AN: 8D So glad to be on FF. I've been stuck in my deviantART bubble for a while now, and I thought it was finally time to get one of these. So, yeah. Everyone's like, "NO ONE WATCHES DBZ ANYMORE." Well, I'm sorry. Team Four Star got me into it, and (gasp) I'd never seen it before. But I really liked it, especially Frieza. C8 Well…I was watching the Kai version. Oh, Frieza's original voice…XD His Kai voice is amazing, though. Anyways, yeah, hope you enjoy this story. Have many more chapters coming.

He was half-conscious again. But this time it was different. He didn't have a feeling of comfort. A wonderful, warm feeling of being at ease.

He was cold. His entire body was aching. He felt like he couldn't move one single muscle. A feeling of helplessness he wasn't accustomed to. It was horrible.

"Father, I think he's coming to…"

The sound of shuffling.

Frieza managed a groan, groggily waking up. Slowly, he opened an eye.

His Father, King Cold, and Cooler were staring expectantly at him.

"Welcome back," Cold said slowly, producing a small smile. It was a strange sight for Frieza.

"Father…what…what happened?" The little Arcosian mumbled, reluctantly opening the other eye. He tried to sit up, but cried out in pain and immediately lay back down.

"Don't," Cold warned. "You were…damaged pretty badly. I'm guessing…you heard about the news, then?"

Frieza growled, a mad flame beginning to rekindle within him before his brother and father shouted in unison, "Frieza, ino/i."

"I can…I can understand your feelings. I was…feeling similarly," Cold frowned, seeming to be lost in his thoughts, before he gave a small shake of his head to break himself out of it. "You…you went berserk. Destroyed a good portion of the ship."

Frieza's eyes widened, a small gasp escaping his lips. He…really couldn't remember much. But…with all of his injuries, it actually seemed possible. But…he wasn't powerful. He'd never gotten into a fight in his life. Sure, he'd been taught some self-defense, but never any actual fighting techniques.

"Wait, Father, where are we now?" The boy asked, trying to look around the room without moving his neck. He was in some sort of hospital, he deduced. Some kind of IV was hooked to his arm. It didn't seem to be transferring blood…maybe some sort of catalyst for healing?

"The ship was in tatters…landing it wasn't an easy feat," The King sighed with a small chuckle.

Frieza was confused. Why wasn't he being punished? That ship was huge. Expensive. And he had torn it to pieces. Father should have been enraged.

"But luckily," Cold continued, "These people are peaceful, and Cooler and I got them to cooperate. As long as they help you recover, we won't hurt them. I do believe they've heard of the Planet Trade System…and my own reputation."

The Planet Trade System…his Father had recently created it. Well, before Frieza was born, that is. But what he recalled about it was…they relocated the natives…and settled people from the Cold Empire onto them. His Father didn't mention it to him very much, though. He'd hear bits and pieces, though, when he would occasionally sneak out of bed and eavesdrop on the throne room. Talks of planets and races being 'taken care of'. Frieza wasn't a fool; there was some violence going on to capture these large pieces of real estate.

Cooler had begun to wander off, feeling he wasn't needed anymore. He truthfully didn't want to be there, anyways. Although he would never admit it aloud, his kid brother had actually frightened him with his violence spree. He had run off, and few minutes later an agonized shriek had sounded throughout the corridors. A colossal explosion blew Cooler back. He had been lucky he wasn't in the actual fire. Then suddenly the ship had started spiraling out of control, followed by more explosions and screaming. Cooler had blacked out after that, head colliding with the wall.

It was hard to believe that Frieza, only the age of six, had done all that.

But…only his father, himself, and Frieza had been on the ship. That had been…all they could save.

It had started out a typical night. Mother put Frieza to bed, Father was conversing with some of his men about something Cooler wasn't concerned with, and he was up on the roof.

Cooler enjoyed times of solitude and quiet like this. If he wasn't busy, this is how he would spend every night. The full moon was out tonight, and the distant stars were shining brilliantly.

Sometimes, an Arcosian young woman would spot him and try to get him to come down. Cooler would smile, trying to be polite, and just back farther away to the center of the roof, where no one else would see him. He wasn't iquite/i ready to start looking for a mate yet…

When he was just beginning to relax, close his eyes, and listen to the noises of the night, he heard it.

A loud, high-pitched whine.

Cooler grunted, startled, and sat up quickly. He glanced around. Everything seemed fine. Had he imagined it?

A scream from the streets below soon followed.

Cooler was immediately on his feet, confused. What in the world-?

Beams, pulses, and waves began to rain down from the sky.

