Chapter Text
New York, 4th September 2020
A couple of months passed again since the events in Hong Kong. Things went back to a certain amount of normality, as normal as things could get in these times. While arguably more damage was prevented then was done, some people argued this hadn't been the case, as a chunk of Hong Kongs financial sector was destroyed, having sever consequences on an already unstable economy.
Mark and Ilene, as usually negotiated for Monarch, and decided to leave Madison out of it for now. All of them knew that this could have spiraled into something far worse, akin to a descending card house. Yet Godzilla and her caught the ire of a couple, public and Monarch alike, for those who know of Madison's involvement that is. Things were moving and shifting at a pace far quicker than anyone could imagine. But she was deserving of some well-earned rest, they both were.
Slowly she turned the page of the book, feeling invested heavily in the story, about a killer machine that wrote a diary. A layer on another layer she found herself able to connect quite well with the main character, enjoyed his remarks and sarcasm. Initially she merely had picked the book up because of the cover, reminding her of a game she quite liked. Another pass time she had picked up in the last month, greatly enjoying it.
He didn't really get it, but liked to spend time with her in this dreamscape. Godzilla moved a little bit and yawned, Maddie leaned on his back, her head against his bigger dorsal plate. Back in their save space, able to join each other in equal size, they spend a little time lying in was the green meadow in front of the primordial lake, with the ancient forest on the other side of this valley.
Both in their real bodies simply slept, Godzilla probably somewhere at the bottom of the ocean, feeling true rest for once in a month. The aftermath of Kongs possession caused massive issues about the other Titans, ranks and order being thrown for a loop in his temporary absence from the spot as King.
Luckily, close aids and friends of the King prevented it. Anguirus, Rodan, the Guardians of the arena sought out titans like Scylla and Amhuluk were quickly to ran amok and cause damage. They were quickly put in their place, now ranking below the newer awakening of Gomora, Baragon and Varan.
After Kong returned to Skull Island, Godzilla still had to patrol the territory, a pair of Gorosaurus's had dug their way out and claim Skull Island for themselves, one of them having challenged Kong before.
Surprisingly no issue with the native inhabitants, mostly that is. They feasted on the monsters that lived on the island, from Skull Crawlers to the giant buffalos, but left the surviving Iwis alone. Kong and the Goros avoided it each other, only spatting at each other if they came to close to the natives that now rebuild their village.
After that, Godzilla turned his attention to the other titans. Checking the ranks, keeping them away from the humans. In the decades prior to his awakening, he couldn't have imagined that at some point, he would protect the little things that crawled beneath his feet again, but with his chosen partner always at his side, he felt obligated to do so.
Madison had set to be under care and rest at Castle Bravo for a little bit, but roughly a week after being checked in the medical station she couldn't help herself, got out and wanted to followed Godzilla around when he kept the titans in check, mostly sticking to areas he came to visit roughly around Castel Bravo. Most confrontation where simply stand offs, roars and bellows, sometimes a quick flash of the plates was enough to intimidate.
She never really had to step in, but always tried to help out and give suggestions to the team where to go and temporarily relocate people in case a titan might start freaking out or break into a rage.
Mark tried to gently move her away from it, not protesting or bickering with her, but just giving slight nods she should still rest or recover. She declined many times, but some days decided it'd be best to just rest up.
On a rare occasion, they had met with the Titan Tiamat and Manda, who were terrifying some locals near the Indonesian coast. They wished no harm, but the fishers feared they would eat and scare away all the fish, extinguishing their livelihood.
That's where Maddie stepped in. While Godzilla patrolled the area, she went up to the two titans, who had build a nest under a mountain, having dug a little cave. Tiamat and Manda did not wish to bring harm or hunt anything, instead wished to seek a place where to rest.
It took a little bit of convincing, informing that the titans weren't there to hurt anyone. An agreement was reached, and the locales promised to avoid the area as much as possible. Quickly however, some people were getting a little bit curious and tried to get a peek at the two serpents of the seas. An influx of tourist came in, and due to the two titans natural connection to the ocean, instead of scaring away fish they attracted more.
Things slowly started to fall back into place, didn't mean everything was suddenly perfect, but Madison had been concentrated on making things better and tune out everything else. But for a bit over a month, she was now able to fully slack off.
