Separated From One Another

Chapter Twenty-three: Cooler in HFIL

Frieza was happy... it was weird to him too. He did not think he would get as much joy out of seeing Cooler in the afterlife as well. It felt nice hearing that his brother had been bested, if he had to guess it had been Goku to finish him off. What a wonderful thought that was, Cooler trying to take "revenge" and getting destroyed in the process. The only irritating part was that now Cooler was here to bug Frieza, and there was not much he could do about it. Besides annoy him right back of course.

"How'd you end up dying, brother?" Frieza taunted, already sure of the answer.

"None of your business," Cooler snarled.

Frieza quirked a brow, it ust have been embarrassing if Cooler was this defensive. It fueled his desire to confirm who landed the deciding blow on his brother. Cooler turned on his heel, moving to get away from the conversation.

"Oh really? I think I deserve to know who bested you~"

Cooler whirled around, "Shut the fuck up—It is none of your business!"

His brother stormed out of the house, cursing under his breath; Frieza watched him blankly. With a shrug he gave up on this fruitless endeavor, Frieza retired to his room.

||

Frieza was lounging in his bed when you showed up; shame over came you—could you really face him after killing his brother? Frieza scrambled off the bed, his face lighting up at the sight of you.

"It's been a while since I've seen you," Frieza mentioned, "You scared the life out of Zarbon and got blood all over my cover. Are you okay?"

"I'm okay, just some cuts and bruises."

"What happened that hurt you," He asked, an odd tone to his voice that you could not place.

You quickly moved to divert his apparent worry, "It's nothing to worry yourself about, I'm fine and it's been... dealt with."

Frieza hummed, "I'm sure if it was something important you would just tell me, right?"

"Er—well—"

"What are you doing, brother?" The voice sent a ripple of panic through your body. Silently you cursed yourself, of course Cooler would end up in HFIL. You barely bit back a yelp when Frieza shoved you in the closet; it felt like you were a secret partner or something.

"What do you want, Cooler?" Frieza seethed, the only other time you heard him speak with such venom was when he talked about revenge. You slotted that information away to asked him about later.

"I simply wanted to know who you were talking to in here?" Cooler mused, "Have you gone mad already?"

You drifted into your thoughts, you were going to have to come clean to Frieza about your accidental murder of his brother. Would he understand? Zoning back into reality you blinked when the door was flung open. You locked eyes with a startled Cooler, an embarrassed heat splayed across your cheeks.

"What is this?" You were not surprised at the anger in his voice—not that there was anything he could do since you were both in HFIL, "I knew you were an ass, but sleeping with the bitch who killed me is a new low."

"We aren't sleeping together and I didn't mean to kill you," You snapped, already feeling irritable.

"... you killed Cooler?" Frieza stared quietly for a long moment; you feared his reaction—laughter bubbled up from his throat.

"You ass," Cooler seethed, eyes narrowing; you blinked, staring at the pair.

"No wonder you didn't tell me," An evil grin crossed Frieza's face, "Now get out of here before I tell everyone who you died to."

Cooler made a sharp face before storming out of the room, slamming the door behind him. You flinched at the loud noise, gaze shifting back to Frieza, who was looking at you with wide expectant eyes.

"You have to tell me how you did it," Frieza chuckled, throwing an arm around your shoulder.

It dawned on you that this was the first time you had heard him laugh. His slightly wheezy laugh made heat rush to your cheeks; you turned your head so he would not see. Hastily you forced yourself to recompose, shutting down the strange feeling. You keep your voice even as you recounted how you accidentally killed Cooler.

"As I said before I hadn't meant to kill him... it just sorta happened," You reiterated at the end of your story, toying with your fingers.

Frieza hummed, "That's odd, I've never heard of draining someone of their ki."

You shrugged, "Me neither, I talked to Dad about it and he hadn't either."

He blinked, staring at you for a long moment; you stared back unsure as to what was going on.

"You found your family?"

You grimaced, "Yeah, kinda—I'm still getting used to being back on Earth...honestly it's been weird, I had all but forgotten about them, so living with them has been a struggle."

"I can't say that I've ever felt the same, I only visited Father after he handed over leadership of the Empire to me...Cooler and I were never close," He muttered, averting his gaze.

"Why is that?"

Frieza made a face, closing himself off from you by turning away. You blinked and were back in your bed, body sore from the battle. A sigh left your lips as you rolled over, not ready to face the coming day.

A/N: the next chapter is going to be heckin long its not done yet but it is already 1,500 words... so its going to be the longest chapter to date