Ch. 3: Bonding

It was easy leading the new girl through the wild forest. Sam knew how to keep pace with Danny as they slipped past overgrown shrubs, ferns, and bushes. The ebony-haired girl always ducked under the low hanging branches easily, which Danny was surprised by. After all, any other person would still be stiff and aching from the use of his powers on them but he guessed she was unaware of any of the aches reverberating through her limbs.

Dodging past another fern and ducking under another low-hanging tree-branch, Danny casually asked his new companion, "So Sam, what happened that led you to drift onto Monster Island's beach?"

Beside him, Sam hummed contemplatively and frowned in thought as she reviewed her memory. For a moment, Danny was scared she would end up just like him before the violet-eyed girl answered confidently, "I was on a yacht. It belonged to my parents' friends. They were excited because it was new, expensive, etc."

Yeah, Danny wouldn't know but that explained why everything in the wreckage was so ornamental and totally useless.

"They had never had a boat either and it was their first." Sam continued casually, looking towards the sky. Her pretty purple eyes were far away, remembering the events that had happened as Danny led her through the jungle around them. Her voice was dry as she said, "Like typical snobs, they wanted to show it off and invited my parents to go along and I was roped into going with them. It was fine for the first of hours, I guess, but then… Something happened down below."

Again, Danny found himself worrying. Her irritated tone had suddenly turned uncertain. Whether it was from simply not knowing what it was that happened or having her memories fade away like his, Danny didn't know. He wanted to ask but couldn't get his voice to work as she began to easily continue, "I don't know what but, suddenly, the boat was on fire and people were jumping ship. I, obviously, jumped as well with a life preserver under my arms. I floated for a bit, trying to find my parents in the confusion, but the boat blew. I was hit in the head with a wooden plank and the next thing I know is your face hovering above mine."

With how easily her tone went from melancholy to teasing, Danny couldn't help the laugh that escaped his throat. His worry evaporated effortlessly. The ebony-haired boy vaguely noticed through his mirth that he and Sam were finally merging onto his familiar route home. His bare feet stepped past small, scurrying creatures and tiptoed over rocks that would cause pain in his feet.

Sam, smiling softly, watched him and Danny wondered why she seemed so interested in him (though it never occurred to him that maybe it was because he was very well-versed in the ways of Monster Island). Curiously, the girl blinked owlishly at him and asked, "So how did you get here?"

Danny didn't want to go into his back-story- or, lack thereof –but he shrugged at the girl with his usual uncertainty when it came to dealing with what happened before he woke up, floating in the middle of the ocean on a suitcase with six fine companions. Danny replied, "I was in a plane crash. I don't remember anything that happened, just that I washed up on shore with a few other survivors on a bunch of suitcases. I must've hit my head on something hard during the crash." Understatement. With how disconnected everything was, he probably hit his head hard against something multiple times. "The other survivors and I lived here for awhile but, one by one, everyone just disappeared or died until it was only me."

Suddenly wide-eyed in shock, Sam sputtered, "H-How long ago was the crash?!"

Well, that depended on some things, Danny mused. Not bothered all that much by the girl's shock, Danny asked, "Do you know the date?"

Sam blinked once at him before she replied, "April 30th, 2014."

"Damn." Danny muttered in surprise. Sure, he had known a lot of time had gone by but that much? With all that had happened since he had washed up on Monster Island's shore, it hadn't felt like too much time had passed…but, when he began thinking about it, what he remembered felt like an eternity. The feeling made his head spin and Danny sarcastically mumbled, "Time flies when you're having fun…or fighting for your life. But what's the difference really?"

"How long ago?" Sam suddenly cut back in, snapping Danny's attention back towards her as he ducked past a bushy branch he knew had an ungodly amount of chiggers in it.

Recalling his age, Danny shrugged stupidly and gave the ebony-haired girl another smile in hopes of masking his sudden dizziness as he replied, "I was just about to turn twelve at the time and, according to your timeframe, I turned sixteen just a few weeks ago. It's been roughly four years."