That slacking off in the past weeks no mostly consisted of sleeping, very long, waking up late and sleepy to grab food, and spend the rest of the with either Abby, Miki and Jia, or doing stuff in her room, mostly chilling at her computer and gaming to take the mind of other things going on in the world. Then at the evening, she sometimes hung out with Mark and Ilene, or went to go out with Abby. These where very fun but Madison wasn't sure about her feelings in regards to Abby, but wasn't stressing really about it either. When asking her parents about it, they tried to easer her in and said stuff like "you're still young" to emphasize that she still had a lot to figure out.
In the last week they started to move out of the New York apartment, this threw a bit or a wrench in some of her daily routines and the ones with Abby, so things started to lose their energy and lustre. She felt still strongly about her and their friendship was very important and she got the sense Abby felt similarly at the moment as well. Non the less, it helped her figure herself and other things out.
She felt a bit of nudging against her arm, it was Godzilla, cuddling his head closer to her. For how primal and much of a brute he could be, he could be a playful and gentle giant. Putting her hand down over his head she gave him scratched and pets, he started to make a purr like sound, similar to a cat, a big one at that, with a low rumble in the background.
Gently she grabbed the his head from the top and shook it a little, moved down with her hand and scratched his chin. He really liked that, even when they were in their real forms he really enjoyed the sensation of it.
Laying the book away down into the grass, she moved her legs to the side, letting his head rest on her lap and used both her hands now to give him pets. Proceeding to give scratched and rubs at the chin and cheeks, feeling the hard yet warm scales and smaller spikes prickle against her hand.
Godzilla closed his eyes and huffed out air, as she gave stroke over his head, from the snout up to the neck, feeling really relaxed. For a couple of minutes she simple did that, before feeling the the bomb of the dorsal plates against her hand, she looked at them, and started to let her hand glide along them, like one would tried to carefully put their hands along sharp crystals, going along the forms edges, avoiding getting cut by not applying any pressure, becoming enamoured with them. Slight grooves made lines along them, showing where they would glow up, blood vessels within being directly connected to his heart. Compared to the overall very warm, stone to leathery texture of the rest of the body, these felt much cooler, more similar to sand paper.
Only snapping out of it as Godzilla was slightly necking at her hand, giving something akin to love bites, after stopping to pet his at the jaw.
"Sorry…" she said, feeling the pinch at her hand and continued petting his head for a little longer.
For the most part it was silent, only the wind and some distant bird songs were able to be heard. Nothing was there to bother them, and so Maddie was quickly getting lost in her thoughts again.
"What do you think comes next?" She said, not looking directly at him, just kind of blankly spacing out. The question confused Godzilla, he didn't really think of that. He always acts in the now but doesn't look directly into the future. A soft quiet roar masked his confusion.
"I don't know either, just wondering. Apex is still out there, Ren and Belvera are still out there. At least Jonah is gone and their… machine is broken. But maybe they'll do it to another titan?"
Call it a six sense, intuition or whatever, Godzilla knew there was a little more behind those words, even without being linked up in their minds directly. Slowly he lifted his head from her lap, gracefully lifting it upwards and yawning, giving off rumbly deep hissing tone out of it.
Shaking the head and neck, making every scale and plate gracefully gliding and slightly touching it other in the movement as the flesh and muscles underneath swung.
Gently, he nudged his head against his partners, rubbing on her cheek and shoulder. She felt the weight and firmness of his movements, solid and heavy like a rock, but applying it like a feather. Charmed by the gesture, sensing the worry, she continued:
"I still feel bad about what I did to Ren, he's Ishiros son, I regret it, I hurt him, we hurt each other. I was angry, I was scared for what he was gonna do to them, but I didn't want what happened. Yet, it has happened and I fear the consequences that may come of it. He has every reason and more to hate me, and he's right in it. But I cannot let him hurt others. And I feel unsure."
Godzilla thought about it, her words being translated to images and memories in his mind. He considered it, a mind older then any human yet still in his younger ages processing the question asked. As he had looked through, he reminded her about what the ancient warriors soul had told her.
"Lead with mind and heart together… I guess you're right…" Realizing that was already what she was doing, in her heart she regretted the action and never would have wanted this outcome, but also her mind knew what he did was wrong and needed to be stopped.
"Thank you…for being there as always…" she whispered, pulling his head in closer and putting it against her, closing their eyes, their pulses became in sync with one another, as slowly the realm around them started fading out, as they woke up again.
A quite familiar voice woke her up,
"Morning." Maddie responded with a tounge in cheek tone, knowing full well how far off they were that time.
"Morning? It's like quarter past 6 love."
Abby looked at her, seeing Maddie give her a smug smile while stretching her arms. She had laid down on the roof with a blanket, wearing her usual outfit of jacket and Red sox shirt with jeans, enjoying these last view hours they had here. They were set to leave today.
