The void of space stretched endlessly before her, a canvas of absolute darkness punctuated by the cold light of distant stars.
Freeza flew through this emptiness, her white hair streaming behind her like a comet's tail, her body leaving no trail in the vacuum where sound couldn't carry her screams.
She had fled. She, Freeza, Empress of the Universe, conqueror of a thousand worlds, had fled.
From what? From a human and an infant. From feelings she couldn't name. From weakness she refused to acknowledge.
The memory of Toji's face as he cradled their son burned in her mind. The tenderness in his expression, so alien to her experience, had triggered something inside her - something terrifying in how unfamiliar it was.
"Pathetic," she whispered, though no sound emerged in the vacuum. "Absolutely pathetic."
For centuries, she had ruled her empire with perfect clarity. Decisions were made with cold precision, emotions relegated to occasional amusement or irritation - never this... this churning chaos that now consumed her thoughts.
A memory surfaced: Toji standing before her on Namek, unflinching despite her power.
Not cowering like the countless beings she'd encountered throughout her long life.
Not worshipping like her soldiers.
Not calculating advantage like her brother.
Simply... equal.
Equal.
The word itself felt strange.
Before Toji, she had known only two categories of beings: those beneath her, and Beerus, who existed in a realm so far above that comparison was meaningless.
The God of Destruction wasn't an equal - he was a force of nature, a reminder that even she had limits.
But Toji... Toji was different.
Born with power matching her own. A mind sharp enough to challenge her intellect. A moral framework that, like hers, prioritized his own desires above conventional ethics - yet somehow fundamentally different in ways she couldn't fully articulate.
He was... fascinating.
Another memory: Toji laughing as they hunted together, the sound rich and genuine.
Not the nervous laughter of subordinates, not the cruel chuckle of fellow tyrannical subjects, but something real. Something she found herself wanting to hear again.
And then there was the child.
Her son.
The thought sent a jolt of something unfamiliar through her chest. She had created life before - her transformations were, in essence, new forms she designed and built.
But this was different. The infant had her eyes, Toji's hair, features that combined them both in ways she found... beautiful.
When she'd first looked at him, something ancient and primal had stirred within her. A desire to protect, to nurture, to... love.
The emotion had terrified her more than facing Beerus himself.
Love was weakness. Love was vulnerability. Love was what she had exploited countless times to break her enemies.
She had forced parents to watch their children die, spouses to kill one another, siblings to fight to the death - all to demonstrate the fundamental weakness of emotional attachment.
And now, she felt it herself. This... pull toward another being. This irrational desire for their wellbeing above logical self-interest.
It was unacceptable.
So she had fled, back to her empire, back to the cold certainty of absolute power. Back to a universe that made sense.
As she flew, stars streaked past in luminous trails. Her fifth form moved effortlessly through space, requiring no ship, no protection from the vacuum. She was a living weapon, perfectly designed for conquest and destruction.
Yet for the first time in her centuries-long existence, conquest seemed... hollow.
What was the point of ruling galaxies when she couldn't rule her own emotions? What value was there in being feared by trillions when one human and one infant occupied her thoughts so completely?
Ahead, a familiar star system came into view.
The Imperial Capital - a system of seven planets orbiting a massive blue star, each world terraformed to serve specific functions in her empire.
Military training on the first, scientific research on the second, luxury resorts for her elite on the third, and so on.
At the center, closest to the star, was her throne world. Even from this distance, she could make out the massive structures that dominated its surface - monuments to her power visible from space.
As she approached, her communications system activated automatically, the implant in her ear connecting to the imperial network.
"Unidentified vessel approaching the Imperial-" The voice cut off abruptly. "L-Lord Freeza? Is that you?"
She didn't bother responding. Let them scramble. Let them panic. The chaos of her sudden return would reveal which commanders were competent and which deserved execution for their lack of preparedness.
Sure enough, within moments, she detected dozens of ships launching from the planet's surface, forming into the traditional honor guard formation. Communications flooded her implant:
"All hail Lord Freeza, returned to us!"