Danny wasn't prepared for Sam to become a statue and yelped as he was jerked back, his arm still tightly locked with hers. His wide, blue eyes looked her over for anything wrong but her violet eyes were suddenly glassy and far-away again. The teen boy frowned at the familiar, vacant look and wondered why Sam kept retreating into herself like that. While Danny wanted to just be annoyed by it, he found himself worried with thoughts of brain damage fluttering through his head. However, he also wanted to give her time to process and stood by her side, tightening his arm around hers in hopes of being a solid foundation.

This idea began crumbling when Sam refused to come out of her stunned state. With a frown, Danny waved his hand in front of the new girl's face and, in hopes of rousing the girl from her stupor, began calling, "Hey Sam? Are you ok? I know Monster Island is kind-of a shocker but-"

BAM, Sam suddenly wrapped her arms around Danny's middle, clinging to him tightly. Danny jerked back from her but Sam stayed tightly pressed against him. The teen boy steadied himself while he looked down at the ebony-haired girl with wide eyes. His arms hovered over her smaller body anxiously. Danny, unsure and uncertain all over again by Sam's actions, asked, "S-Sam?"

"I'm sorry."

Danny blinked confusedly, frowning down at the girl. Sam hadn't said or done anything mean to him that would be worthy of an apology. Sure, she had joked but they were just teases. Their meeting hadn't been all that stellar, after all, and it was worthy of being joked about. What could she possibly be sorry about?

"What for?" Danny asked.

"I don't know. But I'm sorry."

There were a few more moments where Danny stayed frozen, puzzled. However, Sam wasn't relaxing her grip and the ebony-haired boy honestly liked the feeling. He was also reminded of his first day on the island. With zero memories and with no grasp of what was 'normal,' he'd often sought out comfort from Kitty, who had needed it just as badly. (Occasionally, Johnny would join them, which was rather comical, looking back on it.)

Dropping his arms around Sam, the boy rested his head on hers. Danny didn't say anything and Sam didn't either. The only sounds came from the wind brushing the trees together but it went unnoticed by the two teens. They were perfectly still against each other, careful not to disrupt what connection they had happened to make in such a short time.

Then Sam laughed and Danny pulled away from her to smile and ask, "What are you laughing at?"

The raven-haired girl shook her head at the taller figure, chuckling quietly under her breath. Her damp hair swayed back and forth with the movement of her head and her eyes laughed too. Teasingly, Sam replied, "It's nothing. Although, I am curious… Were you always so painstakingly optimistic?"

Danny laughed again and shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe? You should probably ask someone who knew me before all this crap happened. I don't think I'm much of a reliable source."

The raven-haired boy tugged at Sam's hand as she laughed again. Danny led the new girl farther along the path and deeper into the forest surrounding them. Danny twisted through the familiar foliage easily as he wandered through the jungle, leading the oblivious girl behind him easily by the hand. The teen boy could easily say that his new friend was much more relaxed now, impossible as it seemed on such a horror-ridden island.

As the path began running alongside the river that would lead to Danny's cave home, he could hear Sam gasp in surprise behind him. The teen grinned, taking in the beauty of the river and the surrounding forest. The trees stood tall and harbored all sorts of birds. The shrubs and ferns on the ground were wild and overgrown. The river ran downstream quickly, sparkling like diamonds in the sunlight. Small fish swam in the cool water, hiding between the rocks that littered the bottom and the sides of the river.

"In all of my four years here, I never get tired of the view." Danny said, smiling back at Sam as her eyes continued to look out at the scenery. She hummed back at him, averting her violet orbs to his blue ones. Danny smiled at her again before looking towards the path in front of him, brushing plants out of his way as he made his way back to camp.

It was quiet again for a little while before Sam curiously asked, "So what's it like living here?"

Danny looked over his shoulder to stare at the girl briefly before he shrugged and ducked under one of the branches that had smacked him that morning. "Well, it's kind of boring. I mean, every day I go out and find food. I always make sure I have enough wood to burn. I don't have to worry about water much; the stream is freshwater and clean. Really, I just make sure I have everything I need. If I'm all set for awhile, I like to explore, though I'm sure I haven't even made a dent covering the entire island."

All in all, living on the island was kind of easy and really boring sometimes. The days he found exciting were the ones he found himself falling out of trees trying to get to some high-up fruit that he could barely reach or backing away slowly from a snake or some other dangerous animal. However, he wasn't going to tell Sam that quite yet. After all, she didn't need to know his warped sense of "fun" was until later.

