certain he hadn't even begun to tap his full strength.
Frieza considered his wine and took a good size drink of it. Yes, beyond a doubt he would always be able to physically overcome any obstacle presented to him. But it would take more than a mere heavy hand to become the Emperor of the Universe, as he dreamed. He would need to exploit every resource possible available to him. His control would have to be absolute. And what's more, there was the disconcerting issue that Cooler had come into the business far before him and thus had a frustrating lead on him. Cooler was a fool, but he had his ways and his own considerable strength. If he was going to surpass his brother's slice of the organization, he would have to obtain some kind of edge.
He noticed his soup again and ate another spoonful.
There was a very quiet clearing of a throat. "My Lord Frieza?" His red eyes shifted to his attendant standing in the other corner of the room. "Pardon, Lord. I was asked to inform you that you have a request."
"Lovely," Frieza said with disinterest, fiddling with his spoon again, "Alright, what is it?"
"The Banquet Brigade have returned from their mission. They say they 'found' something while on duty and would like to present it to you."
"Mm," he grunted, thinking. Mercenaries had their uses, but one thing that bothered him about having them as his sole underlings was they tended to keep anything of value to themselves. So if they had recovered something while clearing a world, it must be something they hoped he would give them an ample reward for. He weighed the spoon in his hand, considering this. "Very well. Are they in the tower?"
"Yes, my lord," his tiny attendant replied, "They arrived just this morning."
He sighed with uncertainty and sat the spoon aside. "Send for them."
"My lord," he bowed.
Frieza gazed absently out the large window straight ahead of him while he waited for the Brigade to make their appearance with their 'find', an impressive cityscape stretching before him. This was one of the planets his father had gifted him on his name day. It was a lovely world with a green sky and pink and yellow floral that dotted the distance. Quite quaint, really. In any case, it did well as a seat of power for now. Though, he knew once his ambition was fulfilled he could do much better than this.
The wine server quickly and silently refilled his glass before the door at last opened and the seven members of the Banquet Brigade entered…no, wait, six. One of their lot was missing for some reason. His curiosity was further pricked when he saw what they had brought with them – a tightly sealed metal box suspended between two of their members on a metal rod. It was strange that it took two of them to carry it – the box was quite small and certainly didn't look like anything a single weakling couldn't carry. Yet here two powerful warriors were at it. He did note, though, that the box was severely rattling and shaking and an angry shrieking noise could be heard coming from within.
My word, I hope it's not some exotic animal their hoping I'd take as a pet, he thought dryly, That would be extremely disappointing.
"Lord Frieza," spoke Captain Cuisine, a small but powerfully built man who liked to stand with his ankles together, "Thank you for gracing me and my men with this audience!"
"Mm, yes," Frieza mildly returned. His long, thick tail slithered to a new position in his chair, "I was told you 'found' something and wish to present to me." Frieza gave the tiny box an ever so small frown of annoyance as it shrieked and rattled again, interrupting the end of his sentence.
"That would be correct, Lord Frieza!" Captain Cuisine continued to explain, "There is an item of great significance in the box you see before you. Normally, the Banquet Brigade would keep such matters to ourselves."
As if that much wasn't already obvious, Frieza internally grumbled.
"But…" The captain grew unusually quiet for a moment, which caught the arcosian prince's interest. It wasn't like Captain Cuisine to stop in the middle of a sentence. He put his hand above the box, but didn't dare rest his palm on the rattling thing. "What we found was so terrible, Lord, that we're frankly at our wit's end."
"Oh…?" Frieza leaned forward slightly, yet another notch of his curiosity raised. That was very unlike these mercenary types. They never showed a client weakness and they certainly never came to a client for help, which was what they appeared to be doing. Normally, such an idea would anger him, but something told him something truly significant was happening right now. And he was eager to hear more.
"Yes!" Cuisine sharply nodded. The two holding up the box tightened their grip on the rod as it the contents shrieked again. Cuisine eyed the box for a moment, trying not to sweat. "We're not sure when it happened. But at some point, our seventh member, Appetizer, was…replaced. I'm not talking about a clever impersonation. It was like the thing became him." He held up a hand, waving his arm slightly. "Now I know my men. There was no difference between them. Not on the mission you gave us or anything."
"I can back that claim, Lord Frieza!" insisted Salad, standing to the far left, "Appetizer and I were best buds. Not only he act just like him, there's nothing Appetizer knew that this thing didn't."
"None whatsoever?" Frieza returned, resting his nose on his folded hands.