"Prepare the palace for His Majesty's arrival!"
"Alert the Imperial Guard! Prepare the throne room!"
Freeza's lips curled into a cold smile. They still referred to her as "him" - her long-maintained deception. Only her family knew her true gender.
The rest of the universe believed the Emperor Freeza to be male, a fiction she had maintained for strategic advantage.
Perhaps it was time to correct that misunderstanding. Her new form made the deception difficult to maintain anyway.
As she descended toward the palace landing pad, she saw thousands of soldiers lined up in perfect formation, their armor gleaming in the blue star's light.
Their fear was palpable even from this height - fear mixed with relief that their leader had returned.
She landed with deliberate grace, her feet touching down lightly on the polished surface. Immediately, the assembled soldiers dropped to one knee, heads bowed.
"ALL HAIL LORD FREEZA!" they shouted in unison, the sound echoing across the massive landing pad.
Freeza ignored them completely, striding past their rigid formations toward the palace entrance.
Her white hair flowed behind her, her tail swishing with each step. She could sense the confusion in their postures - this new form was unfamiliar to them, more obviously feminine than her previous ones.
Let them wonder. Let them whisper. Their opinions meant nothing.
The massive doors to the palace swung open as she approached, revealing the long corridor that led to her throne room.
Elite guards lined the hallway, each standing at perfect attention, eyes fixed forward, not daring to look directly at their emperor.
Freeza moved through the corridor with measured steps, her mind already shifting to imperial matters.
Reports would need to be reviewed, subordinates evaluated, territories reassessed. The routine of rule would help center her, push away the unwelcome thoughts of what - who - she had left behind.
The throne room doors loomed ahead - twenty feet tall, made from metals mined from a dozen different worlds, inlaid with gems worth more than entire planetary economies.
They parted silently as she approached, the room beyond dimly lit as she preferred.
Freeza stepped into her throne room, expecting to find her advisors waiting with reports and updates on the empire's status during her absence.
Instead, she froze.
Seated upon her throne was a massive figure, easily eight feet tall even while sitting. Gleaming bio-armor, polished to a mirror shine.
Curved horns extending majestically from a regal head. A face that resembled her 2nd forms, but broader, more masculine, with age lines that spoke of centuries of rule.
King Cold. Her father.
For perhaps the first time in decades, Freeza felt genuine surprise. Cold rarely left his own throne world, preferring to rule his portion of the empire from a distance, leaving the active expansion to his children.
The king's eyes - the same violet shade as her own - regarded her with an unreadable expression.
Slowly, with deliberate grace that belied his enormous size, Cold rose from the throne. Standing, he towered at his full height of 8'8", dwarfing Freeza's fifth forms' 5'8" frame. His tail, thicker and longer than her own, curled elegantly behind him.
He descended the steps from the dais, each footfall echoing in the cavernous room. As he approached, Freeza maintained her composure, though her mind raced.
Why was he here? What did he know? What did he want?
Cold stopped before her, looking down from his impressive height, his expression still inscrutable. The silence stretched between them, heavy with unspoken questions.
Then, with a speed, Cold moved.
His massive arms wrapped around Freeza, lifting her off her feet in a crushing bear hug. His booming voice filled the throne room:
"MY DAUGHTER! I feared you had met the same fate as your brother!"
Freeza's body went rigid with shock.
Physical contact was not something the Cold family engaged in casually - or at all, really. The last time her father had touched her had been centuries ago, during combat training.
"Father," she managed, her voice strained both from surprise and the pressure of his hug. "Release me. Immediately."
Cold chuckled, the sound rumbling through his massive chest, but complied, setting her back on her feet. His hands remained on her shoulders, his eyes scanning her new form with evident interest.
"This transformation suits you beautifully, my precious daughter," he said, his voice carrying the cultured tones that had instructed galactic diplomats and ordered planetary destructions with equal ease. "Far more appropriate than that masculine facade you've maintained all these centuries."
Freeza stepped back, breaking the physical contact. "What are you doing here, Father? And what do you mean about Cooler?"