The Arcosian's reaction was graceful, as if it had been practiced. He jumped, sliding down the roof and landed on a pillar below. He clenched his jaw with tension, scanning the sky from where the destructive forces were coming from.

Ships. Ships everywhere. And not just of one race, either. No…this was some sort of…plotted ambush.

"Father!" Cooler found himself shrieking, rushing into the palace.

Cold was already aware of the situation, it seemed. He was giving hurried orders to his elites, who were literally flying away and out of the palace, almost knocking Cooler back.

"Father! Father, what's going on?" The adolescent demanded, skipping the stairs and jumping straight to the balcony to reach the King.

"They're rebelling. All of the planets I've…the Planet Trade Organization…" Cold suddenly slammed his tail to the ground, scowling. "Cooler, go get Frieza. Get to my ship. Start it up. I'll take care of these imbeciles."

The eldest Prince blinked, eyes widening. With the way he was talking…

No. No, he was probably just…being dramatic.

Cooler watched only for a moment as his father soared out to the double doors, but then followed his order and ran to the left hallway. His Father always seemed to know what to do in these sorts of situations. He would have to trust him.

He turned, and kept running straight up the hall when he unexpectedly bumped into someone that was coming from another adjacent corridor.

"Hey! Watch where…" Cooler blinked, realizing who it was. "Mother, oh…forgive me."

The Queen slowly looked up to meet her eldest son's eyes, and suddenly embraced him, beginning to weep bitterly.

Cooler, caught off guard, was frozen in shock for a moment, before he reluctantly placed his own arms around his Mother, trying to soothe her.

"Mother…it's okay. It's going to be all right…" The male Arcosian mumbled awkwardly. Luckily for him, she quieted down promptly, and backed up a step, yet kept her eyes firmly locked to his.

"C-Cooler…Cooler…" She whispered, still sobbing a bit. "I-I want you to promise me…to look out for your brother."

"Frieza?" Cooler replied, almost wearily. His brother…aggravated him, most of the time.

"Yes, Cooler. Promise me. Keep an eye on him. For me."

Cooler nodded, giving a bit of a strange look. She made it sound like people were going to be out to kill him…

The Arcosians looked up abruptly, alarmed by the sudden shouts from outside. Wild, angry shouts. Which quickly turned into screams, accompanied with explosions.

Someone, although Cooler couldn't tell whom the voice belonged to, shrieked, "GET OUT OF THERE! THEY'RE GOING TO DESTROY THE ENTIRE PALACE!"

The Arcosian prince didn't have time to talk, so he merely took his mother's hand and began tearing through the hallways again, until he reached Frieza's room. He opened the door, and carefully picked him up with his free arm. He was so puny; only about two feet tall.

He was sleeping like a rock. Of COURSE. He didn't have to go through any of this because he was SLEEPING.

iLucky little bitch…/i Cooler sighed inwardly with an eyeroll.

Their home was already going down. So the escape might as well be fun, the prince thought with a minor smirk.

"Mother, hold on," The adolescent warned. The Queen nodded, taking hold of her son's shoulders.

And with that, he blasted a hole through the roof with a death beam, crouched down, and jumped out with all his might.

Cooler's mind was quickly set awhirl with all the sights he suddenly took in. The entire city seemed to be burning. About half the palace had fallen into a flaming pile; it was a good thing he jumped out when he did.

All different sorts of races were terrorizing the streets. The eldest prince growled. The citizens had done nothing. If anything, they were trying to crush Father's spirits by destroying his race. That was it. They were after the King, the leader of the Planet Trade Organization.

He saw the elites and his father, trying to keep the peace, attacking and putting down the threats. His Father was powerful, but it had been quite a while since he had fought this earnestly. And there were simply too many.

Suddenly, they were swarming. All towards Cold.

Cooler, panicked, foolishly cried out, "Father!" down in his direction.

He immediately regretted it when he saw nearby rebels point at him and exclaim variants of, "Prince Cooler!"

"Well don't just stand there, capture him for ransom!" An enraged voice from the small crowd snarled.

As soon as the command had been given, five men were flying up towards him.

iWell, damn./i

"Mother, take Frieza." Cooler said it so quickly it became one word. As soon as his brother had left his arms, he fired a rapid barrage of death beams at the assailants, and flew fast as he possibly could out of there.

To the Prince's dismay, he found it was difficult to fly swiftly while carrying two passengers. He needed to get them to the ship. Now.

"Cooler…"

The Prince blinked in alarm, seeing that Frieza was beginning to rouse.

"Cooler…what's going on?"