All six of them shook their heads. "We were none the wiser," Cuisine continued, "That's why, as I said before, I can't even tell you for how long this was going on. All we know for certain is that when we did our routine medical checks on our way back here, the scan revealed that several of Appetizers organs had grown back." Frieza shifted his head ever so slightly and Cuisine cleared his throat. "Pardon, let me explain. Appetizer had lost several minor organs years ago in a major injury in battle. He was thankfully able to live without them. So when the scan showed that those organs were suddenly back, I knew in my gut something was up."
He would, Frieza considered, The others perhaps could be fooled easily enough, but I would consider Captain Cuisine an intelligent man. The fact that something was able to deceive him into thinking it was one of his men for as long as it did is surprising indeed.
"After that, we naturally confronted Appetizer and started vigorously questioning him. He answered all questions without fault. But when I decided to detain him just to be safe anyways, that's when the fight started."
"I'm telling you, it was freaky," Salad interjected again, "Appetizer was my best bud. We fought together for years. He fought just like him."
Cuisine held up a hand to stop the interruption. "But eventually, something strange happened. It was like Appetizer's energy just ran out. And then…" He swallowed and pointed a finger at the rattling box. "He turned into the thing inside that box and escaped into our ship's vents. It's only by sheer luck we happened to catch it after that."
"I see," Frieza answered, once more studying the violent box, "And yet, Captain, I fail to see how this involves me."
"I'm not at all implying that our problem is somehow your problem, Lord Frieza," Cuisine quickly replied, getting nervous, "But like I said, Lord, we're at our wit's end. And if you could somehow help us solve this…the Banquet Brigade is willing to perform up to five jobs for you, no charge."
"That is the offer of a desperate man," Frieza blatantly observed. He grasped his wine glass and twisted the stem between his fingers and thumb. "Though one must wonder…if this 'thing' is of such great concern to you, why haven't you simply put an end to it?"
Captain Cuisine's face twitched with embarrassment. "Believe me, I'd like nothing more. But…we not even certain if it can die."
Frieza almost laughed.
"Or if there are more of it around. Or how it managed to impersonate one of my men. Or what else it can do. We know almost nothing about it and that just doesn't sit well with me." He gritted his teeth. "And believe me, Lord, it wasn't for lack of trying." He pounded his fist against his palm. "We put the thing through a very rigorous interrogation. We couldn't even get it to give us its name."
The Arcosian raised his nose off his knuckles. "Not even its name, you say? And you're certain it's capable of speech?"
His men looked uneasily at the box. "Oh, we're very certain of that," Cuisine assured, "The one thing we know from our efforts is that it Appetizer died on the ship at some point. We found a piece of his remains lodged in our ship's garbage disposal." The captain crossed an arm over his chest and gave Frieza a deep bow. "If your lordship could do anything to uncover more of the truth of what happened to our fellow in arms, the Banquet Brigade would be indebted to you."
Frieza hummed, his red eyes shifting down to watch his wine as it slowly sloshed in his glass. Wanting to have full knowledge of what happened to one of his underlings is plausible enough. His eyes locked onto their sweaty brows and lifted one corner of his mouth. But no. Whatever it is that's inside that box is so terrible they're desperate to be rid of it. It has left them shaking in their boots. Very unlike the Banquet Brigade. He looked at his reflection in his wine, the corner of his mouth still ever so slightly lifted. A creature that can become someone else. Is such a thing really possible? Would make for an exquisite monster indeed. What to do then…I must admit at this point I have become hopelessly curious…yes, at very least, I will entertain the notion for a little longer…
Frieza sat the glass down. "Very well. You have earned yourself a little more of my time." His gaze zeroed in intently on the box, the shaking dying down a little again. "I wish to see it for myself."
Captain Cuisine drew a breath and nodded. "But of course, Lord Frieza." He motioned his men aside and carefully unlocked the box with an electronic key. He put his hand atop it, the tension in the air palpable. Frieza waited. Cuisine tensed and gave an almost battle-cry, quickly opening and pealing it from the creature inside like an egg-shell, throwing it aside.
There was another angry shriek, this time loud and clear, echoing through the room. The two men held tightly on the rod, moving as far away as they could from the creature that thrashed in the stocks in the center of it. Cuisine moved aside, allowing Frieza to see. The lord couldn't help but be immediately amused. After all, here were six powerful mercenaries shying away in terror from something that resembled little more than a fluffy white rabbit.
Yes, rabbit was the best word for it. And not even an ordinary rabbit, but a child's toy version of one – its head and feet comically large and round. Yet behind that soft, harmless exterior was a pair of menacing fangs that bared as it reeled, hissed, and shrieked and hungry black orbs for eyes with red pits that burned with dominance and disdain. In short, Frieza knew another monster when he saw one. Captain Cuisine hadn't exaggerated.
