Disclaimer: Do I even need this? Does it look like I own this? Does anyone on this site look like they own this franchise (as cool as that would be)? XD
He heard the human long before he ever saw him.
Still on the verge of unconsciousness, Godzilla listened as the man approached, his labored footfalls a tiny blip of sound in the chaos of raging fires and rushing rivers. Godzilla could almost believe he didn't hear the footsteps at all. It had been a long time since another creature had entered his domain, even longer since that creature was human. Everything had been driven away long ago by the energy that permeated the land; the footsteps must be ghosts, coming to haunt Godzilla in his beaten state for all that he had not been able to do.
For one moment of weakness, the Titan pushed his last few pride-crushing days away and slipped into the safety of a world that had existed long before this generation of humans – a world he had loved so dearly, and which had loved him too. He pretended that the newcomer was a human child curious to see his god and be near him. Way back when, it had not been uncommon for one to visit him every few generations, despite the warnings of their elders. They had always been so sure Godzilla would not harm them.
He never had. He understood humans needed reminding of their place sometimes, and that was alright. He made sure to always send the children back unscathed but scared – a gift in a world ruled by behemoths.
Thinking of them, Godzilla missed those simpler times, missed having overconfident, curious children come to him in the middle of the night. He remembered the way they had looked at him – eyes wide and jaws gaping, awe-struck and mystified. His chest swelled at the mere thought of their faces. As much as the mature humans' respect pleased him, nothing quite compared to the wonder of a child who knew the possible consequences of approaching his god but went regardless.
The footsteps continued to climb, growing closer, louder, slower. The effects of the heat and radiation must be catching up with him, tightening their hold around him, but Godzilla could not find the strength to open his eyes and confirm his suspicions. He listened as the man struggled to climb the last few steps, falling again and again, yet rising despite the stranglehold this world's atmosphere had on him. The footfalls sounded about 30 steps away, then 25. 20, then 10. One by one, the man climbed until his footfalls echoed off the stone landing.
Still, Godzilla did not rouse, despite his curiosity.
The footsteps dragged even closer, approaching Godzilla until he was about halfway to the Titan. The man stopped then, and a firm clink of metal hitting stone rang out. He had brought something with him. What, Godzilla did not know, but from its ring, he could tell it was large. Dense. For the human, it had to have been a heavy burden in an already suffocating atmosphere. What level of importance did it hold that pushed the man to bring it?
Once upon a time, Godzilla would have believed the object to be an offering. The humans had often extended gifts to him as a sign of gratitude. The Titan had rarely accepted them, having no need for their items, and found more value in their intentions than anything else. As much as he longed for that kind of gesture again, Godzilla did not fool himself into believing the humans had returned to their old ways of approaching him.
Another clink sounded, then a strange beep. A beat of silence, then a rhythmic tick. Tick. Tick.
Strange as the sounds were, Godzilla still did not rouse.
The Titan listened as the man's bones creaked with age as he arose from his crouch. The air seemed to hiss around him before being followed by a crack as something hard hit the ground. The footsteps then dragged across the stone floor again, the man daring to draw even nearer to Godzilla – something no human, not even the most arrogant child, had ever tried before.
In the days of old, Godzilla would have wasted no time in teaching this man a lesson. He would have risen to his full height and brought the radiation within him to the surface, flashing his spines and eyes bright, fatal blue. With one mighty roar, he would send the man packing to the deepest, darkest cave this planet had to offer.
Today, the Titan hadn't the strength, the energy, or even the will to do anything more than peel his eyes open.
His home materialized first, a mess of fire, unnatural, glowing water, and crumbling structures that could barely support themselves. As he always did, he saw first the deep imprints of Ghidorah's claws and feet marred into the ground and stone, entire sections of the city brought down by a thrashing tail, and piles of dust where there should be skeletons. Even worse, he saw his tracks scarring the Earth, districts his tail had decimated, scorch marks his atomic breath had made. He did not feel guilt or regret for the destruction he had caused. The Titan knew no such concept existed, but sometimes, when the events of those days floated through his mind, his chest ached with an intangible pain he didn't know how to heal.
That pain rose up now, the stark image of the Titan's failure tearing into him worse than Ghidorah's claws ever could. Godzilla tore his eyes away from the ruined city and turned to see the one thing he could still control in his beaten state – the approaching human and whatever sorry weapon he had brought with him. He braced himself to rise from his prone position. The alpha he was, he needed to get up and fight, half-assed as the fight would be. He could not afford to miss any opportunity to remind the world of his prowess; he could not afford to be weak, even when he needed to be.
But before the Titan could rise, he saw the man's face and paused.
Wonder. The man – his wide eyes overflowed with wonder as they gazed upon Godzilla. It possessed every cell in his body, driving him forward one shaky step at a time. His body trembled with the effort it took to fight the atmosphere, and his breathes stumbled through parted lips, trying in vain to claim enough clean air to sustain his lungs. Any other human would have long laid down and died, but this man fought with everything in him to be close to the Titan.