"And what do you do when Godzilla suddenly appears?" Sam asked, suddenly stepping a few paces closer to Danny. The teen boy didn't think she realized she had done it and Danny didn't say anything about.

"What we did today: hide." Danny answered casually while he carefully stepped over a log. He watched for a moment to see if anything inside would stir but nothing happened. Sam climbed over behind him as he continued, "I don't know why I bother. He's never been aggressive towards me. I seem to be a mere nuisance and he always manages to find me anyways. Even today he saw me." Danny looked over his shoulder and smiled, though it was slightly irritated. He had a feeling that bastard of a kaiju was always smug about his victories. "Sometimes I think he gets a sick enjoyment watching me scramble around."

Despite his small joke, Sam frowned in worried as she brushed a hanging, bushy vine out of her way. "Do you think he'll be aggravated by me?"

Having already thought about the question before, Danny wasn't overly worried about the King of Monster's reaction. He shrugged in response to the girl's question and replied, "I don't see why he would. After all, there used to be more of us and he wasn't overly concerned. In all seriousness, I don't think he really cares we're here. I know this is going to sound kind of insane but…" Oh, this was going to sound way more than insane but it's not like the ebony-haired girl had anywhere else to go. Despite the fact he was right, Danny mentally scolded himself for even thinking such a thing before continuing, "I think he and I have a weird, mutual respect thing going on between us. I mean, he's the frikkin King of Monsters and I managed to stay alive this long on his island. That's got to count for something, doesn't it?"

By the look on the girl's face, Danny knew Sam was agreeing with his earlier statement of sounding insane. However, with a few minutes of silence and stepping past bug infested bushes, Sam looked like she didn't think it was as farfetched as she originally thought as she asked, "And why do you think that, Danny?"

Danny couldn't help it. He smiled at the use of his name. It had been a long time since it had been used by another person and it sounded so nice to him. It was stupid and trivial but the ebony-haired teen liked hearing his name from another person.

Looking over his shoulder, Danny met Sam's eyes and he slowed his steps a little bit. He could vividly remember one of the most interesting and terrifying days of his life. It was easy going back to the memory as he replied, "Well, there was a time not too long after all the other survivors disappeared and/or died that I caught some bug. I stayed in my shelter for the entirety of a couple of days, which the old kaiju seemed to notice. He started coming by my shelter, briefly checking up on me each day until I finally got better and started leaving. He stopped coming by after that."

Sam didn't reply right away to his explanation so Danny looked forward to the path again so he wouldn't trip and fall over for the fiftieth time that day. Danny continued to lead the thinking girl through the forest by the hand, making sure she wouldn't trip or step on something that would come back to bite her (literally and figuratively).

Finally, Sam asked, "How often do you see Godzilla?"

That was an easy enough question to answer, Danny mused as he replied, "Eh, around five or six times a week, I figure. I mean, I don't keep count of the days so I'm guessing but it'd explain why my absence was so noticeable."

The two ducked under another branch. Danny recognized it as another one of the ones that had whipped him across the face. They were everywhere, it seemed.

Sam tightened her hand around Danny's and the teen squeezed back in reassurance, though he wasn't sure what had set her off this time. He didn't mind though. Looking over his shoulder, Danny smiled and continued, "Although, when he suddenly goes off into the water like he did today, he's usually not back for a week or two, leaving me totally hanging. It's a weird thing he does." A really weird thing was more like it. "I've been worried lately, though. His trips just keep getting shorter and he keeps appearing more frequently."

"Do you have any idea why he's suddenly restless?" Sam asked, once again drawing closer to her guide without noticing her own actions.

Not being able to help it, Danny snorted at the question. After all, it wasn't like he was an expert on all things kaiju. He wished he was but he was far from it, really. After all, he'd only ever come across one and said King of Monsters wasn't a very social creature. How Godzilla even managed to stay in contact with another kaiju long enough to have a kid eluded Danny.

Shaking his head, Danny replied to the girl, "Not a clue. It's not like I can just go up and ask him about his problems. Yeah, that'd go over real well."