"Mark and Ilene called, we are prob gonna leave in like half an hour, they are just doing the last preparations."
"That's good to hear…" Maddie turned her head back up into the air. A largely clear sky, with an occasional plane or cloud cutting through the orange evening sunset. Breathing deep sigh of relief from her chest as she closed her eyes, not going back to sleep but just resting a little more.
Abby sat down next to her, deciding to join her friend in a little bit of relaxation. At first she looked down at Maddie hand, considering to hold it. But Maddie pulled it away before she could do that and put it on her chest, cursing with her lip while not uttering a word.
For a view minutes they stayed like this, but Maddie sensed something was up, a bit of nervosity came of the person next to her.
As Maddie sat up, stretching her arms, seeing little point to keep lying, she asked "Are you alright?" Abby looked at her a tiny bit confused.
"Yeah I'm alright, I was wondering if you are actually."
"Why are you wondering?"
"I thought maybe you were a bit miffed about Jia leaving."
They didn't talk much about the topic, around a week ago it seemed that it was decided Jia was going to return to her people and village, after Monarch tried to assist with the rebuilding and some, complication, happened. Relations where hostile after outsiders decided to invade the island and turn essential their god against them. Jia knew how it really was, and therefore wanted to help, similarly to Madison.
"I'll miss her but I don't think it's going to be the last time we see each other. In the end it's her choice and if she wants to be with her people and Kong she has any right to it."
"Fair 'nough," Abby murmured, "just wanted to see if you're okay. I'll miss her too."
Madison looked at her, eyebrows raised, giving her a look of confusion. Not sure if it was because of her not knowing what she was feeling, or very well knowing. Abby turned her head away, something in her chest felt weird. The pulse of her heart grew stronger, it became a tight feeling around her neck. Why did she feel like this again, and why now.
A warm embrace shortly heightened those feelings, before melting them away. She returned the gesture, and the two friends hugged each other without comment. It helped calm the situation a little for Abby, and gave the two a moment to think. Reflect on each other.
After a view minutes of hugging and silent they let go of each other. Surprisingly it was Abby who was the first to say something.
"Maybe we should just be friends, I mean I love you, I mean not like that I mean-"
"I know what you mean. I feel similar about it don't worry. I still like you, I'll still protect you. You are my friend and you are very important to me."
"Yeah…" Her voice sounded a bit disappointed, even though she agreed.
"Besides, you made me realize things about myself and made me learn more, and I can't thank you enough for that."
"Oh… I thought…?"
"Thought what?" Once again Abby blushed, but this time out of embarrassment.
"I thought maybe because I was a girl it didn't work for you." Maddie laughed a little bit, finding it funny seeing her friend get embarrassed and gave her another, more jovial hug.
"Nah, I think I like girls, boys too, even if they are monsters." "Hey wait..." "Don't worry its not quite like that, but I mean, we are bound together."
"True but I didn't really read it as you and Godzilla being together like that."
"I mean its not quite like that, I love him, but we can't really be together like that. Though I think when I grow older and become an adult, I'll probably find someone I like a lot. Make a family or something, yah know, that sort of stuff," the words sounding a bit more of a mockery, all these topics being rather fleeting to her, since I was going to be along while until that stuff is relevant to her at all.
"Or who knows what's going to happen. Nonmatter what, I'll be at his side."
Half an hour later, the two friends met back up with the adults, Mark and Ilene, down at the street, putting the last view things in the car before they went. Maddie kinda just stood around, a bit more distant to a corner, simply looking at her phone bored out of the mind, while Mark was signing and checking things with some guy, maybe the landlord.
Abby and Ilene chatted a little, putting a large a package in the back of the car, in which Maddies PC was, carefully wrapped in bubble wrap, where they couldn't resist popping one or two beforehand. While that went on, someone tapped on her shoulder, she flinched a bit, knowing well how this city could be sometimes and glad she could leave for that reason too.
Ready to answer, "I got no money," to her surprise and relief it wasn't someone asking for that, but instead Koji. She hadn't visited him in these past weeks, feeling scared of what might be the consequences. For him or her.
"Koji?"
"Hi Madison, nice to see you again, how are you doing, its been a while hasn't it?"
They shook hands, his hands were dry with a surprisingly firm grip for his age. He wore his glasses; and the grey hairs were done nicely today. He wore a rather plain business suit, light brown in color, with a blue shirt and stripped collar underneath. Maddie got a bit nervous, quickly glancing back at Mark, who hadn't noticed yet who was talking to his daughter.