He hadn't exaggerated about putting the creature through a vigorous interrogation either. The thing was covered with cuts, scratches, bruises, and scorch marks, one of its eyes badly swollen. And yet it was completely undaunted by its captors, turning its head this way and that to give them each a menacing glare. It then noticed the wine server and attendant in opposing corners of the room and gave them both an equal share of the monster's look of death. Both servants nearly crumbled where they stood.
The creature sneered and at last turned its wicked, hungry eyes on Frieza himself. To the lord's great interest, the creature's visage of dominance suddenly plummeted into a look of horror and fear, its large, fluffy ears falling back and its little body shrinking into a ball, eyes wide. Frieza very much would have enjoyed the idea of his reputation proceeding him, but he was still fairly unknown in the universe. And yet this creature was completely mortified by the very sight of him.
Could it be, Frieza thought with wonder, That this creature somehow knows how strong I am just by looking at me?
"I know it doesn't look like much," Cuisine spoke.
"On the contrary, Captain," Frieza replied, the end of his tail rippling, "I think I'm getting a very clear picture of what sort of position you're in."
The creature gave a short chortle of surprise and then gritted her fangs at him.
Captain Cuisine looked relieved. "Thank you, Lord Frieza."
"Now, let me make sure I have all the facts straight," Frieza continued, resting his nose on his knuckles again, "You are certain this being before me is the creature that replaced one of your men?"
"Yes, Lord."
"And you are certain it is capable of all that you described? Of completely replicating another in speech, action, and memory? And that it didn't dispose a single piece of information to you under brutal interrogation?"
"Yes, that is all correct." A vivid hope and relief passed over the Banquet Brigade and their prisoner seethed with frustration, its fluffy face wrinkled and twitching.
"One last thing." He looked Cuisine dead in the eye, the light glinting off his straight, black horns. "And this is very important. Has any of this information reached the ears of those outside this room?"
Cuisine looked at his men, receiving silent cues from each of them. "No, Lord Frieza. We've handled this all on our own till now. And now we entrust it solely to you." He gave a short bow.
Frieza's purple lips spread. "Thank you, Captain. I do believe I am quite capable of handling the situation from here." He lifted a finger.
The creature squealed as everyone in the room dropped dead – from the Banquet Brigade to the two servants – their pierced bodies hitting the floor all around it and leaking blood. Its red pupils turned to dots as it gaped up at Frieza, who still sat casually at his dinner table.
"Y…you…" whispered its baby-like voice.
"Hm, hm, hm, hm, hm," Frieza slowly chuckled, "Looks like someone finally got a word out of you." He lifted himself up out of his chair, his three large toes spreading as touched ground. Arms folded behind him, he walked towards the rabbit.
The creature's heart shuddered with terror with every movement he made, his lips posed in a flat smirk and his red eyes locked on it. Its tiny limbs clenched desperately in the metal stocks, its visage a mixture of fear and rage as the edges of Frieza's shadow fell over it. The blood of the men who had been holding it up pooled slowly towards it. Its deathly eyes shone desperately and it lurched in the stocks, leaning and stretching out its tongue towards the red soaked carpet.
Frieza observed this with the fascination of an intelligent child. "How curious," he remarked, "You're trying to drink blood." Its tongue stretched long and hard towards the slowly approaching stain of blood. But just as it neared the tip of its tongue, it found it instead pinched in the cold, hard fingers of Frieza, gently turning its head his way, his eyes heartless and amused. The creature squeaked and gave a little moan, almost like a preparatory death thrall.
Frieza observed its gaze carefully and after a moment he understood why Captain Cuisine had questioned whether this little monster could be killed. Looking into those red pits, he didn't see life. He only saw death. Frieza found himself gazing into the depths of empty, pitiless death itself. And in return, he found himself smiling back. This creature…he had a strong inkling it wasn't even alive. Though its tongue trembled in his grip, there was no feeling of a living thing to it. It wasn't warm or breathing or gushing with anything. It just was. And yet it was nothing.
He found those eyes curiouser still as he continued gazing into them. They were filled with pure, absolute terror. Oh yes, he was quite used to the members of his staff and servants looking at him with stifling fear, but that was because they knew what he was capable of. And while yes, this creature had witnessed a taste of it, it had been looking at him this same way since the moment it had laid eyes on him. There was more as well. Behind the fear was a great disdain, the same kind of disdain he himself gave to all lesser beings. This thing was terrified of him, and yet it still considered him somehow beneath it.