Cold's expression shifted to one of practiced sorrow. "Ah, so you haven't heard. Your brother... is dead."
Despite herself, Freeza felt a jolt of surprise. Cooler, dead? The smug, eternally jealous brother who had been her rival since birth?
"How?" she demanded.
Cold gestured toward the throne, where a holographic display activated at his command. The image showed a distant view of Earth, then zoomed in to show a golden figure on the ground, unleashing what appeared to be a massive energy beam that engulfed a smaller figure - Cooler, she realized - before carrying him into a distant star.
"The Cooler Force witnessed it through the communication devices your brother always carried," Cold explained, his voice carrying what seemed like genuine sadness. "A golden warrior of some kind. One of the monkeys' allies, we believe. A Saiyan, perhaps, though changed somehow."
Freeza watched the footage with mixed emotions. Satisfaction that her arrogant brother had finally met his end, yes - but also a strange sense of... loss? Not grief, certainly.
She had never loved Cooler. But his existence had been a constant in her life, a measuring stick against which she had defined herself.
And there was shame, too. A Cold, defeated by a monkey? Unacceptable.
"How unfortunate," she said, her tone carefully neutral.
Cold studied her reaction, his eyes missing nothing. "Indeed. The loss of your brother is a blow to our family's prestige. The Cold Dynasty has ruled this universe for millennia. To have one of our own fall to... lesser beings... is troubling."
Freeza watched her father's performance with detached fascination. The perfect display of paternal concern, the carefully modulated voice expressing just the right amount of grief. Anyone else would believe it entirely genuine.
But Freeza knew better. She had learned the art of manipulation from the master himself. Cold didn't love his children - he saw them as extensions of himself, tools to expand his influence, vessels to carry his legacy.
A memory surfaced: herself as a child, no more than five years old in equivalent human terms, standing before her father as he explained the technique for creating transformation forms.
"Your power is too great for your body, my daughter," he had told her. "You must learn to contain it, to suppress it, to release it only when necessary."
It had been a painful process, reshaping her own cellular structure, forcing her immense power into more compact forms.
But she had succeeded, creating first one suppressive form, then another, each more efficient than the last.
Cold had been pleased with her progress. "You have surpassed your brother already," he had said. "He required years to master what you have accomplished in months."
It was the closest thing to praise she had ever received from him.
Looking at him now, Freeza wondered - as she occasionally had throughout her life - just how powerful King Cold truly was.
The official records listed his power level at 120 million, the same as her birth power. But Freeza had always suspected this was deliberate misinformation.
Her father had taught her to create suppressive forms. Had he ever revealed his true power to anyone? Did he have transformations beyond the one he currently displayed? Or had he simply achieved such perfect control that he no longer needed distinct forms?
These questions had lingered in the back of Freeza's mind for centuries. She both feared and respected her father's capabilities, aware that if he ever truly considered her a threat, she might discover answers she wouldn't survive to share.
"Your absence has been concerning," Cold continued bringing her back to the present, moving back toward the throne but not sitting.
"The empire has maintained stability, but rumors were beginning to spread. Some thought you dead. Others believed you had abandoned your responsibilities."
His tone carried a subtle reprimand, though his expression remained benevolent.
"I was... indisposed," Freeza replied carefully.
"Clearly," Cold agreed. "This new form - your fifth, I presume? It's quite remarkable. The power I sense from you has increased substantially."
He circled her slowly, examining the transformation from all angles. "The white hair is a particularly elegant touch. And the more humanoid appearance... interesting choice."
Freeza remained still, allowing his inspection. "The form was necessary. My power had grown beyond what my fourth form could comfortably contain."
"Fascinating," Cold murmured. "And what prompted this growth? Your battle with the human on Namek? Cooler mentioned encountering him as well when I communicated with him, before his... unfortunate end."
Freeza's eyes narrowed slightly. How much did her father know about Toji? About what had happened after Namek?
Before she could formulate a response, Cold suddenly froze mid-step. His nostrils flared, his head tilting slightly as if catching a scent.