"I'm doing good, we are moving out today we are just about to leave."
The old man looked at the car she hinted towards, raising an eyebrow and nodded in what seemed to be agreement.
"Sorry I didn't come visit before, I wanted to but it was, kinda busy."
"Don't worry I understand, to be honest, I decided to close the shop last week."
"Oh. Why? I hope it's not because of what happened…"
An awkward silence followed for a view seconds. A myriad of possible answers flooded the mind as she realized that brining that event up was perhaps unwise.
"Don't worry, had nothing to do with that. I just feel old, and wanted to retire. My daughter in Japan in upper Hokkaido gave birth recently, so I want to help taking care of the kid."
"That's nice, congratulations is it a boy or a girl?"
"Twins, a healthy girl. They haven't told me her name yet, but showed me some pictures." Pulling a older phone out of the pocket, he tried accessing the messages he got, evidently still feeling a bit unused to this tech, or at least pretending so.
"Here," he gave her the phone, a baby in a mother arms, sleeping peacefully.
"She is adorable." Maddie said, and smiled softly.
The old man nodded again in agreement, smiling proudly as he did. He put the phone back in his pocket and seemed to be about on his way.
"Oh thanks and by the way."
"For what?"
"The thing you mentioned before, that could've ended much worse if you weren't there," carefully looking around he leaned closer to her, whispering-
"And also, your secrets save with me. You did good there in Hong Kong, keep going."
"How do you-?"
No answer came from the old mans lips, but he gave her a quick wink, which didn't really answer her question, but in her gut feeling she knew it meant she could trust him. It was relieving to hear, after the past view days she was nervous about it, what Monarch might do with Koji or what happened to her life if he blared out about her true nature.
"Was nice catching up a bit, but I got a plane to catch, I wish good you luck in the future."
They shook hands again, grabbing hers with both of his.
"Yeah you too, I hope we'll get to meet again sometime."
"Well, you know where I'll be."
As he walked up the street and was about to disappear in the waves of moving people in these street, he gave a short glance back and waved, and she waved back. Perhaps this was the last time they would see each other, it felt strange, feeling fine with while sensing a strange sadness in her heart.
Mark handed over the keys to the landlord, glancing a bit back and forth at her waving to what seemed like a strange. After the business was done, he approached her; "Maddie, who was that man who just talked to you."
"He owned a fried noodle shop a view streets above. I went there often, I guess we were friends and he wanted to say goodbye."
"I see, did you tell him anything?"
"Just that we moved, but, I think he knew something else." Her voice sounded less concerned that she let on.
"Do you think he's going to tell anyone?"
"No…I trust he won't."
Unsure what to say to that, Mark looked back the strange men went, he had completely disappeared.
"Well, at least you got say goodbye now right?"
"Yeah…"
A warm smile came over her lips, as she looked back where he went, giving the city a last look before they went on, moving to their new home.
Meanwhile somewhere unknown to Monarch
"GREAT JOB THERE YOU ABSOLUTE MORON, YOU RUINED IT ALL, YOU HAVE NEVER TO SHOW UP WITH THAT SMILE ON YOUR FACE." She yelled, she yelled with the strength and fury it would have made a titan flinch, and the kick to the gut felt around as strong as a strike of one of the monsters.
Ren fell to his knees, grabbing his stomach from the pain, only narrowly resisting fainting. With violent force she grabbed him by the neck of the shirt and dragged it closer to hers, their gazes locked, holding a knife against his throat so close it very slowly dug itself into the skin.
In her mind she considered just killing him here and now, there would be little point to it, but there something holding her back, for now. Maybe it was just the need to tease it.
Belveras stare, a mix of deranged madness and rage, pierced through him like the knife against his throat was about to do as well.
His face was rough up, showing a couple of dark spots from being punched by her, but at least she left his one good eye intact, maybe just so he could properly see her killing him. The left eye now spotted a black eyepatch, which had become a permanent addition, as the damage done to eye was beyond saving.
At first, he didn't really know how to deal with it, not many options where there, at first her considered investing all his savings and money earned from the job into repairing, before that turned out to be impossible. As days went by he decided to accept his wounds and scars, making no pretences that it would weaken him in anyway, his resolve was made stronger. And the hatred that lied within for the monsters that stole his life hardened.