Rolling her eyes, Sam said, "Ah, shut up."

"But you love my voice!"

"Pushing it, boy."

Danny laughed, pushing past a large wall of ferns and low-hanging branches to enter the clearing that marked the edge of his HQ. The cave was off to the side and the river wasn't too far off. The teen blushed when he could see the mess inside his little shelter, suddenly self-conscious about the little hovel he called home. After all, Sam just came from a really expensive yacht with equally expensive décor and he had…a cave.

Looking down to see the girl's expression, she didn't look disgusted or repulsed (not that it would have mattered in the long run). Sam looked more curious than anything else, taking in Danny's little haven to its fullest extent. Her head swiveled around to look at everything and her hand loosened around Danny's, something he took notice of. He relaxed his grip on her hand, as well.

Danny looked around the clearing again as well. A small smile tugged at his lips when he remembered the first he and his crew had stumbled upon it. Everyone had been relieved. Well… Everyone but Skulker. The ultra-survivalist in him had been suspicious of the fine looking shelter and water supply only meters away. The green-haired man had looked through the entire clearing, studying each and every crevice he found with the upmost certainty that something about it was wrong. The shelter was too good to be true.

After two days of studying the clearing as the others camped out in a man-made shelter on the beach, Skulker finally gave the green light to use the cave begrudgingly. It took another two weeks to finally convince the man fully that there was nothing wrong with the find and one more week for Johnny to finally make Skulker admit it. After verbally confessing to his unneeded suspicious behavior, Kitty rightly called him a "stubborn bastard."

It was such a hilarious memory. It made Danny smile brightly as he watched the girl continue to take everything in. He barely managed to contain the laughter that wanted to explode from his mouth. Skulker's face had just been so funny and Walker and Johnny had shaken the island with their mirth while Kitty smiled smugly at the green-haired male.

"You know, you should probably go wash off in the river. You're covered in sand and dried blood." Danny said without thinking, feeling light as a feather.

"What?! Blood?!"

Then he blanched at his own words and barely suppressed the urge to smack himself silly for being so insensitive.

Sam released Danny's hand to extend both of her arms so she could look herself up and down. The teen boy hid his face in his hands as Sam studied her body, looking for the invisible wounds that were releasing the blood Danny had spoken of. The only thing she found marring her skin were white, blotchy scars that told the story of ghastly wounds. Something it couldn't tell was the story of how quickly the wounds had healed.

Danny waited for her reaction as he continued to hide his head in his hands. It would come anytime-

"What the hell?!"

-now… Hm, Danny was expecting a bigger explosion but that would work too.

Dropping one hand to his side and the other finding the back of his neck, Danny chuckled nervously at his bewildered new friend. "Uh, yeah, you see… Um, how do I explain this as simply as possible? When you washed up on shore, I think you were hit with more than just a plank of wood because you were covered in gashes… That's not the point, though. The point is I'vegotthisfreakyabilitythatletsmehealmyselfandothersreally,reallyquickly."

Instead of looking astonished or creeped out, Sam only looked confused as she replied, "What? Say that again now."

"...I've got a freaky ability that lets me heal others and me quickly. I healed you before you woke up because it's kind of painful. You probably feel really achy right now because of it but I don't think you've noticed with how much crap's been going on." Danny replied, sighing. He tried forcing a smile but it was too hard and he stopped quickly. He couldn't seem to make his lips work correctly.

Sam stared at him curiously before frowning and unconsciously rolling her shoulders. She shook her head before replying, "Alright, yea, I think I'll go wash off, like you said."

Danny perked at her lack of surprise, watching as she only smiled at him before wandering towards the stream. For a moment, he only watched her walk away from him before his brain told him he had things to do. Shaking his head, he called, "Uh, I'll be in the cave!"

The raven-haired girl waved to show she heard as Danny turned and began hurrying over to the hollow in the side of the cliff edge. He breathed a sigh as he began looking everything over, wondering what he was going to do. From the looks of it, he had enough food for the both of them for now, he'd start a fire a little while later, but there was only one "bed." Danny had to fix that.