Godzilla did not understand. He glanced behind the man, spotting the hunk of metal he had brought. He recognized it without a moment's hesitation – many of this type of contraption had been dropped on him before, all attempts to be rid of his existence. It did not surprise him to see it, but for this man, so full of awe, to be the one to bring it to him? It made no sense.
Looking out over the land once more, Godzilla searched for the army that had to be with him. Humans followed a similar pack order to the one the Titan ruled; a higher-ranking person must be forcing this man's hand, but no. Only the ancient ghosts haunting the ruins remained with them.
That couldn't be right. Focusing on his hearing, Godzilla searched again, listening past the roar of flames, the gurgle of water, and the tick-tick-ticking of the weapon. Far in the distance, he made out the whirring sound of one of those mystical machines humanity had put together to dominate the sea in the same way he did. But unlike this man before him, the contraption did not become louder as it closed in on his location. The grinding gears and electrical whir instead softened as the machine retreated in the direction of the open ocean, leaving the man behind in a world he could not survive long.
The ache in Godzilla's chest returned with a new strength as he finally began to understand.
The man served one purpose – to bring the weapon to the Titan – and with that goal realized, the end of his usefulness also marked the end of his life. So, the other humans left him, just as humanity had left Godzilla behind all those years ago after he'd trapping Ghidorah in his prison of ice.
But turning his eyes back to the man, Godzilla saw that the man seemed… at peace with his fate. Even welcoming of it, now that he'd completed his mission. What he held with him now was a dream – a dream to see the Titan, his god of sorts, up close and personal before he returned to the dust which had made him.
Godzilla wished to do more than what this human desired of him, to go above and beyond his expectations. He wished to stop the man's peeling skin, to push him back towards the safety of the surface world, even something as small as giving him a better place to die than here, but the man fell short on time. No matter Godzilla's wishes, time remained the only thing that would not bow to him. This stone landing would be the man's resting place. They both knew it, and so the Titan let the man come.
With a few more steps, the man disappeared from Godzilla's line of sight, too close for the Titan to see over his snout. Still, he could sense the man's closeness and the touch of his hand on his rough hide, even though it was too small for him to truly feel. The man whispered something then, so quiet and reverent, and though Godzilla did not understand his language, he understood him all the same.
Goodbye.
Godzilla released a long breath, a wave of warmth washing over the man – his own goodbye – just as the weapon ticked for the final time.
The bomb made no sound as it exploded. Godzilla watched with wide eyes as his city – his home – blew apart, crumbled to dust, and then flew away with the wind. The water evaporated or was pushed from the tunnel, and above, the ceiling trembled, cracked, widened, bits of debris falling onto the Titan's head.
But mostly, Godzilla watched the man, how he vaporized to nothing in less than a second, not even a speck of dust left behind. As quickly as he had come, he was gone again, devoured by an energy far more powerful than he could ever even dream of being.
But that energy – it surged through Godzilla's body, reawakening every limb and healing every wound he had, no matter how big or small. It restored all that he had lost and then some, until he overflowed with it. Every moment, he felt like he could contain no more, but somehow, the radiation always found a vacant spot to fill. It renewed him from his body to his mind to even his spirit. The Titan hadn't felt so powerful, so strong, or so confident in years.
That was what the weapon had been for all along, Godzilla realized. The man had not brought it to harm him but to heal. He had given his life, so that Godzilla may be at his peak performance when, not if anymore, he finally returned Ghidorah back to hell, where he belonged. Humanity may have forgotten him and plunged the Earth into a state of being the Titan could never truly reside in, but this one had wanted differently. He had seen Godzilla, understood his purpose for living, respected and revered him like humanity had so long ago. He had wanted a change, for the Earth to restore to a state of balance, even if he never got to see that dream realized for himself.
Godzilla would have to see it for him. He could not let this one human – this one, special human – give his short, fragile, precious life in vain. The world could not return to what it had been, but whether humanity knew it or not, they deserved to give the man – their saving grace – all they had to see it restored as best as they could.
Rising from the wreckage of his ruined kingdom, a new fire raging in his chest, Godzilla marched towards the tunnel that would take him back to the ocean, where the new world awaited to be saved.
Did anyone ask for the inner-workings of a kaiju? No. Did I write it anyway? You bet I did because I'm great at wasting my time. XD
But seriously, in King of Monsters, when the sub went into what is essentially Atlantis, I could not contain my awe. It looked so beautiful, and it opened so many avenues for headcannons. Like, can you imagine a Godzilla who spent a close time with humans? Who might've had some affection for them (or at least, their good treatment of him because he kinda protects them)? How do you think he felt when he awoke from his hibernation and saw humanity had moved on, forgotten him, and so on?
Or did he want to be forgotten..?
For the purposes of this story, it's the former option, but regardless, I love thinking about it. Hope you guys also enjoyed exploring this idea. Let me know in the comments!