"Nice to see you too Belevera," he coughed, feeling the sour sensation of blood at the back of his mouth, swallowing it. She clenched her teeth at the remark, he could be so overconfident, the main reason she had beaten him up now, one wrong look at the wrong time and she would make someone to mincemeat, no matter if he had just come back from the infirmary.
But with a deep breath, she resisted killing him, closed her eyes and put the knife back, before throwing pushing him back as violently as she had grabbed him.
"Your little action there costed us Kong, a titan under our command!" She turned her back to him, arms crossed, he dark purple cloak mixing into the overall dark meeting room, only illuminated via a lamp at the door entrance, and some computer screen of the sides of the walls, in the middle stood a long table.
Slowly he got himself back up, parts of his arms still aching from the injuries as he pushed himself off the ground, but he ignored it, and dusted himself off from dirt.
"At least we got the money."
"It was never about the money, it was about having that thing under our control, and now we lost the last prototype of that Orca device too."
"I thought the blueprints were still saved?" He looked confused by the statement, an annoyed sighed and grumbling was the answer.
"Turns out shooting the old bastard got us access of some of his recourses, which was good stuff, but some of his former group that actually believed the crap he spilled weren't too happy with that. Dumbasses took and ran with it, but they didn't hide well enough, and got caught by Monarch."
"I see, presumably Dr. Russell would have them ordered destroyed?"
"Probably, given he got her;" the mention of the girl made Rens bile rise, from being relatively relaxed all things considered to feeling an intense hatred, "…so they probably don't need that thing."
She sat down at the table, leaning back putting up her legs on it, with the sightly dirty black leather shoes facing him. Packing out a cigarette, pulling out her cheap grey lighter, taking a deep huff of it before exhaling the smoke.
"You are lucky the sponsors for the operations didn't just pull out and not pay us, then you would have been deader then the old guy."
"Thanks for that. But what are we going to do with the money anyway."
"Finance our next operation."
"Which would be….?"
"If I may enlighten you to that." An older male voice came from the other side of the room, where it was fully dark so far, just now did Ren realize that someone sat at the end of the table, he got up, another person coming out of the corner with them.
The man that spoke to him looked a bit older, growing a beard and having slightly grey hair already, Ren judged him to be America from the accent, but look wise could be a European descendant. He worse a business suit, dark blue and stripped, a ring was on his finger that looked strange, black and red in colour.
Behind him was a that one guy with the sunglasses he saw before, wearing a white suit, with holding a rifle with black gloves, hair tied together. He never found out who he was, apparently a mercenary separate to Apex.
The old man reached out with his hand: "My name is Walter Simmons, I am head of the company that had modified your sword by your request," the two men shook hands, Ren had a strange sense of comfort with Simmons, a strange sense of charisma.
"I saw your work with this operation son, I'm impressed."
"I am honoured, but it wasn't a success to me." Ren pointed at his eyepatch, but the old man waved off with a chuckle in his throat.
"I find that adds character, in suits you well. Besides, I am impressed because you were able to stand up to someone, who could hardly called human anymore, I'm intrigued by that."
Simmon put his hand on Rens shoulder, trying to be friendly he overed a cigar he pulled from his pocket. "Want one, fresh from Cuba."
"No thanks, I don't smoke."
"Wise choice." The old man put it back, "lets take a walk you an I. I have big plans for the future, we two together might just shape the future of humanity."
Skull Island, the next day
It took a little more then half a days worth of flight to get to the island, from early in the morning to the beginning of afternoon even with an Osprey. Jia and Miki were used to the flying by now, and the little Iwi girl looked out of a window from time to time, seeing the vast ocean before them, occasionally covered when coming across a cloud.
As the Osprey got near the island, its weapon system started to become alert, watching out for flying creatures that might attack. Luckily today it seemed to be a calmer on the island, no less due to the arrival of another titan.
Kong had returned to the island for quite some time, leaving Jia in Mikis care after telling him where she wanted to stay. But from a hollow earth tunnel, another monster had dug its way out, looking for its mate.
Another Gorosaurus, this one being more blue-ish grey in color compared to the previous green of the female that Madison had encountered. By coincidence, they flew above the two wandering, the had nuzzled their heads against one another. Giving the strange and loud flying thing a quick glance, the female gave a growl away from its monstrous jaws, but didn't pay more attention to it.
The Osprey flew past a big lake, proceeded to fly past where the old village wants was, now a flat plain of ashes that had slowly been overgrown again at this point. Jia looked down from the window on it, many emotions came with it, but it felt better with having Miki at her side, comforting her.
"Get ready mam we are about to land in 10 minutes." The pilot voxed into the cabin.