Dropping to his knees in front of his usual resting place, Danny pushed the pile of clothes to the side. Looking through it, he tried to find the cleanest articles he could but, again, he was reminded that it'd been four years. The clothing had been through as much crap as he had. Some of it had been worn by him before he'd either grown out of it or managed to destroy the clothes (accidents happen). Other articles had been worn by the rest of his crew before they too had worn the clothing down and switched their attire with something else.

The teen boy was being so meticulous with his separating that he didn't notice Sam finishing up in the stream and getting out. The girl was dripping as she entered the cave, despite her attempts at ringing out her clothes and hair. As she stopped by Danny's side, she smiled and asked, "So whatcha doing?"

Chuckling nervously and rubbing the back of his neck, Danny replied, "Uh, well, I was making a makeshift bed for you but I'm kinda failing. I think I'll just let you take my spot for the night so I don't have to deal with it today."

Sam had no qualms about reaching out and pushing Danny onto his back via his face. The boy yelped as he fell back, pin-wheeling before he hit the ground. Looking up in surprise, Danny saw that Sam had taken his spot and was breezing through the work he had been so careful about. It made Danny laugh at her casualness.

Danny couldn't see the smile Sam wore as she asked, "Where'd you get all this stuff?"

"Like I said, I woke up floating on a suitcase that was my make-shift raft." The blue-eyed teen repeated as he pushed himself up. "The others were the same way and considering how hard it is to get materials on an untouched island, we pretty much kept everything. Anything can be useful around here. I plan on going back to the beach later to pick through the debris from your crappy mishap. You can come if you want."

Sam nodded, signaling she wanted to go with him. Danny hummed quietly to himself, hoping he remembered where he had been through the wreckage before he'd come across the floating girl and the fiasco of a day had started spiraling out of control.

"What was your group like?"

The question came out of nowhere and Danny paused for a moment to figure out what Sam had asked. He blinked at her back before laughing breathlessly, scooting closer to watch her work. She wouldn't meet his eye as he answered, "Well… They were cool, I guess. I was the only kid. The rest of the group was made up of the leader, Skulker, a guy named Johnny and his girlfriend, Kitty, an egomaniac, Walker, a college student named Elliot, and a dancer named Desiree."

Oh, they had been an interesting bunch, alright. With their varying personalities and attitudes, anyone from the mainland would've laughed at the thought of them getting stuck on an island together. Sure, in the end, the laughter would've been justified but it wouldn't be for lack of trying.

With the image of the leader of their impossible group in his head, Danny continued, "The only reason any of us made it as far as we did was because Skulker was one of those extreme survivalists. It sure came in handy and he whipped us into shape real quick."

Danny remembered the groaning of others as he smartly stayed quiet behind the older male. Skulker had tolerated him the best because of his quietness as he rolled his eyes at the immature adults who doubted they would live, no matter what they did. However, Skulker had been a determined man and he was going to die trying to survive.

Of course… "It wasn't enough for some of us, though. We all had wounds from the crash but everyone noticed mine had healed and scarred way too quickly to be normal. It was the first time I used my abilities and I tried my hardest to fix the others. I got through Johnny, Kitty, Skulker, and Walker without too much trouble but, at the time, my powers were still unstable. I caused them a lot of pain healing them up." Danny stated, frowning as he stared at Sam's moving hands.

Finding out his powers could be spread to others had been an accident. They had been sitting on the beach to rest and he'd been sitting beside Kitty. Danny had been brushing his hands near her a cut on her hand and it'd magically started to heal. Of course, Kitty had yelped in surprise at the stinging pain, which had startled Danny enough to make him jump back in surprise. Walker had been behind him and had just about smacked Danny for the intrusion of his personal space before Kitty had smacked Walker for even thinking about hitting a kid.

After Skulker broke the two adults away from each other and Danny was restored to Kitty's protective arms (oh, Johnny had been so jealous), Skulker had interrogated the two about their ridiculous behavior. It eventually came around to what had startled Kitty, leading to the theory of Danny's abilities. The speculations eventually led to the discovery of what he could do. However, healing didn't come with pain nullification, it seemed.

"When I tried to heal Elliot, I ended up making everything worse instead of helping. Again, my abilities were unstable and it was hard enough getting the other four back together. Skulker made me stop trying and figured we would find a way to heal Desiree and Elliot normally. I guess it wasn't meant to be because they both got an infection and, eventually, died."