And last of all, there was a clear quality of desire and hunger.
The creature studied his own eyes just as intently, occasionally giving little high pitch moans that fluttered between anger and desperation. Though Frieza knew it was childish, he found himself quite enjoying just holding the little beast prisoner by the tongue like this. But like all good things, it didn't last for long. A hissing snarl rose deep in that tiny throat and the rabbit lurched forward, latching onto his hand with its razor teeth. But to the creature's horror, despite its best efforts, its fangs failed to break his skin.
"Hmmm," Frieza lifted a corner of his purple lips. His fingers turned slowly inside the creature's mouth, curling in like a hook. The creature shrieked as a tiny energy beam burst through its right cheek, shattering the right handle of the stocks that held it as well. It flew backwards, crashing into Frieza's meal with a small splatter of icky brown blood. It ran down the creature's face, thick and sticky like it had started to rot somehow. "Now that I have your undivided attention," he cool and smugly spoke, "Allow me to introduce myself." He gave the thing a short, polite bow. "I am Lord Frieza, soon to be the undisputed ruler of the known universe."
The creature hissed and trembled, glaring as it held a tiny, fuzzy hand to its cheek. "Food," it callously replied, "You are food."
"Aah," he gently purred, "Though it would seem I was a bit much for you to swallow." The creature shivered and glared with resentment. "Hmph. Tell me. Who are you?"
The furry thing lit with challenge and sneered once more, recoiling against a stuffed and lightly roasted water fowl. "No one," it hissed, "And nothing."
"No one?" he mused, reaching down and sticking a finger into the sauce the creature squatted in. He brought it to his mouth and tasted it with a light smack. "What a curious response. Perhaps then, I will simply call you Un." The rabbit's face unwrinkled slightly, its overly large ears lifting. "Arcosian Trade Speak is so much less cumbersome than Universal, wouldn't you say? No one and nothing – yes, Un will quite do in its place."
The sneer hesitated and then bared once more. "What do you want with me?" its baby-voice growled.
"Mm. That depends," he remarked, "What is it that you want?"
"To drink you."
"Hohoho!" he laughed as though it had just said the jolliest thing. His face then hardened and he rested the back of his hand down on the table. "Come here then, Un."
The creature looked stunned at this command – a command that just simply was, without hesitation or threat – as though by dubbing this creature with a name he had somehow placed a spell over it. It tilted, bearing forward with open, tiny jaws as though it were tasting the air over his palm, cooing and hissing like a beast familiarizing itself with a new den. It shuffled against the weight of the remaining handle and with a skip and a jump it was neatly standing in Frieza's palm, its oversized rabbit feet hanging over the edges.
Frieza squinted with approval, his fingers closing in as he lifted the creature up. It wasn't quite a palm-sized being, but standing at around a foot – discounting the ears – and weighing very little, he held it as easily and naturally as a wine glass. "Now then." He pressed the tip of his forefinger to the center of the creature's stocks. The binds grew glowing cracks and shattered like exploding glass, the 'Un' wincing with a squeak. "Oh my," he remarked with amusement as it gripped its reddened throat in a daze, "What will you do now, I wonder? You could try to run…but something tells me you already know that won't work. Something tells me, that it goes without saying, that if you try anything, you'll be dead before you even reach the floor." He squinted again with glee. "That the only real reason you're still alive…is because I want you to be."
AUTHOR NOTE
Hello, beloved readers. First, I wanted to apologize for making you wait so long for an update. These have been a very hard last few months for me. A lot of personal matters have been mucking up my life. I've really missed my work as a DBZ writer. I can't tell you how anxious I've been to upload something. I hope I won't have to wait nearly as long for the next one. You all are like a breath of air to me.
Second, I want to take a moment to do some dedication. The King and No One is a project I have been planning for some time, inspired by my loyal fan and enthusiastic reviewer, Ryu No Ohi. She was one of the first people to look at my writing as not just a really good fanfic, but as a piece of literature. Her examinations and feedback on every chapter, as well as the PM conversations we've had, have been an enormous aid to me as I continue to expand the DBZ timeline. I would also like to dedicate this story to my brother Doncroft, the other mega Frieza fan in my life. He has encouraged and driven me in my writing to the point of aggravation. I hold him as a key element in the success of my work.
The King and No One will continue in the next upload. I had originally meant to place this special chapter at the end of the story, but with the turmoil that has been happening in my life lately, I needed a brief change of pace. I hope you're all looking forward to the rest of The King and No One, as well as the next chapter of Dragon Ball Z: A Good Man.