For a view minutes there was nothing but the green tides of Skull Islands jungle, a hell in of itself. As they got to higher altitude, approaching the highest mountain of the island, they finally landed on the new Monarch Outpost.
A handful of trucks were driving away from it into the jungle, further up the mountain, where the new village lied and transported materials that would help the Iwi rebuild their village. The vehicles were armed quite heavily, to counter any potential creatures that would come across their way, Mother Long legs, Skull Crawlers, the like. But with Kong returns things had shifted a little and they became rarer.
As they landed they quickly got out, and were guided by another nameless soldier from Monarch into one of the armoured trucks. Miki held Jias hand tightly as they hopped in, making great haste to get to the village.
For a little all there was too see where trees, the forest losing its meaning in there, until it started to get lighter, and another grass Plaine opened up.
Jia looked out, spotting a small river from which water trickled down into it, a group of Skewer Buffalos taking a drink at a small lake from the brown brackish water. They had slightly less plants on them then the usual Buffalo would have, being more adapted to the highlands of the island.
It was shortly thereafter they finally came to the typical spike wall of the Iwi, freshly build via wood from the island, carefully chosen and aided by Monarch, the new village lied at the foot of the island highest mountain.
A location chosen with a bit of help from Monarch, which they at first were sceptical against, having lost trust since what happened to their deity. For now they kept outsiders at an arm's length, but still accepted their help, with the promise they would be left fully alone thereafter.
Tensions were high and everyone hoped that Jia returning would lift them a little, which in turn had put a bit of pressure on her, but being with Miki eased it a bit. They waited at the gate, a view minutes of silence, before a horn was blown, and the gate opened for them. Very slowly the truck drove in, coming to a full halt only a view meters when driving left, the gate shutting quickly behind them.
Miki and Jia got let out by a Monarch solider, who would stay behind, as they were greeted by 2 Iwi warriors, and 2 very important elders, Ato and Ikimi. They took a bow, before putting them at ease.
The two knelt down, trying to be at eye height with Jia. She seemed hesitant, looking up at Miki, who gave her a reassuring nod and smile. The girl went up to the elders, who before had played a major role in raising her.
They embraced, putting their heads against one another, welcoming a lost one of their own back for now. They got up and waved Miki to come with them. The Monarch solider first wanted to escort her, but stopped him, noting that they probably wouldn't want an armed guard in their village directly as of right now, and he agreed.
They went up, a small freshwater creek coming from the mountain that gave the smaller river down below its precious resources, here the Iwi had build their tents and started to build their smaller farms of fruits and vegetables once more.
Jia noted to herself how much bigger this area was to the last village, but that the overall feeling was more sombre, more cold then before. Not something she thought Miki could really pick up on as most most Iwi remained rather muted in the emotions they showed directly.
It still made her want to keep holding her hand, a surprise to elders, as much as it was for others from the village.
"We are happy to have Jia with us once again. It seems you and her have become quite familiar with one another."
Ato spoke to Miki. She nodded, surprised how well he could speak English, but she did hear from Madison that it had been passed down for a view generations by now.
"Yes, I work foster care at Monarch, Jia wanted to be with me by her choice after Apex took us hostage, and I made a promise to protect her."
"I see she trusts you a lot. We appreciate it deeply that you protected her in this time." Ikimi noted.
"It was only natural for me, I swore I would take care of any child in need."
The elderly Iwi woman nodded back to her.
Their walk through the village continued, they came by a group of children, which greeted Jia by giving her hugs and wanting to play with her Kong doll she had brought with her, Miki smiled and tried encouraging her to play with them, but the elders told them that Jia had something important to do and they waved to her.
Their walk had taken them up further to the base of the mountain, to a cave. Inside lied the new temple build for their practices. A place usually no outsider was welcome in so easily, but with Jia clinging to Miki and the elders, they were allowed in.
Inside, a view holes from another side of the cave gave light, candles lit the place further. It was much bigger then it looked with a sort of podest or table in the middle where a fire had been lit the day before, seatings around with woven blankets.
At the walls of the cave, intricate drawing of Kong and other monsters of the island were drawn. But also newer ones. Images of what looked to be an angel with turquoise wings, that shifted to blue plates in another frame. Another image framing Godzilla and Kong, engaged in battle, with the angle above their heads.
Miki had heard of the gifts that the Iwi had and given some of these had lines up very well with what she had seen with her own eyes, she was inclined to somewhat believe them. Her attention was drawn back to Ato and Ikimi, unable to notice another drawing, barely missing the battle of the titan Anguirus and a skeletal figure.