There had been a lot of blood with Elliot. Instead of knitting the skin together, it was like the skin unraveled further and it wouldn't stop bleeding for a long time. Danny had been mortified and had to be dragged away so Skulker and the others could attempt fixing it. They eventually got it to stop. Elliot didn't like him too much after that incident.

Desiree hadn't been too happy at the turn of events but she sucked it up better than Elliot. She had treated Danny indifferently but, then again, she had been like that to everything. It wasn't personal.

But then, did it matter? Within a few weeks, both Elliot and Desiree were gone and buried not too far from the shelter. Danny hadn't been to visit that part of the island in a long time.

Danny perked when he felt Sam's hand being placed on his shoulder. Looking to the side, he saw the girl had taken a seat beside him with an obvious frown on her face. Sam reassuringly said, "You couldn't have done anything; I hope you know that."

"I know. It doesn't stop me from thinking I could've done something, though." Danny replied truthfully, shrugging. After all, how could a person not think about it? They had a chance to help someone else and completely screwed it up. Part of the fault fell on them, no matter how much they were assured it wasn't.

"The others lasted a lot longer, at least. I'm guessing we were a few months into it when Kitty and Johnny went out to find some food. Kitty was the only one that came back. She never told us what happened to Johnny." Danny continued, thinking back to the night Kitty had come back alone with a wet face, though she she'd stop crying long before she made it back. Skulker had been furious and demanded to know where the girl's boyfriend was. She had vacantly replied that Johnny was dead and said nothing more that night, despite the other male's questioning. Danny had been silent throughout the ordeal and spent the night near Kitty at all times in an attempt to be comforting.

"The next person to go was Walker. He was bitten by one of the few snakes on the island. It was poisonous and he died a few hours after the incident. When Walker was bitten, I had gotten better at my powers by working on any wound, big or small, the others came back with so we could avoid even the smallest of infections. I tried with Walker but my powers don't really work with venoms, it seems."

At the point in time, they had come across only a dozen snakes and managed to avoid physical contact with them up until that point. Walker had been the first of the dwindling group to be hurt by any of the few predators on the island and he'd made a big fuss about it too. He only stopped talking when he finally became too weak to speak.

Danny had been put on watching-Walker duty while Kitty and Skulker brainstormed what to do. The teen had put up with the man's complaints up until the point Walker had begun shutting down for good. It was the first time Danny could ever remember wishing for someone to continue being irritating and stubborn.

They buried Walker by Desiree, Elliot, and the memorial stone for Johnny.

"After that, it was Kitty. I don't know how but she somehow managed to contract some kind of virus. Once again, my powers were completely useless and a few days after catching the bug, she died. That left me and Skulker."

Kitty was the only person in the group Danny had cried for. He and the woman had been close from the beginning. Something about them just clicked and it was easy getting along. Danny hadn't realized it at the time but Kitty seemed to have enjoyed babying the boy when he was younger and his younger-self hadn't objected. It had been nice to know someone cared when everyone else seemed to be looking out for their own survival.

The young teen had been with Kitty the entire time she had been sick. Skulker, for once, had been sympathetic and left Danny alone with the woman as he took care of everything else. It had been one of the longest few days of Danny's life and burying the woman was a drag.

Skulker and Danny attempted searching for Johnny's body so they could rest it beside Kitty's. They never even found the necklace that had dangled around his throat.

Before Danny could go on to the next part of his story, Sam cut him off and said, "You know you don't have to be sharing any of this with me, right?"

The ebony-haired boy smiled at her concerned expression, though he didn't feel all that happy. However, he was finding himself enjoying having a new friend again and having the ability to poor his heart out. He replied, "I know but I like sharing with someone. I haven't had the chance in a long time."

Talking was freeing for Danny, in a way. He vividly remembered sitting around the fire at night and listening to the adults tell stories about their lives before the plane-crash. He always sat beside Kitty, leaning into her side as Johnny wrapped an arm around her shoulders. Walker and Skulker always sat on the other side of the fire, creating a disjointed circle. There had been many times where they had all laughed until they cried or cried until they ran out of tears.

