DBZ X-Readers, Vol. 2

King Cold x Reader Pt. 4 'Forgotten'

You were incredibly glad when you reached the halfway point on the third portrait.

Aside from being watched by Cold most of the time, you had the occasional snarky remark from Frieza. Once or twice you'd meet Cooler, too, but he was fairly quiet.

But as the Ice Festival neared, you started to feel...

Well...claustrophobic.

__________________________________________________________

"Grandma, we want to see you." The tiny head bobbed as its owner put on a grin. "I got bigger!"

"Yes, Cicly, you did." Your second son, (s/n), laughed as he tried to hold the squirming child still. "Has everything been going well there at the palace?"

"Of course it has. I'm definitely going to be done in time...y'hear me, Cicly?"

"Yay! Grandma's going to be home for Winter Day!" And at that, he rushed off, presumably to tell his two brothers about it.

"Neverending energy," your son said, shaking his head. "I bet you're glad you can send them home when they come to visit."

"Of course not. I like the company."

"I have four and Crystallo has five...and three of those are triplets."

"The nurses were very happy with that as I recall, weren't they?"

He laughed, "Yes, of course. The two his husband had were rare enough, but then they found he was having three...you should've heard the jokes at the office! 'I know we need to rebuild the population after the war, but you two don't have to do it all by yourselves!'"

"Right. Makes me glad that I had mine and the pressure's off," you said, "I loved all of you, of course, but I'm happy just being a grandmother now."

"I think I'm done at four, to be quite honest," (s/n) replied, "Like you. I think any more than that would seriously impact our ability to give them the proper amount of care and attention.  Oh, and (daughter's name) sold one of her books!"

"Which one was it?"

"The one about you and dad."

You shook your head. When your daughter was quite young, you'd told her the story of how you'd met her father. In short, that you had just gotten over someone else when he showed up--young, energetic, and not tied down by any titles or anything. He was a landscape painter and spent most of his time traveling to different locations to get the best possible images. Last you'd heard your daughter talking about it, the plot was a typical sort of story about an artist and a bad boy. Not that it mattered--the ladies at court loved those kinds of men and bought books like that like they were going out of style. Cliches didn't become cliche by being unpopular, after all!

"Right..." you sighed, shaking your head.

"Well...I've got to go. Cicly is complaining that he's hungry. Try not to work too hard."

"You know I will."

The video-chat window flickered off, and you got up feeling at least a little better. It was nice to hear from your children now and again. Now that they'd grown up, they had so much less time and each call was happily received. And their kids...you could remember Crystallo and his husband birthing theirs all too well. The amount of praise--the same as you'd gotten--for "doing their duty for Arcosia" had been enraging. They couldn't simply be happy over the babies, no, they had to make a fuss over the benefits they would bring, and wondering how many they would have. As if young Arcosians didn't already have enough pressure on them!

You went straight to the portrait, skipping breakfast entirely. Right now you didn't want to see much of anyone, you just wanted to work. Which is exactly what you did for the next few hours, until you noticed a familiar shadow being cast over you.

"You really shouldn't skip meals, you know."

"I just wasn't hungry, that's all. And besides, it's nearly done."

Cold went silent.

"It's coming together well, isn't it?"

Nothing.

"I thought so too."

Nothing.

You looked down to your palette and sighed. "How long are we going to play this game?"

"Until you tell me that you forgive me."

"I forgave you long ago. That I do it on your terms is not a requirement."

"If you've forgiven me then why have you been avoiding me, (y/n)?"

You put the palette down and turned to face him. "I think the better question is, why have you been following me?" You crossed your arms at that. "Don't you have better things to do?"

Silence again...although this time, he looked more upset than stunned.

"You have your heirs, produced by a mother who hailed from a good bloodline. What possible use could you have for me now?"

"I want now what I wanted then. And unlike then, I intend to have it."

"I may not hate you for what happened, but I don't feel as I did then. You can't force me to love you."

"There's a lot I can do," he replied, smirking slightly, "Do you recall what happened to Lady Perma's family?"

Ah, yes. Everyone knew about that. Lady Perma was someone who (along with most of her family) had planned an insurrection, a coup--and who had been reported, naturally, by some anonymous soul still loyal to the crown.

The Arcosians did not believe in capital punishment. But of course treason and plotting murder were not things to be taken lightly. Instead, Lady Perma and those of her family found to be guilty were stripped of their respective ranks, their wealth, and their properties. These were then distributed mostly to the innocent members of the family, but naturally a sizeable tax was levied, and Cold had claimed one of the mansions as a summer home. The guilty parties were reduced to moving planets or in Perma's case--systems away to find any kind of work. This naturally invited return attacks, but...Cold was shrewd and had yet to be taken down.

"You..." A look of horror struck your face. "You wouldn't." What had happened to him? This wasn't the Cold you knew...you'd expected change, but this...

"It would be a pity if your family were linked to Perma's latest attempt on my life."

"You--!"

"But...it could be...overlooked," he said, ending the sentence in a low tone, "I am not difficult to keep happy. All I want is my (y/n) back, you know. So I can get back the chance I foolishly squandered years ago."

You could barely believe it. He was threatening you...no, not just you, but your entire family. Your children. Theirs. All lives disrupted because...

Cold extended his hand.

Infuriated and shaking with rage, you took it.