His eyes widened almost imperceptibly - a minute change that would have been undetectable to anyone who didn't know him as well as Freeza did.
In an instant, Cold was before her, massive hands gripping her shoulders, face inches from hers.
"You've been pregnant," he stated flatly. Not a question - a declaration of absolute certainty. "You've had a child."
Freeza maintained her composure through sheer force of will, though internally she cursed herself.
Of course. Frost Demons could detect the hormonal changes in females who had recently given birth.
It was an evolutionary adaptation from their ancient history, when infanticide had been common among rival families.
"Where is the child?" Cold demanded, his grip tightening painfully. "What have you done with it?"
When Freeza didn't immediately answer, Cold shook her, his massive hands nearly encircling her upper arms completely.
"Where is my grandchild?" he hissed, all pretense of warmth vanishing from his expression. "You didn't kill it, did you?"
His eyes had gone cold - truly cold, reflecting the void of space rather than any living emotion.
"If you have destroyed a member of our bloodline," he continued, voice dropping to a dangerous whisper, "you will face consequences beyond imagining. Family above all, Freeza. Betrayal is not tolerated."
Freeza almost laughed at the hypocrisy. Family above all? From the being who had taught her that sentiment was weakness?
Who had pitted his children against each other from birth? Who would undoubtedly eliminate either of them without hesitation if they ever truly threatened his position?
"The child lives," she said finally, meeting his gaze without flinching. "My son remains with his father."
Cold's grip relaxed fractionally, though he didn't release her. "His father," he repeated, curiosity replacing anger in his expression. "And who might that be? Who could possibly have caught the eye of my daughter?"
The question carried layers of meaning.
In their species' long history, mating was rare and selective. Frost Demons could reproduce both asexually and sexually, but the latter was reserved for genetic combinations of significant potential.
For Freeza to have chosen a mate - especially one outside their species - was unprecedented.
Freeza carefully extracted herself from her father's grip, straightening her posture before responding.
"His name is Toji Fushiguro," she said, her voice carefully neutral. "A human from Earth."
"A human?" Cold's surprise was genuine. "How... unexpected."
"He is... unusual for his species," Freeza continued reluctantly. "Born with power equal to my own."
This information clearly startled Cold. His eyes widened, his tail twitching with interest.
"Equal to yours? A human mutation with a birth power of 120 million?" He shook his head in disbelief. "I would have thought such a being impossible."
"As would I," Freeza admitted. "Yet he exists. His potential rivals my own. His adaptability exceeds it."
Almost unconsciously, her voice took on a different quality as she continued describing Toji - his rapid learning curve, his strategic mind, his ability to master techniques after seeing them just once.
"He created entirely new ki constructs during our battle," she said, a hint of what might have been pride creeping into her tone. "Weapons, shields, traps - all improvised in the moment. His creativity in combat is... remarkable."
Cold listened with growing interest, his head tilted slightly.
"His intelligence matches his power," Freeza continued. "He understands the universe as we do - seeing beyond the artificial constraints of conventional morality, recognizing power as the ultimate authority."
She paused, realizing she had said more than intended. Cold was watching her with an expression she couldn't quite interpret - something between amusement and calculation.
"Yet he values freedom above domination," she added, almost to herself. "He seeks power not to rule others, but to ensure his own autonomy."
Cold's lips curved into a smile. "You speak of him with such pride," he observed. "Your husband must be remarkable indeed."
Freeza's composure finally cracked. "Husband?" she sputtered. "He is not-"
"No daughter of mine will be abandoned after being lain with," Cold interrupted, his voice suddenly hard as steel. "He will marry you."
"That's ridiculous," Freeza protested. "I have no interest in pair-bonding rituals. The child was an... accident. A biological anomaly I neither expected nor desired."
Cold's expression darkened. "The child is of our bloodline," he stated, as if this settled the matter entirely. "And this Toji, whatever his origins, has proven himself worthy by producing offspring of extraordinary potential with you. He will join our family officially."
"I refuse," Freeza said flatly. "I left them both behind. The matter is closed."