Danny had always wanted to join in the stories but he had no stories to tell. They were all gone, lost in the dark recesses of his mind. It always made him feel a little left out but everyone, even Elliot, had been pretty nice about his memory loss.

"Anyway, with no one else left to help, Skulker began teaching me all about 'the fine art of surviving.'" Danny teasingly said, dropping his voice in a poor imitation of the man that had once been his mentor-of-sorts. Sam laughed and Danny grinned as he continued, "He taught me everything he knew, making sure I knew how to take care of myself so I could help the two of us survive. It was just us for the longest time and then, eight months ago, I'm guessing, he went off to find food and never came back. I don't know if he's dead or alive and I probably never will, unless I find a body. I've been alone since."

Damn, he hadn't meant to make the last part sound sad. After all, there wasn't much of a difference between living with Skulker and being alone. The green-haired male didn't talk too much, more focused on more pressing matters than having a conversation. Danny was usually the one who yapped away and, looking back, it was amazing that Skulker hadn't ever really told the teen to shut up.

Danny was pulled from his musings when Sam took his hand again and smiled again at him, trying to be reassuring. "Well, you have me now and I'm going to make sure you teach me everything Skulker taught you, got it?"

"OOO, this is going to be fun~!" Danny said in a teasing, sing-song way. He wanted to laugh but the teen wanted to hide the truth from her a little longer. It was going to be hilarious for him when he revealed how much hell she was going to have to go through.

Sam laughed obliviously before moving back over to the work she had left unfinished. With a few swipes of her hand, there were two beds resting beside each other and Sam was asking if they were going to go pick through the debris. Danny nodded and stood up, reaching his hand out to help her up. The girl took it without a word, letting herself be pulled to her feet with a grin. They began exiting the cave and Danny asked, "So… What was your life like? You know, back wherever-it-is that you lived?"

With a grin, Sam hummed and answered, "Well, there's not much to tell… I live- or lived, I guess; I'm kind of living with you now, huh? -with my parents, Pamela and Jeremy Manson, and I had the greatest friend in the world and her name is Valerie…"

Despite saying there wasn't much to tell, Sam easily told him stories about what her life was like and told him about everyone she was even mildly acquainted with. Danny listened attentively as they made it to the beach and he led her to where he had left off. They picked through the rest of the wreckage easily with Danny asking questions about her life and Sam obliging.

Having two people working through the ruins of a luxury yacht made the time fly and Danny wasn't surprised when they found nothing even remotely useless to their cause. However, he was smiling as he listened to Sam. His happy mood was abruptly killed when Sam turned over another plank and asked, "So Danny, where were you four years ago before all this happened?"

Danny was reaching for the back of his neck and chuckling breathlessly before he even realized what he was doing. He wanted to smack himself when Sam suddenly perked to attention at the sound and, though she was facing another direction, he knew dread had suddenly overcome her. The teen boy chuckled for a few more moments before confessing, "Um, well… Remember how I told you I don't remember anything about the plane crash because my head must've hit something really hard? Well, that also goes for pretty much my entire life. I don't remember anything other than my birthday and my name: Daniel James Fenton."

Sam sighed sadly as her shoulders slumped. Danny frowned at her back and tilted his head. The teen didn't like his friend being all sad and mopey. He wondered what he could do to make her feel ok again and hesitantly began saying, "But did I tell you about the time Godzilla nearly crushed me with his foot? I was so close to becoming a smear on the ground that time."

The raven-haired girl looked over her shoulder and a curious smile was tugging at the corners of her lips. Danny grinned back and began going into the full tale, easily going back to work while Sam listened and asked questions about the stories he had managed to gather over the last few years.

As Danny told tales, he and Sam managed to find a few trinkets that they could probably use in some far-fetched situations. They carried them back to their HQ and dropped them off in a pile in the back. Danny took some time to relight the fire in the middle and, while it started small, he had it at a decent size in little time.

The two rationed out the food, mostly fruit, that Danny had managed to find the day before. They talked some more, laughing and teasing each other as they did. It was easy talking and they had no qualms acting like complete lunatics in front of the other.

