Winter's Fall

Training To Do

"Winter...Winter?" Winter opened her eyes to see her parents, her mother and father, warmly smiling at her.
"Mother...? Father...?" Her mother chuckled and lifted her from her bed.
"Yes Winter, it's us!" Winter was in disbelief, a moment ago she was watching the destruction of a planet, but somehow now she was here. But then it hit her, the destruction of a planet, this wasn't real. Winter took a few steps back, shaking her head.
"No...This isn't real...You're gone..." The two lost their smiles and her mother spoke again.
"Whatever do you mean, Winter?" Suddenly the room began to melt around her in to darkness, but her parents stayed there. Winter hit herself in the head, feeling nothing but still trying, she had to wake up. Suddenly her father gave a disappointed look, directing it at her.
"Winter, what are you wearing?" Winter looked confused but looked down at herself. She was no longer wearing her bio-armor, she was now wearing the armor that Frieza's soldiers wore with a black coloring.
"Wait...I don't...Why am I wearing this?"
"Winter...Have you joined him? Have you betrayed us?" Her father moved closer to her and she moved away, the dream felt real now, and she felt pressure pressing down on her body.
"No...I...I had no choice! You don't understand!" Her mother started moving towards her as well,
"Winter..."
"You've betrayed us! The evidence is on your body!"
"Father! No! I just...I can't..." Winter tried to explain but the words wouldn't come out of her mouth, she felt choked up, she couldn't speak, even when she tried, nothing would come out. She eventually couldn't step back anymore, and her parents surrounded her. They yelled at her and chastised her, and she wanted to scream.
"Winter....WINTER!"
********
Winter opened her eyes, breathing heavily at the nightmare she had just had. When her vision came back into focus she saw Lass, who had been trying to shake her awake.
"Lass...?"
"Yes Winter, it's me, you were squirming around and trying to talk so I had to shake you awake, were you having a nightmare?" Winter sighed,
"yeah, a pretty bad one too..."
"Do you need me to help?"
"No, I don't want to talk about it...."
"Ok, but if you ever do, i'm here." Suddenly the two heard footsteps coming from nearby, and Lass panicked and jumped back into her bed, and Winter laid back down. Frieza entered the room, glancing around until he found Winter, grabbing her and pulling her from her bed. He pulled her out of the room, the light from the rest of the ship causing her to squint.
"You're coming with me."
"Wha...? Why?" Winter rubbed her eyes with her open hand, looking up at Frieza as he started to drag her across the floor.
"Training. I'm going to be training you." Winter was suddenly filled with dread, her training before had been harsh, but she remembered his words before, and she knew this was going to be worse. Frieza opened the ship's hatch and stood Winter up. Winter looked out and saw the planet they had landed on. It was covered in snow and ice, although it was not currently snowing. The sky was grey, and icebergs could be seen in the distance. Frieza stepped out onto the planet with no hesitation, seemingly unfazed by the freezing temperatures of the planet. The slight wind from the planet came into the ship, causing Winter to shiver. "Well Winter?" Winter hesitantly placed her foot into the snow, causing it to crunch beneath the weight of her shoe. Even through the bio-armor of her shoe her foot felt cold. She still pursued, catching up to Frieza as he walked.
"Where are we going, if i'm allowed to ask?" Frieza chuckled,
"right now we are on a planet known only as the Frost Planet to aliens on other planets nearby. From what I can gather the species that resided on this planet wiped itself out with a civil war, it may still exist as some fled, but most were killed. Since then the cold weather that was on this planet took over completely. I have brought you here so you won't hold back." Frieza stopped walking, looking to a large empty spot on the planet. "Perfect." Frieza put his arms behind his back and floated into the air, and he motioned for Winter to join him. Winter floated up in front of him, and he glared. "Now, I have somehow brought myself to give you a second chance, so do not waste it." Winter didn't say a word as Frieza got in a fighting stance. "Now i'll have you know that i've never trained a day in my life, and I don't consider this training for myself, only for you. Do not squander this opportunity, if you refuse to learn from me, I will destroy you, and if you learn it and refuse to use it, I will destroy you. Do you understand?" Winter nodded nervously, still too scared and cold to speak. "Now...." Frieza pointed his finger at Winter and a ball appeared, seemingly a charge for a blast. "Dodge." Suddenly a beam came from his finger and Winter was hit in the arm, unable to react fast enough. She cried out in pain as the beam burned into her skin and the wound smoked. She moved her hand to hold it, but it didn't help the burning sensation. Frieza glared and pointed at her again. "Did you not understand what I said?! I said...DODGE!" Frieza fired the beam again and Winter dodged out of fear. "That's it. Now, keep going." He fired more and more, and Winter tried to dodge all of them. Some shot into her skin and burned her more, while others simply hit the ground and caused the snow to melt into hot water. The beams hit her tail, arms, and feet, and Frieza yelled at her every time they hit. "How pathetic! You can't even dodge! Move faster!" Winter tried to stay strong through the burning, and tried not to cry out in pain in fear of being scolded. Frieza finally stopped his barrage, and moved his arm down. "Let's see...You barely dodged a little over half of my shots. If I had actually been trying, you would be dead. And let me remind you I am doing you a kindness by holding back, as I don't usually do such a thing." Winter's eyes widened at his comment, he had been holding back and she was in that much pain? She couldn't believe the sheer power Frieza had. "What? Nothing clever to say? Have you learned your lesson about remarks?" Winter tried not to cover any of the red holes in her body, as they still stung, but she didn't want Frieza to see through her. "I bet you're in quite a bit of pain, aren't you?" Winter did not respond. "AREN'T YOU?" Winter nodded, admitting to her pain. "Ha! You admit it, I was holding back and your skin is still burning. Well that's just a motivator to keep going." Frieza gave off a menacing smirk.
"K-keep going? Can't we take a break or heal my wounds?"
"Training does not succeed unless someone is in pain! And in this case, it's you!" Winter flinched at Frieza's yell, and watched slightly in fear as he raised his arm and pointed his finger again. "Now, continue dodging! Go!" Frieza began shooting the beams from his finger once again, and Winter began to dodge. She dodged one after another, and this time only one had hit her by the time Frieza had lowered his arm. "Good, a less pathetic performance from you this time. We're done here for today, i've grown tired of this exercise." Frieza flew off back in the direction of the ship, but Winter stayed back, now rubbing her wounds. She looked down at the snow and back at her burning wounds, and decided to fly down and dip them in the snow. The cold snow began to cool the burns, but she quickly realized that she would have to start moving soon, or Frieza would notice she was gone. She flew off back to the ship, and closed the door behind her. She walked the halls and passed by a few soldiers, who glanced at her wounds as they passed. She soon passed by Zira, who gasped and grabbed Winter's arm to look at the holes.
"Winter! What happened?!"
"Frieza decided to start training me. It's not exactly a pleasant feeling when he shoots a flaming hot beam through you...Heh..."
"Oh my god!! Come with me!" Zira pulled Winter down the hall by her arm and Winter chuckled deliriously.
"Heh, I don't exactly have a choice when you drag me with you." Zira pulled Winter into a room with a large machine with tubes connected to floor ceiling, and a control panel in front of it.
"Step in there!" Winter inside the device and Zira hooked Winter up to a few white tubes and a mask to supply air. She then closed the glass door and rushed to the control panel, pressing a few buttons. The device then filled with a bubbling green liquid, and Winter's wounds began to heal. Zira sighed and sat next to the device and waited for Winter to be fully healed.