"We once again thank you for reuniting us with Jia," the two elders turned to them, "yet we sense the bond that you two have tied. It doesn't want you to let go of each other."
Despite the tranquil nature of the temple, the tension rose a bit. They were right, despite having let go of many children she looked after and grew close with before, this time it had felt a bit extra painful, and Jia likely felt similar.
"I understand. I am sorry. I didn't want to bring you anymore problems then you might already have, I understand what outsiders have done to you and your village was a break of trust. I understand why you wouldn't want her to be with us."
A view moments of awkward silence followed, before Ato answered: "There is no need for worry. It isn't our choice to separate the bond that now has tied you two together. We cannot force it to be cut, it is your choice."
Jia swallowed, knowing her peoples body language well, she started to get a sense what the adults were talking about.
"You are right," Miki knelt down to Jia, touching her shoulder gently.
"It isn't mine either, it is her choice where she wants to stay." Signing to Jia, letting the girl know what was going on exactly.
Jia's turned to a more worried, unsure expression, turning quickly back and forth to the elders and back to Miki, starting to panic and breath in and out quickly. Shaking her head, wanting to deny the situation. She only calmed down after Miki grabbed her hand and shoulder gently. The woman that had taken care of her in these last months looked her in the eyes, spoke slowly and clearly so that Jia could read her lips.
"It's okay. It is your choice, no one will push you."
The two looked at each other for a view moments, Jia tried to get an impression of Miki face in her mind before closing her eyes, taking in a deep breath of the cold humid air, trying to shut everything out completely. Unable to hear, she was fully alone with her thoughts.
"It is your choice."
The words travelled silently across the mind. Never before was she faced with something like this. Stay with the people that she was born into and had lived with before, or the person that had given her the love of a mother she hadn't sensed since she was very little.
It must've been mere minutes, but felt like so much longer, was this how Madison felt making important decisions she wondered. Her stomach twisted and turned, hear heart sitting tight in her chest was the only thing she felt for a view minutes. Until she started to feel something else.
Vibrations, running throughout floor up to her. Something was coming close to the village. First a slight hint of fear, the next moment one of joy as she recognized the rhythm of the steps.
She opened her eyes, seeing everyone else sensed it too, as they looked around, able to hear the steps too. Her first instinct was to run outside. Miki ran right after her, the elder and their guards followed after, a bit slower.
As she ran out of the cave she could see him, coming near the gate further down. Kong stepped with care and curiosity. Looking upon the village and what had entered it.
The titan scratched at his head, feeling a headache come up again, as he struggled to define and control his newfound powers. Jia ran from the tents, waved and jumped to get his attention, while most other Iwis remained still and knelt, honouring the king of the island.
Miki ran after her, trying to stop her, knowing very well more about Kongs condition.
Unsurprisingly, he picked up on the movement and who it was that wanted to gain his attention. The pained expressions he gave turned to a slight smile. As she ran closer to him, up some stairs to get to the top of the wall, he sat down. Still towering over it, but able to be at a closer height to her.
"Are you okay." She signed to him. "Yes," he signed back with his hands, each movement causing a slight of wind. Miki caught up to her, feeling slightly out of breath but being too worried to care.
But it seemed Kong still recognized her. "Friend," he signed towards the older woman. A short moment of awestruck came over here, before snapping out of it, greeting him back like a friend would.
Gently he reached down with his hand for Jia to touch it, it had been weeks since they last saw each other. She could sense his unrest, how despite him being freed from the control of the evil avati, he still suffered. Whatever had been done, still was following him around.
Kong would survive it, resist it, but there had been outburst now after receiving this power. And he needed to control it. Carefully he removed his hand and let it rest upon his knee, before starring off into nothingness, with a sadness expression, which made Jia worried and confused.
The expression Miki saw on his face was very human, something she had seen before: a parent who felt like they had failed their child. Nothing but the truth was in that, as the memories of destroying the village and almost hurting Jia continued to haunt him. Constantly stirred up by the serpent.
"Head hurts. The shadow is still there. I need to learn." He signed to Jia, putting great effort into it.
"We can help you."
"No," Kong signed, it struck her in the chest, "I need to control shadow. I don't want hurt others. I will go into mountain, leaving village, be alone."
"I want to go with you!" Jias eyes became teary.
"You need to say here. I might hurt Jia. I don't want hurt Jia. Accident."