Cold studied her for a long moment, his expression unreadable. Then, surprisingly, his features softened.
"I'll give you one year," he said, his voice almost gentle. "One year to make it happen willingly."
Before Freeza could respond, Cold turned and activated the throne room's communication system - a massive holographic interface that connected to all corners of the empire.
"Connect me to the Cooler Force," he commanded.
The system complied instantly, projecting the image of a blue-skinned, yellow haired officer who dropped immediately to one knee upon seeing King Cold.
"Your Majesty," Salza said, head bowed. "How may the Cooler Force serve you?"
"You have a new assignment Salza," Cold announced without preamble. "In light of Lord Cooler's unfortunate demise, leadership of his territories will pass to a new Lord - the Empire's new Prince."
Freeza stared at her father in disbelief. Was he truly going to-
"Your destination is Earth," Cold continued, confirming her fears. "You will locate a human named Toji Fushiguro. You will treat him with the utmost respect and hospitality. He is to be brought to the Imperial Capital - not as a prisoner, but as an honored guest."
"Yes, Your Majesty," Salza responded. "And... what does this Toji Fushiguro look like?"
Cold turned to Freeza, one eyebrow raised. "An excellent question. Daughter, what does this... Toji look like?"
Freeza's lips pressed into a thin line. "I don't see why-"
"Describe him," Cold commanded, his tone brooking no argument.
Freeza hesitated, then relented. "Tall for a human. Six-foot-two, approximately. Muscular build. Black hair, usually disheveled. Sharp features. A distinctive scar on his lip." She paused, then added reluctantly, "Physically... impressive by human standards."
As she spoke, memories surfaced unbidden - Toji's body moving with fluid grace as they hunted together.
The warmth of his skin against hers in the darkness of their cave. The intensity in his eyes when he'd held their son for the first time.
A flush crept across her cheeks, which she desperately hoped her father wouldn't notice.
Cold, of course, noticed immediately. His smile widened slightly.
"The Artificial Intelligence should have recognized him from the battle footage from Namek," he said, gesturing to the holographic display where a remarkably accurate rendering of Toji had appeared. "Will this suffice?"
Salza on the other end of the communication nodded. "We will locate him, Your Majesty."
"Excellent," Cold replied. "Remember - he is to be treated as royalty. Any disrespect will be punished most severely."
With that, he terminated the communication. Turning back to Freeza, he smiled benevolently.
"I must return to my own territories," he announced. "The death of your brother requires certain... adjustments to our imperial structure. But I expect to hear of your decision soon, daughter."
He moved toward the throne room exit, then paused, looking back over his shoulder.
"The sooner you accept, the better for all of us, daughter."
Before Freeza could respond, Cold had departed, leaving her alone in the vast throne room.
Slowly, she moved to her throne and sank onto it, her mind racing with implications and possibilities.
Her father's interference complicated everything. She had fled to escape the confusing emotions Toji and her son had stirred in her, only to find herself potentially forced to confront them again.
The worst part was the tiny spark of... something... that had ignited in her chest at the thought of seeing them again. Not dread, as it should have been. Not anger. Something warmer, more dangerous.
Almost unconsciously, her hand drifted to her abdomen, where her son had grown. For a brief moment, she allowed herself to remember the infant's face - so small, so perfect, with her eyes and Toji's hair.
Her son.
The realization struck her with unexpected force: she missed them. Both of them. The man who had matched her in every way, and the child they had created together.
The thought was terrifying, exhilarating, and utterly confusing all at once.
Freeza, Empress of the Universe, found herself trapped between two worlds - the empire she had built and the family she had abandoned.
Between the cold certainty of power and the chaotic warmth of... whatever this feeling was.
For the first time in her centuries-long existence, she had no idea what to do next.
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(Author note: Hello everyone! I hope you all liked the chapter!
Do tell me how you found it.
The poll is going well, No is winning with currently around double the votes, we'll see what happens in the next 22 hours- personally though, I still am for only Toji x Freeza.
But again, I left the power in you guys' hands for that poll.
Well, I hope to see you all later,
Bye!)