Note: More freewriting from me :)
Summary: A little appreciation goes a long way. (Mother's Day fanfic!)
Time from start to completion: 2 hours.
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Being a Mother
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Thin slivers of sunlight shone down on three figures huddled inside a giant cave. A pair of golden eyes opened to the glow.
Shezilla eased herself out into the chilly morning air. She shook off like a sleepy bear and made her way immediately towards the sparkling blue water. The brilliant red dawn seemed to swallow her as she slithered into the crashing surf. Schools of fish darted out of her path. She swam gracefully to the deeper water, a place where she'd cleared away all the coral, and settled down on the bottom. Her rough hide and dorsal spines let her blend in with the ocean floor. Not long after Shezilla took her position, a pod of humpback whales swam by overhead. Their shadows passed over Shezilla's dorsal spines. Not the best meal...but it was meat. She waited until the whales were directly above her head. Then, like lightning, she pounced. She came up beneath two whales so fast that they had no time to react. Her teeth snapped shut around the head of one whale, killing it instantly, and grazed the other. She let the dead whale fall and chased the wounded one. Blood trailed from the injured whale's flank. The poor animal had no hope. Shezilla ended its misery with one swift bite to the head. She carried both carcasses back to the surface and lumbered to shore. Water and whale blood ran down her granite gray hide.
She dropped the bodies in the sand and cut them open with her claws, spilling the red and pink entrails across the sand. This prevented her mate and daughter from fighting over who got to them first, since both loved the intestines. The fights were never serious...but they WERE extremely messy. She could still remember the time they managed to splatter whale guts halfway across the island. That stunt would never be repeated.
Breakfast was ready. Shezilla licked her hands clean and made her way into the cave. Godzilla lay sprawled on his stomach with Filia pressed to his flank. Shezilla nuzzled Godzilla's cheek and while he squirmed groggily awake she lapped the end of Filia's nose. "Come on, you two, it's morning."
Filia yawned, "Daddy snored all night!"
"Mommy snored more," said Godzilla.
"I don't snore." Shezilla replied pointedly before backing out of the cave.
Suddenly, Godzilla's head perked up and his nostrils flared. Shezilla knew that look; he smelled the fresh kill. He nudged Filia upright and hurried outside. "I get the guts!"
Filia toddled into the light and blinked sleepily. Then she spotted Godzilla jogging towards the dead whales and took off running. "No! I do!"
The two collided on top of the same loop of intestine. They grabbed it in their teeth and tugged until it ripped in half. Everything the whale ate was now splattered on both of them. Shezilla shook her head at her mind-boggling family...they had two piles of the stuff and they always fought over one piece.
Filia ate her fill first. She toddled towards Shezilla, covered head to toe in gore. Laughing, Shezilla bent to lick her daughter clean. "You ate a lot this morning."
"I think my stomach's growing," Filia giggled. Somehow, she managed to get blood under her arms and on the back of her neck. Those were her most ticklish places. Shezilla had a hard time keeping her still so she could clean the blood off. Filia's brown eyes crossed and she laughed. "That tickles, Mommy!"
You wiggle too much. Shezilla thought to herself. She giggled back and nuzzled Filia's cheek. "Everything tickles to you. Now go play where I can see you while I clean Daddy up."
"Okay!" Filia burst out of Shezilla's arms and dashed up to the jungle. Every once in awhile, birds would flit around in the trees and Filia loved to watch them.
Godzilla had curled himself possessively around both whales. He managed to get meat, blood and blubber all down his chest. Shezilla found him licking the last traces of meat off a spine. She watched him for a moment. That big lug...he ate messily like an overgrown hatchling. Then he saw her looking and smiled with red teeth. She shook her head and bent to lap the blood off his snout.
"I have a joke for you," Godzilla tilted his head when she licked under his chin. "What makes the ocean more beautiful than it is now?"
Shezilla blinked. "I have no idea..."
"You swimming in it." he wiggled his eyebrows.
"You flirt!" She slapped his chest and giggled, her cheeks turning faintly pink. He looked up at her with his soft goldish-brown eyes. It made her heart pound. She nuzzled his nose, "Go watch the little one. I'll clean up here."
Godzilla nipped Shezilla's shoulder as he scrambled to his feet. He escaped before she could tackle him. Lucky, she'd have to get him next time. She sighed and turned back to eat what remained of the whales after her family tore them apart. There wasn't much left, and what little she could nibble off the bones didn't fill her stomach at all. Sometimes there was nothing left. She didn't mind though. As long as her family got fed she was happy.