"But..." she couldn't sign more, only wanting to cry now, fully letting go of her tears as Miki hugged her from comfort. Everything came crashing down now, the tension from before, the worries since days, the experiences lived through.
Not again she thought, not again did she want to lose two beings so important to her. And yet she was asked to make that very choice.
Kong adverted his gaze, feeling shame in the words he had shared, looking down on the ground below. It stayed like this for a view minutes, the only noise coming from Jias sobbing, gusts of wind brushing through the trees, and faint cries and roars of creatures.
Miki held Jia in her arms tightly as she kept crying, patting her back while trying to repeat "its okay" over and over despite her unable to hear it. Clouds started covering the sky, making it more colder and greyer then before.
Then once more the words flew across Jias mind, "It's your choice," and struck her.
She looked and dug for an answer, and was met with memories. Memories of the people that had protected her. The people she wanted to be like and what their choices were. The sound of a chirp came to her as she felt sinking into her thoughts, the presence felt both new and familiar. It tried guiding her in this hazy dream, this vision she was having. Perhaps not her assigned deity, it still wanted to help and that it did. Glimpses of times to come and the past, things only the Iwi could see, made her vision of herself much clearer.
Jia stopped crying, still sobbing a bit, but feeling a bit better. Miki loosened her hug around the girl and looked at her, as the Iwi girl rubbed her eyes away from the tears.
"Are you okay?" The woman asked.
Jia nodded, her face giving a smirk, trying to show confidence, it strongly reminded Miki of Maddie.
The Iwi girl let go and turned to Kong, who had a melancholic look on his face as he stared into nothingness, clearly sunk in his own thoughts and visions.
"I understand." She signed to him, the titan turned his gaze, snapping out of the daydreaming, surprised.
"I'll will stay here. But I will help you and everyone here. I'll make things better between us and the avati. I'll help just how she did me. I want to be like how they are."
Kong let another smile grace his lips. "You will protect village. I will watch from the mountain. I promise. I am proud."
He nodded, pointing behind the girl. Jia turned back, looking at Miki, still with teary eyes but with a confident smile, just like the girl that had protected her before. She responded by giving her slow nod and warm smile, that made her feel reassured.
"I will come visit, I will promise that too," Miki signed, "but even at times when I'm not here, I'll always be with you."
The older woman pointed at her chest, the heart, the sould of a being. Unbeknownst to her, the expression that had a deep meaning for the Iwi and for Jia, who had lost their loves ones before.
The looked upon Kong as he sat up again, starting to walk towards the mountain, One last look back to Jia, a slow, reassuring growl that echoed through the valley before the shadowy figure of the titan would disappear in the fog of Skull island, only his bright yellow eyes glaring into the path ahead.
And within his veins, ran the blood of an alpha.
The end
And I guess with this, Alpha Blood has finally come to a wrap. And while I am very happy with that, I also feel that it has come too late and I feel a great amount of shame in myself. I know I shouldn't, but it had taken me far longer then I wanted to write this story. From stuff at home, work and constant drama I got myself in and my mental health on a constant decline, it took me from early 2021 to early 2024 to write it, when it was planned to end in early 2022. Originally this wouldn't have happened, until chapter 13. A fitting place for the cursed number, making me have a writing block that lasted a year.
Generally, I think while I got more satisfied with the story towards the end, I think my biggest issue is that I deviated from many original ideas and plans due to this long time, while also trying to stick too close to the official MonsterVerse. Granted, Alpha Blood was always intended as "Godzilla vs Kong but roles are reversed" but with my overall great dislike of Godzilla vs Kong and the current state of the MonsterVerse, I think trying to stick too close to it was a mistake. The next story is gonna be much more what I wanted to do before and I'm quite excited to start writing it actually, since it's going to be a breath of fresh air.
I must mention that it will NOT have much or anything to do really with Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire. I'm trying to embrace my own split timeline more, so I'll tackle a different topic and style next. So no evolved Godzilla, no Skar King, no Suko, no Shimo, no Kong with a mecha glove.
I MIGHT include elements of Godzilla x Kong in later solo Kong story I had an idea off, which would be a much smaller scale, but it wouldn't include evolved Godzilla or the great apes and their shenanigans, clearly since I have established a different approach to these ancient civilizations.
I hope the next story will wrap in a shorter amount of time that is actually adequate, while I might also make and continue smaller side projects again, be sure to follow me in general for that. I hope you had fun sticking along for this ride and I must once again apologize for taking as long as it did, but I hope after this I can finally start a new chapter for myself. Thank you for reading. – Madison, Tales of Kaiju