Soon enough, though, they both grew tired and Sam suggested getting some sleep. Danny agreed and he eagerly laid down in his usual spot while Sam took the new spot next to him. Despite the crackling fire still blazing in the center of the cave and the hard ground beneath them, the two teens were asleep back-to-back within minutes.

As they slept, the moon moved slowly across the sky. The stars shifted unnoticeably as the earth spun around and around. The distant stars twinkled brightly in the sky and the moon covered the land with blue-white light that was nearly as bright as the headlights in a car. The land under the vast sky was quiet and still.

The two teens shifted occasionally in their sleep but settled down easily enough afterwards. The crackling fire began shrinking. The flames began dying out. The bright light that had spread throughout the cave became a dull glow as the flickering flames died out without a sound, leaving nothing but smoldering embers in their wake.

It was only a few hours later when the shaking ground woke Danny up. His eyelids fluttered before opening. Pushing himself up, the teen looked around his little encampment with apprehension. There was nothing that he could see in the back of the cave and, looking towards the mouth of the cave, there was nothing there either. Danny wondered what woke him up as he looked over his shoulder and stared at Sam's back. She was still as ever, having noticed nothing in her sleep.

The ground rocked again, though, and Danny's eyes widened in shock as they became directed towards the mouth of the cave again. He pushed himself up and onto his shaky legs, stumbling towards the exit. He rubbed the rest of the sleepiness out of his eyes as he dropped to his knees by the exit, looking out and across the world around him. Danny's mouth dropped open when he saw Godzilla trekking across the island a few miles away, though his huge size made it look as tiny as if he were only a few feet away. The moonlight made Godzilla's drenched, black hide shine as water cascaded off of him with every step. His facial features were drawn into an irritable expression or, at least, that's what Danny thought he saw. He had never been very good at guessing what Godzilla was feeling.

Behind Danny, Sam dropped to her knees and rested a hand on his shoulder. Rubbing her eyes with her free hand, she squinted and looked over her new friend's shoulder. A gasp left her mouth at the sight, whether from shock or wonder, Danny didn't know.

The huge monster paused for a moment in his trek and he turned his head to look in the direction of the cave the two teens were resting in. Danny didn't really care that Godzilla was looking them over. After all, the kaiju knew exactly where Danny and his new friend lived anyways and he was probably confused on why they up so late at night when Danny was usually sleeping the night away.

Like usual, a moment after the two teens had been spotted, Godzilla turned his head and began wandering towards his destination again. The King of Monster's footsteps shook the ground and caused dust, dirt, and pieces of the ceiling to rain down on the two teens as they watched the kaiju walk away. The farther the monster got away, the less the ground shook with his leaving.

Danny felt Sam lean closer and she whispered, "I thought you said he was gone for a week or two at a time."

The raven-haired teen frowned at her prod and replied, "I also said he'd been acting weird but… Even in his agitated state, it's crazy for him to be back so soon!" Danny sighed and shook his head, muttering, "I wonder what trouble the world is in now…"

The two stayed close together, kneeling at the mouth of cave as they watched the King of Monster's back disappear into the distance. They were quiet, watching the rocky horizon with tired eyes. Finally, Sam sighed and said, "We should go back to sleep, Danny. There's not much we can do or find out. Let's not worry about it too much."

Knowing she was right, Danny nodded and followed her back to their resting spots. Lying down, Sam closed her eyes and had little trouble falling back to sleep, breathing deeply in her slumber. Danny, however, laid awake, staring at cave wall with a frown on his face. He thought about what was going on but got nowhere. With a sigh, he turned over, closed his eyes, and fell asleep.

Wow, that was obnoxiously long. I didn't want to go past the last chapter but look what I did! I went a whole 2000 words more! I don't know if that's good or not! *facepalm* Uh... I kill myself. My vacuum also kills me...

Oh, and I forgot the timeline for the Godzilla movies for the people who are newbies: this story takes place after all the Godzilla movies except for the 2014 one (which, again, was a total disappointment). That movie is going to take place during the story, which will allow for some action-packed-ness crap I don't know if I'll write well but I will do my absolute best. XD

Thanks to these people for favoriting/following: Fear the Fuzzy Bear, GuardianWitchDemiGhost, War WereWolf.