She spent the rest of the morning sweeping the whale bones back into the water. It was just too easy for Filia to trip and fall and have a whale rib go straight through her still-soft body. She watched her mate and daughter wrestle around near the jungle. Filia only came up to Godzilla's knees...so tiny...and Godzilla always played very gently with her. Godzilla rolled over onto his back. Filia jumped up on his chest and screeched victoriously. At least until Godzilla dropped a hand full of sand on her back.
"That's COLD!" Filia wailed, her tail thrashing in the air.
Shezilla laughed and went back to cleaning up the beach. It was hard to understand why Filia liked to play so much...she never got to experience that stage in life. And playing with a child was radically different from playing with her mate. She could wrestle him and not worry about injuring him. But little Filia? One wrong move might snap her arm or leg. Godzilla knew how much a little one could handle, so he had no qualms about rough-housing.
Besides, he was usually the one who got hurt. One time, he tripped and knocked himself out on the side of the cave. Then there was the time he swallowed a rock on a dare...he passed it three days later, still whole, and never did that again. And Shezilla couldn't quite forget the time he got his head stuck in a coral reef. Filia managed to swim into a coral cave small enough for her, but too small for Godzilla's head. He got it in, but couldn't get it out. That one wouldn't have been so bad if Godzilla hadn't gone out the next day and done the same thing again on another reef.
Shaking her head, Shezilla glanced up at the sun. It was higher and yellow. The air would warm up soon.
"My love! I'm going to hunt again! Watch our little one!"
"Okay!" Godzilla called back, "We'll guard the island!"
Shezilla dove again into the sparkling blue sea. The swim proved uneventful, and the next time she surfaced she gazed upon a forest of silver boxes that gleamed in the noon-day sun. Human territory...it took a long time to reach their land, and they did not like to give up their radiation without a fight. Shezilla hadn't even gone ashore and their little noise sticks began to wail. She hated that sound! Turning, she swept the area with her bright blue heat beam. The wailing fell silent. She heard the tiny humans screaming and watched them flood between the boxes. They didn't interest her, their atomic food did. She recognized the white cylinder that held the reactor - her mate showed it to her ages ago - and went for it. Maybe if she moved fast she could grab the reactor and leave before the lightning stinger arrived.
If only her luck was that good.
Searing pain dug into Shezilla's left hip. Shezilla howled and thrashed her tail at the lightning bug, flipping it off its path. She continued to the food cylinder, knocked it over and picked up her prize. Flying metal insects pelted her with hot projectiles. Shezilla swatted them away. This was her food!
"Stop that!" She howled.
They didn't understand her.
With no other choice, Shezilla hugged the reactor to her chest and charged over the rolling bugs converging in her path. Flames, smoke and explosions marked her trail to the sea. She dove, terrified by the noise. Thankfully there were no swimming bugs waiting like last time. Shezilla clutched the ends of the reactor so she wouldn't accidentally feed off it and made her way into deeper water.
Shezilla arrived back on her island just a short time before sunset. Godzilla and Filia were resting side by side on the beach, but stood up the second they saw her. She met them in the surf and they all fed off the radiation together.
Exhausted, Shezilla broke off and settled down to watch the sunset. What a day...so long and seemingly thankless. But she didn't blame them. They were her family. She'd die for them if it meant they could live.
It seemed that she only closed her eyes for a moment when something small nudged her cheek. Blinking, Shezilla lifted her head to find the sun gone and the moon high in the sky. She looked over at Filia, whose brown eyes twinkled in the moonlight.
"What do you need, little one?" asked Shezilla.
"Nothing." Filia giggled, "you fell asleep, silly! Why do you fall asleep right at sundown all the time?"
Shezilla yawned. "Because I'm a mommy, and it's a lot of work to be a mommy, so I'm very tired."
"Oh," Filia nodded and turned away. She started towards the cave. Suddenly, she stopped and looked over her shoulder with a huge smile on her face. "You're good at being a Mommy!" she said with genuine, childish gratitude. Then she giggled and scampered to the cave.
The innocent, heartfelt words echoed in Shezilla's mind and made her heart swell. She smiled as she watched Filia crawl into the cave. Sure, Filia and Godzilla left a lot of messes to clean up. Sometimes they did things that defied Shezilla's sense of logic and occasionally, they both frustrated her to the point of tears. But those simple words from Filia—You're good at being a Mommy!—let her know that her efforts as a mother were never wasted.