"Shh, it's nothing. Just go back to sleep," The older brother replied wearily. "You're safe, just…sleep. Now."

Frieza seemed only half-conscious, but was apparently contented with the answer as he closed his eyes again.

"You're a good brother," The Queen said softly, sounding amused.

Cooler responded with an eye roll and a dissatisfied, "Hmm…"

"When we get to the ship, I need you to hide yourself and Frieza. Okay?" The Prince added now, remembering the situation at hand. "I'll join up with Father and we'll fight them off, and we'll tell you when it's safe to come out. Don't worry, we'll rebuild this city and—"

iKer-EEEEEEN!/i

The situation that happened next seemed almost surreal. Cooler felt a beam of ki whiz past his head, and an abrupt gasp from his mother. Her grip on his shoulders lifted, and he was suddenly watching his mother fall.

Cooler dove, and caught an unconscious Frieza with his tail, and then reached his arm out to grab the Queen.

But she was already dead. A hole blown through her chest.

He let her fall, shaking with shock and anger. Then the anger bloomed and grew, turning into a thick cloud of rage.

"Y-you bastards…" Cooler hissed, giving a purely venomous look to the attackers. Tears began to form in his eyes, which the brutes began chortling at.

"Look at the mighty Prince Cooler now!" One of them jeered.

"Reduced to a sniveling child," Another one heckled.

The prince's left eye twitched. He had snapped. Slowly, cautiously, he set Frieza down, and before the attackers could blink, he had whipped his tail around one of their necks, strangling the man.

The other three shouted their comrade's name in shock, and then they were upon him.

A green, lizard-like man grabbed his tail, trying to free his comrade, but was quickly dealt with as Cooler fired a death beam straight as his head.

The young Arcosian gasped in pain as he was kicked in the abdomen by a bulky, red-skinned man, and received a blast of ki from the short, orange-haired young man.

Cooler began to feel dizzy. He was bleeding out from his abdomen, now. He began to fall, before he was caught by one of the goons.

"This one will get us a good bit of—" The man abruptly gasped, and someone else was suddenly holding the prince.

"Cooler. Cooler, wake up. Son, I need you."

Cooler grunted, eyes flickering.

"Father?"

"Cooler. We have to get out of here. The Oozaru—"

"The Oozaru are here?" The prince gasped, half-pained by his wound and half-shocked by the revelation.

"Yes. My elites…say they'll try to get the civilians to the pods. Are Frieza and your mother in the ship?"

Cooler cringed, shaking his head slowly.

"Frieza's…down there, but…F-Father, I'm sorry. She's…" The younger Arcosian trailed off, tears silently sliding down his plum flesh.

Cold stood frozen at the heavy blow, eyes large in distress. But he didn't cry. If anything, he seemed lost, the fighting spark gone out from him.

Cooler took this moment to retrieve Frieza, and soared back up to the King. He was still immobile with shock.

"Father…Father, we must go now," The eldest prince prompted. King Cold seemed to snap out of his trance at this, and gave a terse nod.

They went aboard the ship. Cooler started it, but Cold gave an authoritative glare, saying his son wasn't going to drive.

The adolescent placed Frieza on the floor of the main loading room, and the ship was off.

Not wanting to miss anything, Cooler rejoined his father out on the ship's balcony. They were high up in the atmosphere now, but their kind could survive in these conditions. Even though the prince had been expecting it, he began trembling at witnessing the many explosions and mushroom clouds surrounding the small planet. It would all be gone soon.

"Cooler…get back."

The younger Arcosian immediately did as his father said, seeing the orange, fiery ball forming on the tip of his index finger.

"Hopefully some of the others have gotten away…" He continued with a sigh. "If not…then I beg their apology."

"Father! Give them more time before you do something this drastic!" Cooler pleaded, tail beginning to twitch slightly in nervousness.

"Cooler, you're still just a boy, you don't understand!"

The prince blinked, genuinely surprised. He didn't recall the last time he saw his father lose his calm. Then again…during this dire situation…

"I can't let our attackers merrily go on their way after this slaughter. This will be a lesson…to this system—no, this entire galaxy. If you strike me…I will strike back even harder. I will have to find a way to keep these races on a tighter leash."

The supernova was swelling to the size of half their moon now. After a few more moments, Cold flicked it at his own planet. He turned, and walked back into the ship, in a distant state once again.

Cooler stayed and watched as the giant, fiery ball crashed into his home. As the planet began to crumble, an overwhelming sense of loneliness settled into him.

iGoodbye, my friends. Goodbye, Arcos…/i